Chapter 558: Chapter 558: Strong Contrast
A person in charge at the Chi Family didn’t understand why the subordinates insisted that he should go and see for himself, but he still went.
When the butler arrived at the rice paddy, his immediate reaction was of great audacity! Someone dared to forge!
“You’re insane! Who would believe such rice? It’s obviously fake.”
“Such a large ear of wheat, how many pounds per acre could it yield? Could you make up for the shortfall?”
The butler’s flurry of angry curses did not scare those who came to report; they remained fearless and apprehensive.
If he hadn’t seen the rice growing little by little with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed that rice could grow like this.
“What’s with that expression on your face? You don’t even realize you’ve made a mistake!” The butler, exasperated by their complacency, took a step forward and reached out to pull up the rice.
“This kind of forged thing, better get rid of it—”
The butler didn’t finish his sentence, he just felt that the texture of this rice was, perhaps, too realistic.
So realistic that for a moment he couldn’t distinguish the real from the fake, could this really be real?
As the butler wondered, he also asked, and the person reporting finally confirmed to the butler, “Butler, this is real rice, I wouldn’t dare to fake it even if you gave me ten guts.”
The butler could no longer care about anything else, he just shouted at the people behind him, “Quick! Quick! Get me something to hold it, don’t waste the rice!”
In his palm, he still held a somewhat prickly ear of rice, which could not be wasted.
Soon someone behind him presented something similar to a winnowing basket, and the butler finally relaxed his grip, even carefully sweeping off a few grains of rice stuck in his palm.
After this action, the butler finally had a chance to take a good look at this expanse of rice.
The heavy ears of rice, the golden hue of the grains, these rice plants were twice as large as those from previous years.
“Good, good! The person who managed this rice field this year deserves a reward, a substantial one.”
Overwhelmed with grand emotions, the butler walked toward the rice field and told the people behind him, “Make sure to retain the person who planted this rice field; have him share this experience with others, the Chi Family has become formidable.”
The people following behind finally realized the butler didn’t know the origin of the rice field.
The person who came to report had a grimacing expression, how should he explain it?
Anyone from the Chi Family knew that the Chi Family and Little River Live did not get along, how should he now tell the butler this news?
While the person reporting was hesitating, the butler had already found the farmer, and for the first time approached with such enthusiasm, grabbing the farmer’s hand.
Even though his hands were muddy, the butler didn’t care, “What an incredible talent!”
“You’ve worked hard; you’ve performed a great service for the Chi Family.”
The farmer being held by the hand was bewildered, what great service had he performed?
Also, was this what the butler usually looked like? He always felt that today’s face seemed shorter.
The person reporting, seeing the misunderstanding deepening, thought it’s the same whether he speaks sooner or later, so he decided to speak.
The butler was inquiring about what had been done this year to make the rice harvest so plentiful?
The farmer pointed to the mature rice and asked, “This one?”
“Yes.”
The butler, full of anticipation, waited for the farmer’s answer, which wasn’t just any answer, it was the key to wealth.
“This field, nothing was done, it grew on its own.”
What the farmer said was absolutely the truth, originally the seeds given by others were not valued by them, as they believed only the Chi Family had the best seeds.
So when someone gave them a bag of seeds, they did not like it and threw the seeds aside, not planting them until many days later haphazardly and without any care, but this rice field grew on its own.
When they discovered it, it seemed that nothing else needed to be done, as the rice was already bearing grains, only waiting to turn yellow.
They really hadn’t done anything, but to the butler’s ears, this took on a different meaning.
Heaven was protecting the Chi Family! The Chi Family was about to hit the jackpot!
The butler was beaming with joy, just about to let out a triumphant shout, when the next sentence almost stifled his breath.
“Cough, cough, cough—what did you say? Say it again?”
The butler incredulously stared at the person behind him, who after repeating it once, outright leaned back his neck and said loudly once more.
“I said, these aren’t our Chi Family’s seeds, they’re Little River Live’s seeds.”
Little River Live’s seeds!
Little River Live’s seeds!
This sentence replayed continuously in the butler’s mind, thinking of the rice ears several times larger than usual, and stalks taller by half, his heart ached.
Not the Chi Family’s seeds?
The sky wants to ruin the Chi Family!
The butler truly felt devastated, sitting on the ground, his gaze vacant for a long while before finally recovering.
The first thing he did was ask the farmer, “How many pounds per acre does this rice yield?”
“About a thousand pounds.”
A thousand pounds, a thousand pounds.
The butler finally stood up and looked toward the adjacent rice field, greenish ears of rice, stunted stalks resembling underdeveloped ones, only as thick as a pinky, pale in comparison to the others, a demoralizing blow.
Their original seeds, at most, yielded just over five hundred pounds per acre, and that was after investing considerable human and physical resources to achieve such output.
To put it simply, they cared for these rice plants as meticulously as if tending to ancestors, but what was the result?
The untouched field next door yielded more than double theirs, and even had a shorter maturity period.
What kind of disparity was this?
It was a disparity that the Chi Family, even at full gallop, couldn’t catch up to.
At that moment, the butler felt an overwhelming sense of the Chi Family’s inevitable decline, he composed himself and told the people behind him, “Hold off on harvesting for a bit, I need to report to the Family Head.”
“Yes.”
The person reporting swiftly cleared the way, watching the butler’s retreating figure with a sense of irrevocable sadness.
He wasn’t mistaken, at that moment the butler truly felt like it was the downfall of the Chi Family, bearing this sentiment, the butler returned to the Chi Family estate, entered the Chi Family council hall.
The butler, being in charge of food, had the authority to directly report to the Family Head.
As he entered the council hall, he bowed deeply in greeting.
“Old Zhu is here, just wanted to ask you, how’s the rice this year?”
Old Zhu, faced with a question, stood up, his expression revealing the calm after utter hopelessness.
“Family Head, I came to report about the rice.”
“Speak.”
Old Zhu took a deep breath, then began, “Our Chi Family’s rice is still green and underdeveloped, but the seeds from Little River Live planted at the same time have already matured, the estimated yield is about a thousand pounds per acre.”