At a corner of the campus, Ma Cheng felt satisfaction in his heart when he saw An Xinhui under pressure from the farmers.
“Daring to hit me? I will make sure you guys pay the price.”
Ma Cheng had informed Old Yu to bring people and beat Sun Mo up when they saw him.
In such a situation, Sun Mo would have to endure the beating for nothing. If not, would he dare to hit those farmers back? Would he not care about his reputation? “Do you think it will be successful?”
For some reason, Wei Ziyu kept feeling that things wouldn’t proceed as smoothly as they planned.
“Brother Ziyu, there’s no need to worry. Just wait to collect the money!”
Zhang Zehao smiled complacently. He had calculated that after the price increase, they would receive an increase of 20% in profits every year. He would then be able to provide for two more mistresses with the money.
This was Zhang Zehao’s hobby. He only loved to play with young girls below the age of 15. He would kill the girls once they were 15.
Not far away, Qi Shengjia who was looking for them heaved a sigh of relief after he noticed Ma Cheng and the other two. He then returned immediately to report this to Sun Mo.
His teacher was right. These three fellows were observing this from the shadows.
“Uncle Yu, please calm down first.”
An Xinhui persuaded patiently. Although she was a 3-star great teacher, she was still very humble when dealing with these farmers.
“Headmaster An, we don’t have it easy too!”
Old Yu sighed. “Uncle Yu, through these five years, the price has increased three times. Our purchasing price is already the highest in the entire Jinling City!”
An Xinhui also felt a little unhappy about this. (I’ve always treated you guys well, but please don’t take me as a fool, alright?)
“But the excess money doesn’t land in our hands!”
Old Yu was depressed. “Why don’t you talk to leader Ma and the others and tell them to raise the price just a little?”
This was a dead-end. The farmers were doing their best to grow crops, but it was impossible for them to go to the city to sell it every day. Hence, they had to sell to merchants like Ma Cheng and allow the trading companies to earn profit as middlemen.
In the current modern society, distribution worked like this as well. Even farmers of Sun Mo’s old world wouldn’t go to the city to sell their products themselves, let alone a place that was so backward in technology like the Middle-Earth Nine Provinces.
Some farmers would never leave their villages their entire lives.
It was impossible for An Xinhui to adopt a tough stance. She said all the good things she could think of, wanting to persuade the farmers to leave. However, Old Yu was determined not to leave unless he achieved his objective.
“Where is that Sun Mo? Why don’t you call him to come out? I know Headmaster An is a good person. I also heard that all of this happened because Sun Mo was making trouble in the dark!”
Old Yu appeared very honest on the surface, but he was a shrewd man. He was pointing the arrows at the other school leader while saying that An Xinhui was considering things on behalf of the farmers, hence, she was a very good person.
When Zhang Hanfu heard this, he smiled coldly. (These old fellows are purposely placing a tall hat on An Xinhui so she wouldn’t have any way out of this awkward situation.)
Zhang Hanfu felt even happier when he saw the look of fatigue on An Xinhui’s face. (Who told you to support that useless Sun Mo and go against me?)
“Sun Mo is very busy!”
An Xinhui would definitely not get Sun Mo over. It was to protect him.
“As expected of a great teacher, he has no regard for us farmers at all!” Old Yu mocked.
“Farmers? I only see a bunch of evil wolves clad in sheepskin!”
A mocking voice interrupted Old Yu’s words. Everyone turned their heads and saw Sun Mo walking through the crowd.
“Why are you here? Leave quickly!”
An Xinhui frowned, she cast a glance at Sun Mo.
“So, you are Sun Mo?” Old Yu turned and looked toward Sun Mo. When this young man, who was dressed in the azure-blue teacher robes, stood in a straight posture, exuding confidence, he truly looked impressive.
Leaving aside his strength, just his external appearance made him and An Xinhui look extremely compatible when they stood together.
“You should refer to me as Teacher Sun!” Sun Mo smiled. “Old man, respect is something mutual. You cannot rely on seniority to pressure others just because your age is higher!”
After hearing this, Old Yu’s expression sank. The surrounding students also started to point their fingers as they whispered to themselves.
Indeed. Sun Mo was a teacher no matter what. (You should have referred to him as Teacher Sun. Yet, you called him directly by his name. Aren’t you a little too arrogant?)
The majority of the people here would side with those closer to them. Who was Sun Mo? He was currently the most famous teacher in the Central Province Academy. Not only did he have God Hands, but he also treated the students amicably and would always answer their questions.
Such a teacher basically had no flaws. Many students respected him, and now that such a teacher was slighted, a tinge of unhappiness would naturally appear in the hearts of the students.
“My teacher is impressive indeed!”
Tantai Yutang’s lips curled. His teacher was so toxic.
The spectating students had adopted a neutral stance and were purely here to watch the show. In the end, this single sentence from Sun Mo immediately caused many people to shift their stance.
“Teacher Sun is just a title. Are you not attaching too much importance to your identity?”
Old Yu countered, mocking Sun Mo for being overly vain.
(Hehe, the words one speaks would always come from one’s heart. This means that Old Yu has a very arrogant personality. He doesn’t place teachers like us in his eyes at all.)
Sun Mo had a self-mocking smile on his face. “When I’m walking on the streets, when the parents of the students see me, they would always greet me by saying ‘Hi, Teacher Sun’. Even for those unfamiliar with me, they would address me as little brother Sun or even noble nephew. However, this is the first time a stranger addressed me so directly and rudely with my surname and name.” The students whispered to each other. That was true. When everyone was walking on the streets, they would definitely greet that teacher by calling ‘Teacher so-and-so’. It was like meeting a random doctor; they would also address that doctor as ‘Doctor so-and-so’. This was something very normal. And calling someone in a respected position by their full names? It did seem inappropriate because doing so was basically a sign of disrespect. “Teacher Sun, we came here this time around for the sake of our livelihood. It isn’t easy for us to make a living. Can you guys do some good deeds and accept the price increase?”
Old Yu could tell that he wasn’t able to out-talk Sun Mo. Hence, he immediately lowered his position and took out his ‘weapon’. (I’m weak, hence, logic is on my side. What can you do?)
After speaking, Old Yu immediately knelt on the ground.
Among the students, many were from farming backgrounds. When they saw Old Yu doing this, they immediately thought of their parents and began to pity him.
“Old Yu, you mustn’t do this!”
Sun Mo’s hands were quick and swiftly held on to Old Yu.
Old Yu was someone over fifty years of age. In the village, he was the highly respected village elder, and he naturally didn’t wish to kneel to Sun Mo. Hence, he had wanted to take the opportunity to stand up with Sun Mo’s help. But who would have expected that Sun Mo didn’t exert any force and was simply holding him? Sun Mo basically had no intention to help him up.
Pak!
Old Yu fell back onto the ground.
“Sigh, why must you do this? Can’t we just speak properly?”
Sun Mo sighed and released his hold.
“F*** your mom!”
Old Yu cursed in his heart. (You little turtle, you are clearly taking advantage of me.) However, he felt embarrassed to stand up right now as it would prove that he wasn’t sincere.
Upon seeing this scene, An Xinhui started. She almost laughed out loud, feeling a bit of joy in her heart. She had always been annoyed to death by this Old Yu and had no way to deal with him. This time around, it could be considered her first time seeing Old Yu at a disadvantage. Sun Mo started to talk nonsense, ignoring the main topic at hand. He didn’t reject the price increase right away and was continuously complaining
Old Yu was already quite old. After kneeling for over ten minutes, his knees couldn’t take it anymore. He wanted to rise but he didn’t dare to. If he rose now, his image as someone representing a disadvantaged social group would be gone.
(Forget it, I shall just endure!)
“Hmph, this little bit of cunning is useless!”
Zhang Hanfu who was watching at the side didn’t say anything either. He was waiting to watch a good show. “Old Yu, the purchasing price we have given you guys is already high enough. If you guys cannot get any excess money from it, it’s clear that this problem originated from the merchants. You should look for them instead.”
Sun Mo explained.
“We have done so. They have agreed to buy from us at a higher price, but the prerequisite is that your Central Province Academy has to accept their terms.”
Old Yu squinted his pea-like eyes and looked at Sun Mo. His knees truly couldn’t take it anymore. Hence, he decided to be ruthless, going straight to the point and preparing to conclude the conversation as soon as possible.
“If your esteemed school cannot afford it, in order for us to survive, we can only sell our products to other trading companies. Sigh, I hope Headmaster An can understand us. After all, we have to make a living too!” “Uncle Yu…”
An Xinhui felt a little anxious and wanted to speak, but she was stopped by Sun Mo.
“Old Yu, what do you mean by this? Are you threatening us?”
Sun Mo blinked his eyes of innocence.
“I’m just a farmer, how would I dare to threaten great teachers like all of you?”
Old Yu naturally wouldn’t admit it, but he was coldly laughing in his heart. (Yes, I’m threatening you all. So what?)
“A farmer? I don’t think so?”
Sun Mo activated Divine Sight.
Yu Sheng, 57 years old. Village leader of Xiushui Village. He has 300,000 taels of silver, two concubines, three illegitimate sons and two of them were working for Ma Cheng’s trading company.
“A farmer with 300,000 taels in net worth can be considered a little landlord, right?” Sun Mo mocked. He tugged on Old Yu’s clothes. “The patches on this set of clothes don’t look half-bad. But if you want to make a piece of cloth seem old, you have to put in more effort and add a few lice.”
Upon hearing the 300,000 taels, Old Yu’s expression immediately changed.
“Already 57 but have two concubines? Your hips must be really good. You have sucked so much blood from the school but are not satisfied yet?”
Sun Mo mocked.
The spectating students began to mumble to themselves.
“Nonsense, that’s a lie.”
Old Yu hurriedly attempted to clear his name. “Is it? So can you agree that if I was to go to your house now, the additional money I find shall belong to me?”
Sun Mo smiled. “Don’t think that I don’t know you dug a cellar to hide your money underneath your bedroom!”
When Old Yu heard this, his heart almost stopped beating. How did this fellow learn of this? He subconsciously glanced at the surroundings, worried that some of these farmers might want to steal his money.
(No way, I can’t argue with this fellow any longer.)
Old Yu was also extremely cunning. Upon seeing this, he ignored Sun Mo and started to pressure An Xinhui. “Headmaster An, everyone here is a farmer who is struggling with life. If you don’t give us an answer today, we won’t leave.”
“We have to endure the heat of the sun every single day. It isn’t easy for us to earn a living. Headmaster An, please take pity on us!”
“Headmaster An, we will kneel to you. Please give us a path of living!”
The tens of farmers in the front, near to Old Yu, directly knelt and began sobbing. They looked extremely tragic. Tantai Yutang looked at Sun Mo, wanting to know how Sun Mo would solve this. This was the ‘ultimate move’ of disadvantaged social groups. They would first cry, make trouble, and then threaten people with suicide. Wouldn’t you be afraid of such tactics? “Uncle Yu, Uncle Wang. You guys should stand up first!”
An Xinhui wanted to help them up, but she was stopped by Sun Mo.
“Ignored them. Since they want to kneel, just let them kneel!
Sun Mo’s expression was ice-cold. (You guys want to use your ultimate move? Very well, this daddy has also prepared a sumptuous meal for you. Please feel free to eat until all of you are full!)
