Chapter 116

“Boss Liu, this is Lele Fruit Shop. Do you deliver watermelons?”

“As long as it’s within Huilong Town, we deliver for orders over a hundred.”

“Can you record a video of the watermelons?”

“Sure.”

………

At 9 a.m. on May 15, Liu Xiaoyuan finished filming a video of the watermelons and began loading them onto the truck with practiced ease. Before long, a hundred watermelons were stacked on a small blue truck. She counted them again and added two more for good measure, then sent the delivery address to the driver: “Changping Township, Lele Supermarket. They’ve paid a 1,000 yuan deposit. They’ll pay the remaining 5,000 after inspecting the goods.”

Liu Xiaoyuan was a student at Luo Hai University of Finance and Economics. Two months ago, she took out a 50,000 yuan loan to return home and grow watermelons. Her family had ten mu of watermelon fields, and now the melons were ripe. In Yun Province, wholesale prices for watermelons ranged from 5 to 7.5 yuan per jin, with a retail price of ten yuan. Thanks to the premium “Chuyi” seed variety, each watermelon weighed in at around twelve jin net.

With the summer heat in full swing, watermelons were in high demand. Riding this wave, Liu Xiaoyuan had already paid off her loan and was projected to make a profit of around 170,000 yuan.

“Got another batch this afternoon?” the driver asked half an hour later as he started the truck.

“Yeah, one more truckload.”

After confirming the delivery time, the driver drove off with the melons.

Liu Xiaoyuan watched the truck disappear down the road and rubbed her sore shoulders. For the past two days, she’d hired workers to pick the melons, but today they were off, so she had to do it herself. Each melon weighed over ten jin—moving that many by herself was no joke. It was pure manual labor.

By 9:30, Liu Xiaoyuan had tidied up the field and was resting inside a tent nearby. Now that the melons were ripe, she kept watch during the day and hired someone to guard them at night to prevent theft.

It was thirty li of newly paved road from Yuhezi to Changping Township. At 11:20, Liu Xiaoyuan received a notification that the remaining payment had been transferred. These were all newly cultivated melons this year, and to thank her for the quality, Lele Supermarket even sent a [fist salute] emoji in the chat.

“All in a day’s work,” Liu Xiaoyuan replied with a [fist salute] of her own.

At 11:50, footsteps sounded from below the melon field, followed by two familiar figures.

“Jie!” Liu Xiaorui called out, carrying a thermal lunch box, with Zhao Fengxia following behind.

“You’re here?” Liu Xiaoyuan stepped out of the tent.

“I made braised pork for lunch,” Liu Xiaorui said, opening the box.

“Mmm, this is delicious.” Liu Xiaoyuan took a bite, then looked at Zhao Fengxia. “Did you use the spray?”

“I did,” Zhao Fengxia replied.

“The air quality’s bad. Next time you go out, wear a mask,” Liu Xiaoyuan nagged.

Two months ago, Zhao Fengxia had a sudden onset of inducible asthma, triggered by Acid Rain exposure.

Air quality was categorized into five levels. According to the latest report, Yun Province was at Level 3—meaning sensitive groups experienced worsened respiratory issues, and even healthy people suffered from dry coughs and eye irritation. Level 3 was uncomfortable but still livable. Some northern regions had already reached Level 4 or even Level 5 pollution.

The pollution stemmed from a mix of acidic substances in the atmosphere, rivers, and soil. Despite national efforts to improve air quality, vegetation damage had reduced natural purification, and global factors like Acid Rain made it hard for human intervention to keep up.

Since the sandstorm in March, masks and sun hats had become standard gear for everyone leaving the house.

After Liu Xiaoyuan finished her lecture, Zhao Fengxia scratched her head. “I bought one, just forgot to bring it.”

Before the Acid Rain crisis, Yun Province had boasted the cleanest air in the country. Zhao Fengxia had lived in Huilong Town her whole life—she’d never even thought about wearing a mask, let alone dealt with pollution. Now, wearing one in the village still felt strange.

The three chatted for a bit, then Liu Xiaorui pulled a battery-powered fan out of the tent. “Want me to turn on the fan?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

It was a small, 20-centimeter mini fan. Liu Xiaoyuan would turn it on when it got too hot, though in this kind of weather, it mostly just blew warm air.

At 4 p.m., a villager arrived to take over watching the watermelon field. Liu Xiaoyuan gave him some instructions, then headed home with Liu Xiaorui and Zhao Fengxia.

As soon as she walked through the door, Liu Xiaoyuan expertly turned on the air conditioner, followed by the air purifier. She’d just bought the purifier last week. With the heatwave ongoing, air conditioners, water filters, and air purifiers were now among the top three best-selling appliances nationwide.

After basking in the cool air for a while, Liu Xiaoyuan felt alive again.

She glanced out the window, then opened the news on her phone.

[On May 15, the Longbei Police Department and Drug Administration jointly cracked a case of market disruption. The suspects, Zhao and Zhou, along with other members of their group, have confessed to the charges…]

…

The top trending topic was the Longbei pharmaceutical case.

Ever since the Longxia Health Bureau issued its new “Pharmaceutical Management” regulations, some pharmacy owners had been deliberately diverting regular medications, disrupting the local market. They then exploited public anxiety to sell the drugs at inflated prices.

Last month, drug prices spiked across the country. While some of it stemmed from public uncertainty about the future, 70% of the chaos was due to intentional manipulation by pharmaceutical dealers.

In the past two weeks, Longxia had launched a crackdown on drug hoarding. The Longbei case marked the seventh such bust nationwide.

After reading the main article, Liu Xiaoyuan tapped into the comments section—

“Shoutout to the Longbei police!”

“Last month I couldn’t find vitamins anywhere in the city. I hate those profiteers.”

“Sure, the environment affects drug prices, but the hoarding over the past two months was way over the top. Totally orchestrated.”

“The government has now invested in fifty million mu of medicinal herb plantations. Basic medicines are guaranteed—no need to hoard. Everyone should focus on staying healthy and exercising more.”

…

Netizens had all experienced the price surge and shortages of medicine over the past two months. That helpless frustration of not being able to buy what you needed was still fresh in their minds. Now, seeing Longxia take such decisive action, there was only one reaction across the board: “Well done!”

After the meat scandal and the medicine crisis, people had come to a clear realization—only with a stable society and a stable market could they truly live well and feel secure.

Liu Xiaoyuan kept scrolling through the news. Most of the headlines now were about watermelons hitting the market and the use of improved fertilizers. After watching for a while, she went to the living room to eat. When she checked the news again afterward, the trending topics had updated.

Hot Search #1: [May 15th—Longxia Academy of Sciences develops Portable Mini Ice Storage Machine. The compact Ice Storage Machine allows custom temperature settings, and the smallest model can be worn as a pendant…]

Hot Search #1: [May 15th—Longxia Academy of Sciences develops Convenient Air Purifier. The smallest model weighs only 0.15 kg and can provide residents with 48 hours of continuous purification…]

…

At the moment, all the trending topics revolved around two key phrases: Longxia Academy of Sciences and portable devices.