Chapter 179: Oh, wow! Literally, oh, wow! (Happy New Year!)

Zhong Di looked at the octopus, his mind wandering. Why was he thinking about such messy and trivial things?

After waiting a bit longer, Zhong Di decided to bring the octopus back. With the containers and oxygenation equipment on hand, he could observe it slowly.

With this in mind, Zhong Di grabbed the bucket and headed back. He then waited while processing the seafood he had dug up.

Some of this seafood needed to spit out sand, while others did not. Zhong Di separated them accordingly, saving the ones that needed sand removal for a later meal.

Because of the octopus, Zhong Di didn't have the leisure to slowly enjoy and savor delicious food. He ate a simple meal and immediately resumed his observations.

It moved! It moved!

The octopus suddenly stirred, stretching some of its tentacles outside.

Well, it seemed it was still alive. According to information online, the octopus shouldn't come out at this stage, but seeing the tentacles move, Zhong Di knew it was probably safe to say things were secure.

An octopus laying eggs is basically no different from dying. The incubation period for octopus eggs can be as long as half a year, varying slightly depending on the species.

During this period, the octopus does not feed. Generally speaking, by the time the small ones emerge, the mother is basically already dead. It is both ordinary and great—everything is for the sake of reproduction.

After confirming that the octopus was fine, Zhong Di returned it to the fish pond.

This octopus laying eggs was of great significance.

It meant that other seafood would likely do the same, producing offspring to a greater or lesser extent. This was a qualitative leap.

He had originally intended to keep it in a container and raise the octopus hatchlings, but upon second thought, doing that didn't seem to have much practical meaning!

Aside from waiting and watching the octopus take care of its babies every day, there really wasn't much to it.

Moreover, what if the octopus was cramped in a relatively narrow environment, suddenly stopped taking care of the young, and then ended up dying? That would be a loss that outweighed the gain!

After tossing the octopus back into the fish pond, Zhong Di attended to some other chores, checking on the rabbits and seeing if the newly arrived hedgehog was adapting to its new home.

After finishing up all the miscellaneous tasks, Zhong Di headed to the greenhouse.

He planned to move a recliner and a teapot into the greenhouse, lie down among the tropical fruit trees, sip tea, and spend a pleasant and quiet time just like that.

Without the usual hustle and bustle, whatever he did felt enjoyable.

Zhong Di cheerfully started setting things up. Fortunately, he had bought all these supplies quite thoroughly, and he could find whatever he needed right away.

He realistically put together a kettle for boiling water, a tea strainer, and a box of high-end tea leaves that were reportedly quite expensive. Zhong Di didn't care about that; drinking it was all that mattered.

Although he wasn't used to drinking tea, he still wanted to try it. Different states of mind yielded different feelings when drinking tea, and Zhong Di wanted to experience that.

As soon as he entered the greenhouse, Zhong Di was shocked by the scene before him.

If he remembered correctly, he had just been here last night! What on earth had happened over the course of a single night?

The entire greenhouse had taken on a completely new look. Every single tree was flourishing, with vibrant green leaves, as if they had been reborn.

There is a phrase called "overnight."

Indeed, it was overnight—the entire greenhouse had transformed completely. Or was it simply that his own state of mind had changed?

After admiring the view for a moment, Zhong Di moved his chair and everything else into the greenhouse, choosing a relatively spacious spot right in the middle.

Ah, there were four-season lemon trees bearing fruit, mango trees in bloom, and dragon fruit buds—quite a few dragon fruit plants were growing flower buds.

When he first bought the fruit trees, Zhong Di had purchased medium-sized ones, which bloom quite quickly, though he hadn't expected them to be this fast.

However, growing flower buds was one thing, and whether they would successfully set fruit was another.

The floral bud differentiation of these buds might have started half a month or a month ago; it certainly wasn't from the time Zhong Di planted the trees.

Once dragon fruit trees are dug up, if their roots haven't recovered, it is absolutely impossible for them to undergo floral bud differentiation. The buds growing now could only have differentiated previously.

Normally, once dragon fruit trees are transplanted, if the roots have not recovered, the first batch of flower buds cannot be saved, and there will be a long interval before the second batch of buds appears.

That was why flowering was one thing, and fruit-setting was another.

Zhong Di looked at the small lemons forming and desperately wanted to pick one to brew tea, but he thought better of it. They were so tiny; doing that would be a bit cruel.

Woof!

Just as Zhong Di was sipping his tea, Yu Sheng charged in, let out a bark, and then sprinted back out.

What was going on?

Was something wrong again? Or was someone at the front door?

Zhong Di stepped out of the greenhouse to check the situation, but there was nothing there! Finally, he understood what Yu Sheng meant.

The darn dog wanted him to take it for a walk!

He got it, he really did, but understanding didn't mean he would comply. Zhong Di had no intention of walking the dog right now, so he ignored Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng barked a few more times, and seeing that its master truly had no intention of accompanying it, it ran off on its own.

Alas, a child without company was truly pitiful, lacking paternal love!

After Yu Sheng left, Zhong Di resumed drinking his tea and dozed off lightly.

The temperature inside the greenhouse was a bit higher than outside, and the humidity was greater too, but Zhong Di didn't mind at all.

Since it was mid-September, he was dressed lightly, sipping tea, breaking a sweat, and catching the occasional breeze blowing through the vents—it was truly comfortable.

Unwittingly, Zhong Di dozed in the recliner until afternoon, until Yu Sheng rushed in and let out a bark.

And it had brought along a little female dog!

Both Yu Sheng and the little female dog had rabbits in their mouths. They dropped the rabbits right in front of Zhong Di and let out a few barks.

The meaning was blatantly obvious: they wanted their master to roast the rabbits for them.

Good grief, Zhong Di could only say good grief.

Yu Sheng asking him to take care of it was something Zhong Di could accept; after all, it was his own son, right? That was a father's responsibility.

And the fact that it frequently brought little female dogs home (not the same one, but many different ones of all kinds) was also normal, right? Although early romance wasn't permitted, his father wasn't that conservative and was actually quite open-minded.

But now, look at what the dog was doing! Not only did it bring a female dog home, but it even wanted him to feed her—that was going too far.

"Do it yourself. Shoo, go away."

Zhong Di waved his hand in refusal. Based on past experience, Yu Sheng definitely understood that sentence.

After he finished speaking, Yu Sheng remained standing in place, with no intention of leaving whatsoever.

If this were normal times, it would have already bolted out of sight by now. Yet now, it stayed put? That meant its wings had hardened.

Subsequently, Yu Sheng displayed a very human-like expression, as if it were saying, "Dad, please save some face for me; you're making me look really bad here."

Damn it! What did it looking bad have to do with him?

"Fine, I'll roast the rabbits for you." Zhong Di looked at Yu Sheng's expression and finally made that decision.

There was no help for it; after all, it was his own son, so he had to take care of it when necessary.

With that thought, Zhong Di got up from the recliner, started a fire, and began roasting the rabbits.

Honestly...