"The order has already been placed?" Liu Weiguo couldn't hide his surprise. "When was it placed?"
"Just yesterday. Wasn't it another salesperson from your forestry center who came to sell it?"
"I'm the only salesperson at our forestry center," Liu Weiguo said.
Perhaps it was because he had spent the past year traveling and gaining experience, but he remained surprisingly calm.
However, while he was calm, the staff at the grocery store were bewildered. "If you're the only salesperson at your forestry center, then who was the person who came yesterday?"
How would Liu Weiguo know? After a moment's thought, he asked, "Have you already paid the deposit?"
"Yes, 30%. That’s how it was when you came to sell last time—the rest is paid upon delivery."
That meant there was no way to cancel the order unless the grocery store was willing to forfeit the 30% deposit.
The grocery store staff sounded frustrated. "What’s going on with this guy? If it wasn’t him, he should’ve said something!"
He must have deliberately kept quiet. Otherwise, like the Wangshan Forestry Center and the Xiaojinchuan Forestry Center, they would have checked where they were selling to avoid overlapping.
Liu Weiguo was cursing inwardly, but he kept a polite smile. "No problem, it was just a mix-up this time. You can always order from us next time."
He then asked, "Could you show me the order slip? At least I should know who sold it to you."
The grocery store had a sales area in the front and an office area in the back. They were currently in the supply department’s office, so retrieving the slip should have been simple.
But the staff hesitated visibly before opening a desk drawer. "Let me find it for you."
It was clear there was more to the story. Liu Weiguo kept smiling. "No rush, take your time."
Soon, the slip was handed over, and Liu Weiguo immediately understood the hesitation—they had ordered a full thousand jin at once.
That was a huge amount. Last year, they had delivered several shipments, each only a few hundred jin, totaling just over fifteen hundred jin for the entire year.
The staff explained, "We only ordered so much because last year’s collaboration went so well. Who knew it wasn’t even your people?"
Liu Weiguo took the words with a grain of salt. After a year in sales, he knew exactly how these things worked.
An order this large only happened if there was profit to be made—either because the price of wood ear mushrooms had dropped this year or because there were other benefits involved.
But business was about mutual agreement, so Liu Weiguo saw no need to call them out. He just glanced at the unfamiliar signature on the slip and memorized the name.
After returning the slip, he reassured them again before leaving the grocery store.
He spent the rest of the day visiting other stores in the county that had ordered from them last year. He found another case of mistaken identity and one store that outright refused to order this year.
Whether they had bought from someone else or simply weren’t buying at all, Liu Weiguo couldn’t tell. He returned to the forestry center and headed straight to the pilot site.
"Things didn’t go well?" Yan Xue could tell just by his expression.
"Yeah." Liu Weiguo, being an old acquaintance, didn’t stand on ceremony. He poured himself a cup of water and sat down. "Someone impersonated us."
"Impersonated?" Yan Xue had expected wood ear mushrooms to sell poorly this year, but impersonation was a surprise.
Liu Weiguo explained the situation, and even Lang Yue'e and Guo Chang'an, who had just walked in, frowned.
Guo Chang'an cut straight to the point. "Was it the Hongshi Forestry Center?" They had the most history of conflict with them.
Liu Weiguo wasn’t sure, but when he mentioned the name he had memorized, it turned out to be the person in charge of Hongshi Forestry Center’s cultivation base.
"Haven’t they learned their lesson yet? Pulling this kind of dirty trick again." Guo Chang'an’s expression darkened.
Lang Yue'e felt the same. Zhou Wenhui, however, was more concerned. "What about the town’s supply and marketing cooperative and the forestry bureau? Did they sell anything?"
"The stores in town are fine," Liu Weiguo said. "I visit them often, and they all know me."
It wasn’t just him—other forestry centers’ salespeople were also familiar faces in town, making it hard for outsiders to compete.
So they had turned to the county instead, resorting to impersonation.
Guo Chang'an was disgusted. "They can’t even get the technique right, but they’re experts at underhanded tricks."
"The world is full of people who focus on the wrong things," Yan Xue said calmly. "Let’s talk numbers first. How much did we sell?"
Liu Weiguo reported the figures, and the situation was indeed bleak. At this rate, they wouldn’t match last year’s sales until after the New Year.
Meanwhile, this year’s harvest from last year’s logs was abundant, and they had planted new ones, expecting at least eight thousand jin.
"Our county alone isn’t enough to sell all this," Liu Weiguo said. "Should I try neighboring counties in the city? We haven’t been there yet."
"I bet Wangshan and Xiaojinchuan have already expanded there. They did ask about our sales range."
Yan Xue wasn’t optimistic. Even without prior inquiries, most would avoid areas where they already had a foothold. Hongshi Forestry Center was an exception.
While they weren’t afraid of competition in terms of quality and reputation, there was no need to fight over the same market when there were other options.
"What if we try other cities?" Liu Weiguo suggested. "Shuiquan and Yangcheng are both close. I’ve never been, though—not sure how it’ll go."
"Transportation would be an issue," Zhou Wenhui said, having grown up in town. "You’d have to transfer multiple times to get to either city."
Frequent transfers were a nightmare for shipping goods—wasting manpower and increasing the risk of damage or loss.
Now even Liu Weiguo was stumped. The others were equally troubled. He even joked, "If only we had our own truck."
"A Yuejin truck can carry three and a half tons, a Jiefang truck over four. Do we even need that much?" Yan Xue chuckled.
"You never know!" Liu Weiguo, ever the optimist, grinned. "If this pilot project succeeds, we might need big trucks for deliveries someday."
The thought lifted everyone’s spirits. Even though they knew it was a distant dream, they couldn’t help but smile.
Once the laughter died down, Yan Xue leaned forward, recapturing their attention.
"I think we should skip other cities altogether," she said. "Let’s go straight to the provincial capital."
The room fell silent, the idea catching them off guard. Compared to nearby cities, the provincial capital was much farther.
But Zhou Wenhui quickly caught on. "There’s a direct train from town to the provincial capital—no transfers."
Sure, it was a long trip—nearly ten hours—but not having to switch trains made all the difference.
The realization brightened everyone’s mood. Liu Weiguo’s eyes lit up. "Right! Why didn’t I think of selling in the provincial capital?"
In an era where travel was difficult, most people rarely ventured far, so their thinking naturally stayed local.
Yan Xue was different. In her past life, she ran an online shop, selling products all across the country. Distance was never a concern for her—transportation convenience was what mattered.
She didn’t dwell on the topic but instead smiled and asked Liu Weiguo, "You’ll have no problem going to the provincial capital for sales, right?"
If this had been last year, before he started helping with the pilot sales, Liu Weiguo might have hesitated. After all, he had never been to the provincial capital in his life.
But after a year of sales experience, he realized it wasn’t as difficult as he thought. Going to the provincial capital just meant a bigger, unfamiliar place.
"I’ll give it a try," he said cheerfully. "If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just bring that newspaper article about you and Qi Fang and ask if they’d like to buy mushrooms that made it into the provincial paper."
This made everyone laugh, and Zhou Wenhui even gave him a playful glare. "You and your clever ideas."
"I’m serious," Liu Weiguo replied, grinning even wider after his wife’s teasing. "No matter how much I boast, it won’t be as effective as Yan Xue’s feature in the newspaper."
With that, they finally had a solution, and everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, the provincial capital was much larger than Jiangcheng, with a bigger population and numerous factories. Selling ten thousand pounds of goods wouldn’t be an issue.
But Yan Xue didn’t rush Liu Weiguo into going just yet. "There’s no hurry. First, deliver the goods to the places in the county. I still have a few things to prepare."
When she returned home after work that evening, Qi Fang was already back, leaning against the writing desk while keeping an eye on their chubby son playing on the kang as he read a letter.
"Who sent it?" Yan Xue asked casually, setting down her bag. Their little chubby boy had already spotted her and was stretching out a cloth ball made by Second Grandma, eager for her to play with him.
Not only did he hand her the ball, but he also made a valiant effort to crawl toward her. Unfortunately, his legs weren’t strong enough, so he just wiggled in place on the kang.
Luckily, the little one wasn’t frustrated. If he couldn’t crawl, he simply plopped back down on his chubby bottom, grinning at Yan Xue with his tiny baby teeth.
In this way, he was quite unlike his father, who had rarely smiled even as a child.
Yan Xue took the ball from her son before Qi Fang finally answered, "It’s from Shiniang. She wrote to tell me the project has been suspended."
So it was about that. Yan Xue glanced at him but didn’t say anything immediately, instead playing with their son for a while.
When Second Grandma came in with a bowl to feed the little one his baby food, Yan Xue finally stood and walked over to the desk, taking the letter Qi Fang handed her.
The letter began with the usual greetings, asking after Qi Fang, Yan Xue, and their chubby little boy before getting to the main point.
After dragging on for nearly a year, the research institute had finally been forced to halt the project due to unresolved flaws in the system design.
This suspension meant all their previous efforts had been in vain. Wu Xingde and Professor Lin, who had overseen the project, were now under scrutiny for their competence—especially Professor Lin.
He had been transferred back specifically for this project. Now that it was canceled, he had nothing to do. Though he wasn’t sent back to his previous post, he was essentially relegated to odd jobs at the institute.
And according to the institute’s rules, without an active project, he would only receive 60% of his salary—likely making life no easier than when he was tightening screws at the factory.
Afterward, he had tried reaching out to Wei Shuxian several times, but she refused him every time. As for Wu Xingde, there had been no word from him since that letter. It was unclear whether he was struggling too much to care or quietly plotting something.
After finishing the letter, Yan Xue tucked it back into the envelope and handed it to Qi Fang. "It’s better this way. At least some people won’t keep obsessing over it."
Qi Fang gave a quiet "Mm" in response. But instead of taking the letter, he reached for her hand, threading his fingers through hers.
His hands, roughened from years of working with machinery, were calloused and strong—a stark contrast to her delicate, fair fingers.
Yan Xue instinctively glanced at Second Grandma, only to find the old woman coaxing their son to take another bite of food, completely oblivious to them.
When she turned back, Qi Fang’s peach-blossom eyes were still fixed on her, his grip tightening slightly. She didn’t pull away, letting him hold her hand.
Some things were secrets only the two of them shared. Some emotions, too, were understood best by each other.
In that room, with two other people present yet unaware, the couple remained silent for a moment.
Then they heard a loud "Ah!" from behind them. Turning, they saw their little boy staring at them, even forgetting about his food.
Especially when he noticed them looking, he pointed at them and let out a series of excited "Ah! Ah!" sounds.
This time, even Second Grandma turned to look, prompting Yan Xue to quickly withdraw her hand. Qi Fang also took back the letter. "Finished reading?"
They acted as if nothing had happened, casually separating their hands—and just like that, their son stopped fussing.
Qi Fang couldn’t help but glance at the little boy. The moment Second Grandma turned away, he immediately grabbed Yan Xue’s hand again.
Their son’s mouth fell open, his big eyes widening before he turned and let out another "Ah!"
This time, he didn’t just shout—he even tried pushing himself toward them, waving his little arms at Yan Xue and Qi Fang.
Second Grandma, utterly confused, looked between them. "What’s gotten into him?" she muttered. "Does he want his mom to feed him?"
If not for the fact that one of these two didn’t like talking and the other couldn’t, Yan Xue would have sworn they were having a silent argument. She took the bowl and spoon from Second Grandma. "I’ll do it."
The moment she sat by the kang, their son grabbed her clothes and pressed himself against her, letting out another "Ah!" at Qi Fang.
Honestly, she had seen kids competing for attention with other children, but this was the first time she’d seen one competing with his own father. She could practically feel Qi Fang’s displeasure.
Sure enough, once the baby food was finished and Second Grandma took the bowl away, Qi Fang immediately walked over and looked down at his son. "Qi Yanyu."
Little Qi Yanyu responded by burying himself in his mother’s arms, wrapping his chubby little arms around her as if declaring ownership.
"She’s my wife first, then your mother," Qi Fang said, actually trying to reason with a seven-month-old.
In response, Qi Yanyu buried his face deeper into Yan Xue’s chest, leaving only the back of his freshly shaved head for his father to see.
Qi Fang looked like he wanted to say more, but Yan Xue had had enough. "Qi Fang, could you understand logic when you were seven months old?"
Qi Fang fell silent, though his peach-blossom eyes remained fixed on their son, as if mentally filing this away for when the boy was old enough to comprehend.
To distract him, Yan Xue handed him a task. "I got some cigarette boxes from the store. Can you write something on them for me?"
Finally, his attention shifted away from their son. "What do you want me to write?"
"Just ‘Jiangcheng City, Changshan County, Chengshui Town, Jinchuan Mushroom Cultivation Base.’ Make the first few words smaller and ‘Jinchuan Mushroom Cultivation Base’ bigger."
Qi Fang immediately pulled out a pen and paper from the desk drawer. "Should it be side by side or in two lines?"
"Two lines. Then add another line below with ‘Contact Number: XXXX…’"
Yan Xue was making simple business cards. The incident at Hongshi Forest Farm had reminded her—they needed to prevent others from impersonating them.
Losing business was a minor issue—it could always be regained. But if their reputation was tarnished, that would be far worse.
Yan Xue couldn’t speak for everything, but at the very least, the black fungus from Hongshi Forest Farm couldn’t compare to the quality of Jinchuan’s.
Their mushroom sheds had poor ventilation to begin with, mold had delayed part of the growing cycle, and they’d even replaced two key team members.
Sometimes Yan Xue wondered whether Secretary Zhao actually wanted the cultivation base to succeed or not.
They decided to print business cards so future orders would go directly to Jinchuan Forest Farm’s phone line, preventing any more imposters.
Yan Xue got cigarette cartons from the store, cut them into uniform sizes, and wrote on the back.
After some discussion, the couple settled on using fountain pen for the top and bottom lines, while the middle—"Jinchuan Black Fungus Cultivation Base"—would be written in delicate calligraphy with a brush.
When Liu Weiguo saw the cards, he let out an impressed, "Oh, these are nice! Did Qi Fang write this?"
"Make do with these for now," Yan Xue said. "I’ll see if I can get thicker cardboard and have them properly printed at a factory."
The thickest paper available on the market was kraft paper, good for packaging but still too flimsy for business cards.
With the cards ready, the next step was preparing samples for the provincial capital. Before his trip, Liu Weiguo made another run to the county town as Yan Xue had instructed.
When he returned, he couldn’t help but tell her, "You called it—their stuff really isn’t as good as ours. The county’s vegetable and grocery store is even selling it under our name."
His expression darkened. If not for Yan Xue’s foresight, their hard-earned reputation would have been ruined.
Yan Xue wasn’t entirely surprised. Counterfeits had existed in every era, and without an established brand, anyone could claim whatever they wanted.
Jinchuan Forest Farm’s black fungus had even been featured in the provincial newspaper. Why would the grocery store admit it was from Hongshi instead of Jinchuan?
Besides, they’d sold Jinchuan’s product last year, and many customers knew that. Who would expect a sudden supplier change this year?
When the county store first saw Hongshi’s goods, even they had frowned. Compared to Jinchuan’s from last year, the difference was stark.
Appearance aside, Jinchuan’s fungus had been uniformly dried, plump, and neatly sized, while Hongshi’s was visibly uneven.
The purchasing agent immediately confronted Hongshi’s representatives. "This clearly isn’t Jinchuan’s product. Why didn’t you clarify?"
Hongshi’s team had the audacity to claim, "This is Jinchuan’s too—same strains, same growing methods. Who else would know how to cultivate it?"
They even insisted, "It’s not that our product is inferior. This year’s harvest was just poor. Even Jinchuan’s fungus looks like this now."
The grocery store staff weren’t experts in fungus cultivation, so they couldn’t refute the claim that the quality had nothing to do with the harvest.
Located at the foot of Changbai Mountain, they were familiar with wild produce being affected by seasonal yields—bad years meant smaller quantities and sizes.
And crucially, they’d already paid the deposit. Since the goods weren’t spoiled, returning them wasn’t an option.
Hongshi’s people knew this. "Besides, we gave you a discount—much cheaper than last year. Selling at 3.40 per jin, you’ll still make a profit."
They even winked, implying something underhanded. Though displeased, the purchasing agent finalized the payment.
Last year’s stock had sold out before New Year’s, so the store was eager to restock.
But when employees inspected the new batch, they frowned. "Why’s it so much worse than last year’s?"
"Poor harvest this year," the agent repeated Hongshi’s excuse. "Looks aren’t everything—taste’s the same. And it’s cheaper!"
Still, many hesitated. "I still have some left from last year. I’ll pass for now."
Customers at the counter also balked at the visibly inferior product, lingering uncertainly.
Fearing unsold stock and reprimands from management, the agent kept stepping out to check. Spotting hesitation, he quickly pitched:
"Looks rough because of the season, but taste is identical! And hey, it’s cheaper! Don’t you trust Jinchuan? They were in the provincial paper!"
Gradually, sales picked up—thanks to the lower price and Jinchuan’s media credibility.
Just as the agent began to relax, a woman stormed in with two bowls of soaked fungus.
"You said it’s the same? Last year’s expanded way more after soaking! I paid 3.40 per jin for this? It’s not even worth 3.50!"
She slammed the bowls on the counter. "Who are you scamming here?"
Nearby shoppers immediately backed away. "It doesn’t rehydrate well?"
"See for yourselves!" the woman snapped, her voice sharp and loud.
The agent rushed over. "Let’s talk this through—"
"Talk what?" she cut him off. "What, just because they got in the newspaper, they can sell us garbage now?"
She pointed accusingly toward Jinchuan. "Seems like one feature went straight to their heads."
The stark quality drop had already raised doubts, and her outburst drew agreement from others.
Someone even suggested writing to the provincial paper to complain, leaving the agent sweating.
As he tried to calm the crowd, a store clerk tugged his sleeve, whispering, "Why defend Jinchuan? They’re the ones being criticized."
But it wasn’t Jinchuan’s product! Before he could explain, another voice cut in: "This isn’t Jinchuan’s fungus, is it?"
Everyone turned to see a middle-aged woman at the entrance, grocery basket in hand.
"Don’t spout nonsense if you don’t know," the first woman retorted. "If not Jinchuan’s, whose is it?"
Unfamiliar with other forest farms’ operations, especially in Chengshui Town, she dismissed the claim rudely.
Provoked, the newcomer shoved her basket forward.
"What nonsense am I spouting? I just went to the joint-operated store and bought some wood ear mushrooms from Jinchuan Forest Farm there, and they looked nothing like this."
Qi Fang: Is this my son or a spy sent by Qi Fang...
