Chapter 50: Chapter 48: One Week’s Changes

On Monday, Han Yuqing went to work as usual.

As soon as she arrived at the Cultivation Base, a colleague informed her that there would be a meeting in the lobby of Building One in half an hour.

She already knew that the Cultivation Base had a new owner.

This morning, while making her rounds, she hadn’t seen Gao Yaxin, and that’s when she realized things had truly changed at the base.

Jiaoyang Cultivation Base had been in decline, so there weren’t many employees left.

Even including Zhang Dequan, the gatekeeper, there were only eighteen people in total.

But this morning, these eighteen people gave Han Yuqing the impression that everyone was on edge.

She could understand why.

After all, with a new boss, no one knew if they could keep their jobs.

What if they were laid off? Jobs weren’t easy to find these days, so it was natural to be worried.

As everyone stood in the lobby of Building One, lost in their own thoughts—some even unable to resist whispering amongst themselves—a slightly chubby figure emerged from around a corner.

This slightly chubby figure was none other than An Hou Nian.

Li Qian had mentioned to his mother, Han Yuqing, about cooperating with the An Family, but neither she nor his father, Li Chengyang, had met anyone from the An Family besides Fatty An.

This was why she didn’t recognize An Hou Nian, even when he was standing right in front of her.

Otherwise, she definitely would have put two and two together.

An Hou Nian walked unhurriedly up to the eighteen employees.

Facing them with a smile, he began, "I believe you’ve all probably guessed that some things have changed."

"That’s right. This Cultivation Base has a new owner."

"Starting today, I, An Hou Nian, will be the new manager of our Jiaoyang Cultivation Base."

"And now, please give a round of applause for our new owner, who will say a few words."

As An Hou Nian finished speaking, he turned his head to look in a certain direction.

It was the same corner he had just emerged from.

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at that spot with curiosity.

Everyone except... Han Yuqing!

Right now, her head was buzzing!

’That name, An Hou Nian... it sounds a bit familiar...’

’I remember my son mentioning that his partner from the An Family was named An Hou Nian...’

In her daze, she subconsciously followed the crowd and looked over.

The next moment, an incredibly familiar figure walked out from around the corner and into her line of sight.

"Old Li~!"

Seeing that incredibly familiar figure, she cried out softly, almost instinctively.

Yes, the new owner who had suddenly appeared was none other than Li Qian’s dear father, the head of the Li Family—Li Chengyang.

Han Yuqing’s flustered reaction immediately caught everyone’s attention, but she seemed completely oblivious.

Recalling what her son had told her about cooperating with the An Family, and seeing the scene before her now, everything suddenly clicked into place.

Once she understood the truth, Han Yuqing was instantly filled with rage.

’So the two of you, father and son, ganged up to fool me.’

’Just you wait, I’ll teach you a lesson!’

At this thought, she glared daggers at Li Chengyang.

She decided that after he was done with his pompous show, she would make him see why the flowers are so red.

’For now, I’ll let him save some face.’

After a few minutes of delivering some pre-prepared remarks and getting his fill of being the boss, Li Chengyang dismissed everyone.

He told them to get back to whatever they were supposed to be doing.

But someone stayed behind...

A moment later, a series of miserable howls suddenly echoed from an office in Building One.

Standing outside the office, An Hou Nian listened to the commotion inside and couldn’t help but cover his face with his hand.

...

In the blink of an eye, another week passed.

During that week, Li Qian once again transformed into a model student and a good son.

He went to and from school on time, paid attention in class, and showed up at the Cultivation Base punctually.

Because An Hou Nian had arranged for a rockery to be built at the central pool of the Jiaoyang Cultivation Base in just three days, and after installing a circulating water system, had created an artificial waterfall, Li Qian no longer had any reason to go to the West Suburb Hydroelectric Power Station.

There was another reason he didn’t go to the power station.

The last incident had left him somewhat traumatized.

He didn’t have Captain Liu by his side now. If he ran into Cultists from the Black Divine Teachings again, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Besides all that, the biggest change was to the Cultivation Base itself.

Ever since buying the Cultivation Base and becoming its owners, his parents had become exceptionally dedicated—perhaps because after living for half their lives, they finally had a business that was entirely their own.

Now, they spent nearly twenty-four hours a day at the Cultivation Base, treating it as their home.

As a result, Li Qian had to go to the Cultivation Base after school; otherwise, he wouldn’t even have a place to eat.

Seeing his parents full of enthusiasm and drive, no longer worn down by the struggles of life with no light in their eyes, Li Qian was naturally happy for them.

Moreover, since Gao Yaxin and the previous generation’s old Breeder had left behind a great deal of breeding material, he was happy to spend all his time at the base lately.

Poring over these materials, although it didn’t add any Inspiration Value to his research task [Second Evolution Method for Koi Carp], the feeling of slowly enriching himself and expanding his knowledge was still deeply satisfying.

...

"Son, we can’t go on like this. Before, with a few apprentice Breeders, the Cultivation Base had some income. Now, it’s all expenses and no revenue... *Sigh*!"

At the Cultivation Base, Han Yuqing couldn’t help but sigh as she looked at the base’s expense report.

They had bought the base, but how to run it and ensure it was profitable was a major headache for her.

If they couldn’t turn things around soon, the Jiaoyang Cultivation Base would become a huge burden instead.

Hearing this, Li Qian just smiled nonchalantly. "Mom, don’t worry. Our Cultivation Base is going to follow the Elite route. You know, the kind that can go three years without a sale, but one sale feeds you for three years."

He waved his hand and continued casually, "So there’s no need to worry about not having business for a little while."

"By the way, how many Koi Carp are in the central pool now?" he asked, casually picking up a book and reading as he spoke.

"Including the one you brought back, the one Xiaojie brought over three days ago, and Ah Fu, there are thirty-six in total," Han Yuqing replied.

Having worked at the Cultivation Base for over a decade, she was extremely familiar with the Pet Beasts it owned.

Of course, it also helped that the base didn’t have many Pet Beasts at the moment.

"Thirty-six... the number six is lucky. That’s a pretty auspicious number," Li Qian commented casually, then asked, "How is their training going?"

Han Yuqing reported truthfully, "Under Ah Fu’s leadership, five others have started training the Climbing Waterfall Skill along with him. The others haven’t shown any change."

Although she was Li Qian’s mother, she knew very well that the future of the base depended on her son.

So, she didn’t dare to neglect the tasks Li Qian had given her. For the past few days, she had been constantly supervising the Koi Carps’ training.

Unfortunately, besides Ah Fu, Tan Tou who was brought over by Liu Changfeng, and Ah Long who was found by Fatty An, only three of the base’s original thirty-three Koi Carp were joining the training.

This left her feeling rather helpless.

Some of the Koi Carp couldn’t even understand her commands, no different from ordinary fish. Even if she wanted to train them, they couldn’t even reach the Beginner stage.

Li Qian, however, wasn’t surprised by this.

In fact, having three Koi Carp stand out from the rest had already met his expectations.

The Cyan-Scaled Flood Dragon was, after all, a rare Pet Beast with Dominator Level Potential. Even with a researched evolution path, successfully evolving one required extremely high Potential. This was something he had anticipated from the beginning.

"Those five, plus Ah Fu, need special attention. As for the others, just let them be. Treat them like ornamental fish," he said with a nod, giving his instructions. Then he asked, "What about that Sparrow-tailed Fish?"

"I’m keeping it in the small pond next to the central pool, along with three Cyan Pine Fish and two Golden-striped Turtles," Han Yuqing replied, glancing in that direction.

Li Qian thought for a moment, then got up from the sofa and headed straight outside. "I’ll go take a look at it."