Xia He looked at the old man's wife and said, "Auntie, I just met Uncle on the road. I ate some oranges he gave me and thought they were delicious, so I came to the village with him to buy a lot. May I ask your name, Auntie?"
The old woman looked to be in her fifties or sixties. Although her clothes were faded, she was very clean and had a kind face. From the moment Xia He entered the room, she smiled and tidied the table and poured tea for Xia He. Therefore, Xia He had a very good first impression of the old woman.
The old woman said, "My surname is Sun, and my husband's surname is Li. There are only two of us in my family. Although our place is a bit humble, I hope you won't mind. We don't have anything fancy, just some fruit that we can offer. These are some dried fruit and candied fruit that I made myself. Please try them and see if you like them." Aunt Sun smiled and handed Xia He a dried mango. Xia He took a bite and exclaimed how delicious it was! Xia He hadn't had such a flavorful dried mango in a long time!
She hurriedly said, "Auntie, I'll call you Aunt Sun! Your dried mangoes are so delicious, do you have any more? I'd like to buy some to take home." Aunt Sun replied, "It's rare to find young people who enjoy my cooking, especially since they've come all the way to the village to buy it. Why would you need to buy anything? Just tell Aunt Sun how much you want, and take as much as you like!"
Xia He was moved after hearing this. Even though Aunt Sun's family had suffered enough, they were still so kind to others. Then, thinking about the natural disasters to come, she felt sad for a while. Looking at Aunt Sun's simple mud house, which had no insulation and only an electric fan to cool it down, and which looked very old, Xia He felt a pang of sadness. She thought that in the post-apocalyptic world, they probably wouldn't survive the high temperatures, let alone the initial torrential rain and temperature drops.
Although she had witnessed the insignificance of life and the wickedness of human nature in her previous life, this was the first time Xia He had felt kindness since her rebirth, and she couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat, but she tried her best to hold it back. At this moment, Uncle Li returned with the village chief.
Uncle Li quickly introduced to Xia He, "This is our village chief, Chief Zhao. He manages all the big and small affairs of our village. If you want to make a large purchase, you can ask him to arrange it."
It was only then that Xia He realized she had gone to the wrong place. She had intended to go to Xingfu Village, but had unexpectedly ended up in Fuqiang Village! Afterwards, Village Chief Zhao and Uncle Li led Xia He on a tour of the village. The village was indeed small, with all the families living in a circle. The village was surrounded by orchards. After walking around the village, they found that there were about 30 households in the whole village, growing all kinds of fruit: oranges, apples, bananas, dragon fruit, kiwis, mangoes, strawberries, and grapes—all common fruits in the market. Most of the villagers were elderly, with only the village chief and a few other households having young people.
Therefore, most households in the village, like Uncle Li, ride tricycles to the city to sell their produce. Fruit buyers also come to collect the fruit, but because they know the situation in the village, the prices are very low. For fruit that retails for 2 yuan, the buyers only give Uncle Li and his family 3 mao (0.3 yuan). So, Uncle Li and his family usually have to ride their tricycles to the city to sell their produce themselves.
This year's harvest is exceptionally good, and the village chief is worried about what to do with the produce. If they sell it to wholesalers again, the villagers won't make any money this year. But it's a waste to let the fruit they've worked so hard to grow rot in the fields. Seeing this situation, Xia He immediately said, "I'll buy all the fruit from your village."
The village chief and Uncle Li were both shocked! "You've taken care of everything? Really?" Xia He said, "It's true. Our company is buying in very large quantities. I don't see that your village has a lot of goods. You can also join other villages to buy together. I'll buy as much as you have, and at 70% of the market price."
The village chief almost cried with excitement when he heard the price. "Girl, this is no joke! It's 70% of the market price. That's quite a lot! And you're also buying fruit from other villages around here. All these fruits, big and small, will make a fortune." Xia He replied, "Don't worry, I'll buy as much as you have."
The village chief said, "There are five villages of varying sizes around our village that grow fruit trees. Excluding Xingfu Village, whose fruit quality isn't very good, there are five villages in total, including ours. I'll contact the village chiefs of the other four villages now. Miss, can you wait here for me?" Xia He asked, "Why isn't the fruit from Xingfu Village of good quality?" Uncle Li replied, "Miss, you're from out of town, you don't know the inside story. The people in Xingfu Village aren't very virtuous. Everyone in the village only thinks about how to eat and be lazy, and doesn't work hard. So, the fruit they grow isn't very good, and many people go out to steal."
Xia He immediately understood why the shifty-eyed man she had seen loitering around the warehouse earlier that day. So she said, "My warehouse is not far from your village. As you probably know, it's the only warehouse around here. I won't see the other village chiefs. I'll leave everything to you, Village Chief Zhao. Just make sure every household pays their share. We can sign a contract and pay a deposit first. Once you've picked the fruit, just deliver it to the warehouse and let me know. I'll send someone to collect it."
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