Vegetable Farmer Goes to the City

As she spoke, Xu Han handed over a cucumber, but the boss pushed it back. "Even if it tastes good, I don't need it. Go ask those guesthouses and snack shops if they want any. Don't waste your time here."

Xu Han had not expected this outcome. After thinking it over, she said, "Then I'll give you this bag of vegetables. Carrying them here was exhausting, and I really don't want to carry them back again."

At that, the boss's eyes gleamed greedily. Looking at the bag of fresh, beautiful vegetables, she said, "If you're giving them to me, then you're giving them to me. I won't pay for them."

Xu Han smiled. "Of course they're a gift. But here's my number. If you really need any after trying them, you can contact me anytime."

Perhaps because it was awkward to take something from someone else, the boss accepted them despite her reluctance.

Xu Han did not press the matter and simply left.

After leaving the farm restaurant, she went to the Agricultural Taobao Station in town to pick up her package. The dried dehydrated vegetables Tan Yue had mentioned... Xu Han had never actually eaten the stuff. She immediately went online and bought several boxes to try, then looked up the process and equipment needed to make them. She discovered that the best drying machine currently available cost nearly forty thousand yuan...

Poverty had limited Xu Han's imagination.

Xu Han decided to try them first, then make some herself using traditional methods to see whether they really tasted good. Otherwise, investing rashly without preparation and having no sales channels later would make everything pointless.

By the time she got home, it was already dark. Koukou had become especially clingy lately. Having not seen his mother for most of the day, he danced with excitement when Xu Han appeared and begged to be held. When she went to wash her hands instead of picking him up right away, he became so anxious that he cried.

"Why are you so clingy, hmm?" Xu Han picked him up. The little guy happily burrowed around in her arms, clearly craving milk.

There was no one else at home, so Xu Han undid her clothes and fed him.

Watching Koukou eagerly start sucking, Xu Han lightly flicked his soft little forehead. "You said you missed Mommy, but you clearly just wanted some milk."

Koukou paid her no attention, sucking away with a deeply satisfied expression.

"He really did miss you. He stared at our front door all afternoon," Grandma Qiao said with a smiling shake of her head. "By evening, he looked especially wronged. I asked whether he missed Mommy, and he even babbled 'ah ah' twice."

Koukou was nearly six months old and could already understand a little of what people said, though only very simple phrases, such as going out to play or whether he wanted to be held. He probably did not yet understand words like missing Mommy.

Still, Xu Han was delighted to hear it. Imagining the little guy staring hopefully at the front door, waiting for her figure to appear, made her heart melt.

Xu Han generously decided not to fuss over whether this little rascal missed her or missed her milk, then bent down and kissed his cheek.

Koukou spat out the nipple in his mouth, gave an excited "Ah!" and reached out with his little paws to grab her face.

Xu Han understood that he wanted one too. She lowered her face, and Koukou happily hugged it, covering her face with milky drool as he gnawed on her.

Xu Han did not know whether to laugh or cry. Children at this stage were far too good at copying others.

"I need to make a trip into the city soon. Looks like I'll have to bring this little troublemaker along."

Grandma Qiao froze. "What are you going to the city for?"

"The lease on my place in X City is up. Since I'm not living there anyway, I thought I might as well return the place and pack up anything useful to mail back."

Author's note:

Xu Han: Hehe, the male lead is really and truly gone this time, right?

Gu Yanqing: Maybe next chapter I'll once again...

Xu Han: I'm so tired.

Vegetable Farmer Goes to the City

When Xu Han left back then, the previous owner had just paid half a year's rent, and the landlord refused to refund it. Xu Han had no choice but to leave the apartment sitting there and return to Dongyang Village with Grandma Qiao.

Since she had only done a quick cleanup before leaving, there were still plenty of things in the apartment. Xu Han planned to go there, return the place, and deal with her belongings along the way—sell what could be sold, throw out what should be thrown away, and mail back anything useful.

Originally, she had wanted to leave Koukou at home. If she left some milk behind along with formula and baby food, it should have been fine for her to go today and return tomorrow. But seeing how things were now, with Koukou missing her terribly after less than half a day apart, Xu Han considered it and decided to bring him after all.

When Grandma Qiao heard that she was not returning to the city to stay long-term, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The farm restaurant's boss contacted Xu Han that very night.

The reversal came fast. That farm restaurant boss, who had looked displeased and driven her away that afternoon, cheerfully said she wanted to buy Xu Han's vegetables. Yet she kept haggling hard over the price.

Take cauliflower, for example. Xu Han could normally sell it for four yuan per jin, but the other woman insisted on pushing it down to one yuan fifty. She even said that when she bought from greenhouse growers in town, cauliflower could be as cheap as one yuan per jin.

Xu Han more or less understood. Places like theirs were not like schools, where they did not spend their own money and therefore did not care about costs.

What they cared about was profit.

When they normally bought from greenhouse growers, they must have been buying vegetables that could not be sold, saving wherever they could. That was why she had received such an unfriendly rejection when she first came to their door.

Yet the dishes at these farm restaurants were absurdly expensive. A plate of stir-fried vegetables could sell for eighteen or even twenty-two yuan, while the cost was at most three yuan.

Xu Han did not mind them earning a lot, since that was their own ability. But thinking of how they made so much money yet still tried to squeeze farmers like her, who worked so hard to grow their crops, left her feeling indignant.

"Boss Xu, the lowest I can go is two-fifths below my usual price. I can't go any lower. If you think that won't work, then just pretend I never came by this afternoon."

Boss Xu said, "Give another ten percent. How about three-fifths? Little sister, it isn't easy for anyone to make money these days. We should each give a little, so you're happy, I'm happy, and everyone's happy, right?"

Who's happy with you? Xu Han sneered inwardly, but she continued bargaining aloud. "Sorry, Boss Xu. If I give that much, it won't even cover my transportation costs for delivering the goods to town. This is already the biggest concession I can make. Any more than that, and I can only say sorry."

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Sweet Romance

Sweetness Is Justice