Chapter 89 of 100

Chapter 89

14 min read3,413 words

"Boss, how should we arrange tonight's dinner? Do we need to prepare anything extra?" While the few of them were chatting, Garcia walked over to ask.

The current Garcia has a very good feel of being a ranch steward. Knowing that the two guests today were the boss's friends from back home, Garcia came over to ask if any additional ingredients needed to be prepared.

"You came just in time," Liu Yunxuan said, "Xin Yu, Xin Yue, let me introduce you to Garcia, my good friend and trusted assistant. He is now in charge of all the work on this ranch."

Garcia also happily greeted Li Xin Yu and Li Xin Yue, feeling that the boss had given him plenty of face. Didn't you hear? Good friend, trusted assistant.

"Do you two have anything you want to eat? Don't be shy, we can have Chinese or Western food," Liu Yunxuan asked the two.

"We can have anything, no need to prepare anything special for us," Li Xin Yu said.

"Alright then, let's have Western food tonight, and we'll get some seafood," Liu Yunxuan thought for a moment and said, "Garcia, go get a few lobsters, crabs, and scallops, and buy a few good steaks. Also, call Rodriguez and Professor Lyle over, let's have a lively dinner together tonight."

Rodriguez is his loyal buddy, no question about it. Liu Yunxuan also admires Professor Lyle. Moreover, Professor Lyle is a well-known professor at the Austin campus, and he can help take care of Li Xin Yue when she goes there to study.

Eating seafood here is really cheap. Many seafood products are caught in the nearby Florida waters.

From August to November each year is the harvest season for Florida lobsters. These lobsters are also warm-water lobsters, unlike Maine lobsters, they don't have the usual large claws, but they have more meat in their tails. The smaller ones weigh over a pound, and the larger ones can grow to over 2.5 kilograms. The price for a regular-sized one is about $4 per pound.

This place is also famous for the blue crab, which is equally delicious, and costs only about $1.50 per pound. Interestingly, Americans don't like female crabs; they don't like the hard roe, but they prefer the male crabs' fat.

The price of seafood here has increased somewhat due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, but compared to back home, it's really cheap.

Liu's parents welcomed the arrival of the Li siblings. Although they could have some simple conversations, hearing the familiar Chinese language still made them very excited, and they often asked about things back home. Liu Yunxuan didn't get a chance to interject.

"Hi, welcome to Michelle Ranch," Michelle said, winking playfully as she returned with the news.

"Michelle, I've really missed you," Li Xin Yue said, holding Michelle's hand.

"I've missed you too," Michelle said. These two had only met for two days in Beijing, but they were like sisters.

For lunch, Liu's mother made hand-rolled noodles. As she said, "On the way out, dumplings; on the way back, noodles." Today, they had just arrived, so they were having noodles.

Liu Yunxuan kneaded the dough, as he was strong and could knead for a longer time, making the noodles more chewy. The flour was made from this year's new wheat from a nearby farm, with a strong wheat aroma. Liu Yunxuan planned to grow some in the future, not too much, just enough for their family.

The temperature was even higher after lunch, and Michelle didn't rush back to the Garden Ranch. She had already arranged the afternoon work and wanted to stay home to entertain the guests.

A few of them sat on the lounge chairs on the porch, drinking coffee and chatting. The little fox and the puppies lay at their feet.

As for Big Yellow and Chestnut, they had gone off somewhere. They disappeared for a while every day, and no one could find them.

They were so smart that Liu Yunxuan wasn't worried about them getting lost.

"Brother Xuan, is there a severe drought here this year? We saw a lot of dead plants on the land when we came in the car," Li Xin Yu asked.

"Yes, this year is the driest, a once-in-a-century drought. It's still manageable here, close to the east coast. The drought is more severe in the southern and western parts of Texas. Lake Fisher in San Angelo City has dried up. It's over 5,000 acres, larger than my ranch," Liu Yunxuan explained, using his own ranch for comparison.

Li Xin Yu was very surprised to hear this.

He never expected such a large lake to dry up. He had planned to get a small ranch like Liu Yunxuan for fun, to use for vacations. It seemed he should give up that idea.

"By the way, Xin Yue, you should get your driver's license when you have time. It's very inconvenient not to have a car in the U.S.," Liu Yunxuan reminded her.

"Sure, when I get my license, I can drive over myself," Li Xin Yue said, hugging the little fox.

"Xin Yue, Austin is a great city, with a beautiful environment and a good place to live. The atmosphere at the Austin campus is also excellent, known as a 'public Ivy,' you'll definitely like it," Michelle introduced Austin to Li Xin Yue.

Li Xin Yue hadn't paid much attention to these details. She chose this place mainly because Liu Yunxuan was here, and the school's ranking was also very good.

Spring drowsiness, autumn fatigue, summer naps, and the sleepy winter months. As they chatted, they all felt a bit drowsy. With the heat outside, they lost interest in talking and lay on the lounge chairs, dozing off.

Liu Yunxuan took advantage of the three of them dozing off to enter the space with his consciousness, while his body outside looked like it was sleeping.

This was a new ability he had discovered recently. At the time, he was collecting grass seeds. Looking at the full space of grass, he was quite troubled. He thought, if he could collect the grass seeds just by a thought, like putting things into the space or taking them out, it would be great.

Just as he thought this, he felt a dizziness, and then the grass seeds flew up and piled up on one side.

Liu Yunxuan had been experimenting with this new function for some time. He found that he could control some matters in the space without entering it, using his mental power.

Handling simple tasks had a small impact, but handling complex tasks was more troublesome, requiring more mental power. In severe cases, he would be listless for a few days.

Fortunately, it was hot now, and no one paid much attention.

In the space now, except for a few peach trees, it was filled with grass. Michelle's ranch needed a lot of grass seeds.

The bees he had collected initially had already split into three colonies. Liu Yunxuan had accumulated a lot of honey. He just needed to find time to buy a box of Italian bees to put in the ranch, and then he could move his honey out. He couldn't release the Chinese bees, as they didn't exist here, and it would be hard to explain later. Fangfang had been pestering him to drink the honey water she had at home.

Liu Yunxuan didn't dare to buy honey from the supermarket and then replace it. Everyone knew the taste of supermarket honey, and if it suddenly improved, it would cause problems.

He also used his consciousness to observe the land specifically set aside for growing truffles. The truffles were growing well. In a while, he could move some to the forest. The advantage of this was that a few months later, when harvesting, the soil on the truffles would not show any signs of being artificially planted.

Liu Yunxuan didn't dare to stay in the space for too long, as it was broad daylight. If someone found him and couldn't wake him up, and he was sent to the hospital, it would be troublesome.

As soon as his consciousness returned to his body, he saw little Fangfang with her little backpack walking over from the garage. Recently, Liu's mother had been driving to pick up and drop off Fangfang at the ranch's roadside. Although she didn't have a driver's license yet, her driving skills were already quite good. Besides, she was driving on their own property, and no one would interfere.

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