"Third brother, what on earth are you trying to do? In this freezing weather, why stand here and drink in the cold wind?"
In the corner outside the teahouse, Mo Yonglu breathed hot air onto his frozen hands, rubbed them vigorously, and complained.
Mo Yongshou, with sly eyes, watched the teahouse’s main entrance, getting anxious since no one had co out yet. Seeing his useless older brother complain ignited his temper, "Hmph, if you don’t want to make a fortune, then scram right now!"
Make a fortune?
As soon as Mo Yonglu heard this, his spirit was instantly lifted, and he didn’t mind the disrespect, "Make what kind of fortune? Tell about it, good brother!"
Mo Yongshou waved dismissively, "You’ll know in a bit."
Seeing this, Mo Yonglu felt an itch in his heart; he always knew his brother was shrewd. Since he talked about making a fortune, there must be a catch. He couldn’t help but put on a pleading face, hoping to get a share of the spoils.
Mo Yongshou teased him for a while, whetting his appetite, then finally leaned in mysteriously and whispered, "That damned girl has the secret recipe for growing greenhouse vegetables; the old man is here to buy the recipe. But that dead girl doesn’t know how to make a fortune even if it stares her in the face. If she won’t sell, then we will!"
At the end, a hint of malice flashed in Mo Yongshou’s eyes, showing his determination to succeed.
"But... but where can we get this secret recipe? Besides, greenhouse vegetables don’t have any secret recipes, right? Didn’t we ask those old fools in the fields before?"
Mo Yonglu scratched his head, expressing his doubts.
Mo Yongshou contemptuously thought this older brother was too foolish, but for the sake of the plan, he still explained with a little patience, "Without a secret technique, could the vegetables grow so well and so fast? Not to ntion anything else, just look at those vegetables, each one grows faster than normal by several days. It’s the depths of winter now; those vegetables are lusciously green, even greener than the pine trees on the mountain—do they look like they could grow in the winter?"
Upon hearing this, Mo Yonglu felt his brother made sense, but then he had another thought that seed implausible, "If there really were a secret recipe, it’s impossible that there wouldn’t be any rumors. Plus, those old n were the ones growing the vegetables; the Yan girl couldn’t have kept the secret recipe from them. But recently, so many people have asked, and so offered silver to pry the secret out of those old n to no avail!"
Mo Yonglu was starting to feel irritated, which was precisely his own point of confusion. Those greenhouses were built right under their noses, and the vegetables grew in front of them, yet no one noticed any secrets. But if there really were no secrets, how could the vegetables grow like that?
"Hmph, never mind if there is a secret recipe or not. Those rich people firmly believe there is one, and that makes it real! When that dead girl cos out, we’ll do this..."
As he spoke, Mo Yongshou leaned over to Mo Yonglu and quietly shared his plan.
"This... this won’t cause any trouble, will it?"
Mo Yonglu stuttered, hesitant; although he was simple, he also knew that this wouldn’t be so easy to pull off. If they were exposed, it could even lead to a lawsuit.
Seeing him think of backing down, Mo Yongshou spared no effort in painting a picture of the good life after getting the silver—indulging in delicious food, fine drinks, and beautiful won to keep them company. Mo Yonglu’s eyes glead, and ultimately, greed overca him. He decided to go through with Mo Yongshou’s plan.
...
In a private room of the teahouse, Mo Yan’s conversation with the Punishing Shopkeeper was anything but pleasant.
"Punishing Shopkeeper, I know you are very sincere about wanting to obtain the secret technique of greenhouse vegetable growing, but no matter how many tis I say it, my answer is still the sa: there is no secret technique. If you don’t believe , you can send soone to watch the vegetable field day and night, then you will see that I am not lying."
Mo Yan really felt like crying. She had said it so many tis, yet the Punishing Shopkeeper insisted that she had a secret recipe. If it weren’t for the fact that she knew diluting the Spirit Spring Water couldn’t possibly be discovered by others, she would have doubted whether her secret had been exposed.
"Miss Mo, I believe you, but so people don’t!"
The Punishing Shopkeeper felt even more like crying. If he hadn’t blabbed after tasting the greenhouse vegetables grown by the Mo Family, succumbing to their flavor, he wouldn’t have tried to flatter his master, foolishly sending him a batch of fresh produce. He never thought that this gesture would bring about a "disaster"; now, he honestly wished he were dead.
He had previously sent people to Liu Yang Village, but after much investigation, they found nothing suspicious. Yet that person insisted there was a secret technique. Now he was trapped in a difficult position; even though he had co to believe there was no secret technique, he still had to produce one.
"May I ask, Punishing Shopkeeper, who this ’soone’ is?"
Mo Yan sensitively caught the implication in his words and instantly beca alert. After all this effort, it wasn’t even his own idea — so, could the person who ca up with it have sensed her secret, but was still unsure, and therefore sent soone to probe her first?
But she had been so careful; it seed impossible! Now, Mo Yan was not sure herself.
The Punishing Shopkeeper didn’t realize his words caused Mo Yan so much turmoil, and noticing his slip of the tongue, he hastily covered it up: "No, no! Other restaurants are also after your vegetables, they are convinced you have a secret technique. I’m just afraid of soone else beating to it."
Mo Yan didn’t believe his explanation but also knew it wouldn’t be good to keep pressing, so she humd a couple of vague responses, hoping to end this fruitless conversation as soon as possible.
All that needed to be said had been spoken. Perhaps because he knew he couldn’t achieve his goal this ti, the Punishing Shopkeeper lost interest and courteously saw Mo Yan out of the private room.
Outside the door, Lin ng and Xiao Zhu stood on either side.
Xiao Zhu was trying to cozy up to Lin ng, hoping to dig up so useful information from him, but Lin ng had no good impression of the persistent old and young pair, and how could a green boy get the better of him? At first, he responded to a few remarks, but later on, he couldn’t even be bothered to speak.
Xiao Zhu wore a frustrated expression, as if he wanted to scratch at the corner of the wall, staring eagerly at the door, hoping for good news from the Punishing Shopkeeper.
Seeing the person inside co out, Lin ng was relieved to see Mo Yan erge intact.
Mo Yan felt a touch of warmth in her heart and nodded at him. After bidding farewell to the Punishing Shopkeeper, she and Lin ng descended the stairs and left the teahouse together.
The Punishing Shopkeeper felt depressed and really didn’t want to go back to face that ancestor of a master but had no choice other than to report back the results. He drank a stomachful of tea, waiting for the irritation to subside, before finally taking Xiao Zhu and leaving the teahouse.
Yet just as one foot hadn’t crossed the threshold, soone suddenly rushed up, blocking his way.
"Punishing Shopkeeper, this young man has the secret recipe for those vegetables. I wonder if you might be interested?"
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