Astronomically Priced Peaches

From Xia Yu, Jin Yin learned that the encirclement and suppression campaign this time was targeted at those connected with Zhou Shoujia.

Even though they only fired one shot from the wooden gun, they captured five people and dug up over a dozen large chests filled with small gold bars from a pit by the river. Because Zhou Shoujia had previously captured the ore miners on the mountain, he had developed wicked intentions. He contacted those people, wanting to transport the large chests out of the Taohualuan Brigade and hide them elsewhere.

They originally intended to take action before dawn, but after a busy night, they had just dug up the chests buried deep underground. Before they could transport them away, they ran into the entire brigade coming to harvest morning dew. Once the dew harvesters left, it was almost dawn, so they planned to return the following night to transport them. Little did they expect to be caught before they could even rebury the chests.

The one who took a bullet was Zhou Shoujia's guard. He was shot in the leg, and before he could make a sound, he was knocked unconscious by Xia Yu's lightning superpower. Jin Yin felt that Xia Yu didn't actually need to fire the wooden gun. Could he have just wanted to test the power of the wooden gun she had given him?

According to their confessions, these small gold bars were hidden by Landlord Kong when he sensed impending disaster. However, what Landlord Kong's family didn't expect was that while they were painstakingly burying the treasure, they were spotted by Zhou Shoujia's teenage ruffians. Later, Landlord Kong's family members died or fled, leaving only Bai Xianglin, who was completely unaware of the treasure's existence. Thus, Zhou Shoujia's group regarded these treasures as their own.

Aside from taking a small amount from one chest to sell for cash, the rest had remained buried underground. If they hadn't captured so many people coming out of the mountain recently, Zhou Shoujia's group wouldn't have worried about the treasure being discovered and tried to move it. In the end, they blundered right into Xia Yu, who was monitoring Zhou Shoujia.

Xia Yu was very disappointed with this outcome. He had thought they would catch a special agent, but was this all? With so much buried treasure, if their department had to manage all of it, how would they have the time? At most, they would hand it over to the local authorities.

"Erhua, although this operation wasn't within our department's scope of duty and the credit isn't that much, you did assist us. You should get a share of the reward!"

As he spoke, Xia Yu patted the wooden gun hidden at his waist. Only then did Jin Yin understand his purpose in firing that shot—he wanted to help her secure a significant portion of the credit.

"Haha, then thank you, Leader."

Facing such an understanding and considerate leader who cared for his subordinates, Jin Yin naturally wouldn't refuse the reward flying into her hands. Even mosquito legs were meat, right?

After a long period of observation, the Taohualuan Brigade could be said to have absolutely no suspicious points. Whether they would continue to mine the gold mine was not a concern for their department, and Xia Yu couldn't delay here forever.

After finishing the discussion about Zhou Shoujia, Xia Yu asked Jin Yin, "Erhua, I have to return to the Capital. Do you want to continue working here, or transfer to the Capital with me?"

Thinking of the courtyard house she owned in the Capital but had never seen, Jin Yin said without hesitation, "I'll go with you!"

Once the words were spoken, both fell silent. It was a classic case of the speaker being careless but the listener taking it to heart. Facing the slight curl of Xia Yu's lips, Jin Yin coughed awkwardly twice, "I mean, I want to transfer to the Capital. Please don't misunderstand, Leader."

The smile remained on Xia Yu's lips as he nodded, "Mm, I know. No misunderstanding."

Great, why did it feel even more awkward now?

Since she was transferring, she had to say goodbye to her family. By the time Jin Yin used her position as the director of the Women's Federation and the excuse of being recalled to the Capital to convince the Hua family, and finished coordinating with Xia Yu regarding the goods requested by the government office's chef, the peaches of the Taohualuan Brigade had ripened.

Looking at the peaches on the trees, each larger than two fists, the members of the Taohualuan Brigade were pleasantly surprised.

Jin Yin also felt relieved. She had previously thought that if the peaches couldn't be sold, she would buy them all to distribute as welfare for the Women's Federation. Now, seeing the quality of these peaches, the brigade members wouldn't need to worry about finding buyers.

Several purchasing agents from the city's Supply and Marketing Cooperatives and Department Stores had arrived, surrounding Zhou Laifu at the foot of the mountain. One wanted a thousand catties, while another wanted ten thousand.

Zhou Laifu calculated the expected yield. According to the expert when purchasing samples earlier, one mu of peach trees could produce about 3,000 catties of peaches. However, this harvest would definitely far exceed that figure; a conservative estimate could reach a shocking 5,000 catties or more. With about twenty mu of peach orchards on the mountain, as long as they met the quantities these buyers wanted, there would certainly be enough peaches. The next step to negotiate was definitely the price.

In previous years, the brigade's peaches had been brought to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, but the price was discouragingly low—only eight cents a catty. Meanwhile, at the cooperative, peaches the size of chicken eggs could sell for ten cents a catty, and they weren't even eager to buy them.

But this year was vastly different. Each peach was as large as a celestial peach. After all, Zhou Laifu, who had lived for nearly forty years, had never seen such excellent peaches. Jin Yin didn't know how much these peaches should sell for, but Xia Yu chimed in: "My family previously bought similar peaches at the Capital Department Store. They said they came from Jiangsu Province and sold for one yuan and twenty cents a catty. The taste wasn't even as good as these. However, our Xin City can't compare to the Capital; if it's too expensive, it might not sell. But still, it shouldn't be sold for dirt cheap, right?"

The purchasing agents all looked troubled. They had originally thought that since they bought the Taohualuan Brigade's peaches for eight cents in previous years, even if they were more expensive this year, ten cents would be fine, right? Who would have thought this Educated Youth from the Capital would immediately bring up the price of one yuan and twenty cents? This was truly an astronomical price; how could they buy them and make a profit? Even though they were experienced and had traveled far and wide, they didn't believe many people would be willing to spend over one yuan to buy peaches.

In the end, they looked at each other, and only two of them had the decisiveness to offer eighty cents a catty, wanting to buy a hundred catties first to test the waters.

Zhou Laifu's eyes widened. Although he felt this price was mostly just a trial run, eighty cents a catty meant eighty yuan for a hundred catties, and one hundred and sixty yuan for two hundred catties. They had never made this much money from selling an entire season's worth of peaches before. If those people sold them well and came back for more, that would be great. If they didn't sell well, at worst they would try elsewhere. Educated Youth Xia said that the Capital's peaches sold for one yuan and twenty cents and weren't even as good as their brigade's. In that case, they could ask Educated Youth Xia if he could help sell them to the Capital, and at most, they would give him some benefits.

Seeing that Zhou Laifu didn't look anxious at all, the remaining purchasing agents grew anxious. They also wanted the peaches, but they didn't dare make the decision on this price themselves. Thus, the buyer who could make his own decision took his peaches and left, while those who couldn't ran back to ask their leaders for instructions. By then, whether to buy or not would be up to the leaders, and whether the cooperative made a profit or a loss, they wouldn't have to shoulder the blame.