Chapter 17

This year, there’s been more rain, and the overall quality of fruits has decreased compared to previous years. The taste of spiritual apples, however, has been exceptionally highlighted by colleagues.

People stared at the remaining slices of apples in Hou Cub’s hands, licking their lips with lingering desire. Unable to negotiate a better deal and overcome by temptation, they ended up buying three catties of Golden Delicious apples for two yuan more than the market price. Once one person made a purchase, others followed suit one after another.

Pulu Cub was responsible for calling out to passersby, while Hou Cub provided one piece of sample apple per person without exceeding the limit. The two little bundles of joy sold apples at the stall, using their milky and sweet voices to politely promote their goods. The elderly folks who came to the market to buy groceries were so charmed by these well-behaved kids that they ended up buying all three large boxes of apples without realizing it. They even sold quite a few vegetables and eggs in the process.

Before coming, Ye Chen was worried about not being able to sell everything. However, when it was time to close the stall, there was only a bunch of scallions left. Ye Chen took out a handful of crumpled banknotes from his wallet, flattened them one by one, and neatly arranged them. After counting, he had a total of 1,400 yuan.

“Phew…” Ye Chen took a deep breath, clutching the money tightly, feeling a bit shaky.

It had been a long time since he had this much disposable income.

After experiencing sudden poverty, he had considered various ways to make money, but none seemed practical. The most reliable one was to save some capital to buy and sell precious flower seeds. If orchids were well-cared for, a pot could be sold for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, making money quickly. However, unlike vegetables and fruits, orchids were not consumables. Buyers had to continue caring for them at home. Although he used the power of his agricultural bloodline to cultivate beautiful flowers, once ordinary people bought them at a high price, they often ended up deteriorating day by day. This was no different from fraud.

So, in the end, Ye Chen chose to work hard on the land with his face to the yellow earth and his back to the sky.

And the 1,400 yuan in his hand proved that honest farming had prospects!

Ye Chen happily pocketed the money and gave a small bag of reserved spiritual apples to the kind-hearted lady who had been helping him buy goods. From her, he took two boxes totaling forty baby chicks and confidently booked another hundred. Ye Chen did some quick calculations. Each chick only cost 2.5 yuan, and their own mother hens laid eggs plentifully and consistently. The value of the eggs laid during the incubation period could completely offset the cost of buying chicks, so he wanted to expand the chicken-raising scale at the lowest cost possible, without the need for egg incubation.

After collecting the baby chicks, Ye Chen bought a bag of rice and a box of noodles for feeding the divine beast cubs, as well as a bag of millet and a bag of cornmeal for feeding the chickens. As he passed by a stall selling bulk candies, he generously bought three catties of assorted candies, including fruit candies, chocolates, and soft candies. Hou Cub and Pulu Cub were so happy that they were rubbing their faces, and the atmosphere was as joyous as during the New Year.

Feeling enriched by this windfall, the rich farmer whistled as he rode his tricycle back home, fully loaded.

…

After selling apples at the morning market, Ye Chen, as usual, changed into a decent outfit and went to the set. His first task was to find Shen Mofeng.

In the morning, he spent some time training forty baby chickens in the yard. Afraid that he wouldn’t notice if he got chicken dung on himself, he carefully sprayed a little men’s cologne on his windbreaker just in case, emitting a faint scent of amber and cedarwood as he moved.

This windbreaker he was wearing for the first time this year. It cost over twenty thousand yuan. Its cut exuded a kind of ascetic coldness, with the waist cinched very tightly, making it easy to attract danger. A luxurious dark-colored scarf accentuated his porcelain-white face, giving him a gorgeous yet fragile aura, like a little prince. Thus, he carried a bulging plastic bag of fruits and knocked on the door of the lounge, saying, “Shen Ge, I’ve brought you some fruits.”

Shen Mofeng glanced up, catching sight of the delicately handsome Ye Chen, then glanced at the mixed apples and pears in the cheap plastic bag. A hint of astonishment and amusement flashed through his eyes instinctively, but his tone remained gentlemanly without a trace of suspicion, “Thank you, just leave them here.”

Ye Chen placed the plastic bag on the table next to Shen Mofeng and boldly made a request, “Can you promise to eat them yourself? Don’t give them to anyone else.”

Shen Mofeng raised an eyebrow slightly, “Promise?”

Ye Chen knew well that Shen Mofeng probably wouldn’t bother tasting these cheap fruits and would most likely just hand them to his assistant. But he couldn’t just say that these pears had a completely different effect on clearing the lungs than ordinary ones. So Ye Chen had to resort to the fan’s excuse he had prepared earlier. He pursed his lips and adopted a humble tone, saying, “Both the apples and pears were grown by myself. It’s rare for them to bear fruit, so I just want you to eat them alone. Can you not give them to others… please?”

“…” Shen Mofeng’s heart softened suddenly, silently looking at him for a moment before saying, “Okay.”

“You should eat one or two pears a day,” Ye Chen finally managed to repay Shen Mofeng’s kindness a bit, his eyes suddenly brightening, “They’re really effective in clearing the lungs and stopping coughs. I know you don’t believe it, but if you insist on eating them for a few days, you’ll see. These pears are different from ordinary ones.” Ye Chen, the little liar, carefully repaired the logical problems in his towering lie, “These are specially imported saplings.”

They were imported from… a country. 

Shen Mofeng took a deep breath and said warmly, “Alright.” After a pause, unable to resist his curiosity, he asked, “But it’s already winter… how did the pears just bear fruit?”

“I have a greenhouse at home,” Ye Chen decided to stretch the lie to the limit. After all, Shen Mofeng couldn’t possibly go to his house to check. How could he make up lies? Just say it, “They can bear fruit in any month.”

Ye Chen thought that saying he had a greenhouse at home wasn’t really bragging. It’s just that his family… has a world, saying greenhouse was already quite modest…

Shen Mofeng chuckled, “So professional?”

Growing up, it was the first time he had seen someone take such care in planting fruit trees. Importing saplings and building a greenhouse, with the average price of over twenty thousand yuan per square meter, this young master just wanted to plant a whole bunch of apples and pears… Shen Mofeng struggled to suppress his laughter, feeling his abs ache, and quickly took out a cigarette to cover his amusement.

Ye Chen stuck to his persona without wavering, “Just a hobby.”

Shen Mofeng pondered for a moment and accepted this premise.

In the circle of the rich second generation, he had seen all kinds of strange things. A bunch of young masters with all sorts of quirks, planting trees and growing vegetables might not even make it into the top 10 list of odd hobbies. Moreover, Ye Little Master’s hobby was not only green and healthy but also…

Shen Mofeng glanced at Ye Chen and bit his cigarette, smiling silently.

…quite cute.

“Don’t worry,” Shen Mofeng picked up the bag of fruits, got up, and walked around the lounge as if looking for a place to hide them, “I’ll eat them myself and won’t give them to anyone else.”

Ye Chen breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the lounge to do his makeup.

As soon as he left, Xiao He walked in behind him, only to see Shen Dashao standing in the center of the lounge with a bag of apples and pears, unsure where to put them.

Subconsciously, Xiao He reached out towards Shen Mofeng, “Shen Ge, give them to me…” I’ll put them away.

Unexpectedly, Shen Mofeng frowned slightly and said, “They’re for me.”

He even emphasized the word “me.”

Xiao He: “…”

Xiao He softly said, “I meant, should I put them in the car for you?”

Shen Mofeng took out a pear from the bag and handed the rest to Xiao He. “Put them in the car.”

Xiao He took the bag, and a smile played at the corner of Shen Mofeng’s mouth as he looked down at the pear in his hand for a moment.

Xiao He turned around with the fruits and walked out, “…”

Could this be the legendary “being single for too long, even a big pear looks like double eyelids”?

Half an hour later, while procrastinating on Weibo during styling, Ye Chen suddenly got tagged in a comment frenzy.

Ye Chen was puzzled. He clicked on a tagged comment and saw Shen Mofeng’s latest Weibo post from about fifteen minutes ago. The photo showed a golden pear with the caption: “You’ll never guess who planted this pear with their own hands.”

There were all kinds of comments in the hot replies. Some said it must be planted by a farmer, some said it was planted by the person themselves, some guessed celebrities, and some guessed the older director Chen. Among them, there was a comment from a recent fan of the rising Shen-Ye CP—

“Hahaha, I guess it’s Chen Chen! Don’t ask me why, I just have a feeling!”

And Shen Mofeng liked this comment.

The replies instantly became a paradise for Shen-Ye CP fans.

“What’s going on? Our Chen Chen Little Prince planted the pear with his own hands?! Chen Chen can plant pears?! Are you kidding me!”

Ye Chen: “…” Your Chen Chen Little Prince can even fertilize chicken dung, can’t believe it, right? Hahaha!

In the sarcastic tone, there was a hint of pride.

“Would you dare to eat the pear planted by Chen Chen himself?! Huh?!”

“? Maybe Chen Chen Baby was kidnapped by the Movie Emperor and locked up to plant in a black brick… a black farming cave to work the land?”

“Probably locked up in a villa’s garden, [doge^[1]*Doge(literally dog head) is added to the end of the article when it expresses irony in a humorous way or expresses the completely opposite meaning of what is said].”

Ye Chen: “…”

Your thoughts are so dirty.

My Shen Ge and I have a deep father-son relationship, okay? Don’t *drive a car^[2]*refers to the behavior of telling dirty jokes in my Shen Ge’s comment section, it’s dirtying the path I’m lying down on to catch a fish!

Ye Chen didn’t dare to leave Shen Mofeng hanging, so he quickly glanced at the comments and responded with interaction. He retweeted the Weibo post and commented in a jokingly cute tone, “Learned about the little tree-planting expert~”

In an instant, Ye Chen’s comment section exploded.

“It’s actually planted by Chen Chen himself?! Oh my god ah ah ah ah! Chen Chen, do you still have any pears left?! Mom also wants to eat the pears planted by you, wuwuwu! Mom is willing to spend all her savings to buy them, wuwuwu!”

“Woc, what a beautiful love story between Feng Ge and Chen Chen!”

“No no no, wake up sister upstairs, what beautiful love story? This is a countryside love story!”

Ye Chen’s Weibo post hadn’t settled down yet when Shen Mofeng posted another one.

This time, there were only two words – “Delicious.”

The comment section erupted once again…

“What do you mean by delicious? Where is it delicious? Please clarify!”

“Wuwuwu, Chen Chen is only nineteen ah qaq, Mom doesn’t agree to this marriage!”

“You don’t post for ten days or half a month, but today, you post two in a row just because of a pear. I don’t believe you when you say everything’s fine…”

Ye Chen: “…”

The author has something to say:

Ye Qiongqiong’s account book today:

Today’s income:  Golden Delicious 48 catties* 8 yuan/catty + Red Fuji 48 catties* 8 yuan/catty + Crystal Sugar Heart 33 catties* 12 yuan/catty + various vegetables and eggs totaling 307 yuan = 1431 yuan

Today’s expenses: 3 yuan each for 20 egg-laying nests for the old hens + 1 bag of rice for 100 yuan + 1 box of noodles for 60 yuan + 1 bag of millet for 50 yuan + 1 bag of corn flour for 50 yuan + 2.5 yuan each for 40 + 100 chicks + 20 yuan each for 4 pear saplings bought earlier + 10 yuan per catties for 3 catties of assorted candies = 780 yuan

Balance: 176.5 yuan + 1431 yuan – 780 yuan = 827.5 yuan

Special income for today: Shen Mofeng’s favorability +10, favorability reaching two stars.

Shen Mofeng: There’s one, I was moved.

Spiritual apples: All thanks to the support of colleagues.