CHAPTER 376: CHAPTER 88: A DARK, WINDY NIGHT FOR "BUSINESS" (PART 2)

"Uncle Lu, we can’t let ourselves be taken advantage of, giving that heartless wretch a freebie," Yezi nibbled on some biscuits she brought from the train. Having alighted from the vehicle, she saw the trucks that had transported the crab seedlings had already left; all the seedlings were unloaded and, due to the timing, were still in net bags hanging by the reservoir bank, likely to be placed in the water tomorrow.

"We’ll have to take the loss, but at least they didn’t ruin our crab seedlings. With some effort, we can still recover our costs next year’s harvest. Then we can go to Taihu Lake, Yanbian, or even Yangcheng Lake to get more crab seedlings," Uncle Lu had seen the profit in hairy crabs in recent years, and not many had the conditions to cultivate them, so he had invested heavily in this opportunity.

"Uncle Lu, don’t lose heart yet, let me check it out first," Yezi dove into the water, ignoring Uncle Lu’s attempt to stop her.

The water in the reservoir was deep. Yezi first tested the waters, then she plunged in and silently approached the embankment holding the crab seedlings.

It was quite dark around, but fortunately, the moonlight was strong enough to clearly see each crab cell and the swarms of seedlings.

Every ten meters, there was a cell hanging, the reservoir was huge; even just a small section of it held over a hundred crab seedling cells. Huang’s Breeding really did have the financial strength. Reviewing each one, Yezi recalled the last time Uncle Lu bought a few hundred kilograms of seedlings from Taihu Lake and it cost a fortune.

There must be tens of thousands of kilograms of crab seedlings in the reservoir, and just the money spent on buying these seedlings was astonishing.

After searching for a while, Yezi actually found the batch of crab seedlings belonging to Uncle Lu.

She removed one, planning to swap all of the seedlings one by one. As Yezi reached for the third crab seedling cell and peered inside by the moonlight.

"Eh, something’s different here," it turned out that the workers who had unloaded didn’t know which breed the crab seedlings were, mixing crab seedlings bought from different places all together.

After searching for a while, Yezi realized the seedlings here were even better than those Uncle Lu had bought around Taihu Lake.

"You know how to pass off inferior goods as superior; why can’t I pull off a ’stealing the dragon to transform the phoenix’?" Yezi’s limbs turned chilly soaked in water, and she wanted to finish quickly and get out.

Her movements sped up. Yezi counted dozens of baskets of crab seedlings and carried them off, wading through the shallow waters to return.

Seeing Yezi come back, Uncle Lu took the cell of crab seedlings and looked inside: the young crabs were all lively, their green shells gleamed in the moonlight, smooth and glossy. Turning them over, the crabs’ bellies, which should be muddy, were as white as jade, the hair on their legs was long and distinctly yellow, and their pincers were golden and firm.

Grabbing one with his hands, Uncle Lu saw the seedling’s eight legs flailing vigorously, their golden-clawed pincers creating gusts of wind as they brandished through the air.

With this, Uncle Lu knew something was amiss, "Yezi, I may not recognize the previous crabs, but these seedlings you’ve brought back are obviously not ours. They look...like they’re from Yangcheng Lake."

In earlier years, before Huang Tengchong ensnared him, Uncle Lu had indeed savored delicacies from all over, including the famous Yangcheng Lake crabs with their distinct features. Even with poor eyesight, he could recognize them.

"It doesn’t matter which lake they come from, picking crabs is just like picking crickets; you choose the fierce ones, the ones that look powerful. Stop dawdling, Uncle Lu, let’s swap these seedlings quickly. We’ve been hungry all day for this back and forth, we should at least gain some interest," Yezi didn’t understand the difference between Taihu and Yangcheng Lake crabs; he only knew from the looks of the seedlings that those newly brought in by Huang’s Breeding were top-notch.

Uncle Lu glanced at the dark, rippling waters of the reservoir, remembering the despicable things Huang Tengchong had done to him, bit his lip, then moved all the boxes of seedlings from the truck, and under the cover of night, he and Yezi swapped the crabs from the reservoir with the Taihu crab seedlings.

It was indeed time for Huang Tengchong to incur some losses. He had intentionally heeded a tip from someone with ulterior motives, knowing Uncle Lu was getting crab seedlings from Taihu Lake, planning to make a handsome profit off it. Logically, even if Uncle Lu started breeding with Taihu crab seedlings, as long as Huang Tengchong reared the expensive batch of Yangcheng Lake crabs well, he would come out on top since the two batches of crabs were in totally different price brackets on the market.

But Huang Tengchong had a heart too dark, unwilling to leave anyone a way to survive. He bribed someone at the train station, replaced Uncle Lu’s Taihu crab seedlings with wild hairy crab seedlings from the local rivers, and then had someone deliver Uncle Lu’s seedlings to the Miyun Small Reservoir to be bred together with the Yangcheng Lake seedlings.

What should have been a foolproof plan was unfortunately thwarted by Yezi’s presence. How could Huang Tengchong have anticipated that someone could distinguish between wild hairy crabs and Taihu crabs at a glance? Worst of all, he managed to switch out most of the Taihu crab seedlings with the new batch.

When Yezi finished packing the seedlings and, along with Uncle Lu, carefully hung all the cells back in their original place, by the time the early morning workers would pour the seedlings into the reservoir, even if Huang Tengchong noticed, there would be nothing he could do.

After everything was settled, it was well into the night, and both of them were soaked with sweat from the exhaustion. Uncle Lu got into the car, pulled out a cigarette, and handed it to Yezi. Hesitating for a moment, she took a drag just like Uncle Lu, the spiciness spread through her throat straight to her nasal cavities, making her almost tear up.

"The sting, eh? Being an adult isn’t easy, Yezi, there’s a lot more for you to learn in the days ahead," Uncle Lu wasn’t sure whether to smile or feel depressed, but took a heavy drag of his cigarette.

This night, the curtain of darkness was just beginning to rise, destined to be anything but peaceful. (To be continued... If you enjoy this work, we welcome you to give it your recommendation ticket, monthly ticket at Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)