Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn-Chapter 281: A Fleeting Encounter

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At noon, after a simple meal of noodles to fill their stomachs, Zhuo Feng kept exclaiming in surprise at the transformed appearance of the begonia in the living room. Xiao Xian quietly put away the scissors without making a sound.

In the afternoon, with Xiao Xian gone and nothing else to do, Zhuo Feng took out a flower arrangement book bought from Xinhua Bookstore and started fiddling with a few potted plants brought down from the rooftop.

As she flipped through the flower arrangement book, she turned on the TV and watched for a while, Zhuo Feng lamented that the books from Xinhua Bookstore were all style with no substance, only talking about how to arrange the shapes of flowers and plants. There was no mention of how to prune and top off overwintering plants for branching, let alone maintenance. Zhuo Feng lost her enthusiasm, finding the book uninspiring.

"Alas, it’s a pity that Master Bai has passed away," Zhuo Feng thought, glancing at the daffodils on the coffee table in the living room. "If he had written down his gardening knowledge, it would have been a hundred times better than these useless books."

"The International Winter Flower Exhibition will soon grandly open in early February at the Beijing Botanical Garden. It will feature a variety of rare flowers from over eighty countries and regions worldwide. Renowned flower experts and judges will be on-site to guide the event and select this year’s King of the International Winter Flower Exhibition. The winning participants will receive professional flower cultivation courses provided by the Agricultural Science Academy and a cash prize worth ten thousand yuan." The morning news had just broadcast a piece about the flower exhibition.

"International Winter Flower Exhibition?" Zhuo Feng had lived in Beijing for a few years and would go to book fairs during the New Year, but she had never participated in a flower exhibition.

Looking at the daffodil pot, it was less of a daffodil and more a representation of the love between Mei Xiang and Bai Juyi, making everyone familiar with their story deeply moved.

Zhuo Feng didn’t know that Mei Xiang was into cultivation. At this moment, her mind was filled with memories of the stories about the time Bai Juyi spent with Mei Xiang, which he had recounted over the course of two months.

She thought Mei Xiang must have refused to live a life of poverty with Bai Juyi. She also suspected that Bai Juyi, lacking ability, left behind a daffodil bulb that couldn’t possibly be grown just to spite the old man.

"If it’s this pot of daffodils, there won’t be a problem sending it to compete. International Flower Exhibition? As long as Mei Xiang still likes flowers and trees and hasn’t lost her roots, she will definitely pay attention to this competition. It’d be good for her to see," Zhuo Feng thought, entertaining the idea of entering the daffodils into the competition.

The ten thousand yuan prize money was not a small amount; it could be used to refurbish the greenhouse or the eco-farmstead in Yanqing. As Mao Dazhu had mentioned before, a place like Yanqing required house repairs and heating system upgrades if it was to be livable.

Zhuo Feng also did her calculations; in addition to that, she factored in Xiao Xian’s tuition fee and the loss of income from both of them quitting their jobs to farm, a significant expense.

A rude knocking sound came from the door.

Zhuo Feng looked at the clock. It was just past one, with the community’s property management not yet at work, and the water and electricity bills had been paid, so who could it be?

As soon as the door was opened, a stench of sweat poured in. Zhuo Feng looked closely and saw a woman in a Chinese date-red cotton-padded jacket with a thick Lei Feng-style hat standing at the door. The woman, holding a chicken and a bag full of apples and potatoes, said as soon as Zhuo Feng opened the door: "Daughter-in-law, is Xingxing not home?"

Without even wiping the muddy water from her shoes, the woman walked straight in, placing the potatoes, apples, and the chicken on the sofa.

Zhuo Feng was taken aback for a moment and finally managed to squeeze out: "Mom, why are you here?"

"Why can’t I be here? Daughter-in-law, during the New Year, I brought some festive goods from the countryside to visit you. Hey, daughter-in-law, are those swollen garlics? They look good, just in time for stir-frying a plate of garlic sprouts at noon," said Fengxing’s mother, Zhuo Feng’s mother-in-law, pointing at the pot of daffodils and raising her voice.

**

Xiao Xian left the house just as the rain mixed with snow began to fall; fortunately, Zhuo Feng had listened to the weather report beforehand and had Xiao Xian bring rain gear. The most challenging part on a rainy day was waiting for the bus. Xiao Xian waited forty minutes for the bus, and after traveling around the city for half a day, she finally arrived at the milk tea shop in front of Sacred Heart Middle School.

Zeng Xuerou, who had been waiting for a while, took shelter in a stationery store, holding two cups of steaming milkshakes. After seeing Xiao Xian, she handed her one cup, and the two of them drank the milkshakes. It took about five minutes before their hands and feet finally warmed up. freeweɓnøvel~com

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