Tu Hong was incredibly frustrated.

However, his experience in the underworld taught him one particularly valuable lesson: to be pragmatic and to know when to back down.

"Brothers, I was wrong! I shouldn't have tried to take advantage of you. Just ignore me!"

Zhou Hongsong and Li Xiangdong exchanged a glance; neither of them wanted to cause trouble.

"From now on, walk the straight path! Don't you know there's a crackdown going on right now? Be careful, you might end up getting shot!"

"Alright, we've done a good deed today, so we'll spare your life. Now, take your brother and leave!"

"Hey, let's go!"

Tu Hong turned around and carried Xu Si'er, who was limp like a noodle, on his back. He reached out to check Xu Si'er's breathing. Why was it so weak?

Tu Hong nervously looked up at Zhou Hongsong and asked, "You didn't kill my brother, did you?"

Zhou Hongsong strode over, and Tu Hong subconsciously took two steps back.

Zhou Hongsong put his hand under Xu Si'er's nose and felt for a while. "He's asleep. Hurry up and carry him home!"

"Gurgle—"

A particularly loud gurgling sound came from Tu Hong's stomach, and his old face immediately turned red with embarrassment, but fortunately it was dark and no one else could see it.

Li Xiangdong chuckled and sighed, then felt in his pocket that he had a handful of coins left, some a few cents. He didn't count them, just rolled them up and stuffed them into Tu Hong's hand, saying, "Take this and have a bowl of noodles."

With the sleeping Xu Si'er on his back and a roll of loose change in his hand, Tu Hong watched the two people gradually disappear into the distance. The money in his hand felt like a branding iron, burning hot.

For the next two days, Li Xiangdong waited for the remittance to arrive, and then took Zhou Hongsong shopping in Changchun every day.

On the third day, the money arrived in their account. Li Xiangdong and Zhou Hongsong used a sack to withdraw more than 6,000 yuan from the bank, and then carried it to the Fengguan Joint Flower Market.

Li Zhanyou was very efficient. When they arrived, the large wooden crates were already neatly arranged in front of his stall. Once Li Xiangdong came over to inspect the goods, they could be packed and shipped away.

The transaction went smoothly; no one caused trouble, and everyone watched from a distance.

Once all the clivia plants were loaded onto the train, Li Xiangdong and Zhou Hongsong parted ways.

Li Xiangdong was going back to Lijiapo, while Zhou Hongsong was going to Yilan to find Xu Yunfeng and the others. This large-scale ginseng harvest could not afford any mistakes.

Luo Yonggang and Bai Yulong will also visit Yilan after returning from western Sichuan.

Li Zhanyou was a very practical person. He not only helped Li Xiangdong get a freight car, but also got him a soft sleeper, so he didn't suffer much on the way and arrived in Huichuan.

Although he was away for a short time, Li Xiangdong still felt particularly at ease breathing the familiar air of his hometown again.

As he walked out of the train station, Li Guoqing, Li Xiangjie, Guo Yuxi, and Zhao Xiaojun were already waiting for him in their tractor.

Several young men, together with the train station staff, carefully unloaded the wooden crates and placed them in the tractor's trailer.

Li Xiangdong took out a pack of Golden Leaf cigarettes he had just bought from a convenience store at the train station and handed it to the train conductor, saying, "Thank you for your help this time. Please take these cigarettes and smoke them with your comrades!"

The train conductor accepted the cigarette, patted Li Xiangdong on the shoulder, and said, "If you need anything in the future, feel free to contact me anytime."

"Okay, okay! I won't bother you any longer, you can continue with your work!"

Li Xiangdong added enthusiastically, "If you ever have the chance to come to Huichuan again, I will definitely treat you well!"

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—"

The tractor, billowing black smoke, slowly returned to Lijiapo.

On the way home, the fields that should have been withered and desolate were instead lush and green.

That's the Wutapai that's become popular throughout Huichuan County.

The cabbage produced in Huichuan County now supplies the entire Yanjing City and Bincheng City, and is a major source of income for farmers in Huichuan County.

Guo Yuxi studied the large wooden boxes the whole way, but the boxes were nailed tightly shut, and no matter how he looked at them, he couldn't tell what was inside.

He finally couldn't contain himself any longer and asked, "Second Brother, what kind of treasure is inside? Why do we have to handle it so gently?"

Li Xiangdong and Li Guoqing were sitting in the front. The sound of the engine was so loud that he couldn't hear clearly until Guo Yuxi asked him a second time.

"Clivia—it's a clivia inside—"

What is a Clivia?

"Flowers, look at the flowers!"

Hey, Guo Yuxi immediately lost interest; she thought it was some kind of treasure!

The tractor drove directly to Li Xiangdong's house and stopped in front of it. Li Jinshan and Guo Haiguang were squatting at the gate smoking their pipes.

Although Li Xiangdong had told them about it on the phone before, he was still somewhat shocked to see so many clivia plants in front of him.

"My God! How did so many come back?"

Li Jinshan extinguished his pipe, tapped it on the sole of his shoe, tucked it into his belt, and walked over to look at the unpacked clivia.

Guo Haiguang also came over, squinting as he examined the rare Clivia miniata. In the bleak cold wind, a flower stalk grew out from among the dark green leaves, with more than a dozen six-petaled trumpet-shaped flowers blooming on the stalk. The petals were orange-red, the center was golden yellow, and a few tender yellow stamens trembled slightly, making it look both noble and elegant.

There are also clivia plants that have already formed seeds, some green and some red, which are quite lovely.

Clivia flowers

Clivia has just formed seeds

Clivia seeds

Guo Haiguang and Li Jinshan immediately fell in love with this flower.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

Seeing the sudden sparkle in the eyes of the two elderly men, Li Xiangdong smiled and said, "Well? Do you two old comrades accept my suggestion?"

"I accept! It's just growing flowers, I guarantee I'll take good care of them for you! In two years, I can grow twice as many!"

Guo Haiguang was the first to sign a pledge.

Li Jinshan coughed tactically, "We'll do the work, but... you know, we don't need to pay that much!"

As he spoke, he winked at Li Xiangdong, thinking he was being discreet. This silly grandson, who pays salaries of ten thousand or ten thousand at a time?

Guo Haiguang naturally saw it and angrily sneered at him, "Don't wink at me behind my back! Do you think I'm that greedy? Would I not feel bad taking 10,000 yuan from the child?"

After Guo Haiguang finished speaking angrily, Li Jinshan was not offended. Instead, he grinned and laughed, "Hehehe~ I knew your older brother wasn't a greedy person!"

Li Xiangdong watched the two bickering with a smile, not interrupting, and only said after they calmed down, "I bought a few books at the Xinhua Bookstore in Changchun that teach people how to grow clivia. You two old comrades will have to continue studying them."

A pair of rough, large hands took the book. Li Jinshan flipped through a few pages, then said with a worried look, "So many Chinese characters, it recognizes me, but I don't recognize it!"

Guo Haiguang also shook his head.

Like two old brothers, they both skipped classes when they were running literacy programs back then...

Guo Yuxi took the book from her grandfather's hands. "I can read it to you, but shouldn't you share some of your wages with me?"

Guo Haiguang looked at his eldest grandson with pride in his eyes, but said, "If you mispronounce a word, you'll get a beating!"