The Peaches Were Ripe

When the police arrived, they praised him but also told him to watch how much force he used. The four criminals spent a full six months in the hospital, and their families even wanted to sue Ye Huan for intentional injury.

Fortunately, the beautiful woman they had harassed had powerful connections. That day, she had been keeping her heartbroken best friend company and had come out very late, only to run into those four thugs. She helped Ye Huan settle those troubles and sent the four scumbags to prison in the process. Quite a few more of their crimes were dug up, and they would probably be sitting in prison until the floor wore through.

Ye Huan shook his head with a smile and told Da Hu's grandfather, "He'll be back in a few days."

"Ah, you're the only one who can keep him in line. Have a proper talk with Da Hu this time. Tell him not to leave again. If he were really just working a job, that would be one thing, but in his line of work, he'll end up in a cell sooner or later. If something happens one day, ah..." Da Hu's grandfather sighed.

"Grandpa, don't worry. Leave Da Hu to me. I'll make the arrangements. It's not a good time to expand this year. Tomorrow, I'll make him behave and stay home," Ye Huan said.

"Mm, I can rest easy with you keeping him in line. His parents are no good. They haven't come back to this home in all these years. I'll just pretend I never had that son. But Da Hu is a good boy. Discipline him properly. Don't let him go out and cause trouble."

"Mm, Grandpa, I will. Da Hu is my brother, no less than a brother by blood. I'll keep him in line. I'll watch him from now on and won't let him run wild." Ye Huan nodded and agreed.

After chatting with Da Hu's grandfather for a while, Ye Huan took Saihu and Xiaobai on another stroll through the village. This was the village's current situation, and he had seriously considered what the village chief, his uncle, had said about the village working with him.

It would simply mean that he supplied the seeds while the village supplied the land and labor, with the profits split proportionally. As for the secret-formula spring water, that could not be revealed yet. The space was his greatest secret. Even with people as close as his grandfather and parents, he had no intention of telling them.

It was not that he distrusted his family. There was simply no need to add to everyone's mental burden.

Without his Spirit Spring Water, irrigating with mountain spring water would, at most, produce vegetables of slightly better quality than others. They could be called all-natural, but as organic vegetables, they would probably fall well short of those at the foot of the hill behind his home.

There was another method: he could lease all the village's farmland, pay wages to villagers who worked for him, and let the others sit back and collect dividends. Of course, his share would definitely be higher that way. Who knew whether someone green-eyed with envy might pop up later?

In fact, he leaned toward the first form of cooperation. Each household would grow its own crops but hand over thirty to fifty percent of its income, one portion to the village and another to him. He could not work for nothing. After all, the Spirit Spring Water was the real secret.

If anyone got jealous and refused, fine. They could play on their own. Did they really think ordinary mountain spring water could grow high-quality vegetables? If so, wouldn't everyone living in the mountains have gotten rich long ago?

What Ye Huan did not know was that Manager Du had already taken his vegetables to the provincial capital for testing. After all, people these days put more faith in things like test certificates.

Manager Du now had the quality inspection certificate. She had used her connections to have it expedited. Looking at the figures on the report, which were five or six times those of the organic vegetables the restaurant had previously purchased, she was shocked, but she also understood why Ye Huan had dared to ask fifty yuan per jin in the first place.

"Luckily, I didn't look down on him with a dog's eyes and throw him out," Manager Du murmured to herself. Business at the restaurant had been incredibly brisk these past few days. Many regulars had booked tables for an entire week, and that was only because a week was the most they could reserve.

Some people had even asked her in a roundabout way whether, since they could not book a table, she could sell them some vegetables. Only then did Manager Du realize that the vegetables from Ye Huan's family had become a hit.

She sent people to ask around the county town, and sure enough, many restaurant owners had stationed people to watch her restaurant, hoping to find whoever was selling her the vegetables.

Fortunately, her staff were quick-witted and had simply given Ye Huan's father the title of purchasing agent. Although quite a few outsiders were suspicious, not much time had passed, and nothing had gone wrong yet.

Although her contract with Ye Huan stipulated that she would be his sole customer in the county town, when business was involved, who would care about that little bit of compensation for breach of contract?

Manager Du was getting a little anxious now. Having learned the value of these vegetables, she felt she could not sit and wait for death. So when Ye Huan's father delivered the vegetables that morning, she asked him carefully about his family's production volume.

When she heard Ye Huan's father say that they had planted all the vacant land and would probably be able to increase production in another two months, Manager Du inexplicably felt a stab of panic. Her private kitchen restaurant could only use so much.

Those large hotel chains and star-rated hotels were different, though. No matter how much there was, they could swallow it all.

Even if Ye Huan honored the contract, her restaurant's advantage would only last until the end of the year. Having tasted the sweetness of these past few days, Manager Du did not want the vegetable situation to leave her restaurant's business bleak in the future.

So she made a bold decision and sent Ye Huan a message.

When Ye Huan received the message, he happened to be strolling around the village. He smiled when he saw it and was in no hurry to reply.

His father had told him about what was happening in the county town. He had also said that someone had approached him and asked whether he delivered vegetables to the private kitchen restaurant. Unsure whether he could say so, his father had said no.

To be honest, Ye Huan had found working with Manager Du quite pleasant. Although he was indeed dissatisfied with the price, this was still the promotional stage, and she had not made things difficult for him at the beginning.

He would just treat it as a newbie gift pack for her. For these six months, he only intended to do business with her restaurant. As for next year, sorry, but not only would the price rise, he would also take on more business partners. After all, his parents had now planted all ten-plus mu at the foot of the hill behind their home.

As for the rice paddies, that was still a long way off. Rice produced two harvests a year. This was not inside his space. Most of what the space produced was for his own household to eat, including Saihu, Little Flower, and the little white wolf.

He already knew about Manager Du having the vegetables tested. After all, it was not something she could keep hidden, and she did not want Ye Huan to feel bad about it, so she had told him herself.

Ye Huan understood, but he was glad he had not brought vegetables from his space back then. Otherwise, once the test results came out, he dared not imagine the consequences.

He knew what Manager Du meant, so after finishing his stroll and going home to eat, he replied to her message: "We'll follow the contract this year. We can discuss next year when it comes."

Manager Du had no choice. She understood. She could not take that many vegetables. She would establish the restaurant's standing firmly this year, and no matter how expensive they were next year, she would have to secure a share. After all, once customers became familiar with a place, even if other restaurants had the same thing, they tended to go to the restaurant they knew.

At least she had a six-month advantage over the others. If she still could not do well with that, she could not blame anyone else.

During the meal, Ye Huan told his father, "When it's time to pick vegetables tomorrow morning, you and Mom get started first. I'll go pick some peaches on the hill behind the house. Take them over, but don't discuss money with them. Just say they're a gift. Once they've tried them, their manager will come talk to me."

"Sure." His parents could see now that their son had grown up. All they needed to do was get the work done properly. Besides, they had never imagined that, just like that, the family would now have several million yuan in savings. Three days ago, they would not even have dared to dream of it.