The sales of the new chlorophytum gradually slowed down in early December, which was also what Xue Yongtong and Yan Yue expected.

Although China had legislation to protect the rights of new plant varieties, intellectual property rights had always been in an awkward position in the country, and many high-tech patent applications were inevitably “copied”, not to mention plants that were not at all difficult to “copy”. This was also the reason why Yan Yue had been so liberal in licensing from the very beginning. Instead of waiting for others to buy the plant and cultivate it privately, it was better to act first and licence them directly, and make a profit on the licensing fees.

In general, horticulturalists who came through Xue Yongtong’s channels still took care of their faces. They were all members of the circle, and everyone was willing to protect the interests of the circle. After all, the protection of new plant variety rights was the common interest of everyone. Once corrupt industry rules were developed, it was the people in this circle who would suffer in the end. But this recognition was limited to the big gardeners in the circle, and many small gardening artisans didn’t care about it at all in order to make money.

With the circulation of new chlorophytum in the market, many small horticulturalists chose to secretly buy it and cultivate it privately, just to save the “authorisation fee”. In addition, a number of fake new chlorophytums also appeared on the market. The new type of chlorophytum was not much different from the non-evolved chlorophytum. If you looked closely, you would find that the new type of chlorophytum had wider leaves and grew more lushly. But it was difficult for ordinary people to notice the difference, so there were some small gardeners who sold ordinary chlorophytum under the name of a new type of chlorophytum.

In both cases, it was not easy to defend your rights. Xue Yongtong had seen too many such things in this circle and said to Yan Yue with a bitter smile, “It’s okay, we have earned enough, all that is left is to consolidate the market in Fengcheng. Those retailers are not stupid, they know exactly who has the best plants. As long as the retail channels are in our hands, it’s a long term matter.”

Yan Yue nodded, deeply convinced.

When Xue Yongtong saw that Yan Yue understood, he didn’t forget to take credit for himself. Only because Yan Yue approached him, with Xue Yingtong’s position in the circle, were those big horticulturists willing to give face. Otherwise, if Yan Yue went under the banner of Tiny Garden, one could expect that things would not have gone so smoothly.

Yan Yue had to admit that Xue Yongtong was right. Any industry is actually dependent on people. Xue Yongtong said those people were willing to uphold the rules of the industry, but if Tiny Garden had no status, these people might be reluctant to “waste money”. Even if those big gardeners were too embarrassed to intervene openly in the cultivation of new chlorophytum at the beginning, they could wait until the market was in chaos before taking action. Yan Yue wouldn’t be able to do anything about it unless he was determined to catch a few typical cases and defend their rights to the end; but that wouldn’t do any good to Tiny Garden except offending the whole gardening circle.

Xue Yongtong spoke smoothly and mentioned the begonias again. It was his good character that made him stick to the bottom line of his conscience, otherwise he would have had nothing to do with Tiny Garden if he had cultivated begonias privately. Of course, good people have good rewards. If he hadn’t stuck to the bottom line, there wouldn’t have been this series of cooperation with Yan Yue later on.

Xue Yongtong was right in saying that the reason why Yan Yue dared to work with him time and again was because of Xue Yongtong’s character. In Fengcheng’s gardening circle, Xue Yongtong was one of the few people who didn’t have many black spots. Yan Yue looked at Xue Yongtong somewhat meaningfully, “I believe our cooperation has only just begun.”

Xue Yongtong immediately understood the meaning of this, and the two of them looked at each other with a tacit understanding and smiled; no words needed to be said.

Yan Yue didn’t hide the problems encountered in the promotion of chlorophytum from Lu Lingxi. He actually felt very contradictory in his heart. He both hoped that the young man would remain ignorant of the world and that he could shield him from all the storms outside. But he also felt that if he was really responsible for the young man, he should let him see the real world, not the society that he had beautified. Yan Yue sometimes felt that this mood of his was rather like a parent facing a child, trembling and not knowing what to do because he was so nervous.

He civilly told Lu Lingxi about the situation they had encountered. Yan Yue thought that Lu Lingxi would be angry when he heard this, but who knew that the young man would listen and comfort him in turn. “Big Brother Yan, didn’t you say that the environmental value of this chlorophytum is greater than its economic value? The evolution of plants is not supposed to make money, but to improve the environment. As long as the customer buys an evolved chlorophytum, it doesn’t really matter if it’s bought from us. As for those gardeners who deceive customers with ordinary chlorophytum, customers are not stupid and won’t buy them if they find out they have been fooled. If their reputation is ruined, they will be the ones to bear the consequences in the end, so we need not be angry.”

He spoke seriously, with a comforting look on his face. Yan Yue’s heart softened and he went over and kissed the young man on the forehead, saying gently, “Xiao Xi is right.”

Lu Lingxi let out an “en” and reached out to hug Yan Yue. “Big Brother Yan, you’ve done a good job.” He affirmed, nodding vigorously.

The corners of Yan Yue’s mouth curled slightly when he heard these words, and the smile poured out his eyes.

That night, Xiao Feng wasn’t there, so Yan Yue went back next door after dinner, leaving only Lu Lingxi and Wang Shuxiu, mother and son, at 301. Lu Lingxi stopped Wang Shuxiu, who was about to go back to her room, and put a bank card in front of her.

Wang Shuxiu was very surprised, “What’s this?”

Lu Lingxi was a little embarrassed and whispered, “The dowry for Mom.”

Tiny Garden had been making money for the past six months, but Lu Lingxi also owed money to Yan Yue. From the initial 200,000 to the money Yan Yue had paid to buy Qiu Tian Gardening’s plant nursery, Lu Lingxi was keeping accounts. Even though they were together, Lu Lingxi felt that the money had to be accounted for and he couldn’t take advantage of Yan Yue. When Lu Lingxi insisted, Yan Yue had no choice but to agree. Luckily, he had made a profit from his cooperation with Gao Yongliang last time, and with the income from the new chlorophytum, Lu Lingxi not only paid off Yan Yue’s money, but also had a portion left over. He saved up the entire amount and set up a card with the password being Wang Shuxiu’s birthday.

When Lu Lingxi said it in a straightforward manner, Wang Shuxiu was stunned for a moment. A long time later she regained her senses and subconsciously slapped Lu Lingxi.

“…who did you learn that from, little bastard? What dowry do I need, save up money for you to get a wife.”

Wang Shuxiu refused to take the card. It wasn’t easy for the little bastard to make money. He should keep it for his future wife. She had her own small restaurant, which was doing well, so she didn’t need Lu Lingxi to worry about that. Besides, she trusted Xiao Feng’s character; he was not the kind of man who was interested in a woman’s money. Even if she didn’t have money, would Xiao Feng dislike her?

Lu Lingxi felt a bit guilty when he heard about marrying a wife but he still looked at Wang Shuxiu seriously, “Dad is very nice, and he also said he would take good care of Mom. It’s not that I don’t trust Dad, it’s just that Mom has suffered all these years. I didn’t know any better in the past and often made Mom sad. Now that I’ve grown up, I want to do something for Mom too.”

Lu Lingxi told the truth. He knew that Wang Shuxiu had been good to him, and he also wanted to return the favour. When he said this, Lu Lingxi was a little shy and the tips of his ears reddened slightly. “Mom is still young, she can have another child.”

If Lu Lingxi’s thoughtful preparation of a card had touched Wang Shuxiu, having another child or something had annoyed Wang Shuxiu to no end. She pinched Lu Lingxi’s face and raised her eyebrows, “Your old mom is already forty-two, do you think I can still have a baby?”

Lu Lingxi blushed but nodded, whispering, “I asked Dr. Su last time, he said it’s possible.”

Wang Shuxiu: “……”

She simply didn’t know what to say.

With such an interruption, Wang Shuxiu had forgotten about the card. Lu Lingxi hurriedly turned and ran away in a flash on the pretext that he had something to do with Yan Yue. As soon as he ran, Dahei immediately followed. One man and one dog were doing everything in unison; Wang Shuxiu watched them not knowing whether to cry or to laugh, and cursed bitterly, “Little bastard.” After cursing, her gaze fell on the card, only to feel her heart calm down. Unnoticeably, the little bastard had grown up.

Xiao Feng and Wang Shuxiu’s wedding was scheduled for the end of December. The two had already discussed it and were still going to live in the community. Although Xiao Feng had his own house, the environment wasn’t as good as in the Hongfu Community, and Wang Shuxiu was reluctant to leave Lu Lingxi. Xiao Feng felt that Yan Yue would not agree to Lu Lingxi moving out with them, so he could just live here. He was honest with himself and didn’t care if people said he lived in a woman’s house, as long as he and Wang Shuxiu had a good life.

Because he had to prepare for the wedding and also had to deal with the greenhouse, Xiao Feng was a bit busy these days. When he found out from Yan Yue that Lu Lingxi had prepared a dowry for Wang Shuxiu, he couldn’t help but smile. He thought that Lu Lingxi’s mind was simple and he probably didn’t have any other intentions, and Yan Yue told him about it specifically to back up Wang Shuxiu. Xiao Feng felt that Yan Yue had good intentions towards Lu Lingxi. Once his mind was made up, Xiao Feng went to prepare the bride price. How could his wife spend another man’s money, even if that man was Lu Lingxi?

In fact, Xiao Feng had long planned to give all the money to Wang Shuxiu to manage, but when he mentioned it several times, Wang Shuxiu didn’t answer even once. Xiao Feng knew what Wang Shuxiu meant, so he didn’t mention it again. He decided that the two of them would soon be married. Wang Shuxiu would not be willing to spend his money before the wedding, but after the wedding it would be logical for her to take care of his money; then Wang Shuxiu would not be able to refuse. Lu Lingxi’s actions reminded Xiao Feng that if there was a dowry, there was also a bride price. Xiaohua couldn’t help but accept it this time, right?

After receiving two cards in two consecutive days, Wang Shuxiu had to wonder if the little bastard conspired with Xiao Feng in advance.

Lin Mei laughed at her, “How many women envy your good fortune, and you still don’t appreciate it!”

Wang Shuxiu tried to retort, “I have hands and feet, I can earn my own money, I’m not yet too old to move.”

Lin Mei snorted, “It’s your kind of thinking that spoiled Lu Yishui so he stopped acting like a man. You are strong, you are powerful, you do all the things that men do, why do you need a man? You, too, don’t act too rashly. Brother Feng is different from that soft egg Lu Yishui, he is not the kind of irresponsible man. How do you imagine the picture of you and Brother Feng being married? The picture should be the two of you supporting each other. If you still carry everything by yourself as in the past, what kind of marriage will it be?”

Wang Shuxiu couldn’t find the words to refute and felt helpless. “You’re the only one who can say that,” she said to Lin Mei.

Lin Mei laughed, “Admit that I’m right, huh?”

Wang Shuxiu glared at her and laughed, not saying anything.

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