Zheng Long’s two older children had developed a strong sense of independence.
Since moving to the city, Zheng Kai would return home every weekend to spend time with Zheng Xuan, and the siblings were very close.
The brother, a top student, meant that his younger sister wouldn’t fall behind, and Zheng Long had also enrolled Niuniu in dance, painting, and piano classes. Swimming was taught by Zheng Kai personally, and he would occasionally take his sister to play basketball. Overall, Niuniu’s elementary school days were quite happy; during that time, children didn’t have much academic pressure, and very few could afford interest classes.
Besides those activities, Zheng Xuan also learned English with Zheng Long, starting from New Concept English; he had bought a tablet, loaded it with educational software, and had his daughter read along with him every day. Naturally, he was learning it all over again, teaching while studying himself. For one hour a day, the father and daughter would converse in everyday spoken English.
As a result, while other children spent their time playing outside, Zheng Xuan was already planning her future and was very willing and disciplined in her learning.
No matter how busy Zheng Long was during the day, he would always spend evenings talking with his daughter, studying, getting to know about her day at school, reading to her and telling stories. The downloaded app contained stories that she would listen to every night as she fell asleep, which unconsciously improved her imagination.
When Zheng Long couldn’t handle the farm in the village, he would hire people to help, paying them fair wages because everything was clearly communicated, so many people liked dealing with him. Sometimes being impersonal wasn’t necessarily a bad thing after all.
As 1985 transitioned into 1986, his "space" advanced to Level 30. All 24 fields were unlocked, and he could soon transform ordinary land into Red Land, which would allow plants to grow faster and yield more. However, upgrading was not easy, so he had to depend on his hardworking hands to make it happen.
At Level 30, he could now plant mangosteens, blueberries, guavas, bayberries, lemons, mangoes, starfruits, mulberries, cantaloupes, longans, papayas, persimmons, lychees, muskmelons, plums, cherries, dragon fruits, loquats, kiwis, gourds, coconuts, Enoki mushrooms, figs, pineapples, pomelos, pomegranates, chestnuts, and other various fruits. He would arrange these fruits on his shelves seasonally. As these were products from the "space," they could remain fresh for about a week, enhancing his turnover ability.
The supermarket business was not particularly good, but it had been improving year by year. With continued perseverance, he was sure to achieve the results he wanted.
Since the land at home was almost restored by the spiritual spring water, he no longer needed to visit three times a week. Going once a week was enough to ensure the vegetables were watered and maintained their growth cycle. Hence, he could spend more time on the supermarket and with Niuniu.
Niuniu was now a second-grade elementary student, excelling in dance, recitation, singing, and painting. She was also the young host at school and was one of the first excellent members to join the Young Pioneers, highly regarded by the teachers. She received the most praise at every parent-teacher meeting.
Each time, when Zheng Long’s father went on stage to share his experience, he hardly knew what to say, as it was all his child’s own effort and hardly to do with him. However, he still offered some rather sensible suggestions, albeit somewhat performatively. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on ɴovelfire.net