Chapter 32: Locust Pesticide
Qiu Xingyuan also brought Qiu Xingyu over.The little girl’s mood became much better on seeing more people of the same age as her, but her face was still filled with sadness.
“That was my family’s last bit of food.”
The little girl sobbed as she spoke. Her family’s harvest today wasn’t good. They didn’t manage to harvest much grain over the whole year either. Nevertheless, they relied on selling their small harvest for a bit of money. But now that the grains were dirty, even their last hope was gone.
She was very petite, and her arms were so thin that one could almost feel her bones. Judging from her appearance, she was about the same age as Little Yu, but she was much burdened by hardship.
Qiu Tong’s heart softened. Looking at the crushed grains, she asked, “How much did you plan to sell it for?”
“$1.”
The little girl bit her lips and said timidly. Seeing that Qiu Tong seemed to want to buy it, her big eyes were filled with anticipation.
However, Qiu Tong shook her head.
The light in the little girl’s eyes extinguished. But then Qiu Tong said, “I went to check the market price just now. The market price for grains is about $2. I’ll give you $3.”
She took the remaining grains from the little girl’s hand and smiled. “I’ll buy the rest.”
“Really?”
The little girl was overjoyed and immediately bowed to Qiu Tong. “Thank you! Thank you!”
After handing the money to the little girl, Qiu Tong looked at the bustling food market and fell into silence.
The people who came to sell food in the market were more or less all hardworking people who had labored hard for a year. They had worked so hard for a year in return for just a tiny bit of hope. Meanwhile, the merchants and customers who came to buy food kept trying to depress their prices.
Some people could not even afford to eat the rice they planted themselves, so they carried their entire harvest over to sell them in exchange for a meager income.
If she only cared about storing food for herself and did not care about the lives of these people, when the famine came, the first people to collapse would be these hardworking people struggling on the poverty line.
By then, who knew how many people would starve to death in that famine.
If Qiu Tong were to make money from their sweat and blood, she would never be able to live with her conscience.
But how to avoid this tragedy?
Qiu Tong frowned. As she walked, she suddenly bumped into a little fellow.
Looking down, she saw Qiu Xingyuan looking at her expressionlessly with a chemistry book in his hand.
In that instant, Qiu Tong’s eyes lit up.
Yes, she still had Qiu Xingyuan!
Qiu Tong shared her thoughts.
“…You want me to develop a pesticide to kill locusts?”
After hearing her words, Qiu Xingyuan frowned slightly, not understanding what Qiu Tong was up to. “There aren’t many locusts now.”
Qiu Tong blabbered nonsense and tried her best to persuade him. “The temperature and humidity is suitable now for locusts to reproduce in large numbers. If a locust plague breaks out, this kind of locust pesticide will come in handy very soon. Not only will we be able to avoid a locust plague, we can also make a huge profit!”
“No way!”
Qiu Xingyuan flat-out rejected. He felt that Qiu Tong’s worries were groundless. “There hasn’t been a locust plague for more than 10 years. How could it suddenly happen?”
“Just because it hasn’t happened in over 10 years doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”
Seeing that Qiu Xingyuan still did not believe her, Qiu Tong had no other choice but to claim. “Actually, I can communicate with spirits. I already foresee a locust plague will happen not long from now.”
Qiu Xingyuan looked at her coldly as if he was looking at a fool.
Qiu Tong suppressed her frustration. An idea popped up in her head. “I can prove it!”
She mumbled to herself as she rubbed her fingers. After a while, she opened her eyes and looked at Qiu Xingyuan mysteriously.
“I’ve calculated it. You’ve been developing a drug that can alleviate the symptoms of people with cardiovascular disease. But you haven’t done any clinical verification yet. You also haven’t found a test subject, right?”
Qiu Xingyuan’s expression suddenly changed.
Qiu Tong was right!
He had just started thinking about this idea and had not told anyone. He did not expect Qiu Tong to know.
This woman really knew how to tell the future?!
Qiu Tong noted the surprise in his eyes. She looked at him with a smile. “So? Are you willing to save the world with me?”
Qiu Xingyuan scoffed lightly, his gaze still doubtful. “Would you be so kind-hearted?”
“People can change.”
In the end, Qiu Xingyuan could not endure Qiu Tong’s nagging and pestering, so he could only agree to give it a try. Qiu Tong transferred a large sum of money to him. “If you lack anything, just buy it. If it’s not enough, I will continue to sponsor you.”
Qiu Xingyuan paused and looked at her deeply. “Do you really believe that I can do it?”
“Apart from you, no one else in this world can develop it.”
Qiu Tong patted his shoulder.
Qiu Xingyuan pursed his lips, not understanding why Qiu Tong was so confident that he could succeed.
However, this feeling of being trusted was not bad.
Qiu Xingyuan originally intended to make a half-hearted attempt just to keep Qiu Tong off his back. But she repeatedly asked about his progress. Annoyed, he had no choice but to go out with a gloomy face to purchase the required materials.
He must be mad to go along with that woman’s crazy scheme.
As he passed by an alley not far from his residence, a figure suddenly blocked his path.