Upon hearing the voice, Chen Wei instinctively turned slightly.
A man in his thirties came into view.
It was none other than Li Depiao, the local granary owner.
Li Depiao's face bore the marks of exhaustion, a clear sign that the post-apocalyptic days had not been kind to him.
Chen Wei glanced at Li Depiao, who stood beyond the fence, then turned to the little girl, gently patting her head with a smile. "MeiMei, go inside for a bit, okay? I'll be there in a moment."
"Okay!" MeiMei bobbed her head, her cherubic face lighting up with a smile before she bounced off to play with the guard robot.
Chen Wei approached Li Depiao, stopping short of the fence that separated them, and they began to converse through the barrier.
"Boss Li, you're quite persistent. I've told you, all my food's been sold!" Chen Wei said bluntly, effectively showing Li Depiao the door.
Chen Wei had never been particularly fond of Li Depiao.
"Wei!" Li Depiao, undeterred by the dismissal, put on a sycophantic smile and pleaded, "I admit, I was foolish before and made mistakes. Please, show some leniency and forgive me."
His voice wavered and caught as he continued, "They've taken every last grain from my granary, leaving me with nothing. Wei, it's been over two days since I've had a bite to eat; I've been surviving on water alone."
"Wei, I'm begging you, sell me some food. My family and I, we'll starve if we don't eat soon."
Chen Wei's eyebrows lifted at the plea.
Li Depiao's woeful state seemed genuine, his voice barely more than a whisper, as if he might topple over with the slightest breeze.
A sense of gravity settled in Chen Wei's heart. "The apocalyptic toxins are wreaking more havoc than I imagined."
Despite everything, Li Depiao was still the granary owner. Even with the granary's food confiscated, it was hard to believe that a man of his means could be close to starvation.
However, the other person revealed that they hadn't eaten for over two days.
This indicated that nobody was willing to sell them any food.
Or perhaps, in the post-apocalyptic world, there was simply no one selling at all!
Watching Chen Wei ponder and hesitate, Li Depiao quickly interjected, "Wei, whatever it is, if it's edible, sell it to me. I'll pay you one hundred for every catty! What do you say?"
"One hundred per catty?" Chen Wei was intrigued.
Clearly, Li Depiao was desperately hungry; otherwise, he wouldn't have taken such a life-threatening risk to seek him out.
"I can sell to you, and I'm willing to sell as much as ten thousand catties!"
"But if you let this information slip, I'll have no choice but to kill you."
Chen Wei's icy stare sent shivers down Li Depiao's spine, making him fear an imminent attack.
Chen Wei's decision to agree stemmed from his uncertainty about the value of money in this new world.
Still, having some on hand was a safer bet.
Should the need arise in the future, it would serve as a safety net.
Moreover, Chen Wei was keen to glean more information about the outside world through Li Depiao. His only news source was the television, and who could say whether those broadcasts were true or false?
Chen Wei hoped Li Depiao would survive. In his view, trading ten thousand catties of food was a worthy investment for that chance.
"What? Ten thousand catties! Wei, are you serious?" Upon hearing Chen Wei's confirmation, Li Depiao was overcome with joy, his excitement uncontainable.
"Absolutely, take a look at my farm!"
Chen Wei nodded, gesturing towards the sprawling fields before them.
The 20-acre farm was awash with golden wheat, the waves of grain rolling over one another.
The Farm's Assistant Robot was already busy harvesting.
"This, this is wheat? But it's not the harvest season for wheat!" Li Depiao was stunned by the vast expanse of golden wheat before him.
"In a world that's changed this much, nothing is impossible anymore."
Chen Wei spoke calmly, a smile on his lips. "What seems unreasonable now might just be the new normal."
"That makes sense, indeed!"
Li Depiao nodded vigorously, then looked up at Chen Wei and asked, "So, Wei, when do we start the harvest? I'm so hungry I can barely stand it."
"Look, we're in the middle of harvesting," Chen Wei said, glancing up and gesturing toward the Farm's Assistant Robot.
Li Depiao's eyes bulged in astonishment at the sight of the robot swiftly navigating the farm. "A robot!? Wei, you've upgraded to smart harvesting? That's seriously impressive," he said, his wide grin revealing a set of yellowed teeth as he gave a thumbs-up in admiration.
Shaking his head at Li Depiao's reaction, Chen Wei fetched two half-eaten roasted potatoes from his house and tossed them to him. "Here, have some roasted potatoes. They're cold but still good to eat. Fill your stomach for now," he advised, a note of concern in his voice. "At this rate, I'm worried you might just starve to death on my doorstep."
Catching the potatoes, Li Depiao's eyes sparkled with delight, and he devoured them with a ferocity as if he hadn't eaten in years. "Thank you, thank you so much, Wei!" he mumbled gratefully between bites, tears streaming down his face.
The harvest of 20 acres of wheat was swiftly completed in under twenty minutes, thanks to the efforts of over forty Farm's Assistant Robots.
[You have successfully harvested 350,000 kilograms of premium wheat!]
Chen Wei's lips curled into a satisfied smile as he heard the mental prompt. "Recycle 300,000 kilograms!" he commanded internally.
[Congratulations, Host: You have successfully recycled premium wheat, earning 300,000 exchange points!]
[Current balance: 360,000 exchange points.]
Chen Wei instructed the robots to bring back the surplus wheat, leaving 10,000 kilograms for Li Depiao, who was profoundly impressed by the Farm's Assistant Robots up close.
"Wei! I've transferred the payment to your account, a total of 1,500,000!" Li Depiao announced, his voice laced with newfound respect.
"1,500,000?" Chen Wei raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "The total was 1,000,000. Why did you send me 1,500,000?"
"The extra 500,000 is for the past, as compensation to you, Wei! Please, I insist you accept it!"
Li Depiao had settled into his small tractor, casting a respectful smile toward Chen Wei.
Chen Wei returned the gesture with a slight nod, choosing to keep his thoughts to himself. Li Depiao was certainly slick in his dealings.
He was actually prepared to spend five hundred thousand to curry favor with him.
____
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