After returning from the village, Yun Que'er had been in a rather bad mood.
Yun Fu Jin sat silently by her side. After a long while, he patted Yun Que'er on the shoulder.
"It's okay. We've got money now. If this deal doesn't work out, we can try something else."
"But we can't just let it go like this, can we? We've been preparing for so long," Yun Jian Zhou said dejectedly.
Then, thinking that this matter seemed more complicated than it appeared, he picked up his undershirt and stood up.
"I'll go out and find out."
Yun Jian Zhou rushed out of the house and then turned back towards the village.
Seeing several groups of people going there to inquire about the news, Yun Jian Zhou couldn't wait any longer and was about to step forward to ask them where they'd heard the wind from. But after taking two steps forward, he stopped.
This time, he thought a bit more than usual.
Those people also wanted to make money. If he just went like that, he probably wouldn't find out anything.
After all that had happened before, Yun Jian Zhou finally learned to be patient and observe slowly.
He hid in the woods and watched for a long time. Finally, he saw a middle - aged man being personally escorted out of the small house by the forest warden.
Seeing them chatting merrily as if the deal was about to be finalized, Yun Jian Zhou realized that the relationship between these two was no ordinary one.
When the man had walked a bit further away, Yun Jian Zhou followed him.
He dodged and hid all the way, keeping a distance of about ten meters from the man. Fortunately, he wasn't discovered.
Yun Jian Zhou wanted to find out where this man came from. Unexpectedly, following him, he ended up in Yuhe Village.
Then the man turned and twisted through the alleys and entered Liu Kui's house.
Yun Jian Zhou was greatly shocked. He rushed back to his own home in a hurry.
"Big Brother! Xiao Que'er!"
Yun Jian Zhou rushed into the house impatiently.
He was so thirsty from running all the way that he first poured himself a big gulp of water. Then, out of breath, he began to speak.
"I just went to the village. There was a man chatting very well with the person in charge there. Then I followed that man all the way back. Guess where he went?"
Yun Jian Zhou slapped his thigh. "Damn it, he went to that bastard Liu Kui's house."
Yun Que'er and Yun Fu Jin exchanged a look and both frowned involuntarily.
Liu Kui?
It had really been a while since they'd paid attention to him.
Back then, when Liu Kui was found to have secretly raised pigs in excess, he'd been in a slump for a while. And with the incident involving the old village head's daughter, Liu Kui had really kept a low profile.
For a while, they'd almost forgotten about Liu Kui.
"Do you think it was Liu Kui who spread the news and instigated others to oppose our family?" Yun Que'er asked.
"What do you think?" Yun Jian Zhou looked at Yun Que'er. "This Liu Kui is simply the kind of person who can't stand others being better off when he's doing well himself."
Yun Que'er fell into deep thought.
Liu Kui had disliked their family for a long time. He had the most motivation to do such things.
Moreover, he used to secretly raise pigs there. It would be too easy for him to find out some news. And then it would be a piece of cake for him to trip them up.
"Liu Kui is the most troublesome and difficult to deal with," Yun Jian Zhou said. "This guy won't stop until he achieves his goal. The key is that he's really like a cockroach that can't be killed. As long as he has a breath left, he must achieve his goal."
Yun Jian Zhou's evaluation was quite on point, and Yun Que'er thought so too.
If Liu Kui really stepped in to interfere, it would be difficult for them to handle.
Yun Que'er thought carefully for a moment and suddenly smiled.
"But that's exactly why we can't give up."
Yun Jian Zhou looked at Yun Que'er in confusion. "Do you want to fight against Liu Kui again? Yes, I admit that our family isn't afraid of him, but there's really no need to waste time on him. If the trees on this piece of land are no good, we can go and look elsewhere. Why hang ourselves on one tree?"
There was a faint smile on Yun Que'er's lips. She looked at Yun Fu Jin.
"Big Brother, what do you think?"
Yun Fu Jin thought for a moment and nodded in full agreement.
"I think Xiao Que'er is right. Just because Liu Kui is causing trouble for us this time, we should be more determined not to give up."
Yun Jian Zhou was confused. "Ah?"
"Second Brother, think about it. Is Liu Kui really trying to get a share of the pie by getting involved in this?"
Yun Jian Zhou shook his head without thinking. "That's impossible. He has enough on his own plate. He doesn't have the energy to do this business. He's just plain bad. He just wants to trip us up on purpose."
Yun Que'er nodded. "Yes. Since his intention is just to trip us up, those people who went to the village to inquire about the news may not really be sincere about doing business. Maybe they were just instigated by Liu Kui to give us a false impression and make us give up on our own."
Yun Jian Zhou thought thoughtfully.
So, Liu Kui's main purpose was to make them back down in the face of difficulties.
If they really gave up on this village, they would be just fulfilling Liu Kui's wishes.
"Damn it, Liu Kui is just like a piece of dog - skin plaster."
This kind of person just deliberately shows off his presence in front of you.
You can't even avoid him because he will keep coming in front of you and using all sorts of means to disgust you, forcing you to take notice of him.
"Then we really shouldn't let Liu Kui get his way," Yun Jian Zhou said. "But what should we do?"
"Handle it coldly first," Yun Que'er said. "The more they ask for exorbitant prices, the less we should be in a hurry. Take a break first. And Second Brother, you're right. We should go and see if there are good timber resources elsewhere."
Yun Jian Zhou couldn't figure out Yun Que'er's intention for a while, but he still did as she said.
After inquiring for several days, Yun Jian Zhou really found a good place.
"Do you know there's a forest farm on the west side of the county seat?" Yun Jian Zhou said while gesturing as he rushed back. "I inquired and heard that the forest farm there is going to be converted into a grain depot. And it will be the largest grain depot in our province in the future. They're going to start logging soon."
Yun Que'er remembered that forest farm. It had been there for over a hundred years. It was really a pity to cut down the century - old trees just for the sake of converting it into a grain depot.
"Are they going to move the cut - down trees away or what? Can we buy them?"
"That's exactly what I'm going to talk about," Yun Jian Zhou waved his hand, signaling Yun Que'er to be patient. "I heard from the people there that everyone thought it was a pity to cut down the trees, so they originally wanted to move them. But you know, there's no shortage of trees in our area, so the people above said they wanted to burn them directly."
"It's a great pity to burn them," Yun Que'er said. "If we go to buy them, they can still get some money. Isn't that better?"
"Not only do we think so," Yun Jian Zhou sighed. "There's a furniture merchant from the city who also got wind of it. He got there one step ahead of us and is currently negotiating to buy the cut - down timber to make furniture back in the city."