“I learned it from my wife.”
Cheng Yun slept until nearly noon, enjoying a rare indulgence of staying in bed lazily even when the sun was high in the sky.
When he woke up, Yang Hongjin was already awake. He didn’t know how long he had been awake. As soon as Cheng Yun opened his eyes, he saw Yang Hongjin’s guilty eyes darting around. He Laughed and called out, “Wife.”
If it weren’t for the lingering warmth from someone touching and pinching him, Cheng Yun would have questioned him about what guilty act he had done.
He pretended not to notice and stretched lazily. He was sluggish, and it took him a while for his mind to clear up. Then suddenly, he thought, “Are you hungry?”
“Hungry,” Yang Hongjin’s stomach growled as soon as the words left his mouth. He rubbed his belly and honestly replied, “Very hungry.”
Upon hearing that, Cheng Yun couldn’t stay in bed any longer. He got up and energetically started his day.
During this period, Cheng Yun had been busy with the affairs of Yueqiong Tower, but he hadn’t forgotten about the second crop he had planted. After lunch, he went to the backyard to check. The small batch he had planted earlier was growing averagely due to unfavorable weather conditions, while some were developing well at a normal pace.
Not knowing if it was because of the previous use of the Speech Spirit, Cheng Yun felt that this small patch of land was particularly fertile. Even without the second use of the Speech Spirit, it seemed that several plants were close to maturity.
He watered them with some rice water and patiently cultivated them. Soon, he would be able to use the Speech Spirit again. After giving it some thought, Cheng Yun decided to directly use the Speech Spirit on Yang Hongjin this time.
After taking care of the crops, he went to feed the chickens and ducks. The group of chicks and ducklings he bought had grown up. There were two female chickens, one female duck, and the rest were males.
A few days ago, Cheng Yun slaughtered the oldest duck, the one he received as a dowry during the wedding and cooked a Five-Cup Duck dish for everyone. These days, he had been cooking some meat dishes to nourish Yang Hongjin’s body. Now that he had money, he no longer needed to raise chicks himself; he could directly buy mature chickens and ducks. After this group of chickens and ducks were finished, he planned to keep only two females for egg-laying and not raise any new ones in the future.
After feeding the chickens and ducks, Cheng Yun found a red piece of paper and took a white radish, a mustard green, and a garlic bulb. He tied them together with a rope and then pasted the red paper outside the door, hanging the string of vegetables next to it.
The villagers who had been keeping an eye on Cheng Yun’s house saw this and hurriedly approached him, asking, “Cheng-Ge’er, are you harvesting vegetables?”
Cheng Yun was startled by the visitor and almost fell off the raised chair. Yang Hongjin, who was beside him, held him tightly, and when Cheng Yun regained his balance, he glared at the person.
The person seemed to realize that his actions were a bit presumptuous, so he rubbed his nose and smiled apologetically.
Cheng Yun patted Yang Hongjin’s hand to let him loosen his grip and, when he stood firmly on the ground, he said to the person, “Uncle Sun, right? Yes, today we’re starting to harvest the vegetables again. I’ve listed the types of vegetables we’re harvesting on this paper. If you have these vegetables at home, please bring them over. If you see other people on your way back, please let them know as well. Thank you.”
Uncle Sun didn’t expect Cheng-Ge’er to be so polite. He quickly bowed and thanked him before turning around and running back. His speed was as fast as grabbing the first incense stick during the Lunar New Year.
Cheng Yun brought two chairs to the doorstep, one for himself and one for Yang Hongjin. He specifically had Li Fan prepare a bunch of loose change, which he strung together and hung on Yang Hongjin’s arm. He said to him, “Just like last time, can you count?”
“I can,” Yang Hongjin nodded proudly. “I learned it from my wife.”
Cheng Yun smiled and patted his head. After a short wait, people started coming one after another to ask if they were collecting vegetables. Soon, Uncle Sun also returned, carrying two baskets and an additional one on his back, stopping in front of them with a smile.
“Cheng-Ge’er, take a look. I have two baskets of mustard greens and one basket of garlic. Altogether, it’s about thirty to forty catties. Do you want all of them?”
“Okay, let me take a look first.” Unlike the previous time when he glanced over quickly to save time, Cheng Yun carefully picked up and examined each item. However, as he looked, his expression changed.
“Uncle Sun, most of these vegetables are rotten. I can only pick the good ones.” After saying that, he selected five mustard greens and around ten large garlic bulbs, pointing at them and saying, “Just these. Take a look. If there’s no problem, I’ll weigh them.”
Uncle Sun’s face turned red and then pale as he looked. In the end, he couldn’t help but say in frustration, “Cheng-Ge’er, you can’t do this. These vegetables of mine are all good. Look at this one, only two leaves are bad, but it doesn’t affect the rest. The same goes for these garlic bulbs. Break off the bad parts, and the rest are good.”
He even thought he was being reasonable and continued, “Cheng-Ge’er, the price you’re offering is already lower than the town’s. If all of them were in such good condition, I might as well sell them in town. You should think it over.”
Cheng Yun couldn’t help but burst into laughter. This person was trying to sell rotten vegetables and still thought he was in the right?
He stood up, crossed his arms, and looked at Uncle Sun without stepping back an inch. “Uncle Sun, even if you took these vegetables to town, no one would buy them. I’ve clearly stated the price here. If you want to sell, I’ll buy the good ones. But if you don’t want to sell, I won’t force you. You can take these vegetables and sell them in town if you prefer.”
“I’ll buy all the good vegetables at the agreed price. My price is lower than in town, but it saves you the time and effort of picking and waiting to sell there. You don’t have to sell to me if you don’t want to, but that doesn’t mean I’ll buy rotten vegetables at a low price.” Cheng Yun, usually friendly and kind, didn’t mean he was a pushover. He took a firm stance, saying, “If you still can’t accept that, then please take your vegetables to town to sell. I’m in no hurry to buy from you.”
After saying that, he sat back down, adopting an attitude of “I don’t care whether you sell or not.”
More people started gathering, aware that Cheng-Ge’er was collecting vegetables. Some of them had sold several batches before and thought Cheng-Ge’er’s words made perfect sense. They couldn’t help but point and discuss Uncle Sun’s situation.
Uncle Sun had sold a basket of mustard greens last time, thinking that Cheng Yun didn’t inspect them much, so he tried to pass off some lower quality ones. Unexpectedly, it backfired.
Hearing others gossip about him, Uncle Sun felt both angry and embarrassed. He wanted to sell the vegetables, but he couldn’t bear the humiliation of selling them like this. So, he collected the vegetables, spat on the ground, and turned to the people selling their produce, saying, “Wake up, all of you! He’s just taking our vegetables to the town and selling them at higher prices. What’s it called? The people in the city call it mono, bol…, yes, monopoly! That’s what they call it, monopolizing! When the time comes, you won’t be able to sell your vegetables, and you’ll have to buy from him. Then he can continue to lower the prices and take advantage of us!”
He turned around and glared at Cheng Yun, not saying anything. He picked up his own vegetables and left.
Cheng Yun was experiencing such a scene for the first time and couldn’t help feeling both angry and amused. After all, his initial intention was simply to make money together for everyone’s convenience, including his own. He also wanted to have some ease of movement in the village. That’s why he brought up this matter to the village chief. But he didn’t expect people’s hearts to be capable of such things.
Indeed, different people have different mindsets. Since they don’t understand gratitude and reciprocation, Cheng Yun wouldn’t force the other person to stay. To be honest, even if he doesn’t buy vegetables in the village and goes to the town, he can still find people willing to sell a large quantity of vegetables to him, as long as he can afford it. He is not afraid of not receiving the goods.
Perhaps some people held the same thoughts as Uncle Sun and, after seeing Uncle Sun’s situation, turned back halfway. Those who remained were people who had only sold vegetables a few times and were honest and straightforward.
Cheng Yun carefully inspected each person as they came, not letting his guard down just because they had come before. Gradually, he identified some vegetables of lesser quality, and the other party was understanding enough to remove them directly. Some people even felt embarrassed and offered those vegetables as a gift to Cheng Yun if he didn’t mind.
Cheng Yun was fair and square, not taking advantage of others nor letting others take advantage of him. With Uncle Sun’s incident, the subsequent process of collecting vegetables went smoothly. Everyone had conversations and laughter while patiently waiting for Yang Hongjin to calculate their money. After receiving the payment, they would also praise Cheng Yun for managing the household members so well.
The idiot was happier to hear them praise his wife than to hear them praise himself. He laughed like a big fool who weighed three hundred pounds.
After working tirelessly all day, their home was filled with hundreds of catties of vegetables. Cheng Yun informed everyone that there was no need to rush and bring everything at once. Those who needed to sell urgently could bring their vegetables first, while those that hadn’t fully ripened could be brought at a later time. They would continue to accept deliveries in the future.
Those who had cleared out their storage boxes happily agreed and said, “Okay, no problem.” But Cheng Yun had a premonition that the next time they collect vegetables, those people would be the first to bring all the vegetables they had at home.
He shook his head, packed everything up, and asked Yang Hongjin to move everything in front of the house inside. After everything was settled, just as he was about to enter the house, he saw someone rushing towards them in a hurry.
“Second Brother?” The person was Yang Hongcai, and Cheng Yun put down what he was holding. “What’s wrong?”
Yang Hongcai let out a sigh of relief and looked at the pile of vegetables in front of their house, furrowing his brows. “I heard you’re collecting vegetables? What’s going on?”
Cheng Yun followed his gaze and also didn’t understand why he was asking that, but he answered truthfully, “Yes, the village chief talked to everyone about it earlier. Why? Do you also have vegetables to sell, Second Brother?”
“Ah, why didn’t you tell me about it?” Yang Hongcai said, but then felt that it wasn’t right to say it that way. He scratched his head, looking frustrated, and continued, “Mother has been nagging about it at home these past few days, saying that even if you’ve made a big deal, you wouldn’t care about your family. Just yesterday, she finally stopped talking about it, and now that she heard you’re collecting vegetables again, she started nagging again.”
Cheng Yun suddenly realized. Their vampire stepmother probably thought they had made a lot of money and wanted to get a share of it, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask directly. So she sent Yang Hongcai to talk about it.
Yang Hongcai felt a little embarrassed. He hadn’t told his family about helping Cheng Yun with farming, but since his parents asked him to talk about it, he had no choice.
Cheng Yun understood from his scratching his head and cheeks that the situation wasn’t that simple. As expected, after a while, Yang Hongcai said, “Father wants you to come to our house for dinner tonight, Cheng-Ge’er. Take a look…”
Cheng Yun paused for a moment, then shrugged, feeling indifferent. “Sure, we’ll go with you.”
