Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn-Chapter 226 - 29: Red Powder Eighteen Students – Camellia Arc, Part 2

"Speaking of Sichuan, this camellia was brought from Sichuan," Bai Juyi seems different from Zhu Shijun. Living alone for decades with no one to talk to, now in his declining years, he ironically wants to talk more, even though speaking may bring up a thick phlegm with a bloody taste from his throat.

"Alright, Mr. Bai, I’m listening, please take your time," Xiao Xian sat beside the bed.

"Hehe, good child, don’t mind if I am being long-winded, she used to complain about me being long-winded too," Bai Juyi started reminiscing about the past. Every elderly has this common trait, always liking to talk about ’back in the day’, but Bai Juyi’s ’back in the day’ truly had something worth mentioning.

Through Bai Juyi’s narration, Xiao Xian learned that Bai Juyi was from Xiangtan, lost his father in childhood, followed his mother to Yunnan, and started working in horticulture from the age of six, from a soil-preparer, to pruning master, to eventually becoming a gardener.

"Actually, Old Man Bai doesn’t have much to say about his life. In the decades of my life, I’ve only ever been in one profession, using the same pair of scissors even for clipping flower branches. Do you know what kind of flower I am best at growing?" After speaking for a while, Old Man Bai felt more relieved and looked a bit better.

Xiao Xian glanced at the camellia pot, said to be camellia, but maybe not quite right, the pot of "Red Powder Eighteen Students" looked pretty good, however, from Xiao Xian’s critical eyes, used to seeing rare and exotic plants, it wasn’t the most remarkable. Could it be that Bai Juyi’s specialty was... chrysanthemums? With his name containing ’Ju’, it should be chrysanthemums, right? freēnovelkiss.com

"Haha... cough, cough, many people guess chrysanthemums like you do, but actually, the name Bai Juyi was given to me by my master back in the days, we had five people studying horticulture together named after Plum, Orchid, Pine, Bamboo, Chrysanthemum. I was the last to join, so I got the ’Ju’ character. My real name is Bai Juyi. My master thought it was too literary, so he modified it a bit," Mr. Bai explained his apprenticeship days with a gleam of joy in his eyes.

While they were having a lively chat, Zhuo Feng came in. She had brought porridge earlier, but seeing Mr. Bai had no appetite, she went out to buy some bananas. Seeing Xiao Xian there too, with Mr. Bai being all smiles and talkative, her face, which had been pale from running around for days, brightened up a bit.

"What are you talking about, it sounds so cheerful. Why is there a pot of camellia, and why does it look so familiar? Isn’t this the camellia from Mr. Bai’s house the other day? No, this pot looks really peculiar, Eighteen Scholars?" That day, when Zhuo Feng came downstairs upon hearing voices, she saw the potted plants in Bai Juyi’s house, but had no time to ponder as she got into an altercation with that nasty group. Zhuo Feng studied agriculture in university, her family, starting from her grandfather, maintained a garden at home, also growing a few plants called "Lion’s Roar" camellias.

As a child, she occasionally heard her grandfather mention a precious variety of camellia called "Eighteen Scholars," but she never had the chance to see it. Ironically, she ended up seeing it in the hands of their disagreeable old neighbor.

"Unexpectedly, you are also kindred spirit. Instead of letting that youngster sell off all the potted plants, why not give them to you. Miss Zhuo, I, the old man, was wrong in the past, always scowling and begrudging others’ good fortunes. Here’s my house key, could you help move out all the suitable potted plants inside. You can sell or give away as you see fit." Bai Juyi did not mention why he eventually moved from Yunnan to Beijing, nor why he was living alone in hardship.

Zhuo Feng, hearing this, hesitated to agree, pushing it away as Xiao Xian casually mentioned each spot being an "Eighteen Scholars," Bai Juyi was too generous.

"Accept it, if I remember correctly, this camellia originally came with a Late Qing porcelain pot, that beast doesn’t understand plants, selling it cheaply, better to give it to someone who truly appreciates it. If you really feel it’s too much, just agree to one old man’s request." Bai Juyi was a flower enthusiast, thinking about those who only knew to measure his precious plants by money made him distressed.

Before Xiao Xian came, she retold the incident of how the camellia was smashed and then preserved in a foam box, Zhuo Feng also frowned incessantly upon hearing it, and after some deliberation, she took the old man’s key.

Concerning Bai Juyi’s request, it was straightforward, asking them to locate a daffodil pot while moving the flowers, and also a dried daffodil bulb which was left drying out on the balcony’s corner.

Zhuo Feng and Xiao Xian exited Mr. Bai’s hospital room, and he lay back down on the bed. His earlier vigor was but a fleeting moment. As Bai Juyi looked at the empty bed next to him, whose sheets had been changed, the sterile smell faintly lingering.

"Little girl, Old Man is not best at growing camellias or chrysanthemums, what I am best at is gardening pruning. I don’t have much time left, that ’Shen Zhou Daffodil’ might never break through the soil, my dear, I have still failed your expectations," Bai Juyi’s heart was trembling, and he covered his mouth, coughing softly.

As he opened his palm, a pool of heart blood, vivid red, like a red chrysanthemum blooming in autumn.

Zhuo Feng asked Xiao Xian about her recent situation and then spoke about Mr. Bai as well, "Sigh, I asked too, he has no relatives. His spouse seems to have passed away many years ago, did not remarry, and does not have any children, I see his days are numbered."

"Aunt, we can’t let Mr. Bai just pass away like this, the flower pot he mentioned, we will help find it, and those potted plants, I see they are also Mr. Bai’s worries, we absolutely can’t let those bad people ruin those flowers." Back at home, Feng Xing also returned from work.

The three of them decided together, before Mr. Bai’s unfilial nephew could come, to first manage all of Mr. Bai’s floral plants, and tomorrow morning, they would bring the daffodil bulb and the pot to Mr. Bai.

Reaching the ground floor, as they turned on the light, all three of them were stunned. (The end pending. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation ticket and monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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