bullyxtreme Chapter 45 Modern Times, Peony Garden
Chapter 45 Modern Times, Peony Garden
Chapter 45 Modern Times, Peony Garden
"Come on! Let our little Sizi have some fish balls!" Lu Chen put a piece of fish ball on Sizi's plate.
"Sizi, save some room in your stomach, we're going to have something nice to eat tonight," Mom said with a smile.
"Mmm~~ I'm so full tonight~~~ Brother~~ I'm full~~" Little Sizi put down her spoon and stretched out her little hands.
"Alright! Wipe your mouths and hands, let's go!" Lu Chen started getting busy.
The family tidied up and got up.
Little Sizi perched on Lu Chen's shoulder, its round little belly pressing against Lu Chen's arm until it ached slightly, while it mumbled indistinctly, "Fish ball—cake—".
"Let's go, straight to the peony garden!" Dad opened the car door.
Mom chuckled, "This child, even after eating his fill, is still thinking about the shrimp balls he didn't finish. Just like Lu Chen when he was little."
"That means our child is easy to raise." Dad was very content.
We arrived at the botanical garden soon.
The family got off the bus.
First, we walked through an open space with antique carved walls and geometric doorways, as well as a grove of trees. The ground was covered with white pebbles.
"Attack on the head!" the little boy screamed.
Lu Chen knew the little one was itching to play again, so he quickly put her down.
The little guy looked like he had found a treasure, and his hands were full of stones.
My mother also remarked, "This stone would be perfect if placed in a flowerpot or a fish tank."
Lu Chen smiled: "Mom, if you like, I'll buy it for you online. They have all kinds of colors. If you're putting it in a flowerpot, clay pebbles are the best. They're pretty, lightweight, and good for aeration and loosening the soil."
"Huh? These are available online?" My mom had never heard of them. She rarely buys things online.
"Yeah! You can find everything online, even the smallest parts, except for real people—no, except for illegal items. Whatever you want to buy, just search it up." Lu Chen proudly picked up his phone, opened Taobao, and searched for colored stones.
"Wow! It really exists! It's so beautiful! Let's see what the clay pellets look like!" Mom's eyes lit up.
"This is what expanded clay pebbles look like. They're the same color as purple clay, aren't they beautiful?" Lu Chen fiddled with his phone.
"Hmm! It looks nice. I want to buy some to put in my orchid pot, and some in my succulents too." Mom was tempted.
boom!
Under the sky, people were shocked once again!
"What? There's a big marketplace on my phone?"
"Wouldn't people be able to buy things without leaving their homes?"
Who is selling the data on this phone?
These things are far beyond people's comprehension.
"Modern people are simply divine!"
"If I could go to the modern era, I would definitely want to figure these things out."
Ying Zheng, Liu Che, Genghis Khan—these great figures of all time have planted a seed in my heart.
"This is truly unbelievable!"
"amazing!"
As Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun looked at their daughter, they were deeply moved.
"Alright! A bag of ceramsite and a bag of colored stones, all bought. They'll arrive just as we get home." Lu Chen successfully placed the order.
Outside the canopy, Li Tai felt envious.
"I wish I had a phone like that. I could buy whatever I wanted!" Li Tai exclaimed with envy.
"Hey! Let's hurry up and get into the park!" Dad urged.
"We're here!" Lu Chen and his mother quickly set off.
Upon entering the garden, a tall wisteria tree comes into view, its blossoms hanging down like a pink waterfall, as radiant as the morning glow.
Sizi's eyes widened immediately, and she pointed ahead with her little finger: "Guoguo! Kang! Fafa! Like a curtain!"
"Look at our rhinoceros, the metaphor is so apt!"
Mom was even happier: "Lu Chen, quickly bring Xiao Sizi over so she can see her up close! Come on, let me take a picture of you!"
My mom is so busy she doesn't know what to do.
"Brother, I want to touch Xiaofa~~" Sizi stretched out her tender little hand.
"Don't pick the flowers, okay?" Lu Chen gently reminded him.
"Okay~~ I want to touch it, it's so cute~~" Little Sizi picked up a string of pale purple flowers, brought it close to her nose, and exclaimed, "Wow! It smells so good!"
Click! Mom took a picture, a sneaky shot.
My mom loves taking random photos.
Click, click, click! I took several pictures of Xiao Sizi in a row, and she packed up both the flowers and herself to take home.
The family continued walking.
There are peonies not far away!
"Let's hurry! Let's go see the peonies!" Mom ran ahead.
Upon arrival, the crowd gathered around square nurseries.
The family saw a real peony for the first time.
This was also the first time that Xiao Sizi had ever seen a peony growing on the ground.
"So many peonies! They're so beautiful!" Little Sizi stretched out her little arms through the bamboo fence, as if she wanted to hug all the peonies into her arms.
"The peonies are so beautiful! All the colors are gorgeous!" Mom took out her phone and continued taking pictures.
In the flowerbed, peonies of various colors—pink, red, and purple—dazzled and vied for attention under the sunlight, like the Emperor of Heaven's rouge box had been overturned.
Lu Chen followed behind Si Zi when suddenly the little guy tiptoed and shakily reached out his hand to a blooming white peony. He gently touched the petals with his chubby little hand, tilted his head up, and asked, "Brother, doesn't this flower look like Mother's hairpin?"
Lu Chen squatted down and echoed her words, "It's just like it! It's even prettier than my mother's hairpin."
Outside the sky, Empress Zhangsun's eyes suddenly reddened.
She remembered the white jade peony hairpin she kept at the very bottom of her dressing case. It was personally chosen by Li Shimin when Si Zi turned one year old, and she hadn't worn it much since. Only little Si Zi would often see it when rummaging through her jewelry box.
She touched her heart with her fingertips, her voice as light as a feather: "Erlang, look, Sizi, you still remember my hairpin—"
Li Shimin remained silent, his knuckles turning slightly white. He had seen countless exotic flowers and rare herbs, but he had never felt that any of them was more vibrant than the one that Si Zi's fingertips were touching at this moment.
Suddenly, Sizi was drawn by the music in the distance and pulled Lu Chen's hand, running towards the small stage in the center of the peony garden.
There was someone playing the accordion and singing, surrounded by a crowd of people, some humming along, others recording with their phones.
Sizi tiptoed, her little head bobbing up and down to the music. Suddenly, she opened her arms and started spinning around, the hem of her cloak resembling the wings of a small butterfly.
"I can sing it too!" she exclaimed in her childish voice, then hummed the nursery rhyme her older cousin had taught her: "Little bunny, open the door—"
People around her laughed, some applauded, and a young lady handed her a glowing bunny ear headband.
"Little sister, this is for you."
Si Zi, wearing the headband, her eyes shining like two black grapes, said, "Thank you, sister!"
Afterwards, Xiao Sizi and the older girl ran and played together.
Lu Chen quickly followed to protect him.
Mom quickly took out her phone and snapped a picture of Sizi chasing after the children—the little figure weaving through the peony bushes, the little guy laughing heartily, like a little angel.
Outside the canopy, Cao Cao stroked his beard and suddenly laughed: "This little girl is even more mischievous than my Chong'er. But—her liveliness is quite amusing."
Ying Zheng, however, remained staring at the phone in Lu Chen's hand, his brows furrowed slightly: "That little box is truly omnipotent. If the Qin Dynasty possessed such a thing, I could personally witness how far the Great Wall had been built, and whether the soldiers were safe and sound—"
Just then, Lu Chen's phone rang. It was his mother calling from upstairs: "Sizi's tired from running, quickly give her some water!"
Upon hearing "drink water," Sizi immediately stopped and tugged at her brother's hand, saying, "Drink water! I'm thirsty!"
After finishing his water, the little guy whispered in Lu Chen's ear, "Brother, it's so much fun here. I don't want to go back here—"
Lu Chen's heart softened, and he patted her head: "I'll take you to even better places to play in the future, okay?"
Sizi nodded vigorously, nuzzling her little head against his neck: "Mmm! I want to eat hot pot again, and I want to watch Fafa!"
"Great! Let's eat more good food! Let's see more people!"
"Hehehe————" The little guy's eyes narrowed into slits again.
Outside the canopy, Li Shimin gazed at the satisfied smile on the little prince's face and suddenly said to the eunuch beside him, "Issue a decree: starting tomorrow, the imperial kitchen will add a hot pot banquet. When princes and princesses dine, they need not be bound by etiquette; let them eat happily, just like this little prince."
Upon hearing this, Empress Zhangsun finally shed tears, but smiled and said, "Second Prince—"
Ying Zheng picked up the bamboo slips on the table, but couldn't concentrate on a single word for a long time. He looked up at the warm light in the sky and said softly, "If one day, my people could also have this, with fresh fish to eat every day, hot pot to cook, and flowers to admire—"
That was the real Qin Dynasty.
Suddenly, Xiao Sizi's gaze was drawn to something else.
"Hey bro! There's a bridge there! It's red! We're going too!"
"Okay." Lu Chen carried the little guy and walked towards the red overpass in the distance.