Chapter 13

Marcus' smug smile vanished instantly. "Watch your mouth, you little punk! Did you think waving a knife around could scare me? I'm here doing your family a favor, so show some respect!" "Drop the act. You know exactly what garbage you are. You're just buying our wheat at three cents, then selling it to the grain supply department at thirteen cents. Only you would stoop that low." Josh cut straight to the point. "We're not selling you a single grain. Now get lost!" "Josh Tate, don't think you're somebody now! Without me, nobody would take your wheat even if you paid them! Let's see how you'll survive without money!" Marcus threatened. Josh let out a mocking laugh. "They say the older you get, the wiser you become. But look at you—you're balding and still as stupid as ever. Don't worry. This wheat won't last long. I'll sell every bit of it at several times the grain supply's price! Now get out of my sight. You make me sick!" After Josh shoved him out and slammed the gate, Marcus stood there fuming. His plan had been perfect. He wanted to make Oliver suffer a huge loss, then have him thanking in gratitude and never daring to cross him again. Instead, Josh had torn into him like a madman. Marcus shouted outside in fury, "Josh, don't think a few years of school makes you hot shit! Let's see where you'll sell this wheat! You're even selling them higher than grain supply department prices. Keep dreaming! We'll see how much you run your mouth when your family's starving!" His shouting drew attention from around the village. Watching from his doorway, Rowan turned to Janice, who sat eating at the table, and said, "See? I told you the Tates were hopeless. Everyone knows Marcus has connections at the grain supply department, but they still offend him. They're just stupid. "The Kains are so much better. We didn't even have to harvest our wheat; Caesar brought people to do it all." Janice stayed silent. Facing away from the door, her face was dark. She had decided to cut ties with Josh completely, but hearing about his family's troubles still made her heart ache. "Dad." "What is it?" Rowan walked over and asked. Janice lowered her head and said, "Maybe you could talk to them and ask them to leave Mr. Tate alone. They've got it hard enough." "They brought this on themselves, so they deserve what they get. If it were me, I'd—" Rowan caught himself mid-sentence. Seeing his daughter hang her head even lower, he hesitated. He then sighed and said, "Fine. I'll talk to Marcus later. We're about to be in-laws with the Kains, so they would probably show me some respect. But honestly, with Josh's big mouth, the Tates are going to have a rough time in this village." Janice fell silent. The Kains had already consulted a fortune teller for the date of their marriage. It would be held three days from now. These past days, she had lost all hope for her future. Now, she just wanted to prevent Josh from suffering too terribly. As for herself, if Caesar discovered she wasn't a virgin, she would end things herself before the Kains could fly into a rage. Rowan had no idea what Janice was thinking. He was too caught up in the joy of becoming the Kains' in-law. He forced himself to ignore his nagging doubts. Maybe Caesar wouldn't know any better and wouldn't notice. Back in the Tate's home, Ava looked at her son. Her words were caught in her throat. Though she hated the idea of selling their wheat for pennies, what choice did they have? Small farmers like them had no connections. Their wheat would just rot if the grain supply department wouldn't buy from them. So, even though she didn't want to sell them to Marcus, Ava wanted to keep their options open. When worse came to worst, they might have to just take the deal. But Josh had burned that bridge. Now, even if they begged Marcus, he probably wouldn't listen. Josh saw the look on her face and said calmly, "Mom, don't worry. I mean it when I say I can sell it." "But how? The grain supply department won't take it, and traders won't bother coming all this way for our tiny amount," Ava said. "Who says we have to sell to traders? If we can't sell wheat, we'll sell it another way." Josh smiled and said, "We can make things like bread and cookies. Nobody's selling those in town yet, so it should be good business." "Bread? I've heard of it. Do you know how to make that stuff?" Oliver asked skeptically. Josh laughed. He knew how to make plenty of things. During his days doing business, he had even hired famous chefs to teach him how to cook. While he might not be a master of all kinds of cuisine, he knew more than enough to run a food business in this era. To Josh, selling the wheat wasn't a problem at all. If only he could get certain ingredients in town, he would have had a hundred ways to turn wheat into better food. Oliver and Ava exchanged a look. Since things had come to this, they had no choice but to trust their son. One big reason was that Josh's sandwiches were really delicious, and they had seen how popular they were at the factory. While Josh went to his stand the next day, Oliver and Ava hauled a cart full of wheat to the village entrance to mill the wheat. They ran into Marcus returning from the market. He looked at their loaded cart and said with a sneer, "Where are you headed, Oliver? Feeding pigs? The grain supply department says they'll only give two cents per pound today." Oliver kept a straight face and said, "We'd rather throw this wheat away than sell it to you!" "Well, don't blame me then. I'm just trying to help you guys out.'" Marcus laughed heartily. He felt thoroughly pleased with himself. He thought, "That's what you get for causing trouble at my house. Unless you kneel and apologize to me, forget about selling wheat; you won't even get to sell your corn or soybeans. Everything's blocked! Watch your family lose everything!" Oliver ignored him and kept walking with the cart. By the time Rowan found Marcus to plead their case, Oliver had already ground all the wheat into flour. Seeing this, Rowan knew there was nothing left to say. Once it was flour, the grain supply department wouldn't take it, even if Marcus backed off.