Pastoral Daily Life

Tiny Garden usually opened at nine o’clock; Lu Lingxi came over early today, so he opened early.

After rolling up the roller shutter door and moving a few potted plants that needed sunlight to the door, Lu Lingxi simply tidied up the shop and debated how to tell Wang Shuxiu about his wish to adopt Dahei. Did Wang Shuxiu like dogs? Would she be willing to keep a dog at home? Dahei could live in the backyard, but would the neighbours agree?

Lu Lingxi hesitated for a while and tentatively sent a text message to Wang Shuxiu, “Mom, I want to get a dog.”

Wang Shuxiu, who was doing a facial mask, picked up her phone and glanced at it, remembering that Lu Lingxi had mentioned that there was a pet shop opposite Tiny Garden. In Wang Shuxiu’s eyes, the dogs in the pet shop were all small pet dogs like Pekingese, Toy Poodles and Pugs. Having one at home didn’t take up much space, so she simply replied at once. “As long as you like it.”

Lu Lingxi looked at Wang Shuxiu’s reply with surprise and pushed open the shop door to run across the road to Dong Zhi.

“Brother Dong, my mom has agreed for me to adopt Dahei.”

Only when he finished did he realise that there was someone else in Dong Zhi’s shop, the very same man who had brought Dahei over yesterday and seemed to be called Yan Yue.

Yan Yue was squatting in front of the cage containing Dahei and looking at him. Perhaps recognizing him as his benefactor, Dahei did not bark, but he still looked at the man with a little bit of caution in his eyes. When Yan Yue heard the young man’s voice, he turned around silently, not expecting to be faced with Lu Lingxi’s smile.

Unlike the light smile he had seen yesterday, now the teenager’s eyes were bright and shining, the corners of his mouth were turned up, his expression was animated, and the joy on his face was undisguised. Yan Yue’s heart stirred, and his irritable mood of the morning seemed to be soothed by the boy’s smile, his tightly wound nerves unconsciously relaxing.

Lu Lingxi gave Yan Yue a slightly awkward glance and bypassed him to walk up to Dong Zhi. “Brother Dong, my mom has agreed for me to adopt Dahei. When he is ready, I will take him home.”

Dong Zhi was also happy to hear this, “I just saw that Dahei is recovering well, there will be no problem in two more days.”

Perhaps because he knew his status as a stray dog, Dahey’s desire to survive and his ability to recover were both amazing. Normal pets would be brought to the vet when they were injured, but stray cats and dogs didn’t have a place for them to nurse their injuries. It was hard to survive out there, and the slower they recover, the greater the danger, so stray cats and dogs recovered faster than domestic pets from the same injury.

Lu Lingxi smiled and squatted down in front of Dahei’s cage, reached out and stroked Dahei’s head, saying softly, “Dahei, you have to get better quickly, I’ll take you home.”

As if he understood Lu Lingxi’s words, Dahei whimpered in a low voice and took the initiative to rub against Lu Lingxi’s palm.

Lu Lingxi’s eyes curved and he smiled happily.

Yan Yue stood by Lu Lingxi’s side, looking at his smiling face up close, and a strong longing suddenly arose in his heart. This longing was like a tidal wave sweeping through Yan Yue’s body, and his original thought of just looking at the boy from afar was heavily crushed, replaced by a desire to be closer to the boy, to be much closer to him.

The moment this thought popped up, Yan Yue heard his own voice, “Are you planning to adopt this dog?”

Lu Lingxi froze, turned his head to look up at the man and nodded.

The man’s voice was low and pleasant. Lu Lingxi was squatting on the ground; looking at the man from this angle, he only felt that the man was incredibly tall. He couldn’t see the man’s expression and only heard the man’s regretful voice, “That’s a pity, I was going to adopt it.”

Lu Lingxi: “…huh?”

Yan Yue slightly lowered his eyes, watching the expression on the teenager’s face as the boy looked at him intently, tilting up his head. Yan Yue liked the current pose, like he had the teenager captive in his world.

“I think I have a bit of fate with this dog. But that’s okay, I can see he likes you a lot, and it’s good that you’ll adopt him. It’s just that, can I take the liberty of asking for your contact details? I thought I could visit him sometime.”

The man’s request was reasonable; he was the one who saved Dahei, so it was only logical for him to offer to adopt him. It was just that Lu Lingxi glanced at Dahei and was a bit reluctant to give Dahei up, and since the man was willing to take a step back and just have a look at Dahei sometime, Lu Lingxi certainly had no problem with that.

Lu Lingxi took out his mobile phone and said with some embarrassment, “I’ll call you, I haven’t memorised my number yet.”

The corners of Yan Yue’s mouth curved up imperceptibly as he nodded and reported his number. “My name is Yan Yue.”

Lu Lingxi rang Yan Yue’s phone and said with a light smile, “Lu Lingxi.”

Lu Lingxi, Yan Yue repeated this name in his mind and nodded at the young man with a bland expression.

After Yan Yue’s desire to adopt Dahei, Lu Lingxi had a very good impression of Yan Yue, but he felt that Yan Yue’s personality was a bit cold. He still remembered Yan Yue’s reaction when he smiled at him yesterday, so he didn’t know what else to say to him after he left his phone number. He smiled apologetically at Yan Yue and knelt down again to pet Dahei.

Yan Yue’s eyes followed Lu Lingxi closely. Watching Dahei squinting contentedly under the boy’s hand, he felt a bit uncomfortable.

Stupid dog, with a stupid face!

Resisting the urge to get closer to the boy now, Yan Yue stayed for a while and then left. Years of insomnia, long nights waiting for dawn, had developed enough patience in him. Leaving the street, Yan Yue pulled over to the side of the road and pressed Ye Kang’s phone. His feelings for the teenager were too sudden and too strong, and this strange feeling that he had never felt before made him lose his composure a little. Accustomed to self-examination, Yan Yue thought of Ye Kang.

The phone was quickly answered, but Yan Yue did not know how to speak.

After waiting for a long time for Yan Yue to speak, Ye Kang asked, “What? Are you in a bad mood? Is there something wrong with Yin Ya again?”

The Yin Ya that Ye Kang was talking about was Yan Yue’s half-sister, who was a sophomore this year. Because of Yan Yue’s special family situation, Yin Ya deliberately pestered Yan Yue all the time when she was a child. In the years when Yan Yue was away from China, Yin Ya was always in front of Yin Yongde, for the sake of the inheritance rights to Hopewell Group. Yin Ya, plus Yan Yue’s half-brothers Yan Hai and Yan Qian, had been making trouble in the last few years. Yan Hai and Yan Qian were okay because they had Yan Shihui to keep them in check, so they didn’t dare to do anything openly yet. However, Yin Ya, because of her father’s instigation behind the scenes, worked hard to discredit Yan Yue’s image everywhere she could and was close to jumping out and saying that Yan Yue was trying to harm her.

Yan Yue was indifferent, “Just some small tricks that don’t matter.”

Hearing from the tone of Yan Yue’s voice that the matter really seemed to have nothing to do with Yin Ya, Ye Kang became curious, “Then what’s the problem?”

Yan Yue was silent for a while and whispered, “I met a boy.”

“A boy?” Ye Kang’s gossip fuse instantly lit up and he immediately became energetic. Perhaps due to the influence of his family environment, Yan Yue was a bit obsessed with cleanliness when it came to relationships and had always been alone all these years. This was the first time Ye Kang had heard Yan Yue mention another person in such a tone. Although it was a little unexpected that he was talking about a boy and not a young girl, these were minor issues.

While Ye Kang was excited, Yan Yue suddenly didn’t want to talk about it, “It’s okay, I’ll hang up first.”

“Hey, hey… you can’t do that…”

Ye Kang’s voice disappeared as the phone was hung up, and Yan Yue turned off the phone straight away. The moment he spoke he realised he didn’t want to share the boy with anyone, even if it was just the mention of him. He just wanted to keep the boy in his world alone. Yan Yue lowered his eyes and considered the feasibility of this matter.

After Yan Yue had left, Dong Zhi drooled over Yan Yue’s car for half a day. He had a rather good impression of Yan Yue. Even though Yan Yue looked a bit cold in attitude, but taking into account Yan Yue’s thoughts of Dahei you could see that he was kind-hearted and a good person.

Lu Lingxi couldn’t help but smile when he heard this praise. In Dong Zhi’s eyes, anyone who loved animals was a good person. But it was thanks to Dong Zhi’s mention of the car that Lu Lingxi finally remembered where he had seen this car before. It was the other day when he followed Yi Hang to the bookstore and Yi Hang had drooled over this car for half a day just like Dong Zhi.

The licence plate of Zhongjing? Yan Yue? Could he be from the Yan family in Zhongjing? Lu Lingxi had stayed at home in the past and was completely unfamiliar with the Lu family’s social circle. He didn’t know if the Yan family had any dealings with the Lu family. If it did, it would be better for him to see Yan Yue as little as possible. He didn’t really want to have any more interactions with his past life.

After watching Dahei for a while, Lu Lingxi returned to Tiny Garden and began his daily routine of scanning. He could see which pots needed watering, which pots needed fertilising, which pots needed catching insects, everything was completely clear at a glance at the panel. As he was busy, Lao Han, who had been here last time, walked in.

“Welcome! Brother Han?”

Lao Han smiled, “Xiao Xi, how’s my pot of clivia?” He asked with a look of apprehension, afraid that Lu Lingxi would come and say that it had died.

Lu Lingxi understood Lao Han’s mood and did not procrastinate, quickly carrying out the repotted clivia from behind the cashier’s desk. After the clivia had taken root again, Lu Lingxi changed the soil in the pot and carefully replanted it back after the pot and soil had been disinfected.

Unlike the sickly clivia that Lao Han had brought over, the clivia after re-rooting still looked a little thin, but the yellow leaves had already started to turn green, and a few flower buds emerged among the previously sparse small flowers, showing a positive and vigorous spirit.

Lao Han looked at the pot of clivia with surprise and asked in an incredulous trembling voice, “Is it really saved?”

Lu Lingxi nodded; he actually found it hard to believe too. Although the panel had already indicated that the rescue was successful after he finished treating it that day, he waited until the clivia had taken root before his heart settled and he was convinced that he had really saved the clivia.

As he watched the new roots take root in the soil through the panel, Lu Lingxi was filled with a sense of achievement, but more than that, he felt the same joy as Lao Han.