Happy Little Farmer
Chapter 420

Chapter 420: Chapter 420

Meng Zhu left hurriedly after lunch.

Compared to previous times, she was noticeably more indifferent now.

When leaving, she even cheerfully greeted Yang Fan, joking that he would be charged next time he made any inappropriate moves.

The joking remark sparked a strong hope in Yang Fan instantly.

It practically told Yang Fan outright that Meng Zhu didn’t mind his advances.

Charging could almost be taken as consent, an agreement to further advances from Yang Fan.

It was just that out of courtesy, she felt embarrassed to say it too directly.

Next time, Yang Fan should be able to freely tumble in bed with the voluptuous and alluring Meng Zhu.

After Meng Zhu left, Yang Fan made a phone call to Zhao Wu, then quickly sorted out the mushrooms collected that morning and packed them into boxes.

For these mushrooms valued over one hundred thousand yuan, Yang Fan handled them with extra care.

He was not very familiar with the mushroom buyers in the market; these items were his hard-earned money. A single damage could not be overlooked by those guys, who would absolutely be serious about it, downgrading the mushrooms’ grade and offering him a lousy price.

Just as he finished packing, Zhao Wu walked in, looking the same as always in a red tank top, a tattered straw hat, and flip-flops, with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"Whoa, Boss Yang changing lines of work?" Zhao Wu said with a smile after glancing at the neatly stacked boxes on the floor.

"Change what line? Life is tough, just picking up a side gig," Yang Fan said with a laugh, "Cigarettes are on the table, help yourself."

Removing the cigarette from his mouth, Zhao Wu gestured to Yang Fan, "Better you give it to me, helping myself doesn’t sound right."

"Oh, did that embarrass you?" Yang Fan joked with a laugh.

"Indeed, I’m naturally shy," said Zhao Wu grinning.

Yang Fan shook his head, utterly shameless, what does being shy have to do with you?

"You smoke first, I’ll load the truck," said Yang Fan, lifting a box of mushrooms and walking out of the shop.

"No, no, no, where’s the sense in the boss doing the heavy lifting himself? I can do it! Smoking won’t get in the way of work," Zhao Wu exaggeratedly yelled, picking up a box of mushrooms and following Yang Fan.

Yang Fan smiled silently and ignored Zhao Wu’s jests.

Although the mushrooms cost Yang Fan a lot, there weren’t actually many of them. When packed they only filled half a truck.

After a short rest, drinking some water, and smoking a cigarette, Yang Fan and Zhao Wu set off.

There wasn’t a fixed market for buying mushrooms. Every year when mushrooms came into season, the county would designate a spot as a temporary mushroom trading center.

Xin’an wasn’t a major mushroom-producing area, so it wasn’t very large.

Counties to the south all had dedicated mushroom trading centers.

Yang Fan had Zhao Wu take him to the mushroom trading spot first. After a crazy haggling and bargaining, Yang Fan sold off all the other mushrooms he collected that day, making a small profit of one thousand three hundred yuan.

Though the volume of miscellaneous mushrooms was large, their price was not high, so naturally, Yang Fan’s profit was small.

This was still helped by some Jian Shou Qing among them, bolstering Yang Fan’s position.

Otherwise, he would have probably earned only about four hundred or so.

While the profit was not huge, Yang Fan was very satisfied.

If he could earn such a net profit every day, he would definitely wake up laughing from his dreams.

He wasn’t deluded by the occasional windfalls; those times were few and far between.

His real income still had to rely on such daily occurrences.

Just as Yang Fan was about to leave, a stall owner suddenly noticed the Matsutake mushrooms on Zhao Wu’s truck.

"Damn, bro, why are you hiding these? Sell them quick, one thousand one hundred, let me have them!"

Dressed almost exactly like Zhao Wu, in a short-sleeve shirt and flip-flops, the chubby stall owner grabbed onto Zhao Wu’s truck, emotionally speaking to Yang Fan.

"I can’t do that, I’m planning to give them away as gifts," Yang Fan said.

"Bro, are you giving away gifts so lavishly? Handing out gifts worth tens of thousands of yuan? Sell them, get something else to give away, one thousand two hundred, let me have them," the chubby stall owner quickly raised his offer.

His shouting had the surrounding stall owners instantly crowding around.

"I’ll give one thousand two hundred fifty, fifty more than him, let me have them!"

"I won’t pick and choose, I’ll take everything, one thousand three hundred! One thousand three hundred!!"

...

Old Zhou had previously advised Yang Fan not to overprice and snatch others’ business, but here, overpricing and snatching business was entirely the norm.

In a moment of inattention from Yang Fan, these people had pushed the price up to one thousand five hundred.

And that came with conditions like no picking and choosing, and taking everything.

Yang Fan was so bothered by the noise that his ears buzzed, and his mind was almost not clear.

Seeing how excitedly they were bidding, it looked like the price of Matsutake had gone up again.

In recent days, the price of these high-priced mushrooms hadn’t been stable at all, truly like gold, rising when it’s said to rise and falling when it’s said to fall.

If Yang Fan sold them now, these mushrooms, he could make a tidy little profit of a few tens of thousands.

But he had already promised Old Zhou that no matter how high the price went, he couldn’t engage in such dishonorable dealings.

"Folks, I really need to give these mushrooms as gifts. Next time, next time!" Yang Fan yelled out.

His head was about to be deafened by the clamor, and he forcibly squeezed out of the crowd, telling Zhao Wu to hurry up and drive.

The other mushrooms had been selectively sorted out by them into more than a boxful initially, but seeing the Matsutake, they all became desperate. It wasn’t that Matsutake were too aromatic but that the lure of money was simply too strong.

"This has me wanting to head up the mountain to pick mushrooms myself," Zhao Wu said as he crazily honked the horn to drive the car out of the street, grinning, "If I’m lucky and pick a few boxes of Matsutake, I wouldn’t have to work the rest of the year, I could just lie down and rest."

"One thousand five hundred, wow, the price of this stuff is really horrific."

"You could actually try that, a gift from nature, bestowed to those who are fated," Yang Fan said with a smile as he offered a cigarette.

Zhao Wu took the cigarette, grinning, "Don’t encourage me, man, I really can’t resist encouragement."

"If you have the time, just go and pick, why would I encourage you? It’s really a part-time job suitable for both young and old this season, and the income is quite substantial," Yang Fan said.

Zhao Wu lowered his head to calculate, "I have no reservations for tomorrow, I’ll really go up the mountain."

As the two talked, they arrived at Old Zhou’s shop.

Zhao Wu, leaning on the steering wheel, looked toward the entrance of Old Zhou’s shop and nudged Yang Fan, who was heads-down playing with his phone, whispering, "Fanzi, I think we’ve come at a bad time. Should we find a place to rest first?"

"Why?" Yang Fan lifted his head, puzzled.

Following Zhao Wu’s gaze, he suddenly understood what Zhao Wu meant.

Zhu Shanshan was furiously beating Old Zhou, with feathers flying everywhere from the feather duster.