Chapter 53: Qin Lin is the owner of this villa!

"Alright, we're here to have fun, let's not talk about nonsense." Zhao Moyun directly cut off the topic.

To be honest, he held Liu Hua in utter contempt. Didn't the guy just run a tobacco and liquor shop and make barely any money? Yet he had completely lost touch with reality. Day in and day out, he only hung out with loan sharks and credit card machine agents, caring for nothing except eating, drinking, and making merry. People like that made money fast and lost it even faster, and they were always prone to trouble. In his eyes, Liu Hua wasn't even as good as Qin Lin.

At least Qin Lin was willing to endure hardship, work hard, and stay grounded!

However, since the fellow was his wife's best friend's boyfriend, he couldn't say too much. He decided he would gently remind his wife to keep her distance from that friend once they got back home.

People were easily influenced by their surroundings. There was nothing particularly wrong with his wife's friend right now, but with a boyfriend like that, over time her values and worldview would inevitably become assimilated.

A circle of friends was extremely important. Within any social circle, just one person with a distorted worldview could potentially corrupt the values of an entire group.

Promptly steered away from the subject by Zhao Moyun, the group dropped the matter and walked straight toward the mountain resort.

Upon entering the resort, Li Jiawen spotted Zhao Moqing walking toward them accompanied by a girl dressed in traditional Hanfu. She called out in surprise, "Moqing!"

Zhao Moqing, who had just returned with Gao Yaoya from filming a video by the sea, hadn't expected to run into her elder brother and sister-in-law. She immediately trotted over and greeted them, "Brother, sister-in-law, what brings you here?"

Instead of answering, Li Jiawen retorted, "Moqing, shouldn't we be the ones asking you that? Why are you here?"

"Sister-in-law, that's a long story. Come on over to the main hall and I'll fill you in." Zhao Moqing immediately ushered Zhao Moyun, Li Jiawen, and their companions toward the main hall.

As soon as they reached the entrance of the hall, Zhao Moyun and Li Jiawen saw Qin Lin and two security guards holding watermelons and weighing them. Standing nearby were two other men, one of whom looked vaguely familiar.

Zhao Moqing trotted over to Qin Lin's side and announced, "Qin Lin, my brother and sister-in-law are here!"

Qin Lin turned around and, seeing Zhao Moyun and Li Jiawen approaching, immediately greeted them warmly, "Brother, sister-in-law!"

Zhao Moyun walked up, patted Qin Lin on the shoulder, and asked, "What's the going market rate for these melons these days? My KTV needs a fair amount of watermelons every day."

Previously, he hadn't known that Qin Lin was into watermelon wholesale, but now that he had learned it from his wife, he hoped to help out however he could. After all, he could tell that his younger sister had set her heart on Qin Lin.

Qin Lin smiled and explained, "Brother, these aren't ordinary melons. They're a special quality variety, priced at a hundred yuan per pound."

"..." Hearing this price, Zhao Moyun was instantly dumbfounded.

One hundred yuan per pound?

For a watermelon?

Liu Hua and the others obviously found it impossible to believe.

One of Li Jiawen's female friends exclaimed in shock, "Watermelons that cost a hundred yuan a pound? I've never even eaten a melon that expensive."

"Sounds to me like someone's gone completely crazy trying to make money," Liu Hua remarked, clearly skeptical.

Li Jiawen suddenly recalled something and said, "This resort does sell a special quality watermelon for a hundred yuan a pound. It even trended on hot searches a while back, and the whole batch was eventually bought up by the boss of the Blue Sea Group in the city. Qin Lin, you wouldn't happen to be the supplier of these watermelons, would you?"

Hearing this, Zhao Moyun subconsciously glanced at Chen Shengfei.

He finally realized why the man looked so familiar. He had scrolled past that video online earlier.

The man was none other in person than the chairman of the Blue Sea Group—a major figure of considerable standing.

He desperately wanted to make his acquaintance, but he didn't dare to approach him and say hello uninvited.

That fellow Liu Hua, however, chimed in once more, "Jiawen, you're overthinking it. Someone capable of supplying this kind of watermelon has to be a major wholesale dealer. There's no way they'd be delivering the goods themselves."

Clearly, self-righteous people often needed no reason to target others.

Hearing this, Zhao Moyun glared at Liu Hua, secretly firming up his resolve to have his wife reduce contact with the man's girlfriend.

This guy simply possessed zero emotional intelligence and supreme self-importance.

At that moment, Chen Dabei placed the final watermelon onto the scale and said to Qin Lin, "Boss, they've all been weighed. A total of 748 pounds."

The title "Boss" left Zhao Moyun and Li Jiawen completely stunned.

The couple looked at Zhao Moqing in astonishment, their faces a mask of questioning gazes.

Qin Lin first offered his apologies to Zhao Moyun and Li Jiawen, then turned to attend to Ma Leiyun. "Mr. Ma, the weights are in. Feel free to randomly select a melon for inspection if you like, and then I'll have a truck follow you back."

"No need, I trust Boss Qin!" Ma Leiyun waved his hand, clearly unwilling to do anything that would dampen the friendly mood. He then said to Qin Lin, "Boss Qin, what's my total here? Let's settle everything at once, including those forty pounds of Xiangshui Tribute Rice. I'll cover Old Chen's portion as well."

"Very well." Qin Lin nodded and picked up their bills. The meals totaled 9,200 yuan, and the forty pounds of Xiangshui Tribute Rice—which both men had insisted on paying 1,000 yuan per pound for—came to 49,200 yuan.

The watermelons came to 748 pounds at 100 yuan per pound, totaling 74,800 yuan, bringing the grand total to 124,000 yuan.

Having tallied the sum, Qin Lin told Ma Leiyun, "Mr. Ma, the final total is 124,000 yuan."

"Alright, I'll transfer the payment to Boss Qin." Ma Leiyun didn't hesitate, immediately transferring 124,000 yuan to Qin Lin to complete the transaction.

This direct display left Zhao Moyun, Li Jiawen, and their entire group utterly dumbfounded.

Especially Liu Hua, who simply couldn't believe his eyes.

Just like that, over a hundred thousand yuan had changed hands? Why did it look as effortless as spending a dozen bucks?

Thinking back to his earlier remarks, his face burned with embarrassment.

"Your account ending in... has received a deposit of 124,000.00 yuan, balance 812,654.60 yuan."

Qin Lin's phone immediately flashed the transfer notification. With Ma Leiyun's payment combined with the resort's earnings over the past period, his balance was on the verge of breaking through the one-million-yuan mark once again.

Following that, he called Zhao Liyuan from the transport company, asking him to dispatch a small truck to haul the watermelons so they could accompany Chen Shengfei and his companion back to the city.

Having made the arrangements, Qin Lin turned back to the two men. "Gentlemen, the truck will be here shortly. Please wait a moment while I attend to some other guests."

Ma Leiyun chuckled nonchalantly, "Boss Qin, don't mind us. Old Chen and I can just hang around and take it easy."

"Indeed!" Chen Shengfei nodded in agreement.

Qin Lin then walked over to Zhao Moyun and Li Jiawen. "Brother, sister-in-law, apologies for the slight neglect, please come inside." Guiding the group to a table in the main hall, he instructed Chen Dabei, "Slice up one of the special-quality watermelons."

"Understood, Boss!" Chen Dabei nodded, picked up one of the special-quality watermelons from the display shelf, and headed toward the kitchen.

Ma Leiyun had bought out all of Qin Lin's stock of Grade 2 watermelons, but the few Grade 2 melons resting on the hall's display shelves were still there.

Zhao Moyun and Li Jiawen were already staring at Zhao Moqing with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Moqing, spill it. What is going on here?" Li Jiawen interrogated her directly.

Her female friends also looked at Zhao Moqing with curious eyes.

The entire group had come to the resort in high spirits for a day of leisure, never imagining for a moment that this mountain resort might belong to Li Jiawen's future brother-in-law.

Consequently, a strange psychological mix inevitably arose among them—surprise? Curiosity? Or perhaps a trace of envy?

The feeling was hard to put into words.

With a hint of pride, Zhao Moqing replied, "Qin Lin is actually the owner of this resort!"

Even though Li Jiawen had already guessed as much, she was still astonished. "No wonder the resort doesn't accept reservations, yet you were able to get so many passes for me."

Zhao Moyun's jaw hung open in shock. Their family knew the financial situation of Qin Lin's household all too well. Yet, after not seeing Qin Lin for just a short while, he had somehow managed to set up a resort of this scale?

Judging by the Douyin videos, setting up a coastal attraction like that couldn't possibly cost less than a few million yuan.

At that moment, Qin Lin walked over carrying a few pounds of leftover Grade 2 strawberries. "Brother, sister-in-law, try these. They're special-quality strawberries."

Li Jiawen stared at the strawberries in a daze, picked one up, and took a bite. Suddenly remembering something, she asked Zhao Moqing, "Are these the ones you brought home last time?"

"I suppose so!" Zhao Moqing nodded.

"Oh dear, I wronged someone." Li Jiawen suddenly felt utterly mortified. Last time, she had assumed that the imported strawberries her university friend had purchased for her were superior to Qin Lin's twenty-yuan-a-pound fruit, only to realize that Qin Lin's strawberries were also of special quality?

Those online videos claimed that the resort's special-quality strawberries went for 200 yuan a pound.