Chapter 33: Qingxue’s Visit

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The neatly arranged succulent seedlings in the spiritual space were growing well. Xia Ruofei started to get busy with the brand new DSLR camera.

He picked the best-looking pot for each type of succulent and started taking photos from multiple angles.

During the filming, Xia Ruofei used plastic to cover it up to a certain extent. This way, it would look like the photos were taken in a large shed and there was no danger of revealing the secret of the Spiritual Map Space.

After taking the photos, Xia Ruofei left the Spiritual Map Space and returned to his room.

He imported more than a hundred photos into the computer and then carefully checked them one by one, making sure that he did not inadvertently capture the background in the spiritual space.

The next step was to put the merchandise online.

This was very tedious work. The price had to be marked, the description for these succulents had to be filled in, and the photos had to be sorted and uploaded. Of course, it was best to edit the photos, but Xia Ruofei was not familiar with PS software, so he could only keep everything simple.

Even so, it was already past two in the morning when Xia Ruofei, the novice shopkeeper, finished listing all the succulents online.

Xia Ruofei could not help but smile in satisfaction when he saw that the webpage of the online store he had created was no longer empty. Instead, there were more than a dozen items on it.

Although the shop still looked very simple and there were only a dozen pots of succulents in each pot, Xia Ruofei was still filled with a sense of accomplishment.

In terms of pricing, since these were all very rare succulents, and Xia Ruofei did not intend to rely on quantity to win, he wanted to take the high-quality route, so the price was set at 888 yuan per pot. The relatively slow-growing Blooming Cages and White-skinned Moon Realm seedlings were directly priced at 1,000 yuan.

It was already past two in the morning, so it was naturally impossible for anyone to visit the online store. Hence, Xia Ruofei prepared to rest after browsing for a while.

After washing up, Xia Ruofei fell asleep.

He had been busy so late that day that his body was already exhausted. Soon, Xia Ruofei fell asleep.

He slept soundly and did not even dream for the entire night. It was past ten in the morning when Xia Ruofei was woken up by the sound of his phone ringing.

Xia Ruofei rubbed his eyes in a daze and reached for the phone on the bedside table to look at the caller ID.

“Qingxue, disturbing someone’s sleep is very immoral…” Xia Ruofei picked up the phone with a bitter smile.

It was Ling Qingxue.

These days, she would call Xia Ruofei when she had nothing to do and talk about her work and life. Previously, although Xia Ruofei did not have much thoughts about Ling Qingxue because he felt that he would not live long in this world, he was still a good listener.

Therefore, the two of them were much more familiar with each other than when they were at the Immortal Succulent Store that day. In addition, Xia Ruofei’s terminal illness had been cured and especially since Hu Zi’s mother’s uremia was becoming hopeful, he was in a good mood and started joking.

Ling Qingxue giggled and said.

“I knew you were still asleep, you lazy bugger! The sun’s shining on your arse! Get up…”

She paused and then said.

“Open the door now!”

“Open the door?” Xia Ruofei asked. “What do you mean?”

“What can it mean? I’m at your door…” Ling Qingxue said coquettishly.

“Huh?” Xia Ruofei quickly got out of bed and said, “Wait a minute, wait a minute…”

Xia Ruofei buttoned up his clothes and opened the door.

The rental house was divided into many small rooms for different residents. After Xia Ruofei walked out of the room, he walked straight to the door of the entire rental house.

He looked through the peephole and saw Ling Qingxue standing in the corridor with a smile. She even looked around from time to time and looked very casual.

Xia Ruofei opened the door and looked straight at Ling Qingxue.

“Qingxue, is your family really in the food and beverage industry?”

“Of couse! Are you still in your sleep? Why are you suddenly asking such a strange question?” Ling Qingxue asked Xia Ruofei in amusement.

Xia Ruofei said.

“I think running a restaurant is your cover identity. Your family must be in the intelligence business! How can you find such a remote place? How did you get my address, anyway?”

Only then did Ling Qingxue react and burst out laughing. She rolled her eyes at Xia Ruofei and said.

“You are making your guest talk at your doorstep. Is that how you treat your guests?”

“Sorry sorry…” Xia Ruofei slapped his forehead and stepped aside to let her in. “Miss Ling, please come in!”

“That’s more like it!” Ling Qingxue squeezed her nose cutely.

Then, she raised her head slightly and walked past Xia Ruofei into the rental house, bringing with her a fragrance.

Xia Ruofei quickly led the way and said.

“The house is a little messy. I haven’t had a chance to clean it up yet. I hope you don’t mind…”

“It would be strange if a guy’s room wasn’t messy!” Ling Qingxue said indifferently.

Soon, the two of them arrived at Xia Ruofei’s room. What surprised Ling Qingxue was that everything in the room was in order. Ling Qingxue asked in amusement.

“Ruofei, you… you call this a messy room?”

Xia Ruofei scratched his head and chuckled.

“Isn’t the blanket unfolded?”

It was true that he had not had time to fold the blanket when he got up after answering the phone. However, the rest of the house was orderly and the room was almost spotless— there were habits that Xia Ruofei had developed over his years in the military.

Ling Qingxue was speechless.

She looked round the room. Her pretty face creased slightly as she said.

“Ruofei, isn’t your living environment a little too tough? Didn’t you just earn 250,000 yuan selling Ice Lantern a while ago?”

Xia Ruofei smiled faintly and said.

“Enough about me for now. You still haven’t told me how you got my address.”

Ling Qingxue smiled proudly and said.

“I can do anything. Isn’t it easy to get an address? Do you want to know? Beg me and I’ll tell you!”

Xia Ruofei pursed his lips and said.

“Forget it if you don’t want to tell me…”

“Boring…” Seeing that Xia Ruofei did not respond, Ling Qingxue pouted slightly and said, “Forget it, forget it. I’ll tell you. Guan Ping gave me your address. I happened to meet him at Ling Ji Restaurant that day and mentioned you when we were chatting.”

Realization dawned on Xia Ruofei.

Guan Ping and he had been classmates in junior high and high school and worked as a real estate agent for a company. At that time, in order to raise money, Xia Ruofei had asked Guan Ping to help sell the house in a short period of time. Guan Ping had also helped find this cheap rental house, so Guan Ping naturally knew his address.

Ling Qingxue then asked with concern.

“Ruofei, I heard from Guanping that you sold your family’s house as well, and in a hurry. Are you facing any difficulties?”

Xia Ruofei smiled faintly and said.

“I was in desperate need of money at the time, but that’s all settled now.”

Xia Ruofei could give everything he had without hesitation for the sake of his life-and-death brother’s mother, but he did not want to publicize it. In his opinion, taking care of Hu Zi’s mother was his duty.

Ling Qingxue was a smart woman. Seeing that Xia Ruofei was unwilling to say more, she stopped asking.

Xia Ruofei asked with a smile.

“Miss Ling, what brings you here so early in the morning?”

Ling Qingxue was slightly annoyed. She rolled her eyes at Xia Ruofei and said.

“What else! I wanted to have a meal with you, but you refused to go out on many occasions. I had no choice but to come and invite you myself!”

Xia Ruofei smiled awkwardly and said.

“I’ve been very busy previously… How about this! I’ll treat you today. You can choose any place you want!”

Ling Qingxue’s anger turned to joy. She looked at Xia Ruofei expectantly and asked.

“Then can we eat at home? You cook for me yourself!”

Xia Ruofei hesitated. The rental house had a communal kitchen, but Xia Ruofei was single and did not buy any kitchenware. He only had a small induction stove.

Seeing this, Ling Qingxue immediately grabbed Xia Ruofei’s hand and shook it.

“Can’t you…”

Xia Ruofei immediately felt that he could not take it anymore. He hurriedly pulled his hand out and said.

“Fine, fine, fine! Whatever you say! Let’s just eat at home!”

Ling Qingxue was overjoyed and said excitedly.

“That’s great! That’s great! Ruofei, let’s go out and buy groceries together! When we just arrived, I saw a Wal-Mart at Three Mountains Plaza!”

When Ling Qingxue mentioned grocery shopping, Xia Ruofei had an idea. He smiled and said.

“There’s no need for groceries. I have them all at home!”

With that, Xia Ruofei casually picked up a tomato from the fruit plate on the table and handed it to Ling Qingxue.

“By the way, I don’t have any fruits to serve you. These tomatoes taste quite good. Try them first! Just rest in the house for a while. I’ll go to the kitchen to prepare. Lunch will be ready at eleven o’clock sharp!”

These were tomatoes produced in the Spiritual Map Space. Xia Ruofei would bring a few out every day to eat as fruits, so there were ready-made ones in the room.

This tomato was twice the size of an adult’s fist. The red tomato emitted a faint fragrance that made one’s appetite increase.

Ling Qingxue’s family was in the food and beverage industry, so she naturally knew her stuff.

She was so focused on talking that she did not notice the tomato on the table. Now that she saw it, her eyes lit up. She quickly took the tomato and looked at it for a while before slowly bringing it to her mouth and taking a bite…