William Bolton pushed his motorcycle to the only repair shop in town. After cleaning and repairs, it cost him over a hundred yuan—not because the repairs were cheap, but because the shop didn’t offer painting services and only helped patch two tires.

The town’s broadcasting station was no longer an option for accommodation, so he had to find a hotel temporarily. But after asking around, he discovered that all the hotels in town were fully booked. Logically, such a remote place shouldn’t be so crowded. William Bolton thought about it for a moment and understood: someone must have tipped them off and put him on the hotels’ blacklist. None of the local hotels wanted trouble, and no one dared to take him in.

The motorcycle was barely fixed. If he really couldn’t find a hotel, he’d have to return to the county seat. Thirty-seven kilometers wasn’t exactly far, but not that close either. As William Bolton returned to the broadcasting station to pack up and leave, Grace Cooper knocked and came in. She had also heard about the station’s decision and felt a bit embarrassed, since he’d gotten into this trouble for standing up for her niece.

“What’s going on with you…”

William Bolton smiled and said, “Heading back to the county to stay. All the hotels here are full.”

Grace Cooper sighed, “Xiao Zhang, it’s all my fault. If you hadn’t helped Meimei, you wouldn’t have gotten mixed up with those people.”

“Ms. Cooper, you’re being too polite.”

Grace Cooper said, “But it’s over seventy li to the county, and going back and forth every day would waste too much time. How about this: I have an empty house on the west side of town. Why don’t you stay there?” She really felt bad and wanted to make it up to William Bolton in some way.

“Forget it, I’d rather not trouble you.”

William Bolton was born with an arrogant and domineering nature—he’d always been the one bullying others, never the one being bullied. He’d looked all over Limiao Town but hadn’t found any trace of George Parker and his gang. But you can run, but you can’t hide forever.

The The Parker Family family ran the largest agricultural supply company in Limiao Town, called Great Harvest. William Bolton went to the Great Harvest storefront with a purchase list he’d prepared in advance, specifying that he wanted to buy Spring Light brand pig feed—the same kind he’d seen at the Fugui Pig Farm. William Bolton didn’t actually raise pigs and had no need for pig feed; he just wanted to prove that this place sold it.

Usually, news traveled slowly in rural towns, and it would take a few days for big events from outside to reach here. In fact, the The Parker Family had already heard about the national ban on the sale of ractopamine, but they hadn’t realized the seriousness of the matter. Not only did they fail to immediately pull all the ractopamine-laced feed from the shelves, they even ramped up promotions, hoping to clear out their inventory as quickly as possible to minimize losses.

William Bolton used the five thousand yuan his father had transferred to him to buy all Spring Light brand pig feed as a deposit. The total order was fifty thousand yuan, with delivery scheduled for tomorrow. They signed an agreement: if Party A breached the contract, they’d have to return the deposit and pay an additional ten thousand yuan in penalty; if Party B—that is, William Bolton—breached, his deposit would be forfeited and he’d have to pay an extra five thousand yuan in compensation.

Both parties signed and stamped the agreement, and William Bolton pressed his fingerprint and requested the company’s official seal.

At this point, William Bolton wasn’t that well-known in Limiao Town, so the agreement didn’t raise any alarms. They just thought he was a sucker, and it was a good chance to offload their inventory. Because the order was sizable, the store manager, Steven Thompson, personally signed the agreement. Steven Thompson also happened to be George Parker’s brother-in-law.

After signing, William Bolton asked to see the inventory. Steven Thompson personally accompanied him to the company warehouse, where there was plenty of Spring Light pig feed—more than enough to meet his needs.

When William Bolton took out a camera from his backpack and started taking pictures of the pig feed, Steven Thompson sensed something was off and immediately intervened.

“What are you taking pictures for? You think the pig feed’s going to grow legs and run out of the warehouse? Wait until you pay and take it away tomorrow, then you can take all the pictures you want!”

“There’s quite a lot of stock here. Don’t you know our country has already issued a ban on the production and sale of ractopamine?”

“You…”

William Bolton pulled out a photocopied document and handed it to Steven Thompson. It was a joint announcement from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Health, State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, stating that the production and sale of ractopamine was banned nationwide effective immediately.

Steven Thompson turned pale when he saw the document, finally realizing this was serious. He said angrily, “Who the hell are you?”

“Don’t worry about who I am. Your company is openly violating national policy by selling illegal feed. I’m calling the Agricultural Law Enforcement Bureau right now.”

Steven Thompson exploded, pointing at William Bolton’s nose and cursing: “Who the hell do you think you are? Do you even know where you are? I haven’t even sold it to you yet—what right do you have to report me? Trying to blackmail me, huh?” Since the goods hadn’t been delivered, he decided to deny everything.

William Bolton waved the freshly signed agreement in front of him. Steven Thompson tried to snatch it, but William Bolton easily dodged.

Remembering the penalty clause in the contract, Steven Thompson instantly realized this kid had bad intentions from the start. There weren’t many people in Limiao Town who dared to play tricks on the The Parker Family. Steven Thompson threatened, “Kid, give me back the agreement and I’ll let this go today. Otherwise, don’t even think about walking out of our warehouse.”