After all, it was Liu Yuan who introduced him. Even if he was being lied to, he could still go to Liu Yuan, so he wouldn't lose out.

Liu Yuan was completely shocked by Xu Kuo. Although she knew that Xu Kuo was not short of money, she did not expect him to be so generous, throwing away two thousand yuan without even blinking.

"Xu Kuo, aren't you being too... too hasty?" Liu Yuan couldn't help but advise, "This is no small sum of money; you need to think it over carefully!"

After all, a project like this would cost around a thousand, not two thousand.

Xu Kuo waved his hand, indicating that she didn't need to worry, but his eyes turned to Captain Wang: "Captain Wang, this isn't a one-off deal for me. We'll have many more opportunities to cooperate in the future."

Upon hearing this, Captain Wang was overjoyed.

He grabbed Xu Kuo's hand, so excited he was almost incoherent: "Oh, Comrade Xu, you are truly my benefactor! Don't worry, if you need anything in the future, just let me know! If I, Wang, even frown, I'm not Wang!"

"By the way, Comrade Xu, are you free? There's a pretty good restaurant in town, I'd like to treat you, how about it?"

In his excitement, half of a rusty necklace slipped out of Captain Wang's pocket, reflecting a dim light in the sunlight.

[Ding! Special item detected, worth 300 points!]

The system notification suddenly rang in Xu Kuo's mind, startling him.

Xu Kuo suppressed his inner elation, but his face remained impassive.

He politely declined Captain Wang's enthusiastic invitation to dinner, and pointed to the broken necklace, saying, "Captain Wang, this necklace..."

Captain Wang and Liu Yuan both looked at the rusty necklace with some confusion, not understanding why Xu Kuo was suddenly interested in it.

"Oh, you mean this?" Captain Wang scratched his head. "I picked it up by the roadside a couple of days ago. It looked rather nice, so I just put it in my pocket."

Without thinking much, he took off the necklace and handed it to Xu Kuo: "If you like it, take it. It's not anything valuable."

Xu Kuo accepted the necklace, his heart filled with joy, but his face remained calm.

After seeing off the overjoyed Captain Wang, Xu Kuo immediately set off to find his apprentice, Niu Erbao.

After seeing Niu Erbao in the farmland, Xu Kuo stopped him.

"Master? What brings you here? Don't worry, I've taken good care of your farmland."

As he spoke, Niu Erbao grinned and pointed to the farmland. Xu Kuo was somewhat moved, after all, Niu Erbao was indeed taking good care of their family's farmland.

"Erbao, you don't need to watch over my farmland anymore. You can watch over my fishpond instead. I'll give you half of the profits from the fishpond." Xu Kuo thought to himself that Niu Erbao was an honest and reliable young man, and he felt at ease entrusting the fishpond to him.

Upon hearing this, Niu Erbao was taken aback at first, then waved his hands repeatedly: "Master, this is unacceptable! I am already extremely grateful that you are willing to teach me how to plow the land, how can I possibly take your money?"

“Just take it, why are you being so polite with me?” Xu Kuo pretended to be angry. “Besides, your master has more important things to do in the future, so I’m leaving this fishpond to you.”

Seeing Xu Kuo's resolute attitude, Niu Erbao had no choice but to agree. The two then parted ways and went home.

As soon as Niu Erbao entered the house, he told his family about it.

"What? You're being sent to watch the fishpond? And we're giving you half the profits?" Niu Erbao's mother, Zhang Guifang, was the first to jump up, her voice sharp and piercing.

"You silly boy, you're being sold out and you're still helping them count the money! That Xu Kuo is obviously no good. He's trying to tie you to that lousy fishpond and ruin your life!"

"That's right, Erbao, you can't make a foolish mistake!"

“Our few acres of land are still lying fallow. Why aren’t you farming them? Why are you going to look after the fishpond? Isn’t this just fooling around?”

The rest of the family also chimed in with their own opinions, all thinking that Niu Erbao had been fooled by Xu Kuo.

"Mother, stop talking!" Niu Erbao argued loudly, his neck stiff. "Master saved my life and taught me how to farm. He wouldn't harm me! Please believe me this once!"

"Believe you? I think you've been bewitched by that Xu Kuo!" Zhang Guifang stomped her feet in anger and pointed at Niu Erbao's nose while cursing.

"You unfilial son! You're ignoring your parents for the sake of an outsider! Look at you, your own land is overgrown with weeds, and you still have the mind to meddle in other people's business!"

"Do you know that you've been so busy tending to other people's land these past few days that our own land is almost overgrown with weeds?"

Despite Zhang Guifang's rebuke, Niu Erbao remained unmoved and determined to help Xu Kuo guard the fishpond.

Seeing this, Zhang Guifang became angry and ignored Niu Erbao. The others also shook their heads and sighed.

The next morning, as the sun shone brightly on the earth, Xu Kuo strolled leisurely to his farmland.

Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps approached, accompanied by sharp curses.

Xu Kuo frowned slightly and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see Zhang Guifang rushing angrily toward him.

"You damned Xu Kuo! Give me back my son!" Zhang Guifang rushed forward, grabbed Xu Kuo's sleeve, and spat in his face.

Xu Kuo was puzzled. What was wrong with this old woman? He suppressed his displeasure and coldly warned, "Zhang Guifang, show me some respect! If you dare to cause trouble again, don't blame me for being impolite!"

Zhang Guifang wouldn't listen; instead, she became even more arrogant, yelling at the top of her lungs, "Hey everyone, come quick! This Xu Kuo is a scoundrel! He tricked my son into working for him for free, and he's ruined our farming! You all have to be the judge!"

This shout, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, instantly attracted the attention of the villagers working nearby. Everyone put down their farm work and gathered around to see what had happened.

Seeing that there were many people around, Zhang Guifang became even more excited and cried her heart out.

“My second son is such a good child, honest, hardworking and capable! But ever since he followed Xu Kuo, he’s been absent-minded all day long, and he doesn’t even care about the work in his own fields! That Xu Kuo is a heartless scoundrel, treating my son like a beast of burden!”

As she spoke, Zhang Guifang cried even louder.

Upon hearing this, the villagers immediately erupted in uproar.

"Xu Kuo, this is so dishonest! Erbao is such an honest child, how could you bear to cheat him?"

"That's right, you don't farm your own land, but come here to work for you for free, don't you have any shame?"

"I think he's a shameless person. We can't let him bully the people of our village!"

Faced with the accusations of the crowd, Xu Kuo's face turned ashen.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and retorted in a deep voice, "Zhang Guifang, stop making baseless accusations! When did I ever make Erbao work for free? He wanted to come with me himself, and everyone in the village knows that!"

"Besides, I haven't treated him badly!"

"Pah! Who would believe your nonsense!" Zhang Guifang didn't believe it at all. She sat down on the ground and started throwing a tantrum.

"Oh dear, why is my life so miserable! My son has been cheated, and no one is farming the land. I can't live like this anymore!"