In the end there was nothing they could do, the police had to go back early. They’d originally wanted to take the evidence back with them, but who knew something would go wrong halfway through. They stayed one night in the village, and it was precisely that night that it suddenly started snowing heavily in the mountains. They got trapped there.

When her two colleagues went to get the car and then tried to drive back, that’s when the trouble started. She had no choice but to walk to meet up with them. It was at that moment that the thug behind her followed along, trying to do something to her. She was terrified out of her wits; if it hadn’t been for Chen Haichang showing up, she really didn’t know what she might have gone through.

Of course, Hu Lijuan had no idea her colleagues had done it on purpose. Chen Haichang only found out because he accidentally overheard those two talking; it wasn’t that the car couldn’t get through at all, it was just that the road was a bit rough.

They were saying something like how Hu Lijuan was too valued by the department head at the firm, that he thought of her for everything, so they’d grown jealous. What caught Chen Haichang’s ear was them mentioning the name "Hu Lijuan" — it sounded familiar. He thought for a long while before remembering she was Lin Wan’s younger sister-in-law. Since he couldn’t get out anyway, he just drove over to take a look. He hadn’t expected to run right into the situation.

Chen Haichang told Han Yi about it and asked him to speak to Hu Lijuan’s boss. If anything like this comes up again, they really shouldn’t send a young woman alone. The mountains are not the same as the plains or the city; if something happens it’s hard to even investigate. The police are basically helpless and can only swallow the loss.

Han Yi kept this in mind and decided that when he had time he needed to have a proper talk with Lijuan about it.

Aside from this, Chen Haichang also told the couple about the two items Lin Wan had sent him. One set had sold for a total of 500,000, and then there was the 500‑plus thousand from Mei Lang Jun. Over there, apart from spending more than 500,000 on building the road, with the rest Chen Haichang also put up a school; putting up a school cost more than 200,000. Besides that, he set up a purchasing station over there as well, which cost 50,000. He’d had his assistant keep accounts for all of this.

So tonight, Lin Wan had also called Mei Lang Jun and asked him to come over. Sister Xiao Jia didn’t know about this, so Mei Lang Jun didn’t come, so as not to make a trip over and arouse Tao Jia’s suspicions. It actually wasn’t anything big, and Mei Lang Jun was planning to talk to Tao Jia about it, but he hadn’t gotten around to it yet. He told Han Yi to just help him take a look, saying that with Third Uncle handling things, he was at ease.

Even between real brothers, accounts should be kept clear; no matter how close they were, what needed to be settled still had to be settled.

That area is rich in kiwifruit, the whole mountain and village is covered with kiwifruit. The planting area for kiwifruit is even larger than the area they use for grain. In fact, these are all wild. But they taste sweet and tart, really good. Every year when the kiwifruit ripen, they can’t get them out of the mountains, and almost every year they end up rotting on the ground. Even if they do sell any, the price is dirt cheap.

Besides that fruit, there are also some hawthorns. If these things could be shipped all over the country, the price would not be low, because kiwifruit aren’t common in the city, and even if you see them they’re especially expensive.

Beyond fruit, there are also some ornamental trees that look good all year round. Right now there’s a big push for urban greening, so the demand for these landscaping trees is going to be huge. And hauling them out of the mountains costs very little, while the selling price can double, sometimes even triple. Plus, there are quite a few fairly valuable trees on those mountains, like rosewood and honeysuckle trees and so on.

Helping them build a road and an elementary school cost close to a million, but by Chen Haichang’s calculations, just hauling landscaping trees out for one year would earn that money back, not to mention all the fruit.

These are all long‑term ventures, low cost and high return — exactly the type of business he likes best.

Chen Haichang talked to Han Yi and his wife about this and said he planned to put the fruit into proper packaging so that the prices could be raised. Who knows, maybe they could even export in the future. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

It was a good idea; if it could be operated well, it would definitely make money.

Take her cousin and cousin‑in‑law, for example: a few years ago they bought that godforsaken plot of land just for a single orange tree. Over these years the two of them had worked it up with their own hands. Now the whole piece of land is planted full, and they’ve already had two years of oranges. The harvest has been excellent. On their more than two thousand mu of land, they start picking in early September, and the harvest period can last three months. In the last two years, their yield has reached over five million jin.

Last year was their first harvest. They didn’t handle it well and couldn’t find a suitable big buyer, so in the end their relatives all helped push the produce onto the markets to clear it out.