Pastoral Daily Life

Yan Yue was rushed by Lu Lingxi to take a shower, and together with him, Dahei was also driven into the bathroom.

As a stray dog, Dahei used to have absolutely no concept of bathing. At most, when it was hot, the dog would find a pond or a puddle to paddle in. But ever since he was separated from the identity of a stray dog, Dahei has been forced to develop the habit of bathing. Fortunately, Lu Lingxi knew from Brother Dong that dogs couldn’t bathe every day as it was not good for their skin and they could easily get sick, so Dahei didn’t have to take a bath every day. But today, Dahei was drenched by the rain, so he couldn’t escape.

In the bathroom, Yan Yue and Dahei look at each other for a long time. Yan Yue didn’t say anything. A trace of struggle flashed in Dahei’s eyes and then he hesitantly went over and consciously squatted under the shower.

Outside the bathroom, without Yan Yue by his side, Lu Lingxi recruited the white panel, and his eyes fell on the strange prompt below.

The planting land has been polluted, consume a power of nature to purify it?

This sentence was not difficult to understand; the planting land should be referring to the small backyard below, but what he didn’t understand was how the small yard could be polluted? How has it been polluted? This question made Lu Lingxi a little puzzled, and instead of choosing purification immediately, he first took his mobile phone and checked the Internet to find out what land pollution was.

He was just intending to give it a try, but when he typed in the words “land pollution”, countless reports popped up, along with a large number of shocking pictures. In layman’s terms, land pollution meant that toxic and harmful substances from human activities entered the soil and accumulated to a certain extent, exceeding the soil’s instinctive purification capacity, resulting in changes in soil properties and quality. Similar sources of pollution included industrial pollution, transport pollution, household pollution and so on. The consequences of such pollution were very serious and would not only lead to a deterioration in the nature of the soil, but more importantly, the organisms inside the soil would absorb toxic substances directly from the soil, eventually entering the human body through the food chain, thus endangering human health.

As one of the most important heavy industrial cities in China, Fengcheng discharged an unknown amount of waste, waste water and exhaust gas every day. These pollutants either settled underground, seeped into water sources or floated in the air, little by little eroding the natural environment of Fengcheng and polluting its soil. Now with a heavy rain, all the toxic gases in the air have been brought to the ground to be absorbed into the soil, finally making the last straw that broke the camel’s back and exceeding the soil’s instinctive self-purification ability.

Lu Lingxi put down his phone and looked back at the white panel, choosing “Purify” without hesitation.

It was still raining outside and the sky was getting darker and darker, so Lu Lingxi couldn’t see any change in the purified soil for a while. He just couldn’t help thinking that the soil inside the small backyard could be purified through the power of nature, but what about other places? Would it be like what the picture showed, the accumulation over time exceeding the land’s own self-purification capacity and eventually becoming shocking?

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He was so absorbed in his thoughts that Dahei came out of the bath and barked, aggrieved.

When Lu Lingxi returned to his senses, he saw Dahei squatting at the door of the bathroom and Yan Yue walking out with his upper body naked and wearing the big floral pants he had found, wiping his hair. This image of Yan Yue was so subversive that Lu Lingxi couldn’t help but laugh.

Yan Yue raised his eyebrows, “Very funny?”

He himself felt a little funny looking in the mirror, but his clothes were really too wet to wear, so he couldn’t help it.

Lu Lingxi held back his laughter and didn’t dare to admit it. It wasn’t really funny, but it didn’t match Yan Yue’s aura at all. However, Lu Lingxi did feel that Yan Yue looked more grounded this way. Yesterday, when Yan Yue came to dinner in a suit and leather shoes, although Wang Shuxiu didn’t say anything, Lu Lingxi vaguely sensed a certain inappropriateness. In the past, he was used to being surrounded by people of Yan Yue’s elite style in the Lu family, and when he was alone with Yan Yue, he didn’t feel anything. But once Yan Yue entered his current living environment, a certain incompatibility was immediately evident. Now it was better; Lu Lingxi’s eyes swept over Yan Yue’s floral pants and he felt more harmonious.

His eyes were pure and simply glanced at the fancy pants, but Yan Yue felt the heat in the small of his back from his gaze and turned sideways silently.

After showering, the two faced the difficult task of cooking. Lu Lingxi didn’t know how to cook at all, and Yan Yue was also so-so. Fortunately, there was tomato sauce in the fridge that Wang Shuxiu had boiled earlier, so Yan Yue found a bag of noodles and asked Lu Lingxi, “Want to eat noodles?”

Lu Lingxi rubbed his stomach and nodded.

Seeing that he was hungry, Yan Yue was a little distressed, poured the water and turned on the fire to the maximum, “It will be ready soon.”

He kept his eyes on the pot in front of him as he spoke, and Lu Lingxi could only see Yan Yue’s profile. Lu Lingxi hummed in agreement obediently and leaned against the kitchen door to watch Yan Yue cook the noodles. It was raining and windy outside, and the kitchen window was rattling loudly. There were raindrops hitting the glass in a white blur. The lamp hanging from the roof was quietly lit, and the somewhat dim glow illuminated Yan Yue’s face, making him appear somewhat gentler.

The water in the pot was boiling quite quickly, a white mist spreading out after the noodles were dropped. Yan Yue’s expression was a little blurred by the mist. As if he sensed Lu Lingxi’s gaze, he turned his head and slightly hooked up the corner of his mouth at Lu Lingxi. At the sight of this smile, Lu Lingxi suddenly felt his heart inexplicably miss a beat. This feeling was a bit strange. Lu Lingxi squirmed and averted his eyes, beckoning Dahei, who immediately ran up head over heels.

Yan Yue: “……”

Dinner for two people and one dog was noodles with tomato and meat sauce. The tomato sauce boiled by Wang Shuxiu was really delicious. Simply mixed with the noodles, it was tasty enough to match the so-called haute cuisine noodles that Yan Yue used to eat at the Yin family’s house.

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After eating, Lu Lingxi gave up his bedroom to Yan Yue and took Dahei to sleep in the master bedroom. His bed was a little small; he and Dahei could barely fit in, but if Dahei was replaced by Yan Yue, it would be quite cramped. Anyway, Yan Yue was a guest; Lu Lingxi was embarrassed to squeeze with Yan Yue and consciously gave up the bed very kindly.

“Big Brother Yan, you should rest early.” Lu Lingxi found a book and took it with him before leaving.

Yan Yue gave him a deep look and somewhat helplessly accepted Lu Lingxi’s kind offer. Although he didn’t have the opportunity to sleep with the boy, the room was so full of the boy’s aura that Yan Yue’s depression about Dahei being able to sleep in the same bed with Lu Lingxi finally subsided.

Lu Lingxi went to the other bedroom, found a mat and spread it on the floor, and said seriously to Dahei, “You have to sleep on the mat tonight, understand?”

It didn’t matter what happened when Dahei was with him, but if Wang Shuxiu found out that Dahei slept on the bed, he would probably be scolded. Dahei whimpered a little, aggrieved, and obediently plopped down on the mat.

Lu Lingxi opened the book and read it, unconsciously thinking about the situation in the backyard again. As soon as the thought flashed, the white panel surfaced and the situation in the backyard appeared on it.

Lu Lingxi was a little surprised; he had not sent out a mental scan and the current range of his mental scan was only three metres, so it was reasonable that he couldn’t reach the yard. He thought about taking a few steps back to make sure that the distance from the backyard was more than three metres, but the white panel was still floating and the whole backyard was clearly visible.

Lu Lingxi was really surprised this time. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation. He carefully stretched out his hand and tapped on the surface of the displayed soil, and a very special connection rose up from the bottom of his heart. The feeling was indescribable. It was as if he had established some kind of connection with the land in his backyard because of the power of nature. This connection went beyond the three metre range of the mental scan, and the backyard would appear on the white panel whenever he wanted it to.

Lu Lingxi’s first thought was that he would be able to keep track of the growth of tomatoes in his backyard even in Tiny Garden in the future. But then he laughed. This connection looked very mysterious, but when you thought about it, it was not really of much use, just a matter of saving time. However, every time the panel developed a new function it was enough to make him happy. Lu Lingxi simply put the book down and began to study the panel.

It rained outside all night and only stopped at the break of dawn. Lu Lingxi didn’t sleep very well at night, always worrying about the tomatoes and the sapling in the backyard.

At five o’clock, Lu Lingxi woke up. As soon as he turned over, Dahei immediately opened his eyes and crawled up. Lu Lingxi made a “shhh” sign at Dahei. Yan Yue was still sleeping next door; the sound insulation in the old house was not good and they had to keep their voices down so as not to wake up Yan Yue. Dahei squatted quietly in front of Lu Lingxi; Lu Lingxi put on his clothes and stroked Dahei’s head with appreciation.

One man and one dog lightly went out the door. Lu Lingxi was anxious to see what was going on in the backyard, pushed open the balcony door and walked out, and what was in front of him immediately made him freeze in his tracks.

Overnight, the tomato seedlings that had been battered down by the heavy rain last night had actually blossomed again. Countless small yellow flowers swayed in the wind among the green leaves. A swarm of bees appeared from nowhere, hovering over them and looking very busy. Even the willow sapling, which the gardeners had determined to be dead yesterday, had sprouted new shoots, Although small, the green leaves covered the branches, and a few chirping sparrows sat on it. Seeing Lu Lingxi, they were not afraid at all.

The air in the courtyard was as fresh as never before, the fragrance of the vegetation mixed with the smell of the earth, making one’s heart settle down for no reason. Lu Lingxi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and for a moment, the only thing he felt was relaxation and happiness.

Was this the effect of soil purification? Or was this what nature was supposed to be like?

Yan Yue woke up in the morning to the sound of birds chirping outside. After a good night’s sleep in the aura of the young man surrounding him, he overslept for the first time. After getting dressed, Yan Yue followed the sound to the balcony and, like Lu Lingxi at the beginning, was completely stunned.

Everything in front of him was like a colourful picture full of vivid colours. The whole courtyard was covered in the pale golden morning glow, yellow flowers, green plants, thin willow swaying in the wind, and two piles of bright red tomatoes piled up under the balcony. It was completely impossible to tell that this place was hit by a heavy rain last night. The only thing that carried a little bit of the shadow of the heavy rain last night was probably the wet black soil.

Yan Yue looked for Lu Lingxi; the young man was squatting on the ground, carefully weeding. Behind him, Dahei was jumping at the wall trying to climb up. A few sparrows were chirping on the wall, as if laughing at Dahei.

The air in the courtyard was fresher than ever before, and Yan Yue took a breath, intoxicated, as he walked towards Lu Lingxi.