Happy Little Farmer
Chapter 384

Chapter 384: Chapter 384

"Although you did the job beautifully, you’ll have to cover the loss yourself, I’m not responsible for that," Yang Fan said, somewhat helplessly.

The outcome that these two had come up with left Yang Fan not knowing whether to laugh or to cry, unsure of what to say.

"What do you mean, ’a loss’?" Bai Mengzhu’s voice suddenly rose.

Yang Fan nodded.

"Where’s the loss?" Bai Mengzhu asked skeptically, "We inquired about the market prices too."

"Are you sure you inquired?" Yang Fan countered.

Anyhow, he genuinely didn’t see any signs of inquiry in the accounts.

"We did inquire, how could we not!" Bai Mengzhu insisted, "Just tell me what doesn’t add up?"

"Setting aside everything else, since I don’t know the quality of the goods – let’s put that aside for now. Just look at this dried mushroom, whose market price is around eight hundred yuan. See for yourself how much you two lost," pointing at the ledger, Yang Fan said with a hint of helplessness.

Mushroom season had recently begun.

The annual mushroom frenzy was kicking off again.

"How much?!" Bai Mengzhu was suddenly unsettled.

"Normally eight hundred," Yang Fan explained, "You lost three hundred and fifty per kilogram. When did you get these prices?"

"From the market, your sister-in-law also said it was fine," Bai Mengzhu said with a stiff expression, turning somewhat pale.

Yang Fan was stunned, "Wait, which market did you just say?"

"The market," Bai Mengzhu replied weakly, "There have been a lot of people setting up stalls to sell mushrooms recently, and we bought them at that price, which didn’t seem to have any issues! Those stallholders are villagers too, and I figured the price at which they sell directly and the price they sell to us would be pretty much the same."

"Your reasoning is indeed flawless, but using a buying price as the purchase price also makes you a little genius in the procurement world," Yang Fan said speechlessly, unsure of what else to say.

Bai Mengzhu’s logic did indeed seem to make sense.

However, the two are completely different, with a significant gap in prices.

"What I can tell you is, you definitely made a loss," said Yang Fan.

"For these mushrooms weighing two jin and four liang, you’ve lost nearly nine hundred. Consider this money out of your own pocket; I’m not taking responsibility for it."

Bai Mengzhu’s expression turned to one of aggrieved frustration as she muttered weakly, "I help you out, and I still have to pay up; you’re too heartless. I... I refuse to accept this."

"You refuse to accept it?" Yang Fan was taken aback, "Hey, that’s not fair. You work at a bank; you should be able to do the maths easily, right? Although I really appreciate your help, letting me incur losses – that’s not right."

"Luckily, you lost only nine hundred. If you had bought more and lost nine thousand, or even sixty thousand, would that have been my responsibility too?"

Although Bai Mengzhu was unhappy, she knew she was in the wrong. After mulling silently for a moment and stamping her foot in frustration, she complained, "Fine, I’ll cover the loss. But from now on, even if you beg me, I won’t help you with this again."

Yang Fan looked at Bai Mengzhu, slightly amused, and transferred the little over six thousand yuan that she had covered to her through his phone.

"Alright, it’s over now!"

When Bai Mengzhu checked her phone, she paused for a moment, "Why didn’t you deduct those nine hundred?"

"Let it be. After all, you were helping me out. I need to be clear about that, but let’s forget the money," Yang Fan said, waving his hand.

"No, that’s not right. We need to keep our accounts clear. I don’t want to take advantage of you," Bai Mengzhu said with integrity, "I’ll send it to you; make sure you accept it."

"Enough, enough, let’s not go back and forth over this," Yang Fan stopped Bai Mengzhu, "If you really feel bad about it, how about you give me a kiss and we call it even?"

Bai Mengzhu suddenly increased the distance between her and Yang Fan, yelling in horror, "A mere nine hundred yuan and you’re already trying to take advantage of me? That’s way over the line, don’t even think about it, I’ll send you the money later, make sure you accept it."

Yang Fan couldn’t help but laugh. "Have you forgotten that you sat on top of my head? You took advantage of me, so if I take a bit of an advantage back, I feel that would be fair. This is definitely not any kind of unspoken rule."

Bai Mengzhu’s cheeks quietly reddened. "I wasn’t paying attention, and it’s not like I intentionally took advantage of you. It was your family’s stove that had a problem. You can’t calculate it like that."

"No matter if you were paying attention or not, the fact that you took advantage of me remains," Yang Fan said.

"Dream on. I’ve sent you the money, take it or leave it. There’s no way you’re taking advantage of me!" Bai Mengzhu said indignantly, waving her hand and swiftly leaving the shop, running faster than a rabbit.

Yang Fan smiled and didn’t take the matter seriously.

Although he did lose some money, firstly, he had no intention of having Bai Mengzhu compensate him, and secondly, he didn’t actually want to take advantage of her.

He just casually made a joke on the spur of the moment, purposely teasing Bai Mengzhu.

Teasing such an attractive and intelligent young woman made him feel even better.

Yang Fan sat down next to the spotless tea table that Bai Mengzhu had tidied up without a speck of dust in sight, and brewed himself a cup of tea.

After sipping a few cups of tea and smoking a cigarette, customers started arriving one after another.

The season when mountain delicacies sprouted from the ground in large numbers was also an exceptionally important source of income for Xin’an people, besides growing tea and herbs. Some could earn tens of thousands a year by picking mushrooms.

With a bit of luck, if one could come across more of the high-end dried mushrooms, their income could increase substantially.

The customers who came in today almost all brought mushrooms, mostly Jian Shou Qing.

This one is the absolute powerhouse among mushrooms, where any slight mistake could be fatal.

But this did not deter food lovers from favoring it, and the price was quite high.

This year’s purchase price was six hundred per kilogram.

Even so, compared to previous years, this price was relatively low.

This year, the frequent rain meant that a large quantity of mushrooms hit the market at the beginning of the season, naturally causing the price to drop a bit.

The rarity makes something precious—it’s always the same.

In dry years, good quality Jian Shou Qing even sold for up to two thousand per kilogram.

Yang Fan was busy all morning and spent more than sixty thousand, ending up with a large pile of mushrooms.

Placing these in the store meant he had successfully planned his work.

The quality of the mushrooms varied greatly, leading to significant price differences.

The mushroom pickers didn’t really care about this, so Yang Fan bought them based on their overall quality.

But when he sold them, he had to be more careful.

The good-looking ones couldn’t be mixed with the less attractive ones.

He had to pick them out one by one, repack them, and ensure they were properly preserved.

For the following period, he could forget about having any leisure time.

After a simple lunch and a short rest, Yang Fan dived into the pile of mushrooms.

He spent the entire afternoon sorting and arranging mushrooms.

Bai Mengzhu didn’t come to deliver lunch either, perhaps frightened by his tease.

This made Yang Fan wonder if his teasing had gone too far, and he felt a bit of self-reproach inside.