Volume One, Chapter Nine: Delight at the Supermarket

"Mr. Guo, we meet again. Let me introduce myself. My name is Xie Minmin, manager of Le Xiang Supermarket in Hongwu County. I trust you have heard of our supermarket?"

The voice arrived before the person did. It was a polite greeting; she removed her sunglasses and extended a small hand toward Guo Dong. That was the mark of a woman from the city—every tone of her voice and every gesture felt effortlessly refined and pleasant.

Her introduction left not only Guo Dong looking on in disbelief, but even the boastful Zheng Weiguang stood stunned where he was.

"Xie Minmin!"

Zheng Weiguang finally snapped back to reality, his face turning incredibly grim. As someone who traveled to various places for business year-round, how could he not know of Le Xiang Supermarket, and how could he not recognize Xie Minmin? It was just that she had been wearing sunglasses, and he had been too preoccupied to notice her earlier. Looking back, she had seemed familiar when he saw her at his fruit shop. He just hadn't expected...

"Miss Xie, isn't this a bit improper? Every trade has its rules. You are poaching my business so blatantly. Isn't that a bit uncalled for? Is this how Le Xiang does business?"

Before Guo Dong could react, Xie Minmin, having already shaken his hand, turned to look at Zheng Weiguang.

"Mr. Zheng, that is a very inappropriate thing to say. I heard quite clearly just now that your negotiation failed. So? Are you saying that when a deal falls through, no one else is allowed to pick it up? I have been in Hongwu for a long time, and I have traveled to many cities and met many fruit merchants. I have never heard of such a rule!"

Zheng Weiguang gritted his teeth, but he was powerless. As Xie Minmin said, the deal had indeed collapsed. But he was unwilling to let it go; he had just finished bragging, and he needed a moment to regain his composure. The slap to his face had come too quickly, and it stung—it stung quite a bit.

Taking advantage of their squabble, Guo Dong finally found a moment. He walked over to Meng Xiaohan and whispered, "What's going on? Where do you know such a manager from?"

Meng Xiaohan was equally puzzled. "I don't know either. She came looking for me. I had just returned home to change clothes when I bumped into her! She said she tasted the peaches you grew and wanted to take a look. I didn't even know she was coming to buy peaches before this."

Guo Dong frowned. He didn't remember ever meeting this woman.

"She ate the peaches?"

"She did, right in front of Mr. Zheng's shop."

At this point, Meng Xiaohan felt very strange and couldn't help but ask, "What is going on between you and Mr. Zheng? Everything was settled, so why did you suddenly refuse to sell?"

Hearing Guo Dong's words earlier, she had almost rushed in. It had taken so much effort to reach that deal, and it had fallen apart just like that.

Guo Dong shook his head with a bitter smile. "The man has no integrity. We agreed on thirty yuan, but once he got here and realized I was in urgent need of money, he slashed the price by twenty yuan. You tell me, how could I still do business with him?"

Meng Xiaohan was incensed when she heard this. She hadn't expected the man to be like that. However, looking at it now, it wasn't a bad thing. The woman before them seemed much easier to deal with and was in no way inferior to Zheng Weiguang as a business partner. She carried herself with confidence, and both in speech and action, she clearly had the upper hand over Zheng Weiguang.

"Mr. Guo, let's go with the previously agreed price: thirty yuan per jin. If you take the payment today, I can have the peaches picked and hauled away right now!" Zheng Weiguang was anxious, his voice trembling. If Xie Minmin really secured this deal, he would lose out on a huge profit. As a fruit merchant, he knew exactly what these peaches were worth. Once they hit the market, with proper packaging and promotion, the price would only go up, not down. It was a guaranteed profit. Plus, with the scale of this orchard—over two hundred trees—he could have made a fortune.

Guo Dong looked at Zheng Weiguang as if he were a fool. The surrounding villagers didn't know what to say either. The situation looked as if Zheng Weiguang and Guo Dong had been haggling too aggressively, and Guo Dong had suddenly brought in a plant to stir up trouble.

"Mr. Zheng, I said it very clearly: I am not doing business with you."

Zheng Weiguang's face darkened. "Mr. Guo, we had an agreement!"

"The agreement was true, but you were the one who went back on your word halfway through!" Guo Dong chuckled, a hint of sarcasm in his smile. "Don't say thirty; even if you offered me fifty, I wouldn't sell these peaches to you today. Everyone has their own sense of integrity. Don't look at me as if I'm poor—I have mine too. I’m a bit stubborn; once I make up my mind, I don't change it. So, you might as well head back!"

For a moment, Zheng Weiguang looked like a deflated balloon. Anger, reluctance... Meanwhile, Xie Minmin stood there with a smile on her face. The more Zheng Weiguang lost face, the happier she seemed to be. It was obvious that the two were bitter rivals.

After a long while, Zheng Weiguang left in a huff, though he only went down the mountain and hid at the foot of the slope; he didn't leave the village.

At this moment, Guo An walked up. "This... Ms. Manager, are you really going to buy our fruit?" He still hadn't processed the situation and thought she was a plant Guo Dong had hired.

"Of course I am!" Xie Minmin laughed suddenly. "I came here specifically to buy high-quality fruit. Why else would I go through all this trouble?"

She turned her gaze toward Guo Dong. "Mr. Guo, let's see. If everything is in order, we can conclude the transaction today. I’ll have a truck sent over right now!"

Guo Dong wasn't stupid; of course, he was willing!

Seeing Guo Dong remain silent, Xie Minmin assumed he didn't trust her. She said, "How about this? I see you have at least ten or twenty thousand jin of fruit. I’ll pay a deposit of fifty thousand yuan now, and we can sign the contract." As she spoke, she pulled several documents from her bag.

This gesture left Guo Dong feeling a bit uneasy. This woman had come prepared. Otherwise, why would she have both the deposit and the contracts ready? Was she not afraid the deal might fall through? After all, he had just had a falling out with Zheng Weiguang; who could have predicted that?

Guo Dong couldn't help but glance at Meng Xiaohan. If it were just a deposit, he wouldn't mind. But signing a contract? It wasn't that he couldn't sign, but he didn't know if there were any hidden traps.

Meng Xiaohan understood Guo Dong quite well. Seeing the situation, she took charge for him. She handled the money and reviewed the contract with such seasoned efficiency that even Xie Minmin couldn't help but secretly give her a thumbs-up.

Seeing the contract signed and the money in hand, all the villagers breathed a sigh of relief. The way they looked—the sheer envy in their eyes... With this money, Guo Dong would finally be able to pay back his debts to them!

"Pick the peaches!"

As soon as the money was in hand, Guo Dong waved his arm, and everyone sprang into action, full of vigor.

However, no one noticed that at the foot of the mountain, Zheng Weiguang was holding his phone, snapping photos incessantly.