The poor girl from the 1970s was forced to kiss by the damp educated youth.

Si Xuan was praised as a beauty since she was a child, and even her daughter was a little beauty. But compared with the girl in front of her, she couldn't help but feel ashamed.

This woman had a shapely figure, perfect proportions, snow-white skin, and a flawless appearance.

Those eyes were clear and bright, pure and innocent, and when they looked at you intently, they could steal your heart.

Whose daughter is this?

"Cough cough—"

Xi Lang coughed heavily twice, a hint of impatience flashing in his deep eyes. Why was this woman staring at his wife?

Si Xuan snapped out of her daze and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

"We've come to see Mr. Ye, who is our uncle," Chen Zhi replied.

"You must be Xi Lang and Chen Zhi?" Si Xuan smiled and opened the door. "Come in quickly, your uncle is home."

The three of them walked inside together. Si Xuan said to the people inside, "Feng Rong, A Lang and Zhi Zhi are here."

As soon as he finished speaking, hurried footsteps came from inside, and a man strode towards them.

Chen Zhi had already met Ye Fengrong, and now that she saw Ye Fengrong and Xi Lang standing together, she felt that the two looked even more alike.

The difference lies in the fact that Ye Fengrong's facial features are softer, while Xi Lang's features are more defined and sharper. Ye Fengrong is like warm, smooth jade, while Xi Lang is like a drawn sword.

These two are uncle and nephew, similar yet completely different.

It's quite contradictory.

"Ah Lang, do you still remember your uncle?" Ye Fengrong's eyes were red, and his voice was slightly choked.

Xi Lang remained expressionless, as cold as a stone. He said, "I don't remember."

Ye Fengrong's face stiffened, his expression paled, and his straight back seemed to bend. "It's your uncle's fault. I ignored you for over ten years, so it's understandable that you forgot about your uncle. Back then, your uncle was cowardly and incompetent, only knowing how to back down when faced with trouble. If your uncle had been braver and taken you with him, you wouldn't have been all alone and forced to go to the countryside in the end. It's your uncle's fault for not protecting you..."

Ye Fengrong burst into tears.

Xi Lang remained coldly indifferent, saying, "This is none of your business."

He is not Ye Fengrong's child, and Ye Fengrong has no responsibility or obligation to make sacrifices for him.

"I have never blamed you." This was Xi Lang's true feeling.

But Ye Fengrong felt even worse. He would rather Xi Lang resent him and hate him, so that he could apologize and make amends. But Xi Lang didn't blame him, nor did he care about him. Xi Lang didn't even consider him family.

They were once blood relatives, but now they are strangers.

How will he explain this to his sister, father, and mother when he goes to the underworld?

Ye Fengrong has a son and a daughter. His son, Ye Yixuan, is nineteen years old and a freshman at Peking University. His daughter, Ye Yunshu, is seventeen years old and currently a senior in high school.

Ye Yixuan is at school; he hasn't gone home.

Ye Yunshu also lives at school and only comes back on weekends.

Ye Fengrong and Si Xuan work at a newspaper and are colleagues. When Ye Fengrong learns that Xi Lang and Chen Zhi are still living in the countryside, he offers to help them find jobs, but Xi Lang refuses.

Xi Lang: "We'll be going back to the countryside in a while."

Chen Zhi nodded, "Yes."

"Life in the countryside is tough, why not come to Beijing? You have a house, find a job, settle down in Beijing, and your children can receive the best education there. Why go back to the countryside?" Ye Fengrong asked, puzzled.

He and Si Xuan accepted the newspaper's invitation and moved to Beijing so that their two children could attend school.

Chen Zhi was stunned by Ye Fengrong's words. Is that so?

Should I stay in Beijing so my child can go to school?

Before this, Chen Zhi hadn't thought that far ahead. She subconsciously looked at Xi Lang, who gave her a reassuring look, "You can live wherever you want. You don't have to compromise for anyone."

Besides, children are such a distant matter, why rush it?

"But—" Isn't it normal to compromise for the sake of the child? Chen Zhi felt that there was nothing wrong with her thinking.

Xi Lang, however, didn't think it was a problem. "Anyway, we have a house in Beijing. We can come whenever we want. It's not a difficult thing."

"That's true." Chen Zhi felt relieved.

Si Xuan was puzzled. "Isn't it better to find a decent job in Beijing and have a government-subsidized food ration than to go back to the countryside and farm?"

Chen Zhi fell silent. How could someone who hadn't even finished elementary school find a decent job?

"Zhizhi has rented a shop to sell flowers. It will open the day after tomorrow. The location is on the jade and antique street. If you have time, you can go and have a look," Xi Lang said.

Ye Fengrong and Si Xuan exchanged a glance and nodded silently, "Opening a shop is fine too."

Being a self-employed individual may not sound good, but it's still a way to make a living.

Now that you've opened a shop, you probably won't go back to your hometown, right?

Ye Fengrong then looked at Xi Lang, "And what about you?"

Xi Lang: "I am currently the vice president of the Taoist Association and also a director of the Calligraphy Association."

Ye Fengrong: "..."

Sending Xi Lang to the Taoist temple was a decision made by the elders. Xi Lang had no place in the Xi family, and the Ye family didn't mind taking him in and raising him. However, the head of the Dao Yi Sect came to their door and said that Xi Lang was destined to be with their Dao Yi Sect, so they took Xi Lang away.

As it turned out, Xi Lang was indeed suited to practicing Taoist magic. After going to the Taoist temple, Xi Lang's health improved day by day, and the deficiencies he had from birth were cured.

Xi Lang himself prefers to stay in the Taoist temple and doesn't like to go back to the Xi family or stay in the Ye family.

Xi Lang stayed at the Taoist temple for more than ten years, until he was the only one left there. Finally, the temple was requisitioned by the local authorities, and he had nowhere to stay, so he returned to the Xi family. However, less than a month after returning to the Xi family, Xie Lingling signed him up to be sent to the countryside as an educated youth.

Since they had already become educated youth, why did they still want to become Taoist priests?

Ye Fengrong couldn't understand Xi Lang, but he knew when to stop. Continuing to persuade them would only make their relationship more distant.

At least he has the title of director of the calligraphy association.

He doesn't understand Taoism, but the Beijing Calligraphy Association holds a very high position.

Chen Zhi and Xi Lang had lunch at the Ye family's house and sat for another half hour before saying goodbye to Ye Fengrong and his wife and leaving.

The flower shop is opening the day after tomorrow, and Chen Zhi plans to take Xi Lang to the shop to take a look first.

The shelves are already installed, and the counter is ready; all that's left is for the plants to move in.

Xi Lang walked around the store and commented, "You can tell they put a lot of effort into it, not bad."

Chen Zhi: "Jiang You did it; I didn't contribute anything."

Xi Lang: "I'll give him two potted plants then."

When the topic of flowers came up, Chen Zhi suddenly realized they had overlooked something: "How were those flowers priced?"

Xi Lang thought about it carefully, "Let's go see how much others are selling for later."

There aren't many flower shops in Beijing, and even fewer that sell potted plants. Chen Zhi and Xi Lang searched most of Beijing but only found a few.

"Not very useful for reference." This was Xi Lang's conclusion. These shops also sell potted plants, but they sell common varieties. The plants are small, diseased, and weak, and their quality is far inferior to those grown by Chen Zhi.

Putting aside everything else, you won't find another place in Beijing with Chen Zhi's dozens of potted orchids. And then there are those chrysanthemums, as precious as the black chrysanthemum and the jade pot spring, and as rare as the phoenix spreading its wings and the green chrysanthemum. Ordinary people simply can't afford these flowers, making it even more difficult to set a price.

Xi Lang told Chen Zhi not to take out the precious flower yet, but to keep it until it was divided into branches and pots, then keep one pot for himself and sell the other.

Good flowers are rare, it would be a shame to sell them all.

Xi Lang: "I think that with your current physical condition, if those flowers reproduce for several generations, there is a very high chance that mutated varieties will appear."

Chen Zhi asked, puzzled, "So what? Will it fetch a higher price?"

"It's more than just higher prices," Xi Lang chuckled. "Mutant varieties are a new breed. When a new variety is introduced, especially the rare ones, the price becomes outrageously high. In the past, the wealthy would spend tens of thousands of gold coins for a single potted plant. Now everyone is poor, but that doesn't mean there aren't rich people. Even if there aren't now, there will be in the future. When that day comes, you'll see that the reality is even more exaggerated than I've described."

Chen Zhi couldn't understand, and repeated, "It's just a potted plant!"

"Yes, that's right, it's just a potted plant." Xi Lang agreed with Chen Zhi's words, and then said, "Then you cultivate flowers of the level of Ghost Orchid and White Crown Lotus, and I will be responsible for selling them to Hong Kong. I won't say it will sell for hundreds of thousands or millions, but selling one plant for tens of thousands should not be a problem."

Chen Zhi gasped, "So tall!"

Xi Lang nodded, "That's how tall it is. I think we shouldn't just plant flowers, let's plant some rare medicinal herbs too, and see if the herbs you grow are more effective."

Chen Zhi frowned. "I still have to study, I don't have that much time."

Xi Lang: "Then I'll take care of the planting. You just need to stay nearby. Once your shop opens, construction on the house should start too. After this is finished, let's move here for convenience."

Chen Zhi had no objections; running back and forth between the two places was indeed troublesome. "What should we do about the little villa?"

Without a second thought, Xi Lang said, "Rent it out."

He didn't have much affection for that place, so it wasn't that he was reluctant to rent it out.

It's good to rent it out; someone lives there, the house won't break down easily, and there's still rent to be paid.

On the day the shop opened, Chen Zhi bought firecrackers and set them off precisely at the auspicious time calculated by Xi Lang.

After the firecrackers were set off, Jiang You, Feng Ruyu, and Old Fan congratulated Chen Zhi as they entered the shop. Apart from the three of them, almost everyone else was a stranger. These people smiled and congratulated Chen Zhi one by one, and Chen Zhi thanked them and invited them into the shop.

To Chen Zhi's surprise, Mr. Tang also arrived, accompanied by an old man, who was none other than the old man Chen Zhi had once saved.

The old man wasn't old, around fifty years old, dressed in a Tang suit, his hair combed back, revealing his broad forehead, making him look very energetic.

Tang Chenfeng clasped his hands in a fist salute to Chen Zhi and said with a smile, "Miss Chen Zhi, congratulations."

Grandpa Tang also said "Congratulations," staring at Chen Zhi with his wise eyes for a few seconds before silently nodding.

He was about to say something to Chen Zhi when he caught a glimpse of a striking purplish-black color out of the corner of his eye.

The next second, he strode into the shop, stopped in front of a camellia, and exclaimed in surprise, "You actually have 'Big Purple Robe' here!"