A small plot of land in a mountain village

Li Guang and his wife were amazed that the cycad had produced a flower pillar. Cycads can occasionally be found blooming in remote places, but the chances are even smaller than winning the lottery.

Besides Li Guang and his wife, Cheng Ge and his group also came out, and the flower pillars by the path gave them quite a fright.

"Is this an iron tree in bloom?" It's like the sun rising in the west.

Many of Cheng's friends turned around and ran back into the bamboo house to get their cameras, preparing to take pictures of the cycad in bloom. In the past few days, Cheng and his friends have also participated in picking cherries, fishing for frogs, and strolling around the mountains during the day.

With the wolves around, Zhang Niu and his companions are relatively safe in the mountains. They don't have to worry about large wild animals darting out, and the group always returns with smiles on their faces.

"Where's that fat guy?" After a moment of surprise, Li Guang realized that if the fat guy knew about this, he would have come out and made a big fuss long ago.

When Chairman Zhang heard Li Guang mention this, he laughed heartily, "Don't mention Fatty. That guy drove out early this morning, saying he saw an iron tree blooming, which is auspicious. It shouldn't be in town. He was planning to buy a lottery ticket."

"What? You bought a lottery ticket?" This is really strange. It's like an iron tree blooming; buying a lottery ticket. What's going on here?

The two were unusually curious about the fat man, and they believed whatever was passed down from him.

Along the stone path, almost all the cycads had flower pillars, the only difference being the size of the flower pillars.

"We're making a racket outside, how come Zhang Niu is still sleeping?" Everyone then remembered Zhang Niu, who usually came out at this time.

"Let's go in and take a look! Did this guy stay up all night watching TV?" Li Guang suggested.

Pushing open the wooden door, a group of wild boar piglets ran out, ready to go out for exercise. They rushed out from under everyone's feet, scrambling and jostling each other in a lively scene.

The thugs who had occupied the pond came up from the water and crawled to a corner where the sun was shining. As soon as the thugs came out, a string of small turtles followed behind them, seemingly also preparing to sunbathe there.

Just as he was about to call inside, Zhang Niu came out wearing his clothes.

"What's going on here, everyone?"

Zhang Niu, who came out, naturally knew what Chairman Zhang and the others were going to say.

"You didn't sleep well last night, did you? Your eyes are all red now." The baby's mother noticed Zhang Niu's embarrassing state at a glance.

He scratched his head and said, "There was a good movie last night, that's why I couldn't get up this morning." He told a little lie.

"Hey Niu, did you know? Your iron tree has even produced a flower pillar!" Chairman Zhang quickly told Zhang Niu the good news.

"Ah, the iron tree has blossomed?" Zhang Niu feigned disbelief; otherwise, the shrewd Chairman Zhang would have noticed immediately.

They led Zhang Niu to the path leading to the bamboo house.

Zhang Niu pretended to look around, secretly erasing the "evidence" he left behind at night with his feet from time to time.

"We're rich! Money's flowing in!" he shouted.

The group immediately despised this guy in their hearts. All he cares about is making money. Damn, he's obsessed with money.

"Beep beep—"

It turns out Fatty is back. He left early and came back early too. Do people open their doors so early these days?

A chubby man with a joyful expression walked over, carrying quite a few breakfast items in his hands. "What's with those expressions? They're a little scary."

It's quite rare for a fat guy to bring breakfast back.

"Did you buy a lottery ticket?"

"Yes, it wasn't open when we got to town, so we had to wait quite a while before we could buy it."

Zhang Niu knew that the lottery shop in town was actually run by an elderly couple who had a good income. They were just running it out of boredom, and everyone in town knew that they opened early in the morning and late at night.

"Let's go!"

The chubby man, carrying a large bag of breakfast, rushed into the kitchen, ready to start eating.

What's kind of funny is that when the babies and Tian Tian got up and saw the newly opened flower pillar, they didn't understand what it was. It was thick and not pretty at all.

Children don't understand; they'll realize how rare it is for an iron tree to bloom when they grow up.

The breakfast selection was plentiful. Although it couldn't compare to what you get in the city, it was still quite good for the countryside. We bought a lot of food, including steamed buns, sesame balls, corn cakes, and fried dumplings.

Sesame balls coated with sesame seeds are a favorite of the babies. With their chubby little hands, they grab the sesame balls and gnaw on them, glancing at everyone from time to time.

The conversation this morning still revolved around cycads.

The two who had this idea the most were Fatty and Chairman Zhang; they probably only came up with it while eating breakfast.

"Ah Niu, this cycad is blooming! This old man won't stand on ceremony. I'm going to buy two pots to take to my photography club and show them off at the entrance," Chairman Zhang said with a smile while drinking mung bean porridge.

"After Old Zhang mentioned it, I'm itching to buy a few pots to take home," the fat man chimed in.

Zhang Niu laughed and said, "Sure, these cycads are meant to be admired."

The two exchanged a smile. "If we buy this, I bet a lot of people will be envious," Chairman Zhang thought to himself, wondering if he should bring his old friend a potted cycad.

After the meal, the group went outside to count the flowering status of the cycads. There were about a hundred cycads with flower pillars this time, which was almost as big as a cycad forest.

Chairman Zhang muttered to himself from time to time, making Zhang Niu, who was standing next to him, feel guilty.

The cycads that were transplanted to the ground inside the space are now over two meters tall, forcing Zhang Niu to stay inside. The cycad in the pot has grown quite a bit, and it's hard to explain to everyone now, let alone that it's a big cycad over two meters tall.

The fat man suggested moving some cycads to the pond and bamboo pavilion area. The cycads here are too dense and crowded. Putting some there would make the bamboo pavilion less deserted.

The idea was quickly approved by everyone. This was tough on Fatty. Several people were working together to carry a potted iron tree. Even with Zhang Niu's help from his spatial ability, he was still exhausted, let alone carrying the iron tree outside.

Cheng Ge and his fellow survivors also came to help.

"Don't run away, little bunny—"

While Zhang Niu and the others were moving the cycads, they saw a white shadow run out of the front yard and dart into the orchard at great speed. It was Bao Bao and her friends running out behind them.

Could it be a little rabbit that ran out? It was so listless last night, how come it's running away this morning? Zhang Niu looked at the departing white figure, a little puzzled.

"Little bunny, don't run away—"

The baby's sweet, innocent voice drifted through the orchard.

"Zhang Niu, you didn't do this with your earthworks, did you?" The fat guy who went with us yesterday watched as baskets of half-dead rabbits were loaded into the car. Rabbits running out this morning? This is ridiculous! Is this place really that lucky? Looking around, there's no difference, just a bunch of big mountains.

Zhang Niu quickly waved his hand, "No, I was planning to try out the traditional method today, but who knew this rabbit would escape."

"I hope those girls haven't gotten lost!" the mother worried. She was afraid the girls might have followed the rabbit into the mountains.

"It's okay, you should be able to get out soon."

A white, short-haired rabbit runs forward, trying to escape the orchard.

The baby started to pant. "Bunny, don't run away!"

Seeing that no one was chasing it, the little rabbit was about to run away when a blue wolf suddenly leaped out of the orchard. Wolves are carnivores, and seeing the little rabbit, it drooled and prepared to devour it.

The poor little rabbit immediately huddled in the haystack, trembling, after the wolf came out. It's probably because its mother hadn't taught them the lesson of running away when a wolf comes. That's why it obediently huddled there.

"Big wolf, don't eat!" The little girl who ran up from behind quickly shouted.

The wolf howled a few times as it looked at the little rabbit in the grass, then turned and tightened its grip on the orchard. Even after the wolf left, the rabbit remained frozen in fear, too afraid to run; the wolf was too dangerous.

Sweetie ran the fastest, squatted down, and hugged the still trembling little bunny in her arms, gently stroking its white fur. "Little bunny, be good and don't run away anymore. There are scary wolves in this place, and they will eat you."

Several girls carried the rabbits that had run away out of the orchard.

"Look, they're coming out." Zhang Niu, with his sharp eyesight, had already spotted the faint figures emerging from the orchard.

The rabbit ran into the orchard, but Zhang Niu wasn't worried at all. The wolves roaming inside were no pushovers, and they would certainly feast on the little rabbit.

"It really is the babies who have all come out."

As soon as Zhang Niu finished speaking, they saw the baby emerge.

"Fatty, hold on tight! The weight of this basin is all coming towards me, watch out!" The group was so excited that they forgot they were still carrying a large basin of ironwood.

The entire weight of the cycad pot was tilted onto Zhang Niu's side, so he quickly shouted.

When the girls returned, they were all covered in sweat and sat down to rest in the bamboo pavilion.

It's the perfect season for bamboo shoots. The fresh bamboo shoots that my family sent over a few days ago were all eaten up by these guys. So I'm planning to take a break and go dig some up myself. It's been a long time since I've gone up the mountain to dig for bamboo shoots, I wonder if I can still find any.

"Everyone who wants to go to the back mountain to dig bamboo shoots, please sign up."

Digging for bamboo shoots? That's quite a novel idea.

"I'll go," Li Guang shouted first.

They're experts at eating bamboo shoots, but novices at digging them up. Only Chairman Zhang, who's sitting here, knows a thing or two. Back then, when we were hungry, we'd even gnaw on tree bark and grass roots to eat, so it's no different with bamboo shoots.

So the large and imposing group marched into Zhang Niu's own bamboo forest on the back mountain.

Running ahead were the little girls, who picked every little flower they saw by the roadside. The youngest sister, however, ran straight to a deep tree and caught several black-shelled longhorn beetles around it.

The longhorn beetles Dad caught last time were freshly crawled out of the ground and were a vibrant green. These new ones are much more vigorous, with blackened carapaces and speckled white spots. These are all signs of adulthood.

Zhang Niu broke off the large incisors of the longhorn beetles he had caught one by one. These creatures may be small, but when they bite, even Zhang Niu might not be able to withstand it. A longhorn beetle with its large incisors broken is like a tiger without claws, losing all its power.

At first, Bao Bao and Tian Tian were quite scared, but after some coaxing from the little sister, they each chose a black longhorn beetle, and after a short while, they were laughing heartily.

"Our daughter is really wild playing outside the village." She used to be quite afraid of these animals, but now her courage is growing.

P.S.: Third update complete (To be continued. For more chapters and to support the author, please log in and read the official version!)