Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue went to the plant nursery again in the evening and signed a contract with Yu Xiaojuan to rent the land. According to the law, arable land in rural China had a contract period of thirty years, and during the contract period, the contractor had the right to transfer the right to manage the land. Yu Xiaojuan’s family’s land had just been allocated to them the year before last, and there were still 28 years to go before the contract expired. Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue discussed the matter and signed a five-year contract.
As farming was not profitable nowadays, most of these lands were usually deserted, so it was good to have someone to rent them. The rent was not very expensive. According to the calculation of 1,000 yuan per acre of land per year, the total cost was less than 40,000 yuan. To Yan Yue, this was nothing, but to Lu Lingxi, 40,000 yuan was equivalent to three months of his profit. This was only the prerequisite investment; later there were seeds to be bought, the plant nursery to be planned, and a greenhouse to be built since winter was approaching. Lu Lingxi counted the money on his card and once again deeply realised the problem: spending money was much faster than making money.
After signing the contract for the land, Lu Lingxi thought of asking Uncle Li to find another worker. The size of the plant nursery doubled and it would be impossible to rely on Uncle Li alone. Moreover, Uncle Li was getting older; even though he said he would be fine, Lu Lingxi was still not sure.
After hearing Lu Lingxi’s words, Uncle Li hesitated for a few seconds and asked tentatively, “What do you think of Yu Xiaojuan?”
Lu Lingxi was taken aback for a moment and subconsciously looked at Yan Yue. His soft-hearted sympathy for Yu Xiaojuan was his own business, but Tiny Garden was a joint business between him and Yan Yue, and it was not up to him alone to say whether someone was suitable for hiring or not, it also depended on Yan Yue’s opinion.
When he received Lu Lingxi’s gaze, Yan Yue lowered his head slightly. He had met Yu Xiaojuan before and had a good impression of her. The work in the plant nursery was not heavy, but rather required patience and meticulousness. Compared to finding someone with unknown roots, Yu Xiaojuan had Uncle Li as a guarantee to reassure them. Unlike the simple kindness of the young man, Yan Yue’s view was more practical.
Different from Wang Shuxiu’s pungency, Yu Xiaojuan had a kind of obedient forbearance. She was not very educated, had a formal attitude towards them and was still a bit overwhelmed, but you could tell from her attitude towards Uncle Li that she knew how to be grateful. Hiring her to work in the plant nursery at this time was not only helping her in her situation, but also giving her a kind of identity. Yu Xiaojuan would be more dedicated to the plant nursery and her work out of gratitude than someone who came to work in the plant nursery just for the money. If things went smoothly in the plant nursery, Lu Lingxi would be able to worry a little less in the future.
As soon as Yan Yue nodded, Lu Lingxi immediately nodded to Uncle Li. Uncle Li looked at Lu Lingxi with a smile, “The child has a good heart, and good people get rewarded.”
Yu Xiaojuan didn’t leave after signing the lease contract and stayed to help Grandma Li with the cooking. She was actually less than thirty this year, and was good-looking, but the hardships of life had made her look and feel even older than Wang Shuxiu. When she heard Uncle Li say that Lu Lingxi’s plant nursery was looking for someone to hire and offered her to sign the contract, Yu Xiaojuan froze for a moment, and then her eyes reddened slightly.
She was stupid and couldn’t say anything nice, so she held back for a long time and came up with a sentence, “Grandpa, I really didn’t take the hotel guest’s mobile phone. I will definitely do my job in the plant nursery properly.”
Uncle Li smiled and nodded.
That night, Lu Lingxi didn’t stay at the plant nursery, but rushed back to Fengcheng overnight. Yan Yue drove him all the way back to the community. The deeper you went into the community, the more the weeds on the ground flourished. Even the flower beds in the community that were not much tended to on a regular basis, had flowers blooming extraordinarily well.
Yan Yue glanced out the window. Not only the weeds on the ground, but also many of the vegetables and fruits planted in the small courtyards of the first floors were all growing well. Under the dim streetlights, the decrepit neighbourhood looked full of shadows and actually had a feeling of an ecological garden.
The closer you got to Building 3, the more obvious this feeling became. The neighbourhood where Lu Lingxi lived was almost thirty years old, and after decades of weathering, most of the walls of the residential buildings were peeling off, with black spots and patches, and occasionally covered with moss, very ugly to look at. However, something was going on with Building 3 and two neighbouring buildings. Climbing plants started to grow on the walls, and in a matter of days they had reached the height of the third floor, covering the peeling walls and making them look much cleaner.
As you stood downstairs on a summer’s evening, the breeze was cool and the green plants were full of shadow, almost sweeping away the sweltering heat of the summer.
“Here we are.” Looking away and steadily parking the car in front of the building, Yan Yue said to Lu Lingxi who was on the passenger side.
Lu Lingxi smiled and unbuckled his seatbelt while admonishing, “Big Brother Yan, don’t go yet, I’ll go pick some tomatoes for you to eat.”
Lu Lingxi’s tomatoes had become famous in the neighbourhood, and from time to time, neighbours who had a good relationship with Wang Shuxiu would come to their door and want to buy some. During this time, while looking for a place to open the restaurant, Wang Shuxiu was boiling tomato sauce and selling it to the bun shop. The income was actually not bad, and it strengthened her determination to open a small restaurant.
Hearing Lu Lingxi’s words, Yan Yue smiled and said indulgently, “Okay.”
The young man’s mind was pure and beautiful. He didn’t seem to know much about the world. Getting along with people came entirely from his heart. When you were kind to him, he would be a little overwhelmed and then return the favour twofold. The tomatoes, for example, might not seem worth much to others, but they were grown by the boy himself. In his eyes these tomatoes were good. He had no other complicated thoughts, simply sharing what he thought was good and repaying the kindness of others. Dong Zhi, Ye Kang, Uncle Li and even a few of Tiny Garden’s regular customers had all eaten the tomatoes brought by Lu Lingxi. Of course, Yan Yue ate the most among them.
Lu Lingxi’s figure quickly disappeared in the corridor, with Dahei calmly following behind him. Yan Yue looked at his back almost greedily, his heart no longer satisfied with this brief time together. He wanted to spend more time with the young man. Yan Yue’s eyes swept over the house next door, a wall away from Lu Lingxi’s, and his fingers tapped on the steering wheel as an idea was born in his mind.
After sending Yan Yue off, Lu Lingxi took Dahei back to the house. Wang Shuxiu was in the kitchen cleaning canning jars used for tomato sauce.
Lu Lingxi finished wiping Dahei’s paws, washed his hands and went to help in the kitchen. Wang Shuxiu asked a few questions about the plant nursery and sighed when she heard Lu Lingxi mention Yu Xiaojuan. For a woman, it was much harder to live in the world than for a man. She had heard so much about men passing away and women working hard to support their mothers-in-law and raise their children, but rarely would one hear about a woman passing away and a man working hard to take care of his mother-in-law. Mostly it wouldn’t be long before he would find another woman and simply leave the children to be raised by a stepmother. And as for the late wife’s mother, it would be considered conscientious to go to see her during the New Year holidays.
“It’s not easy for everyone, so it’s good to give a hand.” Wang Shuxiu said.
Lu Lingxi nodded obediently.
Wang Shuxiu hesitated for a moment and mentioned something. When Brother Feng heard that she was looking for a place, he specifically contacted her. He said that the house next door to the card and chess parlour he owned happened to be for rent; the facade was the right size and the price was not expensive, so Wang Shuxiu could go and have a look when she had time.
Wang Shuxiu had no problem with the place, but once she heard that it was next door to the card and chess parlour, she was a bit unhappy. Brother Feng proposed it with a good intention, and he also said that the restaurant would have a regular clientele, the people from the card and chess parlour coming to eat in her restaurant. Wang Shuxiu’s heart was in a bit of turmoil. When Lu Yishui spent day and night in the card and chess parlour without coming home, she was thinking cruelly that she wished that one day Lu Yishui would starve to death outside. She thought that the families of those people in the card and chess parlour might have the same thoughts as she did. Now that she opened a restaurant next door to the card and chess parlour, it would be even more convenient for them not to go home. Wouldn’t it be like stabbing someone in the back?
But Wang Shuxiu had asked around, and the house that Brother Feng had mentioned was really suitable. The price was also very fair, and the location was good. Not counting the card and chess parlour, there was a lot of traffic around. She was a bit worried that if she missed out on this place, she would not be able to find another suitable place for a while. What should she do? You can’t sit and eat mountain air. Besides, seeing the hard work of the little bastard who left early and returned late every day, although Wang Shuxiu didn’t say anything, she also knew that it was not easy to make money for him. The little bastard was going to expand his plant nursery recently, didn’t he need money for that? They couldn’t keep on owing Yan Yue, that wouldn’t be nice. She just wanted to make some money earlier and help the little bastard.
Wang Shuxiu said to Lu Lingxi that she also wanted to hear Lu Lingxi’s opinion. Lu Lingxi didn’t look at it in such a complicated way as Wang Shuxiu and simply said, “If Mom doesn’t like it, forget it.”
Lu Lingxi had only met Brother Feng twice, but because of Lu Yishui’s gambling, he actually had a somewhat bad impression of Brother Feng. Although Lu Yishui’s gambling was his own business and Wang Shuxiu was grateful that Brother Feng didn’t involve the family when he recovered his gambling debts, Lu Lingxi still felt that it would be better if Brother Feng didn’t open a card and chess parlour.
“What if there’s no other suitable house in the future?” Wang Shuxiu was a little worried.
“I can support Mom, and we can always sell tomato sauce.” Lu Lingxi was very optimistic.
“That too.” Wang Shuxiu shrugged it off. She didn’t want to owe Brother Feng’s favour anyway, so the house matter was over.
The two of them washed the canning jars and placed them upside down on the chopping board one by one, waiting for the water inside to dry. Wang Shuxiu rushed Lu Lingxi to rest, “Don’t read, go to bed early once in a while.”
Lu Lingxi nodded, took a shower quickly and obediently lay down on the bed. After thinking about it he sent a text message to Yan Yue, “Big Brother Yan, have you arrived home yet? I’m going to sleep, good night.”
Yan Yue looked at the text message and his eyes softened, “Good night.”
Early the next morning, Lu Lingxi was awakened by the sound of birds chirping outside. During this time, with the plants growing wildly in the neighbourhood, more and more birds were gathering in the area. Grass meant bugs, and bugs meant food. At first Lu Lingxi had only seen sparrows, but slowly more and more species of birds could be seen outside, and magpies and swallows began to appear.
Lu Lingxi stretched out and got up from the bed. Dahei had woken up a long time ago and was crouching beside the bed guarding Lu Lingxi.
Lu Lingxi smiled. Every morning when he opened his eyes and saw Dahei, he would feel in a good mood. He laughed and scratched Dahei’s chin when he heard the voices of Wang Shuxiu and a neighbour talking outside.
“Xiaohua, these are the vegetables we planted at home. They’re growing extraordinarily well these days. Let’s change them for a few tomatoes for your family to eat.”
“They are pretty big, your family don’t use medicine on them, right?”
“Wang Xiaohua, don’t look down on people, our vegetables are for our own consumption, they grow well because I take good care of them, who is crazy enough to add medicine to them.”
“That’s fine, wait for me to pick a few tomatoes.”
Lu Lingxi frowned a little uneasily, holding Dahei’s paw and shaking it, whispering, “Dahei, do you think the change in the neighbourhood has something to do with the white panel?”
Dahei looked at him quietly and gave a low bark.
Lu Lingxi got apprehensive, “You think so too? But…” he hesitated, “this is actually a good change, right?”
Dahei leaned over, stuck out his tongue to lick Lu Lingxi’s chin and gave another bark.
Lu Lingxi was a little relieved, “That’s good, so I can rest assured.”
Dahei barked once more, seemingly echoing Lu Lingxi’s words.