He left Two Rivers Village.
Following the example from before, Lin Ze drove his donkey cart straight into the Cloud Mist Mountain Range.
Once he was sure no one was following him,
Lin Ze put a blindfold on the donkey, opened the Gates to Heavens, and returned to the Two Realms Trade Base in Big Stone Village, out in the countryside of Jiangzhou City in the Main World.
After settling the donkey, Lin Ze ate lunch and rested for a little while.
Then he began sorting the matsutake he had just brought back, packing them separately according to their quality.
By the time he had finished, it was almost dark. He went down to the basement again and opened the Gates to Heavens.
This time, the Other World coordinates where the Gates to Heavens opened weren't near Two Rivers Village. They were in a secluded stretch of woodland outside Clear River Village, the seat of Clear River Township.
Lin Ze didn't go to the Other World himself. Instead, he controlled his drone remotely from the Main World, using the cover of night to sneak toward Clear River Village.
His drone had a maximum control range of more than nine kilometers. It could take aerial photos from hundreds of meters up, had a high-resolution camera with night vision, and was highly inconspicuous.
Back when Lin Ze was learning the Other World's language, writing, customs, and culture, he had relied on this drone to go wherever he pleased.
While reviewing the surveillance footage that morning, he had found reason to suspect that Zhang Yuanwai of Clear River Village might be up to something. Lin Ze had decided to investigate and see whether he was colluding with the bandits.
Before long, under the cover of night, Lin Ze piloted the drone to the vicinity of Zhang Yuanwai's home.
Compared with the surrounding villagers' mud-brick huts with thatched roofs, Zhang Yuanwai's house was far better: a large compound with tall walls and blue-brick buildings topped with tiled roofs. He even kept several household retainers, guards, and dogs. It offered far greater comfort and security than the homes of ordinary people.
Lin Ze didn't pay much attention to any of that.
At that moment, Zhang Yuanwai's family was eating in the main hall, while the servants were in the front courtyard. The living quarters at the back of the house happened to be empty. Masked by the sounds of people and barking dogs, the faint noise of the drone went unnoticed.
Lin Ze flew the drone straight to the vicinity of Zhang Yuanwai's bedroom and study, dropping a miniature camera in a concealed spot near each. Both cameras could operate for two days on a single charge.
"I'll come back and retrieve the cameras after some time. That should do it."
"If I've wronged an innocent man, I'll quietly look after Zhang Yuanwai's family to make amends. But if it turns out he really is colluding with the bandits, he can't blame me for being ruthless."
Lin Ze piloted the drone back toward the Gates to Heavens, turning things over in his mind.
Having finished all this, Lin Ze didn't linger.
He went to the garage above the basement, brought the matsutake he had packed that afternoon and the centennial ginseng he had collected from An Ye's home, and opened the Gates to Heavens to reach his matsutake trade base in Tiannan City.
The room was quiet, with no electronic devices in sight.
Lin Ze left the matsutake and centennial ginseng in the warehouse, then stepped outside and switched off the signal jammer he had installed not long ago.
Only then did he pick up the phone he'd left in the bedroom.
No one had called him this time, but there were plenty of messages on Flying Bear Chat.
Lin Ze opened the app. Finding nothing especially important, he switched straight to the side account he'd created specifically to sell matsutake.
There were plenty of messages there too, all from buyers who had purchased matsutake from him before, asking when he would restock.
There were also several new friend requests.
Lin Ze first took photos of the matsutake he had just brought back, then paired the pictures with a caption and posted them to his Moments.
"New shipment's in. This batch includes some top-grade matsutake far superior to what I've had before. Anyone looking for high-quality matsutake, get in touch soon."
After posting the update, Lin Ze sent it to several matsutake trading groups he'd joined.
Then he changed his online shop's stock status to available.
He began replying to messages from previous customers and new buyers who seemed interested.
"Hello, we've restocked our matsutake. If you'd like to buy some, you can place an order in our online shop."
Lin Ze happily chatted with the buyers, and before long he had sold a good deal more matsutake.
Of the six hundred jin he had just restocked, one hundred and twenty jin were already gone. At an average price of 4,500 yuan per jin, the matsutake had earned him another 540,000 yuan.
He had previously spent 1,150 taels of silver—about 300,000 yuan—on the centennial ginseng and the matsutake he had bought for An Ye.
Now he'd not only earned it back, but had made a profit on top of that.
"No one else is contacting me. That's probably it for tonight."
At 7:12 p.m., Lin Ze watched his phone, which had been quiet for a while, and pondered.
But just then, another friend request came in.
"Qing has requested to add you as a friend."
At the sight of the familiar username and profile picture, Lin Ze's mouth twitched.
Wasn't this the wealthy young lady he'd run into at the airport a few days ago?
This world was so small. How could they have crossed paths again?
He had rejected her friend request before.
After all that, he hadn't expected them to become friends anyway.
With a sigh, Lin Ze accepted her request.
"Hello, I saw the top-grade matsutake in your Moments and I'm interested in buying some. May I ask how much it costs?"
As soon as they became friends, she sent him a message.
Her businesslike tone was nothing like the enthusiasm and initiative she'd shown when they met at the airport.
That was only natural. At the airport, she had been talking to a young man she was interested in. Now she was handling business.
"Eighteen thousand a jin."
Lin Ze replied.
Top-grade matsutake was superior to ordinary matsutake in both appearance and flavor. His price was not only reasonable; it was downright cheap.
Ji Shuqing, on the other end of the conversation, was clearly a connoisseur. She didn't even try to haggle.
She simply typed, "All right. How much do you have? I'd like to buy it all."
Lin Ze considered for a moment, then replied, "I have twelve jin. I may restock at any time after that."
Hearing that, Ji Shuqing became more enthusiastic.
"Great, I'll take all your matsutake. I'm Ji Shuqing, a purchasing agent for Ji Family Cuisine in Shenjing City. My phone number is xxx. I regularly need large quantities of all kinds of rare ingredients. Once you restock, you can sell them all to me."
Reading her message, Lin Ze understood.
This was the first time he'd learned her name.
No wonder their paths had crossed again so coincidentally. Given her line of work, it was only natural that they'd come into contact for this reason.
"All right."
Lin Ze replied with two simple words, ending the conversation.
Before long, someone placed an order through the online shop for twelve jin of the finest matsutake. The order came to 216,000 yuan.
"Order received. I'll ship it as soon as possible."
Lin Ze sent one more reply, then contacted a courier service to ship it right away.
Once he'd finished with that order, his phone finally fell completely silent.
Before you continue