“En, it’s us who are doing business here. What does it have to do with them?” Sure enough, Luo Xingchen confirmed it after nodding.
“Good.” Su Tang nodded back with a smile.
The two of them hadn’t seen each other for over a month but as they sat down to chat there was no strangeness or awkwardness between them. After laughing together for a moment, Luo Xingchen suddenly spoke solemnly, “This time I came here because I wanted to talk to you about something serious.”
Su Tang took a sip of her tea and looked over, “Eh?”
Luo Xingchen sat up straight and said: “I’m planning to start growing the chili and tomatoes starting from the beginning of next spring. I’ve already amassed a few plots of farmland in my hands these days for this purpose, can I temporarily leave them with you and then use them to grow the tomatoes and chili peppers when the time is suitable?”
Su Tang had actually expected that Luo Xingchen’s reasons for visiting her wouldn’t be as simple as just passing her New Years’ gifts. After all, considering how close to the New Year they were, Luo Xingchen would definitely have to rush back after this. To run back and forth like this in such a hurry, there was no way it was because Su Tang was just that charming, right?
However, this wasn’t one of the reasons she had guessed Luo Xingchen might have come to find her for. Su Tang looked over in surprise for a moment before asking slowly, “What is the relationship between these plots of land and the Luo family?”
“Do you have to be so suspicious? I at least have my ways of getting a bit of farmland, okay? Actually, I’m not sure what kind of trouble Luo Xinghe is in, but he’s been selling many plots of land at a low price recently. I’ve been having my people buy the land up but I thought it would be better to avoid anything unexpected from happening by putting them with you temporarily…”
“So you want me to help you?” Su Tang’s eyes narrowed, and then she continued mischievously, “What’s in it for me?”
Luo Xingchen’s phoenix eyes widened marginally in surprise, clearly having not expected this answer. Su Tang met her gaze calmly and said, “In business, we talk about business. Or did you want me to help you for nothing?”
Friendship was friendship but business was business. Clearly, after her recent experiences, Luo Xingchen could no longer fully trust the Luo family. Plus, after getting acquainted with Su Tang, she had begun to seriously think about trying to leave a way out for herself.
Thus, with those thoughts in mind, when she happened to see Luo Xinghe selling farmland she felt it was a good time and decided to buy the land up. However, she was worried that Luo Xinghe might play some tricks, so she felt it would be safer to put the land in Su Tang’s name. Of course, Luo Xingchen knew that this path was also risky because once all of the documents had been settled with the Yamen, all of the land would really be Su Tang’s.
After her name had been stamped on the deeds, if Su Tang decided that she wanted to keep the land for herself and cut Luo Xingchen out entirely then there would be nothing she could do about it.
However, Lou Xingchen wasn’t too worried about this. After all, Su Tang already had hold of her biggest weakness, so if she really wanted to take something from Luo Xingchen then Luo Xingchen could only hand it over. If things deteriorated to that point then she would have no other choice but to comply with Su Tang’s whims.
Luo Xingchen thus felt that Su Tang was the safest person to trust the land with precisely because of the relationship they had. Plus, she believed that Su Tang wouldn’t want to cheat her in such a way anyway. She felt Su Tang had a rare and noble character, even if other people only saw her as an ordinary peasant girl.
But after talking to Su Tang, Luo Xingchen was reminded of a simple fact: business was business! Thus, if she wanted Su Tang to help her, she would have no choice but to shed a little blood.
“You can use this farmland to create your ‘brand’ products. I’ll provide the land and the people, while you will be responsible for management, raw materials, and so on. From there we can share and talk in detail!” In fact, what Luo Xingchen was after wasn’t just Su Tang’s help in the small matter of whose name to put the land under, rather, she was targeting that ‘brand’ that Su Tang had mentioned before.
She was confident that there were probably many other secrets still in Su Tang’s belly and, no matter how many benefits the Luo family might get from working with her, ultimately they would just be paving the way for Su Tang’s success. Thus, because of her confidence in Su Tang, Luo Xingchen wanted to establish a solid cooperative relationship with her as soon as possible.
After hearing Luo Xingchen’s offer, Su Tang looked up into the teenager’s eyes and saw that they were staring into her own with a firm sense of certainty. Luo Xingchen continued: “Tang, work with me and be my way out!”
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