Volume 1, Chapter 35: Greedy hands can't hold it all! All of you, get out of here at once!

Yesterday, when Lin Xiaoxu saw the villagers swarming up the mountain to pick guavas like a hive of bees, he chose not to stop them.

For one, psychologically speaking, the more he tried to intervene, the more they would develop a sense of defiance.

Secondly, these villagers were already aware that he was making a fortune from that guava orchard. If he didn't give them a piece of the pie, they might end up destroying the orchard out of spite.

Thirdly, if they really did bring the guavas to him, he was willing to pay to purchase them. This would free up his time to focus on his cultivation or other tasks. It would also serve as an opportunity to improve his and Shen Yulian’s status in the village, sparing them from the constant labels of "the idiot" or "the outsider woman."

Ha! He never expected these people to be so greedy. He had already offered five yuan per catty, yet they still dared to open their mouths and demand an extra yuan? He had seen greedy people before, but never ones like this!

"Greed chokes the throat! All of you, get lost!"

Lin Xiaoxu grabbed Shen Yulian, turned around, and went back into the main room, slamming the door shut with a loud bang!

Dozens of villagers were left standing there with their mouths agape, unable to utter a single word, just staring at one another.

*Slap—*

A dull sound of a palm hitting flesh broke the long silence. Everyone looked over to see that Auntie Chunfeng had raised her hand and delivered a sharp blow to the back of Liang Weiming’s head.

"It’s all your fault, Liang Weiming! You have a mouth that only speaks filth, like someone snacking on sunflower seeds in an outhouse!"

Auntie Chunfeng was nearly seventy, and her seniority commanded respect. Although Liang Weiming was furious after being struck, he didn't dare to retaliate, instead hunching his shoulders and bowing his head like a quail.

"Xiaoxu was willing to pay five yuan for these ugly guavas of ours—the same price as premium ones—and you had the audacity to ask for more? He may be an idiot, but he’s not a fool!"

Auntie Chunfeng’s words were spot on. The surrounding villagers were now filled with regret. If they had just accepted the five-yuan price earlier, they would have had over a hundred yuan in their pockets. But now, they had nothing.

Looking at the unsightly guavas stuffed into their fertilizer bags, the villagers felt a wave of gloom wash over them, accompanied by the stinging sensation of a missed opportunity.

Liang Weiming, regretting his actions, hurried forward and pounded on Lin Xiaoxu’s door, crying out:

"Xiaoxu, it’s all our fault for being too greedy. We know we were wrong, please come out. We can talk about this..."

The rest of the villagers followed suit, wailing as if they had lost their own fathers, begging Lin Xiaoxu to come out.

Inside the room, Lin Xiaoxu and Shen Yulian were sitting on stools, happily enjoying their breakfast.

"Sister-in-law, let’s ignore them for now. Let’s play on our phones for half an hour first."

"Okay! Xiaoxu, you should download Douyin. There are so many handsome guys and pretty girls dancing on it."

Lin Xiaoxu was taken aback; he hadn't realized Sister-in-law Shen Yulian knew about Douyin before he did! Seeing her so happy, he downloaded the app, and the two spent the time laughing and scrolling through short videos.

Time flew by, and the half-hour passed in a flash. Lin Xiaoxu put away his slightly warm phone and got up to open the door.

The villagers, whose voices had turned hoarse from shouting, saw him and their eyes lit up, tears welling in their sockets. It was as if the person walking out of the door wasn't Lin Xiaoxu, but the Goddess of Mercy coming to save them from their plight.

"Xiaoxu, we know we were wrong. Please give us another chance, I beg you!" Liang Weiming’s pockmarked face looked as if he were attending a funeral.

"Yes, please..." the others chimed in.

Seeing their sincere attitude, Lin Xiaoxu decided not to hold a grudge. Furthermore, if he didn't buy the guavas, hundreds of catties would likely just be thrown into the fields. As a farmer himself, he couldn't stand to see food go to waste.

"Auntie Chunfeng is absolutely right. I may be an idiot, but I am not a fool! If you try to pull any tricks on me again, don't blame me for being unkind. I will buy the guavas from the back mountain at five yuan per catty, but I will only take three hundred catties per day! Starting tomorrow, each family should only pick five catties. I won't accept anything more than that."

The villagers’ mental abacuses began to click. Five catties a day didn't sound like much, but at that price, they could earn twenty-five yuan a day! Twenty-five yuan meant seven hundred yuan a month!

Many people who went to work at construction sites, moving bricks, carrying cement, or working twelve-hour shifts in factories struggled to make just over two thousand yuan a month after exhausting themselves. Now, without having to leave home, they could spend ten minutes a day picking five catties of guavas and easily earn seven hundred yuan a month! It didn't even interfere with their other chores—it was like a windfall from heaven!

Even those receiving the minimum living allowance in the village only got about five hundred yuan a month. This was practically the same as getting a government subsidy.

"Okay, okay... we agree..." The villagers were overjoyed, their eyes crinkling into narrow slits.

"However, I won't be able to pay you until this afternoon." Most of them didn't have smartphones and couldn't handle digital transfers. He would need to go to the bank in the county town to withdraw cash first.

The villagers nodded repeatedly, indicating it was no problem.

Shen Yulian went into the storage room and brought out an electronic scale. For the villagers of Taoyuan Village, who lived by growing produce, these scales were common in every household. This particular one was something she had brought from her previous home.

After a flurry of activity, they finished weighing the guavas, and Lin Xiaoxu carefully recorded the total in his phone's memo app.

"Wow, Xiaoxu even bought a new phone. How impressive."
"His 'idiocy' must be cured."
"Xiaoxu is so handsome; I’m tempted to marry my daughter off to him..."

Once they had left, Lin Xiaoxu moved the eight hundred-plus catties of guavas into the storage room. He separated two hundred catties to nourish and ripen with his spiritual energy, leaving the rest for the next day.