Su Ling heard the reporter's question earlier as well, but the scene was chaotic at that moment, so he didn't hear the details clearly, but he heard the keyword Redthorn Ball. On the way to the parking lot, he turned his head back to ask, "Do you know what happened?"
Nalu: "En, I heard everything while they were chatting outside. Madam Gu, President Gu's mother, wrote a post in Boyan this morning. To celebrate her recovery, she extended a banquet invitation to everyone she knows to attend her birthday party on the 7th."
Boyan[1] is Planet Belle's largest public interaction platform. The owner of this body also has an account in Boyan, but has zero fans, and only followed the protagonist gong Xiào Rui. After Su Ling familiarizes himself with the interface, he unfollowed Xiào Rui, and then followed Gu Liheng and the Gu family.
Thinking of the reporter's question, Su Ling asked, "Is her illness difficult to treat?"
Nalu: "Pheromone rejection, a common illness for AO, especially O. Minor rejection is easier to cure, but it's the first time for an illness like Madam Gu's case to be completely healed."
When they arrived at the parking lot, Nalu pressed the control button. The door at the driver and the passenger's seat opened at the same time, and the two got into the car.
Confused, Su Ling asked, "Madam Gu was very ill before?"
Nalu started the car and said, "Yes, her Alpha passed away a long time ago. Losing her Alpha, the rejection can even take away the Omega's life.
"A few years ago, she was in critical condition, and the news reported about her condition every day. As you know, some reporters have a thing for rich people's affair." Nalu shrugged and continued with emotion, "Fortunately, the treatment team managed to develop a new plan at that time. Using medicine and isolation treatment, her condition stabilized, and then there was no more news from her."
Su Ling frowned, "President Gu's father, did he pass away very early?"
Nalu nodded, "En, an accident happened when he was returning from an interstellar business meeting," he recalled, "It's been almost 20 years, I was only a teenager at the time, but I still remember the overwhelming news at that time."
In other words, male god was only about 8 years old when that happened. Su Ling couldn't help but felt distressed. He would be uncomfortable if he didn't do anything. So he turned on his bracelet and sent a message: Good morning [smiley face]. A good day starts from thinking of you~
Before that, he edited the message back and forth several times. It felt like a little bit cheesy, but at the same time, he thought that his male god might not even change his expression upon reading it, so Su Ling decided to write it this way. The punctuation mark at the end was changed from a period (.) to an exclamation mark (!), then finally set to be a small wave (~). Staring at the notice saying that his message was successfully sent, Su Ling feels satisfied with the decision; the small wave fits his status as a suitor.
Nalu glanced at him and bitterly persuaded Su Ling, "You are an Omega, how can you rush to chase people? Being too active, you are more likely to be ignored. Things that people don't get easier is the best."
Su Ling: "President Gu is not such a person," he turned his head, "Speaking of feelings, Uncle Nalu, are you married?"
Nalu coughed, "No."
Su Ling: "Listening to what you said, I thought you were a love expert."
Nalu emphasized, "I am not married because I enjoy being single!" The corner of his mouth curved up as he continued, "We Beta are not like you AO people. We won't get marked, nor we get controlled by our instinct. Our fertility rate is low, and we don't have many restriction and worries. If we found someone compatible, then we hook up. After that, we go our own ways peacefully; free and easy. It has to be at least 60 years old before we even consider marriage."
After he finished speaking, he remembered that Su Ling has just reached adulthood, "You are an O, don't mess around."
Su Ling's tone was straightforward as he replied, "I won't; I'm not interested in anyone other than President Gu." He is not from Planet Belle, so he is not as open-minded as the locals here, and he can't bear the thought of frequently changing his bed partner. When a notification tone sounded, he immediately looked at it. It was from his male god - [Do you want to disclose the news about Redthorn Ball being in the fragrance bar?]
Although it was just a message about business matters, Su Ling was still pleased, after all, it is still a response from him. Seeing Gu Liheng's question, he guessed that someone must have asked Gu Liheng about his mother's treatment. He replied [No need to hide the information. We are fully secured, it will be fine if someone knows about it.] On the other hand, it's impossible to keep it secret, since he still needs to sell Redthorn Ball's liquid.
Gu Liheng: "En."
...
"Feeling better?" Mill looked at the pale-faced Gu Liheng and got worried.
He initially thought Gu Liheng would think about his suggestion for a few days; he didn't expect Gu Liheng to come to him early in the morning. They have just finished the scenario simulation not long ago, and the result was not optimistic. It happened that Mother Gu has contacted Gu Liheng during that period as well, which made the situation worse. He saw that Gu Liheng's face was pale and his body was trembling involuntarily, and he was about to give him medicine. Unexpectedly, after Gu Liheng received a message, his situation improved a little.
Gu Liheng nodded, his hard facial features still had no expression. He took a piece of tissue, wiped his palms, and threw it into the trashcan. Then he got up and said, "Go on."
...
After Nalu sent Su Ling back to the fragrance bar, he did not get off the car and drove home directly to sleep. However, before he got home, the notification from various messages almost blown off his bracelet.
[I said, brother, aren't you a bit too secretive? You have a Grade A spiritual plant in your store hidden and tucked away. Why don't you let me check it out?]
[Nalu, we have been cooperating for so many years. For the Redthorn Ball, just give me a price!]
[Nalu...]
Nalu decisively set his bracelet to the do-not-disturb mode, and only set the numbers of the store staff and Su Ling in the whitelist. After that, he turned the car around and dialled Su Ling's number.
Su Ling has just walked into the fragrance-making room, ready to see how much nutrient solution Xian Mo Yu drank all night so that he can get a general idea of the nutrient solution consumption. As soon as he entered, a root rushed encircle his wrist. In the blink of an eye, it was wrapped around his wrist several times. At first glance, it looked like he was wearing a chain of bracelets. Su Ling raised his hand and shook it, the strength around his wrist was not tight. The root felt cooling, and it did not affect his actions, so he let the root stay on his wrist. Approaching the nutrient solution barrel, he opened the volume meter on the barrel, and a series of data immediately popped up, which listed the change in the total amount of liquid in the previous 12 hours. He was looking at last night's data when he received a call from Nalu.
Nalu: "The fact that Redthorn Ball is in our store is on the news. There will be reporters waiting near the store for some time. Don't go out for the time being; I'll come over right away."
Su Ling: "Go back to sleep. As long as I don't go out, they can't affect me."
Nalu was worried, "Forget it, I will probably get ambushed when I went home. My bracelet is blown up with messages. If I knew about this earlier, I wouldn't put my number up in the fragrance bar's official website."
After a while, Nalu arrived at the back door but was stopped by the new security facility. Su Ling opened the master controller and granted him permission. After Nalu entered the store, he praised, "Not bad. The facility was installed just in time."
Su Ling acknowledged with an En. After recording the data, he felt a little headache, "The nutrient solution has reduced by 5 litres in one night."
Nalu looked at the changes in the data and calculated, "Assuming that it will consume 10 litres a day, plus the Grade A spiritual plants, the nutrient solution needed will cost 400,000 a month!" He turned to look at Xian Mo Yu, "If it doesn't provide any raw materials, the store will go bankrupt from keeping it."
Su Ling lightly squeezed the bouncy root wrapped on his wrist and asked, "What do you produce every day? Like liquid, stem, and nectar? Something that won't affect your body."
Nalu was surprised, "It can understand? Eh..." He had just voiced out his doubt when a root flicked his forehead. The hit was not heavy, but too fast to capture its movement. A black shadow suddenly flashed in front of him, so he was startled. Nalu touched his forehead, quite a temper it has there!
Su Ling was relieved to see that Nalu is all right.
After Xian Mo Yu taught this human who dared to question its IQ a lesson, its mood was instantly relieved. Its 5 raised petals lowered to the ground, to expose the stamen at the centre. Then its stamens were divided into 5, each approaching the nearest petals. Soon, black water droplets appeared on the top of the black stamen. The stamen shook gently, and the water droplets fell from the stamen tip to the petals. The petals were curved like a bowl, under the stamen. At this moment, the drops of water fall and slide on the petals. Soon, a pool of black liquid gathered at the arch of each petal.
At the same time, the scene of Xian Mo Yu hunting reappeared in Su Ling's mind, but this time the shot was closer. The stamen pours out black liquid on its petal, which the prey that was entangled by its roots is lifted down on it, and the prey's skin bubbles at the moment it touched the liquid. The prey turns into a pool of blood in the blink of an eye.
Su Ling had an impulse to vomit. He took a deep breath, tilted his head and patted his chest, pressing down the urge. After the prey was killed, the scene changed to another prey. Su Ling promptly said. "No need to show it!" He reluctantly smiled and said, "I know what they are for."
A vaguely proud smile appeared in his mind.
Su Ling: "...You are really amazing."
Nalu knelt down to look at the liquid curiously, "What can it do?"
Su Ling: "I haven't thought about it yet. I just know that it's very corrosive."
Nalu retracted his hand and moved back, "How to keep it then?"
Su Ling spread his hands, "I don't know, we'll just have to try all kind of containers."
The two tried several times on the containers in the store, but the moment the mouth of the bottle touches the liquid, it got dissolved. Xian Mo Yu's roots stayed erected and 'watched' the two for a while. Then it couldn't stand it anymore. Using its roots, it lightly slashed on the nearest petal, and red liquid immediately flowed from the petal.
Su Ling was dumbfounded when he saw Xian Mo Yu hurting itself, and realized what happened after reading the hints in his head. He scooped the red liquid and coated the surface of the container with a thin layer. After a while, the red liquid dried out and turned transparent. Then he filled the black liquid in the container, which didn't get dissolved this time. Hence, he and Nalu coated their hands first with the red liquid before filling the remaining black liquid into the glass bottle.
The cut Xian Mo Yu inflicted on its petal has healed, and there was some excess red liquid left on the surface, which Su Ling collected as well. After they collected the black liquid, Xian Mo Yu raised its petals and wrapped itself into a spherical shape. Zzz symbol floated in Su Ling's mind like this - ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.
Su Ling watched with a complicated expression as Xian Mo Yu retracted his roots and soaked the roots in the nutrient solution. This is the real 'sleeping while eating'. He actually felt a little envious!
Nalu shook the glass bottle containing the black liquid, "How can I sell this? There is no reference price at all."
Su Ling thought for a while and said, "Keep it first. Doctor Ni An will come in the evening; we wait for him to take it back to study and determine its usage before setting the price." Its efficacy has always determined the value of raw materials.
The two left the fragrance-making room, and Nalu went to the private room to take a rest.
As for Su Ling, he moved a bench to the greenhouse and read about communicating using pheromone with spiritual plants. He did not attach the isolator and tried to manipulate his pheromones while reading. After one afternoon, he can now control his pheromone to form horizontal lines.
At 5:30 in the afternoon, the fragrance bar opens. Usually, this point is the time where the staff make preparations before opening the store, so there will be no guests. However, today, the door was full of people, all coming for Redthorn Ball.