CH 73

So cool—

Xu Zhao was used to Xu Fan praising him for being cool and amazing to return the politeness. He would also return the praise by saying Xu Fan was handsome. Xu Fan finally happily sat in Da Zhuang’s father’s embrace and said to Da Zhuang’s father, “Uncle Li, I-I-I’ll sit on the tractor and sell veggies as well.”

Da Zhuang’s father smiled and said, “Mn, you’ll sell veggies.”

“I’ll sell vegetables!” Xu Fan said, full of confidence.

“Yes, you will. You can do everything,” Da Zhuang’s father smiled as he replied.

“Mn.” Xu Fan ferociously nodded.

As soon as they arrived at the vegetable market, Xu Fan really became busy. He ran back and forth in front of the tractor. If he heard someone say they wanted to buy garlic shoots, he would quickly pull a garlic shoot and bring it over. If he heard someone say they wanted tomatoes, he would immediately grab a tomato and run to Xu Zhao’s side… No one was busier than him.

Xu Zhao didn’t discourage Xu Fan’s enthusiasm. As long as Xu Fan brought it over, he accepted it all then sold it to the people buying vegetables, making Xu Fan to dance happily and the passersby to laugh out loud as they expressed how cute Xu Fan was.

However, Xu Fan didn’t act arrogant and continued to be busy until he was tired. When he heard Xu Zhao’s words, he sat on the tractor for a while. After playing with his toy car for a while, he continued to be busy… As he worked and rested in this order all the way until it was time for the merchants to set up shop in the vegetable market, the entire tractorful of vegetables had just sold out.

“We sold everything!” The chubby Xu Fan stood on top of the tractor, his watery eyes wide as he said.

Xu Zhao smiled and said, “That’s right. We sold everything!”

Xu Fan immediately clapped his hands. “So amazing! Daddy is so amazing! So amazing! Applaud!”

Xu Zhao smiled and clapped. “Yes, Sanwa is so amazing.”

Da Zhuang’s father chuckled along.

Glancing at the chubby Xu Fan, Cui Qingfeng’s eyes were full of joy. He really wanted to know how Xu Zhao had taught Xu Fan for him to be so smart. He didn’t act like a kid at all. However, he didn’t look into this detail for now. He moved his line of sight away from Xu Fan’s body and toward Xu Zhao and asked, “Xu Zhao, how much more vegetables do you have at home? How long can we sell them till?”

Xu Zhao immediately replied, “We can probably sell them until the 29th.”

Cui Qingfeng continued to ask, “So that means you won’t be resting until the 30th?”

Xu Zhao nodded.

Xu Zhao would be free on the 30th… Cui Qingfeng couldn’t help but fall into contemplation, and only after a moment did he say, “Okay, I’ll remember that.”

“Mn. On the afternoon of the 29th, I’ll pay you guys your wages.”

Cui Qingfeng hurriedly said, “There’s no rush. I’m not urging you for the wages.”

Xu Zhao firmly said, “You may not urge me, but I’ll still pay them.”

Cui Qingfeng smiled and said, “Okay, okay, okay. You’re the boss. You have the final say.”

Xu Zhao also smiled and said, “Let’s stop here for today. We won’t stay here anymore. We still have things to do at home. We’ll come again tomorrow.”

“Sure. I’ll wait for you guys at Fan’s Little Shop tomorrow. Be careful on the road.”

“Mn, you should go home too.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” Cui Qingfeng said.

Xu Zhao started the tractor again and had Da Zhuang’s father and Xu Fan sit in the cart before steadily driving the tractor away. They said goodbye to Cui Qingfeng and drove all the way into South Bay Village. The sudden sound of the tractor attracted the villagers’ attention. Everyone extended their heads to look. Seeing the tractor completely empty, they were all completely shocked.

“What about the vegetables on the tractor?”

“It can’t be that they sold everything, right? They sold all of that?”

“No way! They actually sold it all!”

“Look at Da Zhuang’s father smiling and unable to contain his happiness. They must have sold everything.”

“Oh my God, they sold an entire tractor full! That’s too amazing!”

“Xu Zhao is so amazing!”

“…”

Xu Zhao was too amazing—This was what everyone in the village was thinking. This thought brewed inside their hearts for a moment before turning into admiration, and they couldn’t help saying it out loud. The villagers that had some extra cash on hand even secretly wanted to buy some of his vegetables to try and see what was so special about them.

Even Xu Zuocheng was curious about the greenhouse vegetables, but seeing how well-regarded Xu Zhao was in the village, he felt very unhappy. He held back his anger and turned to return home and saw Xu Dawa and Xu Erwa playing in the courtyard. They only knew how to play. He was pissed and opened his mouth to yell at the brats a few times before returning to his east wing to tell his wife about the matter of Xu Zhao selling greenhouse vegetables.

“They sold it all?” the Xu family’s eldest daughter-in-law, Zhu Youlan, asked.

Xu Zuocheng replied unhappily, “Sold it all.”

“So amazing!” Zhu Youlan couldn’t help but exclaim.

Xu Zuocheng was unwilling to admit that Xu Zhao was amazing. He always thought that Xu Zhao only had looks and only knew a few characters, but he wasn’t good for anything else. He still felt the same way. Xu Zhao was just lucky. And in reality, Xu Zuocheng was ten times, a hundred times more amazing than Xu Zhao!

“How much did he sell it for?” Zhu Youlan asked.

“I don’t know,” Xu Zuocheng said unhappily.

“Then what did he grow?”

Xu Zuocheng’s voice was full of impatience, “How should I know what he grew!”

Seeing Xu Zuocheng act so fierce, Zhu Youlan didn’t make a sound.

Xu Zuocheng suddenly thought of something and asked, “What did you just ask?”

Zhu Youlan truthfully said, “I asked how much did he sell it for?”

“One more thing.”

“I asked what he grew.”

“Right,” Xu Zuocheng said to himself,” What did he grow?”

“Go take a look,” Zhu Youlan casually said. She had seen Xu Zhao’s greenhouse before. The vegetables were tender and looked very delicious, so she couldn’t help but encourage Xu Zuocheng, “Zuocheng, look, it’s almost the new year and our house doesn’t have any vegetables. There aren’t many vegetables in the market now either. How about you ask Dad for a couple catties of vegetables from the greenhouse for Dawa to eat for the new years?”

“No!” Xu Zuocheng sternly refused, “He heavily favors Xu Zhao and Sanwa. Would he be kind enough to give us vegetables? If he would give us vegetables, Youcheng wouldn’t be sitting in jail till now!”

“Then do what you want,” Zhu Youlan thought Xu Zuocheng had a plan.

Xu Zuocheng glanced at Zhu Youlan, then said with a smile, “We’ll have vegetables to eat even if we don’t ask for it.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Just wait. There will definitely be vegetables to eat!”

After Xu Zuocheng finished speaking, he walked out of the east wing and stood by the courtyard entrance and looked toward Xu Zhao’s big greenhouse. His heart was filled with various thoughts.

Xu Zhao didn’t know any of this. He was currently walking out of the big greenhouse. He pulled two tomatoes and walked forward. The chubby Xu Fan followed behind him. Xu Fan’s chubby hands also held a tomato as he strolled along. After walking for a while, he took a bit from the tomato, and fresh and sweet tomato juice immediately overflowed.

Ah, so delicious!

Xu Fan took another bite. Ah, it was really tasty. It was sour and tasty. Xu Fan couldn’t stop eating.

When Xu Zhao looked back at Xu Fan, the small tomato was already half-eaten by Xu Fan. Xu Zhao immediately schooled his expression and asked, “Is it cold?”

Xu Fan raised his small face, his small lips tinted red as he said, “It’s not cold. Very delicious.”

“…Did you wash it yet?”

“No.”

“How can you eat it if you haven’t washed it yet?”

“I wiped it.”

“What did you use to wipe it?”

“I-I used my clothes to wipe it.”

In order to eat, he really would do anything.

“Don’t eat it. It’s too cold. Give it to Grandma and have Grandma make tomato soup for you.”

“I’ll take one more bite,” Xu Fan bargained.

“You can’t eat anymore.”

“I-I-I’ll just take one more tiny bite.” Once Xu Fan finished speaking, a “crunch” sounded as he took another bite. He then padded his short legs as he flew into the kitchen and said, “Grandma! Grandma! I’ll give you a tomoto. Daddy s-said to make soup.”

After placing the tomato on the chopping board, he glanced at Xu Zhao’s face.

Xu Zhao deliberately ignored Xu Fan and placed two tomatoes down. He went to the west wing and started counting the money he had earned today. Xu Fan immediately padded along and followed. He moved to Xu Zhao’s side, and said flatteringly, “Daddy.”

Xu Zhao ignored Xu Fan.

Xu Fan continued to “flatter,” “Daddy, what are you doing?”

Xu Zhao: “…”

“Daddy, are you counting money?”

Xu Zhao: “…”

“Wow, so much money.”

Xu Zhao: “…”

“Daddy, why aren’t you saying anything?

Xu Zhao: “…”

Ah, he really wanted Xu Fan’s little mouth to stop for a moment, but he couldn’t say that. Xu Zhao was almost unable to keep up with his words. When he raised his gaze, he saw Xu Fan’s meaty and cute appearance, and from the bottom of his heart, he felt that this child was really too cute. All the anger in his heart disappeared.

“Daddy!” Xu Fan shouted again.

“What is it?” Xu Zhao deliberately yelled back.

Daddy replied!

Xu Fan’s small face immediately burst into a healing smile as he continued to ask, “Daddy, are you counting money?

“Mn.”

“I’ll count too.”

“…”

Xu Fan took the initiative to walk in front of Xu Zhao. He counted three pennies before using his fleshy index finger to point to a penny in front of him. He jabbed it, then jabbed it again before whispering, “Daddy, give me a penny.”

Xu Zhao didn’t hear clearly and asked, “What did you say?”

Xu Fan said again, “Daddy, give me a penny.”

Xu Zhao heard him and asked, “What do you want a penny for?”

“To buy pickled plum powder.”

Pickled plum powder again!

Xu Zhao stared at Xu Fan.

Xu Fan looked aggrieved as he whispered, “I want a penny to buy pickled plum powder. I want a penny.”

“…” Xu Zhao thought about it. It seemed that Xu Fan hadn’t had pickled plum powder in a few days, so he said, “You can have a penny, but you can’t get it for free. you have to use labor in exchange for the penny.”

Xu Fan didn’t understand and asked, “Daddy, what does ‘labor’ mean?”

“…It means to work.”

“What kind of work?” Xu Fan asked again.

Xu Zhao patiently replied, “It’s time to eat. Move the four stools in front of the small dining table. If you move them, then I’ll give you a penny.”

“Okay! I’ll move them now!”

Xu Fan immediately ran out of the west wing. He moved a small stool from the courtyard, huffing and puffing as he moved it in front of the small dining table. He ran to the kitchen again to grab another small stool, huffing and puffing as he ran back to the small dining table.

After a while, the four stools were all moved. His face was full of excitement as he took the penny, and he immediately ran toward the small shop in the village. When he returned, one hand held the bag of pickled plum powder as the other held the small spoon. He walked as he ate the pickled plum powder. He had a healing smile on his face that looked very good.

When Mother Xu saw this, she deliberately rolled her eyes at Xu Fan. “Are you going to eat your meal?”

Xu Fan happily replied, “I am.”

“Can you eat your meal after eating pickled plum powder?” Mother Xu asked.

“Yes, I can eat a lot. I can eat two pickled plum powders and two noodles.”

“…”

Mother Xu was speechless and didn’t pay attention to Xu Fan any longer. She turned and entered the main hall and asked, “Xu Zhao, are you busy?”

“No.” Xu Zhao had already finished counting the money.

Mother Xu said, “Then can you head to the big greenhouse and harvest a green onion? I want to stir fry some vegetables. My hands are covered in flour, so I can’t harvest it myself.”

Xu Zhao immediately responded, “Okay, I got it. I’ll go now.”

Xu Zhao put the money away and came out from the west wing. He walked from the back entrance to the big greenhouse. As soon as he took a step out, his shadow, Xu Fan, padded along to follow. Xu Zhao let Xu Fan follow.

However, he didn’t wait for Xu Fan and had already walked forward. He suddenly noticed that someone seemed to be gazing at him. Xu Zhao immediately looked over and found Xu Zuocheng quickly turning around, acting as if he was on a walk and walking from the small dirt road over.

Doubts rose in Xu Zhao’s heart.