Chapter 217: Furious
Editor: Atlas Studios
When Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran appeared in front of Mu Yangling, both of them looked smug.
At that time, Mu Yangling was looking at the rabbits in the shed and worrying. Most of the rabbits she raised could be put up for sale already, and the second-generation rabbits were almost able to give birth to the third-generation rabbits. Yet, Fan Zijin still had not sent anyone to collect them.
Xiuhong was encouraging her to sell the rabbits to someone else. At least this way, she could reduce some losses.
The moment Fan Zijin arrived, he heard Xiuhong complaining about him. “…Young Master Fan shouldn’t be like this. Why didn’t he send someone to inform us if he wants the rabbits? If we continue raising the rabbits, they will be old. Cousin, listen to me and sell the rabbits.”
“I’ve already sent a letter to Fan Zijin. I’ll only sell the rabbits if he doesn’t reply in a few days. We signed a contract back then.”
Fan Zijin, who had come to show off to Mu Yangling, immediately put away the smug look on his face. He coughed lightly to attract their attention and raised his chin. “I’ll get someone to take the rabbits away tomorrow. I’ll naturally keep my promise.”
Mu Yangling sized him up and asked with a smile, “Have you been released?”
Fan Zijin blushed and nodded. “Thanks to you. Although we can’t return to the 5th Division yet, we have freedom of movement.” When Fan Zijin said this, he had a serious expression on his face. This was very inconsistent with his usual sarcastic manner.
Surprised by Fan Zijin’s change, Xiuhong widened her eyes and looked at him.
Qi Haoran placed his hand on Fan Zijin’s shoulder and boasted to Mu Yangling, “Zijin has completed a huge business deal. Big Brother felt that Zijin was changing his ways, so he allowed him to regain his freedom. Although he still let him stay in the prefectural capital, he didn’t restrict him from returning to the 5th Division.”
Seeing the joy between his brows, Mu Yangling asked with a smile, “Then what good news do you have?”
“That’s a secret. I can’t tell you.” Qi Haoran said that he couldn’t tell Mu Yangling, but his face was filled with joy. He couldn’t hide the smugness between his brows.
Mu Yangling didn’t ask further. Since Fan Zijin wanted to take away these grown rabbits, her troubles disappeared. She happily sat cross-legged on the grass with the two of them and discussed the recent situation.
The three of them were happy, but who knew how many people would be angered?
Firstly, there was Third Young Master Shen. He had already discussed the conditions for purchasing corn seeds with Fan Zijin and had already signed the contract. Only after that did he know that Qi Haoran had planted all the corn seeds. The part that angered him the most was that they had to pay within three days after receiving the goods, but the time for receiving the goods was not stated, allowing Fan Zijin to take advantage of the loophole.
Now, the 8,900 catties of corn seeds that he’d thought was the majority of the total amount available, suddenly didn’t seem like much.
As it turned out, corn could be planted in Xingzhou Prefecture for a second season.
Since 16,000 catties could be harvested from 28 acres of low-grade land, how much could one harvest from 16,000 catties of seeds?
Since the other party dared to plant all the corn seeds, it meant that they had great confidence in the second season’s harvest.
In that case, his 8,900 catties were not worth mentioning after accounting for the second season’s harvest. The Shen family could not gain the upper hand, and he had spent so much effort only to be fooled by a 13-year-old boy.
Shen San was so angry that he laughed. “Fan Zijin is really good. No wonder Qi Xiuyuan asked that kid to come to the Jiangling Prefecture alone. I underestimated him. Where is he?”
Shen San’s subordinate lowered his head and said, “Young Master Fan left the Jiangling Prefecture early yesterday morning. He left a letter saying that there’s no need to send him off. Third Young Master, isn’t General Qi afraid of offending our Shen family after making us suffer such a loss?”
Shen San snorted. “Who said that the Shen family would suffer such a loss? Didn’t Fan Zijin run so quickly because he wanted me to go to Xingzhou Prefecture to personally negotiate with Qi Xiuyuan?” However, with this contract in place and him taking the initiative to look for them, he had lost the initiative.
But thinking of the Imperial Astronomer’s prediction, Shen San had no choice but to go.
Even though the Imperial Astronomer’s prediction was not announced, he learned about this through his own connections. Clearly, Qi Xiuyuan also had his own connections to know about this in advance.
The Imperial Astronomer could make mistakes in predicting the wind and rain in a specific place, but his predictions about the weather in such a large area had never once been too off.
After Shen San followed Fan Zijin to Xingzhou Prefecture, both parties signed a new contract. Under the same conditions, the 8,900 catties was changed to one-third of the second season’s harvest. This would ensure the Shen family’s initiative in this crop war.
Then, there were the people sent over from all over. Not only were the Hus captured by Qi Haoran, but there were also the people sent from Xingyuan Prefecture and various parties to investigate.
Qi Haoran’s blow was very wide-ranging. Everyone who had infiltrated the 5th Division had been arrested, and some of them confessed as they could not withstand the torture. Although Qi Haoran did not find them, he still obtained a lot of information.
In order to reduce their losses, they had no choice but to withdraw the spies they had left in Xingzhou Prefecture. However, they were even more interested in the corn in the storeroom of the 5th Division. With such tight defenses, how could it be ordinary crops?
Some people even suspected that what Qi Xiuyuan placed in the 5th Division was not corn at all, but some kind of weapon. The corn seeds were just a cover. After all, people had been planting that thing for over a hundred years ago, but no successful cases were known so far.
Hence, even though the spies were withdrawn, they sent more powerful subordinates to scout the 5th Division at night.
In the end, Qi Xiuyuan had no choice but to send two platoon commanders from the 1st Division to support them.
While the scheming Qi Haoran had the storeroom of the 5th Division heavily guarded, he distributed the seeds in the house where he and Fan Zijin lived and got someone to plant them in the fields.
Those spies actually ignored this and rushed into the heavily guarded storeroom.
The corners of Mu Yangling’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch. “Aren’t they here for the corn? Now that we’ve all planted it in the fields, couldn’t they just dig up two in the dark while nobody’s watching?”
Qi Haoran glanced at her and said, “You’re the only one who can think so simply. Aside from the Hus, the only ones who can pay attention to the 5th Division at all times and send spies are the various military camps. To make them believe that what the soldiers are protecting is a crop and not a weapon, you have to cut off their heads first and install them on the farmers’ heads.”
Ignoring Mu Yangling’s widened eyes, Qi Haoran said, “I knew long ago that they weren’t here for the corn, so I moved the things into my and Zijin’s house early in the morning. Then, I placed a few large boxes in the storeroom. Now, everyone is protecting those few large boxes.”
In the entire 5th Division, other than the storeroom, only his room was the most tightly protected. The corn was also safe there.
Hence, those people were wasting their efforts. Now that Qi Haoran was guarding the 5th Division, he would catch whoever came. How could others not be angered?
