Chapter 136: Turning Decay into Wonder

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The most eye-catching feature inside the entire Ji Residence was undoubtedly the greenery. Every plant was set in an exquisitely crafted pot, clearly expensive at a glance, and each one had been tended with meticulous care. It was obvious that Ji Ronghao was deeply fond of his plants.

Lin Le also noticed that orchids made up the largest portion of the collection. Ji Ronghao seemed especially passionate about them.

“Dad, are you still fussing over your weeds all day?” Ji Xiaorui remarked as she looked around at the greenery filling the room.

“What do you mean, weeds? These are all my treasures!” Ji Ronghao was clearly very attached to his plants, and he was displeased when Ji Xiaorui dismissed them as weeds.

“Come to think of it, isn’t the Orchid Exhibition opening again in a little while? How is that Cymbidium you said had a chance of winning the championship?”

Attending the Orchid Exhibition every year had become a habit for Ji Ronghao, and Ji Xiaorui was already accustomed to it.

As far as she could remember, her father had no other hobbies. His only pastime was tending to flowers and plants—especially orchids. Sometimes, Ji Xiaorui felt that he loved those orchids even more than he loved his own daughter.

Every year, her father busied himself taking his beloved orchids to competitions. The previous year, he had achieved a fairly good result, winning a bronze medal. She had heard that the orchid had already been valued at five million.

As for the champion flower, it had fetched an astronomical price of more than ten million—a sum ordinary people would never even dare imagine.

Naturally, such an amount meant little to Ji Ronghao. In fact, it was less than what he spent caring for his plants. For him, it was purely a matter of personal interest.

“Ah, don’t remind me. My heart aches whenever I think about that Cymbidium,” Ji Ronghao said dejectedly.

“What happened?” Ji Xiaorui asked curiously.

“Dad’s ‘Sky-Reaching’ Cymbidium is probably about to die,” Ji Xiaohai said from the side, shaking his head.

Sky-Reaching was the name of that particular orchid. Ji Ronghao had named every orchid he owned, which showed just how much he loved them.

“It’s dying? Dad, I remember you’ve been raising that Sky-Reaching for more than ten years. You’ve treated it better than your own daughter. How could it suddenly be dying?” Ji Xiaorui asked in astonishment.

Orchids were perennial plants. Even after the old shoots died, new ones could continue to grow, generation after generation.

Yet if Ji Ronghao said the orchid was dying, then it was likely that neither its old shoots nor its new ones could be saved.

“I don’t know either. It had been growing perfectly well. Who could have guessed that it would suddenly start deteriorating?” Ji Ronghao looked as though he might burst into tears.

Watching from the side, Lin Le felt that Boss Ji was remarkably sentimental. It was only a plant, yet he treasured it so deeply. Compared with Ji Xiaorui’s brash and fiery personality, he was worlds apart.

“Uncle Ji, could I take a look at your Sky-Reaching?” Lin Le asked with interest.

“Hm? All right. Come with me to the back.”

Ji Ronghao then led Lin Le, Ji Xiaorui, and the others behind the residence.

Only then did Lin Le see that the garden behind the residence contained a sizable enclosed greenhouse.

The greenhouse looked extremely professional. It was equipped with every kind of temperature-control and humidity-maintenance device, and was even more advanced than many professional cultivation facilities.

Building a greenhouse like this would cost at least several million.

Lin Le sighed inwardly. Ji Xiaorui’s father had truly spent a fortune to care for his plants.

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Once they entered the greenhouse, the temperature was noticeably different from outside. It was evidently the ideal temperature for orchids.

“Mr. Ji.”

As soon as they entered, several people in white work clothes came forward to greet them.

“This is the team of experts I hired to manage the greenhouse regularly. This is Professor Cui, along with his students.” Ji Ronghao pointed toward an elderly man with white hair.

“Look, this is my Sky-Reaching,” Ji Ronghao said bitterly as he led Lin Le and the others to an orchid.

They looked over and saw that the orchid’s leaves had indeed begun to wither and turn yellow.

“Good grief, there’s no way to save this!” Ji Xiaorui said bluntly. She did not share her father’s delicate feelings toward his plants.

“Yes. In this condition, even an immortal couldn’t bring it back to life,” Professor Cui said helplessly from the side.

Ji Ronghao had already decided that if the Sky-Reaching failed to improve over the next few days, he would have no choice but to find a place to bury it.

“That isn’t necessarily true,” Lin Le suddenly said calmly.

“What?” Ji Ronghao froze and stared at him in disbelief.

“Little Le, what… what do you mean?” Ji Ronghao asked in surprise.

“Master, don’t tell me you have a way to save it?” Ji Xiaorui asked excitedly.

Although Ji Xiaorui also felt that it seemed unlikely, in her eyes, her husband always had a way of turning the impossible into the possible.

“Save it?” Professor Cui let out a bitter laugh. “How could that be possible? We’ve examined it carefully. This Cymbidium has already withered from the roots. It has probably simply reached the end of its natural life. Even an immortal couldn’t save it.”

Professor Cui spoke with complete certainty.

“Little Le, I know you mean well, but let it go,” Ji Ronghao said helplessly.

“Uncle Ji, you’ve raised orchids for so many years, so you should know that with proper care, an orchid can live for a hundred years.” Lin Le’s father, Lin Tenghui, had once enjoyed raising flowers and plants as well, so Lin Le knew a little about them.

“That may be true, but the Sky-Reaching has already deteriorated to this point. There’s absolutely no hope of reviving it now, is there?” Ji Ronghao had no expectations at all.

“My father used to enjoy raising flowers and plants, so I’ve picked up some knowledge from him. If you trust me, Uncle Ji, perhaps I could give it a try.”

Lin Le only wanted to help because he had seen how deeply Ji Ronghao cared for the orchid and admired his rare sincerity.

“This…” Ji Ronghao hesitated.

“This orchid is already beyond saving. No amount of experimentation will help,” Professor Cui said with a bitter smile.

“That may not be true. Dad, just let my master try. Your Sky-Reaching is almost dead anyway. There’s no harm in trying one last desperate remedy,” Ji Xiaorui urged.

“All right. Little Le, you can give it a try,” Ji Ronghao finally said after a long moment.

Hearing this, Professor Cui shook his head helplessly, convinced that they were merely wasting their time.

“Very well. I’ll give it a try.”

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As he spoke, Lin Le took out the bottle of Divine Chef Spirit Liquid.

When Lin Le had first obtained the bottle, the old Divine Chef had told him that the liquid could not only enhance flavor but also contained an extremely rich spiritual energy capable of causing new roots to grow from withered wood and transforming decay into wonder.

However, the spirit liquid was extraordinarily precious, and Lin Le had never used it on plants before. It would simply have been far too wasteful.

But now, in order to help Ji Ronghao, Lin Le decided to use a single drop.

“What is that?” Ji Ronghao asked curiously as he studied the porcelain bottle.

“This is a medicinal solution I prepared myself. It contains an extremely rich spiritual energy and should be able to bring this Sky-Reaching back to life.”

“A medicinal solution you prepared yourself?” Professor Cui gave a derisive laugh, clearly finding the claim ridiculous.

Ji Ronghao did not say much aloud, but inwardly he found the whole thing rather unreliable. He even regretted allowing Lin Le to try. If a blind man attempted to treat it and turned it into a mute, the situation would be beyond repair.

Lin Le said nothing more. He dripped the spirit liquid onto the orchid’s roots, then tucked the porcelain bottle back into his robes.

“That’s it?” Ji Ronghao asked incredulously.

“Yes, that’s it. It should begin to take effect by tomorrow,” Lin Le replied.

“This…” Ji Ronghao was practically speechless.

He had previously thought this young man more reliable than Zhang Yang, but now Lin Le seemed even less trustworthy.

Professor Cui shook his head with a bitter smile, while the students behind him secretly snickered.

A single drop of some unknown potion could bring a dying orchid back to life? It was unheard of!

Professor Cui could not help wondering whether there was something wrong with the young man’s mind. Why else would he be putting on such an absurd act of mysticism?

Afterward, Ji Ronghao and the others returned to the residence and chatted for a while longer. Since it was already very late, Ji Ronghao arranged a room for Lin Le and then sent everyone off to rest.

Lying on the large bed in the residence, Lin Le was still thinking about meeting his mother the next morning.

They had not seen each other for three years, and he had no idea how his mother had been treated in the Xie household.

With those thoughts in mind, Lin Le gradually fell asleep.

Early the next morning, just as dawn broke, Lin Le and the others were awakened from their sleep by a thunderous cry from the hall of the residence.

“It’s alive! My Sky-Reaching—it’s really come back to life!”