The next day, early morning.
The rain seemed to wash away all the dust; the sky was clear and the sun shone brightly.
Outside the courtyard, the crisp sound of sales pitches from the neighboring grocery store drifted in, mixed with the warm chatter of the owner greeting familiar customers.
In the small courtyard, Li Zhenhua was hunched over, working busily in front of the vegetable patch.
He wore an old blue cloth garment that resisted stains, clutching a hoe in his hand.
He was carefully opening a straight shallow trench in the newly turned soil.
Fang Cheng was shirtless, wearing only a pair of sports shorts, carrying a heavy wooden bucket as he followed behind to assist.
The bucket was filled with fermented organic fertilizer, with a faint smell of humus in close proximity.
"Grandpa, let me help with the hoeing, you should rest for a while."
Seeing sweat on his grandfather’s forehead, Fang Cheng couldn’t help but urge.
"Go away, do you look down on old people?"
Li Zhenhua didn’t even raise his head, his hands continued working:
"With your brute strength, a single hoe strike could dig half a meter deep. Is that for planting vegetables or burying mines?"
"Such light physical work doesn’t need your help. Your grandpa’s body is still strong."
While speaking, he used the hoe’s sharp edge to flatten the trench bottom and began chanting:
"Around the time of the Qingming Festival, plant melons and beans. Now this weather, not too cold or hot, with enough rain, is perfect for sowing seeds."
"In this patch, I plan to plant some yardlong beans and cucumbers for you, just right to eat in summer."
Fang Cheng smiled, not insisting further, quietly following along.
When Grandpa finished preparing the trench, he used a small ladle to uniformly sprinkle the pungent farmyard manure into the trench bottom.
"Don’t add too much fertilizer, just a thin layer is enough."
Li Zhenhua quickly reminded:
"’Thin fertilizer, frequent application,’ remember, sprinkle too much and it’ll burn the seedlings, and the seeds won’t sprout."
He looked like a seasoned master, constantly guiding this "apprentice" beside him.
Familiar with this courtyard, feeling the warmth of sunlight on his skin, Fang Cheng’s mood was as calm and clear as this weather.
The conversation with Shi Chengyi at West Mountain Cemetery yesterday, those heavy topics, seemed to have temporarily washed into the corner of memory with the rain.
Joining the Special Search Team?
Honestly, this proposal wasn’t urgent for Fang Cheng, not even a priority choice.
After all, he still had many things to do.
Fang Cheng put down the fertilizer bucket, picked up a water dipper, and started watering the fertilized trench.
Clear well water flowed slowly down the channel, moistening the dry soil.
His thoughts, water flow, began to gradually spread.
For instance, that "Illuminati" existing only in concept.
It would be entirely Fang Cheng’s own force, a hidden order under the world’s shadow, established by him personally.
To successfully lay out the initial framework, he must recruit reliable people with special abilities and find a sufficiently secret base.
All of these require a lot of time and effort to plan and execute.
Additionally, there’s the problem of his Qigong cultivation.
The magnificent Great Sun in the Inner World is just an empty frame for now.
How to inject true "spirit" into it, giving it the coexisting vitality and dominant martial intent, as Shi Chengyi mentioned.
Ultimately reaching Inner Scenery External Manifestation, interfering with reality, this is currently his core pursuit.
No matter how the external environment changes, enhancing one’s own strength is always the fundamental for standing undefeated.
With sufficient strength, all problems in the world can be solved quickly,
If something can’t be managed, then just practice to get stronger.
Anyhow, there will always be a time it can be resolved!
After watering, Fang Cheng placed the dipper back and picked up the empty bucket, slowly straightening his back.
With this simple movement, a series of subtle yet clear "cack" sounds came from the spine, like a sleeping dragon stretching its muscles.
The strength contained in this robust body, even in the most ordinary life, continually manifests extraordinary aspects.
With a creak, the door opened.
Li Biyun came out carrying a basin of freshly washed clothes, seeing the busy grandfather and grandson, a smile arose on her face.
"Dad, Chengcheng, take a break and have some water."
She placed the basin on a stone bench in the courtyard and turned to go inside to pour some water.
"No need, almost finished."
Li Zhenhua waved his hand, using the hoe to level the last bit of soil clod.
Fang Cheng put down the bucket, quickly walked over, and naturally took the basin from his mother’s hands:
"Mom, I’ll do it, you go watch TV."
"You’re the only one who cares for your mom."
Li Biyun laughed, patting her son’s arm, with kindness in her eyes.
But she didn’t truly let go, instead she took a piece of clothing from the basin and began to help hang them.
As she skillfully shook out the clothes, she casually asked:
"By the way, the old gentleman who talked to you yesterday, how did you know him? He seemed very charismatic, not like an ordinary person."
Li Zhenhua, done hoeing, leaned the hoe against the wall and walked over to wash his hands by the well, ears perked up, evidently curious about this matter too.
Fang Cheng’s hands paused slightly before naturally setting a T-shirt on a hanger, responding lightly: Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel fire.net
"Oh, he used to be a colleague of Grandpa Ma Donghe. He heard about me and thought I was okay, so he came by to check it out, said he’s thinking of offering me a job opportunity."
Li Biyun’s eyes immediately lit up, her movements speeding up a bit, as she leaned in with anticipation and nervousness, asking in a lowered voice: