Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 488 A Shameful Liar

People back then were simple and easy to fool. Just mentioning hundreds of thousands would immediately shock them. No one would bother to calculate the details.

I doubt even Manager Huang and his team had calculated it this thoroughly.

After a brief moment of panic, Manager Huang smoothed his hair and said, "This project is only for farmers; we don't do business with urban residents. Our goal is to help farmers get rich and solve their livelihood difficulties."

This project has the potential to grow significantly. Currently, there are only a little over a hundred ant colonies, but as more people participate, we will continuously invest money to increase the ant population to meet the needs of our farmers.

Xiao Wei frowned and said, "Using a deposit to buy goods? No, that's not right. There can't be ants that expensive in this world. If there were, it would have been on the news by now. You're just planning to make money by collecting deposits, right? No, that's not right either. If you can't see the money, not many people will follow you. So, let the first ones make money first, and then expand, right? Once it reaches a certain point, they won't come anymore, right? Anyway, these people won't be able to find you."

Fourth Aunt went to the outer room to check the pot, and Xiao Wei said, "Fourth Aunt, we're all eating at Big Brother's place, and Xiu'er will go over there too. Don't make too much."

Auntie Si came in after seeing the pot and said with a smile, "I didn't make any for you guys, how was I supposed to know you were back? These three little brothers need to eat, there's nothing fancy, but they came all this way, so let's just make do with this meal."

Chen Hui remained in the same posture, glanced at Manager Huang, and said, "Look, aren't our farmers warm-hearted? Simple and honest? Easy to fool? You were tricked into borrowing money over there, and here we're cooking for you. Don't you feel any guilt or shame?"

Manager Huang said, "How can you say we're cheating people? Our boss invested 500,000 yuan, 500,000 yuan. He came all this way just to cheat us out of a few hundred yuan? This project is definitely a money-making project. Do you think Uncle Zhang is so easy to fool at his age? You think he'll believe you and fall for it after I say a few words? You guys are really underestimating Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang."

Uncle Si tried to smooth things over, saying, "That's right, they came all this way to help us, how can you say they're lying? They're such a big company, look, it's printed on their business card."

Chen Hui said, "Fourth Uncle, this stuff isn't worth much. You can print a whole bunch of these for just a few dollars in Fengtian."

Uncle Si paused for a moment, looked at the business card, and said, "How could that be? You're joking. The company name, address, and phone number are all there. If it were a fake, why would someone print that?"

A young man said, "Of course! If it were fake, how could they print business cards? They'd be arrested immediately. It's not like just anyone can print these. Besides, if it's a scam, it has addresses, phone numbers, company names—everything's on it. Where would we go?"

Zhang Wang asked Xiao Wei in a low voice, "Are you sure you didn't make a mistake?"

Xiao Wei said, "What do you mean by 'mistake'? They're just scammers. This one family gets 1,890 yuan. If they scam ten families in a village, that's 20,000 yuan. How many villages are there in our province? In just a few years, they can make hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan."

"Besides, just based on his last few sentences, he's definitely a liar." He said to the young man, "Is that human language? Come on, tell me, who regulates printing business cards? Who arrests you? Is the address on this real? Which road and street in Heping? Which building and number? How did you move the phone number from Dadong to Heping? Tell me, do you own a post office?"

Manager Huang stood up and said, "That's a harsh thing to say. We came all this way with good intentions. If you don't want to do it, then don't, right? We didn't force you to pay. But you can't make baseless accusations. How did we become swindlers?" He turned to his fourth uncle and said, "Alright, Uncle and Aunt, it seems you can't do it either. We'll leave then. We'll just wait until someone else makes money so we won't regret it."

Manager Huang gave a wink, and the two young men, looking angry, stood up. The three of them then walked out.

Aunt Si panicked a little and went over to stop him: "Oh dear, what happened? What a mess! Don't be angry, don't be angry. Xiao Wei just came back from outside and doesn't know the situation. I believe you. Don't go, don't go, we'll do it. After dinner, we'll sign that... what... contract with you."

Manager Huang said, "Alright, Auntie, we appreciate your kindness, but let's leave it at that for today and talk about it later, okay? It's not like we're never coming back to this village. Many families here have already signed contracts, and we'll have to keep coming back. Besides, we didn't have much cargo left on the truck."

Manager Huang pushed away Aunt Si's hand and walked out with the two young men. Aunt Si glared at Uncle Si and followed behind, discussing, "This whole thing is a mess, oh dear, is this ridiculous? This is so bad. Xiao Wei is young and doesn't understand. Manager Huang, please don't be like him, okay? His word doesn't count. I believe you, okay? I'm begging you."

Xiuer went up to her fourth aunt, pulled her aside, and frowned, saying, "Mom, what are you doing? What are you saying?"

Auntie Si shook off Xiuer's hand and said sternly, "What did I say? You've ruined a perfectly good thing. Such a big company is going to cheat us out of a few hundred yuan? That's three hundred yuan in three months. Where are they going to earn that much? Are you going to give it to me?" She glared at Xiuer and went to chase after Manager Huang.

Xiao Wei stopped Xiu'er, who was about to cross, and asked, "Is there a telephone in the village?"

Xiuer smoothed her hair and said, "The village chief's house has them, and the convenience store also has them, but the convenience store charges for them."

A group of people left Uncle Si's yard one after another. Aunt Si jogged after Manager Huang, praising him. Xiao Wei took out his phone book, quickly found Li Zhongguo's number, and handed it to Chen Hui, saying, "Xiuer, take your brother Chen to the convenience store to make a call." Xiuer looked at her mother, stomped her foot, and agreed.

Xiao Wei said to Chen Hui, "Tell Uncle Li to call people over immediately. This shouldn't be the first time these people have done this."

Chen Hui nodded and followed Xiuer to the convenience store.

Manager Huang and his two companions walked up to their small truck. Aunt Si was still talking about something, and Uncle Si followed them over.

Xiao Wei went straight to his car, started it, honked the horn, drove in front of the truck, and got out to say to the surprised Manager Huang, "Don't rush off. If I made a mistake, I'll compensate you for this car. Okay? It's worth a lot of your business, so I won't have to pay you back."

Xia Maosheng drove Chen Hui's car over and parked it behind the truck, laughing as he said, "I'll give this one to you too. You've really struck gold this time."

A few village boys were squatting by the riverbank, smoking and talking amongst themselves while looking at Xiaowei and Chen Hui's car. They gathered around and asked, "Xiaowei, when did you get back? Is this your sedan chair? You've struck it rich! What's going on? What happened?"

Xiao Wei took out cigarettes and offered them to the boys, saying, "These swindlers almost cheated my fourth uncle. By the way, has anyone in our village paid them any money? Xinghai, go to the village office and ask if anyone has paid to raise ants. If so, call someone over. Siwei, you guys stay here and keep an eye on these boys for me, make sure they don't run away."

The boys had all grown up playing naked with Xiaowei, so they agreed and came over as Xiaowei had instructed.

(End of this chapter)