080: Putting It All Together

After one morning, half of the bamboo baskets brought by Wang Cheng and Papa Wang were filled with fruit. The fruit mountain was bigger than they thought. Although they were tired after running around, the group of people gathering together to pick was very cheerful, and the villagers could be heard talking and laughing from time to time.

The bamboo baskets full of fruit were moved to the bottom of the mountain by several stronger villagers, and Wang Cheng personally carried them to the yard in his home. After so many repetitions, he finally finished the move.

At noon, Wang Cheng asked everyone to take a two-hour rest and continued at two o’clock in the afternoon. He, Papa Wang, and Mama Wang also returned to their new house. Wang Ziyu was sitting at the porch and waiting, and she waved her hands as soon as they returned.

"Dad, mom, second brother, you finally came back! There are so many fruits in the yard, I have never seen so many fruits in my life." Wang Ziyu also did not expect that there would be so many fruits on the mountain. If they left them all at home, she was afraid that with such an endless amount, they couldn’t finish eating it even after next year.

"This is only a small part of them. There will be a batch of ripe fruits to pick in the next few days. Our family will be very busy this autumn." Wang Cheng jumped out of the car and said this.

Wang Ziyu also knew that, but, unfortunately, she couldn't help. She would return to school in a few days, when the National Day holiday was over.

"Xiao Yu is right, so many fruits can’t be left here this way. If we are too slow, the fruits below will easily rot. You have to think of a solution." Mama Wang and Papa Wang lifted the last basket of fruits together. Inside was a basket of autumn peaches.

The peaches began to mature after July. They ripened relatively late. Some peaches fell off the tree long ago, and the rest were slightly late so there were not many peaches. The most plentiful fruit to be counted was persimmon, and the second was plums and jujubes.

There were two and a half baskets of plums and jujubes, and the jujubes were divided into red and green. However, the number of red jujubes was higher. Although the green jujubes were fewer, smaller in size, and on the market, they still tasted sweet. Earlier, everyone was thirsty and directly ate the fruits. At the end of the day, they were full, and some villagers laughed that lunch could be skipped.

October was precisely the season when persimmons matured. There were four baskets of persimmons picked. Although these persimmons were wild, Wang Cheng had tasted them and they were sweet.

"Mom, this is easy to handle. We can make persimmon cakes for easy storage. I remember you made these when I was a kid. We can store them first, and the same is true for jujubes. If we can’t finish eating them, we can dry the jujubes. Plums are simpler, we can make wine, jam, or can them." Wang Cheng opened his mouth and talked about the uses of several fruits, which he had already thought about.

"Chengcheng is very right, this is your special skill." Papa Wang echoed.

Their family was relatively poor when Wang Cheng was young, and had a difficult life. Mama Wang tried to improve their lifestyle with her cooking. When Wang Cheng was young, their family was also frequent visitors of the fruit mountain, His older brother often brought his five or six-year-old self into the mountain to pick fruits. Mama Wang made something delicious and easy to store out of them.

Mama Wang also had this idea, but refrained, mainly to see how his son would handle this batch of fruit. It would not be impossible to sell them directly in wholesale.

It was decided that Mama Wang would not go back into the mountain in the afternoon.

Making persimmon cakes, drying jujubes, brewing wine, and making jams all required tools and ingredients. After discussion, Mama Wang went to the kitchen to cook while Wang Cheng and his dad rested in the living room. Wang Ziyu was sorting fruits in the yard, but after a while, she suddenly ran in.

"Dad, second brother: eldest uncle and eldest cousin came to see you."

Wang Cheng and Papa Wang looked at each other. At this moment, the eldest uncle and eldest cousin had already walked in. They had switched their glaring faces from two days ago to sweet smiles. They were deliberately flattering them, and one couldn't help but wonder of their intentions at first glance.

"Third brother, why don't you welcome us?" The eldest uncle came in and honestly spoke.

Papa Wang really did not welcome his elder brother to their home. He knew his elder brother, and knew that he would not give up. Even if he adjusted his mindset, this would not happen so fast; he suddenly appeared in front of them. It was 80% likely that they had a purpose.

"If older brother wants me to persuade Chengcheng to give you the north mountain, you should go back. I won’t agree."

The eldest uncle frowned when he heard this, but when the others thought he was going to make trouble, he said, "Third brother, I admit that last time, I was wrong. I should not blame you indiscriminately. I apologize to you for that matter. It was my fault as the elder brother. This time I am not here to persuade you to give up the contract. In fact, Ningkai and I actually have another thing to discuss with you."

The eldest uncle's act was so fake that Wang Cheng couldn’t believe it, let alone his father. Since his childhood, Papa Wang’s older brother had rarely made such a low-profile gesture of asking for help.

"Third uncle, please forgive my dad. My dad has already reflected, and he had actually been regretting his actions these two days." Wang Ningkai stepped forward and said.

Wang Cheng looked at his eldest cousin. He didn't believe a word he said. If he really regretted, he wouldn’t provoke Granny Wang and her husband to come to them to make trouble. Now the attitude of the two was so low-profile. Things must be important.

"Cousin, you can just say what you want to say."

"Cousin Chengcheng wants me to say it quick, then I will also speak straight." Wang Ningkai immediately answered, "I hope Cousin Chengcheng can authorize us to go and cut down the trees on the north mountain. Don't get angry immediately, listen to me, and I’ll explain again before you decide. "

Wang Cheng guessed what he probably meant, and couldn't help but to sneer.

"I heard that you contracted the north mountain for the medicinal plants in it. You don’t plan to log the trees in the mountains-- or you have no ability to log them. So, as long as you are willing to authorize me, I promise that I will not steal your medicinal plants from you, and I will give 80% of the original price to you, how about it?” Wang Ningkai thought that this idea could be regarded as the best of both worlds. It could both satisfy and protect the friendship between the two. If they had the personality of the eldest uncle, they would most likely agree, not to mention the high price he offered.

"It really is a good idea." Wang Cheng clapped with a smile.

Wang Ningkai immediately showed his face.

"But I still won’t agree," Wang Cheng added.

The expression on Wang Ningkai's face immediately froze, "Why?"

"Although my purpose is indeed the medicinal plants on the mountain, I have never said that I do not want the wood resources in the mountains. Just because I don’t have the ability to take them down now, does not mean that I will not have this idea in the future. Speaking of the mountain, isn't its real value those precious trees?"

Wang Cheng felt that the eldest uncle and cousin really took him as a fool. In actuality, he did not want to destroy the environment of the Guan’s Village. However, as long as the logging was done properly, there would be no loss to the Guan’s Village.

"Wang Cheng, that's not what you said that day." Eldest uncle was so shocked he stood up immediately, with a hurt expression of ‘you dare to deceive me’.

"Eldest uncle, you are really strange.  Did I tell you that day that I wouldn’t cut the north mountain’s trees in the future?"

The eldest uncle wanted to say something, but Wang Ningkai stopped him, and looked coldly at Wang Cheng and Papa Wang, "It seems that you have a plan. Your real purpose is primarily the mountain’s forest, not the so-called medicinal materials. My father and I were really tricked by you. "

"I turned my face so quickly. It seems that the so-called reflection and regret was also deceiving. You stated 80% to deceive me to authorize you, and I was almost fooled by you." Wang Cheng wore a heartfelt expression. ‘Yeah right, the eldest uncle would reflect when the sun rose from the west.’

The faces of the father and son changed.

"Older brother, Ningkai, you should go." Papa Wang sighed. The two families were at this stage, and he was helpless. The relationship with his brothers and parents was important, but now in his heart, his close family was more important. Before, he could make concessions, but now for his family, it was impossible for him to flinch.

When Wang Hongwei and Wang Ningkai returned to their house, Li and the old lady immediately gathered around them. They were in a hurry at home and they were anxious enough to fly over immediately. They found something wrong when they got close together. Why were their faces so bad?

"It screwed up?"

"Mom, grandma, and grandpa. We were all fooled by Wang Cheng. He didn't plan to give us the trees of the north mountain from the beginning, because he planned to cut them himself." Wang Ningkai clenched his fists and said resentfully.

"I said, how could Wang Cheng, that little rabbit, spend so much money on contracting the north mountain because of the medicinal plants on it? And he really had another purpose. He must have deliberately robbed our family of the north mountain before." Li screamed, almost going crazy.

"How have I raised such an ungrateful white-eyed wolf, even indulging his own son against his eldest uncle’s family." The old lady regretfully turned away.

Wang Ningkai's face switched between green and white for a while, and his mood was not good at all. He was even more upset when he heard what his mother and grandma said. He realized that his perfect plan would be aborted. He slammed the door and left the house. By the time Li and Granny Wang ran to the door, he had driven away.

T/N: Btw, sorry that the titles seem to be getting randomly irrelevant. I feel like it may be a mistake on my part... Maybe.

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