Chapter 12 The First Step in Starting a Business

Beijing City.

Fu Shilin loosened the platinum button and leaned lazily on the sofa, his slender fingers unconsciously sliding repeatedly to unlock the phone that had turned off the screen.

The screen lit up with a nondescript picture of a bunny.

This photo was sent to him by Qi Miaomiao, and there were no other text messages.

Xia Wu, Fu Shilin looked through the gold-rimmed glasses and recognized the rabbit that Xia Wu was holding.

What's this new trick?

Ever since the banquet where the Xia family recognized Xia Wei, Fu Shilin hadn't heard from Xia Wu for a while. She seemed to have vanished without a trace, but this wasn't the first time she had done so.

Last time, she spread rumors about Xia Wei behind his back, then disappeared for a while and fled abroad. After he exposed Xia Wu's tricks, she came back and accused him capriciously, even quarreling with him in his company, and forcing him to tell her who he loved.

Fu Shilin and Xia Wu grew up together, and he had to admit that he had spoiled Xia Wu too much in the past.

That's why she felt she could tie him down with these little tricks.

There was a knock on the door. Fu Shilin exited the message interface, turned off his phone, and resumed his majestic sitting posture. "Come in."

"Mr. Fu, it's me," Xia Wei walked in, her palm slightly bent to her ear, and she bowed awkwardly to apologize, "I'm sorry, I came to see you so suddenly, am I disturbing you?"

Fu Shilin's expression softened when he saw her. He took off his glasses and put them aside. "The Fu and Xia families are not only business partners, but also long-time friends. You can ask me to do anything. Don't be so polite. Just call me Shilin."

Xia Wei smiled as usual and did not do what he said. After closing the door, she asked, "Mr. Fu, have you heard anything about Xiao Wu recently?"

Fu Shilin's brows wrinkled slightly.

"No, what's wrong?"

Xia Wei sighed worriedly, "Mom and Dad can't contact her, and neither can my second brother. We're all very worried about her."

"Tsk," Fu Shilin sneered, "Worry about her? I don't think so. She's very smart. She's probably going abroad to have fun with some friends. Don't worry about her. But you, have you adapted recently?"

"Well, I'm fine, but my classmates' attitude towards me has changed so much," Xia Wei smiled bitterly, "It's a little hard to get used to it."

It's natural for people to flatter the powerful and look down on the weak. Fu Shilin didn't offer much comfort. Seeing that Xia Wei was still holding a stack of papers, he asked, "You came to see me today, perhaps you have something else to do?"

Xia Wei shook the document in her hand, "As expected, you can't hide anything from me. The department has a task, which requires us to interview successful people to make a press release. I have no choice but to trouble you!" She smiled shyly, tilting her head. She looked cute and well-behaved, which made Fu Shilin think of Xia Wu inadvertently.

The next second, Fu Shilin dismissed the idea. Xia Wu probably would never be able to learn Xiao Wei's sincerity and kindness in his lifetime...

The tricycle could not go faster than 40 mph at its fastest speed, and it was moving slowly and leisurely on the country road. The scenery on both sides of the road was picturesque and the sky was blue, but the sun was a little hot.

Xia Wu squinted slightly due to the sun, and suddenly a short car horn sounded behind him.

The road was narrow, and she thought someone was blocking the way, so she moved closer to the side of the road.

Who knew that when a car passed by, it slowed down, rolled down the window, and revealed a handsome face.

"Xiao Wu, Xiao Wen." Ji Yunzhou saw Xia Wu sitting in front of the tricycle with a faint smile on his face. His eyes were gentle. "Where are you going?"

"It's you," Xia Wu simply stopped the car. "My brother and I are going to town to pick up a package. Are you going back?"

"Yeah, come back next month."

"Okay, maybe the strawberries I planted will be ripe next month. I'll treat you to some strawberries when you come over."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

"Okay, bye then, see you next month."

"See you next month."

Ji Yunzhou didn't roll up the car window. He waved goodbye to the brother and sister, and the driver slowly started the car.

Xia Wu didn't take this little incident seriously. Half an hour later, she and her brother finally arrived in the town. Donghua Town was a picturesque town with many tall buildings, many old buildings, and neatly planned roads.

The village's express delivery was placed at the express delivery station outside the town primary school. Xia Wu picked up the delivery and bought two bottles of soda at the snack shop at the school gate, one for him and his brother.

Before she even got home, she couldn't wait to open the express delivery. Sure enough, it contained a computer, strawberry seedlings, and a bag of alfalfa seeds. After checking that there was nothing wrong with the delivery, Xia Wu was filled with enthusiasm, feeling that she had taken the first step on the road to a great career.

"Hurry home and plant the strawberries first!"

While her brother wasn't paying attention, Xia Wu sprinkled some spiritual spring water on the roots of the strawberry seedlings, fearing that the little guys would be killed by the sun on the way home.

The return journey seemed shorter than the outward journey. When they got home, Liu Guizhen was already waiting at the door. She ran over before Xia Wu even parked the car.

"Drive slower, drive slower! Oh my God, I'm finally back!"

Xia Wu laughed, patted himself and his brother, "My brother, I, and Bugs Bunny are all back in one piece! Don't worry, I'm driving very steadily!"

"You child..." Liu Guizhen could neither hit nor blame her daughter who was lost and found again.

"Mom, I have to plant the strawberries quickly!"

Xia Wu remembered his business and hurriedly took the strawberry seedlings from the car. Liu Guizhen didn't have any expectations for the strawberry seedlings she bought online. She saw that each seedling was green and tall, with thin white roots in the nutrient soil, like vines. Some plants even had small light yellow flowers and a few green strawberries the size of beans.

"Wow, these strawberry seedlings are really good!"

"I picked for a long time, and the seller told me that I could eat strawberries after growing them for more than a month!"

Xia Wu went home to get tools, brought the strawberry seedlings to the prepared open space, dug a hole, put the seedlings in, and filled the hole with soil.

She bought fifty plants, and the seller actually gave her a few seedlings as a gift. Xia Wu planted them all equally. When watering the plants at the end, she secretly added some spiritual spring water into the bucket.

"Drink it, drink it, and you will grow up quickly and produce delicious strawberries quickly."

There was no place to plant alfalfa seeds for the time being, so Liu Guizhen said, "Tomorrow I'll take these old garlic sprouts home, turn the soil over, and then plant alfalfa."

It's time to plant alfalfa now so that the rabbits won't lack grass for food in the winter.

When Xia Wu was planting strawberries, she did not forget to ask her brother to shoot a video. She decided to join the army of self-media entrepreneurs by planting strawberries!

The next day, the family brought the mature garlic home. Xia Wu personally cleared the garlic field, sprinkled alfalfa seeds, and watered it.

Then I took some photos to observe the condition of the strawberry seedlings. The strawberries planted yesterday began to grow vigorously today. Each plant stood straight, and when the wind blew, the branches and leaves trembled slightly. There were not many strawberry flowers blooming yet, so it is worth looking forward to.

In his spare time, Xia Wu started editing videos. When he didn't know something, he would learn online, then practice it himself, making changes and reshoots repeatedly.

Time in the countryside was not that difficult. There were no outsiders to disturb him, and Xia Wu's daily life was simple. He went to bed early and got up early, filmed videos, watered the strawberries and alfalfa he planted, and fed five little rabbits.

Otherwise, various experiments are conducted using spiritual spring water.

Before she knew it, half a month had passed since she left Beijing and returned to her hometown. During this period, Xia Wu had not been disturbed at all.

She thought about changing her name, but the process was not as easy as she thought. First, she needed a household registration book, and then she needed to transfer her household registration. She couldn't get the Xia family's household registration book at all, so she had to put the name change on hold.

After a long time, Xia Wu began to realize the magical effects of the spiritual spring water.

First, she planted strawberries and alfalfa. Except for watering them with spiritual spring water at the beginning, she watered them every three to five days afterwards, but both plants grew very well.

A week after the strawberries were planted, they began to bloom, attracting bees for pollination. After the petals fell, the fruit began to form. Xia Wu counted the most fruitful plants, and the one with the most fruit had 28.

The alfalfa seeds have also sprouted.

Then there was Bugs Bunny. After bringing the five rabbits home, Xia Wu treated them differently and only secretly fed Bugs Bunny with spiritual spring water. This little guy did not disappoint Xia Wu. Compared with other rabbits, it was more attached to Xia Wu and was quite human. It would not run around and had learned to defecate in a fixed place. Now it has become a frequent visitor in Xia Wu's videos.

Originally, Xia Wu thought that the spiritual spring water had little effect on the human body, but after insisting on feeding the spiritual spring water to his family for a period of time, Xia Wu found that it seemed to have some effect.

More than once, Yang Guojun and Liu Guizhen said that they no longer felt back pain while working recently, and their bodies seemed to be much more relaxed. Old man Yang also expressed the same opinion.

So, Lingquan Water is not ineffective on the human body, it just takes longer to show its effects?

Fortunately, Xia Wu always fed his family spiritual spring water when making honey water, so they were not too confused. Instead, they praised Mr. Pu's honey.

"You're right, ever since I've been drinking Uncle Park's honey water every day, I feel like my physical fitness has improved. Dad, seriously, can this jar of honey sell for two thousand yuan?"

At the breakfast table that day, Mr. Yang was rarely at home, and Yang Guojun couldn't help but ask the doubts in his mind.

"Yeah, so many people use their connections to buy from him. He won't sell to people he's not familiar with, and sometimes he even charges extra for it."

"I can make a lot of money this year, right?" Yang Guojun began to calculate. "A beehive produces at least 100 kilograms of honey a year. This jar of honey is 5 kilograms. A beehive can produce 20 jars of honey, and each jar costs 2,000 yuan..."

"Oh my god, I can make 40,000 yuan from just one beehive! That's way more than working on a construction site!"

When Yang Guojun calculated the accounts, he almost bit off his tongue, "Dad, wife, how about we raise bees too?"

"You?" Old Man Yang looked at his son with disdain. "You're so stupid! You only know how to do this. Why don't you count the money Old Man Pu makes from renting the mountain? Bees need nectar year-round. Just the flowers and trees he planted in the mountains alone would make him at least 100,000 yuan. When there's no honey, the honey in the hives can't be moved. Otherwise, the bees won't survive the winter, and half of them will die the following year. The honey production will drop, so how can he still earn so much?"

Nowadays people pay attention to health preservation. There are many businesses selling honey in the market. Ordinary honey is not so expensive. The honey raised by Mr. Pu in the mountains can be sold at a high price. This is a word-of-mouth reputation certification.

Yang Guojun only saw people selling a jar of honey for two thousand yuan, but he didn't see the people working hard behind the scenes for decades to ensure quality and source.

After being scolded by the old man, Yang Guojun's fiery heart cooled. "Hey, that's true. A few years ago, I remember Yang Wangjia also went up the mountain to raise bees. Within two years, he almost lost all his pants. In the end, he went out to work and never mentioned beekeeping again."

Xia Wu bit the tip of her chopsticks, thinking that Mr. Pu was really generous to give her family two jars of honey at once. However, after she finished eating the honey, what should she use to fool her family so that they wouldn't get suspicious?

"Dad, I think we can discuss this further. We can also raise bees, but not on a large scale like Master Park. Can't we just raise enough honey for ourselves?"

Xia Wu blinked and gave Yang's father some advice.

"It just so happens that the strawberries I grow also need bees to pollinate them. How about we start with a small beehive?"

Xia Wu almost begged, "Grandpa, Dad, Mom, what do you think?"

Liu Guizhen didn't say anything, and Yang Guojun was in a difficult situation. The real decision had to be made by Old Man Yang.

The old man, who had just scolded his son, didn't even think twice and said, "It's okay to raise a small beehive. Let's put it in our own vegetable garden. I think the strawberries planted by Xiao Wu are blooming quite well."

Yang Guojun didn't dare to say anything even though he was being treated differently. Instead, he smiled happily and said, "I told you Xiao Wu is capable. Look at how good the strawberries she grows are. Why don't you plant more? When the weather gets cold, I'll build a greenhouse so that we don't have to worry about running out of honey in winter."

Xia Wu nodded repeatedly, fully supporting his father's opinion.

Liu Guizhen sighed, "You two are truly father and daughter, your thoughts are always in sync."

"Mom, let Dad and I give it a try. If we succeed, maybe we can even make some money!"

Speaking of making money, Old Man Yang suddenly asked, "Xiao Wu, I see you taking pictures with your phone every day. Xiao Wen said you're... doing... what's that called?"

"I'm doing self-media!" Xia Wu smiled.

"Yeah, I see so many people scrolling through their phones these days. You're shooting videos for them, right?"

"Yes, but I haven't posted it yet. I want to wait until the strawberries are ripe before posting it..." Xia Wu was a little hesitant when talking about things she was not good at. In fact, she had already edited seven or eight videos, but she was still a little hesitant every time when it came to posting them.

I’m afraid that the videos I make are not good enough and no one will watch them.

"I didn't even know Xiaowu was making videos. Let mom see what you filmed." Liu Guizhen was very curious.

Xia Wu felt a little embarrassed, so she found the finished video and handed it to her mother. Yang Guojun also came over to watch.

The two of them watched and praised, and the old man who listened also felt itchy, but was too embarrassed to go closer. He could only cough a few times and said to Xia Wu: "Everything is difficult at the beginning. Since you have done it, just do it boldly. Do your best and leave the rest to fate. That's enough."

Xia Wu was a little touched, "So, did I really send it?"

"Post it!" Yang Guojun and Liu Guizhen also encouraged their daughter, "It's a good film, just like a movie. If you post it, people will definitely watch it!"

"Okay! Then I'll post it now--" Xia Wu was encouraged. He took the phone and quickly clicked on the unpublished video in the draft box.

Mr. Yang took out his old phone and asked:

"Xiao Wu, which account is yours?"