The next morning, Yan Yue appeared at the door of 301 once again at the right time.

After yesterday’s experience, Wang Shuxiu was a lot calmer about his appearance. Although she was still seething in her heart, she could only give a silent sigh when she saw the joy in the little bastard’s eyes and acquiesced to Yan Yue’s coming to pick Lu Lingxi up from the shop.

Since he had promised to accompany Lu Lingxi to pick up Dahei, Yan Yue didn’t go to An Jie’s place but stayed at Tiny Garden. After a busy morning, he was about to take Lu Lingxi to lunch when Yi Hang came over in his little Jinbei.

“Huh, why is Yi Hang here?”

Lu Lingxi looked at the time. It was now lunch time; the small restaurant was crowded and Wang Shuxiu wasn’t here, relying on Yi Hang. How could Yi Hang suddenly drive to Tiny Garden? Lu Lingxi was a bit worried if something had happened in the restaurant when he saw Yi Hang jump out of the car with two large insulation boxes and rush over.

“Lao San, hurry up and eat while it’s hot.” Yi Hang said as he gestured to the insulation boxes in his hands.

Lu Lingxi was bewildered, “You’re here specifically to deliver food?”

Yi Hang nodded and found the table by the door to open the insulation box he had brought. “It’s all my craftsmanship, how about you try it? Is there a big difference between it and Sister Xiaohua’s?” He said this, but his face had a “just dare say it’s not good enough” look on it. Lu Lingxi looked at him and smiled; but he still didn’t understand how Yi Hang could think of bringing him lunch.

“It was ordered by Sister Xiaohua. She said that you haven’t eaten well these days and you’ve lost a lot of weight.” Yi Hang said and hugged Lu Lingxi’s neck deliberately, “Come, let me see where you’ve lost weight?”

The two of them were habitually joking with each other. Yan Yue looked at Yi Hang’s affection for Lu Lingxi and felt a bit pained, but he couldn’t say anything and could only interrupt Yi Hang quietly, turning to Lu Lingxi and saying, “Xiao Xi, hurry up and eat, it will get cold in a while.”

The insulated boxes Yi Hang brought had three layers; the top two layers contained the dishes he had stir-fried, and the bottom was rice. He smiled and said to Yan Yue, “Brother Yan, you also eat. Sister Xiaohua said that Brother Yan might also be there, so I brought it for two people on purpose.”

Hearing Yi Hang say that Wang Shuxiu had ordered it, Lu Lingxi smiled with his eyes curved. He knew that his mother was hard-mouthed and soft-hearted, and that her anger was only temporary. Yan Yue was a little surprised, but more than that, he was happy. In any case, Wang Shuxiu’s attitude was softening more and more, which was a good sign.

Xiao Feng listened to Wang Shuxiu’s phone call, telling Yi Hang to cook some dishes for Lu Lingxi and send it over at noon, and before she hung up, she added with a stern face that Yan Yue might also be there, so Yi Hang should prepare two more dishes.

Xiao Feng smiled and shook his head. Wang Shuxiu turned her head, saw his expression and immediately became irritated, her willow eyebrows raised, “What are you smiling at!”

Xiao Feng immediately looked sheepish, “Where am I smiling, I’m happy to hear that you care about Xiao Xi.”

Wang Shuxiu glared at him, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. I’m not worried about Yan Yue not having food to eat, I’m worried that if Yi Hang brings less, the little bastard can’t bear to eat alone and push some to Yan Yue.”

“Fine, it’s all for Xiao Xi’s own good.” Xiao Feng said, coaxing Wang Shuxiu.

Wang Shuxiu said righteously, “It was initially for the good of the little bastard.”

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Xiao Feng’s heart moved, but he didn’t dare to show it. The more time he spent with Xiaohua, the more he realised how good Xiaohua was. Never mind Xiaohua’s usual yelling, but in fact, she had a tongue as sharp as a knife and a heart as soft as tofu. With all kinds of thoughts going through his head, Xiao Feng’s hands were busy, cracking seven or eight walnuts in one go for Wang Shuxiu to eat. “Here, have a walnut, it’s nutritious.”

Wang Shuxiu took the peeled walnuts, pouting, and smiled to herself quietly.

After having lunch, Wang Shuxiu received a call from Lu Lingxi. Hearing the little bastard say “Thank you, Mom” over the phone, Wang Shuxiu snorted and pretended not to understand what Lu Lingxi meant. Only when Lu Lingxi mentioned that he was going to pick up Dahei in the evening, stop by the plant nursery to take a look and come back tomorrow did she say with dissatisfaction, “Don’t get ahead of yourself, little bastard.”

“Mom.” Lu Lingxi called out softly.

Wang Shuxiu held her breath and wanted to ignore Lu Lingxi, but she couldn’t help being soft-hearted, so she only said reluctantly, “Come back early tomorrow.”

“En, thank you, Mom.”

After hanging up the phone, Lu Lingxi happily reported the good news to Yan Yue. He wasn’t going to the plant nursery just to be with Yan Yue, but he was thinking of going there to bring back the mutated camellia. He had an appointment with Elder Zhang to have his aunt’s pulse checked tomorrow, and Elder Zhang would definitely not ask for money. Lu Lingxi was too embarrassed to ask Elder Zhang to make a special trip to the shop, so he thought he would give the camellia to him. He looked so excited that Yan Yue couldn’t help but smile slightly.

Around five o’clock in the evening, Fang Lei drove over. As soon as he entered Tiny Garden, Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue’s expressions turned odd. Fang Lei didn’t need to wonder what they were thinking; he touched the scratches on his face and said helplessly, “Laugh if you want, it’s all Master Cat’s work.”

Yan Yue held back his laughter, “What exactly did you do to offend Xiaohui?”

Fang Lei really thought hard about it, “Does it count that I didn’t take his side in his fight with Dahei?”

Lu Lingxi: “……”

Yan Yue laughed aloud at his words.

Speaking of which, despite Xiaohui being unreasonable and bullying Fang Lei, Fang Lei really cared about Xiaohui. Not to mention that Xiaohui was smart and interesting, Fang Lei said that Xiaohui helped solve a case after only a few days by his side. This case was also somewhat related to Lu Lingxi. It was the punks who planned to frame Lu Lingxi with drugs last time. Fang Lei’s colleagues took them back for questioning, followed the trail and discovered a small gang of drug traffickers in Fengcheng.

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It happened that Xiaohui was also there when Fang Lei went to arrest people that day. No one expected that the other party had actually dug a basement under the first floor. If it weren’t for Xiaohui to find the basement and the other party hiding inside, Fang Lei and the others would have to work hard. The case was still under trial and Fang Lei was not at liberty to tell Lu Lingxi and Yan Yue the details. But in his heart, he really considered Xiaohui as his partner. Even if Xiaohui turned around and scratched him every time he couldn’t beat Dahei, Fang Lei wasn’t angry at all.

The three of them spent time in the shop until six o’clock and then Fang Lei took them to the police dog base in Fengcheng. The stray dogs that Fang Lei had adopted last time were kept here. When they entered the base, before Lu Lingxi got out of the car, he saw Dahei leaping out of the kennel, his black body like a lightning bolt running from afar. Dahei had rarely run at full speed like this in the past, and the distance of several hundred metres was covered almost instantaneously as he rushed to Lu Lingxi.

“Dahei.”

Dahei barked affectionately at Lu Lingxi, standing up and resting his two front paws on Lu Lingxi’s shoulders, excitedly licking his face. Lu Lingxi reached out and hugged Dahei. It was somewhat okay when he didn’t see Dahei, but when he saw Dahei he realised how much he really missed him. Hearing the joy in Dahei’s barking, Lu Lingxi stroked Dahei’s head and promised, “I will never be separated from Dahei again.”

Dahei squinted his eyes and barked in a low voice.

The dog and the man were so happy to be reunited after a long time that even Xiaohei climbed over to join the fun and refused to get off the top of Dahei’s head, making Fang Lei laugh. When they came over, the police dogs at the base had just finished training. The stray dogs that Fang Lei had brought along with him were also being trained. Although these stray dogs were a bit lacking in discipline, they surprised everyone in terms of understanding commands. In other words, these dogs were very intelligent and could understand almost all the commands without any training.

Originally, the person in charge of the base was still a little unhappy. He felt that Fang Lei brought these stray dogs over to slap him in the face. If it weren’t for his good relationship with Fang Lei, Fang Lei would have been kicked out a long time ago. As a result, after a few days of training, the person in charge of the base began to become more excited about these dogs than Fang Lei. He was especially fond of Dahei. Several times he discussed with Fang Lei whether he could find Dahei’s owner to ask for Dahei to stay at the base. If it didn’t work, it was okay to find a wife for Dahei, and it would definitely be not bad to have a litter of little black puppies.

Fang Lei looked grumpy as he talked to Lu Lingxi about the matchmaking for Dahei and joked, “Dahei is now the male god in the eyes of the base breeders, of the unattainable kind.”

Lu Lingxi imagined the breeders with a group of dogs picking out a wife for Dahei, and laughed for a long time, clutching his stomach.

At night when they arrived at the plant nursery, Dahei refused to leave Lu Lingxi at bedtime. Yan Yue had no choice but to tolerate Dahei sleeping on the bed like he had done at the beginning. Lu Lingxi deliberately heated water and gave Dahei a bath, and then half-hugged him on the bed. Dahei lay by his side, looking at him gently and licking his fingers every now and then. Yan Yue looked at the man and the dog sourly, with a feeling that he was a third party interfering.

The next morning, the two of them ate at Uncle Li’s house and prepared to go back to the city. Before returning to the city, Lu Lingxi deliberately went to see the big willow tree. After a few days, the whole willow tree had come to life from its winter dormancy, with tender green leaves covering its branches, swaying gently in the wind. Not only the big willow tree, but also for the whole Lingshui Village, spring had come early, with clusters of green grass sprouting in the fields and corners of the yards, decorating the still monotonous ground and bringing the scent of spring.

Uncle Li and Lu Lingxi talked about it, discussing that Lingshui Village looked like this, and Songjia Village, just a dozen miles away, still looked grey and barren. Not to mention the willow trees sprouting, there were not even a few weeds growing on the ground. When the villagers said it, they all felt that it was the blessing of the tree god. They noticed that the vegetables and fruits grown in the yards last year grew very well. This year Uncle Li heard that several households were preparing to tidy up the deserted land and plant whatever they wanted, if not selling the things for money, then for eating at home.

He lovingly instructed Lu Lingxi, “Tell Uncle what you want to eat, we can also grow it in our yard.”

Lu Lingxi nodded shyly and remembered something. After the system opened the evolution function last year, the vegetables and fruits grown in Uncle Li’s yard were basically ripe, and he didn’t have the chance to see if they could evolve. Then Xiao Feng got a vegetable greenhouse, and although Lu LIngxi had the idea, he never had the time to go. Besides, just like the evolution of plants in the plant nursery, it needed to be watched regularly, and if he went there just once or twice, he might not be so lucky to catch the plants in the period of evolution. He also thought about planting something at home, but there were so many Tiny Garden things going on that the matter was put off.

This time it was an opportunity. Lu Lingxi had always thought that as long as it was a plant, no matter what it was, it should be able to evolve. Thinking about the seeds the system had rewarded him with, he intuited that they should be the seeds that evolved. Whether it was tomatoes or grapes, what he planted might be eventually the result of evolution.