Mo Yan returned home to find her father and Lin Da chatting in the living room with several steaming cups of tea on the table.
"The little boss is back!"
Upon seeing Mo Yan, Lin Da, Lin Song, and Lin An stood up to greet her quickly.
Mo Yan, looking a bit embarrassed by the title "little boss," waved her hand and suggested they sit down, "Just call me by my name, or ’Miss Mo’ is also fine!"
The three men just smiled and did not speak, only sitting down after Mo Yan had taken her seat.
Mo Yan asked Lin Meng, Xiong’s, and Mrs. Zhou to find chairs for themselves and had Xin Er pour each of them a cup of hot tea to warm up before she asked her father, "Dad, how’s the situation in the Southern Market? Were the three carts of vegetables enough?"
Mentioning the business at the Southern Market, Mo Qingze was quite excited, "It’s very good, not inferior to the Eastern Market at all. Tomorrow we need to send two more carts over there. However, many people, seeing our vegetables are of good quality, have been inquiring about our farming methods, which I’ve managed to evade."
Upon hearing this, Mo Yan immediately sat up straight, "Dad, what do those inquirers look like?"
Mo Qingze, realizing something wasn’t right, thought for a moment before replying, "They were dressed well, seeming to come from wealthy families."
"They asked very detailed questions, and when they couldn’t get anything out of the boss, they slipped me a few copper coins to make me talk, but I just said I am only here to help sell the vegetables and I don’t know anything else."
Lin An suddenly spoke up from the side, his voice deep. After finishing, he glanced at Mo Yan nervously.
Mo Yan looked at him, surprised. She hadn’t expected this man, who didn’t seem to talk much, to be quite articulate. Seeing him fiddling with the corner of his clothes, she knew what he was worried about and reassured with a smile,
"Don’t worry, since I’ve hired you, of course I trust you! In fact, even if you told them, it wouldn’t matter much. If they really wanted to know, they could just go to Liu Yang Village and ask around—how we grow the vegetables is something the villagers have all seen. If someone offers you money to ask about this again, just take it, don’t miss out on free money."
Upon hearing this, Lin An was instantly bewildered. It could... it could be handled like this?
The others listened, their expressions changing, even wondering if the little boss was testing them by saying this on purpose.
Mo Qingze also looked at his daughter in perplexity, thinking that the ways of growing greenhouse vegetables should be kept a closely guarded secret, wondering how she could disclose it so casually.
Seeing their confusion but not offering further explanation, Mo Yan turned to the two Lins, "Brother Lin, how is it at the West Market? Was a cart of vegetables enough to sell?"
Lin Da and Lin Song came back to their senses. After exchanging a glance, Lin Da finally stood up and said, "We did sell out one cart, but there were a lot of inquiries. The only problem was the high price—there weren’t many buyers."
At this point, he embarrassedly lowered his head, since their sales were the worst among the three locations.
Lin Song twisted his body and glanced at Mo Qingze, then at Mo Yan. They had sold so little, yet their wages were the same, which felt rather awkward.
Mo Yan knew exactly what they were thinking and smiled, "It’s already very good. The West Market is inhabited by common folk; selling a cart of vegetables is quite an accomplishment. From now on, we’ll aim to sell a cart’s worth each day. However, since it’s nearly the end of the year, I expect business to pick up a lot at the end of the month."
Relieved that the little boss did not blame them, Lin Da and Lin Song breathed a sigh of relief. However, Lin Song stood up and said, "Since we’ve contributed less effort, maybe the boss could pay us a little less?"
Mo Yan let out a chuckle, nearly spraying the tea in her mouth. What a peculiar suggestion! She immediately turned to Lin Da to see his reaction, noting that he wasn’t surprised at all, clearly in agreement. Yet, she couldn’t agree to it.