Grace sat in the car and carefully cleaned the wound on her knee with a portable disinfectant spray. It would take two hours to get to Northcock. She didn’t have time to wait for it to heal. Mandy handed her a bottle of mineral water, her voice filled with grievance. “Grace, don’t be sad. I hear anyone talking badly about you. I’ll set the record straight when I get back to the office.”

Grace gave the wound another spritz and chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. People have mouths, and they’ll say whatever they want. Let them.”

Mandy hesitated, then finally spoke. “Actually, I have a friend in your department. No one there really likes you. But back then, you and Yancey got along pretty well. That was a few years ago, though. After that, for some reason, he fell for Alice.”

A few years ago? That must have been before Alice returned to the Lambert family. From the moment she came back, everything changed.

“Grace, you and Yancey are engaged. It’s not like he didn’t like you before. How did things get to this point? Are you really never going back? People in your department told me that you’re willing to endure anything just to win him back.”

Grace rubbed her temples. Was there ever a time when she and Yancey were close? She didn’t remember anything from before her memory loss, but the bitterness that surfaced whenever she saw Yancey on the Lambert family property couldn’t be fake. Maybe she really had cared once. But now, none of them could hurt her more. Seeing her dismay, Mandy quickly shut up as well.

Two hours later, the car pulled up at the entrance to Northbrook. Even though it was late, the local farmers were still busy tending to their apple orchards. A few high school students who were home for the holidays were helping out by livestreaming. Most of the farmers were over 30 and had no clue about the livestreaming industry; only a handful of young people were trying to figure it out. But the young ones didn’t understand the platform’s after-sales policies either. It was easy for them to get scammed and end up losing everything.

Grace glanced at the makeshift tents around her and immediately knew they’d been streaming for a long time. But their live broadcast room was completely empty. She walked over, but the students streaming caught sight of her and instantly became wary.

Lately, Grace’s live stream had been featured on the platform’s homepage. Anyone using this app for streaming had heard of her. Besides, Northbrook and Southbrook were just two ends of the same county, though the farmers from each side didn’t get along. Seeing an apple seller from Southbrook show up here, the students instinctively assumed she was here to mock them. They were still young, so they didn’t immediately chase her off with brooms, but their tone was far from friendly. “What are you doing here? Get lost!”

It was already late. Grace could see apples hanging from the trees under the glow of the orchard lights scattered across the field. Last night’s heavy rain had affected many areas. These apples would start falling to the ground in just a few days, and once that happened, they wouldn’t be fresh anymore. Southbrook had project leaders overseeing agricultural aid initiatives. But as always, Northbrook had nothing.

Grace turned to the student. “How many apples are piled up here?”

The student’s face flushed red angrily, and he shot up from his chair. “What do you mean by that? Did you seriously drive two hours just to humiliate us? You Southbrook people have no… even smeared…”

“Back then, we all agreed that Southbrook apples would be promoted first, then we’d sell them together. But the moment Southbrook apples got famous, you neglected us! You…”

Grace had known that the relationship between the two regions’ farmers was strained, but she hadn’t realized just how bad it had gotten. Before she could say anything, the nearby farmers, who had been busy with their work, heard that someone from Southbrook had come. Without hesitation, they grabbed their tools and…

Grace only had two people with her: Mandy and the driver, both terrified, instinctively moved to shield her. But when Grace saw a rake swinging toward Mandy, she instinctively pulled her behind her. The rake struck her back with a dull thud. Pain shot through her, and she let out a muffled groan. More and more people gathered, their anger palpable.

“Get out of our orchard, Southbrook scum! We’d rather let our apples rot on the ground than accept your fake kindness!”

The person who shouted this had a tremor in his voice. The resentment between Northbrook and Southbrook had been brewing for decades. Ever since Southbrook apples became famous, Southbrook had prospered, while Northbrook had been deliberately pushed aside. The authorities turned a blind eye to this; after all, whoever brought in the profits mattered most. Northbrook was in an awkward, marginalized position. They were even mocked on the internet for trying to “broach” Southbrook’s reputation.

Grace’s face had gone pale from the pain, and another middle-aged man was about to swing his rake again when a young man hurtled to stop him. “Uncle, stop! You’ll kill someone!”

Grace, striking out of place in the crowd with her delicate features and pale face, remained composed, her posture unwavering.

“I’m here to help you sell your apples. I’ve heard about the history between Southbrook and Northbrook, and I understand your anger. Just give me three days. If I can’t sell 400 thousand pounds of apples in that time, I’ll leave.”

Over the years, many companies… But because Southbrook’s brand wanted to use public sympathy to boost sales, these companies had only wanted to rebrand Northbrook apples as Southbrook’s, forcing the farmers to play the victims and exploit…