Chapter Seventeen: Crisis

“Hmph!” Gao Ming shot Zhang Ye a glare, then said coldly, “Mengzi, I’m leaving first. You’d better hurry to work, or you’ll be late.” With that, he stormed off in a huff.

“You little rascal! You haven’t changed a bit in the past few days—so glib, and your insults don’t even use a single curse word.” Watching Gao Ming leave, Wang Mengzi widened her eyes, then reached out and pinched Zhang Ye’s fair cheek hard.

“Aunt Wang, you’re not angry?” Zhang Ye’s expression was cautious, his tone probing. “Isn’t he your boyfriend?”

Zhang Ye truly wasn’t sure about the relationship between Wang Mengzi and Gao Ming, only that they often ate together.

“What are you thinking? There’s nothing between us. We’ve only been seeing each other more lately because we’re following up on a news report.” Wang Mengzi rolled her eyes in denial.

“Oh, good, that’s a relief. I saw him call you so intimately, I thought…” Zhang Ye also let out a sigh of relief. The matter was clear now: Aunt Wang had nothing to do with him. The incident that happened before must have been because Aunt Wang refused to be frank with Gao Ming, which made him angry and try to force his hand.

But this time, Zhang Ye would never let that beast in human clothing succeed. He’d even do his best to prevent any opportunities for contact, not giving him the slightest chance.

“I remember that was about ten days after I got injured, so it must be these few days. I’d better stay close to Aunt Wang during this time.” Zhang Ye had already decided that, for the next stretch, he would protect Aunt Wang closely, not giving Gao Ming a single opportunity.

Thinking of how Aunt Wang was devastated by that incident, Zhang Ye’s heart surged with furious anger. “I can’t let him get away with it so easily. I’ll make sure he’s disgraced and ruined.”

Zhang Ye had always been one to avenge grievances and repay enmity. When Guan Haiyang had tormented him in every way, making his life miserable, Zhang Ye didn’t give in. Instead, he gathered evidence and submitted proof of bribery and corruption committed by Guan Haiyang and his father, Guan Zhengde. Though he hadn’t toppled them completely, he had caused them considerable damage, which spoke volumes about his character.

Now that Gao Ming had tormented Wang Mengzi, Zhang Ye certainly wouldn’t let him off easily. Instead, he secretly exposed all of Gao Ming’s misdeeds, leaving his reputation in tatters and forcing him out of the newspaper office.

In fact, what Gao Ming had done was enough to constitute a crime and warrant jail time. Only his uncle, a deputy section chief in the county government with some minor authority, managed to protect him.

This time, Zhang Ye resolved not to give him a chance to recover.

“What did you think? You little brat, you insulted me as well, didn’t you?” Remembering Zhang Ye’s earlier words, Wang Mengzi was both embarrassed and annoyed, pinching him even harder.

She knew Zhang Ye was only concerned about her, but the analogy he used made her feel flustered and ashamed.

“Ow, it hurts, Aunt Wang! It hurts!” Zhang Ye cried out theatrically, pretending to be in terrible pain.

In the end, Wang Mengzi felt a little sorry for him and let him go, though she still said angrily, “If you ever use such vulgar analogies again, I’ll beat you.”

Raising a dog? Didn’t she know him by now? Ever since Zhang Ye was bitten by a dog as a child, he’s been afraid of them. The moment he mentioned raising a dog, Wang Mengzi knew he was making things up.

“I won’t, I won’t,” Zhang Ye shook his head quickly, honestly admitting his mistake.

“Zhang Ye, wasn’t I a good friend? I didn’t interrupt you two at all.” As Wang Mengzi left, Zhao Haidong emerged from the neighbor’s shop, waggling his eyebrows and looking mischievous.

Zhao Haidong’s expression was rooted in an incident five years ago. Back then, they’d naively discussed who in the class was prettiest or cutest, eventually asking each other who they liked. Zhang Ye, ever straightforward, confessed he liked Wang Mengzi, stunning Zhao Haidong and his friends, who admired his candor. To this day, Zhang Ye remained their favorite target for teasing.

“Go on, get out of here.” Zhang Ye kicked Zhao Haidong’s round backside, then composed himself and asked, “Any news from your uncle?”

“Almost all the inventory was flooded by the dam. The water hasn’t receded yet, and will probably linger for another two days,” Zhao Haidong became serious as he spoke about business. “As for stock, the shops in Qiyuan Town have very little left, so it won’t affect us. But my uncle suspects some people might unscrupulously sell waterlogged watermelons.”

Thanks to Zhang Ye’s purchases, Qiu Junping and the others had minimized their losses, with only a few immature melons destroyed. They still made a profit, just a bit less than previous years.

As for those unscrupulous people, Zhao Haidong was probably referring to Liu Dong. Nearly a hundred acres, over ten tons of watermelons, had been soaked by polluted river water from the chemical factory, enough to bankrupt him. To mitigate losses, given Liu Dong’s usual character, there was nothing he wouldn’t do.

“That’s definitely a problem.” Zhang Ye nodded, his brows furrowing.

Whether Liu Dong would sell watermelons soaked and polluted for days was beyond Zhang Ye’s control—he was just an ordinary citizen, after all. But if Liu Dong brought those melons into the Lihua County market, it would surely impact them.

Most importantly, since the chemical factory was built in 1993, the dam’s water had been severely polluted. Watermelons soaked in such water were unsafe and could even cause mass poisoning. If anyone got sick from eating them, Zhang Ye’s own watermelons would suffer by association, and malicious people might even try to blame him. That was something Zhang Ye could never tolerate.

He wasn’t sure if, before his rebirth, anyone had been poisoned by those watermelons, but he’d heard about Qiyuan Town’s melons being banned from entering Lihua County’s market. Hoping the government would respond quickly, as they had in his previous life, was unrealistic—Zhang Ye couldn’t wait.

So he’d have to solve this himself. He couldn’t rely on word-of-mouth to warn people about the dangers of polluted melons, since that might only make people suspicious of his own. He needed another way to stop Qiyuan Town’s contaminated watermelons from entering Lihua County.

At that thought, Zhang Ye’s eyes suddenly lit up; he remembered someone.

...

Every evening, Culture Street was packed with people. After a long day’s work, everyone released their energy, strolling along the street, gazing at a dazzling array of goods, enjoying the pleasures of shopping.

But Zhang Ye, at this busiest hour, left his thriving fruit shop, carrying a large black cloth bag, and knocked on the door of Wang Mengzi’s house.

PS: Something’s come up at home tomorrow, so maybe only one chapter. It all depends on how I feel tonight—if I’m in good shape, there’ll be two; if not, I’ll squeeze out just one. Please forgive me. And of course, I still have to ask for votes—the numbers are pretty bad. I poured my heart into this book, at least hoping to earn enough for the contract, right? So I hope everyone will support me!