Where Are Your Vegetables

Lily Evans's first reaction was that someone had leaked the secret about her greenhouse vegetable technique! She went home and questioned Old Zhou, who was in charge of the greenhouse, but found that none of the hired workers were suspicious. Lily was baffled—who could have revealed her technique?

Lily knew that her greenhouse method wouldn't stay secret forever; sooner or later, someone would copy it. But she hadn't expected it to be leaked after just a few short months.

From then on, Lily kept a close eye on that patch of greenhouse land. Every few days, she'd go and take a look from afar, and sure enough, she saw green seedlings breaking through the soil inside.

Day after day passed, and the seedlings in the greenhouse grew once, then died; grew again, then died again.

Based on Lily's observations, the seedlings would sprout and die within a few days, then they'd sow seeds again, only for the same thing to happen. After a while, Lily stopped bothering with the strange greenhouse and focused on running her Vegetarian Bistro, planning to take on a few personal apprentices next spring, open new branches elsewhere, and expand her business even more.

While Lily's business was booming, the Leo Family, who had hoped to get rich off greenhouse vegetables, was in deep trouble.

Mr. Leo's face was dark as he angrily berated Howard Liu, who was kneeling on the ground: "Didn't you say the vegetables from the greenhouse could sell for high prices and make the Leo Family the richest around? Where are your vegetables? I cleared out all the cotton that was growing so well to give you space, spent so much money building greenhouses and hiring workers, and you couldn't grow a single vegetable! How are you going to explain this?"

Howard Liu's eyes were bloodshot. "Dad, I—I was tricked! It was all that wretch May Parker's fault. She lied to me, saying she could grow vegetables in winter!"

Master Liu cursed loudly, "You brainless fool, how could you believe that harlot! Now all the other merchants are laughing at me for trying to grow vegetables in winter. We're the laughingstock of the town!"

After Mr. Leo's scolding, Howard Liu was left fuming. He thought about how he'd married the 'famous' May Parker despite her bad reputation, and now the Leo Family had lost tens of thousands of taels of silver and become a public joke.

Fuming, Howard Liu stormed into the room, grabbed May Parker by the hair, and slapped her repeatedly, yelling, "You wretch! You said you could grow vegetables, but every seedling dies within five days. All that money, all those workers, and nothing to show for it! You lied to me!"

May Parker collapsed to the floor, her face swollen like a pig's head. She'd been living in fear ever since she failed to grow any vegetables. Now, she clung to Howard Liu's leg, sobbing, "Husband, please give me another chance! I swear I can do it!"

"I've given you so many chances—how can I believe you now? I must've been out of my mind to trust you!" Howard Liu kicked May Parker aside and stormed off.

May Parker chased after him, clinging to his leg at the doorway and bawling, "Husband, you can't abandon me! I'm your lawful wife!"

Her cries drew all the neighbors out to watch the commotion. They pointed and whispered, "Hey, isn't that the young mistress of the Leo Family? What happened to her face?"

Howard Liu, furious, kicked May Parker in the stomach. "Pah! Stop trying to claim ties with me—you mean nothing to me!"

May Parker panicked. "That's nonsense! We had a wedding ceremony—everyone saw it! You can't deny it!"

"Wedding ceremony? That was just a joke, and you believed it! Where's the marriage certificate? Show me!" Howard Liu retorted shamelessly.

"Marriage certificate..." Only now did May Parker remember that Howard Liu had claimed she angered his family by causing trouble at the restaurant, so the certificate had been kept at the Leo Family's house. She'd never even seen it.

Howard Liu pointed at May Parker, his face twisted with rage. "No marriage certificate? Then you have nothing! You're just a woman who's been with everyone—how could I ever marry you? Dream on! May Parker, I'm going to the magistrate right now to accuse you of fraud—cheating my family out of twenty thousand taels of silver!"