In September, the weather in Xiqin Province and Yue Province was scorching hot. On sunny days, the highest temperature reached 30 degrees Celsius, which was two or three degrees higher than the highest temperature in the same month of previous years.
A temperature of two or three degrees Celsius. Sometimes, that's like the last straw that breaks the camel's back; the feeling is completely different for those in that situation. Under the sun, one can easily become sunburned.
The direct consequence is that an occasional light rain cannot solve the fundamental problem. After the rain, the heat and humidity become even more unbearable. Even the dog dares not linger in the sun, panting with its tongue lolling out and its tail between its legs.
Peach Blossom Abode, the courtyard and surroundings have all turned lush and green. The vegetables planted before, irrigated with the spiritual water, have long since matured. The tall tomato bushes are laden with fruit, each one glossy with a green and red hue, of exceptional quality. On the horseradish tree, the large horseradish is Li Yun and her friends' favorite; from the big-headed variety to the pointed and upward-facing varieties, from mild to extremely spicy, they've planted a whole layer of them.
There were also green beans, cucumbers, cabbages, bitter melons, daylilies, eggplants, bok choy, and potatoes planted all around. Countless bees were collecting nectar here, and butterflies of all colors were fluttering and dancing in the vegetable garden.
"Senior Sister, the five Jade Spring Vine plants are growing so fast! Hehe, with the spiritual water, each one is two meters tall now. The leaves and flowers are so beautiful, like jade pieces. The temperature regulation within a three-meter radius is already working!" In the courtyard, two large parasols were set up. One belonged to Zhang Guodong, who was currently fast asleep on it. The other belonged to the three women. Xuan Qingban, unusually, came out to enjoy a bit of coolness in the heat. Li Yun and Qing Zhuxing, however, couldn't stay still and went to check on the growth of the Jade Spring Vine. Then they returned excitedly to report.
This is Qingzhu's chattering report, as if it were all her achievement.
Speaking of which, it really was thanks to those fifty low-grade crystals and the spiritual water that the two girls used to water the plants each time. Nourished by this abundant spiritual energy, even the vegetables within a few meters of the plants grew three or four times faster than the others, thriving exceptionally well.
However, it seems that Zhang Guodong provided all this spiritual water, right? If converted to low-grade crystals, he has spent about two hundred low-grade crystals on Jade Spring Vine in the past two months.
It's only grown to two meters tall?
"What a money-devouring machine!" Zhang Guodong muttered under another parasol, feigning sleep. He wasn't actually asleep. After each period of cultivation, he would go out to bask in the sun for a day, then travel between his homes. He devoted a significant amount of time to cultivation.
However, at the same time, his physical strength still hadn't broken through to level twenty-one, which frustrated him greatly. On the other hand, his plant cultivation level had accidentally reached level sixteen.
“Yes, at this rate, in another year, we can cover the entire land!” Xuan Qingji said calmly. The area covered would indeed almost completely encompass Zhang Guodong's Peach Blossom Abode courtyard and land; even Qin Lina's courtyard would be affected to some extent.
ring.
"Doesn't that mean we can eat fresh vegetables we grow ourselves in winter?" Li Yun said happily. "No, just eating vegetables isn't enough. Sister Qingzhu, how about we raise some chickens, ducks, and geese too?"
"No! Please don't!" Zhang Guodong couldn't hold back any longer and rolled over to his feet. "My spiritual water is almost gone! You're raising chickens and ducks, are you going to plant a meadow for them to grow on? If so, I won't provide any more. Go ask Senior Sister for spirit stones! The few treasures I have are almost completely drained by these few jade vines!"
The spiritual water was equivalent to two hundred low-grade crystals! Zhang Guodong felt a pang of pain, but he couldn't resist Li Yun's pleading. Once he agreed, there was no turning back.
This girl is so carefree. Once she found out that the spatial pool in Peach Blossom Spring had countless spiritual waters, she started spending money recklessly.
Xuan Qingying's lips curled up, revealing a hint of a smile. However, Zhang Guodong was in no mood for such tedious observations.
“It is true that the Jade Spring Vine will consume a lot of spiritual energy to grow quickly, but I don’t have many crystals with me, and I have other uses for them, so I can only let the Jade Spring Vine grow naturally. It may take ten years to grow up,” Xuan Qingban said.
Zhang Guodong rolled his eyes.
Xuan Qingban began his extortion without a trace of mercy, his face expressionless. Zhang Guodong naturally wouldn't want the Jade Spring Vine to grow slowly. If it grew on his territory, then it was his property.
Please agree, even if it hurts!
"Alright, I'll use my last bit of spiritual water! But you two can't water it every day, that's too wasteful. Watering it once every three days is enough!" Zhang Guodong compromised, somewhat speechless.
"You're so stingy!" Qingzhu tossed out a comment, then grinned. Although they were protected by magical artifacts with golden ribbons, making them impervious to heat and cold, they were clearly worried about not being able to adapt to the cold winter with no greenery around.
"Guodong, how about we raise chickens and ducks? We can eat meat and eggs!" Li Yun pleaded.
"Are you sure you have time to take care of them? You won't be so enthusiastic about them that you'll just lose interest in them after a few days, will you? If no one takes care of them, they'll run around everywhere!" Zhang Guodong said with a headache.
"Of course we have time! We can just fence them off with barbed wire!"
This is fine too; Zhang Guodong doesn't like the chicks and ducks running around. They poop everywhere, which is annoying.
"I'll raise two too! A chicken and a duck!" Qingzhu said immediately.
"Two?" Zhang Guodong stared in disbelief, then looked at Li Yun and asked, "How many are you planning to raise?"
"Should I keep four?"
"faint!"
Zhang Guodong was completely devastated. He thought they would be raising a large flock, but it turned out the two of them only had six. Were they keeping them as pets?
Just as he was wondering whether to laugh or cry, Fatty's phone rang: "Guodong, the executive deputy district head is coming to the township to inspect the work, and the pretty girl is there too. Are you coming? Hehe!"
The executive deputy district head was naturally referring to Xiang Chunyan. Through a deal, Luo Jianhui agreed to promote Xiang Chunyan to a higher position, and the city government also agreed. For Luo Jianhui, securing a position on the Standing Committee was entirely beneficial.
This also made him realize that Xiang Chunyan is no longer to be underestimated; a member of the Standing Committee and a non-Standard Committee member are two completely different concepts.
Zhang Guodong's role in all of this surprised Luo Jianhui. After all, influencing two Standing Committee members required considerable skill and tactical acumen.
"Pao Yan? What's she doing here?" Zhang Guodong asked in surprise. Pao Yan works in a private company, but she has passed the civil service exam and is now considered someone who aspires to a political career. However, it is very difficult to enter the government and work in another city.
After Zhang Guodong saved her, Pao Yan would occasionally visit Taoyuan Xiaozhu and became acquainted with Li Yun and the others.
Alright.
"My family member is about to have another stroke of luck with love. Sigh, people are just incomparable!"
"Damn it, what exactly happened?" Zhang Guodong interrupted him, embarrassed and annoyed.
"Didn't Sister Xiang get promoted to executive deputy district head? The district assigned her a secretary, hehe, it's Bao Yan!" the fat man said with a lewd laugh.
Zhang Guodong frowned and said, "Did you do this? Otherwise, why would she become Sister Xiang's secretary?"
"Tch. Don't wrong me. Sister Xiang has been to Peach Blossom Abode before, so they naturally know each other. This really has nothing to do with me!" the fat man protested.
Thinking about it, it really was true. Xiang Chunyan and Li Yun naturally knew each other. Xiang Chunyan hadn't known that Zhang Guodong actually owned such a beautiful villa in the countryside. After Zhang Guodong brought Fatty and other classmates here once, Taoyuanzhu became much more lively. Eating and drinking here for free was definitely a treat. Xiang Chunyan came here to give Li Yun her phone number, but she revealed it to Fatty.
The resentment in Xiang Chunyan's eyes when she saw Zhang Guodong seemed to be reproaching her for not knowing about this place. Zhang Guodong could only smile awkwardly, unable to explain.
But what made Xiang Chunyan even more jealous was that Zhang Guodong was surrounded by so many beautiful women—Xuan Qingban, Qingzhu, Qin Lina, and Pao Yan, a total of four or five! This made her feel threatened.
However, she was a very shrewd woman, quickly becoming friends with most people and learning about their jobs. Presumably, this was something Xiang Chunyan initiated, right? At least she had Pao Yan under her control.
"Is that all? You're doing government work, what am I, an ordinary citizen, supposed to do?" Zhang Guodong said. "I'm hanging up now!"
"Hey, wait, there's actually good news for you! I'm planning to develop Zhangba Township into a green township for all, but the work isn't going smoothly so far. Relocating polluting businesses and consolidating small workshops has taken a lot of time and effort. But most importantly, the subsequent construction! It's basically finalized now and has been approved by the district leaders. Zhangba Township will focus on green economy development from now on. It can't just be simple afforestation; we need to find new ways for the township's residents to become wealthy through green pillar economies!" the fat man said seriously. "After seeing your Peach Blossom Garden, it greatly inspired my work philosophy. If everyone could have such a beautiful living environment and a decent, stable income, do you think everyone would be willing to work hard? Building a livable, green township for the whole province is my governing philosophy!"
"I consulted experts at the agricultural institute about this. This place has a natural environment, backed by the Qinling Mountains, which is extremely suitable for growing fruit trees and medicinal herbs. Of course, the fruit trees cannot be ordinary fruit trees, and the medicinal herbs cannot be ordinary medicinal herbs either. However, how to convince the people at the beginning is a difficult thing. My idea is to start by planting some medicinal herbs here, and I will take care of the sales! In the end, this will drive the development of Jixing Village! If a role model appears, the development and reform work of the whole township will be much easier!"
Zhang Guodong listened without commenting. He neither agreed nor disagreed. To be honest, he was secretly pleased. Ordinary people might not know, but he was deeply concerned about the massive loss of spiritual energy on Earth. Planting trees and creating a green environment was extremely important. It could continuously generate new spiritual energy!
"Choose what kind of economic forests and medicinal herbs to plant first, then call me!" Zhang Guodong said, somewhat discouragingly. Zhang Guodong wasn't stupid. Increasing people's income was a good thing, and economic forests and medicinal herbs might be able to achieve that, but replacing other economic industries and making economic forests and medicinal herbs the pillar of the economy was extremely difficult.
Zhang Guodong wanted to see if Fatty had any solutions to the two main problems. Recently, a new variety of fruit had reportedly appeared in the high-end markets of several northern provinces, priced exorbitantly. Zhang Guodong bought two, spending a whopping 1,000 yuan. Upon closer inspection, he confirmed it was another fruit from the plant cultivation world, but at best a mid-range fruit. It was called a green mango!
Update Notice: Second update complete. Two updates finished. To be continued tomorrow!
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