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Su Yu was losing patience with their excuses. “If you have nothing important to say, you can leave and stop bothering us.”
“But, young master, our village…”
“How good can the fruits be if nobody takes care of the orchard?” Su Yu looked at them and asked, unimpressed.
“I intend to sell them, not use them as weapons.” Su Yu spoke firmly, his tone showing he wasn’t in the mood for their games. “Moreover, I don’t like the atmosphere in your village. Even if your fruits are good, I might not buy them.”
As Su Yu spoke, Wang Jinhe found himself strangely captivated by his assertiveness. There was something intriguing about him.
“We…”
“Your people have been causing trouble for me since yesterday. Do you think I’m here just for show?” Su Yu’s voice turned icy as he spoke.
“You don’t need to explain,” Su Yu interrupted. “Why are we willing to buy fruits from Hululu but need to think twice about yours? Look within yourselves for the reasons. Figure out what differences exist between your two villages.”
Su Yu didn’t want to hear their excuses. To him, when someone was wrong, they were wrong. He couldn’t stand their attempts to twist the truth.
No matter how much regret the people from Lin Village felt, they couldn’t change the fact that they were now in this predicament. They could only stare resentfully at their village chief.
“It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t led us into this mess, could we have ended up like this? It’s your fault! You need to compensate us!” A villager pointed at the village chief, accusing him angrily.
Su Yu and his group watched the villagers blame each other with cold eyes. To them, the sight was almost laughable.
Looking at their behavior, Wang Jinhe couldn’t help but feel disappointed for a moment. After all, they were all villagers; instead of understanding each other and working together to solve the problem, they were here blaming and causing trouble. What kind of good fruits could people like this produce?
Just like Su Yu had said, even if they managed to grow their fruits successfully, he probably wouldn’t want anything to do with them.
“Didn’t you all agree when I came here? Weren’t all of you interested in money?” the village chief of Lin Village retorted without holding back.
It was a decision made collectively, but now they were shifting all the blame onto him. Why should he accept such accusations?
Seeing their unwillingness to listen and their determination to argue, Hu Lin felt a bit impatient. “Enough! This is Hululu, not Lin Village. If you want to argue, go back and do it there. How you argue is your own business, and it has nothing to do with us. Don’t delay us here.”
Yesterday, it was because of Lin Village’s delay that they only managed to pick fruits from two families. If there were further delays today, who knew if they could even pick the fruits?
“Lin Zhi, don’t forget that you are the village chief of Lin Village. When problems arise, instead of blaming others, why don’t you try solving them with your villagers? What’s the point of blaming everyone else?” Hu Lin said impatiently, expressing his strong dissatisfaction with Lin Zhi.
Lin Zhi’s face darkened with Hu Lin’s criticism. “It’s easy for you to talk. You don’t understand the difficulties we face here.”
Hu Lin couldn’t help but chuckle at the response. He was about to say something when Su Yu intervened. “Enough, there’s no point in talking to someone like him. No matter what you say, he won’t appreciate it. Focus on your own tasks.”
“Yeah, Uncle Hu Lin, you don’t need to bother with him. Just manage the affairs of your own village,” Wang Jinhe chimed in directly.
“You’re right, I can’t control everything. I’ll just focus on doing what I need to do,” Hu Lin said resignedly after some consideration.
“Alright, everyone, get ready. We’ll go pick the fruits later, just like the past two days. Remember, only pick the ripe ones. Don’t cause any trouble for Master Su and the others,” Hu Lin waved his hand, instructing the people in his village.
“We understand, Village Chief. We definitely won’t cause any trouble for Master Su and the others.” With that, they headed to the orchard as agreed.
They had seen it once yesterday, but seeing it again today still felt incredible. Despite knowing they could pick more to earn extra money, they refrained from doing so. Every fruit they picked was fully ripe, not a single unripe one in sight.
After the morning’s work, they picked fruits from one orchard, and this family made nearly thirty taels of silver by selling the produce.
The money they earned was beyond what anyone in Lin Village had ever seen in their lifetimes. This amount was earned in just one morning. Looking at the big, red, and high-quality fruits of others, some villagers felt a deep sense of shame.
They planted the same kind of fruits, but they hadn’t treated their fruit trees well. If they had taken care of their trees properly, they might not have ended up in this situation.
They knew about Hululu Village. Even if the fruits didn’t sell well in previous years, after picking the fruits, they still pruned the trees, fertilized them, and took care of them to ensure that the trees would grow well the next year.
Although everyone blamed Lin Zhi for not setting a good example, could they really achieve the same results as Hululu Village after following his lead?
The answer was apparent. It was impossible because they couldn’t see any immediate rewards.
Unlike Hululu Village, they didn’t harbor hope year after year, hoping that someday their fruits would be recognized, sold at a good price.
But this year, they finally received the reward they deserved.
With a self-deprecating smile, the people from Lin Village admitted, “The young master is right; we really can’t compare to the people of Hululu Village.”
They couldn’t compare, and neither could their village chief. As long as one person left, the rest would follow suit. Despite Lin Zhi’s desire to stay, he had no choice but to leave with the people around him.
On the way back, Lin Zhi voiced his dissatisfaction, “What do you all mean by this?” Did they intend to trample his dignity into the ground?
One of the villagers from Lin Village glanced at Lin Zhi and replied, “What do we mean? We’re all leaving. Should we stay there and embarrass ourselves further?”
“Didn’t you see how much money they made?” the village chief temptingly asked.
“How much money they made? What does their earnings have to do with you?” one of them snapped back.
The gap between them was already significant, and now the village chief was here complaining. So what if they made money? It was a return on their efforts over the past few years.
The villager’s words left Lin Zhi speechless. “You all…”
“Enough of this nonsense. We don’t want to hear anything. Let’s all go back,” one of them declared. Without even glancing at the village chief, they all walked away.
Lin Zhi was seething with anger. How could this be happening?