"That's right, Qiao Mei! There are so many of us! Any one of us can go and reason with those villagers. We can definitely give them what they want. Even if you don't want to think for yourself, you have to think for your mother and your two children! If your mother finds out that you're feeling so down, she will be so worried," Xu Lan said agitatedly.
Qiao Mei looked at Xia Fan and Xia Xing in their cradle. She was responsible for the children now and could not be willful.
"Alright, then I'll have to trouble Elder Sister and Qian'e to make a trip to the Zhao Family Village. Even if they want the stars in the sky, just give them to them! However, I draw the line at the Xia family's a.s.sets," Qiao Mei reminded them.
"Look at this situation now! There's no need to differentiate between your family and my family! Without you, our Xia family would have been long gone! My father would not be standing in front of us so healthy and well now. Auntie has always been very nice to us, so her life is the most important thing now. All the Xia family members are perfectly fine. Even if we lose everything, we can just earn it all back," Xia He said.
Qiao Mei looked at everyone gratefully. Qian'e and Xia He set off very early for the Zhao Family Village without even having breakfast, accompanied by Luo Yu. The people from the Zhao Family Village said that they would not allow more than five people to enter the village, otherwise they would not negotiate with Qiao Mei.
Luo Yu had arranged for many experts from the team to protect them in secret. As soon as the villagers of Zhao Family Village had any ill intentions, these men would take action immediately. They had obtained approval for this mission. They just needed to ensure that none of the villagers got killed.
In the Zhao Family Village, there were people patrolling around every day now. They were afraid that those buyers would come looking for them again. There was already nothing left at home for them to sell, but some families still had babies. Those buyers looked vicious and they might kidnap the children and sell them for money.
The arrival of Qian'e and the others alarmed the patrol team. They immediately ran to Zhao Kuo's house and informed the entire village to come to the village entrance to defend against the enemy.
"You… you're the person who came to collect seeds that day! Your name should be… Qian'e! Am I right?" Zhao Kuo said slowly as he came over with his walking stick.
"Yes! I'm Qian'e! I'm the person in charge of the factory! I hear you want to negotiate with us? Name your price," Qian'e said.
"Name a price? How can you have the cheek to say such things! You caused us to be displaced! Some families were even broken up! You think you can use money to settle this!" Zhao Kuo said angrily.
Xia He stood at the side and could not stand it anymore. She said unhappily, "Hey! Old man! Watch your words! What do you mean by we caused that to happen! You're the ones who are greedy! Back then, we had signed an agreement when we collected the seeds! You promised not to keep a single seed. So what happened?"
"You d.a.m.n woman, what are you saying! You've better drop that att.i.tude! So what if we did it! You're the ones playing tricks! Otherwise, we won't be in such a miserable state! You're the ones who want to negotiate terms now! So let's figure out what exactly is going on! Don't forget that we still have your people in our hands!" Zhao Kai stood up and said smugly.
Xia He and Qian'e clenched their fists tightly. They could not panic now and must hold back their tempers.
"We want to see them first before we negotiate!" Qian'e shouted.
"Impossible! You have to fulfill our request first before we let them go!" Zhao Kai said.
"We can agree to any of your requests, but we have to see them first. Otherwise, we'll leave immediately and let the police surround your village!" Xia He pointed at the villagers and threatened them.
A few villagers were so frightened that they kept retreating, but Zhao Kai did not believe what he heard at all. It was not as if he had really learned nothing from following Zhao Fei around to do business those few months.
"Your Xia family is also involved in the same illegal business as us. Aren't you afraid of being arrested as well if you call the police?" Zhao Kai asked.
"Have you heard of the saying that a starving camel is still bigger than a horse? The factory is mine and I'm the only one involved. It has nothing to do with anyone else. They will only come after me!" Qian'e yelled angrily.
"You don't have any evidence to prove that you're the only one involved! We all saw everything back then!" Zhao Kai said in a panic.
"Hmph, that's nothing. At most, I'll just die together with you! I'm the only one from our side, but it's different for you! More than 100 of you have to die with me! It's not a loss for me!" Qian'e shouted with all her might.