However, Liu Yifeng's next answer left him stunned once again: "To be honest, my son doesn't have a teacher!"
He said it sincerely, without any guilt or arrogance.
"You... are you telling the truth?" Du Ziheng asked, his eyes still fixed on Tongtong's painting. It was truly exceptional, no matter how he looked at it.
Moreover, this was the work of a three-year-old child. He couldn't fathom how a three-year-old could be so self-taught without any formal instruction.
Children his age, some couldn't even speak clearly, and most couldn't even hold a brush, let alone paint.
"Perhaps it's just the child's talent," Liu Yifeng offered a casual excuse.
The painting was indeed something Tongtong had learned on his own, though an elder gentleman had offered some guidance.
But he had instructed Tongtong not to reveal his existence.
Thus, he could only deflect the situation by attributing it to Tongtong's talent.
Du Ziheng's eyes filled with envy upon hearing this. "Your son must be here to repay a debt of gratitude. So capable at such a young age, and even able to earn money through his paintings.
Unlike my son, who is simply a good-for-nothing compared to Tongtong. If he were here with me now, I'd surely give him a good thrashing."
Liu Yifeng chuckled. "Brother Du, you're quite the joker. In reality, whether a child is academically successful isn't important; what matters is their physical and mental well-being."
"Don't try to comfort me. I know my own son. He's been spoiled rotten by his grandmother and is a complete little devil. I don't even know what kind of person he'll turn out to be when he grows up!" Du Ziheng didn't want to talk about his son any further.
There's no harm without comparison!
At half-past three in the afternoon, the weather outside remained unbearably hot, but Du Ziheng couldn't wait any longer to go to the vegetable patch and pick some produce. He planned to take it to the market that afternoon and see how it sold, and also find the hotel owner to see what price they would offer for bulk purchases.
Liu Yifeng gave him a straw hat to shield him from the sun, and they drove to the fields.
Their car could only be parked on the roadside, and after getting out, they had to walk a few hundred meters along a small path to reach the vegetable patch.
Upon arriving at the fields, Du Ziheng's eyes lit up at the sight of the various vegetables with their exceptionally high yield.
"Brother Liu, you're truly amazing. To be able to grow so many vegetables! Where others grow one mu, you've managed to produce the equivalent of two mu. This yield is simply astonishing." He praised without reservation.
"It's also my first time growing vegetables, and I didn't expect such good results."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. If the greenhouse vegetable farmers who have been at it for decades heard you say that, they'd probably want to die.
You're growing such an astonishing yield on your first try. If you gain more experience and grow them a few more times, won't you be able to produce more than three times the amount?"
"Hahaha, Brother Du, you're exaggerating a bit," Liu Yifeng laughed.
The reason he could grow so many vegetables was thanks to the growth agent developed by Tongtong; otherwise, they would still be in the growing stage.
The two of them toiled under the sun in the vegetable patch for nearly an hour, filling the car's trunk and the rear seats.
"Once I sell the vegetables, I'll transfer the money to your account immediately." Since they hadn't brought a scale, Du Ziheng couldn't determine the exact weight and thus decided to pay after selling.
Having collaborated for so long, Liu Yifeng trusted Du Ziheng implicitly and nodded indifferently. "Alright, as you say."
"It's getting late, so I'll be heading back now. I want to see if I can sell these vegetables at a good price," Du Ziheng said as he sat in the driver's seat and fastened his seatbelt.
Liu Yifeng waved goodbye and watched Du Ziheng's car drive away before turning back towards his own home.
As he walked along the road, he encountered Liu Jizhou, whose gaze seemed to flinch away.
This reminded Liu Yifeng of something a villager had told him.
Could it be that the people who had impersonated law enforcement officers yesterday, trying to frame him, were indeed hired by Liu Jizhou?
"Jizhou, I heard you also bought crayfish to raise. How are they doing?" Liu Yifeng asked deliberately.
Liu Jizhou replied awkwardly, "They've almost all died. I sold the remaining hundred jin at a low price."
"That's a real shame. Fortunately, you didn't buy too many.
Oh, by the way, three people impersonating law enforcement officers came to our village yesterday. Fortunately, I saw through them, and the police arrested them. Otherwise, I would have suffered considerable losses.
It's a good thing they didn't target your crayfish, or you wouldn't have been able to withstand such a setback.
However, I have no feud with these three people, so I wonder if someone hired them." Liu Yifeng's last few sentences sounded like he was talking to himself.
Liu Jizhou's expression turned flustered upon hearing this, but he still feigned composure. "It's not necessarily that someone hired them. You've become quite famous in our village recently for being able to raise such large crayfish. Outsiders can easily find out about you with a little inquiry.
So, it's best to be low-key, otherwise, you easily become a target. "
"Is that so? But why do I feel like someone is plotting behind the scenes?
But it's alright. The police have already arrested them. If they were indeed instigated by someone, they'll surely reveal the mastermind to mitigate their sentence. Then I'll know which son of a bitch is causing trouble, and I'll make them pay dearly." Liu Yifeng emphasized the last few words.
He could clearly see Liu Jizhou suppressing his anger, yet he remained quite composed. Soon, as if nothing had happened, he smiled and said, "Then let's wait for the police investigation results. I have some things to attend to, so I won't chat with you any longer." With that, he quickly left, his steps somewhat disorganized.
Liu Yifeng thought he was much more cunning than he was. He hadn't expected that after just a few words, his composure would break.
It was likely that Liu Jizhou would be taken away by the police within a few days.
This was because he had faith in the police's ability to solve cases.
Therefore, he didn't need to trick Liu Jizhou into confessing. Since the police could handle it, he didn't need to waste his breath and energy. After all, his time was precious and shouldn't be wasted on Liu Jizhou.
In the evening, after having dinner, Liu Yifeng visited several villagers' homes and expressed his intention to rent their land for building vegetable greenhouses.
There was no shortage of anything in the village except for land.
In the past, many families didn't have enough land to cultivate.
But now, it was different. No young person was willing to stay and farm.
Even if they didn't pursue higher education, they preferred to go out and work.
The people left at home were basically the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, so many people's fields lay fallow.
Previously, they envied the several families whose land had been rented out, earning an extra income of several thousand yuan a year.
Now that Liu Yifeng had come to them and expressed his desire to rent their land, they agreed without hesitation.
After all, the land was going to waste anyway, so why not rent it out? The annual rent would be several thousand yuan, which was free money.
Liu Yifeng was also worried that if they saw his vegetables selling well, they would increase the rent.
Therefore, he signed a three-year lease that very day and paid one year's rent in advance.
The villagers, upon receiving the money, were beaming with joy.
It felt like they had won the lottery.
After all, there was a lot of land in the village, but Liu Yifeng had specifically chosen to rent their land. Wasn't that like winning the lottery?
Liu Yifeng rented a total of thirty mu of land. Since he intended to do this, he wanted to make it big.
In any case, with Tu Tu's growth agent, no matter how much he planted, he would have a bountiful harvest and wouldn't have to worry about not being able to sell it.
After renting the land, Liu Yifeng informed his father. Liu Chunsheng didn't say much upon hearing this but told him to work hard.
The land had been rented, and the next step was to build the greenhouses, which would allow them to grow off-season vegetables.
So, he thought of Qiangzi. Although Qiangzi worked in renovation, he surely knew people who could build greenhouses.
He wasn't afraid of spending money, but he was afraid of people taking the money and cutting corners, leading to problems here or there, which would waste time and effort.
Therefore, he needed to find trustworthy people. He immediately called Qiangzi and learned that he had already finished work and gone home. Liu Yifeng said he would pay him a visit.
He took some of the vegetables they had grown at home and went to Qiangzi's place.
Qiangzi had also just arrived home, his clothes still dirty.
Seeing the vegetables in Liu Yifeng's hands, he couldn't help but say, "My family has so many vegetables, we can't eat them all. And you specifically brought some over."
He thought Liu Yifeng's offer to visit was just to bring him vegetables.