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Chapter 22

The so-called farm was actually a village backed by a mountain. The soil in that area was unsuitable for growing crops but ideal for cultivating Chinese herbal medicine. The villagers, with their sharp minds, began planting medicinal herbs, and it proved to be quite profitable. Soon, neighboring villagers followed suit, each cultivating their plots. Over time, the village became renowned as a medicinal herb village, attracting many herbal merchants and wholesalers who came regularly to make purchases.

Yan Huanshan was the first to recognize the business potential. He believed that the small-scale, family-run operations were too inefficient. Ambitiously, he wanted to consolidate the village’s resources, transforming the scattered, self-sufficient villagers into employees working for his company. He envisioned establishing a Chinese herbal medicine company, complete with its own cultivation base and supplemented by imports from abroad.

While the idea was promising, the execution faced numerous challenges. The business required significant time and effort, and there were multiple layers of procedures and approvals needed, including obtaining consent from the villagers. Consequently, Yan Huanshan did not live to see the company’s establishment.

After his death, Lin Xirou took over and pushed the project forward. By the time Lin Ling was in high school, the base was officially operational. Lin Xirou was seldom at home, spending most of her time managing the new base.

During the summer vacation of her sophomore year, Lin Ling went to the farm to escape the heat. Yan Tuo was also there, working to earn “social practice” credits for graduation. The base had a three-story building for storing and processing medicinal materials, including washing, slicing, and drying. Lin Ling decided to use the stairs, climbing up and down 20 times a day as a means of weight loss.

Initially, she noticed that the building had more than three floors: there was a space below ground, but the staircase leading down was locked with an iron door. It was said to be filled with discarded machinery and inferior medicinal materials slated for destruction at the end of the year.

The basement evoked images of gloomy, cobweb-strewn spaces with fast-moving rats, which did not appeal to Lin Ling. On one occasion, however, she found the iron door unlocked, with a gap allowing her to hear faint voices that seemed to belong to Lin Xirou.

Surprised, Lin Ling had not seen Lin Xirou for a few days. She admired “Aunt Lin” for her kindness and gentleness, making her the only person who had shown such care towards her. Curious and hoping to see Lin Xirou, Lin Ling approached the iron gate and entered.

Inside, the space was dark and silent, cluttered with abandoned furniture and machinery. Dust motes danced in the slivers of light coming through the gaps in the door. Lin Ling was initially skeptical about hearing Lin Xirou’s voice here, thinking it unlikely that she would inspect such a grim place.

As she turned to leave, she suddenly heard a man’s scream coming from the depths of the basement.

The voice had come suddenly and disappeared almost as quickly, but the scream had been so anguished that Lin Ling felt her hair stand on end. Her fear paralyzed her, and she whispered to herself, “Who’s there?”

There was no response, but after a moment, a low, weeping voice emerged, though it was too faint to make out clearly. Lin Ling hesitated but eventually gathered her courage and moved toward the source of the sound.

In hindsight, it was fortunate that surveillance was not widespread at the time; otherwise, this would have been discovered much earlier.

At the end of the basement floor, there was a heavy plastic curtain, similar to those used in large shopping malls during winter for insulation against wind and cold. The curtain was slightly illuminated by the light filtering through.

Swallowing nervously, Lin Ling pushed the curtain aside and entered.

She discovered another staircase leading further down, revealing that the building had more floors below ground than she had initially realized. She descended quietly, each step making the sound clearer.

It was the voice of a man crying and pleading, his tone weak, as if the previous scream had drained him of all strength. Lin Ling heard him begging, “Please, let me go. I’ll give you the money. I still have a daughter, An An. She’s only in her third year of junior high. If I die, she’ll be left helpless and orphaned. What will she do?”

The man’s cries were heartbreaking, and Lin Ling trembled with fear, realizing she had stumbled upon a crime scene where someone was being tortured for money.

Then she heard Lin Xirou’s voice, surprisingly gentle and comforting. “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of your daughter.”

Confused, Lin Ling wondered how Aunt Lin could be involved in such a situation. Lin Xirou was wealthy and respected, not someone who would commit such acts.

The man’s screams resumed, accompanied by the sound of a large stick hitting flesh. Although Lin Ling couldn’t see the scene, she could vividly imagine the brutal scene in her mind. She sat on the stairs, clutching her knees and shaking uncontrollably, overhearing snippets of conversation.

Lin Xirou said, “Be careful not to kill him. Keep him alive.”

Xiong Hei, a recent addition to Lin Xirou’s circle, replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

Xiong Hei, known for his imposing stature and dark complexion, was nicknamed “Xiong Hei” due to his bear-like build. Lin Xirou had introduced him as a bodyguard she hired, explaining that such measures were necessary due to the risks of business retaliation.

The man who was being beaten muttered two more sentences:

“My bones are broken… I have no grievance with you. God… God, An An, An An…”

“You must not die well… You must not die well…”

The repeated plea, “You must not die well,” gradually faded, and Lin Ling continued to descend the stairs in a daze. When she reached the bottom, she found the space empty except for a pool of blood and a thick bloodstain that led away, indicating that Xiong Hei had dragged the man off, with Lin Xirou following.

Standing in front of the bloodstain, Lin Ling tried to convince herself that this was a case of Aunt Lin seeking vengeance against a villain who had harmed her. Although lynching was illegal, she reasoned that the complexities of adult matters might have led to such drastic actions.

Reason told her to turn around immediately, go upstairs, and leave the iron gate behind, convincing herself that she had seen nothing and that nothing had happened. However, her legs betrayed her, trembling as she continued to move downward. She was driven by a need to see where the man had been dragged to. Lin Xirou’s command to “keep him alive” made her wonder if the intention was to keep him alive and torture him, like in the movies. Or perhaps, deep down, she couldn’t believe that Aunt Lin could be involved in such cruelty and needed to see it for herself, even if it meant risking her safety.

The second basement floor was extensive, divided into various sections including storage and cultivation rooms, though many were still under construction. The labyrinthine corridors offered numerous turns, and Lin Ling found herself uncertain of which direction to take. Eventually, she came upon a cultivation room with no clear exit.

She tried the doorknob and it turned, allowing her to enter.

With no visible light sources, Lin Ling relied on the faint illumination from the hallway to navigate. The first thing that hit her was the smell of earth. In the middle of the room, a large area had been left in its natural, unplastered state, divided into three sections the size of single beds. Each section was covered with an arched plastic sheet, resembling miniature greenhouses.

The greenhouses were spaced about half a meter apart, with red brick paths between them. Lin Ling was puzzled; why would valuable Chinese medicinal materials be cultivated underground and covered with plastic sheets? She knew that plants typically needed sunlight to grow, and such deep basements were unconventional for cultivation.

Curiosity led her to the plastic sheet closest to the door. She crouched down, lifted the sheet, and peered inside. It was empty, resembling a patch of soil waiting for seeds to sprout.

She moved to the second greenhouse. It too seemed empty, though upon closer inspection, she could see a slight bulge under the dirt, as if something large was concealed beneath.

When she opened the third greenhouse, she was horrified to find a naked middle-aged woman lying inside. The woman’s body was exposed, her skin pale and disfigured, with protruding features that made her resemble an archaic figure. Lin Ling’s initial shock turned to confusion and discomfort. Why was this woman here without clothes? Was she a factory worker resting lazily, or was this something more sinister?

Fear overcame her, and she thought of leaving immediately. But as she stood up, her legs were weak from crouching, and she stumbled, inadvertently supporting herself against the woman’s legs. The touch was cold and soft.

The woman, disturbed by the commotion, stirred slightly, making a low noise without fully waking. Her back and waist were covered in reddish streaks of mucus and blood, evidence of some horrifying substance extracted from the soil. The foul odor that accompanied this sight was overwhelming.

Lin Ling’s mind went blank. She was about to scream when someone suddenly covered her mouth from behind and dragged her into a nearby corner. She felt a hard chest against her head, and a low voice whispered urgently in her ear, “Don’t scream. Someone is coming.”

Yan Tuo?

Why was Yan Tuo here?

Lin Ling was stunned, gripping Yan Tuo’s arm as she felt his pounding heartbeat. She looked up at his face; though he hadn’t graduated from university yet, he was beginning to look more like a man. His expression was serious, and he licked his lips nervously.

Footsteps approached, and as they drew nearer, the lights in the corridor went out. A dark voice echoed, “I’ve turned off the lights and brought the door.”

As the speaker’s head appeared briefly, Lin Ling held her breath, but fortunately, Xiong Hei only glanced at the plastic greenhouses, completely missing their hiding spot, and quickly shut the door behind him.

Inside, the darkness was profound, and the house fell silent as a tomb.

Lin Ling hadn’t spoken to Yan Tuo for a long time, but this sudden and secretive encounter made her feel an unexpected closeness. Trembling, she whispered, “What is this?”

In the darkness, she heard Yan Tuo’s quiet response, “I don’t know.”

The encounter on the farm marked the beginning of their complicated cooperation.

If only…

If only the iron gate beneath the farm had been locked, and Lin Ling’s curiosity hadn’t led her inside, would she have been more at ease now?

Yan Tuo replied, “There are no ‘ifs’. What’s meant to happen is destined to happen. It’s part of your fate. Get some rest.”

Lin Ling remained still. “Yan Tuo, why do you think Aunt Lin adopted me?”

Yan Tuo didn’t answer immediately. Over the years, Lin Ling had asked him this question more than once.

Honestly, Yan Tuo believed that Lin Xirou had no need to adopt Lin Ling. If she wanted children, she could have chosen from many in the nearby city—cute, attractive, and desirable. Why go all the way to a poor countryside to adopt someone so ordinary?

He had his own theories but chose not to share them with Lin Ling. Just as he had kept certain things from her during their collaboration with Nie Jiuluo, he also held back from discussing this matter. His reasons were twofold: he felt naturally insecure about sharing too much and thought Lin Ling’s temperament was somewhat too delicate.

Living alongside someone like Lin Xirou was no place for a soft and vulnerable person.

Moreover, Yan Tuo grappled with the same question himself. Why had Aunt Lin chosen to keep him? Despite the tragic events she had indirectly caused—his sister’s disappearance, his mother’s paralysis, and his father’s death—she had taken him in, raised him, and treated him well. The reasons remained unclear to him as well.

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An Owl Rising From The Green Soil

An Owl Rising From The Green Soil

Love On The Turquoise Land (Drama)
Score 8.0
Status: Ongoing Type: , Author: , Artist: Released: 2020 Native Language: Chinese
Over two thousand years ago on a deep night, Xu Fu* set sail to the eastern seas in a treasure ship to search for immortality, but few people knew that at the same time, a group of black-turban soldiers secretly entered the vast and dense Nanbao forest… A millennium later, the dark legend continues to slowly grow in the shadows. Xú Fú: Qin dynasty court necromancer and was tasked by Qin Shi Huang to look for the elixir of life between 219 BC and 210 BC. He never returned after departing on his second mission in 210 BC.

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