Chapter 412 - 411: Skillful Guidance

Huo Yue Lan’s heart was instantly captivated by the Fire Tree and Ice Tree, so much so that she temporarily forgot all about Lu Yunzhou.

"I’m glad you like them. Shall we go see them now?"

Yun Zijin tried to coax Huo Yue Lan gently.

Sure enough, Huo Yue Lan’s eyes lit up when she heard she could see the Ice Tree and Fire Tree right away.

But Lu Yunzhou was her son, after all, so Huo Yue Lan hesitated.

"Mom, you don’t need to stay here and watch over me. If you want to go, just go."

"I’m here too, Mom. You can take a break and let me take over."

Lu Yunque spoke up, making his presence known to Huo Yue Lan.

Seeing Lu Yunque, Huo Yue Lan’s eyes lit up. ’How could I forget I have another son I can press into service?’

"I suppose that’s fine. Since you’re staying, watch your brother. Don’t let him move around too much or eat anything he’s not supposed to."

Lu Yunzhou was currently recuperating, so there were many things he couldn’t eat, and his daily exercise was strictly limited.

But with his military background, Lu Yunzhou felt restless if he didn’t get some exercise in every day. And every time Huo Yue Lan caught him, he would get an earful.

But Lu Yunzhou was just stubborn. He never learned his lesson and seemed to enjoy it.

"Don’t worry, I’ll keep a close eye on him."

Lu Yunque promised confidently. ’It’s just staying by his bedside,’ he thought. ’How hard can it be?’

With Lu Yunque’s assurance, Huo Yue Lan’s worries vanished. She grabbed Yun Zijin and headed out of Lu Yunzhou’s hospital room.

"Let’s go, let’s go! We’re going to your house now."

All Huo Yue Lan could think about now were the Fire Tree and Ice Tree. She wanted to get back to Xingyu Mansion as quickly as possible.

Yun Zijin said a quick goodbye to Lu Yunzhou and Lu Yunque, then followed Huo Yue Lan out of the room. By the time they reached the entrance of the sanatorium’s inpatient department, Zero One and his team were already waiting with the car ready.

Huo Yue Lan didn’t even bother calling the Lu Family’s driver; she just got straight into the car with Yun Zijin.

By the time the Lu Family’s driver realized the chairman’s wife was gone, Huo Yue Lan was already in Yun Zijin’s car, having left the sanatorium and on her way to Xingyu Mansion.

About an hour later, a silver luxury van slowly drove into Xingyu Mansion.

"Moonlight Grass!"

Upon entering the grounds of Villa 1, Huo Yue Lan’s sharp eyes immediately spotted the landscaping strip of Moonlight Grass along the main driveway.

After all, Huo Yue Lan was a member of the Lu Family by marriage and came from the Huo family, so she had access to information that ordinary people didn’t.

She had heard talk about things like the Moonlight Grass, and had even pulled some strings to get a plant for herself.

Huo Yue Lan looked at Yun Zijin. "Why is there so much Moonlight Grass here?"

She had to move heaven and earth just to get a single plant before.

’And now you’re telling me someone is using Moonlight Grass for their landscaping strips?’

Huo Yue Lan found it hard to believe.

"Oh! I had that redone. This way, at night, even if there are no streetlights, you don’t have to worry about not seeing the path."

’Of course, there are still streetlights,’ she thought. ’It’s just a precaution, in case the lights ever break or there’s a sudden power outage.’

’That’s when the Moonlight Grass would come in handy.’

’Besides, the Moonlight Grass plants are quite pretty, so they work perfectly for landscaping.’

However, since Yun Zijin only owned Villa 1 in Xingyu Mansion, she only had the landscaping changed to Moonlight Grass within her property’s boundaries.

In other parts of the Xingyu Mansion residential area, the landscaping strips were still the original shrubs.

"So... the Moonlight Grass at the Hua Country Science Academy Plant Research Institute, that was from you too?"

Huo Yue Lan couldn’t think of any other explanation.

Yun Zijin nodded. It was something anyone could find out with a little digging, so there was no point in lying.

Huo Yue Lan was speechless.

’So, all that time I spent begging everyone and their mother for a single Moonlight Grass plant, it was actually one that Yun Zijin had sold?’

"Auntie, if you like it, I can give you some seeds. As long as you follow the instructions and water them on time, they won’t die."

From Yun Zijin’s perspective, Moonlight Grass was very easy to grow.

Unfortunately, Yun Zijin didn’t know that there are some people who love to garden but manage to turn every vibrant plant that falls into their hands into a half-dead husk.

"You have seeds?!"

Huo Yue Lan was shocked by Yun Zijin’s words. That certainly wasn’t what the people at the research institute had told her.

Good heavens, from the moment she got her Moonlight Grass, she had cared for it like her own child, only to have it on the brink of death after just one week.

After that, she didn’t dare to touch it. She even had the servants at the old mansion take over the watering.

And once she stopped interfering, the Moonlight Grass revived under the servants’ care.

Huo Yue Lan’s mood at the time had been... awful.

Yun Zijin blinked. "I’m the one who supplies the seeds to the research institute. So, what do you think?"

Huo Yue Lan realized she had been at a disadvantage simply from not having all the information. She should have asked around more instead of banging her head against a wall trying to deal with the research institute.

"I’m going to change the landscaping at the old mansion to Moonlight Grass, too!"

After the humbling experience with the research institute, Huo Yue Lan was ready for some retail therapy.

Yun Zijin was so startled by Huo Yue Lan’s declaration that she almost lost her footing. "Are you sure? The landscaping at the Lu Family’s Old Mansion was meticulously designed piece by piece by a master landscaper. If you suddenly change it to Moonlight Grass, it might not match the rest of the estate."

’While Moonlight Grass plants are pretty,’ she thought, ’their drawback is that they aren’t particularly distinctive. Used in the landscaping of the Lu Family’s old house, they would just look too plain.’

’Now, planting an Ice Tree or a Fire Tree there... that would be a different story.’

Hearing Yun Zijin say that, Huo Yue Lan hesitated again.

The main issue was that she wasn’t the only one living in the Lu Family’s Old Mansion. Lu Zhengguo and Xu Su Hua were there too, and they would never let her do something so impulsive.

"If the old mansion won’t work, maybe you could think outside the box a little. Are there any other places you could renovate?"

Yun Zijin, for example, had changed all the landscaping strips along the road at Jade Lake to Moonlight Grass.

Now when she drove home at night, she never had to worry about not being able to see the road, even without streetlights.

After asking her question, Yun Zijin noticed that Huo Yue Lan hadn’t responded for a while. She turned to look and found the woman completely transfixed by the Fire Tree and Ice Tree.

Huo Yue Lan slowly approached the Ice Tree and the Fire Tree, holding her breath, as if afraid to make a sound.

"You were right. Photos don’t do them a sliver of justice!"

Huo Yue Lan couldn’t tear her eyes away from the two trees.

"Auntie, would you like to take a picture with them?"

Yun Zijin asked, pulling out her phone and giving it a little wave.

"Yes! Of course, I do!"

Huo Yue Lan quickly struck a pose, clearly very experienced at having her picture taken.

Seeing that the plants had successfully captured Huo Yue Lan’s attention, Yun Zijin continued her efforts to shift the woman’s focus from Lu Yunzhou to things she was passionate about.

"Auntie, I have seeds for the Ice Tree and Fire Tree, too. Would you like to take some home and try planting them?"

Yun Zijin dropped another wonderful surprise on Huo Yue Lan.

"You have seeds for these?"

Huo Yue Lan’s eyes lit up. She wasn’t interested in much, but she was passionate about gardening.

Yun Zijin’s offer of these seeds was the perfect gift.

"I do, but not many."

Yun Zijin was in full-on persuasion mode.