Chapter 8: Shang You, thank you for teaching me how to grow vegetables.

"Xiao Shang, is this batch of goods okay? I asked the driver to bring it to the city before dawn this morning."

Old Yan finished talking to the delivery driver in front of him, and came over to see Shang Youqing leaning against the container to count and check the unloaded items, and helped to move them to the cart and asked.

Shang Youqing carefully screened the fruits, vegetables and fodder and was quite satisfied. "Well, they are very fresh. Let's put them in the warehouse for storage."

Old Yan breathed a sigh of relief. Because he had other things to do in the city center, Old Yan helped to pull the goods unloaded from the cart into the feed room of the park and left, while Shang Youqing stayed to settle the bill with the driver.

He was holding a notebook and recording the storage time labels one by one when he ran into a few young people in trendy clothes holding filming equipment.

A person walked at the back, pounding his legs and complaining, "Oh, my family, I told you to just go to the animal park next door in the west city, but now it's a wasted trip..."

"Hello, sister! Excuse me, has Mingling Zoo closed down? I saw the main gate was closed."

Shang Youqing raised her face slightly, holding a notebook, and answered patiently: "It's not closed down. It's closed for the past two days for renovations. It will officially open at 8:10 tomorrow morning. You are all welcome to come."

The person asking the question looked at her in surprise, nodded and said: "Oh, okay, okay. Thank you, sister."

"You're welcome."

At this time, Shang Youqing didn't know that the few people who were still lingering not far away were broadcasting live, nor did she know that what happened next was also broadcast live.

She was indeed preparing to open the park tomorrow weekend, and she also opened a zoo account for publicity purposes. It's just that she was running back and forth these days and had no time to shoot some promotional videos.

Shang Youqing was just about to go back through the west gate when she suddenly glanced over and saw a pastoral dog curled up under a tree outside the gate, barking sadly several times.

Shang Youqing walked over, looked it up and down, and breathed a sigh of relief, "Did it lose its owner?"

The pastoral dog pricked up one ear and barked at her hesitantly.

[Human, can you understand what a dog is saying?]

Shang Youqing half-knelt down, petted the dog, took out her cell phone and asked, "Well, what's your owner's number?"

The pastoral dog was now completely excited and started wagging its tail, barking around her.

[137xxxxxxxx! Human, this is the dog's owner's phone number!]

Shang Youqing dialed the number the dog had given her. The call connected quickly, and Shang Youqing explained directly, "Hello, I found a puppy." After

listening to the person on the other end describe the puppy's appearance, Shang Youqing confirmed it was the dog in front of her, grinning and wagging its tail excitedly. She then relayed the location, "Just come to the west gate of the zoo. Okay, bye."

The dog's owner happened to be in the suburbs, and within minutes, he drove over, picked up the lost dog, and thanked Shang Youqing profusely.

The dog, held in its owner's arms, reached out its paw and carefully poked the cuff of Shang Youqing's wrist, its voice becoming even more adorable.

"Man, I almost thought I was going to be homeless. Awooo, thank you for helping me! I like you! I'll bring you here to see you again!"

Shang Youqing nodded in agreement, waved goodbye with a frown, and then closed the west gate and returned to the zoo.

Shang Youqing, who had been calm all morning, finally pulled open the fence and returned to the courtyard. Her eyelids twitched as she saw the scene unfolding there. "Oh my God! What are you doing, little ancestors?"

In the vegetable patch,

Young Master He, who had been spotless that morning in his pristine white shirt and trousers, was now covered in mud. A tattered straw hat sat askew on his head, and his calves were shod with Shang You's worn-out little yellow duck boots.

Of course, that wasn't the point. The main point was that the young master, with his little butt sticking out, was diligently digging holes in the vegetable patch with a small shovel in hand, planting vegetables.

Meanwhile, her baby, Shang You, coolly folded her arms, supervised Young Master He from behind, occasionally squatting down to replant the cabbage seedlings that had been planted crookedly.

At the sound of Shang Youqing pulling open the fence, two round heads, already engrossed in the vegetable patch, simultaneously glanced towards her.

He Zhimo wiped his face with his hand and pointed at the freshly dug holes with his small shovel. "Shang Youqing, look."

"...What are you looking at?"

Young Master He said with a dignified expression. "This whole row is made of cabbages I planted for you."

Shang You added, "I replanted seven of them."

He Zhimo wiped his nose with a feigned indifference. "Don't worry about the details."

Shang Youqing, unable to bear watching the two cubs getting increasingly dirty, carried them each to the bathtub for a clean wash.

Afterward, Shang Youqing took them to feed the animals and attended to other important matters.

That evening, while Sister Ling and Aunt Zhou, the two keepers at the garden, were on the phone discussing some matters for the garden's opening the next morning, the two cubs sat in a row on small stools, quietly reviewing the details of the day's planting.

"Shang You, I think next time you should start digging the holes from the left to reduce the splashing of soil."

"You're holding the shovel incorrectly."

"How do you hold it correctly?"

Shang You picked up the small shovel with one hand, demonstrated it to him, and then tossed it back.

He Zhimo held her tightly, eyes wide, and stiffly imitated her movements. "Is that so?"

"More or less."

He Zhimo, clutching the small shovel, his confidence growing. "Shang You, thank you for teaching me how to grow vegetables. As a token of my gratitude, I'll teach you how to read poetry."

"What lion?"

"My kingdom—"

Shang Youqing turned back after hanging up the phone, stunned that the two children could still hold such a conversation, but unable to help but hold her face and listen attentively to He Zhimo's clear, rhythmic recitation of a poem.

While she felt that the He family had truly raised this young master well, she scratched her face, suddenly realizing something important—

since they were already down the mountain, wasn't it time for the baby to go to school?

With this in mind, Shang Youqing opened her phone, flipped through her contacts, found the number of her junior fellow apprentice, and sent him a message.

Because they had to get up early the next day to open the park, Shang Youqing had already sent the two children to their respective rooms. He Zhimo slept in his own small room, while Shang Youqing shared a room with Shang You.

The desk lamp in the room was on. She sat by the bed as usual, holding Shang You in her arms to coax her to sleep. She lowered her head and rested it on Shang You's soft little shoulder while continuing to deal with things on her phone.

When she was almost done, she just turned off her phone and carried Shang You back to bed when she heard Shang You's sleepy voice calling, "Mom."

Shang Youqing rubbed the baby's hair and kissed her little face, "Go to sleep, baby."

Just as she was about to turn off the lights and lie down, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a small figure outside the door.

Outside the slightly open door, He Zhimo came out of the small room at some point, his little hands clinging to the door frame, staring in with moist eyes without blinking.

After noticing that she was looking at him, He Zhimo raised the back of his little finger and wiped his eyes carelessly, pursed his lips stubbornly, and ran away with tears in his eyes.