May Parker Spies on the Greenhouse

The next day at noon, Lily Evans went to the fields to check on progress. She saw that the seeds had already been replanted, most of the greenhouses were fitted with straw curtains, and the farmhands were busy at work. Old Joe Zhou was bustling about, keeping everything running smoothly.

Lily didn’t disturb anyone—she just took a quick look and left. By afternoon, Old Joe Zhou sent someone to invite her over, saying all the fieldwork was finished.

Lily returned to the fields and found everything in order. Old Joe Zhou had the workers line up, bowing together to her, and said, "Madam, we’ll be sure to take good care of the vegetables from now on."

Lily carefully inspected the greenhouses before saying, "You all did well today. These greenhouse vegetables are delicate and need daily care—don’t slack off!"

Old Joe Zhou followed behind, bowing and saying, "Yes, Madam. We’ll give it our all."

Only then did Lily smile, handing the food box she brought to Old Joe Zhou. "I’m always fair with rewards and punishments. If anyone messes up, I won’t let it slide; but if you do well, there’s a reward."

Old Joe Zhou opened the box and found plenty of roast pork—golden and fragrant—and several jugs of wine.

"Madam, you’re so good to us! We’ll definitely work hard from now on!" Old Joe Zhou clutched the food box, so moved he could barely speak.

Lily smiled at the group of touched farmhands, thinking to herself, ‘Giving a slap and then a sweet date really works—mixing kindness and authority is the true way to lead.’

Lily’s mushroom cellar was already eye-catching, and now with the greenhouse vegetables planted, it was even more noticeable.

As Lily walked through the village, neighbors would ask her about planting vegetables. Most didn’t understand her methods, since they’d been farming for decades and had never heard of planting vegetables in this season.

But no one dared to mock Lily Evans so easily anymore. Just recently, everyone had laughed at her for wasting money buying a shop and a house up on Ten Mile Slope, saying she’d lose everything. Yet only a few months after Lily bought the place, its value had multiplied, and she’d made a tidy profit.

Some villagers didn’t believe her, thinking she was hiding something. Others figured Lily was clever and probably had a trick up her sleeve.

Some clever villagers started scheming, wanting to find out what Lily Evans was really growing in her fields. But the crops were all inside locked greenhouses, and the farmhands lived on-site, making it nearly impossible to sneak a peek.

So after a while, even though some villagers tried to snoop around, they didn’t learn anything, and their curiosity gradually faded.

But there was one person who refused to give up—Su Meixiang, who lived at the edge of Clearwater Village.

The villagers gossiped, saying May Parker had fallen on hard times and was desperate to learn Lily’s secret techniques.

Su Meixiang would wander the fields at night, stealing leftover potatoes and sweet potatoes to fill her stomach.

After hearing about the strange things happening in Lily Evans’s fields, Su Meixiang became determined to investigate. She couldn’t see inside the mushroom cellar, but she could observe the greenhouses. With plenty of free time, she spent her days hiding near the greenhouses, spying on the farmhands at work. After a while, she figured out their routines—when they covered the straw mats, when they lit the fire pots.

Although Su Meixiang never fully understood what Lily was trying to grow with such strange methods, she knew Lily wouldn’t go to all this trouble unless there was money to be made.

So Su Meixiang secretly carved all the greenhouse vegetable details she observed onto a scrap of wood she’d found, hiding it away as if it were a treasure…