Grandma Wang’s son was Wang Chaoliang, a researcher at the Fengcheng Botanical Institute.

The Fengcheng Botanical Institute was located next to the Fengcheng Botanical Garden, and although it was not very large, it had been developed over the decades. The entire research institute focused on research and development in the fields of ecological environment, modern agriculture, plant resources, and system evolution. It could be described as a sparrow: although it was small, it had all five internal organs.

Wang Chaoliang used to be busy with his work and spent a lot of time in the botanical garden or on research trips. Although he had heard Grandma Wang praise the plants of a nearby gardening shop on the phone, he had not had the chance to see the plants that Grandma Wang was talking about because he had been away for the past six months. However, this time he accompanied her to Tiny Garden and immediately fell in love with the place.

Grandma Wang stayed for a while and left. After all, the old woman had just been discharged from the hospital and still had to rest more. Wang Chaoliang sent Grandma Wang home and wandered over alone again.

“Uncle Wang.” Lu Lingxi was a little surprised.

Wang Chaoliang laughed and said, “I’m suffering from an occupational disease, I can’t help but want to see more flowers and plants when I see good ones.”

Lu Lingxi smiled and didn’t say anything. He found that whether it was Wang Chaoliang, Gao Yongliang or Xue Yongtong, they all had a similar problem. Or maybe people who liked plants were all like that?

Wang Chaoliang wandered around the shop, and Lu Lingxi had nothing better to do than to follow him. Although he was a little worried about something being noticed by Wang Chaoliang, what Yan Yue had said earlier was right. Even if someone found something unusual about the plants, the first thing they would think about was the environment, no one would think it was him for no reason. Besides, if Yan Yue said it was okay, it would definitely be okay. Lu Lingxi didn’t know where the confidence came from, he just believed Yan Yue’s words.

“Is this a… chlorophytum?”

Wang Chaoliang stopped in front of the chlorophytum hanging on the wall and looked a little puzzled.

He looked at the chlorophytum that had been evolved, and Lu Lingxi’s heart beat hard for a moment before he nodded.

Wang Chaoliang gently checked the leaves of the chlorophytum and smiled at Lu Lingxi. “This chlorophytum is interesting. It’s just an ordinary variety of chlorophytum, yet the width of the leaf surface is about the same as a broad-leaved chlorophytum, maybe even a little wider. Compared to the thin-leaved chlorophytum, this one should be a bit more evolved.”

“…” Wang Chaoliang hit the nail on the head, and Lu Lingxi was a bit at a loss for what to say.

Wang Chaoliang saw that Lu Lingxi didn’t say anything. Thinking it was because the young man didn’t understand, he smiled and explained, “Uncle Wang is studying these things, the mutation and evolution of plants. Xiao Xi, you should know that chlorophytum can purify the air, right?”

Lu Lingxi nodded.

Wang Chaoliang said patiently, “The process of air purification by chlorophytum is actually a process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis in plants happens on the green leaves. Generally speaking, the larger the surface area of the plant’s leaves, the more photosynthetic efficiency increases. Of course this is only a general situation and other conditions such as even light have to be taken into account. But chlorophytum has a relatively low need for light and even weak light does not affect its photosynthesis. So, Xiao Xi, you see, this chlorophytum has wide leaves, which means it is more efficient at photosynthesis, and this is one of the more practical directions for the evolution of chlorophytum.”

Lu Lingxi only knew before that the direction of chlorophytum evolution was to choose to absorb formaldehyde +20%. He also carefully compared the difference between the evolved chlorophytum and the ordinary chlorophytum. The leaves were wider, but he seldom thought about the reason for this and didn’t know there was such a correlation.

Wang Chaoliang saw that Lu Lingxi was interested in it and was somewhat happy to talk about it for a moment. “The evolution of plants is very interesting. We generally think that plants are unintelligent, but in fact, they are not. In the plant world, plants are constantly evolving through genetic mutations, and this evolutionary process is actually the process of their intelligent choice. Xiao Xi, you’ve heard of the Venus flytrap, right? A plant that specialises in eating insects.”

Lu Lingxi nodded. He had seen the article on it in the World’s Magical Plants catalogue.

Wang Chaoliang smiled, “When it comes to flytraps, we have to talk about photosynthesis first. Like other plants, flytraps also obtain nutrients through photosynthesis. However, unlike other plants, flytraps do not receive enough nutrients to survive, and the swamps where they grow lack the necessary minerals and other nutrients. In this case, the flytraps either cannot survive or must ‘intelligently’ find alternative ways to obtain key nutrients.

It may have started with a flytrap inadvertently capturing an insect and replenishing the missing nutrients. Its genetic information recorded this, and it evolved from generation to generation, constantly seeking the best way to feed, to become what it is now.”

Wang Chaoliang said this with some emotion, “The evolution of plants is very miraculous, and now our research direction includes not only the natural evolution of plants, but also the direction of artificial intervention in the evolution of plants. If you are interested in these, Xiao Xi, the Institute is having a related lecture at Fengcheng Agricultural University next week, you can go and listen to it.”

“It’s about plant evolution?”

Wang Chaoliang nodded, “To be precise, it’s a lecture on the direction of artificial selection of plant evolution.”

Lu Lingxi was somewhat intrigued, and Wang Chaoliang left him a phone number to find him when he went. After wandering around Tiny Garden for the whole morning, Wang Chaoliang left the place reluctantly, buying the evolved chlorophytum on his way out, saying that he wanted to go back and take a look.

After sending Wang Chaoliang away, Lu Lingxi clicked on the white panel. He didn’t know much about the evolution of plants and hadn’t thought about the choice of the direction of plant evolution. However, what Wang Chaoliang said today made him realise that the evolution of plants through the panel was not the natural evolution of plants, but more like a kind of artificial intervention, or evolution selected by the panel. This brought another question to Lu Lingxi’s mind: what exactly is a panel?

After thinking about it for a long time, Lu Lingxi didn’t have any ideas. He was going to go to Fengcheng Agricultural University next week to listen to the lecture. Artificial evolution of plants made him very interested, and he vaguely felt as if he had touched something. With these things distracting him, Lu Lingxi’s mind turned to the possible evolution of the plants in the shop, and he didn’t have time to think about Yan Yue for a while.

At that time, Yan Yue was taking An Jie to the Ye family’s old residence to look for Ye Kang. It was the weekend, and all the children and grandchildren of the Ye family who stayed in Zhongjing had to gather back at the old mansion, a compulsory rule from Elder Ye. Hearing that Ye Kang was accompanying Elder Ye to greet his guests, Yan Yue wondered if he should come back at a different time. The two families were not far away anyway, it was only a matter of a few minutes. He was just about to leave when Ye Kang had already taken the excuse to duck out and looked at them with a surprised look on his face. “Interesting enough, I was worried about finding some excuse to hide.”

Yan Yue raised his eyebrows thoughtfully, “A blind date?”

Ye Kang nodded with a bitter face. He didn’t know what the old man was thinking. Ye Cheng hadn’t even started a family yet, but instead of worrying about Ye Cheng, Elder Ye was worrying about him. It had only been a few days since Ye Kang returned from Fengcheng, and the old man had arranged for him to come here so many times, practically forcing him to hide.

An Jie was rather gloating, “Whose girl is it that you’re avoiding so much?”

“The Li family.” Ye Kang had a bit of a headache, “I don’t know what Grandpa thinks. He says that the girls from the Li family are good, he didn’t even bother to ask around. Who would dare to marry a girl from the Li family now?”

“What’s wrong? Is she ugly? Tough personality?” An Jie had been abroad and didn’t know about this gossip at home.

It was Yan Yue who thought of something, “Is it still about Lu Wei’an?”

Ye Kang nodded, “The Li family has produced a Li Caiying and her personality has reached the point of madness. Now everyone is afraid that the daughters of the Li family are all the same. No one dares to marry them. By the way, Lu Wei’an is also coming over today, do you want to meet?”

Yan Yue thought of Lu Wei’an’s deceased brother and shook his head, “Forget it, we didn’t have much of a friendship in the first place.”

Ye Kang didn’t mind, “It’s okay if we don’t see him, he’s not the same as us anyway.”

While they were talking, some people came out of the main house. Ye Kang took a look and gestured, “The one in the middle is Lu Wei’an.”

Yan Yue followed and looked over, his brow furrowing invisibly. Lu Wei’an looked a little thin and not too tall, giving people a very civilised feeling, but what made Yan Yue a little uncomfortable was that Lu Wei’an looked a little bit like Lu Lingxi. Ever since he found out that the young man had the same name as Lu Wei’an’s deceased brother, Yan Yue had always been a bit repelled with the Lu family, and now when he saw that the two of them were even somewhat similar, he felt an indescribable disgust.

As if noticing the gaze, Lu Wei’an looked over sensitively. Yan Yue coldly averted his eyes, and Ye Kang smiled, ignoring Lu Wei’an over there and pulling Yan Yue and An Jie into the house.

Because of his good physical recovery, Lu Wei’an gradually started appearing in the social circle of his peers. However, with the incident of Lu Lingxi behind him, people’s perception of him was not very good. In a way, Lu Wei’an was also pitiful, but the one who was more pitiful was Lu Lingxi who had passed away. Ye Kang didn’t believe that Lu Wei’an didn’t know anything after all these years. Since he was able to enjoy Lu Lingxi’s contribution with peace of mind, he likely didn’t regard Lu Lingxi as his younger brother in his heart. It was also because of this reason that Lu Wei’an had never been able to blend into their circle, and this was what Ye Kang meant when he said he was not the same as them.

“Still grossed out?” Ye Kang, as a qualified psychologist, could easily guess Yan Yue’s mind from his expression. He felt that Yan Yue was a bit abnormal whenever it came to the matter of Lu Lingxi, and the fact that the names were the same was purely an accident. “How about…” he suggested, “let Xiao Xi change his name? Lu Xi and Yan Xi are both quite good, what do you think?”

Yan Yue glanced at him lightly. Ye Kang laughed out loud and asked, “How long are you planning to stay this time? Why didn’t you bring Xiao Xi with you? There are still some nice places in Zhongjing, so you can take Xiao Xi around.”

This proposal somewhat made Yan Yue feel a little moved. Xiao Xi seemed to have grown up in Fengcheng and had not yet been to other places. He should find the time to take Xiao Xi outside, and the first stop could be Kunnan. There were primaeval forests there, and many kinds of plants, Xiao Xi would definitely like it.

“Thinking of where to go?” Ye Kang took one look at his expression and knew that Yan Yue had listened to his proposal.

“Kunnan. The climate is good there and there are many plants, Xiao Xi should like it.”

When Ye Kang heard about Kunnan, he became interested as well. “When are you going? We can go together.”

Yan Yue acted as if he hadn’t heard these words and changed the subject with a natural look.

An Jie squinted his eyes at Ye Kang in amusement and mouthed, “Honeymoon trip.”

Ye Kang: “……”

Previous / ToC / Next