Chapter 124: Lai Min’s Unique Flower Shop and the Sorrow of the Businessman Li Tianlai

On the third day of April, the day Lai Min’s rustic specialty flower shop opened, her brother Lai the Madman and his wife Lin Hui hurried over early in the morning from their collection store in the city to congratulate her. Many others came to celebrate as well—Su Mei, He Zhixing, Yu Fang, Hu Li, Hou Juan, Aunt Zhang, the twin sisters Zhang Ling and Zhang Yan, He Zhixing’s two youngest sons, and so forth. Before the shop stood an array of congratulatory flower baskets and well-wishes.

Lai Min’s flower shop was truly distinctive. Both the front courtyard and back garden were spacious, adorned with pavilions, towers, winding paths, and corridors. More than a shop, it was a floral pavilion nestled in a small hill at the foot of a mountain, located at the end of a winding road sloping down beneath the steps of the government building along the town’s central avenue. The building was cleverly set beside the hill; it was a place both for leisure and appreciation, blending the flower shop with its living quarters. Water pavilions, small bridges, towers, and various unique floral and arboreal attractions formed a harmonious beauty all their own.

From the pavilion built on the side of the hill, one could overlook most of the Five Town District. The terrain was excellent. When He Zhixing purchased the land, it cost him quite a sum, but it was worth it—developing such a prime location felt truly rewarding.

The flower shop offered a vast variety of flowers, yet it was defined by its rustic, wild species: wild orchids, wild sour-stem flowers, wild field seven, wild morning glories, rural honeysuckle, wild yellow flowers, wild sand ginger flowers, broken-stem orchids, water cabbage flowers, four kinds of wild strawberries, green (pungent) tofu flowers, wild chrysanthemums, wild water lilies, wild ginger flowers, wild daffodils, wild four-corner flowers, duckweed grass, red bean grass, and countless others too numerous to name.

The vases were equally distinctive. Bamboo was plentiful in the Five Towns, and the vases were fashioned from bamboo tubes in various sizes. The larger ones were bound tightly with rattan strips around bamboo blocks, with porcelain inserts inside to hold the flowers. Each bamboo vase was intricately carved—depicting flowers and birds, landscapes with figures, or various popular patterns.

Before Lai Min’s flower shop opened, the apprentices who had been learning cake sculpting from He Zhixing had already poured sweat into their craft. He assigned them tasks like carving flower vases (bamboo tube vases) and sculpting with wet clay. Sometimes He Zhixing joined in the carving. They were all diligent, and each of them, especially Zheng Huizhen, progressed rapidly. Their skill in sculpting cream cakes was intuitive and refined, surpassing any traditional cake sculptor by an entire level.

The opening day was bustling with activity. Many visitors from the city, drawn by curiosity, eagerly purchased these uniquely dazzling and vibrant flowers. They stood out like cranes among the ordinary roses and lilies found in city flower markets. These wildflowers embodied a beauty apart from worldly conventions—both boldly individualistic and exquisitely beautiful. Whether for collection or display, their value was high. Even placing a vase or two on a city balcony gave people a sense of fresh, vivid splendor.

Even more heartening was the fact that some residents of the Five Town District had opened hair salons, tea houses, and countryside inns. Su Mei was soon to be promoted to county governor, a significant advancement.

Originally, they had hoped to appoint He Zhixing as mayor of Five Town, but he declined. The position went to Li Hongsheng instead, and He Zhixing resigned as village chief. He had other plans. The village chief of Zhang Village in Zhang’s family was chosen to replace He Zhixing, selected by Yu Fang’s uncle.

In June of the same year, heavy rains brought multiple floods to the Five Towns. Mountain torrents caused landslides and destroyed irrigation channels in many places. Li Tianlai was busy repairing channels and compensating farmers for lost crops and damaged commercial forestry. The town’s loans, already unpaid, were burdened by over a billion in loans for dozens of small hydroelectric stations—a debt not easily settled. This month alone saw repeated flood compensations.

Li Tianlai exhausted all his savings, yet it was still insufficient. The government officially declared him bankrupt. When authorities prepared to arrest him, they discovered he had fled. With debts exceeding a billion and nowhere to be found, a warrant was issued. The government was forced to seize his dozens of rural hydroelectric stations as collateral. Even that wasn’t enough. Li Tianlai became a man without a home, condemned to endless flight.

Once a top-tier business genius, Li Tianlai’s downfall was swift and tragic—his assets overextended, a natural disaster turned his fortune to dust. From a brilliant entrepreneur to a figure of desolation, his story was one of a business visionary’s sorrow, the lament of Li Tianlai...