Pastoral Daily Life
chapter-26

Yan Yue meant that he wanted to pay all the money and Lu Lingxi didn’t have to pay a single penny. He was supposed to invest purely his skills. Of course, Yan Yue would not accept the 300,000 in the bank card, except for as his early investment. But Lu Lingxi couldn’t agree with this proposal, insisting that the two of them each pay half of the money, and that Yan Yue take the majority of the shares of Tiny Garden. Lu Lingxi felt that he had already taken advantage of Yan Yue. To put it bluntly, the money in his hand was actually Yan Yue’s.

When others cooperated, they feared that they would suffer losses; but when these two people cooperated, they only feared that the other party would suffer losses. After some pushing, Lu Lingxi couldn’t say no to Yan Yue, so he had to take a step back and agreed that they would each take half. After agreeing to cooperate, Lu Lingxi found a piece of white paper and carefully wrote an agreement, signed it and handed it to Yan Yue. Yan Yue had already figured out the rules of getting along with the young man and simply put away the agreement. Sure enough, he saw the boy curve his eyes in a smile at him, revealing a small dimple that appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Yan Yue’s heart stirred; he wished he could immediately lean over to kiss the young man, but when he met Lu Lingxi’s clear eyes, he suppressed the impulse in his heart.

Lu Lingxi didn’t delay and immediately called Du Lin. Du Lin had been waiting to hear from him and was very happy to hear that Lu Lingxi was taking over the shop and immediately came over to complete some formalities.

Lu Lingxi held the phone and asked Yan Yue in a low voice, “Big Brother Yan, do you have time later? Sister Du is coming over.” Since they were cooperating, Lu Lingxi felt that it was best for the two of them to do these things together, in case there were any conflicts and contradictions in the future.

Yan Yue was eager to spend more time with Lu Lingxi and nodded seriously.

Du Lin came quickly, and Zhang Hua also came with her. The two were rushing back to their hometown, so they thought they’d get everything they could do today. Apart from the handover of Tiny Garden side, there was also a small plant nursery in the suburbs that Lu Lingxi needed to take a look at. When they first saw Yan Yue, they both froze for a moment. Hearing Lu Lingxi call him “Big Brother Yan”, Du Lin was a little confused about Yan Yue’s identity. She had heard Lu Lingxi say on the phone that he was cooperating with someone else and was actually a little worried that Lu Lingxi would be deceived, but after taking a look at Yan Yue’s car parked at the entrance, Du Lin relaxed. The entire Tiny Garden business didn’t cost a tenth of the cost of the car at the entrance.

There was no objection to the handover between the two sides, and the agreement was quickly signed. Yan Yue left the whole process to Lu Lingxi and just nodded. Zhang Hua was happy to get the money and smiled at them, “Come on, it’s still early, let’s go see the plant nursery.” He drove a little Jinbei minivan, so it was no problem at all to take a few people.

While Lu Lingxi locked the door, Yan Yue politely said to Zhang Hua, “Xiao Xi will take my car, please lead the way.”

Zhang Hua could see that Yan Yue was quite a big shot, so it was not suitable for him to go in his cheap car, and since Xiao Xi was Yan Yue’s younger brother, there was nothing wrong with it. He smiled and nodded, took Du Lin and drove first.

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“Huh, Sister Du and her husband have already left?” Lu Lingxi came over with Dahei and saw Yan Yue leaning against the car door waiting for him while Zhang Hua and Du Lin were no longer there.

Yan Yue’s expression remained unchanged, “They’re going to lead the way, we’ll just follow behind.”

He opened the car door and gestured for Lu Lingxi to get in. Lu Lingxi didn’t think much about it and got into the passenger seat, while Dahei was herded by Yan Yue to the back seat.

Du Lin’s plant nursery was a little far from the city, located in a small village on the outskirts of Fengcheng. Most of the young people in that village had left to work in the city, and the ones that remained in the village were old people and children. The old people were too old to farm, so they either left their farmland abandoned or to supplement their income, rented it out to outsiders like Du Lin to grow something.

Yan Yue followed the little Jinbei in front of him all the way. When he passed a drive-in restaurant, he stopped deliberately and looked at Lu Lingxi, “What do you want to eat?”

“Huh?”

Yan Yue said seemingly casually, “You didn’t eat at lunchtime, did you?”

He had rushed over at mealtime just to find an excuse to have a meal with the young man, but he hadn’t expected to accidentally become the young man’s partner. By the time Du Lin came and the formalities were completed, the two of them already had no time to eat. He saw Lu Lingxi secretly rubbing his stomach before, but Du Lin was in a hurry, so the boy didn’t say anything and cooperated with Du Lin all the way.

Yan Yue was a little distressed, but there was nothing in his car except for two bags of dog food. Fortunately, there was a drive-in restaurant on the side of the road, and thinking that generally teenagers at this age liked to eat fast food, Yan Yue deliberately turned in.

Hearing Yan Yue’s words, Lu Lingxi blinked and smiled happily. “What do you want to eat, Big Brother Yan?” he asked, looking at the menu seriously.

Yan Yue paused and said that he had already eaten as an excuse to not ask for anything. He originally wanted to pay attention to his image in front of the boy, but soon he regretted it. For he saw that Lu Lingxi bought a box of chicken legs for Dahei after buying a set meal for himself. The rest of the way, Yan Yue watched Lu Lingxi finish eating, turn around and feed Dahei chicken legs. In the rear-view mirror, Dahei squinted happily as he gnawed on the chicken leg in the boy’s hand. Yan Yue was looking at him with regret. If he had also bought a portion, he would have an excuse to have the boy feed him instead of the stupid dog on the pretext that it was inconvenient to drive and eat.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yan Yue noticed that Dahei stuck out his tongue to lick the boy’s fingers after he had finished chewing the chicken leg, and his face slightly twisted. Really, such a stupid dog!

The good thing was that there were not many chicken legs in the box, so Dahei had gobbled them up in no time. Lu Lingxi carefully put away the garbage and turned his head to look ahead again. Yan Yue slowly let out the breath he had been holding and his attention refocused on the road.

When they arrived at the plant nursery, it was three o’clock, the hottest part of the afternoon. Du Lin under an umbrella led them into a small farmhouse by the road. This was the place Du Lin rented, and the plant nursery was at the back of the courtyard, separately partitioned off.

“It’s convenient this way,” Du Lin explained as she walked.

It was August, and the flowers inside the plant nursery were in full bloom. Although the plant nursery was small in size, Du Lin had carefully outlined different areas and planted different flowers that were basically common in Tiny Garden. In the back corner of the courtyard, various flower pots were piled up together, next to a large bag of unopened nutrient fertiliser.

“In total, these are the ones.” Du Lin pointed it out to Lu Lingxi.

Du Lin usually was dealing with Tiny Garden; Zhang Hua had his own job and also worked as a part-time Tiny Garden delivery. Du Lin came to the plant nursery twice a week and she hired an old neighbour called Li to take care of it every day.

“We’ll see Uncle Li later too. The old man is in very good health, he is conscientious and responsible, and he is very dedicated to the plant nursery. Xiao Xi, you definitely won’t be able to look after the plant nursery alone in the future, so it’s better to let Uncle Li keep an eye on it here and you keep an eye on Tiny Garden.”

Lu Lingxi had thought about the lack of manpower before, and nodded when he heard her words.

“It’s just the delivery…” Du Lin was a bit embarrassed. She was in a hurry to sell the shop and didn’t explain the back issues to Lu Lingxi clearly. She was a little worried about taking advantage of the child.

Lu Lingxi was not worried about delivery; there was Yi Hang, after all. Du Lin immediately smiled when she heard about Yi Hang, “Yes, you should take Xiao Hang with you too, to save him from being idle the whole day.”

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The unfamiliar name “Yi Hang” made Yan Yue frown slightly. He actually wanted to say that he could deliver the goods, but after looking at Du Lin, he held back from speaking. Lu Lingxi was not experienced enough in society, so it was easy to fool him with whatever Yan Yue said. But Du Lin looked shrewd and took great care of Lu Lingxi, so he didn’t want Du Lin to notice anything suspicious. Anyway, Du Lin would be gone in a few days, so they could talk about it then.

In a short while, they had finished looking at the plant nursery, and Du Lin took Lu Lingxi to meet Uncle Li. Uncle Li’s name was Li Yuanchao, he was just about 60 this year and was in very good health. The children of Uncle Li were all living in the city and were usually filial to Uncle Li. It was just that the old man had too much free time and there were no other activities in the countryside, so when Du Lin had started a plant nursery and the work in the plant nursery was light and could help pass the time, Uncle Li took it over happily.

Uncle Li has done a good job this year and he was really interested in the plant nursery. When he heard Du Lin say before that the plant nursery would be sold, the old man felt it was a pity, but when he met Lu Lingxi, he didn’t think it was a pity anymore. In his words, the child had a feeling about him. The city people might not feel it but he spent all year round in the countryside. Wherever he went, there were trees, crops, wild flowers and grass. The city people were not usually close to nature, but this child had such an aura about him.

With Uncle Li’s age, Lu Lingxi didn’t mind at all when being called a child. The only thing that startled him a little was Uncle Li’s comment on the feeling coming from him and he wondered if Uncle Li could sense something. On the contrary, Du Lin smiled and said, “Yes, yes, I just feel comfortable staying with Xiao Xi. That’s what emotions are all about.”

Lu Lingxi felt so guilty because of their words that he unintentionally turned his head and bumped into Yan Yue’s gaze. The other party was looking at him solemnly, with emotions that Lu Lingxi didn’t understand welling up in his eyes.

“Big Brother Yan?” Lu Lingxi called out in a small voice.

Yan Yue nodded at Lu Lingxi as if nothing had happened, his eyes slightly lowered as he hid the emotions in them. When Du Lin talked about feeling comfortable staying with the boy, he could not wait to immediately kidnap Lu Lingxi and lock him up in his home from now on, to be the only one to see him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t. Resisting the clamouring desire in his heart, Yan Yue forced himself to look normal, as if nothing had happened.

They didn’t stay here much longer. It was Friday and Du Lin was worried that they would be in trouble if they went back late and got caught in the traffic jams in Fengcheng. Uncle Li had a really good impression of Lu Lingxi. He sent them all the way to the road and told Lu Lingxi to come often when he had time. He also assured them that he would take good care of the plant nursery and that the child didn’t need to worry.

Lu Lingxi smiled and nodded.

On the way back, Lu Lingxi was in a good mood. A large area of abandoned farmland outside the window spread in front of him, and he thought of the small plant nursery of Tiny Garden. It would be nice if one day there would be Tiny Garden’s plant nursery all around.

Lu Lingxi was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t realise that half of Yan Yue’s attention was on him. As he gazed at the young man’s slightly smiling face, Yan Yue’s irritable mood slowly calmed down. The young man in front of him was like a pearl in a clam shell. Removed from its heavy shell and with the sludge washed off, it was gradually showing its warm and delicate beauty to outsiders. He believed that he was not the only one who had discovered Lu Lingxi’s goodness. From Dong Zhi to Du Lin, there would be others in the future. These people would find out how good the young man was, would want to stay by his side, and one of them would even have the same thoughts about the young man as he had.

Since there was no way he could keep the young man locked up, the only thing he could do was to find a way to become the unique one in the young man’s heart.