"Xiaobao, why aren't you asleep yet? It's so late," Zhou Cuihua, who had just come out of the kitchen, looked at Li Xiaobao.
"Uh, sister-in-law, I want to do an experiment and came to find some things," Li Xiaobao said with a smile at Zhou Cuihua and went into the kitchen without waiting for her response.
"You, what are you looking for? Tell your sister-in-law, and I'll find it for you," Zhou Cuihua said with an affectionate glance at Li Xiaobao, following him into the kitchen.
"Where is the garlic, sister-in-law?" After searching for a while, Li Xiaobao couldn't find the garlic and had no choice but to ask Zhou Cuihua for help.
"It's in that basket. What do you need garlic for?" Zhou Cuihua asked in surprise, knowing that Li Xiaobao usually didn't like to eat garlic.
Seeing Li Xiaobao pick out more than a dozen heads of garlic and then leave the kitchen with a plate, Zhou Cuihua was speechless. It didn't look like Li Xiaobao was going to eat them.
"Sister-in-law, I'm going to put the garlic on this plate. You should come and have a look tomorrow morning," Li Xiaobao said as he slowly poured water from the Five Elemental Space onto the plate, nourishing the garlic.
"You!" Watching Li Xiaobao, Zhou Cuihua said, "Xiaobao, if you want to eat garlic sprouts, just tell your sister-in-law, and I'll buy some for you tomorrow, okay?"
"No, no, that's not it, sister-in-law. I just want to do an experiment. Tell dad and mom tomorrow, so they don't mess it up," Li Xiaobao was planning on sleeping in, so after saying this to Zhou Cuihua, he went to his room.
......
"Xiaobao, something terrible has happened!"
Early the next morning, as soon as Zhou Cuihua got up and went outside, she was instantly stunned. The garlic that Li Xiaobao had left on the plate last night had sprouted to over a meter tall by this morning.
Looking at the meter-tall garlic sprouts, Zhou Cuihua panicked and rushed into Li Xiaobao's room.
"What's up, sister-in-law?" A sleepy Li Xiaobao heard Zhou Cuihua's shout, rubbed his eyes, and sat up.
"What could be so important that you have to fuss about it this early in the morning?" Li Xiaobao had completely forgotten about last night's garlic and was only conducting an experiment to see if his idea would work.
"What?" Just having put on clothes and reached the doorway, Li Xiaobao himself was instantly stunned. Overnight, the garlic had grown sprouts over a meter tall.
"Good gracious!" Excited, Li Xiaobao gazed at the garlic sprouts in the courtyard and ran out.
He knew his experiment had been successful, and now he could start implementing his plan.
"Xiaobao, what's the matter? You're causing such a commotion early in the morning," by now, Luo Guiying and Li Detian had also gotten up. When they came out to the yard and saw for themselves, they were equally astounded.
"Xiaobao, what on earth is going on here?" Li Detian could hardly believe what he was seeing; he had been a farmer for decades and had never encountered such bizarre occurrences.
At that moment, Zhou Cuihua came out of the house and explained the experiment Li Xiaobao had mentioned the night before to Li Detian and Luo Guiying.
"What? An experiment? Xiaobao, what exactly did you do?" Li Detian looked somewhat puzzled at Li Xiaobao, feeling more and more mystified by his son.
"Well, dad, if I told you, you wouldn't understand. In the future, this will be our Li family's secret to becoming rich," Li Xiaobao lied casually.
Hearing Li Xiaobao's words, Li Detian did not ask any further questions, but Zhou Cuihua looked at Li Xiaobao with a smile, making him feel somewhat guilty.
"Dad, you don't oppose me taking on the lease for the vacant land in the village now, do you?" Li Xiaobao said proudly to Li Detian.
"Hmph, even if I didn't oppose, you previously said that you'd use your own money for the land lease. Do you have that much money?" Li Detian's implication was clear: the family didn't have the funds.
And Li Xiaobao was well aware that Li Detian simply couldn't afford it.
Just then, a large truck pulled up to the entrance of Li Xiaobao's home, and it was Wu Fengqing who had arrived.
"Ay, Xiaobao, the roads here are really tough to navigate," Wu Fengqing complained to Li Xiaobao as he got off the truck; indeed, the roads to Kao Mountain Village were difficult.
"Heh, dad, the money has arrived," Li Xiaobao smirked at Wu Fengqing and went out to greet him, as they had agreed he would come today to collect the remaining ginseng.
"Come on, let's go inside." Li Xiaobao knew Wu Fengqing was there to pick up the ginseng, and without any further ado, he led him into his room.
Li Detian glanced at Luo Guiying, then at Zhou Cuihua, saw the bewildered look on their faces, and followed them inside.
As everyone entered Li Xiaobao's room, they all stood rooted to the spot. The room was piled high with ginseng, like a small mountain.
"Haha, Xiaobao, you're really talented," Wu Fengqing laughed heartily upon seeing the high-quality ginseng stacked like a small mountain.
"You flatter me, Boss Wu," Li Xiaobao smiled, thinking to himself: If I weren't trying to be low-key, I'd plant the entire Five Elemental Space with ginseng and really shock you.
"This..." As soon as Wu Fengqing entered, Li Detian knew he had come to buy medicinal materials, given the name "Wu Fengqing Herbal Medicine Shop" on his truck door.
Li Detian, not sure what to do, was immediately dumbstruck upon seeing the mountain of ginseng. When did so much ginseng appear in their house, and how did he not know about it?
After weighing the ginseng, it came out to exactly one hundred thousand yuan as Li Xiaobao had claimed. In fact, Li Xiaobao had based it on the amount from yesterday's weighing. How could it not be exact?
Wu Fengqing finished checking the goods and said to Li Xiaobao, "Xiaobao, can I take a look at your ginseng farm?"
"What? What ginseng farm?" Hearing Wu Fengqing's words, Li Detian and Luo Guiying also felt a sense of longing, leaving Li Xiaobao somewhat dumbfounded. Only Zhou Cuihua, standing off to the side, let out a quiet chuckle. How could she, as his sister-in-law, not know whether Li Xiaobao had any sort of farm?
"Well, President Wu, to tell you the truth, it's not really convenient right now. How about we wait until next time?" Li Xiaobao said awkwardly to Wu Fengqing.
"Haha, sure, then let's wait for next time. I won't disturb you any further." Wu Fengqing laughed. He had originally wanted to see what kind of place could produce such good ginseng, and if worse came to worst, he thought about leasing some land himself for planting.
Seeing Li Xiaobao's embarrassed look, Wu Fengqing didn't press further and left directly with his people. He knew that time was on his side and as long as he could continuously get supplies from Li Xiaobao, he could make a good profit.
Staring at the one hundred thousand yuan Wu Fengqing had left on the table, Li Detian and the others were stunned for a long time, unable to snap out of their daze.
"Xiaobao, am I dreaming?" Luo Guiying excitedly asked Li Xiaobao.
"Oh, Mom, look at what you're saying. Why would it be? Don't even mention one hundred thousand; even two hundred thousand or a million, I will be able to earn it in the future." Li Xiaobao patted his chest as he assured Luo Guiying.
"Right, I always knew my son wouldn't let us down." Luo Guiying's face bloomed with joy.
The news that Li Xiaobao was selling ginseng spread throughout Kao Mountain Village in one morning, and an unending stream of people came to inquire with Li Xiaobao. He didn't mind and, after lunch, he headed toward the village committee; he wanted to inquire about leasing some land.
"Hey, Uncle Zhang, have you just come back from the fields?" Li Xiaobao stepped out the door and immediately ran into Zhang Ling's father, Zhang Shan, who had just returned from the fields.
"Is that Xiaobao?" Zhang Shan greeted Li Xiaobao with a beaming smile.
"Uncle Zhang, why are you looking at me like that?" Seeing Zhang Shan smiling at him, Li Xiaobao inexplicably felt a shiver.
"Haha, Xiaobao, what you said really wasn't wrong. I don't know how it happened, but ever since that morning I listened to your advice and didn't water the fields, guess what? My paddy field's rice plants have been growing like mad, and now they're almost catching up to your family's rice plants. I dare say that this year, in Kao Mountain Village, your family's harvest will top the list and ours will be second."
The more Zhang Shan looked at Li Xiaobao, the more he liked him.
"That's right, Uncle Zhang. You did the right thing by listening to me." Upon hearing this, Li Xiaobao bragged as he walked along.
"Xiaobao, I never expected you to be such a good hand at farming," Zhang Shan didn't refute Li Xiaobao's words, because it was indeed due to Li Xiaobao's advice that their rice plants were growing better.
Zhang Shan had no idea that the reason their rice plants were growing better was not due to Li Xiaobao's advice, but because of Li Xiaobao's Five Element Spiritual Energy.
"Xiaobao, where are you off to?" Seeing Li Xiaobao heading toward the village committee, Zhang Shan muttered to himself with curiosity.
"I'm going to ask Uncle Lai Cai about leasing some vacant land in the village," Li Xiaobao said nonchalantly.
"Oh, well, you go ahead then. When you have some time, come over more often and let's have a chat," Zhang Shan told Li Xiaobao with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Li Xiaobao wanted to say: I actually want to go over now.
However, due to the matter of leasing the land, he didn't dare to delay. After all, he felt that with Zhang Shan's invitation, he could visit any time in the future.
When Li Xiaobao arrived at the village committee, Zhang Laicai was the only one in the office.
"Uncle Lai Cai!" Li Xiaobao called out as he entered.
"Is that Xiaobao? What brings you here?" Zhang Laicai looked at Li Xiaobao indifferently, lit a cigarette for himself and took his time smoking it.
"Uncle Lai Cai, I came to ask about leasing the village's vacant land. I see there's quite a bit of it, and I'd like to lease some," Li Xiaobao stated his purpose straightforwardly.
"Oh, vacant land?" Hearing Li Xiaobao's words, Zhang Laicai's eyes started to whirl, and after a moment he said, "Well, Xiaobao, it's true that there's some vacant land in our village, but the higher authorities have issued a document prohibiting arbitrary leasing."
"What? There's so much vacant land and it's not allowed to be leased?" Upon hearing this, Li Xiaobao stood up, ready to leave. He had come specifically to lease vacant land and now that he couldn't, there was no point in staying.
"Hey hey, Xiaobao, wait a moment. Actually, it's not that it can't be leased; it's just that I can't go against the official document. Why don't you go back and discuss it with your dad, see what he thinks?" Zhang Laicai, while continuing to smoke, turned his eyeballs slyly, slowly got up from the chair, and his right hand fingers kept gesturing as if he was counting money.
"Alright then, Uncle Lai Cai, I'll head back first," Li Xiaobao said, shaking his head helplessly before heading home.
As soon as he got back home, Li Xiaobao found the house filled with people. Relatives who barely ever visited had all come over, mainly because they had heard about Li Xiaobao's ginseng sale that day.
Luo Guiying had already mentioned Li Xiaobao's earnings of a hundred thousand yuan, and as people noticed that Li Detian's leg was almost healed, she also brought up how Li Xiaobao had massaged Li Detian's leg.
"No way? Your Xiaobao is incredible," the villagers exclaimed in admiration upon hearing Luo Guiying's words.
"Hey, Xiaobao, my brother, back in my hometown has a leg that's not working well, could you give him a massage?" Aunt Wang from the village looked at Li Xiaobao with hope in her eyes.
"Sure, no problem," Li Xiaobao agreed without hesitation.
"That's wonderful. I'll go back and tell him right away." Seeing Li Xiaobao's agreement, Aunt Wang didn't waste a second and hurried back home.