104 – Entourage

"Song Meilin! How could you date my cousin and not even let me know!?" Wu Ling demanded, partially furious that her so-called friend was keeping such a big secret from her.

"It's because once you know, Yun's entire apartment will know," Rouxi said, knowing that Wu Ling had a bad habit of gossiping, even though she was adamant that she wasn't.

To Wu Ling, talking to relatives about each other was not gossiping, but a form of love. People asked and talked about each other because it was not only a sign of curiosity, but interest and concerns. Indifference was the worst form of hate.

"Well, I have to say something to aunty and uncle!” Wu Ling retorted. She was raised by gossipers. “They are always worried about Little Yun. How long have you been dating?"

"Almost six months," Rouxi replied.

Wu Ling's mouth almost dropped to the ground, six months was a long time, and to date without anyone noticing was unbelievable. She knew Rouxi, so she was relieved that it was someone she viewed as a friend. However, she was also a bit worried because all of Li Yun's previous girlfriends dumped him around the 6 months mark. "You don't find him scary?"

Rouxi laughed. "He's not that scary… I know someone who's worse."

"Oh," Wu Ling didn't know how to respond. "Are you guys really serious?"

Rouxi nodded.

The girls were all a bit shocked.

"Song Meilin being serious is like the world ending, where am I again?" Li Ching questioned her existence.

"How could you not know?" Zhu Ah Nin asked sarcastically. "I thought it was obvious."

"Why didn't you mention it then?" Zhang Mi.

After the girls finished their meal, Rouxi took them to the Dong Xuan Clinic. They didn't expect to see Li Yun's friends, who were checking out the shop for the first time.

"Wow, I didn't expect an entourage of beauties!" Bufu called out as he saw them enter the clinic.

The girls brightened up at being some of their seniors. With everyone in the front area, it felt a bit crowded, so Li Yun moved everyone to the courtyard and it suddenly became an informal party.

Ersan, who was a huge fan Rouxi's ZZ Live, requested to take pictures with Rouxi and Wu Ling.

"I can't believe you dated for so long, and none of us knew," Bu Tao said. He thought something was a bit off, but he didn't know what it was.

"It's just you, I knew for a while," Ju De commented.

"You knew and you never told us!" Fatty Fang grabbed Ju De by the column of his neck. "What sort of villainy is this!?"

"I was told to keep everything a secret… And besides, sister was the one that set them up, so she knew before we all did."

"That witch set them up?" Bufu wondered.

"Well, if you think about it, she also set Ju De and Fatty up," said Bu Tao. "She might have a good career as a matchmaker online."

"Please don't give her that idea," Ju De pleaded.

As the moon towered over the wall and into the courtyard, Li Yun kicked out everyone early, citing work early in the morning. Everyone made jabs that it was obvious there were other things other than work.

Li Yun locked up the back door as everyone left. His friends knew him better than he thought, but unfortunately, Rouxi wanted to do some shopping.

"Are you sure you want to meet my parents?" Li Yun asked again, he had been questioning whether it was really a good decision.

He was a bit nervous to show Rouxi to his parents. For one, they would start monopolizing more time with her, which meant little time with him. She was already ignoring him to scroll through all the possible gift items available on TeeBee

Once in a while, she asked him whether it was an appropriate gift for this person and that person. She was planning to make a good first impression by buying gifts for everyone, from his parents, grandparents, all his relatives and even neighbors. When she started looking through presents for the nosy neighbors near the apartment, his hands tickled her side to distract her. She returned him an angry glare, but then decided it was time for bed.

Li Yun woke up early the following morning to build the planters and loaded them up with different types of medium. From dirt to lava rocks, everything influenced the type of energy created in the plants. 

In the courtyard, Li Yun had created eight planters with three vertical stacks. He had selected eight types of herbs to experiment with, garlic, turmeric, ginger, mung beans, cayenne, ephedra, aconite, and rhubarb. They were selected base on their effectiveness and length of maturity.

<ephedra and aconite/monkshood>

With the willow tree blocking a portion of the sun, the top of the stack would have around 50% yang, the middle stack should have 30% yang, and the bottom stack should have 10%.

The planters would also be influenced by insects or gu. In most cases, it was not a good idea since plants could die from diseases. However, if properly maintained, these plants would be able to develop gu resistance. 

Rouxi moved the phone around to show off the collection to the ZZ Live audience. After panning across the courtyard, she moved the phone up. On top of the courtyard were aquariums full of different varieties of seaweed.

Huali: As expected of Dr. Li's garden

Dr.Yi: This is like a herbalist's dream garden. Everything is so packed together to maximize space.

Miu: But is it really a good idea to grow plants without much light?

Botanist: Some plants prefer little light, or it's intentional to slow down growth, I'm not sure.

"Dr. Li, is there a reason why you're planting so many herbs?" asked Rouxi, seeing that the majority of the viewers were curious to why Li Yun was growing the herbs instead of buying it from the market.

The clinic was literally located on Caoben Street where it was possible to buy fresh and dried herbs simply by walking down the street.

"The plants here are considered a baseline," Li Yun explained as he continued digging holes in the soil. "I want to understand analyze the plants that are produced in this exact environment. Once the baseline is established, I can start researching ways to alter their growth potential."

Growing herbs were like growing people, they needed to be nurtured, but not all herbs were the same. Some want more water, some want less. Some need acidic soil, some needs base. It was why people shouldn't raise their children according to one standard and rules.

As he covered the turmeric with organic matter, his phone rang. It was his mother. Rouxi immediately turned off the broadcast and handed over the phone to him.

Li Yun didn't even attempt to place it to his ear when he turned it on. Right on cue, his mother screamed into the phone about how horrible of a son he was, and he better bring the daughter-in-law for dinner next Saturday. Li Yun waited for her to finish her rant before agreeing to her dinner plans. Afterward, a man called out from the new flat roof. Li Yun looked up toward the contractor he had hired.

"Boss! Greenhouse is all set for inspection!"

Li Yun looked up toward the contractor he had hired three weeks ago and have him a thumbs up for completing according to the deadline.