"Mother! You have to stand up for us!" Xu Jianguo pointed at Xu Kuo, tears streaming down his face. "That ungrateful wretch! He deliberately cheated us! He bought our vegetables at a low price, and now that the price has gone up, he's making a fortune while ignoring our plight! When we asked him for some vegetables, he beat us up! Mother, look at my back! And my brother's face! He did all this to us!"
"Yes, Mother! He's a heartless beast! He even beat his own brother! Make him give us back the vegetables! Otherwise, our whole family will starve to death!" Xu Jianjun cried out, secretly glancing at Xu Kuo's expression.
Ren Hongmei looked at her two sons who were throwing a tantrum on the ground, then at her youngest son who was standing at the door with a cold expression. A trace of weariness and understanding flashed in her cloudy eyes.
How could she not know the character of her two sons? She knew perfectly well whether her younger son had advised them before harvesting the vegetables.
She sighed, her voice hoarse: "What did the third brother say to you before he harvested the vegetables?"
Xu Jianguo and Xu Jianjun's crying stopped abruptly.
Ren Hongmei didn't look at them, but turned to Xu Kuo and waved her hand: "Xiao Kuo, you handle the family matters yourself. Your mother... is old and can't take care of things anymore."
After saying that, she ignored the two people groaning on the ground, turned around and shakily went back into the house, gently closing the door behind her.
Xu Jianguo and Xu Jianjun were completely dumbfounded!
Mother... Mother is actually abandoning them?! And leaving Xu Kuo to handle it himself?!
It's over! It's completely over!
The color drained from their faces instantly, leaving only boundless despair and regret.
If I had known this would happen, why did I sell the vegetables to Xu Kuo for such a small gain? Why did I listen to the lies of Tan Wang and Shi Jixing? And why did I come to Xu Kuo's house to cause a scene?!
I regret it so much! I'm kicking myself!
"Xiao Kuo! Third brother! Good brother!" Xu Jianguo suddenly turned around and kowtowed to Xu Kuo. "Brother was wrong! Brother was really wrong! Please, for the sake of our parents, for the sake of us being brothers, please forgive me this time! Give me a way out!"
"Yes! We know we were wrong! We'll kowtow to you!" Xu Jianjun also kowtowed repeatedly, his forehead quickly becoming red and swollen. "As long as you're willing to give us vegetables, from now on... from now on, the two of us brothers will serve you like slaves!"
Looking at this belated and cheap repentance, Xu Kuo felt nothing but laughter.
Why didn't you do this sooner?
He glanced at the two of them coldly. "Want some vegetables? Easy."
Their eyes lit up suddenly, thinking there was hope.
“You can buy them at the village entrance or the town’s vegetable market.” Xu Kuo twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing an almost cruel smile. “Just pay for them yourself.”
"You..." Xu Jianguo couldn't catch his breath and almost fainted.
Xu Jianjun was so angry that he was trembling all over.
"Bang!"
Xu Kuo gave them no further chances, turned around, and slammed the courtyard gate shut, completely shutting out those two desperate and distorted faces.
Outside the door, after a brief silence, even more vicious curses erupted.
"Xu Kuo! You damned bastard! May you die a horrible death!"
"You ungrateful wretch! You'll get your comeuppance!"
The villagers watching the spectacle were also discussing it, and many of them echoed the sentiments.
"Sigh, Xu Kuo is too heartless, after all, he is his own brother."
"Exactly! With vegetables so expensive these days, isn't this driving people to despair?"
"He has so many dishes, what's wrong with sharing some?"
However, no matter how much they shouted and cursed outside, there was no movement inside the courtyard. After cursing for a while, seeing that Xu Kuo was determined not to come out, Xu Jianguo and Xu Jianjun could only support each other and limp away.
The villagers who had been watching the spectacle gradually dispersed, realizing they were getting bored.
In the courtyard, Jiang Xiuying looked at Xu Kuo with concern: "Really... not even a little bit?"
Xu Kuo shook his head. "A merciful person cannot command an army, nor can a righteous person manage finances. If you show leniency to this kind of person even once, the consequences will be endless. Let's go, we still have important matters to attend to."
Afterwards, Xu Kuo led Jiang Xiuya out quietly through the back door and arrived at a secluded open space at the back of the village.
Niu Erbao, Tan Wang, and several other people who had worked with Xu Kuo before were already waiting there, with baskets of fresh, green vegetables piled up next to them.
“Master!” Niu Erbao’s eyes lit up.
"Brother Xu!" Tan Wang now completely admires Xu Kuo.
"Is everything ready?" Xu Kuo glanced at the dishes.
"Don't worry, Master! Everything has been divided up as you instructed!" Niu Erbao patted his chest and assured him.
“Okay.” Xu Kuo nodded. “Niu Erbao, take a few men and take these vegetables to the village entrance to sell. Remember, the price should be 10% lower than the price at the town market, but not too low.”
"clear!"
"Tan Wang, pick a few smart guys and come with me."
"yes!"
Soon, Niu Erbao and his group arrived at the most conspicuous spot at the village entrance with several large baskets of vegetables on a cart and laid them out.
"Selling vegetables! Fresh vegetables! Cheap sale!"
The shout was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake.
It's important to understand that since the town announced the availability of the special medicine, vegetable prices have dropped accordingly, but that's only relative to the previous sky-high prices. For ordinary villagers, it's still an unbearable burden.
In order to cut their losses, every household had already sold off most of their stock, and now it is the time when there is a shortage of vegetables.
Upon hearing that someone was selling vegetables at the village entrance and that they were cheap, many villagers immediately gathered around excitedly.
Where? Where can I buy vegetables?
How much is it per pound?
However, when they squeezed forward and saw that the vegetable seller was Niu Erbao, and that Xu Kuo's figure could be vaguely seen next to him, their excited expressions instantly froze and then turned into anger!
"It's Xu Kuo?!"
"He still has the nerve to come out and sell vegetables?!"
"Xu Kuo! You liar! You've cheated us so badly!" An old man who had previously sold vegetables to Xu Kuo at a low price was trembling with anger as he pointed at Xu Kuo and berated him.
"You knew vegetable prices were going to go up, yet you deliberately bought our vegetables at inflated prices! Now look what's happened—the miracle drug is out, vegetable prices have gone up a bit, but we're out of vegetables! And now you're out here selling vegetables at exorbitant prices! What are you up to?!"
"Exactly! Isn't this a scam?!"
"Xu Kuo! Give us back the vegetables we sold to you!"
"Yes! Give it back to us!"
The villagers were outraged and condemned Xu Kuo.
Xu Kuo stepped out from behind Niu Erbao. Facing the angry faces, he merely sneered, "Trying to cheat you? When I was buying vegetables, you were begging me to buy them. It was a willing buyer and a willing seller, so how did it become me cheating you?"
These words left many villagers speechless. Indeed, they had only admitted to being afraid the vegetables would rot in their hands, and the other party hadn't forced them. Although they felt aggrieved, they knew they were in the wrong.
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