Liu Dazhuang stared dumbfounded as the electric tricycle pulled to a stop.
"This is the ’car’ you were talking about?!"
"Yep. This tricycle is way faster than that beat-up van of yours."
Liu Dazhuang felt insulted, but with no other choice, he had to get on the tricycle.
The four of them climbed into the cargo bed. It was surprisingly spacious, and the tricycle was indeed a bit faster than the van.
"What are you three heading to Linshan Village for?"
The elderly driver answered for them. "They said that kid, Lin Feng, is developing the area for tourism. They’re going to see if there’s any work."
"I heard about that, too. We finally managed to get out of that dump, and he actually went back."
The former residents of Linshan Village couldn’t understand it. After hearing the town gossip about Lin Feng, some had even made special inquiries. They heard he’d spent a fortune leasing the land.
As for developing it for tourism, not a single person believed it. They used to live there, so they knew the place better than anyone. It had nothing to offer and the scenery was crap.
The three men in the cargo bed were baffled. ’How could these people, living so close to Linshan Village, not know about the grapes?’
Of course, they weren’t stupid enough to blurt it out. More people knowing about it wouldn’t be a good thing.
Unfortunately, while they kept silent, someone else spilled the news.
Wang Peng and his group, having just arrived in Mountain Ridge Town from the county seat, were also asking for directions to Linshan Village.
After getting some information, they also found a villager from Linshan Village.
"What are you all going to Linshan Village for?"
The young man driving spoke right up. "There’s a boss over there named Lin Feng. He’s selling some kind of grape for 888 yuan a bunch in the county seat. Our boss is planning to discuss a partnership with him."
Wang Peng didn’t even have time to stop him. ’This guy is getting fired as soon as we get back,’ he thought.
"Huh? Grapes for 888 a bunch? What kind of grapes are those?"
Wang Peng quickly interjected, "It’s just some type of grape. We don’t even know if it’s real yet. We just saw it in a video online. It could be fake for all we know."
"Oh, right. People will film anything for those online videos nowadays. It’s all just a bunch of nonsense."
The middle-aged driver opened the short-video app on his phone and said, "Look at this. These young girls, each one wears less clothing than the last. It’s an absolute disgrace!"
Wang Peng’s expression remained stiff. ’If it’s such a disgrace, why are you watching so much of it?’ he thought.
"Yeah, yeah. They’ll do anything for money these days."
The driver held his phone and started scrolling. Whenever he found an interesting video, he’d share it with the others in the car.
"Boss, there’s a van stopped in the road up ahead."
Seeing the van in the middle of the road, they got out to take a look and discovered it had broken down.
"Get back in. Try to drive around it."
"Boss, with a car stopped here... you don’t think someone beat us to it, do you?"
Wang Peng glanced through the van’s window at the interior and dismissed it.
"They’re driving a wreck like this. One look and you can tell they have no money. Even if they get there first, it’s useless."
Of course, that’s what he said, but his sense of urgency instantly shot through the roof.
As soon as their car maneuvered past, Wang Peng had everyone pile back in and urged the driver to speed toward Linshan Village.
While he was out of the car, the driver had posted about the grapes in a WeChat group.
There had been a lot of gossip about Lin Feng in town lately, so when he heard about Lin Feng selling grapes for 888 yuan a bunch, he just had to share the latest rumor.
Before long, someone in the group posted a video about Lin Feng selling his grapes.
When they saw someone in the video actually buying the grapes for 888 yuan a bunch—and buying 60 bunches at once—the chatty group fell instantly silent.
A minute passed before someone finally sent a message: "Is this for real?"
"Not sure. It looks like Wanfu Square in the county, and that car is definitely expensive."
"You don’t think he came back just to find a place to grow grapes, do you?"
"I’m going to ask around."
The news spread through town like wildfire. In just over ten minutes, almost everyone in town had heard about it.
Some started asking their contacts in the county for information, others thought about heading to Linshan Village to see for themselves, and some even began scheming about the grapevines themselves.
Town Mayor Ma Dehua also got the news quickly. At first, he didn’t believe it. The price of the grapes was just too ridiculous.
Besides, it looked more like something staged for a video, a subject he knew a little about.
"This kid is really something else! Forget tourism development—if these grapes are the real deal and he can scale up production, he could make the whole town rich!"
After a moment of thought, he gave Lin Feng a call.
"Lin Feng, what’s this about your grapes? The whole town is talking about it."
"Uncle Ma, it’s just a special variety. The grapes are still in an experimental phase. Even if someone else got their hands on them, they wouldn’t be able to grow them."
"Still, you need to be careful. A lot of people know now. Don’t let some bad actors ruin things for you."
"Yes, I understand. Thanks, Uncle Ma."
Just as Lin Feng hung up, he saw an electric tricycle carrying several people heading toward the village entrance.
Three shady-looking guys hopped off first. The two men behind them looked vaguely familiar, and he only recognized them as they got closer.
"Uncle Da Lin, Third Grand-uncle, it’s good to see you! It’s been years. Are you both doing well?"
"We’re good, we’re good! Xiaofeng, you’re all grown up now! This place you’re building looks great!"
"Xiaofeng, you’ve become a young man. I thought you were working in Shanghai. What brought you back here?"
Lin Sen’s last clear memory of Lin Feng was from when he’d gotten into college, and his father, Lin Dongyue, had gone around town bragging about it.
"It was alright. I learned a few things out there and thought I’d come back here to try my hand at something."
While they talked, the three men with them were glancing around furtively, searching for the legendary, astronomically-priced grapes.
After a moment, Lin Feng turned to them and asked, "What are you three here for?"
"Hello, Boss. We heard you’re developing this place for tourism and came to see if there was any work."
"This is a small operation. There’s no work. And even if there was, I’d only hire people I know."
"Boss, I see you’ve got a lot of building materials piled up. You’re definitely building something. I’m a pro at this kind of work, and my two younger brothers here are young and strong. They can haul bricks and mix concrete, and we work for cheap."
"I don’t need anyone. The job’s already been contracted out."
"Who? Who’s coming to do the work?"
Lin Dazhuang heard the commotion and was heading over when he overheard someone trying to snatch his job.
"Third Uncle? Da Lin? What are you guys doing here?"
Da Lin looked confused. "Dazhuang? What are you doing here?"
"Xiaofeng’s dad hired me to help build the houses. We just started yesterday."
Looking at the big, burly Lin Dazhuang, Liu Dazhuang instinctively shrank back, afraid the man could kill him with a single punch.
Just then, Wang Peng’s car drove up and stopped at the village entrance.
After getting out of the car, Wang Peng scanned the village. ’Developing tourism in such a remote place? Clearly, tourism isn’t the real goal.’
’Makes sense. With grapes like that in his hands, it doesn’t matter whether the tourism venture succeeds or not.’
Seeing the crowd at the village entrance, Wang Peng walked straight over. "Boss Lin, hello. I’m Wang Peng. I specialize in the grape business. I saw the video of your Jade Grapes online and would like to discuss a partnership."
Lin Feng took the business card, gave it a casual glance, and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Hello. I have very few grapes right now, so I’m not looking to partner with anyone at the moment."
"Boss Lin, my business also includes grape cultivation. We could partner up on the growing side to expand production.
As a grape seller yourself, you should know that as soon as a new variety appears, the market is quick to follow. You can’t stop that from happening." Wang Peng’s final words carried a veiled threat.
As he spoke, he glanced at the three shifty-looking men, as if to remind Lin Feng that he couldn’t keep his grapes a secret forever.
Lin Feng was speechless. ’I can’t even figure out how to scale up production myself. It’s useless no matter what you say.’
’As for his threat, the grapes won’t grow anywhere but on that specific plot of land. It would be useless even if he managed to steal them.’
’But I can’t tell anyone that. More and more people like him will show up in the future. If I don’t find a solution, they’ll pester me to death.’
’Looks like I’ll have to find a way to deal with this,’ he thought. He looked at Wang Peng, who was obviously wealthy, and an idea suddenly took shape.