Chapter 231: Chapter 178: Do to Me What You Did to Luo Feifei

"It’s fine. Even if it gets smashed, it’s not a big deal. Who could’ve predicted a natural disaster like this?" In his past life, Li Xiang had spent his time in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai area, so he really had no memory of a short-lived natural disaster like a hailstorm. His grandmother had never told him about one, either.

In reality, there had been hailstorms in his past life. His grandmother’s old house would leak everywhere, and she’d have to get up in the middle of the night to place buckets. The vegetable garden was an even bigger mess. She hadn’t told him because she was afraid of worrying her grandson.

Li Xiang posted in the group chat: "If your homes were severely affected, you don’t have to come to work."

’With this weather today, it’s unlikely anyone will come to the scenic area anyway.’

But after more than an hour, the three girls still showed up for work, undeterred by the wind and rain.

The young women from the National Tea House, the National Style Tavern, the bubble tea shop, and the coffee shop all arrived as well. The security guards also reported for duty.

Li Xiang applauded their professional spirit.

Each of these shops was equipped with a microwave, as well as refrigerators and freezers. The employees brought their own lunches and would heat them up in the microwave at noon.

Since there was no business due to the rain, the girls started cleaning. They wiped down every countertop, table, chair, and floor, getting into every nook and cranny until they were spotless. They polished the equipment, tea sets, and cups until they gleamed.

Meanwhile, Lei Jiaming led the security guards in sweeping up fallen leaves, clearing out the drainage ditches and downspouts, and removing the standing water from the paths.

As the village chief, Li Xiang took a walk around the village. Thankfully, aside from the damaged fields, the houses were all fine. Even Third Granny’s house, which had been newly built not long after the heavy snow, could withstand such a minor disaster.

Some villagers knew Li Xiang had built a traditional oil press workshop and asked if he was open for business. Li Xiang gave a magnanimous wave of his hand and told anyone who wanted oil pressed to bring their seeds over.

He was idle on this rainy day anyway, and with no tourists around, the tremendous noise from the press wouldn’t bother anyone.

Li Xiang charged a small processing fee: thirty yuan per hundred jin of rapeseed. The villagers all found this acceptable.

After all, it was physically demanding, incredibly tiring work. The villagers figured that Xiang Ya probably couldn’t keep it up for more than a few days. If they wanted their oil pressed, they had to be quick. Thus, they all hurried to deliver their rapeseed.

When Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui heard about it, they also came over to help. They collected mountain spring water in Li Xiang’s backyard, washed their pretty feet, and helped stomp on the oilseed cakes.

The main reason Li Xiang did this was for his Cultivation. His Cultivation Technique was special; its effects were better when he was performing physical labor.

Another reason was to provide a benefit to the villagers, so they wouldn’t have to travel so far to town and could get their oil pressed right in the village.

How much money could the processing fees possibly amount to? Li Xiang didn’t actually care about it, but not charging anything would cause other problems.

After his own village was done, people from other villages heard the news and also started sending their rapeseed over. But Li Xiang stopped after five or six days.

For one, the weather had cleared up and tourists were starting to return. The noise from the oil press was too loud and would disturb the tourists drinking their tea and coffee.

For another, his grandmother, Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, Lei Xiaohui, and the others all felt bad for him. They were worried he would hurt his body and wanted him to take it easy. Besides, it wasn’t earning much money. Li Xiang took the opportunity to stop. He had to admit, it felt good to be cared for.

In truth, Li Xiang’s strength and stamina were greater than a tiger’s. Over the past few days of venting his energy through the pressing work, he had integrated his Breathing Technique into the physical labor. His Spiritual Power had grown more profound, and his foundation had become more solid. He felt he was on the verge of a breakthrough. If he pushed for it, he was more than 95% certain he could succeed, but Li Xiang planned to suppress it a while longer to further solidify his foundation.

The main reason was that he was leveling up too quickly. In less than a year since returning, he was about to enter Tier Six. This was something unimaginable in his past life.

The more solid the foundation, the farther one could go in the future. "One step at a time" was a golden rule.

The processing fees he collected were mainly distributed among the people who had put in the most effort building the equipment, like Jiang Jianguo, Li Yucheng, and Li Jinyu.

But the processing fees didn’t amount to much, so Li Xiang paid out of his own pocket to give Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui each a large red envelope. They had worked hard these past few days stomping on rapeseed cakes, their little feet getting all slick and shiny with oil.

The straw used in the oil pressing was reused if possible and only replaced when it was damaged. Naturally, the used straw was slick with oil.

Although the processing fees didn’t amount to much, the few videos he made about the oil pressing received a ton of traffic. He even landed a commercial for a major brand of rapeseed oil, earning 1.5 million yuan from the advertising fee alone.

The red envelopes Li Xiang gave to Yao Yao and the others each contained twenty thousand yuan.

...

By the War Drum Pavilion, the transplanted peach tree had borne quite a few fuzzy peaches and sprouted many new branches. The peaches were still rather unripe. Li Xiang picked one and took a bite. It was firm, but crisp and refreshing, with a touch of sweetness in its tartness—an exquisite flavor.

It was just too green. It would be even more delicious once it fully ripened in a few days.

Piles of peach gum had once again secreted from the tree. Li Xiang harvested it, using the tip of a knife to pick out impurities. He meticulously trimmed each piece until it looked like a pink Gemstone, then placed them in a glass jar. They were a beautiful sight.

Li Xiang had harvested some before, and by now he had accumulated about three small jars. Jiang Cai’Er’s school break was coming up soon, and this was a gift he had prepared for her.

Her mother liked it, so he wanted her to take it back as a gift for her mom.

May and June were the peak season for peach gum, when it was most abundant and pure. Once the plum rain season arrived, there would still be peach gum, but the continuous overcast and rainy weather would result in poorer quality.

...

After Jiang Cai’Er returned and looked at her phone, she was so angry she threw her books on the ground. "So shameless! How dare she film an intimate scene with my big brother? And now she’s his ’dedicated partner for intimate scenes’?"

Although this was just a rumor spread by netizens and Luo Feifei had never made any such statement, Jiang Cai’Er still couldn’t get over it.