Song Tan's Notes

What can the leader do?
Sometimes leaders also want to find someone to stand up for them.

Township and village officials, especially those working with the villagers, are constantly preoccupied with legal troubles and bizarre incidents.

The joy of selling these grapes barely lasted two days before the pain returned.

Please, can't he just report the good news to his boss?

The leaders closed their eyes, wishing it were all an illusion.

But the noisy, tangled group of buyers and villagers were right in front of them.

This sudden commotion left Gu Laosan, who was just about to take action, stunned in place.

This……

This……

He wiped away his tears again, and looked helplessly at his leader once more: his grapes…

The leaders don't have time to care!

After dealing with yours, deal with yours, and after dealing with yours, then deal with yours...

In short, everyone sighed:
"what happened again?"

Just this one word, "again," can convey the bitterness and helplessness of hundreds of words.

The others sighed and continued to offer their advice in a gentle and persuasive manner:

"Let's get straight to the point. We'll discuss how to handle this after we understand the situation. What kind of mess did they make of getting into a fight?"

He lowered his voice again: "If anyone accidentally makes the first move, they'll be in the wrong even if they're in the right. Wouldn't you be wronged?"

Upon hearing this, everyone unanimously let go.

The leader then noticed a familiar face among the seven or eight people who had rushed forward and said:

"What's going on? And you, Liu Xiaomin, your grapes are ripe by now, why aren't you setting up a stall or thinking about selling them... What, are you really going to let them rot in the field?"

"Even if all else fails, you can still earn some money by packing food! Isn't that more respectable than loafing around in the village all day, borrowing from one neighbor and sponging off another?"

Liu Xiaomin, who was originally angry, not only didn't feel ashamed when he heard the leader speak, but instead chuckled:
"Oh dear, boss, you know I have a chronic health problem. In this heat, there isn't even a fan in the vineyard. I'm afraid I won't be able to stand sitting there tending to the grapes."

What's wrong?
I broke my leg a while ago and was limping for quite a while. Now I can't even walk properly... What does that have to do with you packing up for work?!

There's really nothing you can do when you encounter someone like that.

The leader glared at him, thinking to himself that he was talking nonsense!

If it's not hard work, how can they charge 35 yuan an hour? You can't even get that much working in a factory!

It's all right here in my neighborhood; I can just sit there and earn enough for two days' worth of food!

He had a million things to say, but what could he do in the face of such a stubborn person?
With a headache, I had no choice but to steer the conversation back to the topic: "Tell me, what happened?"

The buyers had completely released their grip on each other and were glaring at each other, about to speak, when Liu Xiaomin blurted out:
"Those guys didn't keep their word!"

"We agreed on 3 yuan per jin for the whole garden, big or small, ripe or unripe, I'll take it all. Boss, you know, those livestreamers are offering 30 or 50 yuan per jin, and I haven't even complained about their low price!"

"The results of it?"

“These people just strolled around the park and then abandoned it! Boss, if you don’t stand up for me, then there’s really nothing I can say!”

Liu Xiaomin spoke with conviction, his voice burning even in the sweltering heat, showing no sign of embarrassment.

"To save myself the trouble, I had them rent out the entire park, and I didn't even participate in the live-streaming sales!"

The leader remained expressionless, thinking to himself, "How dare you say that!"

The buyer was squatting on the ground every day. How could they not know whether you were involved or not? Sure enough, the buyer also felt very wronged.

They admitted that they wanted to get a small bargain and snag a good deal.

Isn't that how every business owner operates?

They also knew that the grapes these villagers had were the ones the livestreamer hadn't chosen.

But since we're all from the same place, isn't it easy to follow the crowd when doing things?
You manage your farm the same way, and so will I; your grapes grow big, and mine are just as good.
This is true for most crops.

Why did they specifically target these particular orchards? The orchards, upon seeing this, remained completely silent.

If there's no management, the grapes are all over the place, some big, some small, some sparse, some dense.

This Liu Xiaomin knows nothing. He had a bunch of grapes that were all crowded together and the grapes were deformed, but he still wanted to show them off and say that they were solid!
The buyers were extremely aggrieved:

"Boss, if I buy a whole vineyard for 3 yuan a pound of grapes like those, where's the profit? I'd be losing 2.5 yuan a pound!"

"Take a couple of steps forward, and you'll see roadside stalls in the next county town selling better quality produce for only 3 yuan a pound. If I were to buy their entire garden, they'd be happy to pay 5 yuan... I'd rather buy from them!"

The buyers initially lurked in the villages, waiting for people to come and offering low prices, which was unethical of them.

But the current market situation is indeed very real.

Unfortunately, grapes are planted everywhere, and they're really worthless this year.

But as soon as they finished complaining, Liu Xiaomin frowned, and several villagers gathered around:
"Why didn't you say so earlier? My vineyard is right there. You agreed to it without even looking at it first. How come you went back on your word after we had already discussed it?"

"Let me tell you, you think you can bully the people of our village? No way!"

The buyers are getting tougher!

If the whole village were to gather together, they would inevitably have to spend money to avoid disaster.

But the problem is that there are only so many people around – most people are busy working and packing grapes to make money, so they don't have time for this.
The leader is right there; if I get bullied, I won't be able to justify it!

Therefore, he stiffened his neck and raised his chin: "You want me to lose money in business? No way!"

“I’m here with the leader today, and I think those guys from your village, all the same kind of scoundrels! They’re always bullying outsiders like me…”

The leader, expressionless, instinctively replied, "...They're in cahoots, birds of a feather."

He pointed out, wiping his sweaty face again, unable to understand why the position he had worked so hard to get to was like this.

The buyer, however, perked up: "Yes! Yes! That's the word! Birds of a feather! Leaders, you guys are so cultured—tell me, if we business people all encountered people like you, things wouldn't have escalated to this point!"

The leader glanced at him.

Thinking to myself, if they were to encounter the way you guys were initially offering prices around the village, they would really lose everything.

Outside the crowd, Gu Laosan looked around blankly, then at that, and finally hesitated:

"My grapes..."

But the villagers started making a fuss again, shouting and clamoring together, leaving the leaders sweating profusely and feeling utterly miserable.

The acquirers, on the other hand, stood by the leaders and were emboldened.

Anyway, the money is in their hands, and they refuse to hand it over, so nobody can take it away! If the villagers dare to make a move, then we'll call the police immediately!
In this way, he could speak with much more authority than the villagers.

Now he even had time to glance at Gu Laosan, who was standing blankly to the side—

Huh?
The buyers seem to have discovered a business opportunity again:

Wasn't this person selling grapes in the live stream? Why are his eyes red and swollen, and his face looks disheveled, like he's been crying? (End of Chapter)