Chapter 47: Invitation from the Agricultural Research Institute

Chapter 47: Chapter 47: Invitation from the Agricultural Research Institute

Deng Yuyuan looked toward the voice. Her pupils constricted sharply. She hurriedly grabbed her basket and turned to leave.

The others also scattered in all directions, hastily packing up their things to flee.

In this small black market, there was an unspoken rule: everyone who came had to cover themselves up. It was to protect both oneself and others. Once outside, no one would recognize anyone else, ensuring that if someone committed a major crime, it wouldn’t easily implicate the rest. But these three—a man, a woman, and an old man—had shown up with their bare, undisguised faces.

Earlier, when everyone had been communicating in hushed tones like undercover agents in a spy movie, no one had noticed them. But the moment they spoke up, it gave everyone a huge scare.

"Wait, wait, wait!" the old man with them said. "I’m not here to report you. I’m from the Provincial Agricultural Research Institute. While I was on vacation at home, my family bought some of your rice. I want to know how you managed to grow rice of such excellent quality and yield."

The old man had even asked his family to observe her. This mysterious old peasant woman came to sell rice every few days. In an era where food was considered as important as the heavens, such behavior was rare—unless her family had an abundant stockpile of rice.

"If I’m lying to you, may I die a horrible death! May I die in an accident tomorrow!"

Everyone drew a sharp breath. What a vicious oath! The crowd instantly believed him.

"I recognize him! He was in the newspaper! When they were promoting our province’s outstanding scientists."

"Then could there be reporters here?"

"Hard to say. After all, reporters are elusive and always taking secret photos." This remark came from a young man who had confused reporters with paparazzi.

While the crowd was caught between worry and anticipation for Deng Yuyuan’s answer, the face beneath her mask had completely lost its smile. She just wanted to grease her soles and make a run for it!

Furthermore... was Zhang Jiahua haunting her like a lingering ghost?! Why were they meeting again in such a baffling way?

She hadn’t seen him in a long time. Zhang Jiahua had shed his rustic air. His bulging, vibrant muscles looked as though they were about to burst through his shirt, making him appear taller and more formidable. He no longer had that gloomy, cowardly vibe from Dazhang Village; his entire aura was completely different. It was true that one had to go out and see the world to broaden their horizons. If he continued growing like this, he would definitely be able to pay Tuantuan’s child support.

The girl beside him kept turning her head to look at him, her eyes carrying an adoration that anyone with functioning eyes could easily see. Hmm, he had even picked up some romantic luck.

"I don’t know either. I just plant things blindly. It’s nothing more than paying a bit of attention when fertilizing," Deng Yuyuan answered casually. Her eyes swept over the crowd, calculating the odds of making a forced getaway.

"Paying a bit of attention when fertilizing..." The old man carefully pondered her words. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that true wisdom lay with the common folk. "What is your fertilization process? I need to go back and test it step by step."

"Well—" Deng Yuyuan subtly shifted her feet, inching toward the thinnest part of the crowd.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out in the gathering. Someone gasped in a hushed voice, "The Market Control Committee is here!"

In an instant, the entire market exploded into chaos. People grabbed their goods and fled in every direction.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Deng Yuyuan slung her basket over her arm and darted into an alley. Before the old man could chase after her, Zhang Jiahua and the girl pulled him back, afraid he might get hurt in the stampede.

"Oh dear, why did you pull me back? She’s completely gone!" The old man stood on his tiptoes to look around, but the familiar figure was nowhere to be seen. "She’s on her guard now. It won’t be so easy to ask her next time," he sighed.

The girl was confused. "But Uncle, by asking her about such a secret in broad daylight, doesn’t that make it even less likely for her to tell us the truth?"

"Then what should I do? Ask in private?" the old man asked in return.

The girl nodded, her eyes radiating pure, unadulterated cluelessness.

"Would she have even followed us? It’s exactly because this is a black market she’s familiar with that she was willing to chat with us for a bit. If we were in a more private setting, she would have bolted instantly." The old man educated her, "And don’t even think about cornering her. If you scare her and she decides to fight to the bitter end, wouldn’t you be the one suffering for nothing?"

Meanwhile, the panicked Deng Yuyuan had blindly scaled an unfamiliar wall. She looked worriedly at her still half-full basket and sighed. Today was a total loss.

"Forget it. I’ll just change the packaging, bring it back to the Knowledge Youth Institute, and pretend I bought it in town," she thought.

"Want to make a deal? I can help you sell those," a deep voice sounded from above her.

Deng Yuyuan whipped her head around, only to see a man in black, wearing a black mask, crouching on top of the wall.

"Wow, is he cosplaying an assassin?" she wondered. She took a running start and vaulted onto the opposite wall, intending to make the first move and find a way to shake him off.

A familiar, light thud of a landing echoed behind her. It was actually the same person who had followed her last time!

"If there were a live broadcast here, the two of you streaming this extreme game of cat-and-mouse would definitely make a fortune. CLICK, CLACK," her AI customer service chimed in.

She was already used to the AI’s frequent silent treatment and occasional jump-scare comments, but what was that faint, rattling noise in her mind? It just kept rattling...

"Did your parts malfunction?"

The CLICK, CLACK sound faded away. It seemed it wasn’t a malfunction; the customer service was intentionally making noise.

Because of Deng Yuyuan’s momentary distraction, combined with her unfamiliarity with the terrain, she was quickly caught up to.

"Let’s get acquainted. I am Master Lin. You should have heard my name." The man in black stretched out an arm to block Deng Yuyuan’s path.

"I have no desire to get acquainted," Deng Yuyuan replied, turning around with the intention of going back the way she came.

"Don’t you want an easier way to make more money? You only need to sell to me at a twenty percent discount. I will transport your goods to other places where they can be sold for a higher price, and you’ll be much safer. Or we could split the profits after they sell—sixty percent for you, forty for me. However, I don’t like keeping ledgers, so I’m afraid you might not feel at ease with that," the man’s deep voice laid out a transaction that was highly beneficial to her.

Deng Yuyuan stopped. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because I pay first before taking the goods." The man handed over a stack of bills. "Today is our first transaction, so I will buy them at full price."

Deng Yuyuan took the bills and held each one up to the sun. The man didn’t mind her behavior and waited patiently for her to verify and count the money.

"I don’t have much stock left on hand. Moreover, I’ll also be selling some cooked foods and fresh produce. There’s no way you can transport those." Only when the money was securely in her hands did Deng Yuyuan raise her doubts.

The man chuckled softly. "I have connections. Which is to say... connections for home deliveries. For cooked foods, I can contact my buyers and deliver directly to their doors, saving you from ever facing a situation like today’s again. However, I will still need to sell small quantities of your goods here on a regular schedule to maintain our retail customers."

"Fine, then we’ll settle the payment per transaction." Deng Yuyuan handed the basket to him. "You are not allowed to follow me anymore."

"Then where should we exchange the goods in the future?" the man asked.

"Right here," she replied. She then turned and left first.

As Deng Yuyuan walked away, she fell deep into thought. That old man had mentioned... the Agricultural Research Institute? It was a place that had never been mentioned in the original novel. Should she really reject him?