232: Chapter 227 Preparing for Opening

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, five days had passed.

After the events at Liang Lake, Cao Xiao felt a bit guilty and wasn't ready to face He Yueyou. So, after staying home to accompany Guoer for a day, he set out. His first stop was Yuzhou, where he rented a relatively fast small yacht to head down the Yangtze River, making a brief stop at Huanghe City before going straight to the Magic City.

The sightseeing was just incidental; his true purpose was to dredge the Yangtze River. It wasn't that Cao Xiao was bored and wanted to do good deeds, but rather to transform the soil of Chuliang Grotto-heaven. Originally, the surface soil in the grotto-heaven had completely desertified and charred, making it impossible for even grass to survive, and the underground soil had little fertility to speak of, making it unsuitable for planting. Therefore, he planned to collect high-quality, fertile soil from the outside world to cover the original sandy land. The amount of quality soil required was measured in tens of billions of tons. He couldn't find a place on land suitable for him to take that much soil; even covering just a thin layer of one meter would span a radius of two hundred miles! This volume of earthwork was enough to dig through the Earth several times over, and digging anywhere in the world would attract national-level attention. He was unwilling to take such a risk, and since sea mud is alkaline, he could only target the silt at the bottom of rivers. Moreover, while silt couldn't compare to humus-rich soil, it was more fertile than ordinary soil. He considered this a free good deed, so after a brief consideration, he set off.

Just dredging the Yangtze River was far from enough, even after he quietly scavenged some from desolate coastal areas and lakes; it only covered less than two hundred square kilometers with a soil thickness of only three meters. Although he had estimated this beforehand, the result still drove him crazy. After spending several days, he had only managed to get one-fortieth of what he needed. To complete it all, he would have to travel all over the world to scavenge. At this rate, including the time spent on delays and travel, it would take at least half a year to a year to finish.

He didn't want to spend years constantly on the move for this, so out of necessity, he thought of other ways to transform the yellow sand. For example, covering the sand with a thin layer of silt first and then planting grasses that could increase soil fertility. However, to reach the soil conditions necessary for crops, this process would take an incredibly long time, and he didn't have the patience to wait. In the end, unable to find a solution that would yield results in the short term, he simply gave up—not on transforming the grotto-heaven world, but on fussing over the soil issue.

Since he couldn't farm the land, he would raise fish. Soil was troublesome, but for him, collecting fresh water was incredibly simple! Endless seawater resources were at his disposal, so he spent a day in the waters off the Magic City, raising the salinity of the local sea by several percentage points. On his return journey, even the fish and shrimp in the Yangtze River suffered. He spent several days tossing and turning along the Yangtze River, making his bodyguards believe his mental state had become abnormal lately. Along the way, they would occasionally perform clumsy antics to cheer him up, leaving him between laughter and tears as he had no choice but to play along.

Back in Huanghe City, the 150 tons of high-quality rice seeds he had ordered in advance had arrived, enough to plant 300,000 mu of paddy fields. Since it was all silt, planting rice was the most suitable option. Moreover, rice is a staple food that can be used for brewing wine or processed and sold directly. He could also dump large quantities abroad at zero cost, with no worries about sales. Furthermore, he could continuously stockpile it; the industrial mother machine space could generate the best storage conditions, ensuring it wouldn't spoil for eight or ten years. Food is the material basis for human survival, and its importance to every country is self-evident; it can be said to be the most important strategic resource. If one possessed food resources that could influence global food prices, one could gain a certain level of discourse power internationally and shake a country's foundation to some extent—something that even powerful military or economic strength might not achieve. Of course, even if the grotto-heaven was filled with grain and stored for ten or twenty years, it wouldn't be enough to control the world's food pricing, but it was definitely enough to make any country wary.

Cao Xiao had no intention of striving in that direction, but he didn't mind having another trump card. The reason he valued the grotto-heaven was simply because of the attachment to the land inherited in his bones. Having so much land and not utilizing it, but letting it lie fallow instead, would make him unworthy of being an ambitious Huaxia youth with the traditional virtues of diligence and thrift. As for how to handle it, that was a matter for the future. Anyway, with the capacity of the space, he didn't have to worry about not being able to fit a hundred years of production, so he didn't bother worrying about the future.

With the industrial mother machine's spatial extraction and deployment capabilities, organizing the grotto-heaven didn't take much effort. Now, the entire grotto-heaven had been transformed by him into a large lake. Except for the two hundred square kilometers of paddy fields in the central area, other places were scattered with small islands like stars in the sky. He used the yellow sand in the grotto-heaven to melt and condense it into huge Lava Stones, covered the surface with a half-meter-thick layer of soil, scattered grass seeds, and transplanted some saplings, preparing to free-range some poultry and small animals on them later. The lake bottom also had a layer of silt several dozen centimeters thick, where he also transplanted some aquatic plants. He had captured a massive amount of aquatic life in the Yangtze River—not just fish, but anything the Yangtze had to offer. Although they seemed sparse compared to the nearly ten thousand square kilometers of water, it finally had the atmosphere of a natural lake. The average water depth reached ten meters, with the deepest parts exceeding a hundred meters. In the shallow areas near the islands and paddy fields, he planted reeds and lotus seeds. In just a few months, after introducing poultry and animals, the entire grotto-heaven would become full of life.

Finally, he took out the strange giant tree he had collected from Yeren Mountain from the space. This giant tree had been thrown into the space and forgotten by him for a long time, but now it finally had a place to be settled. After returning from Yeren Mountain, he had studied this giant tree, but every time he probed it, its surface would release a layer that could block spatial power detection. Although he could have broken it with brute force, the giant tree was already in his possession, and fearing he might damage it, he didn't force the issue. Now, planting it near the altar, he would naturally be able to observe its special characteristics in the future. At the same time, he also placed the golden python 'King' on a small island, releasing a batch of small poultry on it as its food. During this time, he would occasionally release it for training, but the results were still not ideal; it still had some habitual aggressive movements. He would have to release it more often for training in the future.

Having done all this, he didn't need to worry about it anymore. He wouldn't have to put in much effort in the future; he would just come in to harvest the rice whenever it matured. Everything else would be left to develop naturally, and he would only come in to observe and adjust things when he had spare time, which wouldn't consume much of his energy.

With nothing else to do, he stayed home to look after the child, carrying Guoer around all day, which he found quite enjoyable. However, he only got to enjoy this leisure for one day before he received a call from He Yueyou. He Yueyou had been busy with the jewelry store lately—decorating, hiring and training employees, and planning the opening. For He Yueyou, who had no management experience, this was a significant challenge. She had been learning and practicing during this time and had been so busy that she hadn't contacted Cao Xiao for a long while. Now the renovations were complete, and the opening date was set. With the opening just around the corner, there was still no sign of the goods, and he, the boss, hadn't even shown his face yet, which was unacceptable. He Yueyou's words were filled with resentment, making him feel quite embarrassed.

He had thought it through now; avoiding the problem forever wasn't a solution. His fiancée might seem indifferent to everything usually, but her mind was actually very delicate. Living together day and night in the future, no matter how much he tried to hide it, his relationship with the Hu sisters would eventually be exposed to her. The consequences then would be even more severe than being discovered now. Instead of living in such guilt, it would be better to find an opportunity to confess honestly. He hadn't done it voluntarily; it had happened by a twist of fate under special circumstances. The Hu sisters' vintage conservatism and stubbornness would have led to the same result for anyone else present. Although there were unavoidable reasons, the fact remained that he had made a mistake. He didn't dare expect He Yueyou to forgive him, but at least he wanted her to know he wouldn't deceive her and to tell her that his feelings for her would never change. As for the outcome, it would depend on her choice.

Whether he faced it now or later, it would be a blow either way, and it was better to tell her sooner rather than later. So, he immediately decided to go see her and also handle the jewelry store's affairs.

Before that, he needed to prepare a batch of jewelry for the shop. Fortunately, he remembered that he had asked Mi Fan to help prepare jewelry design drawings not long ago. The jewelry sold in his own store couldn't be like the ones he gave as gifts, which could copy others' designs; they had to have unique designs. Especially for high-end jewelry, what sold was the designer's reputation; otherwise, he would surely be sued by peers and original jewelry designers. Mi Fan's design level was very high. Although she had never done jewelry design before, her grasp of fashion trends and concepts gave her extraordinary talent. Designing some novel jewelry with its own unique style wasn't difficult. Although she had no reputation in the industry and couldn't add prestige to the jewelry, it didn't stop Cao Xiao from appreciating her work. With the gemstone resources he possessed, even if Mi Fan's design level were average, he could forcefully push her to the heights of a top international designer.

In the past few days, whenever he saw Mi Fan, she seemed to be in a great hurry. Except for mealtimes, she basically didn't show her face, and her spirit seemed somewhat haggard. When he asked her if anything was wrong, she wouldn't say. Now Cao Xiao remembered that he had asked her to help design jewelry, and he recalled telling her the more, the better. He feared she had been spending all her time designing jewelry for him lately. He couldn't help but feel some self-reproach; she was working so hard for him, yet he had forgotten about it and even ignorantly asked her what she was doing. It was truly hurtful. No wonder when he asked, Mi Fan would just bury her head in her food and remain silent, with a look of dejection in her eyes that was hard to hide. It was hateful that he hadn't noticed it at all at the time.

Feeling guilty, he immediately prepared to go downstairs to find her. But then a thought struck him: since she was helping him so much, shouldn't he show some appreciation? After thinking for a moment, he began searching within the space. Before long, he found a suitable piece of material—a slab of ice species scallion-heart green jadeite, one meter long, fifty centimeters wide, and ten centimeters thick. This jadeite wasn't completely transparent and green; it had traces of other colors mixed in, but green made up the majority. Warm colors like red, yellow, and orange were densely dotted throughout, making it look mottled and impure, which significantly reduced its value. However, he wasn't going to use it for jewelry but planned to turn it into a relief hanging painting with Mi Fan as the theme. This material perfectly matched the image of Mi Fan he had carefully imagined and the background of summer flowers in full bloom. The title of this relief painting would be 'Life as Summer Flowers,' which fit the image in his heart of Mi Fan being as passionate, proud, and persistent as a summer flower in bloom. Tailor-made for her, she should really like it, and it could somewhat make up for the guilt in his heart.

Since it was created using spatial cutting and extraction, it featured very bold and sophisticated openwork carvings. In terms of micro-carvings and openwork alone, no one in the world could surpass him. Even observing with a high-powered magnifying glass, not a single flaw could be seen. It was so subtle that it didn't look like an artwork but rather like a high-tech precision microscopic instrument.

Jadeite is quite brittle, and the relief painting was very delicate and couldn't withstand bumps. So he made a frame out of Bogwood, using a sponge base to inlay it, and even equipped it with a lid lined with soft sponge so it wouldn't shatter when being moved.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

Cao Xiao, holding the picture frame, knocked on Mi Fan's door.

"Xiao Fan, are you there?"

"Ah!" Mi Fan cried out in surprise. When she opened the door and saw Cao Xiao, she seemed a bit flustered. "Brother, is something wrong? I'm busy!"

Cao Xiao laughed, "Haha! You're drawing jewelry designs for me, aren't you? How is it going? Let me take a look first."

Mi Fan became even more flustered and said apologetically, "Do you need them now? But I haven't finished many yet! Brother, I'm sorry! I'm not very familiar with it, so I'm working slowly. Can I give them to you tomorrow? I'll work some overtime today to do more."

"Let me take a look first!" Cao Xiao felt sorry for her, but he didn't express it.

"Brother, sit down first, I'll go get the computer."

Mi Fan stiffly invited Cao Xiao to sit on the small sofa and hurriedly ran to get the computer.

"Hmm? How many have you done in total?" Cao Xiao clicked on the folder as Mi Fan instructed, and before he even saw the design drawings, he was shocked by the countless sub-files within.

Mi Fan recounted them as if they were her most precious treasures, "There are over seven hundred completed ones, and over a hundred that haven't been finalized. If I work overtime, I can finish them today. There are still over two hundred creative ideas that haven't been designed yet; they'll all be finished in three days at most. Brother, are these enough for your jewelry company for now? Please see if these plans are usable first. If not, I'll redesign them."

Cao Xiao didn't answer. He silently selected a few plans to browse through, and his heart immediately felt heavy. He affectionately pulled Mi Fan to sit beside him, holding her hand and stroking her beautiful hair as he said tenderly, "Silly girl, these are enough, more than enough for a long time. These aren't bespoke; not every piece of jewelry needs a unique design. One design plan can be used to mass-produce multiple pieces of jewelry, and you can also change the raw materials and sizes to create an entire set of jewelry in the same style. These of yours are at least a year's or even several years' worth of work for other jewelry designers. I really can't believe how you did it. In less than a month, you had to complete at least twenty a day on average, and almost every one has design descriptions and supporting plans attached. These are just the finalized designs; there must be even more discarded ones. With such a heavy workload and the mental energy required for design, I'm afraid you haven't had a good rest during this time. If you keep this up, your physical and mental health will run into big problems. It's all my fault for being so careless and not making things clear, which caused you to be so exhausted!"