The Fantastic Little Farmer

Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Does My Face Not Cost Money?

”Pay up!” Zhang Yun said sternly.

Li Dajiang was instantly outraged. ”Are you crazy? You’re not paying us, and you want us to pay you? This is extortion!”

”You smashed our family’s teacup. Don’t you need to pay for it?” Zhang Yun’s face darkened. ”If I go and smash your car right now, do I not need to pay either?”

Li Dajiang was speechless. He felt a little flustered, unable to keep up with this kid’s logic. He immediately pulled a hundred-yuan bill from his wallet and handed it to Zhang Fu. ”Sorry for breaking your family’s teacup. Go buy a new set.”

Zhang Fu didn’t take it, so Li Dajiang placed it on the table and looked back at Zhang Yun. ”I’m talking about the matter with Li Bing and Li Dahai.”

Zhang Yun retorted, ”You mean how Li Dahai brought a crippled Li Bing to my house to extort money from us?”

Li Dajiang fell silent for a moment. They had no proof regarding Li Bing, and the kid had been stealing fish in the first place, so he could only change his tune. ”Let’s leave Li Bing out of this. What about Li Dahai? He’s an old man, and you still laid your hands on him!”

Zhang Yun sneered. ”Why don’t you go ask your older brother why he’s so shamelessly brazen at his age? Is this your family’s style?”

Li Dajiang’s face turned livid. He hated it the most when people lumped him and Li Dahai together. However, they were blood brothers, so he couldn’t just stand by when something happened.

”Li Dajiang, let me be straight with you! Li Bing usually bullies people. Others swallow their anger because they’re afraid of crossing him, and they’re afraid of crossing you. But this time, he messed with the wrong person!” Zhang Yun pointed at Xu Jin. ”I appreciate that he knows when to back down. You came to my door today to extort money. Normally, I wouldn’t let you off the hook either, but now it depends on your attitude!”

Li Dajiang’s heart skipped a beat. He was relying on his status as the cement factory’s boss and the expert he had brought along, Xu Jin. Now that Zhang Yun had completely suppressed Xu Jin and didn’t give a damn about his own status, he was just an ordinary guy. This was also in someone else’s village. If they really started beating him up, he wouldn’t even be able to run away in time!

”I don’t want to get involved in their business, but he is my blood brother after all...” Li Dajiang sighed. ”If you won’t pay compensation, you can at least apologize, right?”

Zhang Yun’s face darkened, and he slammed his hand on the table. ”Is there a hole in your head? You want me to apologize to him? Was I the one who went to Wa Village to provoke them?”

Li Dajiang panicked a little. Was this kid going to hit him? Would Xu Jin still help?

”You guys caused trouble several times and frightened my dad. You’d better apologize to my dad first!”

This time, Li Dajiang didn’t stubbornly resist Zhang Yun’s demand. After a few seconds of silence, he stood up and bowed to Zhang Fu. ”I’m sorry, brother. Apologies for the intrusion today, and I also apologize on behalf of my brother and his son!”

”N-no need...” Zhang Fu hurriedly waved his hands. A cement factory boss apologizing to him was something he wouldn’t even dare to imagine.

Uncle Xi was dumbfounded as he watched from the sidelines. He never expected Zhang Yun to be able to suppress Boss Li to such an extent!

Zhang Yun also hadn’t expected Li Dajiang to actually bow his head, which made it hard for him to keep lashing out. ”It’s impossible for me to apologize to them, but giving a ten-thousand-yuan red envelope in my name as a token gesture is barely acceptable.”

Zhang Fu and Uncle Xi opened their mouths, wanting to say something but held back. Letting the situation escalate would be troublesome; if ten thousand yuan could settle it, they were willing to accept it.

Li Dajiang breathed a long sigh of relief. To him, saving face was more important! With his blood brother and nephew beaten up, he had to stand up for them and smooth things over, or else he wouldn’t have the face to show himself around anymore. Now that Xu Jin had chickened out, and he couldn’t exert pressure to get compensation, he had only hoped for an apology. Ten thousand yuan was an unexpected bonus!

”Of course, of course! I’m a businessman. Peace is profitable, and I don’t make enemies. With you giving a ten-thousand-yuan red envelope, I’ll have an explanation to give them...”

Zhang Yun pointed at his bag. ”Make it two red envelopes!”

”Huh?” Li Dajiang suspected he had misheard.

Zhang Yun tapped his fingers on the table. ”The red envelopes will only be given in my name. This is already giving you face, Boss Li. You don’t actually expect me to pay the money, do you?”

Li Dajiang felt a wave of depression. He had rejoiced too soon. How could this guy be so agreeable? Or perhaps he couldn’t even cough up ten thousand...

”Then... just one for my brother is fine. Let that bastard Li Bing suffer on his own.” If he had to pay out of his pocket, Li Dajiang certainly wasn’t willing to prepare two fat red envelopes.

Zhang Yun shrugged. ”Suit yourself. Either way, my envelope can’t be missed.”

”What? ...Yours?” Li Dajiang felt sick all over! He hadn’t managed to get a single cent of compensation, yet he was expected to front ten thousand yuan for his family and then fork over another ten thousand to this guy? Was there any justice left in the world? Was there any law?

”I already gave you face. What about my face? Doesn’t that cost money?”

Silence filled the room. Not to mention Li Dajiang’s utter confusion, even Zhang Fu and Uncle Xi felt this was asking for trouble. Xu Jin, on the other hand, observed with curiosity. This ”farmer” was far more complex than he had imagined!

Zhang Yun chuckled. ”How does the saying go again? Today you brush me off, but Ming Tian you’ll find me completely out of your league. Right now, I’m giving you face by only charging ten thousand yuan. Some other day, you won’t even be able to buy my face with a hundred thousand!”

Li Dajiang’s mind was struggling. Should he accept this? If he accepted, he would be the only one taking the loss. This face wasn’t earned; it was bought! If he refused, then his previous apology and submissive attitude would have all been in vain, and the matter still wouldn’t be resolved...

He dreaded it most when the atmosphere suddenly fell An Jing...

Zhang Fu and Uncle Xi were incredibly nervous, while Zhang Yun and the onlooking Xu Jin remained perfectly composed. The one under the greatest pressure was Li Dajiang!

”Fine!”

Li Dajiang gritted his teeth and immediately unzipped his handbag. As a businessman, he sometimes needed to grease palms or give gifts to people’s children, so he always kept cash and empty red envelopes in his bag year-round. He packed two red envelopes with ten thousand yuan each right then and there. He handed one to Zhang Yun and held onto the other himself.

”Regarding today’s matter...” Li Dajiang looked at Uncle Xi. Since Zhang Fu and his son had essentially accepted hush money, the only worry was that Uncle Xi might blab about it.

Uncle Xi was very sharp. He quickly and solemnly promised, ”I don’t know anything, and I won’t breathe a word about this!”

”Then consider this matter settled. I’ll be leaving now.” Li Dajiang glanced at Xu Jin. He thought, ”I’ll just deduct this from your fee!”

Watching them get in the car and drive off, Uncle Xi and Zhang Fu hurriedly pulled Zhang Yun aside, bombarding him with questions. They were both worried that there would be trouble.

”Don’t worry. A docile person gets bullied, just as a docile horse gets ridden. Li Bing is like that, and so is Li Dajiang. He thought that, since I’m just a lowly farmer, he could easily suppress me. But the moment I got ruthless, he got scared. If I went to block his way or wreak havoc at his factory, he wouldn’t be able to afford the losses!”

”You little brat, causing trouble all day long! Just don’t do anything illegal!” Zhang Fu immediately started scolding him. The thought of the earlier threat—that a lawyer could put Zhang Yun behind bars for a few years—sent a wave of lingering fear through him.

”You guys watched me grow up. How could I do that?” Zhang Yun laughed it off and changed the subject. ”Uncle Xi, stay and have lunch with us! I dug up some ginseng and sold it, so I bought a lot of meat!”

Uncle Xi chuckled. ”You found ginseng? That’s really good luck! I won’t stay to eat; I need to head back first.”

Occasionally, people in the area did manage to dig up ginseng. Selling it for a few hundred yuan wasn’t uncommon. Seeing that Zhang Yun had bought meat and fruit, they didn’t think much of it.

Zhang Yun hadn’t taken out the soft-shelled turtle. He could claim the other items were cheap, but he couldn’t hide the true value of that thing from his dad. Besides, he needed to raise it to be a bit bigger. When the time came, he could just say it was a wild one caught from the fish pond.

Just as he was walking Uncle Xi out the courtyard gate, Aunt Jiu happened to be passing by. ”Old Xi, do you know anything about that internet thing... ’Why-Figh’ or whatever? It’s acting up at my house...”

Uncle Xi patted Zhang Yun on the shoulder. ”What do I know about that stuff? Only the young people understand it! Zhang Yun, go help Aunt Jiu take a look.”

”Oh, Zhang Yun, you’re here. I saw you go out early this morning and thought you weren’t home. Come on, help me fix it at my house, will you?” Aunt Jiu immediately called out to him.

”You mean the Wi-Fi, right? I’ll go take a look.” Zhang Yun felt slightly awkward. Aunt Jiu was... Xiuxun’s mother-in-law!

Normally, occasionally borrowing something or helping out in broad daylight was perfectly fine. However, just yesterday, Li Dahai had publicly accused him and Xiuxun of having an affair.

Uncle Xi noticed his hesitation. He smiled and gave his shoulder an encouraging squeeze, as if to say that an upright man fears no crooked Shadows.