Pastoral Daily Life
chapter-60

Fengcheng was located in the seismic zone of the continental fracture, and every now and then there would be earthquakes. The locals were used to it and no one took it seriously.

After Uncle Li left, Lu Lingxi was stuffed back into the quilt by Yan Yue and fell asleep quickly. Although Yan Yue seldom loses sleep these days, he woke up and couldn’t sleep again for a while. After staring at Lu Lingxi’s quiet sleeping face for a long time, Yan Yue leaned over and kissed him, then took his phone to read the news about the earthquake.

The earthquake network in China was quite reliable. Although it never accurately predicted the earthquake, whenever an earthquake occurred in China, the specific report would be released in a few minutes. What surprised Yan Yue was that this time it seemed to be an exception. He looked at the official website of the Earthquake Bureau and some earthquake related forums for a long time, but couldn’t find any news about the earthquake in Fengcheng.

Yan Yue frowned slightly and looked again, and even went to Fengcheng forum. Although it was three o’clock in the morning, there were quite a few people active in the forum. The only thing that was not mentioned was the earthquake in Fengcheng. Yan Yue’s expression became serious. He had a vague suspicion; if the previous vibration was not an earthquake, then what was it? Putting down his mobile phone, he subconsciously looked at the sleeping Lu Lingxi. Out of some intuition, he wondered if the previous vibration had something to do with the young man.

With this doubt in his mind, Yan Yue tossed and turned halfway through the night before falling asleep in a daze with Lu Lingxi in his arms. When the sky brightened, Lu Lingxi was awakened by heat. Yan Yue’s embrace was like a furnace, wrapping him up in the blanket and holding him tightly.

Lu Lingxi gingerly broke free, taking care not to wake Yan Yue. As soon as he moved, Dahei immediately opened his eyes and stood up with his ears twitching. Lu Lingxi smiled and stroked Dahei, making a gesture of being quiet. One man and one dog left the house. Lu Lingxi’s mind was all on the evolved old willow, and after a quick wash, he took Dahei and ran to the village entrance in a flash.

The white panel emerged and the entire willow ecological community was displayed on the panel.

Lu Lingxi zoomed in on the location of the big willow and looked with some surprise at the roots that extended out from it. From the entrance of the village to the other side of the village, the entire village was covered with the willow tree’s coiled roots, which were like countless tentacles that were firmly attached to the land.

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As the willow tree was within the scope of the mental scan, its evolved information also appeared on the panel.

Plant name: Second-class weeping willow

Plant needs: none

Plant viability: very high

Plant evolution direction: Soil purification +20%

Lu Lingxi didn’t really know the difference between a first-class and second-class plant just by looking at the panel. But when he stood under the willow tree, he understood a little. The willow tree emitted a majestic aura of vitality, and there was a kind of pureness contained in this vitality. This aura overflowed from the willow tree, faintly like a milky white mist, very comfortable to inhale. Lu Lingxi had a feeling that the willow tree’s life form seemed to have been raised to a higher level than before. It was a very subtle feeling, and he vaguely felt that this was the true meaning of evolution.

When Yan Yue came over, he saw Lu Lingxi standing under the willow tree with his head tilted up, and Dahei squatting quietly by his side. He didn’t know if it was just his illusion, but the willow tree in front of him seemed to have grown a little taller. The willow branches were hanging down, the shadow of the tree was shifting, and the pale golden morning light was speckled. Lu Lingxi and Dahei were enveloped by a faint milky white mist, looking as if they had become one with the big willow tree.

Yan Yue found his idea unscientific, but he just had the feeling that the young man and the willow tree were in perfect harmony.

“Xiao Xi?”

Yan Yue couldn’t help but call out tentatively.

Lu Lingxi turned around, saw that it was Yan Yue and curved his eyes, “Big Brother Yan, you’re here?”

Yan Yue said “en” and walked over to Lu Lingxi’s side almost as if he was compelled. There was a faint mist surrounding him, soaking into his body like water. He felt his ears and eyes clear for a moment, and his body was indescribably comfortable.

The white mist didn’t exist for long and soon dissipated into the air. The wild flowers in the area previously shrouded by the mist seemed to bloom more brightly, and even the grass on the ground rose a little higher. Yan Yue suppressed the doubts in his heart silently and took Lu Lingxi by the hand, saying, “We should go back.”

Lu Lingxi nodded. He had gained a lot from his visit to the plant nursery this time. Not only did the big willow trees and the plants had all evolved, but he also received a reward of five points of power of nature. He had to think about where these five points should be used; he couldn’t waste them easily.

For the next few days, Lu Lingxi was busy with Tiny Garden. The order that Brother Han had brought in had been completed and the plants that Lu Lingxi sent were all evolved plants. He made an appointment with the other party to come and take care of the plants once a week. Both parties were very satisfied with the deal.

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That afternoon, Yan Yue was out of town and Lu Lingxi was alone in the shop counting the seeds he had bought from Taobao when a customer came in.

“Little boss.”

There were a lot of regular customers nearby, and as they became familiar with Lu Lingxi, they slowly changed from addressing him as “Boss” to “Little boss”. Lu Lingxi didn’t care about the name and he was used to the name of Little boss.

“Welcome.” Lu Lingxi curved his eyes, greeting the man.

“Your place is very nice.” The man who came was middle-aged, looking to be in his forties. A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes as soon as he entered the shop; then he smiled at Lu Lingxi and praised him without hesitation.

With the evolution of the plants in the shop, the environment inside Tiny Garden was even better than before. Even standing outside the shop, one could feel the lush greenery inside. Not to mention that just walking into the store, there was a feeling of wandering in the fresh forest, indescribably relaxed and happy.

Lu Lingxi was still a little embarrassed after hearing too many compliments from customers. “What can I do for you?”

The visitor seemed to have remembered his business and placed a pot of guzmania he was holding in his arms in front of Lu Lingxi. “Little boss, please take a look, the colour of the inflorescence (complete flower head of a plant including stems, stalks and flowers) of this guzmania doesn’t seem right.”

Guzmania is a perennial evergreen plant native to foreign countries. Healthy guzmania has long ribbon-like leaves, bright, waxy and lustrous. The inflorescences in the leaf clusters are upright and brightly coloured, very beautiful. The pot in front of them, however, was dull in colour and lacked lustre, and the base of the inflorescences was even a little faded.

The mental scan showed that the guzmania needed light; it obviously didn’t have enough light before.

Lu Lingxi took a closer look to make sure there were no other problems and said seriously, “There is nothing seriously wrong with your pot of guzmania, it just might have lacked light before. Go back and place it in a bright place, make sure the air around it is high in humidity and nurse it for a while.”

The man looked puzzled, “Didn’t they say that guzmania shouldn’t be exposed to strong light? And you have to shade it in the summer? How do you…”

Lu Lingxi patiently explained, “Guzmania is a plant that likes a warm, humid and sunny environment. To grow well and have gorgeous inflorescences it must have enough light. What it needs to avoid is strong direct light. You can get a gauze curtain to cover it, but don’t block out the light. This will make the inflorescences dull and fading, like the bottom.”

Lu Lingxi spoke seriously, and the other party listened with an expression of dawning understanding. “So that’s how it is.”

“You’re good, little boss.” The other party politely complimented.

Lu Lingxi smiled shyly.

The other party waited for Lu Lingxi to finish looking at the guzmania but had no intention of leaving. Instead the man walked around the shop. He stood in front of the Rieger begonia with some curiosity and hesitated, “Is this a begonia?”

Lu Lingxi nodded. What the other party looked at was an evolved begonia. Unlike the ordinary begonia, the evolved begonia had fuller flowers and brilliant colour, looking gorgeous and delicate. What was more crucial was that it evolved in the direction of flower fragrance +20%. Just walk up to it and you can smell a faint ethereal fragrance.

The visitor seemed to be incredulous; he looked down and sniffed for a long time before hesitantly looking at Lu Lingxi, “Little boss, is this begonia cultivated by hybridisation?”

Lu Lingxi was taken aback for a moment, but shook his head and explained, “It’s a mutation.” He had already thought about it; when he met such a somewhat knowledgeable customer, he would say that the plants had mutated. If the other party asked him about the exact hybridisation process, he would be in trouble if he couldn’t tell them.

There was a strange flash in the visitor’s eyes and he made a snap decision, “I’ll buy this begonia.”

Lu Lingxi curved his eyes, “What kind of pot do you want to pick?”

“No need, just this plastic pot.”

Lu Lingxi was quite happy to have made a deal. On the other hand, the customer who walked out of the door holding the guzmania and the begonia had a slightly sunken face and a somewhat serious expression. He turned a corner and got into a car that was parked on the roadside. An old man over sixty years old in the back seat of the car seemed to be waiting for him and smiled faintly as he watched him return.

“Well? Yongtong, I didn’t lie to you, did I? Don’t look that the shop is small, but the plants inside are all of the highest quality. The little boss is a master in this area, now you have to be convinced, right?”

The man called Yongtong, whose full name was Xue Yongtong, was the owner of Luxuan Gardening in Fengcheng. Luxuan Gardening and Qiu Tian Gardening had been fighting for years, and Luxuan Gardening had always been on the losing side. But recently, something happened to Qiu Tian Gardening. First, the potted plants sold by Qiu Tian Gardening were returned, which was a big slap in the face, and then it was revealed that Qiu Tian Gardening colluded with Lu Hongxin and his father from the Environmental Protection Bureau and made a lot of money on Fengcheng’s municipal greening projects over the years.

Xue Yongtong didn’t care much about the latter news. If the gardening business wanted to grow bigger, it was ultimately plants that spoke. Since Qiu Tian got involved with Lu Hongxin and his father, he had not paid much attention to the plant nursery. It was a matter of time before he lost. However, Qiu Tian had been able to dominate Fengcheng for many years, and he still had a real ability in raising flowers. Sometimes Xue Yongtong had to admire Qiu Tian. When he heard that Qiu Tian’s potted plants had been returned twice, he couldn’t stop thinking about it and wanted to see who the person that had gotten in Qiu Tian’s face was. He didn’t expect the other man to be so young; he looked like a child, seventeen or eighteen years old.

Xue Yongtong was a little unconvinced when he came there, but now he was full of emotions. He had to admit that the plants in Tiny Garden were really extremely good and the future of the little shop was terrifying.

“What are you thinking?” The old man saw that he didn’t speak, and asked once again.

Xue Yongtong picked up the pot of begonias and looked at the old man, “Elder Qian, can you tell how this pot of begonias was hybridised? The flower shape has not changed, but it is fuller and more gorgeous, and the fragrance is more intense.”

The old man called Elder Qian looked at it carefully and shook his head, “I can’t tell. It doesn’t look like a hybrid, more like a mutation. Yongtong, you know these things, how can hybridisation be that easy?” Xue Yongtong stopped talking and stared at the ‘mutant’ begonia, but in his heart he decided that it was a hybrid and that the possibility of a mutation was too remote. After all, to mutate was much more difficult than to hybridise.

As he stared in earnest, Elder Qian’s interest was also aroused, “Are there more begonias like this in the little boss’s shop? I’ll go and buy a pot for my home too, the scent is really nice. It’s the right intensity, not cloying at all.”

Xue Yongtong: “……”