Cheng Xiaofan brought a plate of steaming cabbage to the main hall. He saw his father leaning on a cane, being helped by his mother to sit at the table.
"Xiaofan, what seasoning did you put in this cabbage? It smells so good!"
Miao Xiuhua twitched her nose, finally realizing the aroma was coming from the dish.
Cheng Xiaofan smiled and said, "Mom, besides vegetable oil and salt, I didn't add any other seasoning to this dish. I just wanted to bring out its natural flavor!"
"Heh heh, if you didn't add any seasoning, son, could this cabbage smell this good?" Cheng Fugui immediately voiced his skepticism.
Cheng Xiaofan chuckled and replied, "My dear father, when have I ever lied to you two?"
After serving the steamed white pomfret, the family of three began to eat.
Cheng Fugui was the first to pick up a piece of cabbage with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth. After a few chews, he said with a look of shock, "My heavens, this cabbage tastes incredibly delicious, Xiaofan. Where did you get it?"
"It's the cabbage I grew in our backyard!" Cheng Xiaofan said.
Cheng Fugui shook his head and remarked, "You child, the vegetables in the backyard were all withered and on the verge of dying. They couldn't possibly be used for cooking."
"Dad, have Mom help you to the backyard and take a look!" Cheng Xiaofan urged.
Miao Xiuhua immediately helped Cheng Fugui to the backyard. There, they saw the planted cabbages standing tall and vibrant, their lush green appearance very pleasing to the eye.
"Strange, how did these cabbages come back to life in the blink of an eye?"
Cheng Fugui was stunned.
These were just ordinary cabbages. How could they taste so wonderful after coming back to life?
Miao Xiuhua helped her father back into the house. Cheng Xiaofan walked over and said with a smile, "Dad, to tell you the truth, I revived those cabbages in the backyard using a secret technique!"
As a descendant of Shen Nong, Cheng Xiaofan knew that some of his affairs could be hidden from others, but it would be difficult to conceal them from his family.
At this moment, he could only improvise and make up a story.
"Back when I was studying in Beijing, an elder taught me a mysterious skill that can gather spiritual energy from heaven and earth to alter the genes of certain substances, bringing them to their optimal state."
"The most miraculous part is that I can also use this secret technique to treat people's injuries and illnesses!"
As he spoke, he squatted down and lifted Cheng Fugui's injured leg. "Dad, let me try to gently massage your leg with some spiritual energy!"
He immediately extended his right hand. With a thought, a faint green light emanated from his palm, covering Cheng Fugui's bandaged leg.
Cheng Xiaofan then began to knead Cheng Fugui's leg with his hands.
After only a short while, Cheng Fugui exclaimed with surprise, "Ah, Xiaofan, you truly have a knack for this! Dad feels like his leg is already healed!"
Cheng Xiaofan withdrew his hand. Cheng Fugui stood up without needing help and even walked a few steps back and forth on the ground.
Miao Xiuhua said excitedly, "Xiaofan, if you have this skill, why didn't you treat your dad earlier when you came back?"
Cheng Xiaofan smiled and replied, "This mysterious skill isn't something that can be mastered instantly. I practiced for many years without success, and I even injured myself, which caused my health to decline."
"It was only this morning while I was working the land on the back mountain that I suddenly had an epiphany, grasped all the essential points, and after my successful experiment with the cabbage, I dared to treat Dad's leg injury!"
Cheng Xiaofan's fabricated story managed to convince the two elders.
Cheng Fugui said with emotion, "I don't know what good deeds our Cheng family did in past lives to have such a talented student like Xiaofan in Zhuxi Village. Studying in Beijing, he even learned such a mysterious skill from an elder. Xiaofan, you must cherish this opportunity!"
"I understand!"
Cheng Xiaofan smiled and said, "Dad, Mom, because this secret technique is too miraculous, ordinary people won't be able to comprehend it. I hope you two will not speak of it lightly to others, so as not to be seen as a monster!"
"Xiaofan, don't worry about that. Your mother's lips are tighter than a clam's! She absolutely won't talk about it outside!" Miao Xiuhua quickly assured her son.
Cheng Fugui also nodded solemnly, "Your dad won't tell anyone either!"
"Okay, thank you, Dad and Mom!" After getting his parents on board, Cheng Xiaofan finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
Cheng Xiaofan seriously savored his stir-fried cabbage. He could swear that there was no cabbage in the world that tasted better than this.
Furthermore, through tasting it, he vaguely felt that the nutritional content of this cabbage, bathed in spiritual energy, had increased manifold compared to the original cabbage.
Cheng Xiaofan thought to himself that since Shen Nong had bestowed him with such a mysterious space, he should make good use of it.
In the afternoon, Cheng Xiaofan needed to go to the back mountain. He asked his mother to stay home and rest with his father, as his leg had not fully recovered and it was best not to move around too much.
On the sun-drenched slope of the back mountain, there was a cave about a hundred square meters in size, right next to a cliff face.
Cheng Xiaofan entered the cave and immediately accessed the space.
He scattered all the cabbage seeds he had brought with him onto the land within the space. Cheng Xiaofan wanted to use this space to cultivate entirely new vegetable seeds.
What Cheng Xiaofan hadn't expected was the extremely abundant spiritual energy in the space. Within minutes of sowing the seeds, they merrily sprouted tiny shoots.
Based on his calculations, a day spent in the space would be equivalent to ten days in the outside world. With such a time difference, it would take less than a week for the vegetables he planted here to yield a batch of seeds imbued with special spiritual energy.
The vegetables grown from such seeds would surely taste no worse than the ones he ate at noon, and might even be better!
"Haha... It seems heaven has not been unkind to me!" Cheng Xiaofan grinned foolishly.
He considered himself to have been reborn from despair and had unexpectedly become Shen Nong's descendant, gaining such a magical and wonderful space.
With such a space, there were so many things he wanted to do in the future!
After a few more hours, the planted vegetables had grown over half a foot tall. This speed was like watching a science fiction movie.
"I really hope I can harvest new vegetable seeds tomorrow!"
As soon as Cheng Xiaofan had this thought, the vegetables before his eyes suddenly shot up another foot, and clusters of golden-yellow flowers bloomed.
Huh!
This was too miraculous!
Gazing at the ocean of golden-yellow flowers before him, Cheng Xiaofan was utterly astonished!
These were seeds planted just this afternoon, and they had already flowered in the blink of an eye. Who would believe any of this? Was it real?
Finally, Cheng Xiaofan understood that he could control things within the space with his thoughts!
Cheng Xiaofan took a deep breath, trying hard to control his excitement, lest he go mad with joy like Fan Jin passing the imperial examination!
The next day, in broad daylight, Cheng Xiaofan couldn't enter the space with his parents around and the door closed. He had to choose to go to the back mountain.
Cheng Xiaofan returned to the back mountain and found that Taotie Bao had been stealthily following him.
"Taotie Bao, why aren't you at home with Dad and Mom? What are you following me for?" Cheng Xiaofan asked angrily.
Woof woof!
Master, your actions are too suspicious. Do you have something shameful to do, and you're afraid a dog from the star system will follow you?
Cheng Xiaofan couldn't do anything about Taotie Bao and directly brought him into the space.
Woof woof, what is this place?
Taotie Bao, smelling the spiritual energy in the space and drinking his fill of the pond water, was overjoyed and kept doing somersaults.
A night passed, the cabbage flowers had withered, and all the seeds had ripened.