Chapter 28

In the evening, Su Zhe, who was dozing on the sofa, was gently awakened by An Xin, who had come to call him for dinner.

Su Zhe shook his muddled head, glanced out the window, and saw that it was already dark. He realized he had slept for quite a while.

He walked to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. The cold water stimulated his drowsy state, helping him to become more alert. He dried his face with a towel, stretched his body, and felt refreshed and invigorated after the nap. The fatigue from tidying the backyard earlier had completely dissipated.

After dinner, he went to the backyard to check on the ginseng seeds.

The ginseng seeds, which had already sprouted initially, were growing well. At this moment, all the ginseng seeds had emerged from the soil, and over a hundred small ginseng seedlings were planted together, creating a rather impressive sight.

Su Zhe fetched some water and infused 10 points of divine power into it. He then evenly sprinkled the water on the ginseng seedlings, ensuring that each one could absorb it.

While watering the ginseng seedlings, his phone's text message alert rang. After finishing watering, Su Zhe picked up his phone and saw that it was a bank notification. His bank account had received 1.96 million yuan. Su Zhe thought it could only be the proceeds from the auction of the blue-and-purple macaw, indicating that the buyer had received the macaw and confirmed it on the website.

Su Zhe returned to the living room, where An Xin was helping the baby dry her hair with a hairdryer after her bath.

Seeing that the baby did not reject An Xin, Su Zhe felt relieved. He had been worried that the baby and An Xin might not get along. Apart from Su Zhe, the baby seemed to resist others approaching her, even those of her own age. This made Su Zhe very concerned and worried that the baby might have autism.

Su Zhe went back to his room, turned on his computer, logged into the pet auction website, and checked the backend messages. Indeed, the buyer of the blue-and-purple macaw had confirmed receipt, and the pet's rating remained perfect. It seemed the buyer was very satisfied with the blue-and-purple macaw, and Su Zhe had not disappointed the buyer.

After two consecutive auctions, the four golden-headed box turtles and two blue-and-purple macaws had earned him a total of 4 million yuan. Adding this to his previous savings, his bank account now had nearly 8 million yuan. This was enough to take over Li Xin's pet hospital and still have some money left to maintain its operations.

Checking the time, Su Zhe took out his phone, found Li Xin's number, and called him. The call was quickly answered.

"Hello, Mr. Li, this is Su Zhe. I'm sorry to call you so late, am I disturbing you?" Su Zhe said.

"Oh, it's Brother Su Zhe. No, no, not at all. It's still early, and I don't have anything to do," Li Xin said, being slightly formal before getting straight to the point. "Brother Su Zhe, are you calling me now because you've made a decision about my pet hospital? How do you feel about it?"

A few days ago, when Li Xin called Su Zhe, Su Zhe had asked for a few more days to consider. He said he would call back with a decision. Now that Su Zhe was calling, Li Xin guessed that Su Zhe had made up his mind, especially since it was late at night. Su Zhe was likely calling to buy the pet hospital; otherwise, he wouldn't be in such a hurry to call at night.

"Yes, I'm calling you so late to tell you that I'm very satisfied with your pet hospital. I'd like to meet you tomorrow to discuss the transfer," Su Zhe said, getting straight to the point.

"Alright, come to my pet hospital tomorrow. If everything is fine, we can sign the agreement. See you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

In the evening, after tidying up the house, An Xin said goodbye to Su Zhe and left, as usual, without staying.

By 9 PM, Su Zhe decided to put the baby to bed. He knew that staying up late was bad for a child's development, so he planned to start cultivating the habit of going to bed early from that day on, rather than letting the baby stay up as late as he did.

Unfortunately, the baby, who was not used to it, tossed and turned in bed. After half an hour, she was still not asleep and seemed to be getting more energetic.

"Brother, Baby can't sleep. Can Baby go watch cartoons?"

"No, staying up late will make you ugly, and you won't look pretty anymore," Su Zhe started to fib.

"But Baby can't sleep. Can Brother tell Baby a story?" the baby began to plead with Su Zhe.

Su Zhe thought for a moment and decided to tell a story to help the baby fall asleep. It was said that telling stories was a good way to put children to sleep. However, to make the baby fall asleep faster, he decided to tell a joke, as jokes were shorter.

"When I was a child, the teacher often taught us in class that we should never mock others' flaws or misfortunes. One day, I told the teacher, 'Today, someone fell into a puddle at school, and everyone laughed, but I didn't.' 'You did the right thing!' the teacher praised me and then asked, 'Who fell into the puddle?' 'It was me, teacher,' I answered."

"Poor brother, falling into a puddle. Did anyone save you?" The baby, who had been listening attentively, suddenly burst into tears, leaving Su Zhe at a loss.

This joke was one Su Zhe had seen online and found quite amusing. He had planned to tell it to the baby to make it more interesting by putting himself in the story. However, he didn't expect the baby to be so sensitive and cry.

After much persuasion, Su Zhe managed to make the baby understand that it was just a joke and not real.

"Ultraman went to school. The teacher asked a question, and when Ultraman raised his hand, the teacher fainted. Do you know why?"

"Why did the teacher faint?"

"Because Ultraman was about to use his special move." Su Zhe even mimicked Ultraman's move.

Su Zhe's silly gesture made the baby laugh, which he hadn't expected. This simple joke made the baby laugh, even though he had found it unamusing when he first saw it. Perhaps children's minds were simpler.

Encouraged, Su Zhe continued to tell some simple jokes, making the baby laugh non-stop.

After telling another joke, Su Zhe didn't hear the baby's laughter. Thinking it wasn't funny, he looked down and saw that the baby had fallen asleep.

After telling so many jokes, Su Zhe's mouth was dry and his throat was parched. He checked the time and his face fell. The baby had fallen asleep much later than usual, and all his efforts had been in vain. The night's efforts had been a waste, and he had ended up losing more than he gained.