Pastoral Daily Life

Throughout March, Lu Lingxi was concerned about the breeding of the evolved moso bamboo. Zheng Xinhe had to go back to Zhongjing and had arranged for some of his students to come over to take care of this matter.

At the beginning of April, the temperature in Fengcheng had already reached an average of 25 degrees Celsius. Lu Lingxi once heard one of his students cursing the weather, worrying that it might affect the transplanting of the bamboo from the laboratory into the soil. After all, the newborn plants had a very high demand for water, and if the soil didn’t have enough water, they could only rely on artificial watering later.

In fact, the number of times it had rained since the beginning of spring throughout northern China could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and there were already signs of drought. The spring ploughing in many places had been affected, and the lack of water was currently the biggest problem in the north. Zheng Xinhe knew all this, and when he spoke to Lu Lingxi on the phone, he couldn’t help but feel a little worried.

Lu Lingxi wasn’t as worried as Zheng Xinhe. He had visited Lingshui Village several times and found no signs of drought at all. Because of the water storage function of the third-stage evolution of the big willow, it continuously absorbed enough water from the groundwater and the Lingshui River, and then discharged it to the ground through the root system. Throughout the area covered by the willow ecological community, the water content of the soil had been maintained at a high level, and there was no shortage of water for the time being.

He said this to Zheng Xinhe but Zheng Xinhe didn’t seem to believe it much. Although he didn’t say it clearly, the subtext was that Lu Lingxi didn’t need to comfort him like this, he was already prepared for the worst.

Lu Lingxi hung up the phone somewhat upset, intending to wait for Zheng Xinhe to come to Fengcheng in a few days to personally take him to Lingshui Village for a look.

He was in a bad mood and Yan Yue could see it at a glance. He put down the file in his hand and waved at Lu Lingxi, asking, “What? Did you have another disagreement with Zheng Xinhe?”

Lu Lingxi shook his head and sat down next to Yan Yue and told him about Zheng Xinhe’s concerns. Yan Yue habitually took Lu Lingxi into his arms, raised his hand to rub his hair and said with a smile, “Xiao Xi is also worried about this? Haven’t we already visited Lingshui Village and seen that there is no shortage of water?”

“The problem is that Uncle Zheng doesn’t believe me, he always thinks I’m fooling him. Although Uncle Zheng doesn’t say so, in his heart he must be thinking that if only the bamboo forest had been in Shuchuan, he wouldn’t have to worry about experiencing a drought.” Lu Lingxi said sullenly.

Yan Yue frowned slightly; Zheng Xinhe was a nice person, but he did have some stubborn insistence in certain aspects. There were some things that couldn’t be explained to Zheng Xinhe, like the special circumstances of Tiny Garden, so they had already had a few minor disagreements this month. He kissed Lu Lingxi soothingly on the forehead and said softly, “Next time you encounter this kind of situation, let me talk to Zheng Xinhe.”

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Lu Lingxi curved his eyes and the corners of his lips curled up, his expression a bit sly, “Big Brother Yan, didn’t you notice that Uncle Zheng always makes a point of calling me every time?”

Lu Lingxi had a soft temper and was easy to discuss things with, unlike Yan Yue who had such a strong attitude and was quite aggressive in his arguments. Zheng Xinhe always avoided Yan Yue to find Lu Lingxi unless it was necessary to deal with Yan Yue directly.

Yan Yue’s eyebrows rose at Lu Lingxi’s words, and he lowered his head to nibble Lu Lingxi’s lips slightly harder, chuckling, “Do you still refuse to go to Big Brother Yan when things get tough?”

Lu Lingxi pursed his lips and smiled; after a long time he said seriously, “I also want to help Big Brother Yan do something.”

His words were like a sharp sword, piercing the softest part of Yan Yue’s heart. Yan Yue’s gaze was gentle and he tenderly kissed Lu Lingxi. The two of them lingered for a moment, and Lu Lingxi leaned into Yan Yue’s arms, accompanying him as Yan Yue read the information on the table.

This time, in cooperation with Zheng Xinhe, the company behind Yan Yue, Dezhi Investment, didn’t fund the project. It was the Ye family’s investment instead. After he and Zheng Xinhe made a deal, Ye Kang participated in the name of the Ye family. In addition, they were attached to the Fengcheng City government’s science and technology support project, which amounted to a four-way cooperation. This involved Tiny Garden providing the raw materials, Zheng Xinhe providing the technology, the Ye family being responsible for all the funding, and the Fengcheng City government only needing to be their front man.

Yan Yue had given Lu Lingxi a detailed analysis of this matter. The prospects of Zhugang were vast, and based on the finished product Zheng Xinhe had made so far, it was only a matter of time before Zhugang replaced the existence of steel. In this way, they wouldn’t be facing one or two competing companies, but an entire steel industry, and the interests involved would be too huge to be resisted by Tiny Garden alone. Yan Yue discussed it with Zheng Xinhe when they first talked about cooperation, and if the two didn’t have the participation of the Fengcheng authorities and the Ye family, Zheng Xinhe was actually thinking of establishing a relationship with Shuchuan. He had a lot of contacts in Shuchuan and knew several government people. Just like Yan Yue planned, Zheng Xinhe was also preparing to use the government to be their front man.

Lu Lingxi looked at the information and remembered what Yan Yue had said. He raised his head and asked, “Will Brother Ye stay in Fengcheng?”

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Yan Yue said, “Not necessarily. Elder Ye is very optimistic about Zhugang’s project, so he may not feel comfortable just leaving Ah Kang here. Besides, Ah Kang has little interest in these things. Elder Ye may send Ah Kang’s second brother over.”

“Then won’t other people know about you staying in Fengcheng, Big Brother Yan?” It was this that Lu Lingxi was worried about.

Yan Yue hugged him and changed his position, not really caring, “Hopewell is in a mess right now, Father can’t care about me for a while. Besides…” he paused, kissed Lu Lingxi’s earlobe and said, “I have Xiao Xi.”

“What?” Lu Lingxi was somewhat bewildered and confused.

Yan Yue chuckled and kissed from Lu Lingxi’s ear to his lips. After the kiss he explained, “Although I didn’t want to admit it, I understood in my heart that I didn’t have the strength to compete with my father in the past.”

Although Yan Yue had initially taken advantage of his illness to quit Hopewell mostly to stay by Lu Lingxi’s side, his awkward position at Hopewell was another reason. Yan Shihui was blatantly biassed in favour of Yan Hai, and Yan Yue could only choose to take a step back himself if he didn’t want to directly confront his father. In fact he didn’t have the strength to confront Yan Shihui at that time either.

Yan Yue continued, “Xiao Xi, you remember what I said before? When I was a child, my father always groomed me as the heir to Hopewell. As for Grandpa, he always said that Hopewell would be mine in the future… Although I don’t like Hopewell much because of my family, there was no denying that the belief that Hopewell was mine was sort of ingrained in my heart.”

It was one thing for Yan Yue to dislike Hopewell himself and it was another thing for Yan Hai and Yin Ya to try to rob him of his things. Yan Yue loathed their existence, and even less wanted to acknowledge that Yan Shihui and Yin Qinglan had abandoned him for the sake of their later children. The reason he was fighting for Hopewell was more to prove himself than anything else.

“I neither wanted to give up what was mine, nor did I have the strength to fight against my father, so I had to back off and stay away from Hopewell. My original intention was to wait until Yin Ya and Yan Hai fought each other and were both defeated before going back, and I was even mentally prepared that it might take three or five years. But I never thought I would meet Xiao Xi…”

Lu Lingxi’s existence was like a gift from heaven to Yan Yue. Not only was he the love of Yan Yue’s life, satisfying the thirst of Yan Yue’s heart, but he also showed Yan Yue a magical world, a future with endless possibilities. Yan Yue wanted what was rightfully his and he wouldn’t give it up, but unlike a year ago, he now had the strength to face his father openly.

What Yan Yue said was still a little incomprehensible to Lu Lingxi. Yan Yue looked at his ignorant look and his heart felt soft. He hugged Lu Lingxi and seriously said: “Xiao Xi, just know that you are a great help to Big Brother Yan. Without you, Big Brother Yan wouldn’t have the opportunity to cooperate with Gao Yongliang, wouldn’t have donglingcao, wouldn’t have Zhugang and wouldn’t have the courage to challenge his father.”

Lu Lingxi blushed a little as he heard it and said in a small voice, “These are all the credit of the panel, not mine. Besides without Big Brother Yan, there wouldn’t be Tiny Garden now. I still have to thank Big Brother Yan for that.”

He said it seriously. Yan Yue smiled slightly and whispered, “No, it’s Big Brother Yan who has to thank Xiao Xi.”

There were many things that Lu Lingxi didn’t know, and Yan Yue hoped that Lu Lingxi would never know for the rest of his life.