Originally, he thought that his eldest daughter was wronged in marriage matters, and that his father-in-law and mother-in-law were good to his wife as a form of compensation.
Now knowing the truth, Lin Chuxia was not the Lin Familyâs biological daughter, which explained his in-lawsâ attitude towards their two daughters.
This also made the marriage exchange issue even more inexplicable.
They would favor their biological daughter even in minor matters, so how could they possibly have Lin Chuxia marry Qin Yang, who had good prospects, and let Lin Jiayi marry him?
Even if Lin Chuxia threatened them with death, the Lin parents would never agree to exchange marriages.
Having failed to find any reasonable explanation, Li Guangyuan felt even more that something was amiss.
Old Mrs. Li was also increasingly annoyed, repeatedly warning Li Guangyuan not to remarry Lin Jiayi.
"That woman is truly vicious. Our family has faced so many misfortunes because of her. If it werenât for her, how would your eldest sister marry that Ma fellow, and your second sister marry the Zhang fellow? Sheâs the jinx that caused harm to our Li Family, even losing our Genbao. If it werenât for the marriage exchange, you would have married Lin Chuxia, and our family would have been doing well by now."
The proximity of Daqing Mountain Village and Xiaoqingshan Village meant that even if she hadnât been to the city, unaware of the Xiyang Group, she would know about Lin Chuxia from Daqing Mountain Village, who led the villagers to prosperity.
To be able to help a village prosper, how wealthy must she be?
Not to mention she has a wealthy adoptive mother.
If Li Guangyuan had married Lin Chuxia at that time, all that money would have belonged to the Li Family.
Old Mrs. Liâs words struck a painful chord, prompting Li Guangyuan to pick up his clothes and head out.
Home alone, Old Mrs. Li finally saw someone and hadnât finished venting before asking where he was going.
He simply replied, "Going to town to sell vegetables."
...............
Li Guangyuan rode his bicycle out of Xiaoqingshan Village but did not return to his home in the county nor head to his vegetable stall.
The stall is at the night market; it only opens in the afternoon, and in the mornings, he goes to the Qin Family Village Vegetable Market to wholesale some vegetables.
Usually, he stocks the stall based on whatâs missing.
But today, he couldnât wait to go home and ask Lin Jiayi what vegetables were needed and went straight to Qin Family Village.
Even though he knew that woman was no longer in Qin Family Village, arriving there gave him a sense of peace.
Li Guangyuan sat on the side of the wholesale market, watching the people come and go.
It was also later that he learned that Lin Chuxia advocated for the establishment of this wholesale market to facilitate the sale of Qin Family Villageâs greenhouse vegetables.
Moreover, the greenhouses in Qin Family Village were established under Lin Chuxiaâs invitation to the Agricultural Research Instituteâs technicians from the capital to instruct the villagers.
In Qin Family Village, Lin Chuxia is not merely considered the Qin Familyâs daughter-in-law but is recognized as their leader.
Every villager in Qin Family Village speaks of Lin Chuxia with nothing but praise.
Throughout Qin Family Village and even the vegetable market there, no one dares to speak ill of Lin Chuxia.
He took out a cigarette and smoked quietly, unconsciously accumulating one stub after another at his feet.
Until the sun turned quite scorching, Li Guangyuan extinguished the cigarette in his hand and was about to leave when he noticed a man not far away arguing with someone.
He recognized that man as Qin Yangâs cousin, one of the few in Qin Family Village who had conflicts with Qin Yangâs house.
Last time, he was selling vegetables and got into a dispute with the buyer at the wholesale market, even trying to use Lin Chuxiaâs name for leverage, but was exposed by fellow villagers, with even his nephew not siding with him.
To mess things up to this level, it shows how unsuccessful one is.
Li Guangyuan directly walked towards him.
Qin Wen was arguing with a vegetable buyer because most of his vegetables had been picked out.
Suddenly, someone patted him on the shoulder.
It was a man smiling peacefully, offering advice, "Weâre all doing business here, letâs discuss things calmly; harmony leads to prosperity."
Qin Wen didnât recognize the man and unhappily said, "Who are you? If this were happening to you, youâd take it calmly? I worked hard to grow these vegetables, finally bringing them to market to sell, and he picks out most of them. Is this how business is done? Picking out this oneâs bent, that oneâs short, arenât everyoneâs beans like this?"
Li Guangyuan glanced at the basket of beans in front of him.
With such quality, not to mention the vegetable traders sending produce to the capital, even the street vendors would choose and haggle; refusing to let them pick would mean selling cheaply, as theyâre unpresentable.
Moreover, inspecting his display basket, it was clear he put the best at the top while the rest were short and small.
When Qin Wen said that, the buyer also showed displeasure.
"We agreed earlier to pick out the unqualified ones, look at your basket, how it differs from top to bottom. I understand itâs tough for farmers to grow these, and itâs reasonable to display the best ones to attract business, but the difference between top and bottom is too stark. At this price, if I donât pick, Iâll end up losing money, you find it hard to sell while we find it hard to earn some."
"Donât give me that talk, why can others do it but not me? Stick to what you said; these picks wonât work."
"If thatâs the case, I canât buy these; Iâll put them back, you can sell them to whoever you want, and if you can make someone buy without picking, suit yourself, but I canât do it."
After saying so, the buyer began to pack the vegetables to return them, which Qin Wen wouldnât allow.
He grabbed his hand trying to pack the vegetables, "What do you mean? You pick my vegetables and now say you donât want them? Do you think the vegetable market is your own place, taking them if you want and abandoning them if you donât? Let me tell you, itâs not that easy."
Seeing the two were about to fight, someone had already called the market manager.
Sun Guodong saw it was Qin Wen and felt a headache right away, "Da Wen, what are you doing again? Every time you sell vegetables, you create some trouble, donât you? If the vegetables can sell, sell them, if not, take them away."
"Hey, Iâm telling you, Sun Guodong, if you want to suck up to Lin Chuxiaâs stinking feet, thatâs not how you do it. This is the Qin Family Village market, not only Lin Chuxiaâs place, besides, today Iâm right, he fiddled around for a while and then says he doesnât want it."
The buyer saw the sleeve badge on Sun Guodongâs arm and quickly spoke up, "Comrade, look at his vegetables, how the top differs from the bottom. When buying, he didnât let me turn them over, telling me they were the same top to bottom. I knew they wouldnât be exactly the same, but his difference is too much. If it werenât for such a big difference, I wouldnât have said this."
Those coming to the Qin Family Village Vegetable Market are regular vegetable buyers and sellers.
Displaying vegetables nicely, with the outer appearance better than the actual quality inside, is common behavior, known by everyone.
But having better ones on the top and bad ones on the bottom is a bit much.