The message was from his old classmate, Liang City.
Chen Jingle’s first reaction was to wonder how the other party had the free time to ask him out. Glancing at the date, he thought, "Oh, so today is the weekend." He had been sleeping so much his brain was foggy. As a full-time homebody, he truly had no concept of time.
Just as he was about to type back, "No thanks, I have to study," he felt it sounded too pretentious and deleted it. After thinking for a moment, he asked the System, "What is the next course?"
[The next course is a practical lesson.]
"Practical?" Chen Jingle raised an eyebrow as he recalled the contents of the practical lessons the System had mentioned earlier. He then replied to Liang City’s message: "What’s up?"
"Nothing much, just wanted to ask you out for bubble tea and a casual chat."
"I’m tied up with something today and can’t get away. How about you come to my place? I have watermelon, honey lemon tea, and all sorts of snacks."
"You should have said so earlier! Give me ten minutes, I’ll be right there."
"OK!"
Chen Jingle sent his location and put his phone away.
[It is time for practice. A smart baby naturally has to learn theoretical knowledge, but they also cannot do without hands-on practice. Little Chen Jingle, please choose one of the four compulsory courses—cooking, planting, breeding, or health care—to begin your practical learning. The time limit is one hour. Baby, you can definitely do it, right?]
He thought, "I definitely can!" Without hesitation, Chen Jingle said, "I choose planting."
He chose planting not because he was a farmer who knew how to till the land, but because he had planted quite a few flowers in his yard over the past six months. He felt he had gained some insights into planting and wasn’t entirely clueless about it. At the same time, he wanted to see how this practical lesson differed from the theoretical knowledge course he had just taken.
He dug out a pair of shears from his tool bucket, planning to trim the branches of the bougainvillea in the yard to make them look more aesthetically pleasing. Growing flowers had always been seventy percent management and thirty percent pruning.
Take the bougainvillea planted in the ground over in the corner, for example. Letting it grow wildly in the early stages seemed like a good idea, as it could sprout an abundance of branches, but the messy, tangled branches in the later stages were a huge headache. Because of this, it had been blown to pieces the moment strong winds arrived. If he had managed it properly early on, it wouldn’t have ended up like this. Fortunately, it wasn’t too late.
Chen Jingle was not a professional; even among amateur enthusiasts, he was strictly average.
However, when he put on his straw hat, grabbed his shears, and stood in front of the flower pots, he was surprised to find that unfamiliar knowledge seemed to have suddenly appeared in his mind. He was much more aware than ever before of exactly where he should make his cuts.
"Holy crap, it can do this?!"
This feeling of having an aim-assist enabled was freaking awesome! It was comparable to having a master guiding him hand-in-hand—no, it was more like he was possessed! He inhaled sharply, wondering how much of this skill level he would be able to retain after the practical lesson ended.
At this moment, Chen Jingle wanted to scream, "I love studying! I love studying!"
What was he waiting for? He decisively got to work—SNIP SNIP SNIP!
He started with the small pots first. Those few potted seedlings, which he had originally thought were already well-pruned and quite beautiful, saw their aesthetic value skyrocket by more than just a single tier after a few simple maneuvers. Previously, it could only be considered "planting"; now, it was true "cultivating" and worthy of being called bonsai.
"If it can have a similar effect on any plant, then the System is way too overpowered!" Chen Jingle marveled. However, if he wanted to cultivate similar potted flowers into mature stumps, he would have to keep working hard.
HONK HONK!
Just as he was pruning, an older silver Volkswagen Bora pulled up outside the gate. The car window rolled down, revealing Liang City’s spectacled face, looking refined, pale, and slightly chubby.
"What are you doing?"
"Pruning flowers. Can’t you see?" Chen Jingle flashed the shears in his hand.
"Sheesh, is this what you meant by being ’tied up’? You sure have a lot of leisure time."
"This is only part of it, I have other things to do. And you really drove a four-wheeler for such a short distance? Whatever, just come on in first."
Chen Jingle opened the yard gate to let the car in. After Liang City parked the car, he got out and stuck his big butt in the air as he pulled a little girl from the backseat.
The little girl, who had been half-asleep, instantly started giggling the moment she saw Chen Jingle. She reached her arms out for a hug, as if she didn’t want to stay in her biological father’s embrace for a second longer.
Seeing this, Chen Jingle’s face darkened. "Hey, why did you bring her along?"
Liang Mingyue, Liang City’s daughter, had just turned one year old. The main issue was that she was a little clingy monster—the kind you just couldn’t shake off.
Liang City looked helpless. "I’m on baby duty today. I can’t exactly just leave her alone at home, can I?"
"Where are Teacher Zhong and your mom?"
"She has classes today; the students she’s teaching are moving up to the ninth grade this year. My mom had some business and went back to the countryside. She won’t be back until tomorrow."
Chen Jingle rolled his eyes. "Then you should be at home taking good care of the baby. Why are you out wandering around?"
"It’s Mingyue who didn’t want to stay at home and wanted to come out and play, okay!"
"Heh, I don’t believe a word of that!"
"Ugh, whatever, just help me hold her for a second. I’m exhausted."
"...This is your daughter! Besides, you’ve only been holding her for a few seconds!" Chen Jingle snapped.
Complaints aside, he tossed his shears and gloves away and scooped the little girl up with a practiced, comfortable hold. Little Mingyue, who had been wriggling wildly in her father’s arms, immediately rested quietly the moment she was in Chen Jingle’s hands.
Look! This was the composure of the Innate Fatherly Saint Body.
From childhood to adulthood, no matter where he went, from teenage girls down to newborns who hadn’t even opened their eyes yet, Chen Jingle was always the most popular person among children. Thirty years of age, twenty-five years of child-rearing experience. Although this was completely useless, as he had no plans to become a postpartum nanny.
"It really has to be you." After dumping the baby on Chen Jingle, Liang City felt a massive sense of relief, even gloating a little. He turned his head to admire the freshly pruned bougainvillea bonsai. "I didn’t expect you to have this kind of skill."
"Of course. Want me to give you two pots? Didn’t you just finish renovating your new house? You can take them to absorb the formaldehyde."
"Oh, I couldn’t possibly impose."
"Hey, these things aren’t expensive. As long as you have one plant, you can grow them however you want. It just takes a little more effort if you want them to look nice."
Thinking about how many netizens from the north would actually spend hundreds or even thousands of yuan to buy such a pot—and merely a cutting at that—made Chen Jingle want to laugh. He had bought his bare-root seedlings for only two yuan each. Of course, if someone didn’t even want to spend those two yuan, they could check the landscaping belts and pluck some. He just wouldn’t recommend doing that; after all, they were all upstanding citizens.
"Come, Little Mingyue, which pot do you like? I’ll give it to you," Chen Jingle said, shifting his posture as he held the toddler.
Aw, the little girl was delicate and pretty, truly adorable. He wondered if he should have a little punk son of his own in the future to steal this precious little cabbage away, just to piss off that bastard Liang City.
As it turned out, the little girl looked around and pointed her finger. "Mm, want, want..." She was just learning to speak, so her articulation was unclear.
Following the direction she was pointing, Chen Jingle’s face darkened. "That one is planted in the ground, so I can’t dig it up for you. Pick another pot."
Liang City laughed heartily.
In the end, Chen Jingle picked out a Zhanghong Cherry and a Double Petal Red bougainvillea for him, both of which had bloomed quite a few flowers. Bougainvilleas were very easy to care for; they wouldn’t die even if they went unwatered for half a month.
"So tell me, how have things been lately?" Liang City had hogged the recliner, enjoying the electric fan and eating watermelon without even thinking to feed his daughter a bite.