America: The neighbor's wife is so incredibly hospitable!

He has to use scarcity marketing.

Although there were still quite a few left around the devil's throat, he couldn't let Katie think that this stuff was just cabbage.

"But I can guarantee that in this town, and even in the entire state, you'll find it only here."

Chen An held up one finger, "200 US dollars a pound."

"If you want exclusive supply, I'll also need you to prepay a water fee every month, since transporting water from deep in the mountains is physically demanding."

"200?!"

The sous chef next to him gasped. "This one costs over a hundred dollars? Ten times more expensive than beef?"

"Shut up, what do you know!" Katie glared at her deputy. "This is real, fresh wasabi!"

"At the Samsung store in San Francisco, they charge customers $30 just for a small dish of freshly ground coffee!"

She turned to look at Chen An, gritted her teeth, as if making a difficult decision.

"Okay! 200 it is! But you have to promise that these can only appear on my table."

As a restaurant known for its pursuit of the ultimate flavor, having top-quality ingredients that its competitors lack is its biggest competitive advantage.

"Also..." Katie awkwardly pulled a business card out of her pocket.

"This is our restaurant owner, Mr. Robert."

"He's very interested in this particular ingredient, and he's also... well, a rich weirdo."

"If you want to expand, perhaps you could talk to him."

Chen An accepted the business card.

Robert White, Aurora Investment Group.

This surname carries significant weight in the local area; it is said that the town of Whitefish is named after this family.

Thanks. I'll consider it.

Ten minutes later.

Chen An walked out of the restaurant's back door.

He had an extra $1200 in cash in his pocket, plus $500 prepaid by Katie for a week's water delivery.

In less than half a day, $1700 was earned.

This is a considerable sum of money for ordinary working people.

But for the two hundred thousand dollars in debt weighing on Sarah's head, it was just a drop in the bucket.

"We still need to find a way to increase the volume."

Chen An sat in the car, looking thoughtfully at the business card in his hand.

The resource utilization rate of that underground lake is too low.

If we can get in touch with Mr. Robert through Katie, we might be able to pull off something really big.

For example, establish a constant-temperature ecological aquaculture base to specialize in planting wasabi and raising cold-water fish.

But this requires upfront investment.

Money, still short of money.

………………

It was already four o'clock in the afternoon when we got back to the farm.

The sky was overcast, with dark clouds pressing down overhead, threatening rain again.

Before Chen An had even parked the car properly, he saw someone sitting on the porch of Miller's house next door.

It's Sarah.

She was still wearing the same clothes she had worn that morning, but now she was holding a white envelope in her hand.

He stared blankly at the grass in front of him, as if his soul had been ripped away.

The two children were playing on the swings nearby, but their mother's low mood clearly affected them, and they played very cautiously.

Chen An's heart skipped a beat.

He turned off the engine, got out of the car, and walked quickly over.

"Sarah?"

Upon hearing the sound, Sarah trembled and slowly raised her head.

Those eyes had lost their morning sparkle, leaving only an empty void of despair.

"An...it's over."

She held up the envelope, her voice so soft it was almost a whisper, "A letter from the bank. An ultimatum."

Chen An took the envelope and pulled out the documents inside.

Wells Fargo Payment Reminder

[To Tom Miller and Sarah Miller: Due to your mortgage being three months overdue and your failure to make repayments, you are hereby notified that if you do not settle the overdue amount of $8,500 within 30 days, the bank will initiate foreclosure proceedings to repossess the house and land.]

The overdue amount is $8500.

This is not the total debt of two hundred thousand, but the hole that must be plugged immediately to stop the auction process.

"Only eight thousand five?" Chen An breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you had to pay back two hundred thousand tomorrow."

"if only?!"

Sarah's voice suddenly turned shrill, a hysterical outburst on the verge of collapse, "Ann, that's eight thousand five hundred dollars!"

"I don't even have eighty-five in my pocket right now! Tom emptied his account!"

"Those damn dairy cows haven't started producing milk yet because we just changed their feed. Even if we get paid for the milk this month, we still have to pay for utilities and workers' wages..."

She covered her face, tears streaming through her fingers.

"They're taking my house away... My children and I are going to have to sleep on the streets..."

Seeing this woman completely broken down, Chen An didn't offer any empty words of comfort.

He folded the payment reminder and stuffed it into his pocket.

Then, he pulled out the wad of cash he had just received from Katie, which he hadn't even had a chance to warm up yet.

$1700.

He slapped the money on the wooden table in front of Sarah.

"This is the deposit."

Sarah stopped crying, her eyes blurry with tears as she looked at the green bills on the table, then at Chen An:

"A deposit... deposit? What do you want to buy?... Me?"

If she could keep her house, she would even be willing to kneel down right now.

"Don't think of yourself as so cheap." Chen An frowned and reached out to wipe away the tears on her face.

"I'm going to hire you. Starting tomorrow, I want you to work for me."

"Work?" Sarah was stunned.

"Yes. I've found a way. A kind of...green gold that's more profitable than raising cattle."

Chen An pointed in the direction of the back mountain.

"I found a valuable plant on the mountain. I can't manage it all by myself, I need a helper."

"A person who keeps their mouth shut, is meticulous in their work, and absolutely trusts me."

He looked into Sarah's eyes.

"You get up at four o'clock every morning to help me with the work and then take care of the cattle."

"As payment, I'll help you get that $8,500."

"Eight thousand five...you really have that much money?" Sarah couldn't believe it.

"Not now. But I can raise the money within a month."

Chen An's tone was firm and confident, "As long as you listen to me."

Wasabi is extremely profitable.

His current bottleneck is in the collection and transplantation process.

With Sarah as a helper, he could gather and manage all the scattered wasabi around the cave.

They even tried to cultivate a secret farmland in a suitable location downstream.

If I can sell 50 pounds of wasabi within a month, I'll have that money.

Sarah looked at Chen An.

At this moment, this man, younger than her, was like a towering mountain, standing between her and that cruel fate.

"I'll listen to you." Sarah nodded vigorously, her eyes regaining their light.

"Even if you ask me to run a gambling den, or... rob a bank, I'll do whatever you say."

"We are legitimate business people."