Chapter 258 - 225: Snowflakes Falling into Water

Chapter 258: Chapter 225: Snowflakes Falling into Water

Standing at the door, Huai Yu fell speechless.

She silently shrank back. Zhou Qian, who had heard even more clearly than she did, couldn’t help but sigh. Great. The secret fusion of Ke Taichiro and the Rose Corridor had just gotten even weirder.

Not wanting to eavesdrop any longer, he knocked on the door.

The conversation inside stopped. Uncle Zaozi quickly ushered them in, mentioning he was going to buy something at the hospital entrance. However, Zhou Yunfang looked at her IV drip and shook her head.

"I’m fine. Don’t buy anything. Let’s just leave as soon as this drip is finished."

"No way!" Uncle Zaozi said nervously. "You fainted out of nowhere while you were perfectly fine. We still need to run more tests."

Huai Yu couldn’t help but feel a little tense. However, considering that the hospital hadn’t been able to find anything wrong with Zhou Qian previously—despite him drinking, bathing in, and applying the substance—she quickly relaxed.

Zhou Yunfang shook her head. "I haven’t been this clear-headed in years." She looked at Uncle Zaozi with a steady gaze. "I won’t go crazy anymore. I want to wait for my gardenia to grow so our family can be lively and bustling together."

Looking into her bright, clear eyes, Uncle Zaozi fell silent. After a moment, he muttered, "You can plant whatever you want, but a gardenia isn’t a child."

This time, it was Zhou Yunfang’s turn to smile. As she smiled, large teardrops slid down from the corners of her eyes. "My children are at the monument, at the martyrs’ cemetery. I know where they sleep."

She was no longer young. For the rest of her life, she needed to live well with the only family she had left right in front of her.

Huai Yu looked at the two of them, hesitating. "Uncle Zaozi, about that tea ball..."

The moment she spoke, the couple—who had been immersed in sorrow—instantly became alert. "Little Yu, what tea ball are you talking about? We haven’t drunk it yet. Remember to bring it over again next time you have some."

They spoke with utmost sincerity, as if that were the absolute truth. Pausing, they added, "I’ve tasted all the other colors, and they’re all pretty good. Only the pink one tastes bad. Don’t sell the pink one anymore."

Huai Yu was speechless.

Glancing at Zhou Qian, she saw that he had also noticeably relaxed. He patted Uncle Zaozi on the shoulder.

"Yeah, we won’t sell the pink one next time. Please sort out the extra ones from this batch and deal with them as you see fit."

The four people in the hospital room spoke with complete seriousness. The secret blended in naturally, vanishing in an instant like a snowflake dissolving into water.

Squeezed onto the bus for their return trip, Huai Yu sighed. "Does this mean we can’t use the Rose petals anymore?"

"Not necessarily," Zhou Qian mused. "Uncle Zaozi’s situation might just be a coincidence. How about we both try some tonight?"

Huai Yu instinctively shook her head!

No way! A person had to have bottom lines, and Ke Taichiro’s mouth was hers!

Zhou Qian glared at her. "Do you think I don’t have bottom lines?"

Huai Yu thought about it and said earnestly, "But Brother Zhou Qian, your bottom lines were already wiped out when you had to save your life. So... how about you test it out?

"You, Uncle Zaozi, and Aunt Zaozi—the three of you are enough to make a decent sample size."

Zhou Qian fell silent. He was truly breaking his back for this family. However, he had to admit that his resolve was constantly wavering. Because, if Uncle Zaozi’s wife could dream of her children who had died years ago, then... what about Zhou Ning? Would he dream of Zhou Ning?

Zhou Qian silently clenched his fists, harboring hope yet too afraid to hope.

Because of this interlude, they abandoned their original plan to buy some things at the nearby Golden Yuan Market.

Since Huai Yu hadn’t managed to buy a fishing net today, she simply dug out the ground trap and purified another large chunk of flatbread, attempting to catch that elusive giant snakehead fish that was still nowhere to be seen.

She truly couldn’t delay any longer. The lotus leaves had already grown quite a bit, and the flower buds were standing tall and graceful. If she didn’t find the fish soon, her dream of raising fish in a lotus pond would be thoroughly shattered!

Meanwhile, Zhou Qian was sitting in the living room of Huai Yu’s home. On the table in front of him sat a massive jar filled with colorful Klang Balls in various shades, looking like a collection of gorgeous, vibrant dreams.

He picked out a pink one. His thoughts were as tangled as a ball of yarn played with by a cat. Just as he barely managed to suppress his sense of urgency, he heard Huai Yu calling out from outside.

"Why don’t you go check on Kuang Biao? Why hasn’t there been any activity from it?

"While you’re at it, bring back a few more bamboo poles to stick in the ground by the door. I’ll need to tie some ropes when I dry vegetables later."

Remembering Kuang Biao’s romance, Zhou Qian’s already complicated mood soured further. But since the sun hadn’t set yet, he worried that drinking the tea and trying to dream now would affect the results. He had no choice but to find some work to do.

Heading around to the back of the house, the blazing sun still shone brightly on the lush green sunflower.

After just one day of not seeing it, the washbasin-sized flower seemed to have grown another size larger. Its harmless-looking petals swayed gently in the wind, showing absolutely no sign that just yesterday, those same petals and the entire flower head had adjusted their angles to reflect sunlight and scorch Kuang Biao mottled and bare.

And now, even though the bamboo stalks had distanced themselves from the sunflower, the ones in the front row bore faint black scorch marks—not to mention the pitiful leaves that were either withered and curled up or burned straight through with holes.

The corners of Zhou Qian’s mouth twitched upward, though he quickly forced them back down. Seeing Big and Second leading the chicks to nonchalantly scratch at the grass nearby, and sensing Kuang Biao’s rare silence, he finally couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Um... Kuang Biao, are you okay?"

In this clash, Kuang Biao had suffered physical damage, while Little Kui had taken mental damage. It was hard to say which was worse, but who could blame anyone when Kuang Biao was the one with the big mouth?

Kuang Biao shook the bamboo grove. The fluttering bamboo leaves—like a shattered heart taking flight—drifted down from above. Soon, the riddled, battered bodies of the leaves fell onto Zhou Qian’s head, shoulders, and arms.

It didn’t speak, but this display was worth a thousand words.

Zhou Qian stared at the tall, towering sunflower beside him and couldn’t help but silently give it a thumbs-up. It endured patiently when it lacked power, and struck decisively the moment it had the means. The poem Huai Yu had read was absolutely right—this sunflower was truly a born warrior.

Impressive!

Although Little Kui couldn’t speak, it seemed to have a faint ability to sense emotions. At this moment, it waved its large leaves at Zhou Qian, and the massive flower head atop its stem shone even more brightly.

While Kuang Biao remained utterly silent, Zhou Qian still had a mission to complete!

Looking at the several bamboo stalks with black scorch marks in front of him, he couldn’t help but sigh. "This really doesn’t look very nice. Kuang Biao, does it still hurt? If it doesn’t, give me these few stalks. You can clear out the space to grow some more."

Kuang Biao wasn’t just heartbroken now; it had also been brutally beaten by its crush. How could the loss of a mere few bamboo stalks compare to its profound sorrow?

It didn’t even bother to say a single word. Feeling the sharp beaks of Big and Second pecking at its roots, the bamboo slowly fell with a RUSTLING CRASH—just like its heart that could never love again...