Unconventional [Rebirth] - Chapter 4

That night, muffled arguments occasionally came from his parents’ room again, but Jiang Rui no longer saw either of them sneak out to give money to his uncle’s family.

The next morning, before he left for school, Jiang Rui again “casually” mentioned some things about Qing City High School to his mother. He deliberately exaggerated its prestige. His mother, beaming with joy, promised Jiang Rui that the money for his education was already prepared and that they would pay any amount to ensure he could attend.

Jiang Rui smiled as he left the house. This time, the family’s possibility of paying off his uncle’s debt was unlikely. Even if his father insisted, they wouldn’t pay the whole amount like before; they’d only give a thousand or so. And even if they did, he wasn’t worried. He would make his uncle’s family pay back the favor they had taken, but at a much higher price!

Without the Jiang couple to be the “suckers,” the debt collectors came to his uncle’s house day after day, looking fierce and menacing. Even though Li Xiuzhi hated to part with her money, she had no choice but to pay up. After all, she was over three months pregnant, and if something happened, there would be no one to cry to. Fortunately, she had a small store, and since Jiang Jianlin never paid attention to business matters, she could placate him with one or two hundred yuan a month. Over the years, she had saved a lot of money. With her dowry and a small loan from her family, she had enough to pay off the debt.

Li Xiuzhi used her family as an excuse and paid the money. Less than two days later, Jiang Jianlin, who had heard the news, scurried back home. When confronted by Li Xiuzhi, he stubbornly refused to say how he had accumulated a debt of over ten thousand yuan. The two of them had a big argument, which went on and on.

How Jiang Jianlin and his wife fared didn’t have much of an impact on Jiang Rui’s family, other than his grandmother complaining and a few dishes being a little less extravagant.

The old lady favored her youngest son, but her oldest was also her own flesh and blood and much closer to her than his wife. Since his wife had paid the debt, the old lady was happy and didn’t make much of a fuss.

When Jiang Jianjun saw how readily his sister-in-law produced over ten thousand yuan, even he, a simple man, understood what was going on. Her story about borrowing the money from her family didn’t make sense. The Li family’s financial situation was average at best, so how could they so easily give a married daughter over ten thousand yuan? While Li Xiuzhi was their only daughter, she had five brothers, and their wives were not easy to deal with.

It was clear that his third brother’s family had extorted money from them.

Meanwhile, Jiang Rui spent his days either cultivating or thinking about how to make money. Using the Secret Realm to sell some fruits and vegetables seemed like a good idea, but there was still the risk of being discovered. He didn’t have to worry about the quality, but if a busybody ran a test on the plants grown in the spiritual soil and found some rare components, the trouble would be more than just “minor.”

The jade business was highly profitable, but in this era, the market was small even in Qing City, let alone in the town. Also, jade was a valuable commodity, and for a kid with no connections or backing, it was too risky. He had his cultivation, but he couldn’t keep an eye on his parents and family 24/7.

In his previous life, Jiang Rui had worked his way up from a penniless laborer to the vice president of a listed company, so he had a good business mind. Soon, when he visited Zhou Yang’s home for the weekend, he saw an opportunity.

Zhou Yang’s mother, Cui Xiyun, had an elegant, scholarly appearance and a gentle, virtuous personality. She was very kind to people.

Jiang Rui’s features hadn’t fully developed yet; he was very delicate-looking, sensible, and well-behaved, which made him very likable. Furthermore, since Zhou Yang’s grades were far worse than Jiang Rui’s, a mother would naturally prefer her child to associate with a student who got good grades.

Most importantly, Cui Xiyun understood her son. Zhou Yang seemed to be on good terms with everyone, but he had never brought a classmate home before, which showed that he genuinely liked Jiang Rui. Naturally, she was very enthusiastic, not only cooking a large meal but also constantly putting food on Jiang Rui’s plate, completely ignoring her own son.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was great, and Jiang Rui knew how to win people over. Cui Xiyun kept smiling the whole time. However, Jiang Rui keenly noticed that Cui Xiyun herself rarely ate and would often zone out, clearly preoccupied with something.

Zhou Yang wasn’t a careless person, but he didn’t ask his mother about her state, which indicated that he knew what was on her mind.

After dinner, Zhou Yang took Jiang Rui to his room to read. Jiang Rui subtly steered the conversation toward his mother.

Since it wasn’t something difficult to talk about, Zhou Yang didn’t think much of it and told Jiang Rui what was going on.

Zhou Yang had an aunt, Zhou Ying, who was in the flower business. She had a rare Clivia that was blooming exceptionally well. It wasn’t yet its flowering season, but she had been meticulously caring for it, waiting for it to bloom in the winter. Because she had to go on a business trip, Zhou Ying wasn’t comfortable leaving it with the housekeeper, so she entrusted it to Zhou Yang’s mother, who also knew a thing or two about gardening. But unexpectedly, the Clivia started having problems just two days after Zhou Ying left. It became more and more listless each day, and Cui Xiyun couldn’t figure out why. She had already invited almost every expert in the city to take a look, spending a lot of money, but the orchid’s condition only worsened.

In recent years, the price of orchids in the Qing City flower market had been consistently high, not to mention a rare specimen like this. Someone had offered Zhou Ying one hundred thousand yuan for the plant, but she couldn’t bear to sell it.

There were not many “ten thousand yuan households” at that time, so one hundred thousand was a large sum of money, something Cui Xiyun absolutely couldn’t afford. With Zhou Ying’s return date approaching, she was so worried that she couldn’t eat and was even losing her hair.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Rui’s heart stirred. He didn’t know how to grow flowers, but he had Profound Soil, which was top-grade spiritual soil! Spiritual soil could kill insects, cure diseases, nourish plants, and hasten their growth. So, top-grade Profound Soil would be even more effective. Besides, flowers were just for decoration or appreciation. Buyers cherished them and rarely took them apart for research. He was still just a child, and he hadn’t had any prior experience with gardening, so even if he healed the orchid, others would just think he got lucky.

Jiang Rui had a plan in mind, but he didn’t speak rashly. He just sighed with regret and didn’t mention it again. A few days later, Zhou Yang seemed out of it in class. Jiang Rui could tell that the orchid was probably not doing well.

Zhou Ying was set to return next Thursday. Jiang Rui had already learned from Zhou Yang that the orchid had completely withered. Cui Xiyun was now planning to borrow money from her family to compensate her sister-in-law.

That weekend, Jiang Rui visited Zhou Yang’s house again. He specifically went to see the orchid. It was indeed a withered mess. The leaves had fallen off, and it looked completely lifeless.

Jiang Rui extended his spiritual consciousness and examined the orchid from its tip to its root. He found a faint trace of life force in the roots. A slight, almost invisible smile appeared on his face. This would save him a lot of trouble. If the orchid had been completely dead, Myriad Profound could also revive it, but it would have taken him a lot of effort. Since the orchid still had a trace of life, it didn’t even need the Profound Soil. It would get better after being in normal spiritual soil for a while. However, time was of the essence, and growing it in Profound Soil would be faster.

“Yang Yang.” Since Jiang Rui found out about the nickname Cui Xiyun had given his friend, he no longer wanted to call him by his full name.

“Yeah, Rui Zi. I don’t see what’s so great about this flower, so why is it so expensive? My aunt is so obsessed with it. She loves this flower like her own life. How sad will she be to come back and see a pot of dirt?” Zhou Yang looked at the orchid, his chubby face filled with worry. How could he not be worried about a flower worth over one hundred thousand yuan?

Jiang Rui paused for a moment, then hesitated before speaking. “Yang Yang, I once met an old horticulturist by chance at a market in our town. How about I take this flower to him? The flower is already like this, so the situation can’t get any worse. But I only met him once and haven’t seen him since, so I’m not sure if I can find him.”

Zhou Yang was a little happy at the suggestion but then said glumly, “There’s no need to go to so much trouble. My mom said the flower is dead. Even if we find him, it would be too late.”

In other people’s eyes, the orchid was completely dead.

Jiang Rui patted his shoulder. “Plants have a strong will to live. How do you know if it will work if you don’t try?”

“Should I call my mom now and tell her? She’s at my grandma’s house right now,” Zhou Yang said, nodding. “Anyway, everyone else said this flower is dead. Can it die again? This is the worst it can get.”

“Let’s not tell Auntie yet. What if I can’t find the person? It would just get her hopes up for nothing.”

Zhou Yang looked at the lifeless orchid, hesitated for a moment, and then agreed.

Jiang Rui took the orchid, and the Zhou family’s driver drove him home.

When he got home, Jiang Rui immediately planted the orchid in the Profound Soil next to the wooden house. He used his spiritual consciousness to examine the roots and found that the life force, which was about to disappear, was now a little active. It was slowly beginning to revive.

Jiang Rui made a point of going up the mountain and bringing a bucket of Spiritual Spring Water. When he wasn’t meditating or cultivating, he would pour some of the water on the orchid.

After five or six days in the Secret Realm, the orchid showed signs of recovery, but it wasn’t visible on the outside. Jiang Rui wasn’t in a hurry and just nurtured it slowly. After ten days in the Secret Realm had passed, the orchid still looked much the same as it did when he first brought it back. However, Jiang Rui knew that the faint trace of life force in its roots had grown into a strong current and was filled with spiritual energy. After being nourished in the Profound Soil for so many days, even if it were planted in normal soil again, it wouldn’t be easily affected by pests or diseases.

When Jiang Rui returned the orchid, he regretfully said that he hadn’t found the horticulturist. Zhou Yang hadn’t held out much hope, so he even comforted Jiang Rui, telling him not to worry about it.

But a couple of days later, Zhou Yang and Cui Xiyun were surprised to find that the supposedly dead orchid seemed to be recovering, with a hint of green. Cui Xiyun quickly invited someone to take a look. The person also found it strange. The flower had indeed been dead before, and even now, it didn’t look like it could survive, yet it was clearly alive.

Jiang Rui’s family didn’t have a phone, so Zhou Yang specifically went to ask Jiang Rui what was going on with the flower. Jiang Rui looked bewildered and said that he had only watered it once and did nothing else. He had brought it back as soon as he couldn’t find the horticulturist.

Zhou Yang didn’t doubt him. He simply exclaimed that Jiang Rui was lucky, so lucky that a dead flower could come back to life in his hands.

Jiang Rui looked embarrassed by his words, his face half-blushing as he said he wasn’t a god and that Zhou Yang was exaggerating. Seeing his reaction, Zhou Yang was even more certain that Jiang Rui had saved it by pure chance.

Cui Xiyun knew that Jiang Rui had taken the flower, and while she was grateful, she also felt the boy was lucky and had good fortune. At the same time, she was a bit worried. It was a perfectly healthy orchid that became like this just a few days after she was in charge of it. Even though it wasn’t dead, her sister-in-law would probably be furious.

On Thursday, when Zhou Ying returned, she was indeed angry when she saw the listless orchid. But since it was her own decision to entrust the orchid to Cui Xiyun, who was her sister-in-law, a woman known for her kindness and with whom she had always been close, she couldn’t stay mad. Her brother was often away for work for months at a time, and her sister-in-law had it tough raising her nephew alone. She didn’t want to cause any friction over this. So she could only take the flower home with a bitter expression, her heart aching.