Chapter 44 - 43: Taking Me for a Fool

Chapter 44: Chapter 43: Taking Me for a Fool

A middle-aged man in glasses, carrying a briefcase, quickly stepped out of the front passenger seat of a business van and opened the rear door.

First, a pair of long legs in high heels emerged, followed by a slender, beautiful woman in a professional sheath dress who stepped out of the vehicle.

She scanned her surroundings with a commanding presence, then pulled a pair of glasses from her handbag and put them on.

A few tourists wandering by stopped in their tracks when they saw the striking woman.

"Damn! Look at her! So sharp and beautiful. With that vibe, she’s definitely a wealthy boss lady!"

"What a beauty. You can tell just by looking at her that she’s a total powerhouse!"

The guys with girlfriends caught some flak, thinking, ’A beautiful woman shows up... if I don’t look, am I even a man?’

Li Lan paid no mind to the onlookers, turning to Xue Hongzhi. "Manager Xue, you’re familiar with the area. Let’s go find this Lin Feng directly."

"Understood, President Li."

Xue Hongzhi had wanted to find an intermediary, but Li Lan vetoed the idea upon her arrival.

Certain people in Wuyuan County were already fuming over the distribution of the Jade Grapes with no outlet for their anger. If they tried to find a go-between now and word got out, it would be like pouring gasoline on a fire.

The best strategy now was to act decisively—to secure a deal with Lin Xian Village and seize the initiative before anyone else could react.

When Lin Feng heard someone was looking for him, he thought, ’Looks like the test data on the Jade Grapes getting out has really attracted a lot of attention.’

He watched the beautiful woman approach with three men in tow. Her business attire immediately marked her as a high-powered executive from some corporation.

Before Lin Feng could say a word, the woman extended her hand. Her posture and expression were such that he felt it would be extremely rude not to shake it.

"Hello. I’m Li Lan, a business manager with Shanchuan Pharmaceutical."

"Hello, I’m Lin Feng. How can I help you?" Her hand was soft, and he felt a subtle motion as he shook it. He quickly let go.

After they sat, Li Lan adjusted her posture, positioning herself to look even more beautiful and alluring. She smiled. "Mr. Lin, I hear you have a rather magical type of grape here?"

Lin Feng shot her a glance. ’Is everyone this direct nowadays? Or have I just been too sheltered?’

"You must be referring to the Jade Grapes. I’m not sure where you heard about them, but the next three years’ harvest is already spoken for."

After testing the waters and realizing he wasn’t some impulsive, hot-blooded youth, Li Lan shifted her posture again. In an instant, her entire demeanor seemed to transform.

"Mr. Lin, our company is willing to offer triple the price to acquire your Jade Grapes."

"I’m sorry, but I’ve already signed a contract. It wouldn’t matter even if you offered ten times the price."

Li Lan hadn’t expected such a direct refusal. ’This young man is even tougher to deal with than those old foxes,’ she thought. He wasn’t falling for her act and showed no willingness to cooperate whatsoever.

"What’s the contract termination fee?"

"It’s not about the money."

In the current situation, even if he could break the contract, Lin Feng had no intention of doing so. Honoring his agreements was the best way to keep future trouble from his door.

Li Lan frowned, glancing at Xue Hongzhi and the other man who had followed her in.

The man with the glasses, who was clearly better at reading the room, spoke up. "Mr. Lin, your refusal to break a contract is an admirable quality. That being said, I’d like to ask... would you be willing to sell this place?"

Lin Feng was taken aback for a moment before it registered. "I have no intention of selling Lin Xian Village."

"Won’t you consider it, Mr. Lin? It seems your initial investment wasn’t that large. Our company is willing to offer two hundred million to acquire the village."

Hearing that price, he didn’t even want to speak to them anymore. ’Are they taking me for a fool?’

Never mind the tourism revenue from the Arrow Towers; he could make two hundred million from selling the Jade Grapes alone.

"Everyone, if you have nothing else to discuss, I see no reason to continue this conversation."

Seeing Lin Feng lift his teacup for a sip—a clear gesture of dismissal—the man knew he had misspoken.

Li Lan interjected. "I apologize, Mr. Lin. He’s not fully aware of the situation here. Please forgive his forwardness.

I heard you borrowed twenty million, so you must be in need of capital for development. I was wondering if you would be open to accepting an investment?"

"I’m not accepting investments. And I’m not short on money anymore."

Seeing Lin Feng’s growing impatience, Li Lan knew they couldn’t push any further, or they’d lose any chance they had.

"If you ever wish to discuss a partnership, Mr. Lin, you can contact us anytime."

Li Lan stood up and led her team out, her mood sour.

’When I came here,’ she reflected, ’I heard he was just some kid in his twenties who’d quit his job to come back home. I thought someone so young and impulsive would be easy to handle.’

But it turned out he was completely unyielding, giving them no opening at all.

Watching them leave, Lin Feng stood up and muttered to himself, "Does everyone think young guys are gullible and horny? Well, to be fair, kids fresh out of school are pretty easy to fool."

Too bad for them. Even before he’d graduated, during his internships, he’d already run into scams involving pretty girls selling tea, people "losing" their phones and asking for help, sob stories to get money for food, and predatory training loans.

Back in the car, Li Lan carefully analyzed the situation and concluded that they knew far too little about Lin Feng.

Furthermore, there had to be something important that Xue Hongzhi’s initial investigation had missed.

"When we get back, do a deep dive on Lin Feng. Find his weakness. Also, find out if anything significant has happened around here recently."

"Understood, President Li. I’ll start the investigation immediately."

「...」

Since he had some free time, Lin Feng drove his beat-up van into Wuyuan County.

The main reason was that the Houses were almost finished, and he needed to buy a batch of air conditioners. There was also the newly built Warehouse; he still hadn’t decided what enhancements to add to it.

’Maybe I’ll just choose upgrades for corrosion resistance, pest control, and fire prevention.’

Other attributes didn’t seem very useful for a Warehouse.

By the time he returned from the county with his purchases, he found Hu Xia and two others sitting in the pavilion.

"You’re back."

"Yeah. What are you all talking about?"

Hu Xia said, "Someone contacted me today. They want to book out the Arrow Towers on the mountain to do some astrophotography."

"Are there many tourists right now?"

"Tons. We ran the numbers. As long as tourism doesn’t drop off, the rental fee would be about the same as what we’d make from regular visitor tickets."

Lin Feng thought for a moment. "Let’s pass for now. Don’t rent it out to a private party yet. Let’s prioritize the general tourist experience."

There are only six stargazing Arrow Towers in total. Renting them out wouldn’t be very fair to the other visitors.

Besides, it’s already a special effort for tourists to stay late for stargazing.

"Oh, by the way, a tourist asked me about the Jade Grapes today."

"But didn’t you already address that during your livestream? Why are people still asking about the Jade Grapes?" Lin Feng was puzzled.

"It seems the news leaked. Some people found out about the effects of the Jade Grapes and are coming to try their luck.

Also, you need to be careful. Someone might try to make a move on the Jade Grape Trees."

"There are people at the vineyard every night. Unless they try to dig up the trees themselves, no other method is going to work."

Although most people who knew the real story understood the trees couldn’t be successfully transplanted, he still had to guard against those acting on rumors who might try something stupid.

Thankfully, with the two professors and their students conducting research inside, plus the alerts from the signal tower, stealing a tree was basically impossible.

While the four of them were chatting, an inconspicuous message began to circulate within a tourist chat group among people who had visited Lin Xian Village.

A tourist, who had been coughing due to pollen allergies, had their cough completely disappear after drinking two cups of the Medicinal Tea in Lin Xian Village.

At first, the message didn’t get much attention. But when four or five different people reported the same experience, it piqued the curiosity of others in the group.

Of all the rewards Lin Feng had obtained, the Medicinal Tea, made from the Clearing Heat and Stopping Cough Pills formula, had so far shown the least impressive results.

Zhao Shiyun’s sales over the past few days had only amounted to a dozen or so customers; most of the tea had been consumed by her family, friends, and the residents of Mountain Ridge Town.