Chapter 3

Bringing Little Fatty to the peach orchard, he still looked unwilling. However, under the temptation of a large bowl of braised pork, he was reluctantly placed on a withered peach tree by Lei Xihuan. Little Fatty seemed to be working hard on something, to the point that his originally almost transparent body turned somewhat red. Lei Xihuan had no idea what he was doing, but he patiently waited for about seven or eight minutes. Finally, a drop of golden liquid, the size of a grain of rice, was excreted from the dragon's mouth. At this moment, the dragon seemed to have used all its strength and suddenly became weak. But then a miracle happened... The golden liquid quickly sank into the peach tree... The originally listless peach trees began to flourish. The withered, yellow leaves of the peach trees turned green again, and small peaches magically appeared on the trees. More astonishingly, the peaches began to grow at an incredible speed. Lei Xihuan's eyes were dazzled; he still couldn't believe it was real. In the end, the peaches grew to the size of two fists before they stopped growing. What huge peaches! Lei Xihuan grew up in Peach Village and had seen all kinds of peaches, but he had never seen such large ones. He picked one and tasted it. It was sweet, juicy, and delicious, but not cloyingly so. The peach juice entered his mouth, and a sweet, delightful taste spread from his mouth to his heart. Delicious, delicious! He had never eaten such a good peach, even after growing so many. It must be the work of that golden liquid! What was it? Dragon saliva? It must be, only dragon saliva could have such a miraculous effect. Lei Xihuan counted, and excluding the one he had just eaten, there were exactly 107 peaches on the tree. But when he looked at Little Fatty, he was in very poor condition, almost unable to hold onto the tree trunk and about to fall. Lei Xihuan quickly picked him up gently and placed him in his palm. "Little Fatty, you've worked hard. I'll definitely make you a big bowl of braised pork tomorrow as a reward." Little Fatty was already in very poor condition and could only manage a weak nod. But then his gaze fell on the jade pendant hanging from Lei Xihuan's chest. Despite his exhaustion, his body still struggled to twist, and his eyes were full of longing. Jade? Does Little Fatty need jade? Lei Xihuan had heard that jade has spiritual energy. Does Little Fatty need the spiritual energy of jade to recover? This was a fake jade he had bought for ten yuan at an antique market in Yundong City, purely a decorative item. Out of curiosity, he took off the jade and placed Little Fatty on it. As soon as Little Fatty touched the jade, he rolled around on it, seemingly very happy. But then he stopped, raised his head with all his strength, and shook his little head repeatedly. Indeed! The dragon really needed the spiritual energy of jade, but unfortunately, this one was fake. There was no other way. Dragons need water, right? He hurriedly ran back home, drew water from the well, poured it into a basin, and carefully placed Little Fatty in it. Once in the water, Little Fatty indeed recovered a lot of vitality and even swam happily for a while. Lei Xihuan's heart finally relaxed. He took out the cart his grandfather used to use, returned to the peach orchard, and picked 107 peaches, transporting them all back home. The round trip was quite long, but Lei Xihuan didn't feel tired at all. On the contrary, he was full of energy and could have made several more trips. Lei Xihuan found it strange. Since he woke up in the peach orchard, not only were his injuries completely healed, but his physical condition seemed to have greatly improved. Even more incredibly, Lei Xihuan, who was slightly nearsighted, could now see clearly up to twenty or thirty meters away at night. What was going on? Lei Xihuan probably didn't know that while he was sleeping, the spiritual energy hidden in the walnut had burst out, not only awakening Little Fatty but also a large part of it entering Lei Xihuan's body. At this point, Lei Xihuan had been completely transformed. Back at home, he saw that Little Fatty had fallen asleep in the basin, and his heart finally relaxed. Lying on the bed, he thought about his incredible encounter and couldn't fall asleep, tossing and turning until it was almost dawn. In that short time, Lei Xihuan had a dream. He dreamed that he had a very beautiful girlfriend, and the two of them were lying on a lush green field. His girlfriend's hand gently caressed his face... It felt tingly and itchy... But it became increasingly itchy, until Lei Xihuan reluctantly left the dream and opened his eyes. There was no girlfriend, no gentle caress. Little Fatty had somehow jumped out of the basin and was crawling all over his face. Seeing that Lei Xihuan was awake, Little Fatty jumped and crawled from his face to his stomach, stayed there for a while, and then looked up at Lei Xihuan pitifully. "Are you hungry again?" At these words, Little Fatty immediately nodded excitedly. "How can your stomach be so big? How can you eat so much?" Lei Xihuan muttered as he got up, made some congee with the leftover rice from yesterday, and fried an egg. The result was that Little Fatty ate almost all the congee and the egg, but still looked unsatisfied and discontented. "Braised pork, braised pork, I remember, I remember." Lei Xihuan, torn between laughter and tears, said, "I'll go to town to sell the peaches and then buy meat. You stay here and don't go out, understand?" At the mention of "braised pork," Little Fatty's sesame-sized eyes sparkled, and he nodded repeatedly. Lei Xihuan's gaze fell on the 107 peaches, each as big as two fists. They were glossy and inviting, and when he got close, he could smell their rich fragrance. In this world, besides Lei Xihuan, no one else could grow such peaches. He found a piece of cardboard and wrote a few lines on it in a wobbly hand: "Heavenly Peaches, rare and precious, limited quantity, sold until gone. Each peach 100 yuan, no bargaining." Thinking about how to transport so many peaches, should he use the cart to drag them to town? Walking out of the house, the village was desolate. Most rural areas were like this; the able-bodied workers had gone out to work, leaving only some elderly people and peach farmers in the village. Peaches mature for only two or three months, and the effort required is great, fearing both natural disasters and pests. After a year of hard work, the money earned from growing peaches could be earned by working in the city. During the peach harvest, some people who worked in nearby cities would return to help, taking some peaches back to share with colleagues and superiors to build relationships. Now that it was late in the peach season, those people had already returned to the city. Therefore, at the county meetings, the leaders often said, "Zhunan Town, Peach Village, famous for peaches nationwide, but now there are almost no young people willing to stay and grow peaches. Why not think of ways to attract talent and retain young people?" But that was the leaders' business. Thinking about it, he knocked on the neighbor's door, "Sister Lu, Sister Lu!" After a while, the door opened, and Sister Lu, in her early thirties, came out. "Xihuan, what's up?" She was one of the few women of her age still living in Peach Village. Her husband, Sun Shuigen, worked at a cement factory in the outskirts of Yundong City and returned home at the end of each month to be with his family. Sister Lu wasn't unwilling to work, but she had no choice. Her in-laws were chronically ill and needed constant care, and she had two children about to start school. Sun Shuigen and Sister Lu were the closest neighbors to the Lei family, and they had watched Lei Xihuan grow up. The two families had a good relationship. When Lei Xihuan's grandfather was buried yesterday, Sister Lu had even attended and given 201 yuan as a gift. Sister Lu usually tended to half an acre of peach trees to supplement the family income. Her husband, Sun Shuigen, was a simple and hardworking man, but he had a drinking problem. Once he drank, he would drink too much, and once he drank too much, he would scold his wife and beat his children. Therefore, every month, as soon as Sun Shuigen returned, the family would not have a moment's peace. Sometimes Lei Xihuan would stand up for Sister Lu, but she would always smile faintly and say, "Which man doesn't beat his wife?" Seeing Sister Lu, Lei Xihuan said, "Sister Lu, can I borrow your tricycle?" "It's right there, take it." Sister Lu gave him the key. "What do you need the tricycle for?" "To sell peaches." Lei Xihuan said as he moved the peaches from the basket to the tricycle. Sister Lu's eyes widened when she saw them. "Oh my, such big, beautiful peaches? I've been growing peaches for over ten years, and I've never seen such good peaches. Xihuan, where did you get them? It's already late in the peach season, and the peaches harvested now aren't good anymore." "Do you believe me if I say the land god helped me grow them?" Lei Xihuan chuckled. "They were left by my grandfather. I just found them last night." "Who are you fooling? Whose peaches can last that long?" Sister Lu didn't believe a word. "Besides, your grandfather never grew such big peaches when he was alive!" "They really were left by my grandfather. He had a secret recipe." Lei Xihuan took three peaches and forced them into Sister Lu's hands. "For you and your two sons, Da Gang and Xiao Gang. Consider it a fee for borrowing your tricycle." At that moment, Sister Lu's two sons rushed out, saw the huge peaches, and cheered, stuffing them into their mouths. "Thank you, Uncle Xihuan." "It's nothing to eat a peach." Lei Xihuan got on the tricycle and laughed. "When I get rich in the future, I'll take you to the Xi Hai Hotel and we'll eat the most expensive dishes!" "Blowing, blowing!" Da Gang and Xiao Gang, with juice running down their mouths, shouted together, "Uncle Xihuan is just blowing, two old cows flying in the sky!" Lei Xihuan laughed heartily. "Wait and see, your Uncle Xihuan will definitely get rich one day!"