Chapter 166
The tourism boom in Fengcheng continued, but after the initial days of excitement, the people of Fengcheng could already look at the events around them calmly. Take Wang Shuxiu as an example; she no longer listened to Dahei's every bark, asking Lu Lingxi what it meant.
Lu Lingxi and Dahei let out a sigh of relief at the same time.
Yan Yue looked amused and discussed it with Lu Lingxi, "Does Xiao Xi want to go back to Zhongjing with me?"
Lu Lingxi thought about it for a while and nodded. Although he had grown up in Zhongjing, he was not familiar with it, so it would be good to go back and have a look.
After his recent experiences, Yan Yue now wanted to tie Lu Lingxi to his waist and take him along wherever he went. When he heard that Lu Lingxi was willing to go to Zhongjing, he reached out and took Lu Lingxi into his arms, kissed him on the ear and rested his chin on Lu Lingxi's shoulder, saying, "Although the environment in Zhongjing is not as good as that in Fengcheng, some tourist attractions are still good, so we can go and have a look."
"Can we go climb Hongye Mountain?" Lu Lingxi suddenly asked.
Yan Yue smiled, "Of course."
Lu Lingxi grabbed Yan Yue's hand and said, "I've never been anywhere in Zhongjing since I was a kid. The only time I could go on a trip was when the school arranged a spring trip for us in the third grade, and the destination at that time was Hongye Mountain. But on the first day of the spring trip I had an accident and missed the event. Then… I stayed home and never went out again."
Now when it came to the past, Lu Lingxi no longer had any psychological barriers. He had made up his mind to say goodbye to the past once and for all, and wouldn't have anything to do with the Lu family again. However, Lu Lingxi felt a bit weird. The Lu family had even sent Lu Yishui to make him acknowledge them, but he had only met Lu Yishui once and never seen him again, and there was no news from the Lu family either. It was so strange.
When he was quiet and didn't say anything, Yan Yue reached out and covered his hand, softly saying, "Then let's go and climb Hongye Mountain a few times."
Lu Lingxi curved his eyes, "Climbing once is enough. By the way…" he looked at Yan Yue curiously, "Big Brother Yan, do you think it's strange that it's been almost a month and neither the Lu family nor Lu… Dad has reappeared? "
"Lu Yishui?" Yan Yue's tone was subtly odd but Lu Lingxi didn't notice it. Yan Yue's arms tightened, "Probably the Lu family has something else tripping them up right now."
A few days ago, the Lu family in Zhongjing
Lu Yishui stood in front of Lu Hengchuan, shrinking his neck and with his head drooping.
Lu Hengchuan looked at him fiercely, his face grim, feeling his breath stuck in his throat, suffocating him unbearably. In all these years, the Lu family had never been so humiliated. It was simply a disgrace. A month ago, Lu Yishui had patted his chest and promised that he could bring Lu Lingxi back to the Lu family. What happened? Instead, they received the news that Lu Yishui had secretly run away to Aogang Casino to gamble without his assistant's knowledge and lost 100 million yuan and was detained there.
The Lu family originally didn't want to take the blame for Lu Yishui, but they couldn't resist the shamelessness of Lu Yishui, who pretended to be crazy and shouted everywhere that Lu Hengchuan was his father and had just recognised him back to the Lu family. Everyone in the entire Aogang Casino, including the guests, knew about it now. By word of mouth, the whole city of Zhongjing was watching the Lu family as a joke. Lu Hengchuan was furious, but he couldn't help but swallow the bitter pill of Lu Yishui and pay back the money he owed.
Just thinking about it made Lu Hengchuan feel sick to his stomach. One hundred million happened to be all the cash that Lu Group could draw out right now. The Lu family had already been hurt by the involvement with Hopewell, and now it was even worse as there was no telling when the money chain would break. Lu Hengchuan didn't believe that this was a coincidence at all. He suspected that someone was deliberately targeting the Lu family.
"How dare you come back!" Lu Hengchuan shouted angrily.
Lu Yishui smiled apologetically, "Dad, I… you…"
"Shut up!" Lu Hengchuan yelled, "You actually used the Lu family's name to gamble, you! You…"
Lu Yishui argued in a small voice, "I was originally your son, it doesn't count as borrowing the name of the Lu family, right? Besides, when Dad passes away one day, won't I still have a share of the inheritance? It will be worth hundreds of millions. Think of it as spending it on me in advance now, and give me less when the time comes. I promise I won't fight with my brothers."
He said it shamelessly, and Lu Hengchuan's face turned red with anger, "Get lost!" After one sentence, Lu Hengchuan clutched his heart and collapsed softly.
The news of Lu Hengchuan's hospitalisation was suppressed carefully. The Lu family's stock had fallen very hard due to the impact of Hopewell. Now the most important thing was to seek stability and not to have any more bad news break out. If the news of the hospitalisation of the Lu family's patriarch, Elder Lu, was to break out at this juncture, investors' confidence would be dented and the Lu family's shares would suffer another round of plummeting. The Lu family had kept the news under wraps, and Lu Hengchuan even wanted to send Lu Yishui back to Fengcheng, so that he wouldn't have to worry about him. However, Lu Yishui was afraid that if Lu Hengchuan suddenly died, he wouldn't be able to come back in time to divide the inheritance, so he refused to leave and insisted on staying by Lu Hengchuan's side to serve him.
Lu Hengchuan was disgusted by his own son and was afraid to let him go out and say anything, so he had to keep him by his side. He couldn't care about Lu Lingxi's affairs in Fengcheng anymore.
Of course, the news of Lu Hengchuan's hospitalisation could be concealed from others, but not from the Ye family. The Ye family in turn told Yan Yue about it. Yan Yue didn't expect Lu Yishui's killing power to be so great, and was as relieved as he was surprised. The sins that Elder Lu had committed when he was young had to be repaid now when the time came.
These things Yan Yue didn't intend to tell Lu Lingxi. He always remembered his wish when he first met Lu Lingxi, his hope to protect Lu Lingxi in his arms and never let him know the dark side behind the scenes. He especially didn't want Lu Lingxi to know these rotten things about the Lu family.
After taking care of some matters in Fengcheng, Yan Yue took Lu Lingxi to Zhongjing. Of course, Dahei was definitely going to come along, accompanied by Ye Kang and Erha the demolition expert.
After getting used to the environment of Fengcheng, when they returned to Zhongjing, they felt a bit uncomfortable. Ye Kang joked, "It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality. Although it's about the environment, that's also true. I wonder if the change in Fengcheng is a special case, or can it be replicated throughout the country?"
Lu Lingxi was an expert on this issue, and he said with certainty, "It can be replicated all over the country."
"Xiao Xi is so sure?" Ye Kang teased casually.
Lu Lingxi was startled, but Yan Yue had already clarified for him, "Fengcheng didn't start out like this. First it was a few places in the city, and only later did it expand to the whole city." He finished, rubbing Lu Lingxi's hair, and Lu Lingxi obediently lowered his head and stopped talking.
Yan Yue was much more cautious than Lu Lingxi when it came to the panel and Lu Lingxi's identity. Although Ye Kang was his trusted friend, Yan Yue had no intention of telling Ye Kang either.
Ye Kang didn't hear anything suspicious and said with interest, "Then at the speed of Fengcheng's expansion, it will take a few years until the changes reach Zhongjing, right?"
Behind Ye Kang's back, Lu Lingxi secretly made a "four" gesture.
Yan Yue chuckled and reached out to pinch Lu Lingxi's face. The two of them had actually discussed this issue. According to the expansion rate of Fengcheng's soil purification, it would take four years to expand from Fengcheng to Zhongjing. But if several purification points were formed in Zhongjing and both sides expanded together, the time could be completely compressed to two years. Lu Lingxi still had four points of power of nature and he had agreed with Yan Yue that he would use all four points when he came to Zhongjing this time, to speed up the purification on the Zhongjing side. Of course, the ecological communities formed by evolved plants were more effective, but it would easily reveal Lu Lingxi's identity. Until there was a suitable excuse, Yan Yue wouldn't allow Lu Lingxi to do so.
They quickly settled down in the Yan family mansion. It was simple; Lu Lingxi was going to stay with Yan Yue and Ye Kang did not want to go back to the Ye family, so he said hello to the old man and stayed here, as there was a room for him to stay in anyway. The only two who needed to be worried about were Dahei and Erha. Dahei was fine, he had always been obedient and sensible, unlike Erha with his lively nature. Just a short time later Erha had already gnawed a table leg in the living room like a chicken leg.
The housekeeper looked depressed, and the stupid dog was still acting cute with him, covering his eyes with his paws and peeking at his reaction. He looked away speechlessly and Erha actually went around to his other side.
Housekeeper: "…"
Lu Lingxi was afraid that the housekeeper would get angry and secretly called Erha to his side. Erha pounced over with great enthusiasm, and when he was growled at by Dahei, he immediately flopped onto the floor with a wilted look. Lu Lingxi held back his laughter and took them both outside to the small garden.
Although it was his first time here, the structure of Yan family's house was similar to that of the Lu family's old mansion, and Lu Lingxi found his way to the garden after just thinking a little. Speaking of which, he didn't like this kind of big house; one would always have a feeling of emptiness when living in it. Especially when he thought that Yan Yue had lived here alone since he was a child, without his family; that must have been even more lonely than he had been in the Lu family.
With all sorts of thoughts running through his mind, Lu Lingxi took the two dogs for a walk around the garden. By the time he returned to his original spot, Yan Yue was already standing there waiting for him.
"Do you like it here?"
Lu Lingxi paused and shook his head honestly.
"I don't like it either." Yan Yue took Lu Lingxi's hand and walked around the small garden, saying as he walked, "My grandfather wished for the family to live together in harmony back then, but it turned out that his wish came true only for a year and then my parents' relationship was declared broken. They had separate relationships outside but couldn't move out because of my grandfather's presence and were forced to live together. When my grandfather died, they couldn't wait to move out and I was the only one who stayed. When I was young, I didn't know any better and kept this house in the hope that my parents would come back. Later, I became sensible and when I went to school abroad, I didn't like it more and more, and I didn't like coming back."
As Lu Lingxi listened, he gripped Yan Yue's hand hard. Yan Yue smiled and kissed him on the forehead. "Actually the house is fine. Think of the Ye family, a large family would be quite happy living here together."
Lu Lingxi thought for a moment, "We're quite happy now too."
Yan Yue was taken aback, and then laughed aloud.
Chapter 167
Yan Yue met Yan Shihui the day after he returned to Zhongjing.
Without the smoke of speculations from the outside world, the expressions of the two people who met were very calm. Yan Shihui looked at Yan Yue deeply for a few moments, as if he didn't know him. Yan Yue gazed at him openly, letting his father look at him. Now, no matter what Yan Shihui thought, Yan Yue no longer cared.
After a long silence, Yan Shihui was the first to speak. "What are you doing back here?"
Yan Yue slightly hooked the corner of his mouth, "I heard Yan Hai say that he wanted to expel me from the Yan family. I came back to move my household registration out so that my father wouldn't be embarrassed."
His tone was mocking and Yan Shihui endured it, "Are you blaming me for being biassed?"
Yan Yue shook his head unexpectedly, "I thought so when I was a child, but later I felt it didn't matter."
Yan Shihui stared at Yan Yue's expression, trying to determine what he was really thinking. In the past, Yan Shihui didn't care what Yan Yue thought, but now that he wanted to know, he could no longer read Yan Yue's mind. He had the feeling that his authority had been upset, and this was not the first time. From the time Yan Yue stayed in the country without his knowledge to the time he suddenly sold his shares from the Yin family, Yan Shihui was angry. He was angry that he had lost control of Hopewell, but he was even more angry that he had lost control of Yan Yue.
From childhood to adulthood, Yan Shihui's life has been smooth sailing. The only time he failed was his marriage to Yin Qinglan. After that, whether it was life or business, he never tasted failure again. Regarding Yan Yue, it was not that no one had warned him. But Yan Shihui was used to controlling everything, and he surely could control his son. What he didn't expect was that it was the son he felt he could control who gave him a fatal blow.
Yan Shihui said in a cold voice: "You sold the shares of the Yin family to Chen Xiuyuan and you don't have any guilt in your heart? You just watched the foundation your grandfather had worked so hard to build for years destroyed in your own hands?"
"What is there to feel guilty about?" Yan Yue met Yan Shihui's gaze, his eyes icy, "Father knew full well what Yan Hai's qualifications were and still thought of putting Hopewell in his hands. Wasn't this destroying Hopewell? Since Father doesn't care about my grandfather's efforts, what do I care about?"
"After all is said and done, you are still blaming me for being biassed." Yan Shihui said angrily.
Yan Yue paused and the corners of his mouth rose, "Really not. It's just that it's my own business whether I want something or not, and I don't like it when others snatch it from my hands. Since that's the case, then why not just leave it to no one?"
Yan Shihui finally understood what Yan Yue had in mind. "How long have you been planning this?"
"What about Father? How long has Father been planning?"
The two men went toe-to-toe, and for the first time Yan Shihui felt as if he had never understood his son clearly.
After Yan Yue left Yan Shihui, he met Yan Hai outside. He didn't even bother to give Yan Hai a glance, treating the other man as if he were air. Yan Hai was furious but he didn't have the guts to catch up with Yan Yue and say something. Apart from daring to shout a few words behind his back, he was used to being as meek as a quail in front of Yan Yue.
Looking at Yan Yue's back from a distance, Yan Hai wondered why he suddenly thought of Yin Ya. Once Yin Ya had laughed at his lack of courage in front of Yan Yue, but what happened? Yin Ya was so arrogant, and now she was put in jail by Yan Yue and couldn't get out. When Yan Hai thought of this, a chill suddenly ran up his back. He shook his head and rushed into the office. When he saw his father, he couldn't help but ask, "Dad, what's Yan Yue doing here?"
Yan Shihui's attitude towards Yan Hai had cooled down considerably, "Where have you been again?"
Yan Hai boasted, "Dad, didn't you want to go to Fengcheng to get land? I've asked around and found out that there's a lot of vacant land in Fengcheng, but it's all on the outskirts. The only land in the city that can be developed is in the south. The infrastructure there is backward and many residents are just waiting for demolition."
As word spread about the wonders of Fengcheng, along with the tourism boom, there was also an investment boom. Of all the various investments, real estate was clearly the most lucrative. Many companies in Zhongjing were already planning to go to Fengcheng to acquire land, and Hopewell was no exception. Yan Shihui valued this opportunity very highly and saw it as a chance to make a comeback. Having lost his position as a major shareholder, if he wanted to sit firmly as the chairman, he had to take the shareholders to make money so that he could gain support.
Yan Shihui didn't feel comfortable handing over such a big task to Yan Hai. However, Yan Hai was stubborn and very active during this period, using a group of fox friends to snoop around, just to make Yan Shihui look up to him.
He said it with aplomb, and Yan Shihui became interested, "The south of the city? The part where the underground is rumoured to be emptied?"
Yan Hai nodded quickly and immediately explained, "It used to be a matter of the underground being emptied, but who cares about that now. I heard that people and animals can evolve after living in Fengcheng for a long time, and now everyone is rushing to buy houses in Fengcheng. What does it matter if the ground is emptied, just put more cement in the foundation, the cost will definitely be recovered."
It was obvious that Yan Hai had put in a lot of effort, and he was right on the money. Yan Shihui had consulted a professional before and the advice he received was to pad the foundation with more cement in the emptied area. Yan Shihui had made up his mind and was ready to go all out for the first development project in the south of the city, so he couldn't miss this opportunity.
There were many people who thought the same way as Yan Shihui. Fengcheng was now a big golden pie, and everyone wanted to take a bite out of it. It had only been two days since Yan Yue had returned and he had heard a number of familiar names ready to enter the real estate sector in Fengcheng.
He gave Ye Kang a call, "How's it going? Did you convince the old man?"
The Ye family was one of those who were optimistic about the real estate market in Fengcheng. With their strong capital and the natural backing of Ye Cheng, it was foreseeable that if the Ye family made a move, no company would be able to compete with them. Elder Ye returned the favour by inviting Yan Yue to invest with him, but Yan Yue refused. Not only did he refuse, he also advised Ye Kang to convince Elder Ye to abandon the plan. Ye Kang was puzzled, but Yan Yue didn't explain much. Out of his trust in Yan Yue, Ye Kang followed him back to Zhongjing. He had some authority in front of the old man now, so he had to try to convince him to give up the plan.
When he received the call from Yan Yue, Ye Kang first complained about his grandfather's stubbornness for a long time before finally saying, "Grandpa has probably loosened up. He values your attitude, and a word from you is much better than a long speech from me. But Ah Yue, why on earth aren't you optimistic about the development of the Fengcheng property?"
Yan Yue evaded the question as he always did, "You'll know when the time comes."
"Fuck off!" Ye Kang was clearly not satisfied with his answer.
Yan Yue laughed. When it came to his plan, Yan Yue had no way to explain it clearly to Ye Kang. There was only one reason why he was not optimistic about Fengcheng's property development; the underground of Fengcheng was so full of intertwined willow tree roots that there was no way to dig up the soil to build the foundation. Through the white panel, you could see that the roots of the willow trees underground in Fengcheng were all connected together. It was like a net woven from the roots, firmly enveloping the ground of Fengcheng.
Of course, unless one had a white panel like Lu Lingxi, no one would know that the underground of Fengcheng was such a peculiar sight. The reason why Yan Yue reminded Ye Kang was that he didn't want the Ye family to fail in their investment, and he also hoped that the Ye family would give the "opportunity" of the land in Nancheng to Hopewell.
Yan Yue had received information that Hopewell was very interested in the real estate market in Fengcheng and had collected a lot of information about the land in the south of the city. The land was indeed the most suitable piece of land for development in Fengcheng at the moment. Without the competition from the Ye family, Hopewell would have a good chance of securing that piece of land with all its efforts. This outcome was exactly what Yan Yue wanted to see.
He didn't calculate all this simply for Hopewell to lose money, but to draw out the existence of the big willow tree. The longer the expert team stayed in Fengcheng, the more they investigated, the more likely it was that Lu Lingxi's identity would be revealed. After all, whether it was the anomalies in their residential community, or the anomalies in Lingshui Village, or the particularity of Tiny Garden's plants, these traces could always be linked together by the interested parties if they investigated them carefully. If only one of those things was related to Xiao Xi, it would be fine, but all of them could be linked to Xiao Xi. Although the expert team might not be able to find any evidence as long as Xiao Xi refused to admit it, Yan Yue was still worried that Lu Lingxi would be targeted by the government in the future.
If he wanted to rule out Lu Lingxi's suspicion, he had to find someone or something more suspicious to come out, and the existence of the big willow tree fulfilled the conditions perfectly.
The changes in Lingshui Village, the special plants in Tiny Garden, the beautification of the community, the changes in the whole of Fengcheng could all be counted on the "tree god", the Big Willow Tree. The root system under Fengcheng City was perfect proof of this, not to mention the fact that these roots were extending in the direction of the north where the big willow tree was located and would soon be connected to the big willow tree's extended root system.
When Yan Yue first took Lu Lingxi around to purify the soil in Fengcheng, he specifically looked for the places that had willow trees planted, just so that one day they could be linked to the big willow tree, and things were clearly progressing better than he had expected.
There were too many twists and turns behind all this, and Yan Yue had no way of explaining them clearly, nor did he intend to talk to Ye Kang about them at all. Anyway, when Hopewell started the land development, everyone would know about it.
Since Elder Ye's attitude had already relaxed, Yan Yue also put his mind at ease and focused on having fun with Lu Lingxi. The two of them went around almost the whole of Zhongjing, even climbing Hongye Mountain twice. That day Lu Lingxi had a sudden whim and asked Yan Yue if he wanted to go with him to see the place where he used to go to school.
"Primary school?"
Lu Lingxi nodded shyly; technically he hadn't graduated from primary school yet.
Yan Yue also thought of this and hugged Lu Lingxi, "If Xiao Xi likes to go to school, we can see if there is a suitable school."
"It's not that I like going to school either." Lu Lingxi shook his head, "In the past, I didn't have the opportunity to go out, so I hoped I could see the outside world through school. Now I feel that life is quite good and I don't need to change anything by going to school anymore." He had no memories of this body, but when he talked to Yi Hang, he heard Yi Hang complain about having too much homework at school and being scolded by the teacher for not finishing it. Lu Lingxi imagined coming home every night to do his homework and thought it was better not to go to school.
Yan Yue guessed what Lu Lingxi was thinking and couldn't help but be amused in his heart. However, he had always indulged Lu Lingxi, and everything was fine as long as Lu Lingxi was happy, so it really didn't matter if he went to school or not.
Chapter 168
Lu Lingxi's primary school was located in Jing'an District of Zhongjing, and at this time of the summer holidays, there were no students at the school, so it was very quiet.
The two of them were stopped at the entrance of the school by the old man who was guarding the door, and Lu Lingxi greeted him, saying that he was a former student here and had come back for a visit. He and Yan Yue looked neat and didn't seem to be bad people. The old man looked at them warily for a few moments, asked Lu Lingxi's name again, and let them in.
"Thank you, Uncle." Lu Lingxi smiled and thanked him, pulling Yan Yue and running inside in a flash.
The old man looked at Lu Lingxi's smiling face and smiled too, thinking that this child was quite likeable. But this name felt a bit familiar, as if he had heard it before. Where exactly was it? The old man's memory was failing him. He seriously wrote down the words "Visitor Lu Lingxi" on the blackboard at the entrance and went back to his booth to read the newspaper.
A few minutes later, the headmaster of the school personally delivered Lu Guangjing to the school entrance. Lu Guangjing had approached the school some time ago with the intention of donating an indoor stadium, and the school was very welcoming of donations, so the headmaster personally accompanied Lu Guangjing on several visits to the school. The school was not aware of the Lu family's affairs; they had only heard vaguely that a child from the Lu family had attended school here eleven years ago but had later dropped out for health reasons. Now that that child had passed away, the family wanted to do something to commemorate that child.
"Mr. Lu, don't worry about the stadium, I'll call you when I've made arrangements on my side…"
The headmaster suddenly closed his mouth halfway through the sentence. He noticed that Lu Guangjing seemed to have seen something and was staring, deathly pale, at the small blackboard hanging on one side of the wall, looking somewhat lost. The headmaster followed him and saw the words "Visitor Lu Lingxi". He was slightly stunned. Wasn't this the name of the child who had died in the Lu family?
While the headmaster was stunned, Lu Guangjing had already turned to him in a daze and said in a low voice, "I'll leave first."
The headmaster wanted to ask what was going on with this Lu Lingxi, but he felt that it was a bit ugly for him to get too curious since Lu Guangjing's son had passed away.
After sending Lu Guangjing away, the headmaster couldn't hold back and asked the old man at the door who this Lu Lingxi was. The headmaster's face immediately went white as soon as the old man described the young man. His age matched up, as did his previous experience of going to school here, and it went without saying that he had the same name and surname.
In the end, the headmaster was so scared that his legs went weak as he muttered in his heart that he had seen a ghost in the daytime.
Meanwhile, Lu Guangjing closed his eyes, feeling that God was reminding him to remember to atone for his sins all the time. In recent times, the name 'Lu Lingxi' sounded very frequently in the Lu family's old house. Even though Lu Guangjing didn't live there, he heard rumours in the old house about his father's other son and grandson. Lu Guangjing didn't care about business matters. He just occasionally thought of the child with the same name as Xiao Xi. He couldn't help but wonder: if Xiao Xi hadn't had an accident a year ago, what would he have been like now? Unfortunately, there were no "what ifs" in this world.
Halfway in the car, Lu Guangjing opened his eyes and said, "Let's go to Li's house."
The driver simply took a turn, giving Lu Guangjing a sympathetic look while the man was not paying attention. The servants at home were saying that Mrs. Lu had gone crazy. She was mad at the eldest young master and was now taken away by her parents. The driver thought that if the boy in his family dared to be so unfilial in the future, he'd definitely break his legs.
The driver thought he was being stealthy, but his glance was still noticed by Lu Guangjing. Lu Guangjing smiled to himself; the driver was new and didn't know about the previous affairs of the Lu family. If he knew, he wouldn't have sympathised with him, but would have scolded him for deserving it.
When he arrived at the Li family's house, Li Caiying's elder brother, Li Yao, was there. His attitude towards Lu Guangjing was not polite, "What are you doing here? I've arranged for a lawyer to send you a letter. Caiying wants to divorce you, so get ready."
Lu Guangjing whispered, "I won't divorce, it's my responsibility that Caiying has become what she is now, I…"
"It doesn't matter now who is responsible," Li Yao interrupted him. "I know my sister well, she has problems with her personality and is too obsessive. Back then when you were having an affair, I advised her to get a divorce, but she insisted on having a child to tie you down. When Wei'an was born prematurely, her spirit was not quite right. When Wei'an became ill, Caiying felt sorry for Wei'an and all her motherly love was given to him. All these years, the Li family only watched Caiying revolve around Wei'an but didn't realise that her spirit was becoming more and more unstable. By the time it broke now, it was already too late."
He said that, giving a somewhat mean glance to Lu Guangjing, "Now don't say that you want to take care of Caiying. To be honest, I don't trust you. No matter how many mistakes Caiying has made over the years, when she married you, she wanted to have a good life with you. But what about you? I don't want to talk about what happened back then, but had you paid more attention to Caiying's emotions later, she wouldn't have become like this."
"I…"
"You don't need to explain." Lai Yao added, "I know you're sad that Xiao Xi died." He paused and said, "…Xiao Xi was a good kid, and now it can be regarded as Caiying's retribution."
Li Yao sighed, and Lu Guangjing's heart trembled, "Wei'an…"
"Don't mention Wei'an to me." Li Yao coldly averted his eyes, "Caiying wronged Xiao Xi, but she has never wronged Wei'an in the slightest. Since Wei'an feels that his life was worse than death all these years because Caiying's obsession forced him to live, then the Li family has nothing more to say to him."
"I…"
"Alright, you can go now."
Once again, Li Yao interrupted Lu Guangjing's words and instructed the housekeeper to send Lu Guangjing out. The Li family no longer wanted to have anything to do with the Lu family. After sending Lu Guangjing away, Li Yao turned and went to Li Caiying's room. The doctor said that Caiying had just fallen asleep after being sedated. Lai Yao looked at his sister's pale, thin face and let out a deep sigh. He didn't know how Caiying had gotten her life into this mess. The elder son she had given her heart and soul to was a white-eyed wolf, and the younger son who was well-behaved and sensible had died early. The man she had held onto all her life was a wimp, and she was paranoid and severely insane in her middle age. If she had known this day would come, would she have still looked at Lu Guangjing back then and insisted on marrying into the Lu family?
There was no one left to give an answer to Li Yao's question.
Lu Guangjing stood at the entrance of the Li family's house and took one last look, hunched over and got back into the car. Caiying had gone mad, Xiao Xi had died, and Wei'an had been sacrificed by the Lu family as a scapegoat. Lu Guangjing had come to Li Yao to see if Li Yao could find a way to save Wei'an but Li Yao… Lu Guangjing couldn't blame Li Yao for being heartless; after all, Caiying had been stimulated by Wei'an. The previous quarrel between Wei'an and Caiying flashed in his mind, and Lu Guangjing shrank back in his seat wearily. He was really unaware that Wei'an had actually been living his life in resentment for so many years.
He and Caiying had put so much thought into Wei'an, but in the end it turned out that they had selfishly forced Wei'an to live, that they had wronged him. Lu Guangjing really didn't know what had gone wrong. Why had Wei'an turned out to be like this? He still remembered how well behaved Wei'an was as a child and how good his relationship with Caiying was. But in the blink of an eye, nothing was the same as he remembered.
When Lu Guangjing arrived home, the house was empty and no one was there, and even the maid had gone somewhere. He sat hunched over on the sofa and looked at the family portrait hanging on the opposite wall… Soon he would be the only one left in the family.
Not far from the Lu family's house on the street, Lu Lingxi looked at the Lu family's house from afar. He had lived there for eighteen years, yet the house still felt unfamiliar.
Yan Yue bought a cup of lemon tea from a roadside cold drink shop and handed it to Lu Lingxi. Lu Lingxi looked away, took the lemon tea and suddenly said, "Big Brother Yan, let's go back to Fengcheng, I miss Mom."
Yan Yue raised his hand, stroked Lu Lingxi's hair and said softly, "Okay."
The two of them talked to Ye Kang, went home and packed their things quickly, and drove away from Zhongjing that afternoon. The highway from Zhongjing to Fengcheng was full of cars and the traffic jam was very bad. Yan Yue casually said, "We should have taken the high speed train back."
Dahei immediately barked, reminding of his existence.
Lu Lingxi laughed, scratched Dahei's chin soothingly and made a call to Wang Shuxiu.
"Mom, Big Brother Yan and I are on our way home. There's a bit of traffic on the highway, it'll probably be night before we get home."
"Why so soon? Didn't you plan to spend a few more days in Zhongjing?" Wang Shuxiu was a little surprised.
Lu Lingxi held the phone and said seriously, "I miss Mom."
"Little bastard." Wang Shuxiu scolded with a smile, "What do you want to eat when you come back tonight? I'll make it for you."
"…glutinous rice ribs."
"Okay."
After hanging up the phone, Wang Shuxiu used her big belly to send Xiao Feng to go buy ribs quickly. If it was any later there would be no good ribs. Xiao Feng took his wallet and prepared to go out, instructing Wang Shuxiu as he was leaving, "Xiaohua, stay at home and don't worry about anything, wait for me to come back to wash the rice."
"I know." Wang Shuxiu glared at him. Xiao Feng smiled and touched Wang Shuxiu's stomach, feeling the baby's movements under his palm. He looked at Wang Shuxiu very tenderly, "Xiaohua, what do you want to eat? I'll buy it too."
"The fridge is full of food, don't buy anything." Wang Shuxiu stopped him.
Xiao Feng smiled and went out, thinking that Xiaohua liked to eat the miso pork from the shop in front of the street. It so happened that Dahei was also going to be back, so Xiao Feng decided he would go and buy some pork for the evening. Xiao Xi liked glutinous rice and lotus roots, and Yan Yue seemed to like the braised pork sold in the same shop. Xiao Feng would get some, as well as… He kept walking, figuring out what to buy, all the family's favourites.
The family? Xiao Feng smiled silently. When the child in Xiaohua's belly was born, they'd just go to take a family portrait again. This time, Yan Yue would also be called and, by the way, there was Xiaohei who had lost a tooth recently.
As if by a tacit agreement, Lu Lingxi was also talking to Yan Yue about having the family photo taken again. "We'll do it when the little brother is born. Big Brother Yan, Dahei, Xiaohei, we'll all go together."
"Okay."
Yan Yue surely didn't mind, and Xiaohei poked his head out of Lu Lingxi's bag when he heard his name, contentedly tying himself in a knot around Lu Lingxi's wrist.
The traffic ahead restarted and Yan Yue's lips curled up as he smiled at Lu Lingxi, stepping on the gas and driving in the direction of home.
Chapter 169
After Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue returned to Fengcheng, their life was the same as before. They spent most of their time at Tiny Garden, and every few days they would visit the plant nursery.
Taking advantage of the fact that the current household registration policy in Fengcheng was not too strict, Yan Yue moved his household registration over to the house in the community without any problems. Lu Lingxi also moved his household registration out of his home and settled with Yan Yue. The day he got his household registration, Yan Yue looked at its contents with satisfaction. The column for the head of the household was filled in with his name, followed by Lu Lingxi's name as the family member.
"Xiao Xi, we are now a family."
As soon as he got into the car, Yan Yue couldn't help but hug Lu Lingxi, smiling at him and lowering his head to kiss him fervently.
Lu Lingxi blushed a little; there were many people outside the household registration office and he didn't know if he should push Yan Yue away. In fact, he was happy in his heart. It was hard to describe the happiness he felt when he saw his name and Yan Yue's name side by side on the same household registration book.
Yan Yue couldn't stop himself from kissing Lu Lingxi greedily. Finally, his sanity prevailed and he reluctantly let go of Lu Lingxi when someone passed the car. He tenderly tidied up Lu Lingxi's messed up hair and discussed, "Shall we treat Ah Kang and the others to a meal at noon, as a celebration?"
"Celebration?" Who knows what Lu Lingxi thought about but the tips of his ears turned red all of a sudden.
Yan Yue was so softened by the look on his face that he moved over, grabbed Lu Lingxi and kissed him several times. "That's it then, I'll call Ah Kang and Fang Lei and the others."
Lu Lingxi nodded with a red face and added after a moment's thought, "Let's call Yi Hang and the others as well."
"Okay."
The place for the meal was chosen in the new branch of the small restaurant. Lu Lingxi called Yi Hang first and asked him to reserve a private room. The new branch of the small restaurant had opened not long ago, and although the floor space was several times that of the first restaurant, it was still crowded with customers and was always full whenever you went there. With the increase in visitors to Fengcheng, the fame of Xiaohua's Home Cooking Restaurant had even spread outside the city. There were customers who came from afar and who waited a long time just to have a meal at Xiaohua's Home Cooking Restaurant.
When he received Lu Lingxi's call, Yi Hang readily agreed. In particular, Lu Lingxi's reason for inviting him for dinner made him unable to hold back his laughter. Speaking of which, Yi Hang had really never thought that Lu Lingxi would like men. Even when Yan Yue and Lu Lingxi went everywhere together at the beginning, Yi Hang didn't suspect anything. It was only when Lu Lingxi took the initiative to confess to him that it dawned on Yi Hang. No wonder Yan Yue had a displeased look on his face whenever Yi Hang approached Lu Lingxi.
After settling on a place for dinner, Yan Yue informed An Jie and the others. When they heard that he and Lu Lingxi were going to treat them to dinner, everyone was enthusiastic. Even Fang Lei, who was the busiest, promised to be on time and not to delay the meal.
Yan Yue smiled as he hung up the phone and looked at Lu Lingxi, "We'll go over first."
Lu Lingxi nodded obediently.
When the two of them arrived, Su Lang, who lived the closest, was already there. He was alone in the room, holding his phone and reading something. Hearing the sound of the door opening, Su Lang put away his phone and looked over with a smile, "Why are you so slow?"
"The street is full of people and the traffic jam is terrible." Yan Yue explained.
Su Lang laughed, "I go out on my bike now, it's much faster than driving."
Yan Yue's heart stirred; the idea of riding a bicycle was a good one. Xiao Xi could sit in the front and he could hold Xiao Xi in his arms all the time. He was thinking whether he should go and buy a bicycle later, when Su Lang started talking about the business, "By the way, I'm going to go to N.T.'s headquarters next week to apply for a foreign patent for the donglingcao medicine as well."
Some time ago Su Lang had already applied for a domestic patent for the donglingcao medicine in the name of Tiny Garden Technology Company and was now preparing for the official production. Their research team was so ambitious that they wanted to apply for the foreign patent too.
Yan Yue naturally didn't object to this. Lu Lingxi listened and asked, "How is Xiaobao doing now?"
Su Lang smiled, his eyes gentle, "Xiaobao has almost recovered and will be able to live like an ordinary person in the future."
"That's good." Lu Lingxi was a little surprised.
Su Lang's eyes flashed strangely when he saw Lu Lingxi's smile, but the strangeness quickly disappeared without a trace. Fang Lei and Ye Kang arrived one after another, and everyone got together, joking and chatting. Su Lang watched Yan Yue and Lu Lingxi holding hands across the table, picked up the phone and deleted a few photos in it. The background of the photos was the primary school in Jing'an District, Zhongjing, where Lu Lingxi was standing at the entrance with Yan Yue, talking to the old man who was guarding the door. Su Lang didn't tell anyone about it but he happened to have been in Zhongjing a few days ago. For some reason that was hard to explain, he took an afternoon off to go to that primary school in Jing'an District.
He never expected to meet Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue at the entrance of the primary school. At that moment, Su Lang thought a lot. The familiarity he faintly felt in Lu Lingxi, his inexplicable closeness to Lu Lingxi, and Lu Lingxi's abnormal attention to donglingcao… Many questions haunted his mind and the answer was about to come out, but Su Lang didn't dare to think about it further.
He hurriedly left that primary school and left Zhongjing to go back to Fengcheng. He sometimes wondered if he was dreaming, but the photos in his phone reminded him of the reality of his memories. Su Lang didn't contact Yan Yue for several days in a row, not knowing whether he should share his doubts or not. When Yan Yue called today, Su Lang suddenly felt relieved when he looked at Lu Lingxi's smiling face. It didn't really matter if the answer was what he had in mind; Lu Lingxi was happy and that was enough.
Time passed in a flash, and it was soon the end of August. Amongst all the news in Fengcheng, the local people were most concerned about the demolition and renovation of Nancheng. News of several major consortia in Zhongjing competing for the Nancheng project were at the forefront, with the Ye family and Hopewell the most likely winners. The two families had been going head-to-head at every turn, fighting all the way from Zhongjing to Fengcheng.
In early September, the Fengcheng government's auction for the Nancheng demolition and renovation project officially began. Yan Shihui brought Yan Hai to Fengcheng personally. Elder Ye of the Ye family was also present at the auction, and he nodded at Yan Shihui from afar, with the look of a man who was bound to win.
"Dad?" Yan Hai called out nervously.
Yan Shihui waved his hand, "This kind of auction is fair, whoever pays the most money will win. Even if the Ye family does something secretly, once we have the money in place, Ye Cheng can't take us down." He was so confident that for this project he had not only syphoned off all the liquidity that Hopewell had, but had also mortgaged all his shares in Hopewell to secure a large loan, larger than ever before. He knew that several of his competitors were strong, but he absolutely had to win the project.
The auction soon began.
Hopewell, the Ye family, the Li family… more than a dozen companies, large and small, all tried to win the project, and the bids on the entire project soared. As the amount became larger and larger, one by one, some companies withdrew from the competition, and finally only Hopewell and the Ye family were left to compete.
Ye Kang was a little nervous; he had grown up in the Ye family seeing a lot of such scenes, but this time the situation was special and he was always mindful of Yan Yue's warning, afraid that the Ye family would fall if they were not careful.
"Three billion." Elder Ye said quietly as he raised his card one last time.
Ye Kang's heart beat wildly and he immediately looked in Yan Shihui's direction. From his perspective, Yan Shihui's face looked a little bad. Although everyone knew that this piece of land was worth a lot of money and could definitely earn it back later if it was operated well, it was important to know that three billion was not the entire investment of this project but just the money for a piece of land in Nancheng. The compensation for demolition and relocation at a later stage was an unpredictable bottomless pit. To be honest, based on the Ye family's strength it was already a bit strenuous now, and Ye Kang suspected it would be even more strenuous for Hopewell with its financial situation.
Just as Ye Kang focused on Yan Shihui, the eyes of the whole room basically were on Yan Shihui too. Yan Shihui took a deep breath; the amount of money in the competition for the project had far exceeded his expectations by now, and the funds in his hands were no longer enough for this bid. Yan Shihui gave a veiled glance at Elder Ye, who still looked as if he was winning. He wondered if Elder Ye had some inside information, such as the rumours of a "capital relocation" that were secretly circulating in Zhongjing. After a few seconds of hesitation, Yan Shihui decisively raised his card and offered a higher amount than the Ye family.
The eyes of the audience shifted back to Elder Ye. A hint of cunning flashed in the old man's eyes and he made a gesture of giving up. Not surprisingly, Hopewell took the land. Yan Shihui nodded at Elder Ye with a sense of satisfaction. Without a word, the old man dragged Ye Kang straight out of the venue. In the eyes of the people around, it was more like the old man was angry at losing the competition.
Outside the venue, Elder Ye got into his car slowly and narrowed his eyes at Ye Kang, "I did such a big favour to the Yue kid, how is he going to thank me?"
Ye Kang felt that he was simply going to be scared to death by the old man. Sniffing somewhat helplessly, he said, "What does Grandpa want?"
Elder Ye had some regrets; he had always been quite optimistic about Yan Yue. "It's a pity that the Yue kid doesn't like girls, your little cousin has just graduated, she is quite a good match for the Yue kid." Speaking of this, Elder Ye suddenly gave Ye Kang a suspicious look, "Ah Kang, you've been avoiding dating, you don't like boys too, do you? Who do you like? Ah Yue? Or that assistant next to Ah Yue? You don't like that cop, do you?"
"…" Ye Kang turned his head with a distorted expression; that was why he was hiding and wouldn't go home. The old man was thinking of catching him for a blind date all the time, and once he objected, there was no telling who the old man would matchmake him with.
Ye Kang almost woefully rolled out of the car and hurriedly told the old man that he was going to find Yan Yue. The old man sighed, "Actually, Ah Kang and the Yue kid are quite a good match, it's a pity that someone else has gotten to him first."
The driver who had been silently acting as a background: "…"
After the bidding was over, the development of Nancheng was quickly put on the agenda. Yan Shihui gritted his teeth and borrowed another sum of money, speedily relocating a third of the residents within the development area. With all eyes on him, Yan Shihui shovelled the first spade of soil and the engineering team soon followed, digging according to his directions.
One metre, two metres, three metres, four metres, when the digging reached five metres, the excavator suddenly came to a halt. The driver poked his head out and gestured to the ground, "Something doesn't feel right."
"What's wrong?" Yan Shihui asked when he saw it stop.
The next moment, a torrent of water rushed up into the sky, and the mud faded away, revealing the gnarled roots that looked like a dragon beneath.
A bad feeling arose in Yan Shihui's heart, "Try digging around."
The team spread out to the surrounding area, and for thousands of metres, the ground was full of roots several people thick, like a dragon lying in the dark brown soil in endless coils. Before Yan Shihui could think of a solution, the news had already spread. The entire city of Fengcheng was immediately shaken, and countless crowds of people came to the scene. The expert group sent people to secure the scene as quickly as possible and began further investigations. As for Yan Shihui's project, who would care?
While the eyes of the whole of Fengcheng were fixed on Nancheng, Lu Lingxi's family was in the midst of chaos.
Ten months (meaning lunar months) into her pregnancy, the child in Wang Shuxiu's belly was finally about to be born.
"Quick, I'll take Xiaohua to the hospital first, Xiao Xi, you pack up and follow." Xiao Feng carrieded Wang Shuxiu and hurriedly ran towards the car. Everything just started and he was already covered in sweat.
Lu Lingxi nodded as he darted around to sort out the things he had prepared beforehand. Clothes, towels, baby blankets, diapers… "What else?" He asked nervously, rushing to Yan Yue.
Yan Yue checked against the list, "Is there a milk bottle missing?"
"Huh? Right." Lu Lingxi hurriedly searched for the bottle. The family had prepared four baby bottles alone. They were of different sizes and models. He simply took them all with him so that they could use whichever one the doctor ordered.
After a lot of fussing, the two of them arrived at the hospital with a big bag and a small bag. Wang Shuxiu was in good condition and had already been sent to the delivery room.
Lu Lingxi was apprehensive and nervous, "Is Mom going to be okay?"
"She will definitely be fine." Yan Yue's voice had a calming power.
Lu Lingxi breathed a sigh of relief and gently leaned into Yan Yue's arms as he waited for the new life to be born.
Chapter 170
Someone once said that the most beautiful sound in the world is the cry of a newborn baby.
Lu Lingxi didn't have much insight into this before, but when the nurse held the bathed and wrapped baby in front of him and he listened to the baby's little monkey-like cry, Lu Lingxi felt his heart melting.
He and Yan Yue were at a loss for words when the nurse smiled, "The baby is very obedient, weighing four kilograms fifty grams. Where is the baby's father?"
The baby's father was too busy fussing around Wang Shuxiu at the moment to even look at the baby. "Where do you feel uncomfortable, Xiaohua? Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat? Or do you want to take a nap first?"
Although the birth went well, Wang Shuxiu's body was a little weak because of her age. Until Xiao Feng mentioned it, she didn't feel hungry, but now she did a little. But before eating, Wang Shuxiu thought about the baby, "Where's the baby?"
The nurse came in with the baby in her arms, followed by Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue carrying the chicken soup.
Wang Shuxiu gently held the baby and looked at it carefully for a long time before looking up and smiling at Lu Lingxi, "He looks almost exactly the same as Xiao Xi when he was little."
"Really?" Lu Lingxi moved over and looked at the little red monkey.
Wang Shuxiu nodded, her gaze tender as she looked at the baby. Although her hair was messy and her face was a little pale, in Xiao Feng's eyes, Xiaohua seemed to look at her best.
The family of four was secluded in the hospital room, all focused on the newborn baby, and no one paid any attention to the various rumours circulating in Fengcheng. A few days later, when Wang Shuxiu was discharged from the hospital with the baby in her arms, Lu Lingxi learnt that something had gone wrong with the renovation project in Nancheng and the situation underground in Fengcheng was completely exposed to the public.
At the expert group's station in Nancheng, the group leader Zhu Xiaowei distributed the underground exploration report in his hands to the group members. "The latest exploration report is out, and what can be confirmed so far is that the entire underground of Fengcheng is covered with coiled and gnarled roots of willows, tangled together like a large net."
This was simply an incredible thing. One expert looked puzzled, "According to the tests of the age of the willows on the ground, the oldest willows have only been planted for ten years, and more have been planted for a few years or even a year. How could their roots be so developed?"
Another expert interjected, "Is it evolution?"
"What about the water storage? How can you explain the fact that the willows' underground roots are full of water?"
"Do you remember the abnormal weather in Fengcheng? It hasn't rained much since the beginning of spring, yet it's not dry at all, the soil is completely moist when you dig it. Could it be related to the water storage in the willow trees' roots?"
"Yes, yes, several of the surrounding cities are in a state of drought, but Fengcheng is the only one that doesn't lack water. We've been unable to find the cause, but now it really seems to be related to the water storage of the willow trees' roots."
"But why do the willow trees store water? Have they become conscious and sense the approach of drought in advance? Note that not only one willow tree is like this, but all the willow roots we found are like this, which is already in the realm of group consciousness."
Several of the experts expressed their opinions; this was the first time they had encountered such a situation. After their search for the cause of Fengcheng City's overall evolution had stalled, the discovery in Nancheng was like a ray of light.
"Group leader, a new discovery."
"What?"
"A map of the underground alignment based on an echo detector."
"Look, although Fengcheng City is covered with roots underground, several of the main roots have been expanding towards the north."
"North? What's to the north?"
"Do you guys still remember that village? Lingshui Village, the one where the whole village has evolved. They have a hundred year old large willow tree in the village, could it be related to this willow tree?"
In the past, when the expert group investigated, they focused on the people and didn't pay too much attention to the plants in Fengcheng. This time the discovery in Nancheng drew all their attention to the plants they had overlooked in the past, especially the countless green willows planted on both sides of the roads.
The expert team rushed to Lingshui Village almost immediately and brought in the most famous botanist in China. After carefully studying the form of the big willow tree and the green willows planted in Fengcheng, the other side affirmed two things. Firstly, tracing the roots back to their origins, the large willow tree in Lingshui Village was the mother tree of most of the willows in Fengcheng, which could explain why the underground root system was expanding towards the north. Although the scientific community had not yet found a theoretical basis for this, the available experiments proved that there was conscious transmission between homologous plants. Secondly, he believed that the large willow tree in Lingshui Village was already a higher-level evolutionary form. The other willows in Fengcheng had evolved more in 'imitation' of the Big Willow. This group evolution might also be the reason for the evolution of Fengcheng as a whole.
In response to the group's question about the cause of the willow's evolution, the botanist interviewed the village elders and concluded that it was related to the willow's resurrection from the dead a year ago. Perhaps the lightning strike created a special circulation of energy within the willow, or perhaps some magical substance entered the willow through the lightning. In short, there must have been an external cause that prompted the Big Willow Tree's mutation. And this was also consistent with the timing of the changes in Fengcheng.
These explanations gave the group a direction, and the group focused almost entirely on deciphering the secrets of the willow tree. In this way, the whole of Fengcheng knew that the Big Willow Tree in Lingshui Village was the key to human evolution, and for a while Lingshui Village replaced Nancheng and became the focus of attention in China.
Uncle Li called Lu Lingxi and complained that the arrival of the expert group had disrupted the normal life of the village.
"There are troops everywhere, the whole Lingshui Village is surrounded. It's not even convenient to go out and buy a barrel of oil. Only after the village head told them did they send each family two barrels of oil and a bit of rice and flour or something."
What Uncle Li described was exactly the reality of the current situation in Lingshui Village. Because of the importance of the big willow tree, the government had stepped in to take over the village and no outsiders were allowed to enter. There were rumours that the villagers were originally going to be moved out, but the villagers objected collectively and the proposal was scrapped.
Lu Lingxi also applied for an entry permit because the plant nursery was in the village. However, he felt a bit guilty. Under the pretext of watching the baby at home, he hadn't been to Lingshui Village recently. Uncle Li stepped in to deal with the plant nursery.
In fact, at the very beginning the expert group also approached Lu Lingxi. According to the investigation, all the green willows planted in Fengcheng City came from a place called the Qiu Tian plant nursery. And nearly a year ago, something happened to the person in charge of the Qiu Tian plant nursery and it was resold to Tiny Garden. The expert team followed the trail and found the address of Tiny Garden, originally wanting to ask Lu Lingxi what he knew. As a result, before Lu Lingxi could say anything, the big willow tree caught the group's attention. By the time the expert group found out that Tiny Garden's plant nursery was located in Lingshui Village, they ruled out Lu Lingxi's suspicion and decided that he was just a lucky guy.
Uncle Li also knew about this and was very understanding of Lu Lingxi's reluctance to go to the plant nursery. The two talked on the phone for a long time before Lu Lingxi hung up the phone.
"What's the news?" Yan Yue asked him when he finished.
Lu Lingxi shook his head, "It's still the same as before, all kinds of research on the big willow tree. But when Uncle Li heard that someone was proposing to move the big willow tree to Zhongjing, the villagers were privately cursing."
Yan Yue laughed, "Such a proposal is simply impossible to realise, it's obvious at a glance, this person just pretends not to understand it. There is no shortage of such people at all times, but there is nothing anyone can do if the Great Willow Tree doesn't want to leave."
He said it in a funny way, and Lu Lingxi couldn't help but laugh along with him. The roots of the Great Willow Tree covered the entire northern suburbs; it was not something that could be relocated with a single word at all.
Yan Yue thought about it and said, "Let's go to Lingshui Village sometime, it's a bit strange to keep avoiding it like this."
Lu Lingxi nodded obediently.
Since the two decided to go, they didn't delay much, and the next day they talked to Uncle Li and drove to Lingshui Village. Even though Lu Lingxi had an entry and exit permit, they still went through layers of checkpoints on the way before finally entering Lingshui Village. Knowing that Lu Lingxi was coming, Uncle Li was most happy. Some time ago, Auntie Li had sewn several sets of clothes for the baby. Because of the arrival of the expert group, these clothes were still at home. Auntie Li said several times that if the baby didn't wear them now, he would outgrow them.
Uncle Li smiled and called Lu Lingxi, "Come on, let's go home for dinner first."
Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue waited until closing Tiny Garden before coming here, just in time for the evening meal. The two didn't refuse and followed Uncle Li to his house. As they passed by the big willow tree, Lu Lingxi took a look from afar. There were a lot of people around the big willow tree and the villagers were not allowed to go near it. In the past, Xiao Shi used to climb the willow tree and tease Ah Huang with a branch, but since the arrival of the expert group, these actions had been banned. It was said that the expert team was very nervous about the willow tree, and even if it dropped a leaf, it had to be collected like a treasure.
After dinner, Lu Lingxi visited the plant nursery and stayed in the village for the night. In the middle of the night, Dahei suddenly barked urgently. Lu Lingxi woke up in a daze; Yan Yue had already gotten up, opened the door and let Dahei in.
Xiaohei got out from under the pillow and hissed at Yan Yue.
Yan Yue and Lu Lingxi looked at each other and said quickly, "Earthquake."
The two of them didn't bother with anything else, hurriedly put on their clothes and went out. Lu Lingxi called home while walking, eager to warn Wang Shuxiu. Before the call was connected, a huge tremor came from the ground. Lu Lingxi grabbed Yan Yue to stand still. The white panel suddenly floated in front of him.
Plant Name: Third-class weeping willow
Plant needs: none
Plant vitality: very high
Plant status: Third level peak
Plant evolution conditions triggered, do you choose to evolve?
Lu Lingxi: "…"
"Xiao Xi?" Yan Yue saw that he didn't look right and called out in a low voice.
"It's probably not an earthquake, it's the big willow tree that's going to evolve." Lu Lingxi said looking at Yan Yue, not sure if he should choose to evolve. There were researchers everywhere outside now, in case… while he was still hesitating, a bigger tremor came through and there were thick roots poking out of the ground, firmly locking the house behind the two.
"…it's not evolution, it's an earthquake." Yan Yue frowned.
Lu Lingxi's eyes widened in surprise as the lights in the village lit up in turn. Wang Shuxiu's voice came from the phone, "Xiao Xi, it's an earthquake, where are you guys?"
"Mom, we're outside, it's safe now, Dahei warned us in advance."
Wang Shuxiu breathed a sigh of relief. Xiao Feng had already packed up and stood with the child in his arms. She didn't have time to say anything else and hurriedly hung up the phone.
Knowing that Wang Shuxiu was fine, Lu Lingxi felt relieved. The vibrations were still going on underground, and Lu Lingxi looked at the white panel floating in front of him and decisively chose "yes". He had been worried that the evolution of the big willow tree would attract the attention of the researchers, in case someone suspected that he and Yan Yue had appeared too coincidentally. But now with the earthquake as a cover, no one would suspect that the earthquake was artificially manipulated, right?
As Lu Lingxi chose "yes", the white panel changed again. The green prompt faded and the entire underground of Fengcheng City appeared in front of him. From the panel, he could see that the roots of the big willow tree had once again extended and had reached deep into the urban area of Fengcheng, entwining with the roots of the willow trees underneath Fengcheng.
The green font surfaced, "The evolution of the fourth level weeping willow has been completed, and the willow ecological community has been extended into a standard urban unit, rewarding the plant hearts +20,000 and the power of nature +20."
Without waiting for Lu Lingxi to express his surprise, another line of green font surfaced, "Collect 100,000 points of plant hearts, purify a standard ecological city, meet system upgrade criteria, evolve the system into the heart of the planet."
The green font disappeared, and a faint blue light radiated from Lu Lingxi's body, gradually coalescing into a football-sized blue orb of light in the air.
Lu Lingxi looked at the orb of light in surprise, and Yan Yue suddenly asked, "What is this?"
"Can you see it, Big Brother Yan?"
Yan Yue: "…"
Lu Lingxi calmed down, "It's so beautiful."
The orb of light in front of him emitted a luminous light blue glow. The inside of the orb was not static; countless colourful dots flowed around, like a river of multicoloured stars. In the centre of the orb was a world the size of a fist, in which the four seasons changed and everything grew, a realistic simulation of the planet's way of working.
Lu Lingxi carefully stretched out his hand and touched the orb in front of him. The orb of light dispersed, the colourful spots of light re-entered his body, and the small world in the centre slowly sank into the ground in front of him. Lu Lingxi grasped Yan Yue's hand and closed his eyes. A magical feeling lingered in the hearts of the two of them. They seemed to hear the sound of water flowing through the ground, infiltrating the land. The green grass began to sprout and colourful flowers bloomed around. Water flowed through many places, from plateaus to basins, from valleys to deserts, the entire planet seemed to be slowly awakening, and the chronic diseases of human activities were slowly healed. The world became alive again, restored to a healthy vibrancy.
The two opened their eyes again and it was already dawn. The golden sunrise was glowing on the horizon. As the light spilled down, Lu Lingxi felt as if something had changed, but he couldn't describe it clearly for a moment. Yan Yue held his hand tightly, and the two of them interlocked their fingers, smiling at the same time.
The vibrations underground in the middle of the night had long since stopped, and peace had returned to the outside. Lu Lingxi called home and knew that everything was fine, the little baby had slept through the night and didn't even feel them tossing and turning. In the morning he and Yan Yue went to have breakfast at Uncle Li's house to find out that the earthquake detected in Fengcheng last night was Level 7, but because the big willow tree roots slowed down the vibration, the tremor manifested was less than Level 4. It was said that there were no casualties and very little material damage in the whole of Fengcheng, with only a few houses that were too dilapidated collapsing.
After this earthquake, the Great Willow Tree was put on a pedestal, but all this had nothing to do with Lu Lingxi anymore.
His and Yan Yue's life was the same as ever, Tiny Garden, Lingshui Village and home, three points in a circle, with the occasional visit to the Qiu Tian plant nursery. Zhugang, copaiba balsam trees, evolved begonias, Tiny Garden Technology Company under their name were going well, and the past that had once troubled them was left far behind. Whether it was Hopewell and the Yan family or the Zhongjing Lu family, they gradually faded out of the sight of the media and were completely removed from Lu Lingxi's and Yan Yue's lives.
Three months later, on New Year's Eve.
Lu Lingxi's family got together enthusiastically. Wang Shuxiu and Zhou Xiaoman sat in the living room watching TV while waiting for dinner. Xiao Feng and Xiao Hong were busy in the kitchen, and Yan Yue was in the backyard setting off fireworks, holding Lu Lingxi in his arms.
Bang!
The sky was full of stars exploding in mid-air, and countless gorgeous spots of light scattered around. Lu Lingxi quickly rose on his toes and kissed Yan Yue. The corners of Yan Yue's lips curled up as he unbuttoned his coat and hugged Lu Lingxi into it.
"Xiao Xi, I love you."
"I know, Big Brother Yan, I love you too."
The two figures melted into one, their moment of happiness caught in eternity.
Translator's note: This is the end of the main story Extras 1-4 are Fang Lei x Xiaohui (Xiaohui turns into a human… do I really need to say this?) Extra 5 is Xiao Xi and Yan Yue.