"Here is my business card, my phone number is also my WeChat ID. You can add me and contact me whenever you have goods." The woman handed Lin Xiaolong a very simple yet elegant business card.
On the card, a particularly pleasant name was printed: Su Yaxian.
"Alright, Sister Yaxian." Lin Xiaolong nodded in response.
"Hehe, you certainly have a sweet tongue."
Su Yaxian directly transferred ten thousand yuan to Lin Xiaolong via the payment code. Lin Xiaolong then handed the bucket containing the wild beehive over to Su Yaxian.
"Can't you help me put it in the car?" Su Yaxian gave Lin Xiaolong a sideways glance. "You really don't know how to treat a lady gently."
Lin Xiaolong gave an embarrassed smile. "I'll put it in for you."
Just as he lifted the bucket, Su Yaxian suddenly cried out, "Ah!"
"What's wrong?" Lin Xiaolong was startled.
"What are these fruits?" Su Yaxian pointed at a few cherries inside the tricycle.
These cherries had fallen out of the bucket, and Lin Xiaolong hadn't had time to clean them up yet.
"Cherries," Lin Xiaolong said with a smile.
"Cherries this big? How is that possible?" Su Yaxian simply refused to believe it.
"Really, I sold these this morning, and all those empty buckets were used for cherries." Lin Xiaolong pointed to the empty buckets and said.
Su Yaxian picked up a cherry, looked at it, then took a bottle of mineral water from her car, rinsed the cherry with it, and popped it into her mouth.
Immediately afterwards, she closed her eyes, and a sound of pure satisfaction escaped her lips.
"Delicious, amazing, absolutely peerless."
Lin Xiaolong couldn't help laughing. "Sister Yaxian, if they weren't all sold out, I would give you a couple of pounds."
"Are all your cherries like this?" Su Yaxian opened her pretty, large eyes and asked in disbelief.
"Yes, they're all like this. This morning I sold over two hundred pounds in just one hour, at sixty yuan a pound," Lin Xiaolong told the truth.
"Then do you have any more at home?" Su Yaxian grabbed Lin Xiaolong's hand in a sudden wave of excitement.
Her hands were white and tender, her fingers slender and delicate like fresh spring onion shoots.
When had Lin Xiaolong ever experienced such treatment? His face flushed red instantly.
"I'll have more tomorrow," Lin Xiaolong said.
"Then contact me tomorrow. I'll buy as many as you have, and I'll give you seventy yuan a pound so you don't have to bother selling them off in small amounts," Su Yaxian said magnanimously. "But we have a deal—they must all be exactly like these."
Lin Xiaolong was once again stunned.
She increased the price by another ten yuan.
Was this sister the type whose money had nowhere to go?
Still, such good fortune was hard to come by even with a lantern.
He had to agree.
"Alright."
"Great, we'll keep in touch by phone then. I have things to do, so I'll be leaving first."
Lin Xiaolong placed the wild beehive into the trunk of Su Yaxian's car, and she drove off in her Mercedes-Benz.
Lin Xiaolong looked at the direction where Su Yaxian had disappeared, feeling a sense of loss.
He had originally thought he would spend the whole day puttering around the county town, but he never expected to sell everything in less than two hours.
His net income was over 23,000 yuan.
This money-making speed was simply too fast.
Lin Xiaolong decided to buy four mobile phones first, so that every member of his family would have one.
After all, this society was an information age, and having a smooth, fast mobile phone would not only make communication convenient, but also make doing many things twice as effective with half the effort.
Then, he would buy some delicious food to properly improve his family's meals.
No sooner thought than done.
Lin Xiaolong started his tricycle and headed for the largest shopping mall in the county town.
He had attended high school in the county town; although he didn't know where the markets were, he certainly knew where Xinying Department Store, the largest mall, was located.
Upon reaching the department store, Lin Xiaolong directly bought four Huawei phones, each costing around four thousand yuan, spending a total of over 16,000 yuan.
Next, he purchased mobile phone cards for his parents and younger sister respectively, and inserted them into the phones.
After that, he bought some cooked delicacies in the supermarket that he previously never dared to buy, and finally left the department store, ready to head home.
Just as he got onto the tricycle to leave, a Toyota SUV drove over and parked right beside his tricycle.
Before Lin Xiaolong could start the engine and drive away, the door of the SUV flew open, and a person jumped out and grabbed the handlebars of Lin Xiaolong's tricycle.
"Lin Xiaolong, it really is you?"
Lin Xiaolong looked up and couldn't help frowning slightly.
He hadn't expected to run into his high school classmate, Jiang Yuan, right here.
Jiang Yuan had been the class monitor in Lin Xiaolong's high school. Tall, robust, and dashing, he was smooth and sociable, making him an absolute star in the class.
Not just in the class, but many young girls across the entire grade liked him, and countless girls had written love letters to him.And this guy never turned anyone away. Back in high school, he had already taken advantage of many girls, and some had even suffered multiple miscarriages because of him.
He was absolute human scum. Yet this scum, owing to his wealthy background—his father was a company president—was surrounded every day by boys in their class acting as his lackeys.
Only Lin Xiaolong devoted all his attention to his studies every day and never tried to suck up to him.
Jiang Yuan was popular with people, but unfortunately his grades were mediocre, putting him right in the middle of the class.
Although Lin Xiaolong had an introverted personality, rarely spoke, and had no friends, his grades were excellent, and he always ranked first in the class.
Consequently, there were still some studious students who deeply admired Lin Xiaolong.
Among them was the class beauty, Zhao Ting.
By sheer coincidence, the teacher had assigned Zhao Ting and Lin Xiaolong to share a desk.
At the time, both of them were at an awkward, impressionable age. Normally they put on a show of reserve and rarely spoke to each other, yet whenever they pretended not to notice each other out of the corner of their eye, their faces would instantly flush red.
Just thinking about that feeling now still made Lin Xiaolong’s heart skip a beat.
It was only later, as the college entrance examination approached, that neither of them had the mind to dwell on anything else, with the result that by graduation, neither had ever spoken the words they held in their hearts.
Back then, Jiang Yuan had also liked Zhao Ting. He could easily handle so many other girls, but he simply couldn't handle Zhao Ting.
And how could Jiang Yuan fail to see the look in Zhao Ting’s eyes when she looked at Lin Xiaolong? She was in love with Lin Xiaolong.
As a result, Jiang Yuan vented all his resentment onto Lin Xiaolong.
Lin Xiaolong lost count of how many times he had been cornered in the dormitory by Jiang Yuan and his thugs, humiliated and beaten. If not for his parents, Lin Xiaolong would have had the urge to pull a knife and stab them right then and there.
Still, he had managed to weather that difficult period, graduate successfully, and get accepted into a good university.
Even though the two had bad blood between them, since Jiang Yuan took the initiative to speak to him, Lin Xiaolong couldn't very well ignore him, or it would seem like he was being petty.
"Monitor, what a coincidence," Lin Xiaolong said with a slight smile.
"What a coincidence indeed! Lin Xiaolong, are you here in the city to sell something?" Surprisingly, Jiang Yuan didn't try to tear him down or humiliate him; instead, he wore a completely sincere expression.
"Yeah, selling some fruit," Lin Xiaolong answered honestly, feeling no shame in it.
"Xiaolong, I was immature back in school and gave you a hard time. I hope you won't hold it against me," Jiang Yuan said, patting Lin Xiaolong on the shoulder.
"Not at all," Lin Xiaolong smiled. But how could the scars in his heart heal so easily?
"Look, we're having a high school class reunion this weekend. I'm organizing it, and a lot of the kids are coming. I didn't have your contact info before, so I couldn't let you know. Now that we've run into each other, I'm inviting you. You won't think I'm asking you too late, will you?" Jiang Yuan asked, looking entirely sincere.
"Things are pretty busy at home, so I won't be able to make it," Lin Xiaolong replied.
"Looks like you still haven't forgiven me," Jiang Yuan said with a sigh. "Zhao Ting was just saying she'd love to see you, too."
A ripple stirred in Lin Xiaolong's heart: "Alright, I'll come this weekend."
After exchanging contact information, Lin Xiaolong rode his tricycle away from the shopping mall.
Behind him, Jiang Yuan wore a sneering smile.
Riding around on a beat-up tricycle like a beggar, and he actually had the nerve to attend a class reunion.
He was obviously just hoping to see Zhao Ting.
Hmph, I'm afraid that when the time comes, the bigger your hopes, the greater your disappointment will be.
Running headlong into humiliation—at last, he would finally get to vent some long-held steam.
What good was being smart at studying?
In the end, you're still just farming back home.
Lin Xiaolong had no idea what was going through Jiang Yuan's head.
He genuinely wanted to see Zhao Ting. After all, that girl had treated him quite well back then, and he was curious to see how she was doing now and which university she was attending.
After all, those old school days were truly worth remembering.
When he reached the township, Lin Xiaolong filled up the tricycle's gas tank before heading back to Longyang Village.
When he returned the tricycle to Aunt Zhang’s place, Lin Xiaolong mentioned that he had filled the tank. Although Aunt Zhang insisted it wasn't necessary, her smile stretched from ear to ear.
That's how things worked in the countryside—you had to know how to handle social graces.
If he had simply used Aunt Zhang’s tricycle for free this time, asking to borrow it again next time wouldn't have been so easy.
Leaving Aunt Zhang's house, Lin Xiaolong didn't go straight home; instead, he headed to Xiangxiu's place.
"Xiaolong, when are you planning to go sell the honeycomb? I'll go with you," Xiangxiu said, her face lighting up with excitement the moment she saw Lin Xiaolong.Since Lin Xiaolong ceased to be "the fool," he had become handsome in every way, a man who seemed to delight everyone he met.
"Sister, I sold the wild beehive. I’ve come to give you your share of the money," Lin Xiaolong said with a smile.
"You already sold it? That was quick!" Xiangxiu said in surprise.
"It was easy to sell. I ran into a generous buyer who took the whole thing. It sold for a full ten thousand yuan."
"What? Ten thousand?" Xiangxiu’s jaw dropped.
Ten thousand yuan was a fortune in Longyang Village. Some families didn't even earn that much in a whole year. She never imagined a single wild beehive could fetch such a price.
"Sister Xiangxiu, I think a fifty-fifty split is fair. I’m transferring five thousand to you right now," Lin Xiaolong said, ready to make the transfer.
Xiangxiu’s expression darkened instantly. "Lin Xiaolong, are you looking down on me? I said twenty-eight, and that’s what it will be. If you don't listen to me, I won't take a single cent!"
She knew the family owed a massive debt to that thug Liu Erhu, and besides, she hadn't really contributed much beyond showing him the way. How could she possibly take that much?
"Alright, I'll transfer two thousand," Lin Xiaolong said, feeling helpless. He had no choice but to send her two thousand.
"Hehe, we’re rich now! Xiaolong, stay and eat with me at noon. I’ll make you some noodles," Xiangxiu said, her face flushing with a sudden, bashful red.
"I can't, Sister Xiangxiu. They're waiting for me at home."
Lin Xiaolong quickly left some of the prepared dishes he had bought for her and headed home.
Xiangxiu sighed as she watched him go. *How could this "fool" be so innocent?* But then again, wasn't it his innocence and kindness that she loved about him?
When Lin Xiaolong arrived home, his younger sister was cooking. Seeing her brother return with so many goodies, she ran over immediately.
"Brother, did you sell the cherries and the beehive?"
Lin Qiusheng and Wang Ju looked at their son with anticipation. After all, the family’s entire income relied almost exclusively on those cherries.
"I sold them. The cherries went for sixty yuan a pound, bringing in over 13,000, and the beehive sold for exactly 10,000. I gave Sister Xiangxiu 2,000, and I bought four mobile phones, which cost over 16,000. We still have over 5,000 left. Mom, it's all in my digital wallet, you can see." Lin Xiaolong showed his mother, Wang Ju, the balance on his phone.
He expected them to be overjoyed, but after a flicker of initial excitement, their expressions soured.
"What's wrong?" Lin Xiaolong asked.
"Xiaolong, we owe so much money. How could you be so reckless as to spend so much on phones? If you wanted a phone, couldn't you have just bought something functional for a few hundred yuan?" Wang Ju said, sighing. She didn't want to hurt her son's feelings, but she had to speak her mind.
"Your mother is right," Lin Qiusheng added. "You used to be so sensible, kid. How could you be so spendthrift now? You have to know the difference between what's urgent and what isn't."
Only his sister stayed silent, though she pouted. She, too, desperately hoped for a life free of debt.
Lin Xiaolong laughed. "Mom, a phone is a basic tool for communication these days. My old, broken one barely worked. By buying one for everyone, it’ll be easier for us to stay in touch. More importantly, it helps me sell things better. Collecting money this way is much more convenient than dealing with cash. Today, our cherries sold out in under two hours. If I had a better phone, it would have been an hour's work. Don't you think it was worth it?"
"That may be, but..." Wang Ju started.
"Mom, just listen to my brother," Lin Xiaoxue said, tugging at her mother. She had seen her brother finally acting normal, and the family’s life was starting to improve; she didn't want him to fall back into his old, confused ways over this.
"Mom, you didn't catch how much the cherries sold for, did you?" Lin Xiaolong asked with a grin.
Only then did both parents and his sister realize the implications of his earlier comment. Sixty yuan a pound—how could that be possible?
"Xiaolong, you haven't lost your mind again, have you?" Wang Ju asked, worried.
"Exactly," Lin Qiusheng agreed. "Whose cherries sell for sixty a pound? Even if ours hit the market early, twenty-something would be the absolute limit." He didn't believe it; he was the one who usually hauled the harvest to market, and he knew the prices.
"It’s true. You can ask Xiaoxue. I developed a special fertilizer. Our cherries are large, round, and a deep, rich red. They look great and taste amazing. They were snapped up the moment we got to town—sixty a pound wasn't even enough to meet the demand."
"Really?" The parents still couldn't believe it.
"Of course. I brought a few back. Try them." Lin Xiaolong produced the remaining cherries.
Both parents were stunned when they saw them. *My goodness! Are these really cherries?* If this was true, then what their son said must be true as well.
"Go on, try them." Lin Xiaolong washed them and handed them to his parents.
One bite and they were even more shocked. They were delicious—too delicious. At that level of quality, sixty yuan, while expensive, was actually reasonable.
"I know we have debts," Lin Xiaolong said. "But with cherries this good, paying them off won't be a problem."
"Xiaolong, there are only five days left," Lin Qiusheng asked. "These cherries won't ripen perfectly every day. What are we going to do when Liu Erhu comes to collect?"
"Don't worry, Dad. I can guarantee we'll have ripe ones every single day," Lin Xiaolong promised with a smile.
"Dad, believe in Brother. He’s right," Lin Xiaoxue said happily, then looked at Lin Xiaolong. "Brother, where's my phone?"
***
**Chapter 18: Malicious Intent**
Lin Xiaolong handed his sister her phone, and she immediately began playing with it. She was just a child, and a girl at that; she had never had the chance to own a phone before, so it was no wonder she was thrilled.
Although the parents still felt a pang of regret over the cost, their faces soon filled with relieved smiles. Lin Xiaolong didn't let his sister finish cooking; they sat down and happily shared the prepared dishes he had brought home.
During the afternoon break, Lin Xiaolong practiced the *Longyang Formula*. However, compared to the spiritual energy inside Longyang Cave, the energy at home was far too thin. Though he felt he had made some progress, he still hadn't broken through to the second stage. It seemed he would have to find time to return to the cave to cultivate.
He could absorb the *spiritual liquid* from the jade bottle, but he was counting on that liquid to nourish the cherry trees, so he couldn't bear to use it for his own cultivation.
In the afternoon, after he woke up, Lin Xiaolong headed straight for the cherry orchard.
Two hundred meters away, he caught a pungent, ammonia-like stench. With his heightened senses, the smell—much like rotten eggs—was incredibly potent and unmistakable. It was the scent of *Paraquat*.
"Who is using Paraquat?" he wondered, puzzled.
Paraquat was a highly toxic, banned herbicide. Because it was so deadly, it had been pulled from the market, though some unscrupulous sellers still moved it under the table. More importantly, it was the height of the season; using such a toxic chemical on cherries that were almost ready to be picked was unthinkable.
Lin Xiaolong quickened his pace.
Near his family’s plot was the orchard belonging to Wang Yanhong. Just then, he saw her hurriedly ducking into a small guard shack in her orchard, carrying a sprayer on her back. When she emerged, the sprayer was gone. She looked toward Lin Xiaolong’s orchard and sneered, muttering to herself, "Oh, you want your cherries to thrive? I’ll make sure your trees don't survive at all. Hmph! You want to make a comeback? Not a chance."
As Lin Xiaolong entered his orchard, the smell intensified. He followed the scent to the trees near the road and was so furious he nearly cursed out loud.
Over a dozen cherry trees near the edge of the road had leaves that were already curling. They reeked of Paraquat. There was no need to guess; some black-hearted person had sprayed them. Paraquat was a death sentence for humans, and it was just as lethal for trees. Those ten trees had been sprayed and would never recover.