"Old Li, I'm really sorry. This is the new dog that I just got to guard the door. I didn't look after it well, and now, it's stirring trouble," Zhou Kun said embarrassedly while looking at the peaches that were scattered all over the ground.
"Little Zhou, don't be fooled by others. Huskies are known to be silly. Country dogs make better watchdogs. They're smart and spiritual."
Zhou Kun did not expect Old Li to say that. All of a sudden, he felt embarrassed. Hence, he decided to find a random topic to talk about. "The peaches are harvested so early this year?"
In Tong City where Zhou Kun was in, peaches were famous local specialties.
There was a small dormant volcano in the area of Tong City where peaches grew in. It was said that there were many minerals and trace elements that were left in the soil after the previous eruption.
Of course, putting aside those rumors, the peaches in Tong City had won national awards in the past. However, the storage for peaches was tough. Accordingly, peaches were generally sold in Tong City and its vicinity.
Zhou Kun looked at the juicy peaches that were scattered all over the ground. Only the tip of the yellow fruit was red, typical of a local peach of Tong City. At this time, the juicy peaches that had just been put up for sale in the market were not cheap.
"I've had my eyes on them since May, and as soon as the first batch was harvested, I rushed to stock up on them."
"Aren't the peaches still not at the level of ripeness where they would be the tastiest?"
"However, the peaches now are the freshest and the best-priced."
"These peaches are very fragile, and it won't be easy to sell them after they fall onto the ground. How about this? I'll buy this entire crate from you."
"Look at you, it's just a trivial matter. The peaches are just a little bruised. When the time comes, I'll just price them at the price of processed fruits, and someone will definitely buy them."
"How will that suffice? Consider it that I bought them." After pushing around for a long while, Zhou Kun ended up buying the crate of peaches that had been scattered all over the ground, at the cost price of 100 yuan per crate.
"Two Thousand, your value has risen again. I will call you 2100 later," Zhou Kun said half-jokingly while looking at the silly dog that had leisurely regained its consciousness.
To his surprise, after Two Thousand woke up, it leaped towards the peaches that Zhou Kun had brought back as soon as it laid its eyes upon them. In the blink of an eye, it swallowed an entire peach.
Zhou Kun finally realized that the silly dog was a vegetarian.
It was no wonder it drooled so much while eating an orange at the hospital and was indifferent towards dog food.
It got all excited at the sight of peaches. Zhou Kun recalled that he had forgotten all about the peaches because he had been busy with dragon fruit for the past two days. Although dragon fruit was selling well now, there was a lack in the variety of the fruits that he was selling. Hence, Zhou Kun decided to purchase a batch of peaches tomorrow.
The place where Zhou Kun used to get his dragon fruit from was an orchard in the core production area of peaches in Tong City. Since Zhou Kun's parents started running the business, they had only ever purchased goods from that orchard which they were in cooperation with.
"Old Zhuang, why didn't you notify me of the harvest of peaches this year?" In order to prevent Two Thousand from continuing to create trouble, Zhou Kun brought it with him to the orchard, thinking that it could have fun for a while since there were no people there.
"I uploaded several photos of them on my 'Moments' collection [1. Photo-sharing function of WeChat, popular multi-purpose messaging, social media, and mobile payment application in China, developed by Tencent]. Didn't you see them?"
"I'm too busy this year, so I almost forgot about it."
"However, it's good that you're here. Coincidentally, it has just been two days since the first batch of peaches was harvested."
"I'll go in and check the goods then. I brought my dog here too to let it have some fun. You didn't let any chickens in there, did you?"
"No, go ahead and release your dog. You may go take a look while I turn on the water valve. Half of the area has not been watered yet."
"You go ahead with what you have to do. We'll talk later."
Zhou Kun squatted down and released Two Thousand from his leash, not forgetting to give it instructions. He said, "When you go in and play later, you can steal a peach, but you are not allowed to damage the tree. Got it?"
Two Thousand's eyes were filled with excitement that he could not contain, and it seemed to be expressing that it knew everything.
In the next second, Two Thousand sprinted away and disappeared in the orchard.
Zhou Kun looked at the various spots in the peach orchard and found that many peaches had yet to fully mature, and there were only a few mature peaches on each tree.
However, Zhou Kun found it to be a little strange because right from the very beginning, he had been feeling a certain joy and pleasure in the atmosphere. It seemed… like it was emanating from the peach trees.
Zhou Kun was taken aback by his own thoughts, and he instantly dispelled those silly ideas.
"What is the price for peaches today?"
"Ordinary peaches are basically priced the same as last year, 100 yuan per crate of twenty peaches. The larger peaches that weigh about 400 grams each are now more expensive and may cost 9 yuan per piece."
"I'd like to have 10 crates of peaches then. I'll look for you again when I receive orders for the larger peaches."
"Sure, no problem." After tallying the quantity and settling on the price with Old Zhuang, Zhou Kun began moving the goods.
All of a sudden, they heard the sounds of stern barking.
By the time Zhou Kun and Old Zhuang rushed to the source of the noises, they saw Two Thousand, the silly dog, being stuck on a high branch of the tree in a hanging position.
While Two Thousand was struggling, it shrieked continuously. When it saw Zhou Kun, its gaze made it look like it was saying, "Hurry and get me down!"
While Old Zhuang was trying to suppress his laughter, Zhou Kun had no choice but to rescue the silly dog Two Thousand and free it from the branch.
To his surprise, the dog did not learn its lesson at all. As soon as it landed safely on the ground, it began to lift its limbs and leaped up to bite the peach on the branch. They finally discovered how the silly dog got stuck.
At last, Old Zhuang could no longer bear with it and plucked a peach, which he then handed to the husky.
After resolving that episode, Zhou Kun returned to his store and took two photos of the peaches, which he then sent to the chat group. Sure enough, he received plenty of orders for peaches, just like he did for the dragon fruit.
Once he was done with the things he had to do, Zhou Kun looked at Two Thousand which was in front of him and fell deep in thought.
Zhou Kun thought about the fact that he had to run the business and look after the store. Soon, he would also have to look for an opportunity to wake his father up. He could not even manage that several matters at once. How could he have the time to take care of the silly dog?
Besides, judging from the series of events that he had encountered that day, he reckoned that the silly dog would definitely get into trouble. He thought that he should probably send it back.
Two Thousand was going round in circles around the peaches that had just been moved into the cold storage as if it were thinking about how it could eat them.
As such, when the passage of the cold storage warehouse was opened again, Zhou Kun held a peach and teased Two Thousand. "Come on, I'll let you eat it if you can keep up with me."
Upon hearing that he would be able to eat some peaches, Two Thousand immediately got energized as it stared at the peach in Zhou Kun's hand.
"Yes, look how delicious this peach is. Two Thousand, don't you want to have another one?" asked Zhou Kun who watched as Two Thousand was approaching the passage. He felt that he was about to succeed.
To his surprise, Two Thousand made another leap of faith at the critical moment and kicked Zhou Kun while it was jumping away from the passage.
Zhou Kun had his back facing the tunnel and hence, he lost his balance and staggered towards the end of the passage.
He recalled the last gaze that the silly dog shot him in the cold storage warehouse as if it were trying to say, "Kid, do you think you can fool me?"
Damn it, after such a long time, I still ended up getting fooled by this silly dog.