Chapter 5: Devouring Jade

  "What's going on?" Xiao Ping was secretly shocked in his heart, and calmly pressed the Lianyou Hu through his clothes to prevent others from discovering his abnormality.

  The Alchemy Cauldron itself was shaking, which had never happened before. Xiao Ping knew that there must be something fishy going on. He looked around nervously and found nothing out of the ordinary, except for a stall owner selling jade materials waiting for customers.

  "Could it be because of these jade stones?" Xiao Ping's mind flashed with inspiration, and he squatted down to carefully select the jade materials. As soon as he crouched down, the Lian Yao Hu's trembling became even more pronounced. Xiao Ping had a number in his heart, letting the Lian Yao Hu sense something was amiss, and it was precisely these jade stones.

  "How much is this jade?" Xiao Pingman asked casually.

  "The small ones are 100, the big ones are 200."

  The quality of these jade materials is quite ordinary, and the price is not expensive. However, for Xiao Ping, several hundred yuan is not a small amount, as he only has more than 600 yuan left to hold on until the first batch of green vegetables are sold. Nevertheless, Xiao Ping feels that the jade stone must have an extraordinary significance for the Lian Yao Hu, otherwise this treasure would not have produced a response, and in the end, he decides to buy two pieces back to investigate.

  Then Xiao Ping began to carefully select the jade material. In fact, he was completely ignorant of what kind of jade was good or bad and didn't know which piece to buy. But Xiao Ping soon discovered that when he held some jade materials in his hand, the feeling from the Lian Yao Hu would be particularly strong, while for other jade materials there wouldn't be any special reaction.

  Now Xiao Ping knew which pieces to buy. He picked up each piece of jade and haggled with the vendor for a long time, finally spending 400 yuan on three pieces of jade, two large and one small. Xiao Ping stuffed the jade into his bosom and hurried home in a flurry. Perhaps because he was closer to the jade, the Lian Yao Hu occasionally trembled slightly along the way, as if even Xiao Ping could feel its urgent mood.

  Finally arrived home, Xiao Ping carefully closed the door, took out the Lian Yao Hu and Yu Liao to examine them repeatedly, but no matter what, he couldn't find any connection between the two. So, Xiao Ping, who was at a loss, used the simplest method - directly touching the Lian Yao Hu with the Yu Liao. Unexpectedly, as soon as the Lian Yao Hu came into contact with the jade stone, an astonishing change occurred.

  The unique warm luster of the jade material quickly faded, and it soon became indistinguishable from ordinary stones. Before Xiao Ping could react, the jade material had silently turned to dust in his hands, forming a pile of powder on the table. Although Xiao Ping had never seen anything like this before, he could tell that the Lian Yao Hu had absorbed the essence of the jade, leaving behind only dregs.

  "It turns out that the Lian Yao Hu needs to absorb jade stones." Xiao Ping finally understood the significance of jade stones to the Lian Yao Hu, and then used two other pieces of jade material to touch the Lian Yao Hu. These two jade stones also quickly turned into a pile of stone powder.

  These three pieces of jade were bought by Xiao Ping with a large sum of his savings, and in the blink of an eye, they were "eaten" by the Lian Yao Hu, making him feel somewhat heartbroken. Xiao Ping had thought that after the Lian Yao Hu absorbed the jade he spent a lot of money on, there would be some change, but no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find anything unusual, and he couldn't help but sigh in disappointment: "Now I've lost my investment, I hope those vegetables can sell for a good price, otherwise next month's rent won't be paid."

  Actually, Mr. and Mrs. Liu are very easy-going, even if Xiao Ping is late with the rent for a few days, they won't say anything. But Xiao Ping doesn't want to take advantage of others, especially since Mr. and Mrs. Liu usually take good care of him, so he can't let them lose out either.

  For Xiao Ping, losing 400 yuan was not a small matter, so he was somewhat listless for the entire afternoon. It wasn't until evening that Xiao Ping regained some energy, three days had passed and it was time to harvest the spiritual liquid again.

  "This time is it for myself or for cooking?" Looking at the Lianyou Hu in his hand, Xiao Ping was very entangled.

  For Xiao Ping, who had a serious illness, physical health was absolutely the most important thing, so he wanted to take the spiritual liquid to strengthen his body. However, the vegetables he grew also couldn't leave the spiritual liquid, according to his experience, the effect of watering once with spiritual liquid could only last for three days, after three days the growth rate of the green vegetables slowed down, and they also began to lose spirit. This put Xiao Ping in a dilemma, so a small drop of spiritual liquid was not enough to use.

  However, Xiao Ping also knew that worrying was useless, so he decided to collect the spiritual liquid first. He took out a small glass cup and then turned the Lian Yao Hu upside down, letting the spiritual liquid slowly drip into the cup. After one drop of spiritual liquid fell, Xiao Ping was about to cover the bottle again when he suddenly discovered that another drop of crystal clear liquid had appeared at the mouth of the bottle. At this time, he didn't have time to think much and hastily opened his mouth to swallow the second drop of spiritual liquid into his belly.

  "Ah, so comfortable! But what's going on here?" As the warmth of the spiritual liquid slowly spread throughout his body, Xiao Ping's attention shifted to why the Alchemy Cauldron had suddenly produced more spiritual liquid. He quickly thought of an answer - this was clearly a change that occurred after the Alchemy Cauldron absorbed the essence of the jade stone!

  Xiao Ping's mood improved at the thought, and he couldn't help but think to himself: "Once I've earned a lot of money, I'll buy more jade stones for the Lian Yao Hu to absorb. At that time, not only will I have enough spiritual liquid to grow vegetables, but even if I use it to take a bath, it won't be a problem!"

  Xiao Ping also knew that jade was not cheap now, and if he really wanted to use spiritual liquid for bathing one day, he had to work hard to earn money to buy jade. This also made him have high expectations for the green vegetables he planted, and he couldn't wait to know how popular these vegetables irrigated with spiritual liquid would be.

  Time flies quickly, and soon it's the day of harvesting green vegetables. Under the irrigation of spiritual liquid, the green vegetables grow vigorously, neatly arranged in rows in the vegetable field, with a warm and refreshing glow on the emerald leaves and snowy stems, looking very similar to the jade green vegetables collected in the Palace Museum of Taiwan. However, Xiao Ping's green vegetables have a few more points of freshness and vitality, making them even more pleasing to the eye than the jade green vegetables.

  Xiao Ping didn't forget his appointment with Li Wanqing, and before the official harvest of green vegetables, he specially pulled out a few plants to give to Wang Fang, letting her stir-fry them for everyone to taste the freshness.

  Although Wang Fang had watched these vegetables grow, when Xiao Ping handed her the jade-carved-like greens, this honest and simple woman still looked hesitant, hesitating to ask Xiao Ping: "Xiao Xiao, such beautiful greens, are they really going to be stir-fried in a pot?"

  Xiao Ping was amused by Wang Fang's words and couldn't help but laugh, saying: "Auntie Wang, isn't cabbage meant to be eaten by people? If you don't stir-fry it, you can only eat it raw."

  "Alright, I'll go cook!" Wang Fang was persuaded by Xiao Ping and made a big decision to walk into the kitchen.

  Wang Fang was used to doing household chores, and stir-frying the green vegetables was a piece of cake. Before long, she brought out the dish of green vegetables. Xiao Ping just looked at the presentation of the green vegetables and knew that his plan to make money by growing vegetables had already succeeded halfway. Although the green vegetables were already cooked, they still looked almost the same as when they were grown in the field, making people's appetite immediately stimulated.

  Wang Fang had never seen such good greens either and asked Xiao Ping uncertainly: "Xiao Ping, can we eat these greens?"

  Others may not know the details of these dishes, but Xiao Ping is very clear about them. He immediately replied decisively: "Of course it can be eaten. Not only can this dish be eaten, but it's also good for your health."

  "Then I'll have to try it." Like many middle-aged and elderly women, Wang Fang was very interested in all foods that were said to be healthy, and as soon as she heard Xiao Ping's words, she immediately picked up a chopstick of vegetables and put them in her mouth. Immediately afterwards, her face changed, revealing an incredulous expression.

  Although Xiao Ping appeared to be very confident, he was still a bit nervous deep down. Seeing Wang Fang's expression, he couldn't help but ask anxiously: "Auntie Wang, how does this dish taste?"

  "I... don't know what to say." Wang Fang came back to her senses and said: "It's too special, I've never had anything so delicious before!"

  Just then, Li Wanqing came back from work and happened to hear Wang Fang's words. She couldn't help but laugh and ask: "Auntie Wang, what are you eating? It's never been so delicious before, isn't that an exaggeration?"

  "It's a small batch of fresh vegetables from Xiao Xiao's family, let everyone try some first." Wang Fang hurriedly said to Li Wanqing: "Little Li, you come and try some too!"

  Li Wanqing smiled and glanced at Xiao Ping, feeling delighted that he hadn't forgotten their agreement. She then took a bite of the green vegetables on her plate. Her reaction was similar to Wang Fang's, also being subdued by the flavor of the greens. After a while, Li Wanqing came back to herself and sighed to Xiao Ping: "This green vegetable is really delicious! Alas, after eating your homegrown vegetables, ordinary greens won't be edible anymore!"

  At the same time, Xiao Ping finally put his heart at ease and happily said to the two: "If you like it, eat more, anyway, there are many dishes in the hospital, and I'll take care of everyone's meals from now on!"

  "This won't do." Li Wanqing and Wang Fang chimed in unison: "These vegetables were grown and sold by you, we can't just eat them casually."

  Knowing that the two were thinking for themselves, Xiao Ping was moved but didn't continue to argue with them. Anyway, he had already decided that in the future, he would often cook some dishes for Wang Fang. She had always taken good care of him before, and as a person, one should repay kindness, which is also Xiao Ping's principle of doing things.

  In the midst of Li Wanqing and Wang Fang's praise, Xiao Ping also tasted the flavor of the green vegetables. Although he had already mentally prepared himself, the taste still surprised him greatly. The green vegetables were still just green vegetables in terms of taste, it was impossible to get a meaty flavor from them. However, as soon as they entered his mouth, they gave him an extraordinary feeling, Xiao Ping felt that even with all the languages he knew, he couldn't find the words to describe just how delicious this dish was.

  After tasting the flavor of the greens, Xiao Ping's confidence greatly increased. The next day, he harvested all the greens in the yard, loaded them onto his tricycle, and rode into the city to start his first vegetable-selling journey.

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