"Young man, this price is really not low, after all, our products are good, definitely not comparable to others." The boss smiled as he haggled with Chen Yang.

Chen Yang talked to the boss for quite a while before managing to negotiate the price down a bit.

The price negotiated now is 0.5 times more than what was quoted for Liuhe Village.

In other words, if he buys privately, the boss can offer it for two yuan.

But the price quoted for Liuhe Village is more than four yuan.

That's more than double!

Normally, purchasing raw materials for major projects should be cheaper than for individuals, yet this is twice as expensive as for individuals, which is unheard of.

Chen Yang couldn't help but feel a little angry inside, but he didn't show it.

Instead, he nodded and agreed with a smile.

"Haha, okay then, boss, let me order a truckload first, you deliver it to me, and I'll settle the payment all at once." Chen Yang said with a smile.

"Sure, no problem young man, I'll go ahead and write up the order for you." Seeing the deal go through, the boss didn't waste time and hurried to the counter to prepare the paperwork.

While writing on the order form, he asked Chen Yang, "Young man, is your place far from here? If it's more than forty kilometers, there will be an extra fuel charge."

"Not far, not far, just at Liuhe Village, about twenty to thirty miles away." Chen Yang replied with a smile, while sharply observing the boss to see any change in his expression.

And indeed, upon hearing the destination is Liuhe Village, the boss's face changed dramatically.

He seemed to be stunned for a moment, then his hand stopped moving, he looked up at Chen Yang and asked in an annoyed tone, "Are you from Liuhe Village?"

"Yes, boss, I'm from Liuhe Village, planning to build a new house for myself." Chen Yang continued to smile as if he understood nothing.

The boss, realizing he was indeed from Liuhe Village, suddenly had a somewhat awkward look on his face.

After a few seconds of awkwardness, he finally said, "Young man, if you're from Liuhe Village, then I can't sell to you at this price."

"Why?"

Chen Yang was waiting for this question, so he quickly asked in return.

"It's inconvenient to say, but if you're from Liuhe Village, these materials have to be twice as expensive to be sold, otherwise they won't be available." The boss waved his hand directly, saying.

The boss's attitude turned cold all of a sudden, a stark contrast to the enthusiasm earlier.

"Wow, you guys are too shady, how come it becomes twice as expensive as soon as it's for Liuhe Village, that's just too much." Yang Ruoxi, who had been watching from the side, couldn't help but speak up when she saw the boss's attitude change.

The price indeed changed too fast.

The boss now had no trace of awkwardness on his face, replaced instead by a sneer.

"Young lady, don't say I'm shady, the whole street is at this price now, if you don't believe it, go check other places, this is my price, no negotiation." The boss nonchalantly responded to Yang Ruoxi, then tore up the order he was preparing for Chen Yang and threw it away as trash.

Clearly, he did not want to do this business at all.

Chen Yang saw this and knew he couldn't negotiate any better price from this boss.

So he turned and asked the boss the reason.

But the boss refused to explain, repeating that the price would double if they bought, otherwise leave.

With this attitude, Chen Yang couldn't just stay and not leave.

So he left the shop with Yang Ruoxi and Dai Annie.

"This is so infuriating, why should our Liuhe Village be so much more expensive, this boss is too excessive." Outside the shop, Yang Ruoxi was still indignant, feeling the boss was too much.

Chen Yang was also upset, but did not blame the boss like Yang Ruoxi.

"It's not him being excessive, but the hand manipulating behind the scenes is going too far." Chen Yang said calmly.

Hearing this, Yang Ruoxi didn't say much more and, after being angry for a while, asked Chen Yang, "So Chen Yang, what do we do next? They don't seem like they'll tell us the reason directly."

Chen Yang had been silent, thinking about this problem.

Trying to coax the reason out seemed impossible, a different approach was necessary.

But unable to come up with a good idea, they decided to take a walk around.

"Let's check out other stores, play it by ear." Chen Yang suggested.

Unable to think of a better idea, Yang Ruoxi nodded in agreement upon hearing Chen Yang's suggestion.

The three of them then began to walk around the building materials market.

Regardless if it was a raw material supplier that had previously cooperated with Liuhe Village, Chen Yang would take Yang Ruoxi and Dai Annie into the stores for a look and chat.

Over the course of the morning, Chen Yang, along with the two, had visited nearly every storefront in the building materials market.

And almost all the answers were the same.

During price and quantity discussions, every boss was extremely enthusiastic.

But as soon as Chen Yang revealed he was from Liuhe Village, their demeanor changed.

Their attitudes changed drastically and the price, very consistently, would double before they were willing to sell, and nothing they said would change that.

Having gone through all the stores, Chen Yang found out nothing valuable besides the fact that the entire building material market was unified against Liuhe Village.

He found out nothing valuable, nor could he understand who was behind this conspiracy.

Having exhausted all options, Chen Yang had no choice but to temporarily return to the car with Yang Ruoxi and Dai Annie for a break.

"Phew, I'm exhausted and infuriated. How come everyone in the building materials market is putting on the same act, ganging up against our Liuhe Village?" Yang Ruoxi was both tired and full of resentment after walking around all morning.

She felt the bosses' behavior was too over the top.

Dai Annie, having a similar character to Yang Ruoxi, joined in the complaints as they lay down in the car.

Chen Yang, sitting in the car, listened quietly without expressing dissatisfaction.

After all, at this point, complaints wouldn't solve anything; he needed to think of solutions and calmly analyze the situation.

Chen Yang sat in the driver's seat, silent for over ten minutes.

During this time, he kept recalling the situation and the reactions of the shop owners when they learned they were from Liuhe Village.

After thorough contemplation, Chen Yang increasingly felt that the hand manipulating behind the scenes was not simple.

"To make such a large building material market have a unified pricing strategy, that's no small feat, requires either absolute power or grasping these merchants' lifelines."

Chen Yang analyzed, believing that only these two reasons could lead to such unification in the market.

Among the two possibilities, Chen Yang felt the latter was more likely.

Because even with absolute power, it's unlikely to make so many vendors unify like this.

They refused to loosen up, no matter what was said.

"What could it be that's holding their lifelines?"

Chen Yang continued to think along this line, pondering for several minutes, yet he couldn't fathom or understand it.

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