“Father! What do we do now?”
“Are we just going to let him block us from buying grain?”
Seeing the situation, Lin Feng spoke with an ugly expression.
But Lin Sanqian’s face was even uglier. “What else can we do? Compete with him on price!”
“It’s only a million taels. Just raise the price to one tael per jin and use a million jin of grain to drain all his money!”
“Then we can lower the price and buy again! At worst, we’ll just lose that million jin of grain!”
“I want to see what use he has for spending a million taels on a million jin of grain! Once he runs out of money, he’ll still have to sell to us!”
With a sinister look, Lin Sanqian spoke and then headed straight toward his stall to start raising prices.
However, Lin Sanqian was clever. He didn’t directly raise the price to one tael per jin but instead gradually lured Chen Fan into the trap.
But they were overthinking it.
Chen Fan wasn’t brainless.
When the price reached two hundred wen per jin, Chen Fan suddenly stopped and didn’t raise it further!
He directly hung up a sign: two hundred wen per jin, buying grain!
Lin Sanqian and the others were completely dumbfounded.
Chen Fan actually didn’t take the bait!
At two hundred wen per jin, with a million taels, Chen Fan could buy five million jin of grain—a huge amount.
Grain reserves were already low, and they absolutely could not let Chen Fan buy five million jin.
Most importantly, they had already driven the price up so high themselves, leaving no room for retreat. Only by offering more than two hundred wen per jin would others sell to them.
Two hundred wen—what an exorbitant price!
In the end, how much money would the Lin Family lose?
Everyone stared at Chen Fan’s leisurely demeanor, wishing they could kill him on the spot, tear out his tendons, and flay his skin!
But besides having a Ninth Realm Expert like Leng Hanshuang protecting him, Chen Fan also had so many guards at the Seventh and Eighth Realms.
They had no choice but to grit their teeth and buy. Otherwise, if they couldn’t repay the grain to the official granary, the Lin Family would be completely finished.
Seeing this, Chen Fan no longer stayed to oversee things. He handed over the task to the guards, instructing them to maintain the price of two hundred wen per jin and keep watch day and night.
He then took Lian Yue and Leng Hanshuang out for a stroll, bought some things, and returned to the residence.
Xiao Ke and Xiao Ai had been running around and working hard during this time, so Chen Fan naturally wanted to reward them properly.
Thus, upon returning to the courtyard, Chen Fan busied himself lighting charcoal, prepared plenty of ingredients, and gathered everyone in the courtyard for a barbecue.
Under the moonlight, gathered around the charcoal fire, drinking fruit wine and juice, it was quite a unique and delightful experience.
The atmosphere was so pleasant that even the usually aloof Leng Hanshuang joined in.
However, as someone who had just started spending time with Chen Fan, Leng Hanshuang was both puzzled and surprised by the barbecue and the fruit wine and juice.
She had never seen such a way of eating before, nor had she ever imagined it could be so delicious.
Especially the various fruit wines Chen Fan made, with their fragrant and sweet fruit flavors, were truly delightful—she genuinely liked them.
“Husband, the moonlight is lovely tonight. How about composing a poem to liven things up?”
At that moment, Lian Yue suddenly spoke up.
But Xiao Ke and Xiao Ai immediately objected, “What’s so interesting about composing poems?”
“Young Master! It’s been so long since we’ve heard you sing. Sing us a song, please?”
“Exactly! Young Master, I want to hear you sing!”
Hearing this, Lian Yue suddenly frowned, “Husband, you can sing too?”
“That’s right! Sister Lian Yue, you don’t know, Young Master sings so beautifully, much better than those Musical Entertainers in the Guogong Mansion!” Xiao Ke said.
“And Young Master rarely, rarely sings. I’ve only heard him five, six, seven, eight, ten times!”
As Xiao Ai spoke, she seemed afraid that Chen Fan would refuse, directly shaking his arm and coquettishly pleading.
“Young Master, sing one! Just one, okay?”
“Alright!”
Chen Fan smiled gently, his face full of affection as he patted Xiao Ai’s head. “Whatever our adorable little ones say!”
“Great! I knew Young Master is the best!” Xiao Ai said joyfully.
Chen Fan didn’t mind, searching in his mind, then suddenly smiled. “Then I’ll begin!”
Hearing this, everyone looked at Chen Fan with anticipation, especially Lian Yue and Leng Hanshuang, who had never heard him sing before.
Chen Fan lightly tapped the tabletop with his fingers and began to sing.
“In the joyful pond, dreams are planted, turning into an ocean.”
“Big-eyed, wide-mouthed, singing just as loud.”
Hearing this, Leng Hanshuang and Lian Yue were both stunned. What kind of song was this?
They had truly never heard anything like it before—it was completely different from what they were used to.
And the rhythm was so cheerful!
However, Xiao Ke and Xiao Ai were overjoyed upon hearing it and immediately joined in singing with Chen Fan.
“Lend me a pair of little wings, and I can fly toward the sun.”
“I believe miracles are within me!”
“La la la la la!”
“La la la la la!”
…
Xiao Ke and Xiao Ai’s voices carried a hint of childish innocence, and with their sweet smiles and eyes curved like crescent moons, the song became even more cheerful.
The three of them were perfectly in sync, harmonizing flawlessly.
As Chen Fan sang, “In the joyful pond, there’s a little frog!”
Xiao Ke joyfully followed, “It dances as if possessed by a prince!”
And Xiao Ai chimed in right after, “With a cool gaze, no frog can compare! One day, it will be awakened by a princess!”
Then, the three of them sang together cheerfully, “La la la la la!”
“La la la la la!”
…
“A joyful little frog! Leap, frog!”
“A joyful little frog! Leap, frog!”
…
The three of them were truly so cheerful, and the song was just as lively.
So much so that Lian Yue and Leng Hanshuang seemed to be infected, smiles appearing on their faces as well.
Even though they didn’t understand the strange meaning of the lyrics, they simply felt happy!
“Wonderful!”
After finishing the song, Chen Fan affectionately patted the heads of the two little girls.
“Sister Lian Yue, was it nice?”
“This is the first song Young Master taught us!”
Xiao Ke and Xiao Ai looked at Lian Yue with smiles on their faces.
“It was lovely. I’ve never heard this kind of song before!” Lian Yue said with a smile.
“This is just one of the songs Young Master taught us. He knows many more songs himself!” Xiao Ai added.
“Husband, how about singing another one?” Lian Yue asked, turning to Chen Fan with anticipation.
“Alright! Since you’re smiling so beautifully, I’ll sing another one just for you!”
Chen Fan said with a smile, quickly searching his mind before selecting a song by Fish Leong, “Warmth,” and began to sing.
The song was soft and the rhythm cheerful, clearly to Lian Yue’s liking, so much so that her hands unconsciously tapped along to the beat, her body swaying gently.
The entire courtyard remained a scene of blooming flowers, a bright moon, and joyful laughter—truly delightful.
Even Leng Hanshuang, who had grown up lonely and isolated, felt a peculiar emotion stirring within her.
Wasn’t this the kind of life she had always dreamed of?
And Chen Fan didn’t seem so detestable after all.