Pastoral Daily Life
chapter-47

Willows are mostly propagated from cuttings and, to a lesser extent, from sown seedlings.

The cuttings are usually taken in the early spring of each year, when a good healthy plant with fast growth rate and few diseases and insects is selected as the mother tree, and the selected branches of suitable length are cut for propagation by cuttings.

This info that Lu Lingxi had read in a book before appeared in his mind. He didn’t expect such a coincidence: these willow seedlings came from the same mother tree.

Lu Lingxi stole a glance at Yan Yue beside him and hurriedly chose yes when Yan Yue was not paying attention. The willow saplings that were just planted were about to die, so after sharing vitality they should be able to be saved. As the thought flashed through his mind, the status of these willow seedlings on the white panel had changed. He unconsciously curved his eyes as another prompt floated out.

Sharing vitality is completed, rewarding the power of nature +1

Lu Lingxi’s eyes suddenly lit up. The power of nature was too rare. Since he had shared the vitality, he hadn’t expected to be rewarded with the power of nature. Yesterday, he had thought that it would be good if he could have the power of nature to purify the plant nursery, and today he was rewarded with it. However, the purification range of the power of nature was limited, and the standard unit was 100 square metres, which was not even enough to purify a quarter of an acre. He thought about the size of the plant nursery and resisted the idea of using up the power of nature now, intending to save up for a while.

“Alright.” Yan Yue watered all these willow saplings, put away the tools and looked at Lu Lingxi.

Lu Lingxi curved his eyes and was not stingy with his praise, “Big Brother Yan, you are getting better and better at your work now.”

Yan Yue chuckled and joked, “Then when I go bankrupt, Xiao Xi, remember to take me in.”

Lu Lingxi was a little puzzled, “Aren’t we together right now?”

The young man spoke seriously, and Yan Yue was stunned for a moment before suddenly smiling. Although what the young man said was not at all what he had thought, thinking about the “we” he had said last night, Yan Yue felt that even if he was really treated as a pervert by Ye Kang, all the work he had done was worth it.

The two of them finished tending to the saplings and went to Uncle Li’s house for breakfast before leaving the plant nursery with Dahei. When passing by the entrance of the village, Dahei, who had been quiet all the time, suddenly stood up and howled from the window behind him in a low voice.

“What’s wrong with Dahei?” Yan Yue said curiously.

Lu Lingxi turned around and touched Dahei. Outside was exactly the place where they had picked up the sapling in the morning. “Dahei seems to have smelled something here,” Lu Lingxi guessed. Before, someone who could make Dahei react like this was likely the one who had hit him, but this was in the suburbs, would that person come here?

When Lu Lingxi said that, Yan Yue frowned. The young man didn’t know what was going on with these saplings, but Yan Yue probably guessed where they came from. In relation to what Ye Kang had said on the phone last night, these saplings were probably dropped here by someone from Qiu Tian Gardening. Qiu Tian Gardening’s nursery was not too far from the village. If that was the case, would there be any connection between Qiu Tian Gardening and the man who hit Dahei?

Either way, it was a clue. Since Yan Yue had promised to help Dahei take revenge, and Qiu Tian Gardening was involved, it would be a good idea to solve the problem together.

Back at Tiny Garden, Yan Yue gave Ye Kang a call and asked Ye Sange to help check if someone at Qiu Tian Gardening had a black Audi. Ye Kang was somewhat curious and immediately became interested when he heard that Yan Yue was helping Dahei find an enemy. That afternoon, Yan Yue received the news from Ye Kang. Qiu Tian Gardening didn’t have a black Audi, but Lu Hongxin, who was close to Qiu Tian Gardening, happened to have a black Audi.

“Lu Hongxin.” Yan Yue pondered, “Does Ye Sange have anyone in the Public Security Bureau?”

“What?”

Yan Yue told Ye Kang about Grandma Wang being hit; based on Dahei’s reaction, it was probably the same car.

Ye Kang thought it was quite interesting. “Alright, I’ll take care of this, Sange will be happy if he knows.”

Yan Yue hung up the phone, returned to Tiny Garden and saw Dahei. Dahei was squatting under the cashier’s desk with a serious expression, tilting his head as he watched the fish swimming around in the fish tank. Yan Yue subconsciously hooked up the corner of his mouth. Stupid dog!

Dahei’s ears twitched as he calmly turned his head to glance at Yan Yue, narrowed his eyes and continued to watch his fish.

Yan Yue smiled faintly, feeling a little incredulous. If the person who hit Dahei was really Lu Hongxin, how on earth did Dahei smell Lu Hongxin from where Qiu Tian Gardening was passing? Could it be that he had been in that car? After thinking about it, Yan Yue walked up to Dahei and squatted down to look at him, “In a few days I will take you to identify your enemy.”

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Dahei’s ears swished up and he let out a low bark at Yan Yue.

Lu Lingxi was a little surprised, “Did you find the person who hit Dahei? Then Grandma Wang…”

“Not sure yet, just have suspicions at the moment.”

“Oh.” Lu Lingxi’s face was a little disappointed.

Yan Yue could not resist this expression at all. He couldn’t help but reach out and rub Lu Lingxi’s hair, coaxing, “As long as there is a clue, we will definitely be able to catch him.”

Lu Lingxi nodded vigorously, “I believe in Big Brother Yan.”

Yan Yue’s eyes were full of smiles, and he was almost about to wrap Lu Lingxi in his arms in one smooth motion. Fortunately, the last remnants of his reason controlled his behaviour; there was no excuse for being in a bad mood today.

Qiu Tian Gardening

Qiu Jun received another call from Lu Hongxin, urging him to hurry up and replace the willow saplings in that part of Nancheng as well.

“Didn’t you say yesterday, Mr. Lu, that only a few key areas would be inspected?”

“Is it up to me to decide what the tops will inspect? Another day, another shitty news, do you think I’m fucking happy? All right, Qiu Jun, don’t talk nonsense, hurry up and replace all the saplings with 5cm ones. If 5cm can’t survive, replace them with 8cm ones. Don’t fucking think about saving money at this time, if something really goes wrong none of us will get away.”

After Lu Hongxin cursed, he hung up the phone. Qiu Jun was so angry that he yelled at the phone. He calculated that the area in Nancheng was the worst because it used to be a coal mine and there was a power plant around it, so the environment was the worst and the most seedlings died. If the seedlings in that area were replaced, he wouldn’t make a penny on this project. And Lu Hongxin thought that he would replace all the seedlings in the city, forcing him to put his own money into this project.

However, Qiu Jun knew that Lv Hongxin was right. Qiu Tian’s Gardening and Lu father and son were united in prosperity or in loss. When the new mayor wanted to start this greening project, Qiu Tian’s old rival, Luxuan Gardening, also wanted to take over the project.

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At the tender meeting, Luxuan Gardening proposed to plant pine trees. It was important to know that Fengcheng, as a heavy industrial city, had seen a lot of acid rains over the years, and most of the land in the city had been polluted and acidified. It was obvious that pine trees were more suitable than alkaline willows. However, Qiu Tian Gardening’s main product was willow saplings, and there were not many pine saplings. They and Lu Hongxin worked in tandem to win the project.

When it came to this kind of thing, Luxuan really couldn’t catch up with them. After all, willow was a common green tree throughout the country and could be found everywhere. It was easy to grow and had a high survival rate, and it was also quite adaptable. Even if the soil was acidic, it didn’t affect it much. But that was usually the case if everything was all right. If something were to happen, and Luxuan were to do something behind the scenes, it would be a problem for Qiu Tian Gardening.

Qiu Jun was determined to get past this hurdle first. The point was that the money lost this time would be earned next time from Lu Hongxin and his father.

That night, all the willow seedlings in all areas of Fengcheng City were replaced from 2cm to 5cm, and in some key areas, Qiu Jun simply replaced them with 8cm. He was afraid that these small willow seedlings would not grow well and there would be problems with the inspection from the tops.

Lu Lingxi didn’t know about these changes of the willow saplings. The area he was working in was basically the city centre, which could be considered the best greening area in Fengcheng.

This afternoon, Lu Lingxi received a call from Uncle Li, who said that Widow Yu had returned and asked if he had time to go to the plant nursery to sign the contract.

Lu Lingxi was a bit surprised, “Didn’t you say she was busy with work these days and didn’t have time?”

Uncle Li sighed, “I heard that she had quit and had returned without even getting this month’s wages.”

The widow’s real name was Yu Xiaojuan. Uncle Li talked about her with a sigh. In the eyes of the village elders, Yu Xiaojuan’s life was truly bitter. Yu Xiaojuan’s parents died prematurely when she was a child, and she grew up with her grandmother. Later, when her grandmother died, Yu Xiaojuan became a loner. After a few years she got married and was able to live a stable life. But after a few years of good life, her husband passed away, leaving his mother and his child to rely on the widow to support them.

In order to earn more money, Yu Xiaojuan washed dishes in the back kitchen of the hotel restaurant during the day and had to stay behind at night to clean up. It was a very hard life. The owner of the restaurant where she worked was not kind either, offering a salary of 1,500 a month. Yu Xiaojuan usually couldn’t bear to spend a penny and saved it all to bring it back to her mother-in-law to raise her child.

This time, she heard that a customer had lost his mobile phone in the restaurant, and somehow it was put on her head. The boss asked her to pay for the phone, and it was three months’ salary for her. She denied taking it and ended up being thrown out somehow. When Uncle Li said this, he was afraid that Lu Lingxi would misunderstand and assured him that Yu Xiaojuan had grown up under his watch and there were absolutely no problems with her character, and that she would never do such a petty theft. They would know when they met her in person.

Lu Lingxi believed Uncle Li and immediately nodded. The two agreed to meet tonight, and Uncle Li instructed Lu Lingxi not to eat, he was cooking for them.

“Okay.” Lu Lingxi obediently confirmed.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Lingxi relayed Uncle Li’s words to Yan Yue, inevitably mentioning Yu Xiaojuan. After saying this, Lu Lingxi looked at Yan Yue cautiously. He felt sympathy for Yu Xiaojuan and was afraid that Yan Yue would have a bad impression of her after hearing this.

Yan Yue looked at his reaction with some amusement and reached out to rub his hair, whispering, “I believe in Uncle Li’s vision.”

The corners of Lu Lingxi’s mouth turned up and his eyes curved in a smile. Perhaps because of a somewhat similar situation, when he thought of Yu Xiaojuan, Lu Lingxi could not help but think of Wang Shuxiu, of the times when Wang Shuxiu had to support the family on her own. During the time he was in the hospital, Wang Shuxiu had to look after him in the hospital during the day and work at the KTV at night. He was in a coma, and Lu Yishui was gambling all day long, so he couldn’t imagine how Wang Shuxiu managed to hold it together.

It was also because of Wang Shuxiu that Lu Lingxi decided to rent Yu Xiaojuan’s land when he first heard Uncle Li mention her. This time, Lu Lingxi didn’t believe that a mother who was doing her best to support her family would steal someone’s mobile phone.

He remembered Wang Shuxiu’s words, “If I wanted to have a good life, I don’t know how many men I could have taken advantage of, so I wouldn’t have to look after you alone, little bastard.”

Lu Lingxi curved his eyes and sent a text message to Wang Shuxiu saying that he was going to the plant nursery tonight and would not be coming back. At the end he hesitantly added a sentence, “I love you, Mom.” After he sent it, the tips of his ears turned a little red.

Wang Shuxiu didn’t care much when she received the text message. The little bastard was busy with the plant nursery recently and often didn’t come back, so she was relieved to have Yan Yue around. As a result, when she saw the last sentence, Wang Shuxiu suddenly froze, and her eyes slowly reddened.

“Little bastard!” Wang Shuxiu laughed and cursed at the phone. Just like Lu Yishui, that deadbeat guy, who would say nice things. When she was young, she was cheated by Lu Yishui’s sweet words and suffered for the rest of her life. But since the little bastard had this ability, he wouldn’t need to worry about getting a wife in the future.

Wang Shuxiu thought and sent a text message back to Lu Lingxi.

“Little bastard, are you short of money?”

Lu Lingxi: “……”