Abandoned the Immortal Cultivator, returned to his hometown to farm and sing

Chapter 1372. The Little Girl

"What are they trying to do! What are they trying to do! What are they trying to do?!"

"I can't understand it! I absolutely can't understand it!"

imperial capital.

In the war room.

A think tank expert threw down the documents in his hand and shouted angrily.

The others didn't react much; they were used to it.

Because what's been happening lately is so strange.

In just one month, no, in twenty-six days.

International wheat prices rose from 629 cents per bushel to 880 cents per bushel, an increase of 40%.

International corn prices rose from 686 cents per bushel to 919 cents per bushel, an increase of 34%.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index reached 159 points, the highest level since the organization began tracking it in 1990, with a year-on-year increase of 33.6%.

Such a rapid increase in such a short period of time is unprecedented, even more exaggerated than when the two countries went to war a few years ago.

The problem is that, according to the same emergency announcement from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, global grain stocks reached 8.682 million tons this month. While not the highest level in history, it is still a significant amount.

Since April this year, international grain prices have been declining. Theoretically, with the peak season for new grain in the Northern Hemisphere in August and September, global supply should have increased significantly, and international grain prices should have been at their lowest point of the year.

But this year, with a significant increase in inventory, the war stabilizing, and nothing major happening.

It suddenly surged in a short period of time.

No need to ask, someone must be behind this.

It must have been those big grain traders and their backers, like John Wall Street, who were behind it all.

But why?

What benefit do they get from manipulating grain prices?
Yes, things have been a bit unpleasant lately.

The East has a grain self-sufficiency rate of over 100%, ensuring absolute food security and not having to rely on international grain traders.

No matter how high you rise, you won't hurt a single hair on the East's head.

If we're going to do something, we should do soybeans... Oh, the soybean deal has fallen through.

There's nothing else we can do besides produce grain.

Of the more than 800 million tons of grain reserves globally, 420 million tons remain after deducting the 440 million tons in the East.

Grain is something that doesn't keep well, and storing grain is very expensive.

If we keep holding onto them and don't sell, the costs will only keep piling up.

Moreover, it's obvious to anyone with eyes to see that the current surge in grain prices is being artificially inflated through financial means.

The amount of money involved is definitely massive, in the hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars.

And it certainly can't last long.

It could collapse at any time, and then it would be an avalanche. In the long run, doing things this way will definitely result in losses.

This "long period" will last at most six months, and at most until the spring grain harvest next year.

They couldn't possibly not understand.

So... why is that?

It's better for them to do nothing than to take action, so why insist on manipulating grain prices?

What?
Before starting a war, should you stab yourself twice?

Was Dongfang afraid because blood was gushing from his body?

It doesn't make sense.

……

"boom!"

The conference room door was kicked open.

Uncle Li burst in, waving a few sheets of paper in his hand.

He shouted as he entered, "We have news! Our comrades on the covert front have obtained intelligence, and it's been confirmed!"

He stuck to the old tradition and used the terms from the war years.

Everyone present understood what was going on and swarmed around.

These days they've been incredibly curious about it.

One page.

A few lines of text.

The source of the intelligence was an international speculator from a private equity fund.

Controlling global food prices is certainly not something that one or two people or organizations can handle; it inevitably requires the help of others.

Having found help inevitably expands the scope of information dissemination.

It's quite impressive that they managed to keep the information hidden for over twenty days before finally leaking it out.

According to intelligence.

The four major grain traders and seed giants, along with Wall Street behind them, are the group that monopolizes the world's food supply.

There are three reasons for the hasty and hasty push for grain prices.

They are all related to the East.

First, because of patent litigation, their goods were seized, and they intended to create a global famine and then blame it on the East, which is to smear them.

Second, they speculate on grain prices to make money and then use the funds to cover their losses.

Third, pressure should be exerted on various countries to stop Luo Yihang's initiative that "substances existing in nature should not be patented."

The first one is easy to explain; it's path-dependent.

Anyway, Lao Zhong is the worst; all the bad things in the world are done by Lao Zhong.

Upon seeing the second point, everyone in the think tank couldn't help but smile.

This is actually an extension of the first one. The "inlet" is blocked, so the water in the "pool" keeps flowing away, and the "sludge" at the bottom of the pool is stirred up and can no longer be hidden.

"Wow, I didn't expect them to be under so much financial pressure. They look so glamorous on the outside, but they're so fragile."

"We dare not investigate further, because if we continue, something terrible will happen. It's like drinking poison to quench thirst and patching up a hole; we should just live one day at a time."

"Isn't this just like when Chiang Kai-shek was hunting tigers? I saw it back in 1948."

"There are others nearby, like those two auditing planes that crashed in Afghanistan."

"So... let's help them out..."

There are no "good people" in think tanks either. They can analyze a bunch of things from just a few words and decide to "help out" on the spot.

But I don't quite understand the third point.

This point is highlighted as being their main objective in manipulating grain prices.

Is the proposal that "substances existing in nature cannot be patented" really that hated?
Did they really have their hands on that "little" thing in their crotches?

I've never wielded the patent stick before, nor have I ever built patent barriers; I have no experience.

I'm thinking about it.

Suddenly, an alarm went off in the conference room, and a message popped up on the big screen.

Everyone turned to look and were stunned.

"Holy crap! How dare they!"
-
Tongzi, Guizhou.

Luo Yihang was unaware that the operations room in the capital had already been thrown into chaos.

Uncle Li and the group of experts were working so hard that their eyes were bloodshot, and they didn't even have time to drink water. They didn't know how much of their already thinning hair would fly away.

He's busy coaxing the child.

On the day he arrived in Tongzi, didn't Luo Yihang do something bad by "stealing" all the little girl's treats?

From then on, the little girl didn't get to eat a single crumb, and at a young age, she realized the dangers of society.

You have to take responsibility for comforting the child you made cry because of the bad things you did.

So Luo Yihang specially set aside some time to invite the little girl and her family to the "Wolf Fang Potato Market," letting her eat as much as she wanted and allowing her to take revenge.

As a result, the little girl specifically asked for the "Roasted Potatoes Lacking Water in the Five Elements" and insisted that Luo Yihang roast them for her.

Great job, you have a good eye for choosing.

Having no other choice, Luo Yihang had to bring out the "sacred object," the broken iron pot that had been thrown into the field.

Then I dreamt of several years ago, and I picked up my old skills again at the "Wolf Tooth Potato Market" and set up a stall.

Selling "roasted potatoes that are lacking water in the Five Elements".

Yes, and there's also revenge.

Everyone who wants to try the potatoes roasted by Luo Yihang himself in his "sacred" broken iron pot, please go to the back and line up.

What is the waiting time?
You'll have to wait until the little girl is full, satisfied, and has eaten her fill before it's your turn.

The little girl was overjoyed; usually, she would watch the guests eat while looking on with a pitiful expression and tears streaming down her face.

Today, she was eating while the guests gathered around, chuckling and watching.

The little girl blushed shyly, her eyes curved into crescents, and she grinned, revealing seven white teeth with bits of potato still stuck to them.

"Oh, oh, oh, there's a cavity! The little girl's losing her baby teeth, she's a big girl now!"
-
Thousands of miles away in Lebanon, there was a little girl of the same age, covered in dirt, wearing a beautiful but tattered dress.

Squatting in a dark alley, his cheeks swollen and missing a tooth, he cried as he gnawed on a small piece of moldy bread.

He nibbled on it quietly, one small bite at a time.

Tears fell, dripping onto the bread, blurring the bloodstains on the teeth marks...

Just two days ago, the little girl had a happy family.

A capable father, a trader at a foreign financial company, a father who earns a lot of money, a father who brings happiness to the whole family.

My beautiful and elegant mother keeps the house clean and beautiful, and every morning she goes to the garden to pick a few fresh flowers to put in a vase on the dining table.

Her home is a villa by the sea, with two cars, a driver, and a nanny.

She attends the best kindergarten in Libya and has never had any troubles since birth; her parents have raised her very well.

If she had to name a "trouble," it would be the sudden explosion at the port a week ago that woke her from her dream and made her crawl into her mother's bed in fright.

And two days ago... her father died...

The little girl clearly remembers that on that day, she was playing happily at kindergarten, just like always.

Suddenly her family's driver arrived and picked her up, saying that her father had jumped off a building.

The little girl didn't know what jumping off a building meant.

She didn't realize at the time that she would never see her father again.

All she knew was that when she got home, there were many, many people at her door, her mother had been taken away from the house, and her house had been sealed off.

She was crying and calling for her mother in the car.

The driver didn't stop and drove straight past.

They left her far away and drove off.

The little girl sat on the side of the street, crying loudly. She had a vague feeling that she no longer had a home...

The sky gradually darkened.

The little girl cried herself to sleep and got up from the ground.

Her beautiful princess dress, the lovely dress her mother helped her put on this morning, has become filthy.

But the little girl couldn't care less about being sad; she was terrified.

She didn't know where she was, and looked around blankly, having no idea which direction her home was in.

Although she had a vague feeling that she no longer had a home...

The little girl was stranded on the street, not knowing where to go, so she just randomly picked a direction and walked silently.

And I'm very scared.

The streets were chaotic, filled with sights she had never seen before.

Countless people, an unknown number, all adults, were walking down the street, waving flags and banners, shouting slogans at a tremendous volume, filling the entire street and pushing her far away so she could only stand against the corner of the wall.

Suddenly, a series of very loud banging sounds came from afar.

There was so much smoke billowing out of the street, the pungent smoke made my eyes water.

The crowd that had just passed by was running wildly.

The little girl was knocked down.

I crashed into a small alley.

My beautiful dress has a big tear, and my arm is scraped and bleeding.

The little girl was terrified. She struggled to get up, huddled behind the trash can, and covered her ears, trembling uncontrollably.

I don’t know how much time passed.

It was completely dark by then, and the blood on my arm had stopped flowing, but it still hurt terribly.

There was no one on the street, not a soul in sight.

All the doors were closed, and there was no light.

The streetlights and the lights in the houses were all turned off.

The little girl stood blankly on the street, no longer crying, and didn't know where to go.

Just then, a light appeared before her eyes.

A flashlight beam shone, and several figures could be vaguely seen.

She's just a little girl in kindergarten; how could she know anything about danger?

He stood there dumbfounded, not moving an inch.

They watched helplessly as the figure approached.

They were several older children, around eight or nine years old, or eleven or twelve, dressed in tattered clothes. There were both boys and girls, and they were all very dirty and thin.

She vaguely remembered her mother telling her that she shouldn't go to those places because they were slums, where there were many dirty and bad children, and that she shouldn't play with them and should stay far away from them if she saw them.

Is this... the slum?
We haven't arrived yet, but we're very close.

The country is in chaos; even children from the slums dare to explore other areas at night.

There will be no police chasing them away anymore.

The little girl who came to them became their prey, the pitiful prey.

A sparkly hair clip inlaid with crystals was stolen.

Her small white handbag, decorated with pretty lace, was stolen. Inside were her little mirror, comb, crayons, and notebook.

Even her little leather shoes were taken away.

The little girl cried and screamed, and started to play.

But how could a little girl like her possibly beat several older children?

I was slapped hard across the face, a tooth was knocked out, and I bled a lot. It hurt so much.

Her dress was also torn to shreds.

The little girl curled up in a ball, kneeling on the ground, tightly clutching her last possession—a doll her mother had given her for her birthday.

They hugged each other tightly and burst into tears.

The older kids are gone.

The little girl was tired of crying too.

Curled up in a corner, clutching her doll tightly, she fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, the little girl, who had no shoes, walked down the street, and her feet hurt terribly.

The people around her were in a hurry, and no one was willing to stop for her or take her to find her parents.

The little girl was very thirsty and hungry.

Not a single shop on the street was open. Many shops and even houses had been smashed, with glass scattered all over the ground. She had to be very careful when she walked by.

She saw many people rummaging through the trash cans, but she didn't dare go over.

Only after everyone had left did it approach the trash can, which was now empty.

For an entire day, the little girl only dared to sneak into a house with its door wide open, where no one was inside, and everything had been stolen and was in disarray. She drank a few mouthfuls of tap water.

That night, she found a corner, curled up in a ball, hugged her doll tightly, and fell into a deep sleep.

Day three.

The little girl was very, very hungry.

Her last doll was a gift from her mother for her birthday.

No more.

They replaced it with a small, moldy piece of bread.

She ate in small bites, her missing tooth hurting her, and each bite left a bloody tooth mark on the bread.

The little girl no longer had the strength to cry; she could only shed silent tears.

Tears fell onto the bread.

The bloody teeth marks were blurred.

It's very salty... very salty...

(End of this chapter)