Chapter 479 Almost Fought for the Fu Family

Chapter 479: Nearly Came to Blows Over the Fu Family

"It's alright, Uncle. Not everyone gets to eat the ones you pick for sale anyway. The ones we're picking for disaster relief will be eaten up quickly," Xiao Liu said quickly.

Hearing this, Fu Dajun understood.

"Then if anyone in your family is free, they can all go."

The neighbor's eyes lit up, and he immediately responded, "Sure, good."

If the whole family went, wouldn’t they earn eight or ten dollars in a single day?

Fu Dajun continued accompanying the officials, visiting many households throughout the village.

And just like that, the village started getting lively.

Those who loved a good crowd stepped forward and noticed that the Fu family was hiring people to pick fruit again, so they eagerly volunteered.

Seeing the crowd growing larger, Fu Dajun asked, "Comrade Official, about the workers' pay..."

"It’ll be paid right on the spot, don’t worry," Xiao Liu assured him.

"Alright, good. In that case, I’ll have my other two sons join in picking for the day too, and they can help manage things. They’ve managed it before," Fu Dajun said with a chuckle.

The officials hadn’t dared to ask the Fu family to take on extra work, but since they offered to help manage, it was even better.

Managing such a large group of fruit pickers all at once was no easy task.

"That works, Uncle. Just have your sons help manage the workers—they don't need to pick," Xiao Liu said quickly.

"Ah, no, they should still pitch in," Fu Dajun insisted with a smile.

"Really, it’s not necessary. We'd be thrilled if they could just help manage," Xiao Liu persuaded.

"Alright, I’ll talk to them about it."

Fu Dajun and the others told the villagers to gather at the village square in half an hour before setting out together.

Everyone was free to eat or do what they need beforehand—they’d leave once it was time.

No food provided, but wages would be paid daily.

The villagers agreed right away. Once Fu Dajun and the officials left, those who had already eaten breakfast gathered at the square, eager to get started.

"Hey, is the Fu family really donating the rest of their fruit?"

"Yeah, wouldn't be fake."

"The Fu family is so generous. I would never give away something that profitable."

The villagers knew the Fu family had likely made good money from their fruit harvest this year, though no one knew exactly how much.

Still, they felt it would be better to pick and eat the fruit themselves rather than donate it.

"No wonder they’re successful. You thick-headed bunch just don't understand," the village chief interjected, unable to hold back.

These fools—with Fu Tinghua and his wife in the family, the Fu family was bound to never stay poor.

The villagers didn’t understand business; they just didn't get it.

But after all, the village chief was still the village chief, and he had had some exposure to bureaucratic red tape.

By giving away this batch of fruit and building good relations with the officials in town, the Fu family wouldn't face jealousy or get sabotaged when their business expands in the future.

Moreover, as a business, building this kind of good reputation would make anyone feel confident working with them going forward.

At first glance, it might seem like the Fu family was getting the short end of the stick in the short term.

But from a long-term perspective, the village chief felt the Fu family was already light-years ahead of many other businesspeople.

"Sheesh, giving away fruit that sells for a few cents per pound just like that—I'd never part with it that easy," someone said enviously.

"Exactly, once people have a bit of money, they start putting on airs, tsk tsk..."

"If you can't bear to see it, then just head home instead of stewing here," the village chief said impatiently.

Hearing this, the person went pale and immediately fell silent.

While they were still breaking their backs to make extra cash for the New Year by picking fruit in the harsh winter, the Fu family was already thinking about donating fruit to folks in the disaster zone.

How do some folks end up so far ahead?

It was only natural that some villagers felt jealous.

Just a year ago, the Fu family was even poorer than them, couldn't even keep food on the table.

But after Fu Tinghua returned from the border, the Fu family's fortunes took off like a rocket.

Truly, sometimes having a good son is better than anything else.

"If you keep talking like this and the officials hear you, they might just go hire workers from the next town over instead. Stop complaining—we finally have work to do," the village chief snapped.

He glared at the few troublemakers who never got along with the Fu family, feeling a surge of anger.

The Fu family had contributed so much to the village recently, yet these people still didn’t know how to be grateful.

At this point, the other villagers also sensed that these dissenting voices were trying to stir up trouble, so they quickly jumped on them.

"If you don’t want to work, we do."

"Exactly, the Fu family is big-hearted and generous. If you can’t help people in disaster areas yourselves, at least don’t criticize those who do."

"Are you doing this on purpose? The whole village will remember which families caused trouble."

"If you dare oppose the Fu family, you can forget about working on the road construction project they’re starting next spring."

That got everyone remembering the upcoming project.

The few who had been making snide comments earlier quickly apologized.

"We were just talking, we didn’t mean nothing by it."

"Whether you meant it or not, you know what you meant."

"Exactly, it’s been snowing for days, and we finally have a chance to work. If you ruin this for us, you'll have us to answer to."

"Yeah, right, just leave. Don’t come here to mooch off the Fu family’s work."

"That's right, if you don't leave, I'll tell Fu Dajun later that you were deliberately trying to cause drama."

Under the collective criticism of the other villagers, those who had just been making sarcastic remarks fled the scene.

Even after they left, everyone was still pretty worked up.

Naturally, Fu Dajun was unaware of what had happened in the square and had no clue villagers were about to get into it over this.

Fortunately, the village chief was also on the scene and could mediate; otherwise, it would've looked really bad if the officials had witnessed the incident.

Fu Dajun filled in the rest of the Fu family about the situation. Fu Guoqing would definitely help with delivering the goods later, but since this was his own side job, the Fu family couldn't really tell him what to do.

So today, Fu Ziyao and Fu Derong would go up the mountain to supervise the villagers.

"Will they finish picking today?" Wu Yanhua asked.

"Su He mentioned before leaving that it depends on the officials' decision. If they want to finish picking, they can finish," Fu Dajun replied.

"Sigh, alright then," Wu Yanhua said. She still felt a bit reluctant. After today, they could have gone up the mountain to pick sugar oranges to sell.

"Hey, still feeling reluctant? Didn’t you count enough money last night? Our family has always valued harmony. Money can be earned slowly. I think Su He’s approach this time is excellent—doing good brings good things back around."

Last night, Wu Yanhua had counted the money until midnight, counting it over and over.

She kept going on about building a new house for their youngest son and his wife; that's all she could think about.

After hearing Fu Dajun’s words, Wu Yanhua thought it over and realized he was right.

"You’re right, there’s nothing to be reluctant about. We'll just go with whatever the officials decide," Wu Yanhua said with a smile.