After leaving the antique shop, Fang Jinzhu held Shushu tightly, pretending as if nothing had happened as she walked out of the market and into the parking lot.
She got into the car, closed the door, and fastened her seatbelt.
Only then did she take out her phone again.
【Postal Savings Bank: On September 13, 2023, at 14:58, Ling Qi’s account *5268 transferred 2,000,000.00 yuan to your account ending in 354. Balance: 2,000,563.25 yuan.】
It was real!
Fang Jinzhu burst into laughter unexpectedly, tears streaming down her face, before burying her head in the steering wheel and sobbing.
Her thin shoulders trembled as sorrow and joy mingled and overflowed.
All the emotions that had built up over this period were now pouring out in a cathartic release.
Seeing her cry so desperately, Shushu in the back seat grew flustered and anxious. "Sister…"
The little one quickly stood up, leaning her small body through the gap between the driver’s and passenger’s seats to reach the front. Her tiny hand stretched out to rest on Fang Jinzhu’s shoulder, patting gently to comfort her. "Sister, don’t cry, okay? Shushu is here…"
The soft voice and slightly warm little palm gently enveloped Fang Jinzhu’s chaotic, surging emotions, and as the child patted her shoulder rhythmically, she gradually calmed down.
Fang Jinzhu looked up, carefully wiping away her tears in the rearview mirror before turning around. Reaching across the gap, she pulled Shushu into a tight embrace. "Shushu, from now on, you’ll never have to go hungry again…"
"Sister will work hard to make sure everyone in Bei Liao has enough to eat!"
Shushu’s short little arms struggled to hug Fang Jinzhu back, her big eyes sparkling with a glistening light. "Really?"
"Yes, really!"
"Sister is amazing! Even more amazing than Uncle!"
Fang Jinzhu smiled brightly, starting the Wuling Mini Truck. "Let’s go, Shushu. We’ve got big things to do!"
…
After hastily filling her stomach with a steamed bun bought from a roadside stall, Fang Jinzhu drove with Shushu to an agricultural machinery rental company.
Although two million yuan had just arrived in her account, she still needed to manage her resources carefully. The rental company offered combine harvesters and drivers, making the process professional, convenient, and cost-effective.
Harvesting one mu of land cost eighty yuan. When the rental company’s owner heard that Fang Jinzhu needed to harvest a five-hundred-mu farm, his grin nearly stretched to his ears.
Business owners with foresight know how to build goodwill with big clients. Without waiting for Fang Jinzhu to bargain, he cheerfully lowered the price to seventy yuan per mu.
To avoid wasting time traveling back and forth, Fang Jinzhu also asked the owner to help arrange heavy-duty trucks and loading workers.
After the grain was harvested, threshed, and bagged, it would need to be transported into the city for hulling before being brought back to the farm.
A five-ton truck rental cost eight hundred yuan per trip, and loading and unloading labor fees were calculated per person at one hundred and fifty yuan each.
Fang Jinzhu didn’t bother calculating how much the owner might earn as a middleman. She paid the deposit, provided the farm’s address, and left only one instruction.
The faster, the better!!
After leaving the agricultural machinery rental company, Fang Jinzhu drove to Ancheng’s largest grain and oil wholesale factory.
With fifty thousand soldiers and civilians in Bei Liao starving, the five hundred mu of grain from the farm was merely a drop in the bucket. She needed to scout the market for future preparations and, if the price was right, purchase additional supplies to stock up.
The prices of rice and flour varied widely.
The wholesale price for the current season’s new rice started at ninety-five yuan per bag for a fifty-jin sack.
White flour is cheaper, but still costs eighty-five per bag.
For ordinary daily life, this wouldn't be considered expensive.
However, considering that the people and soldiers of Bei Liao are currently struggling to even have enough to eat, this supply effort isn't something that can be stopped in just a day or two. It must be sustained long-term, until Bei Liao finds a lasting means of livelihood.
So every penny must be spent wisely.
Fang Jinzhu asked, "Boss, do you have broken rice or last year's old rice and flour? I have a wide range of uses and need to consider costs."
Apart from slightly inferior appearance and texture, old rice and flour have almost the same nutritional value—once eaten, they're essentially the same. Besides, the people and soldiers of Bei Liao have already resorted to eating tree bark and yellow mud. For them, even old rice and flour would be a rare treat.
Seeing that Fang Jinzhu sounded like a major customer, the wholesale factory owner took her directly to the warehouse. "Miss, if you take all thirty thousand catties, I'll sell it to you at a loss for eighty cents per catty."
"Can I open them to take a look?"
Without responding directly, Fang Jinzhu asked instead.
While appearance and texture aren't too important for the grain being sent to Bei Liao, quality and safety must be guaranteed.
Without hesitation, the owner opened one bag each of the rice and flour that Fang Jinzhu pointed to.
Fang Jinzhu took a small pinch of each, carefully chewing and tasting them.
"Sixty cents. I'll take as much as you have, pay in cash, and have it delivered to the Lifang Family Farm. How about that?"
After confirming there were no issues, Fang Jinzhu stood up and looked sharply at the owner.
The owner trembled with excitement and suddenly understood.
So it's for feeding livestock at the farm! That makes sense!
But livestock feed is usually mixed with hormones, rough bran, or chaff. Why would this young lady use broken rice and old flour for feeding?
Isn't that too extravagant?
But that wasn't his concern. What he should care about was his own business.
"Miss, if you're not in a hurry, I have connections with grain and oil wholesale factories in several nearby cities. Combined, they probably have around two hundred thousand catties of this quality. If you can take it all at once, I'll make the decision to give it to you for sixty cents!"
"Deal!"
Fang Jinzhu agreed decisively. "I don't care about the source of the grain, but it must be guaranteed to be of the same quality as what you just showed me. If the goods don't match, I'll hold you solely responsible. Is that acceptable?"
"No problem, no problem! Miss, rest assured, it's all from last season's harvest. Even if you didn't want it today, we'd still have to sell it at a loss through online channels. That's for the general public—we wouldn't dare compromise on quality."
"Good. As long as you guarantee the quality, I'll need more later!"
"Miss, don't worry, I'll take full responsibility for the quality… Miss, your farm must be quite large, right?"
"Well, I just took over recently and plan to expand…"
"Tsk tsk, you're young and accomplished, miss!"
"My family provided the funds for me to gain experience. I'm not just focusing on the farm—I plan to build an entire industry chain, so the demand will be huge later…"
To avoid raising suspicion with large purchases in the future, Fang Jinzhu briefly presented herself as a wealthy second-generation heir trying to make a name for herself.
She had considered the convenience of online shopping, but buying such large quantities online would be tracked by big data. Who knows if she might have bad luck and attract the attention of cyber police, questioning her intentions?
Although it wasn't anything illegal, such large quantities still required a reasonable explanation.
Physical procurement would at most earn a couple of questions from the boss, easily brushed off with a few excuses, making the risk relatively low.
Hearing this, the boss felt reassured and naturally showered her with flattery, "You have a discerning eye, miss. You're bound for great things in the future! Let's exchange WeChat and phone numbers, miss. If you ever need anything else, remember to contact me. You can trust my prices and quality!"
"Alright…"
…
After leaving the grain and oil wholesale factory, Fang Jinzhu let out a slight sigh of relief and began focusing on the next task.
The fact that the Farm could connect to ancient times absolutely must not be revealed.
This meant that all the grain from the five hundred acres of land had to be transported by her and the two little ones.