The crowd erupted in a buzz!
Pan Dachun looked surprised and uncertain, and quickly interrupted, "You're just a greenhorn, what nonsense are you spouting!"
"Brother Dachun, what's the rush? The child is so old, how could he be talking nonsense?"
Li Jin felt a sense of relief when he saw his second son successfully turn the situation around. When he saw Pan Dachun trying to stop his second son, he quickly used the same words that Pan Dachun had used to shut him up to shut him up.
"I can't say for sure who this person is today."
Li Xiangdong said it was hard to say, but his eyes kept glancing at Pan Dachun. As he looked at him, he said, "My brother and I were craving some fruit, so we thought we'd catch a few cicada nymphs to roast and eat at night. But a few nights ago, when we were near your peach orchard, we saw some people sneaking around carrying away several large baskets of peaches."
"We brothers were just curious. Who doesn't work during the day? Why are we doing this so secretly? Someone must be stealing peaches!"
“As members of the Communist Youth League, protecting socialist property is our duty. So we followed them quietly and saw that Pan Jiqing closed the garden gate after they left.”
“We’ve seen this for four or five days in a row; people are transporting peaches out every day.”
"I happened to go to the county town yesterday, and guess what, uncles and aunts?"
"I saw someone selling expensive fruit. The peaches were all the size of a fist, white with a hint of red, and very juicy. They were selling for seven cents a pound, almost the price of eggs. The fruit seller told me that these were peaches from Panjiazhuang Brigade, famous for their fragrance and sweetness for miles around!"
"Those peaches sold so well, they were all snapped up in no time. Uncles and aunts of Panjiazhuang, as far as I know, most of the peaches from your brigade are supplied to the city as a specialty of Huichuan, with only a small portion supplied to the county supply and marketing cooperative. Even our commune rarely sees them, right? How come the peaches from your brigade are being sold at high prices on the black market, and they're all top-quality peaches?"
"Captain Pan said that you lost more than a thousand catties of peaches this year. Look at the peaches left in the orchard now, tsk tsk tsk, they are small, green, and of poor quality. Where did all the good peaches go?"
"I simply cannot believe that those three children stole them! I'm not exaggerating when I say that Pan Jiqing is right under my nose, but who could possibly steal over a thousand catties of peaches?"
"But we lost over a thousand pounds of peaches! Sigh, it's terrifying to think about!"
The last phrase, learned from the TV series "Empresses in the Palace," was recited by Li Xiangdong with great relish, evoking deep thought.
The crowd erupted in discussion, with one person saying, "I saw plenty of good peaches when I was picking them a few days ago, but when I came back the next day, they were all gone. I was wondering why."
"That's right, that's right. I know which tree has a high yield and produces the best quality peaches. This year, all the peaches are of poor quality and the yield is very small. They've probably been stolen."
"These kids could steal so many peaches? Humph, they might really be thieves among themselves!"
"Pan Jiqing is capable because he has powerful backers!"
"Don't say that. Maybe this kid is trying to smear the brigade leader. Are you suggesting we trust outsiders instead of our own people?"
"Hehe, let this kid take us to the county town and ask the people selling expensive fruit, then we'll know!"
Seeing the commotion, Pan Dachun knew something was wrong. He quickly coughed loudly, walked up to Li Xiangdong, and whispered, "Xiangdong, are you seeing things? Jiqing has never made a mistake in watching over the peaches all these years. How could someone be stealing peaches? Don't talk nonsense!"
"Uncle Dachun, so no one stole the peaches! Then my brother and the others..."
"It's all a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! No one stole the peaches! Pan Jiqing has misjudged the situation!"
"Oh, we misread it. So they didn't take our baskets?"
"Return them all! Return them all!"
"My brother and the others are feeling dizzy and nauseous?"
"Send him to the hospital for a checkup, we'll pay whatever it costs!" Pan Dachun gritted his teeth, realizing he had really lost more than he gained.
“Then it’s a deal! But we don’t have money to go to the hospital…” Li Xiangdong pinched his index and middle fingers together with his thumb.
"I'll have Jiwen bring you ten dollars in a bit."
"Ten yuan isn't enough, is it?"
"Twenty, thirty, fifty!" Pan Dachun's heart was bleeding.
"Thirty per person," Li Xiangdong quoted a fixed price.
"You, you, you...deal!"
When will you get paid?
"I'll give it to you in three days, after I've collected all the pieces."
"It's a deal. If I don't see the money in three days, I'll have a serious talk with the men of Panjiazhuang."
The two reached a deal. Pan Dachun cleared his throat and faced the murmuring crowd of people from Panjiazhuang.
"Quiet down, quiet down. The weather was bad this year, with a lot of rain, and the peaches all fell off, so the yield was low. It's not that anyone stole the peaches!"
We farmers depend on the weather for our livelihood; if the weather doesn't allow us to harvest, there's nothing we can do.
Xiang Dong thought about it again and realized he was wrong; no one was stealing peaches at all!
"Xiang Dong, you go and tell everyone."
The last sentence was spoken to Li Xiangdong, and the deliberately amiable tone gave Li Xiangdong goosebumps.
"Hey everyone, uncles and aunts, I think I made a mistake. That basket doesn't contain peaches, it contains weeds that have been cleared."
Li Xiangdong's tone was subtle.
Faced with Li Xiangdong's change of heart, some people were skeptical, some didn't believe him at all, while others were determined to secretly investigate the matter of the missing peaches.
Not to mention the different thoughts of the people in Panjiazhuang Brigade.
Li Xiangdong smiled slightly as he watched Pan Dachun busy putting out the fire, and then he and his father led the others away.
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