A small plot of land in a mountain village

The fat man stared in surprise at the beautiful girl in front of him.

"Fatty, are you the boss here?" Meixian asked irritably.

The lecherous fat man turned into a pig-like figure upon seeing the beautiful woman, which she found quite contemptible. Meanwhile, the fat man remained relaxed and carefree, leading Minjie and Meixian to conclude that he was the orchard owner.

Fatty had seen it all, and he quickly came to his senses. Hearing what they said, he knew they must have mistaken him for someone else. Looking at Meixian's fierce expression, he thought, "If I don't teach you a lesson, I'll really be unworthy of my fat man reputation."

He gradually made up his mind.

It seems Zhang Niu won't be able to get out of the orchard anytime soon, so I'll just pretend to be him; it shouldn't be a problem.

He coughed lightly. "I am the owner of this orchard, and also the owner of this villa. May I ask what brings you two here?" The fat man was quite the actor.

Min and her companion had no doubts. They were really lucky to run into the owner of the park who was fishing as soon as they arrived, and smiles immediately appeared on their faces.

A stunningly beautiful face—this woman was truly amazing. The fat man, with his tinted glasses, continued scanning her.

"We bid on cherries last time, so please forgive us for coming to our door so abruptly," Sister Min explained first.

"Don't just stand there, everyone. Come on, let's talk over at the bamboo pavilion!" The fat man couldn't bring himself to leave the girl standing, so he quickly put away his fishing rod and led the two of them to the bamboo pavilion.

This place was exactly what Minjie and her companion wanted. It was a nice spot; in the bustling city, it was remarkably quiet.

"We came here to buy some cherries, but we didn't know if you still had any left." As soon as she sat down, the impatient Mei-xian asked.

Although the two saw quite a few cherry trees in the orchard when they entered, they were worried that the cherries would be reserved, making their trip a waste.

The fat man pretended to shake his head and said, "These cherries are all taken."

Seeing Mei-hsien's sharp tongue, I still have to tease her a bit first.

Upon hearing this, the two realized they were still too late, and couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"We don't know who the buyer is. Could you spare some for us?" Since someone else has already bought it, we should ask who bought it.

Seeing that the two looked a little sad, the fat man felt a surge of joy and said with a smile, "We are the sellers, and the buyer's information will be kept confidential."

Meixian felt increasingly that the fat man had ill intentions, with his lecherous eyes constantly glancing at her chest. What kind of orchard owner was this? It was truly a miracle that these fragrant cherries came from the fat man's hands.

Since the fat man wouldn't say anything, Sister Min had no choice but to blame herself for arriving late. She stood up and said, "Since you have a buyer for your cherries, we'd better take our leave now."

The fat man hadn't expected that the two would plan to go back after saying so little; it seemed they had gone a bit too far.

The fat man didn't really have the courage to admit that he was joking. He just wanted to tease the girl and tell her not to be so impatient.

I wandered around Zhang Niu's orchard, then turned back.

With cars around, it must be someone who's come. These days, it's become quite common to see cars parked in open spaces.

"Min-jie, are we leaving like this?" Mei-xian pouted and asked.

With a sigh, she said, "What else can we do if we don't leave? Nobody wants to sell us these cherries, so there's no point in keeping them. It's such a waste of this good land." Merchants are all about profit, and Sister Min, being an experienced person herself, knows this very well.

"Who are you looking for?" The two had just stepped off the small bamboo bridge.

Zhang Niu had just arrived when he saw Xiao Zhuting come out, with two girls who seemed to be looking worried.

Isn't this young man the guy who bid at the auction that day? Could he be one of the fat man's employees?

Since she had been asked, Sister Min politely replied, "I was looking for your orchard owner to take care of something, but we couldn't reach an agreement, so I'm about to head back."

Upon hearing Min Jie's words, Zhang Niu understood why the two were leaving. It must be that Fatty was impersonating the owner of the garden, but he had never done it before. How come he was impersonating him this time?

No wonder he kept giving me a hard time when we walked past the pond; it turns out it was about this.

"You two have probably come to the wrong person. That guy is a friend of mine. I was just joking with you. I'm the owner of this place. If you have something to say, you can talk to me. Don't listen to that guy's nonsense," he said with a smile.

"After the darkest hour comes the dawn" is a phrase that can express the feelings of both people.

This seemingly ordinary young man is actually the owner of this orchard; it's truly unexpected. Upon hearing this, Meixian turned to look at the fat man, her eyes blazing with anger.

The fat man, being in the bamboo pavilion, naturally knew what was going on. This kid didn't need to be so blunt; now, he'd made those two beauties eye him.

I'd better sneak into the orchard to escape this anger.

When the fat man came out, he chuckled and said, "It was just a joke, don't take it seriously." He then disappeared into the orchard.

Watching the fat man walk away, "Don't be angry. That fat man has a good heart. He's just joking around. Let's go into the bamboo pavilion to talk."

He went back inside and brewed a pot of hot tea, as he always made sure to brew a pot for guests.

"These camellias that have been hyped up lately, everyone should try them."

She placed the teapot on the bamboo table and invited the two to have some tea. Minjie accepted the invitation without hesitation and poured two cups.

The faint aroma of the tea was enough for Minjie, a frequent tea drinker, to recognize it as Gaoshan Liren tea, which was of relatively good quality. However, her tea-brewing skills were less than impressive.

"What brings you two here?"

Zhang Niu did remember these two men; he had seen them once at the market. Finding them here was quite an achievement.

When asked, Minjie smiled and said, "We came to buy cherries, but we don't know if, as that fat man said, they've all been bought up."

He was still worrying about selling cherries when someone came knocking on his door. He almost lost the business because he looked down on the fat guy.

"Hiss!" Who's cursing at me from behind?

Since we're buying cherries, we should ask how many cherries the customer can eat. If it's a small customer, picking cherries is too much trouble.

Sister Min should perk up and prepare to negotiate a price with this young man. Don't underestimate him just because he's young; young people in business should not be underestimated.

"I wonder how many cherries you two can eat?"

Zhang Niu no longer blushes when he sees girls, which means he has overcome his fear of them being too beautiful. The two girls in front of him are fresh and refined, leaving a deep impression.

Who would have thought Zhang Niu would ask such a question: how much do you want to eat? This was a question that Sister Min hadn't really thought about when she came. Although she hesitated a bit, she still said, "Five hundred baskets."

These 500 baskets are already Minjie's limit. Last time she asked for an exorbitant price, and this time it will probably be even higher. If these cherries didn't have a longer shelf life than others, I really wouldn't dare to eat so many at once.

Five hundred baskets, that seems like a lot. This is the last batch; there aren't many left. I'll just save myself the trouble.

"So, what price are you planning to offer?" he asked with a playful tone.

This young man, without even asking any questions, went straight to asking how many cherries he wanted and the price. Minjie had never encountered anything like this before, and she was caught off guard.

Too low won't work, too high won't work either, we have to haggle the price down. "83,000 for 50 baskets, that's our highest price."

The price was roughly the same as what he had in mind, but since he was going to sell them anyway, this price was acceptable. The aroma of this last batch of cherries had faded considerably, which still puzzled Zhang Niu.

"I'll sell it to you for this price, but you'll have to bring the car yourself. However, I hope you can keep the origin of these cherries a secret," he said, staring at the two of them.

This was something Zhang Niu had already considered. Since people were coming to his door, he figured he should be extra careful about keeping the secret.

Minjie was unaware of Zhang Niu's thoughts, but she still nodded, "Yes, that's fine. Anyway, it's just the two of us buying here, so we can rest assured."

Minjie couldn't hide her joy at being able to buy cherries; she could go back and put an end to the immediate crisis.

Meixian was the same. Although the kid was a bit straightforward, he still achieved his goal this time. It would have been a real pity if the young man had come back later. It's all that damn fat guy's fault.

"Breathe!" Damn it, who's thinking of me now!

"Since you're new here, I'll take you to the orchard to see these cherries. I hope you'll all be satisfied and won't say they're not authentic," he said jokingly.

"Okay, then we'd like to go in and see for ourselves." With the owner leading the way, the two were quite happy.

He led the two of them into the area where cherry trees were planted.

The abundance of fruit in the orchard surprised the two of them. Many peaches were beginning to turn red, and many of the early-ripening green peaches were already edible, though they were rather unripe.

Some people like to eat softer peaches, but Zhang Niu likes to gnaw on the hard ones, enjoying the crisp sound as he bites into them one after another. He finds the taste quite satisfying.

Following the path, we arrived at this cherry orchard. "This is the Fragrant Cherry Orchard; you can take a look," the instructor said, pointing to a patch of bright red cherries.

"Wow! So many cherries!" Mei-xian couldn't help but exclaim.

The entire cherry orchard was laden with clusters of bright red cherries. Were these really priced exorbitantly? They looked just like ordinary cherries, but in reality, the price difference was enormous.

"You can pick some and taste them; don't they smell like milk?" he said with a smile.

Even without saying anything, the two of them were ready to go up, pick a cluster of ripe red cherries, and taste them.

Zhang Niu was a little curious. Why did these two buy so many cherries? Fruit vendors rarely have such beautiful girls.

"I wonder what you're going to do with all these cherries?" I couldn't resist asking.

Sister Min smiled and said, "We are a beauty salon in the provincial capital. We buy it to use as a face mask."

This surprised Zhang Niu. Buying so many cherries was understandable, but the more he looked at the faces, the more he realized they did resemble someone who had undergone cosmetic surgery.

Actually, after buying cherries, Minjie tried using them as a face mask, and the effect was really amazing. Her fair skin had a rosy glow, even better than her own cosmetics.

If the two of them knew that there was a lake in the back mountains where washing one's face could whiten the skin, they would be overjoyed. Now, when distinguished guests come to their door, they all order this cherry face mask, insisting on the cherry scent. They have also brought many friends and boosted sales of many products.

I only managed to come here today because I had some free time. Now, even Sister Min has to go up and help out at the beauty salon, because business is so good.

Business is good, and these fragrant cherries are going through quickly. But last time we only managed to bid on a small quantity, and now cherries outside are being sold at high prices. In particular, these fragrant cherries last as long as they're still freshly picked.

PS: Third update! Sorry I didn't feel much with the last chapter; I got soaked in the rain on my way home and feel terrible. (To be continued. For more chapters, please log in to support the author and read the official version!)