I looked at the piles of mango boxes in the warehouse and felt a warm sense of satisfaction. Being able to help the villagers sell their mangoes was worth it even if I earned a little less.
The warehouse door creaked open. The village chief walked in with a dozen villagers, all smiling.
He pulled out his phone and showed me the payment QR code. “Lora, you’ve been eating a lot of mangoes these past two weeks, haven’t you?”
He rubbed his hands nervously. “We won’t charge too much. Let’s just say 1 dollar per pound.”
My uncle, Jackson Lufren, chimed in from behind. “You must have eaten at least 2,000 pounds. That’s got to be at least 2,000 dollars!”
I froze, unable to react for a moment.
Yovie suddenly stood up. “Tasting the mangoes is just to show the quality! Every streamer does this! Otherwise, who would buy them?”
She pointed at the warehouse full of mango boxes. “Lora helped you sell every single mango in the village. At market price, you’ve made over 80,000 dollars. And she didn’t take a single cent, yet you’re asking for thousands dollars for tasting? We spent our own money to rent equipment and pay for logistics, over 10,000 dollars and we didn’t even charge you!”
The villagers looked at each other, some lowering their heads. But my uncle Jackson still stuck out his neck. “Everything has to be accounted for properly, even between close relatives. The tasting money has to be paid!”
Yovie’s eyes turned red with anger. “Do you even know how many business deals Lora turned down during Double Eleven? Just one missed deal alone could have bought all the mangoes in this village!”
The girl was both angry and anxious and for a moment, no one dared to speak.
Seeing this, the village chief’s eyes darted around shrewdly. He cleared his throat and said,“Lora, we know how hard you’ve worked and everyone in the village remembers your kindness. But these mangoes were grown by all of us, working from dawn to dusk. All year round, we count on this harvest.”
He pointed to the villagers behind him. “Look at your uncle. His son is in college, waiting for tuition. Denna’s husband is still sick. We’re not like you. You can just start a live stream and make big money easily.”
Uncle Jackson chimed in from the side, “For you, 2,000 dollars is like a meal. For us, it’s half a year’s living expenses.”