Uncle Li had been in a daze for the past two days. He didn’t know what was going on but he suddenly seemed to understand the meaning of the barking of the old dog in the plant nursery.
The old dog used to be a stray dog; there were six stray dogs adopted to the plant nursery. Some of them were old, and two of them had been injured and were lame. Whether they were old or injured, these dogs had a hard time surviving outside, even with a pack of stray dogs.
Xiao Xi, that child, had a kind heart and kept them all in the plant nursery. They didn’t need to do anything to earn their food, just watch the door at night, guarding the plant nursery. Uncle Li remembered Yan Yue’s words and wanted to hire another person to be on duty in the plant nursery at night and take care of the dogs. The old man wanted to recommend Xu San; he wasn’t afraid that Xu San would cause any trouble. But Yan Yue left in a hurry last time, and Uncle Li didn’t have time to open his mouth. He had been taking care of these dogs for the past two days.
Originally, Uncle Li didn’t notice the old dog either. On the day it snowed and got colder, Uncle Li came over early to see if the plants in the plant nursery were okay, and by the way, he got those dogs something to eat. As a result, he was dividing the bones for them when he heard the barking of the old dog who was bald in some places. Uncle Li didn’t know what was going on but he suddenly felt that this old dog was sighing that the new year wasn’t going to be good and was afraid that the stray dogs outside would suffer again.
He felt a little strange. He was obviously used to hearing the barking of dogs, so how could he hear this meaning in it? At first, Uncle Li didn’t take it seriously and continued to divide the bones for the dogs, but the old dog barked again. When Uncle Li heard it, the meaning of the barking changed. The old dog was clearly saying that it was old and couldn’t gnaw too many bones, so just give it something to eat and save these bones for other dogs.
Uncle Li paused subconsciously at that time, picked out a few small bones with meat to chew and put them in the bowl in front of the old dog. The old dog seemed to be aware of something, squinted at Uncle Li and stopped barking.
Uncle Li was dwelling on it but he didn’t know who to talk to. Was what he heard real, or was there something wrong with his body and he had auditory hallucinations? But he was obviously feeling better and better, and even the villagers were teasing him that he looked a few years younger. The old man pondered for a while, thinking that he was hallucinating, and ruthlessly suppressed this matter in his mind.
It snowed heavily for a day and a night and everything was white as far as the eye could see. The experienced old people in the village were saying that next year was going to be bad; it was only a few months away and it was snowing so hard. Uncle Li thought about the plant nursery and kept watch over it every day. He also found a few old quilts that he didn’t use and put them on the kennel to shelter the dogs from the wind and snow.
For two days in a row, every time Uncle Li went to feed the dogs, the old dog didn’t bark, but just quietly squatted on the ground and looked at Uncle Li. Uncle Li remembered the last time he heard the old dog say that its teeth were not good. Although he felt strange, he still unconsciously made some soft things for the old dog to eat every time. Yesterday afternoon, Uncle Li came to feed the dogs again, and the old dog barked tentatively this time. Uncle Li could hear it clearly: the old dog asked if he could understand it.
Uncle Li’s hand shook; this time there was no way to comfort himself with auditory hallucinations. Luckily, the old man was stable and simply squatted on the ground and talked to the old dog. Converted into human age, this old dog was almost in its seventies. The dog had seen a lot of things in its life, so it and Uncle Li could actually talk quite well together. The man and the dog chatted for a long time, and were watched by Xiao Shi, who came to the plant nursery to look for his mother.
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Xiao Shi, whose real name was Dong Xiaolei, was Yu Xiaojuan’s son. He always remembered his little secret with the beautiful brother, so he came to tell Lu Lingxi what he saw. Only then did Lu Lingxi know that the little boy was actually Yu Xiaojuan’s son.
Yu Xiaojuan was doing a good job in the plant nursery. Perhaps because the job wasn’t easy to come by and she wanted to repay the kindness, she was very concerned about the plant nursery. Although Xiao Shi was by her side, she never allowed him to enter the plant nursery for fear that he might not know what was important and make a mess there. This was also the reason why Lu Lingxi had come several times but had never seen Xiao Shi.
With the secret Xiao Shi had told him, Lu Lingxi returned to the plant nursery with an odd expression on his face. Uncle Li had not yet left and was carrying a pot of broth mixed with rice to feed the dogs. Seeing Uncle Li coming over, the dogs lying in the corner stood up and wagged their tails at Uncle Li. He petted the dogs one by one, touching the old dog twice more, and placed the dog bowl in front of them.
The dogs were about to gather around to eat when Yan Yue returned from outside with Dahei. As soon as Dahei entered the yard, the dogs immediately scattered. The old dog in the lead pushed the untouched dog bowl towards Dahei and gave a low bark, gesturing for Dahei to eat first.
Uncle Li gave Dahei a surprised look; he had kept dogs when he was young and knew that there was a clear hierarchy in the pack. Whether it was for eating or otherwise, the lead dog came first. He knew that Dahei had been raised well by Xiao Xi, that child, and was smooth and shiny, but he really didn’t see that Dahei was so good. He could hear the old dog’s meaning clearly; it was obvious that there was respect and indescribable fear of Dahei.
When Dahei heard the old dog’s barking, he responded majestically, then trotted all the way to squat in front of Lu Lingxi. He didn’t eat, and only then did the dogs gather around the food with trepidation. Lu Lingxi stroked Dahei’s head, and Dahei affectionately tilted his head and rubbed it against his palm, barking in a low voice.
Lu Lingxi understood Dahei’s meaning and couldn’t hold back a chuckle.
Uncle Li looked at him strangely, but didn’t think much of it. The old man had seen a lot of storms in his life and had a good mental capacity, but he wouldn’t think that a human being could understand a dog’s meaning. Seeing Yan Yue return, he was a little anxious. This time when Yan Yue and Xiao Xi came over, the old man took the initiative to recommend Xu San, and Yan Yue had just gone with Dahei to find Xu San.
Seeing that Uncle Li was anxious, Yan Yue nodded at Uncle Li, “It’s already been agreed, he starts work tomorrow.”
Uncle Li was grateful and promised that he would keep an eye on Xu San and not let him do anything wrong. Yan Yue smiled; since he dared to use Xu San, he wasn’t afraid that Xu San would have any crooked thoughts. Uncle Li didn’t know the last time Xu San had been scared out of his wits. Even without Uncle Li’s watch, he wouldn’t have dared to do anything. This time, once he saw Yan Yue with Dahei, Xu San’s legs trembled. When he heard that Yan Yue was hiring him to be on duty in the plant nursery at night, Xu San was ready to agree, but when he heard that he had to take care of a few dogs, he almost fainted.
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On the one hand, Yan Yue thought that Xu San was smart and well-informed. On the other hand, he was also trying to sell Uncle Li a favour by scaring and tempting Xu San. Eventually, Xu San agreed.
After settling Xu San’s matter, Uncle Li didn’t stay in the plant nursery for long. When he left, he asked Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue to go to his house for dinner, but Yan Yue politely declined, as they had already eaten on their way here.
After sending Uncle Li away, Lu Lingxi talked to Yan Yue about Xiao Shi. When Yan Yue heard that Xiao Shi was Yu Xiaojuan’s child, he was very surprised. But what was even more surprising was that Xiao Shi said that Uncle Li could understand the barking of dogs just like he could. There was no way for the two of them to ask Uncle Li about this kind of thing, so Yan Yue thought about it and asked Lu Lingxi to pretend he didn’t know anything. If it was true, compared to Xiao Shi, Uncle Li was much more reliable, and he would certainly not go out and spread the word.
The two of them stayed at the plant nursery for the night and went over to the Qiu Tian plant nursery to check on the situation. On the day of the snowfall, Tiger helped to check on the greenhouse, as it was located next to the Yongchun vegetable greenhouse. The begonias cultivated in it were not affected at all and grew well.
Apart from individual florists who responded very quickly, many florists were affected by the drastically changing weather, and even the horticultural market in Fengcheng was depressed. However, winter was originally the off-season for green plant trading. Except for a small peak before and after the New Year, the usual transaction volume was much smaller than in summer. Many florists were mentally prepared; flowers and plants were not necessities of life like vegetables, so they quickly adapted to the changes in the market.
Tiny Garden had not had many customers recently, so Lu Lingxi was able to focus on the cultivation of eelgrass and the propagation of begonias. He originally planned to take a good rest in winter, but Wang Chaoliang applied for the plant variety right of chlorophytum for him and disrupted his plan. Lu Lingxi was grateful for the kindness of the other party, and the promotion of chlorophytum was also a good thing, so he had to add the promotion of chlorophytum to his winter work plan. Of course, he was only responsible for cultivation, and the specific promotion was all handed over to Yan Yue.
After discussing with Lu Lingxi, Yan Yue went to meet with Xue Yongtong. When he heard that Yan Yue had come to see him, Xue Yongtong was wondering what the matter was. The two of them had just met at Gao Yongliang’s place a few days ago, and there was nothing else going on in the past two days, right? Could it be that this heavy snowfall had affected Tiny Garden and Yan Yue wanted to ask for his help?
Although muttering in his heart, Xue Yongtong met with Yan Yue at the first opportunity. After the initial pleasantries, Yan Yue got straight to the point, “Is there something you need help with, Boss Xue?”
Xue Yongtong’s thoughts turned and he guessed Yan Yue’s intention, so he said readily, “No problem, we are related, we should help each other.”
Yan Yue chuckled, knowing that Xue Yongtong had misunderstood. He didn’t accentuate it but just talked about the chlorophytum, especially focusing on the fact that they had applied for the plant variety rights.
“What? A new type of chlorophytum?” Xue Yongtong was astonished.
Yan Yue nodded and handed the research report of Wang Chaoliang to Xue Yongtong. Compared to the difficulty of a layman looking at it, Xue Yongtong was an insider in the circle and understood the value of the chlorophytum almost as soon as he finished reading the report. It was the same as the mutated eelgrass that Yan Yue had mentioned last time, where the environmental and social value was greater than the economic value. Xue Yongtong wasn’t a short-sighted person and was immediately impressed.
“What does Mr. Yan mean?”
Yan Yue said simply: “We’ll promote it together, under the name of Tiny Garden Technology Company.”
Xue Yongtong hesitated for a few seconds and said decisively, “Good.”
The two of them agreed on the distribution of benefits and then started the promotion of the new chlorophytum. With Xue Yongtong’s contacts and Wang Chaoliang’s research, the promotion of the new chlorophytum went very smoothly and the acceptance among florists was unusually high. With the development of China’s economy, the importance of environmental protection was increasingly valued by people. Chlorophytum that could absorb formaldehyde and other harmful substances became one of the sought-after plants in the gardening market.
There were many evolved chlorophytums in Tiny Garden, and Lu Lingxi also released the authorisation to Xue Yongtong. The two companies joined hands, and under the name of Tiny Garden Technology Company, within a short period of one month, together with the external authorisation plus direct sales, they made a big profit. Thanks to this incident, Tiny Garden Technology Company also was noticed by everyone in the gardening circle.
