Part 2Harvest of Betrayal

I treated my team to dinner.

When they heard the dividend was only $1.50, they all felt it was unfair for me.

"Boss, let's go back. It's better than being humiliated here."

"We've seen how much you've given this year. Since they don't know what's good for them, we don't need to help."

I took a sip of wine and slowly shook my head.

"My original intention was to help the farmers. I can't change that just because of these people's faces."

"Since Greenridge Village doesn't need me, we can go elsewhere."

Everyone nodded.

"Boss, we're with you."

Looking at these passionate young people, hope reignited in me.

When I got home, my parents were already back.

My father's face was iron-blue as he slammed the table.

"You still have the face to come back! The whole village was watching! You've lost all my face!"

My mother also cried aggrievedly.

"Told you to find a proper job, but you insisted on this media stuff... Now look, you're a joke!"

I was unconvinced and couldn't help but retort.

"Where did I go wrong?"

"You dare talk back?"

My father stood up.

"Why did they only give you $1.50? Don't you know in your heart? Holding a phone all day, filming here and there, do you call that work?"

My mother nodded while sobbing.

"Look at Mason. He came back from working in the city last year and took the folks to the fields. That's a real man..."

I listened quietly, waiting until they were tired before speaking.

"Those channels, I negotiated them one by one. You really think good wine needs no bush?"

"Without me, the fruit would still be rotting in the fields."

My father sneered.

"Come on! The harvest was good this year. Even without you, we could have sold it!"

My mother echoed.

"That's right. Without good fruit, the best channels are useless."

My heart truly went cold.

It's one thing for others to misunderstand me.

But even my own parents thought of me this way.

I gave a bitter smile.

"Fine, I quit. You guys do it yourselves from now on."

I turned and went upstairs.

Behind me came the sound of my father smashing a teacup.

"Ungrateful son! Can't even say a word to him? Holding phones all day has rotted his brain. One day I'll smash them all!"

My mother comforted him.

"Forget it, forget it. When he comes around, let Mason arrange a job for him. A proper job is the way out."

Anger surged in me, but I forcibly suppressed it.

For the first time, I questioned whether I should have come back.

I can calculate the market, but I can't calculate the human heart.