night.

When Lin Ziyan returned home, Aunt Chen and Aunt Huang were waiting for her in the main room.

Their panicked expressions showed that the situation was urgent.

She walked inside without making a sound, a smile playing at the corners of her eyes.

"Ah Yan, you're finally back! The shrimp paste and oil have been bought up at a high price. They're not even keeping any stock from the nearby market. It's obvious they're after us," Aunt Huang said with a worried expression.

Aunt Chen's heart leaped into her throat. She opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

"They even took away the goods we had already signed a contract for at a high price?" Lin Ziyan asked casually.

Atai's cloudy eyes flickered as he glanced at her, and his heart settled.

Aunt Chen said, "It's all my fault. When they said they would deliver the goods a few days later, I agreed without thinking. Now we're in such a passive position."

She was so worried that she couldn't even swallow her dinner. She drank some soup and rushed to the Lin family's main room to wait.

Unfortunately, Lin Ziyan came home late again today.

She was completely lost and stared blankly at the door until Lin Ziyan returned.

"Well, it's quite late today. You should go back first, and we can think of a solution tomorrow." Lin Ziyan's expression remained unchanged, her eyes indifferent.

Aunt Chen was about to speak when Aunt Huang stopped her.

She had been feeling uneasy about this. If she had told Ayan earlier, would she not be in such a passive position now?

A hint of suspicion flashed in Aunt Huang's eyes, but she didn't say anything.

Night fell, the sky was dotted with stars, and the cool moonlight shone on the village paths, casting shadows of eaves and trees.

Having adapted to the darkness, it is as bright as day under the moonlight.

On the alley near the shrimp paste factory, shadowy figures were everywhere, with several dark silhouettes appearing like illusions.

"Both factories are out of raw materials?" A man's voice was deep and sinister.

"No," another timid voice replied.

"The next delivery is in 5 days, right?" that gloomy voice rose again.

"Yes, then it took two or three days afterward."

The figure seemed frozen in place, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind.

A moment later, the two figures disappeared down the path and parted ways at the fork in the road.

…

the next day.

Lin Ziyan went to the seafood market early in the morning, as if she was deliberately avoiding Aunt Chen.

The atmosphere at the Chen family's house was incredibly tense; even Er Gouzi didn't dare turn on the TV.

When the chubby girl returned home for lunch, she found her mother sitting in the yard in a daze, looking much like her father when his shrimp farm went bankrupt.

Her heart skipped a beat. She quickly walked over and sat down beside him, frowning as she asked...

"Mother, why didn't you go to the factory today?"

Aunt Chen came to her senses, her eyes slightly red, and she held back the soreness in her nose.

She can now understand how the child's father felt at the time; that panic and helplessness was incredibly overwhelming.

"Something happened at the factory, so it's closed today..." Aunt Chen simply told everyone what had happened at the factory.

She sighed after she finished speaking, feeling even more guilty as she thought about not being able to find Ayan at the Lin family's house that morning.

Aunt Chen thought that Ayan had gone to find raw materials early in the morning. Feeling bitter, she could only sit in her own yard like a lost soul.

At the crucial moment, she was of no help whatsoever.

The chubby girl hesitated for a moment, then said, "Don't be too hasty."

"If they're after the shrimp paste factory, they'll definitely come knocking on our door, probably within the next couple of days."

Having done a lot of sales work, she knows a bit about the ins and outs of the business.

A glint of darkness flashed in the fat girl's eyes. The workers in the factory knew a little about how much raw material was in the factory.

They bought her at a high price a week ago and even instructed the farmers who signed contracts to postpone delivery. It was obvious they were setting a trap for her mother.

It's likely that the other party also knows that the purchasing for both factories was handled by my mother.

They have helpers in the factory...

The chubby girl offered a few words of comfort, then got up and left.

She was going to find Aunt Huang; there probably weren't many workers in the factory who knew about the orders and purchasing.

Regardless of whether we can survive this or not, this person will definitely be brought to justice.

On the other side

Lin Ziyan was sitting in her office at the seafood market, drinking milk tea.

She had no choice but to hide; Aunt Chen's emotions were written all over her face, while Aunt Huang, on the other hand, could already guess what was going on.

Wei Ting came to help yesterday, and he'll be here today to help check the data.

He paused for a moment when he saw Lin Ziyan drinking tea as soon as he entered the office.

When he left the village today, he didn't see the shrimp paste factory open, and he assumed that Lin Ziyan was training the factory workers.

After acquiring the shrimp paste factory, all the workers recruited were trained before they could start working.

"Ah Yan," Wei Ting stepped forward to greet her.

“Brother Ting.” Lin Ziyan smiled calmly when she saw him.

Wei Ting quickly waved his hand, "Don't call me that, it makes me feel guilty."

Even when his fellow villagers who had always followed him shouted at him like that, he could pretend not to care.

But now that Lin Ziyan is his boss, he always feels unworthy of that title.

"Don't mention it, we're all family." Lin Ziyan poured him a cup of tea.

When she arrived at the seafood market, she heard from Brother Jian that Wei Ting and the others had helped a lot the day before.

Of course, Lin Ziyan wouldn't treat them unfairly; those who helped yesterday all received large red envelopes.

Wei Ting raised an eyebrow, and without being polite, sat down on the other side and began to check the data.

Yesterday was too rushed; I only recorded the money collected and the weights in a notebook.

Afterwards, Ah Jian treated everyone to dinner at the food street, but we didn't have time to check the numbers.

Not long after he started, Ah Jian, who had gone to patrol the field, returned.

"Yesterday's batch of goods was snapped up, and many bosses who couldn't make it complained that we weren't notified earlier."

"Ah Yan, we made a killing yesterday, and the stall owners also gained a lot of goodwill from our regular customers." Ah Jian sat down, his eyes shining, and he was quite excited.

He didn't know before that ocean-going ships could catch so much high-quality seafood; he just thought it wasn't worth risking their lives.

But after he finished the final accounting yesterday, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.

A single voyage can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars, no wonder so many people want to board ships for deep-sea fishing.

Yesterday's prices were still being pushed down; if they hadn't been pushed down, they could have doubled.

"They have a good eye," Lin Ziyan said with a faint smile.

Her eyes sparkled with a faint light, and her resolve hardened.

For the next two days, Lin Ziyan went to the fish farm or the electronics store and didn't stay at home at all.

Two days later, news spread through the town that a batch of chili peppers and garlic were for sale at five times the previous purchase price.

5 times?

This price is right at the profit margin of shrimp paste.

When Aunt Chen arrived at the Lin family home after receiving the news, Lin Ziyan was whispering something to someone.

She waited until that person left before she walked over.

"Aunt Chen, I knew about the news in town before you did. We can't accept that shipment." Lin Ziyan cut her off before she could speak.

Aunt Chen, "..."

The evening breeze still carried a hint of warmth, but she felt a chill on her back.

She has been suffering greatly these past two days and can only wait helplessly.

If we buy this batch of goods and can deliver them on time, it won't be a loss.

What she couldn't have imagined was that the purpose of buying back the items at such a high price was simply to make money from the price difference.

She hadn't expected it, but Lin Ziyan had already thought of it.