Pastoral Daily Life

Weeping willow, a tall deciduous (shedding its leaves annually) tree, is one of the types of willows and one of the most common tree species in China. Because of its beauty, ease of breeding and low cost as well as its ability to absorb carbon dioxide, the weeping willow is a common street tree in many cities.

The sapling in front of Lu Lingxi was a seedling of the weeping willow, its trunk the size of a dollar coin in diameter and shorter than a mans height, obviously recently planted. The panel showed that the sapling was dying due to lack of water, but in the eyes of the gardeners, the sapling had already withered to death. When Lu Lingxi got out of the car, the gardeners had just uprooted the sapling and transplanted a new one that was alive. The uprooted sapling had been thrown carelessly on the ground and one of the workers was about to break it. Lu Lingxi hurriedly stopped him.

The workers were all migrants, speaking a not-so-fluent dialect of Mandarin. Lu Lingxi could not quite understand what the other party was saying, so the two sides tried to talk for a long time but finally were able to communicate clearly. Lu Lingxi said that the tree was still alive and could be saved by watering. The other side said that the tree cost only a few yuan and that it would be no big deal to replace it with another one. After another round of chicken-and-duck talk, the other party readily threw the seedling at Lu Lingxi to do whatever he wanted with it.

Lu Lingxi carried the tree back to the car. Although it was a small sapling, it was still a tree. Yi Hang looked at the sapling in the trunk in a daze for a long time, then gave Lu Lingxi a speechless thumbs up. Because of the tree, the two of them didnt go back to the Tiny Garden but turned and directly went home.

Wang Shuxiu was very surprised to see them, asked about Yan Yue in the shop and didnt comment. It was a rare occasion for Lu Lingxi to come back at noon, so Wang Shuxiu hurriedly took care of cooking for the little bastard not to go hungry.

Lu Lingxi was so anxious to plant the tree that he didnt notice what time it was. He was digging a pit in the backyard with his hands covered in mud when his mobile phone rang on the chair. Yi Hang, who was halfway through chewing a tomato, wiped his hands haphazardly and picked up the phone without looking at who was calling. “Hello.” With half a tomato in his mouth, his voice was a little slurred, but it was clearly a mans voice.

At the sound of an unfamiliar voice, on the other end of the phone the smile on Yan Yues face froze, the upturned curve of his mouth flattening at once. “Who are you? Wheres Xiao Xi?” His tone was dark and cold and there was some subtle jealousy in it. The person who had access to Lu Lingxis phone must be someone he was familiar with.

“Lao San is planting trees, he cant answer the phone right now. What do you want?” Yi Hang was so used to being careless that he completely missed the displeasure of the man on the other side of the phone.

The name “Lao San” once again poked Yan Yues sense of crisis, and he quickly added, “This is Yan Yue, can you ask when Xiao Xi will be back?”

“Yan Yue?” Yi Hang inexplicably felt that this name was somewhat familiar. Where did he hear it before? He shouted at Lu Lingxi, “Lao San, who is Yan Yue? Hes asking when youre going back.”