Supreme Divine Farmer

Songlin Town was located in the suburban area, only about seven or eight kilometers from the city. It took roughly ten minutes by bus to get there.

It was about five miles from Nanwan Village to Songlin Town, and if you rode a bike quickly, you could get there in ten minutes. Thanks to its proximity, Songlin Town was more prosperous than other towns far from the city.

During the weekends, many city folks would come to Songlin Town for fishing and enjoying farmhouse food, so there were quite a few farmhouse restaurants and local eateries in town.

Songlin Town was rich in aquatic products, and every morning someone would bring fresh fish and shrimp to the town to sell. By noon, most of the unsold fish and shrimp were nearly dead. These dead or nearly dead fish and shrimp could only be sold at a low price to the restaurants in town.

The restaurants in town basically had fixed suppliers, and not everyone had the skill to sell dead fish and shrimp to the restaurants.

It was easier to sell on weekends and holidays since city folks would come to support their business. On regular days, business was sluggish, and there weren't many locals who could afford to eat fish and shrimp.

Jiang Xiaobai pedaled his bicycle into town. Following his usual routine, he should have come early in the morning.

Sitting on the roadside with a straw hat on, Zhao Sanlin was listlessly calling out to customers when Jiang Xiaobai's bike stopped in front of him. Zhao Sanlin thought it was a customer and lifted his hat brim to see who it was. Upon seeing Jiang Xiaobai, he sighed repeatedly.

"Why didn't you come to sell shrimp today, you rascal? You not showing up made my whole morning awfully boring."

Jiang Xiaobai looked down at the plastic bucket in front of Zhao Sanlin and joked, "Brother Zhao, business isn't good today, huh? Didn't sell much at all."

"Don't even bring it up, didn't even sell two pounds of shrimp all morning. Look, there's still so much left. They're almost dead, it's worrying me to death. By the time I go home at noon, my wife'll definitely give me an earful."

Zhao Sanlin was an honest man, only knowing to sit and wait by the roadside, not even being good at shouting out to customers. His business never did well, and he didn't have any restaurant connections. Most of the dead lobsters were thrown away; he didn't even bother to eat them as he was already tired of them.

"Brother Zhao, if you sell this bucket of shrimp to a restaurant, how much can you get?" Jiang Xiaobai asked with a smile.

Zhao Sanlin replied, "Can't get much selling to a restaurant, fifty bucks at best."

These lobsters were quite big and all wild-caught. Selling them in the city could fetch sixty bucks a pound.

"Then sell them all to me for fifty bucks," Jiang Xiaobai said.

"Are you messing with me, kid?" Zhao Sanlin couldn't believe Jiang Xiaobai would buy his shrimp. Jiang Xiaobai, like him, only ever sold shrimp, never bought them.

"Fifty bucks for you!"

Jiang Xiaobai tossed a fifty yuan note to Zhao Sanlin, who was dumbfounded.

"Little brother, you're really buying?"

"Of course! If you don't sell, give me back the money, and I'll buy from someone else."

All around were others still waiting for buyers, anxiously eyeing their way.

"Why wouldn't I sell?" Zhao Sanlin hurriedly picked up the money and stuffed it in his pants pocket.

"I want to buy more. You have a tricycle. Help me transport them back. I won't let you work for nothing, ten yuan for the delivery. How about it?"

Jiang Xiaobai had over five hundred yuan on him, his entire savings, intending to spend it all today.

"Deal! Little brother, if it wasn't for your generosity, I'd be getting an earful from my wife again when I got home. I won't take your delivery fee, just buy me a pack of Red River cigarettes later."

Zhao Sanlin smiled, revealing yellow teeth.

"Alright, I'll buy you two packs."

A pack of Red River cigarettes was only two yuan; buying two packs would cost four yuan, making the deal very worthwhile.

Jiang Xiaobai, being a shrimp seller, knew good quality when he saw it. He specially picked the large, wild-caught ones to buy. After spending five hundred yuan, Zhao Sanlin's tricycle was piled high.

"Little brother, I'm a bit confused. What do you want with so many shrimp? They're almost dead and won't last more than forty minutes. You're an expert, you know this."

"Don't worry about it. Here are your two packs of Red River. Let's get these shrimp moved back home!"

Jiang Xiaobai pedaled his bike in front while Zhao Sanlin drove the electric tricycle behind. The load of shrimp was so heavy that the tricycle was struggling to move.

At Jiang Xiaobai's house, the two of them unloaded the lobsters from the tricycle.

"Brother Zhao, hurry home for lunch. Your wife is waiting for you."

Zhao Sanlin had a stomach full of questions but didn't get a chance to ask before Jiang Xiaobai pushed him out the door. After closing the gate, Jiang Xiaobai poured the water previously soaked with the copper dragon ornament evenly into the buckets containing the near-dead lobsters.

Soon, a miracle happened again. The nearly-dead lobsters quickly regained their vitality and started moving energetically.

"Haha, it worked!"

Jiang Xiaobai excitedly waved his arm. He left home and headed to the Moron's house to borrow Qin Xianglian's tricycle.

When he arrived, Qin Xianglian was cleaning up dishes. Seeing Jiang Xiaobai, her face blushed uncontrollably.

"Auntie, can I borrow your tricycle?"

"It's in the kitchen. Push it out yourself," Qin Xianglian said, too embarrassed to look at Jiang Xiaobai, still blushing from an incident that morning. Her heart was still pounding.

The Moron, who was lying down for a nap, heard Jiang Xiaobai's voice and came out of the house, "Xiaobai, why do you need the tricycle?"

"Going to the city," Jiang Xiaobai casually replied.

"Mom, I'm going to the city with Xiaobai."

Without waiting for a reply, the Moron helped Jiang Xiaobai push the tricycle out of the kitchen.

"Xiaobai, hop on, I'll pedal."

"Xiao Lang, come back and take your nap!" Qin Xianglian chased after them, but the Moron was already pedaling away swiftly.

"Don't worry, Auntie. I'll keep an eye on the Moron and return him safe and sound," Jiang Xiaobai assured, knowing Qin Xianglian's worries.

"Xiaobai, please take care of him..." Qin Xianglian earnestly reminded Jiang Xiaobai.

Back home, the Moron had already arrived. Jiang Xiaobai opened the door and said, "Let's load all these buckets onto the tricycle; we're going to the city to sell the shrimp."

City prices for lobsters were much higher than in town, at least twice as expensive, so Jiang Xiaobai planned to sell them there.

"Xiaobai, where'd you catch so many lobsters?" The Moron was dumbstruck.

"Get to work, no time to chatter."

Jiang Xiaobai urged, and soon they had all the buckets loaded. The Moron pedaled the heavily loaded tricycle with great effort, while Jiang Xiaobai pushed from behind, heading towards the county city.