Chapter 545

Ethan scratched the back of his head as he neatly pulled off that honest farmhand vibe.

“That’s easy. Come, follow me,” he said after a moment’s hesitation.

The team that Carmen brought along stood there, dumbfounded as they watched Bowen and Aubree blend right in without any trouble at all.

They collectively wondered, “Seriously, do they have no shame? Everyone else is being upfront about who they are, being transparent in sharing that they were here to talk to the villagers about the demolition, but these two think they’re so clever to pull off this kind of stunt?”

One of Carmen’s men got anxious and blurted out, “Hey, we’re fruit buyers too! Let us tag along with you, will you?”

Like Ethan would ever let them tag along. Not a chance.

Ethan gave them a critical once-over, sizing them up from head to toe before he spat, “Do you think I’m stupid? You’re dressed like that, you’re obviously here to discuss the demolition, right? I’m not even from Ridgehaven Town—if I take you in, we all get tossed out together, and that’s on me. So, there’s absolutely no way. Move along now, will you? Nobody’s selling their land here.”

Aubree couldn’t hold back a laugh as she thought, “No wonder they said going up against Bowen in business was like bargaining with a tiger. If he wasn’t on my side right now, just Ethan’s act alone would’ve been enough to catch anyone completely off guard.”

Carmen finally understood why Aubree was dressed the way she was.

Her face fell, and she snarked, “So, you’re trying to take shortcuts, huh?”

Whether it was a clever shortcut or not, as long as it got their foot in the door, it was a good move.

The others kept quiet, wishing they could pull off a trick like that themselves.

Some in the Wilson Group were already praying for Bryan to hurry up and wrap things up with Trevor.

At this rate, how were they supposed to compete with Bree Technology and the Turner Group?

“Why don’t we just go straight to the village chief and seal the deal? Isn’t that way better than messing around with all these schemes?” Carmen said impatiently.

Her words instantly got everyone fired up as they collectively thought, “The process did not matter as long as we achieve the result we want!”

The stink of muddy water was all over Carmen, and she couldn’t stand it another second. She proposed, “Why don’t you guys go talk to the village chief? I need to go change out of these filthy clothes.”

The rest of the group agreed. After all, they understood her situation and didn’t blame her for it.

Carmen’s team had also come prepared. At the very least, they’d already dug up everything there was to know about the village chief.

Ethan had been around long enough that he could greet just about everyone he passed by name.

“As soon as there was even a hint of this project, I had Ethan come over and scope things out. He pretty much knows everything about the village now,” Bowen leaned in to explain to Aubree.

Aubree had come into the village posing as a fruit buyer, hoping to lower the locals’ guard and dig up some information. But Bowen had already done all the groundwork. Honestly, it made her feel a bit foolish by comparison.

“If you were my rival, that’d be downright scary,” Aubree thought, half-joking. She was confident she could keep Bowen from getting the better of her.

But she wasn’t completely sure she could walk away unscathed every single time if she had to go up against him.

“Good thing he’s not my competitor,” Aubree told herself.

Bowen shook his head in response, “What I did doesn’t hold a candle to your plan. Just knowing what’s going on and actually getting your foot in the door are two totally different things. All I can do is have Ethan feed me some early info, but sooner or later, everyone else is going to catch on anyway. It’s nothing to brag about.”

Vincent let out a dramatic sigh, “Alright, alright. You two are the real masterminds here, and I’m just the dumb one, okay? But come on, let’s not act all modest when we’ve already got the upper hand. If anyone else heard this, they’d be fuming!”

Chapter 545

The villagers’ homes were nothing like the run-down shacks people might imagine.

Most families lived in stylish two-story houses, and the well-off ones had even built themselves an entire countryside villa.

Their homes had ceramic tiles on the outside, and most had a neat little fenced-in yard right out front.