The village chief looked completely bewildered. "How would I know?"

“They’re male,” Chu Yang said with certainty. “Listen to their calls, so powerful and resonant, they’re definitely male ducks.”

"Female."

Yan Jie glared at him unhappily and retorted forcefully, "Didn't you see those two mallards rushing over? If they were two male ducks, do you think they would still be so attentive?"

Chu Yang stepped aside, and two mallards flapped their wings and rushed over. When they saw the two bound-foot ducks, they went over and kept touching their heads.

He was speechless with defeat.

In front of everyone, Yan Jie turned to Jiang Hexi and said, "These two pairs of ducks are for you."

"Give it to me?!"

Jiang Hexi was so shocked that her voice cracked at the end, and she quickly waved her hand in refusal:

"I have no interest in raising ducks, so I won't take what others love. Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. I appreciate it."

Yan Jie raised his eyebrows unhappily and said, "I spared the lives of these two mallards because of something you said back then."

Jiang Hexi became anxious, "Then you can't pin their lives on me!"

Are you going to buy this duck?

"No, we won't accept it."

Yan Jie declared, "If you don't accept them, you'll kill them."

Jiang Hexi was so angry she was about to die.

Seeing that they were at an impasse, Chu Yang asked, "Brother, sister, if you decide to kill these ducks, I'll take them inside for Auntie to deal with."

The village chief asked curiously, "What business is it of yours whether other people's ducks live or die?"

Chu Yang said with a wronged expression, "Ever since my brother brought these two mallards back, I've been feeding them rice bran twice a day, cleaning the duck cage, and taking care of the rest. My brother is only responsible for walking the ducks around and feeding them a few cabbages every day."

The village chief said knowingly, "So you care more about the life or death of these ducks than anyone else."

Yan Jie urged, "Give me an answer: is this duck dead or alive?"

Fearing that his persistent pestering would arouse suspicion, Jiang Hexi threw out a remark and walked back to the living room:

"Keep raising them. If anything happens to my ducks, I'll hold you accountable."

Chu Yang boldly made a request: "Brother... could I... not raise ducks?"

The smile in Yan Jie's eyes vanished, and he spoke coldly, "Do you know why I made you feed the ducks?"

Chu Yang looked at him with a completely bewildered expression.

"If you don't know, go back and think about it."

Yan Jie deliberately kept everyone in suspense, saying, "When you figure it out, you won't need to feed the ducks anymore."

I bet ten packs of spicy strips that Xiaobaiyang will never figure this out in his entire life!

[The King of Hell is so cunning! Doesn't his conscience hurt at bullying Little White Poplar like this? Okay, he has no heart.]

[Could a seasoned fan of farming-themed content please explain why Yan Wang (King Yan) sent ducks to Xi Mei (Xi Mei)?]

[Yan Wang caught ducks so that Xi Mei could have a bowl of old duck soup; he raised ducks because Xi Mei wanted to keep them alive; and he found a mother duck so that Xi Mei could eat boiled duck eggs every day.]

[The Yanxi CP fans upstairs are talking nonsense. If you insist on asking for a reason, then the duck originally belonged to Ximei.]

As an outsider, let me say something fair: Yan Wang, that straight man, is hopeless in pursuing Xi Mei like this. Sigh...

The aunt killed the chicken that the village chief had brought and quickly made a plate of spicy chicken, which she then served on the table.

The five-member chaebol group invited the village chief and three assistants to stay for dinner.

"Xi-mei, thank you for helping Canglang Village out of this predicament today," the village chief said, offering her a toast with water instead of wine.

"It's what I should do."

Jiang Hexi stood up and clinked glasses with him. After drinking the water in her glass, she suddenly asked:

"Village chief, where did you get the money to distribute Mid-Autumn Festival benefits to every household?"

“The village rents out orchards, ponds, hills and fields every year, and uses this money to give welfare to the whole village during festivals.”

Chu Yang reacted extremely quickly, the words blurting out without thinking:

"So this is all property rented to us, village chief. You're just taking advantage of us like sheep."

The village chief couldn't chew the spicy chicken he was eating, and then he choked on the chili peppers, turning around and coughing violently.

Yu Xiangwan picked up a piece of chives with her chopsticks and put it into Chu Yang's bowl. "Eat your food, stop talking so much nonsense."

Chu Yang put a mouthful of rice in his mouth and shut himself up.

Seeing that the village chief's face had turned a deep purplish-red from coughing, Jiang Hexi continued to ask:

"Village chief, you brought us a gift package of rice, oil, chicken, and duck. What did you give Director Chen?"

“He’s not from the village, so there’s no way to give him Mid-Autumn Festival benefits.”

"We're not from the village either."

The village chief, thinking himself clever, said, "In my heart, I already consider you all as one of my own villagers."

“Village chief, actually we are outsiders, Director Chen is your one and only.”

Jiang Hexi stubbornly corrected his statement, saying:

"Without Director Chen, this free-range chicken farm, orchard pond, and thousands of acres of wheat fields definitely wouldn't have been rented for such a high price."

The village chief froze once again. Even though he hadn't eaten anything, he still coughed, turned around, and coughed for a long time, almost coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Yu Xiangwan placed a chicken leg on Jiang Hexi's plate, tapped the rim of her bowl, and urged her, "Eat."

Jiang Hexi picked up her bowl and ate with a displeased expression.

[The village chief's inner roar: When will this end?! Are we even allowed to eat?!]

Xi Mei and Xiao Baiyang secretly held a grudge against the village chief, seizing every opportunity to retaliate.

These siblings have amazing chemistry; even the look in their eyes when they were forced to eat at the end conveyed a subtle "You just wait, this isn't over" kind of shrewdness.

After finishing his meal, the village chief led three assistants and fled from the stone courtyard as if they were escaping.

Chu Yang, carrying a handful of sample gift boxes of mooncakes, chased after them out into the courtyard, calling out to their retreating figures as he went:

"Village chief, you haven't taken the mooncakes we gave you yet?"

"No need, you can keep it for yourselves."

Chu Yang then held up the gift boxes of mooncakes in his hands and presented them to Jiang Hexi:

"Sister, the village chief didn't want our mooncakes."

"Then send it to Director Chen."

Why send mooncakes to Director Chen?

As soon as Jiang Hexi said this, all the staff present fell silent:

"These are the mooncakes that were slightly undercooked. We'll send as many as we can to Director Chen. Once he tastes them and realizes that they taste almost exactly the same as the first batch of mooncakes we sold to them, we'll have achieved our goal."

Director Chen stood behind the camera, already feeling incredibly anxious.

It turns out that these slightly inferior mooncakes were given away for free. His more than 10,000 yuan was all wasted, and he even got himself into a laughing stock.

Chu Yang could tell from Director Chen's expression that he wouldn't accept the gift box.

So when he saw the assistant director just entering the courtyard, he immediately smiled and gave all the gift boxes to the assistant director.

The unsuspecting assistant director happily accepted the mooncakes, an action that infuriated Director Chen to the point of death.