I'm back in 1990

Chapter 1174: Idle and Reckless

Huang Zeji and Huang Ruiying, siblings, noticed that their father was becoming increasingly idle, doing nothing all day long, rarely even going to the office, and spending most of his time wandering around outside, with the flower and bird market being the most frequent destination recently.

When the brother and sister returned home from school that day, they found a fish tank in the house, and their father was busy tending to it.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Huang Ruiying asked.

With his hands covered in aquatic plant mud, Huang Xiaochuan casually replied when his children returned, "Let's get a planted aquarium to please the eyes."

"Why are you all alone? Didn't you get a few people to help you?" Huang Ruiying was surprised to see her father busy by himself, as he rarely did such things personally.

Huang Xiaochuan continued working on his task: "No need, I only feel a sense of accomplishment when I do it myself."

Huang Ruiying went closer to take a look. Her father was putting something at the bottom of the fish tank, something fine and granular, like soil particles.

"What is this?" She picked up a handful and examined it closely.

"Aquatic plant soil, it's used for planting aquatic plants," Huang Xiaochuan explained to his daughter.

To his surprise, his daughter scoffed at him: "Pshaw, someone who can't even grow flowers wants to keep aquatic plants in a fish tank?"

As the saying goes, you shouldn't insult someone by revealing their shortcomings. This girl is too wicked; every word she says is aimed straight at her father's heart.

Not long ago, Huang Xiaochuan went to the flower and bird market and bought a lot of flowers and plants, saying he wanted to learn how to grow flowers. He also refused to let the gardener at home help him, saying he wanted to accumulate experience in growing flowers on his own.

Unfortunately, the flowers didn't cooperate; one by one they withered and died.

Later, he couldn't help but ask the gardener what the reason was. It turned out that he had overwatered the plants, causing them to rot at the roots. Moreover, some flowers don't need frequent watering and were actually drowned.

After this setback, I temporarily put aside my flower-growing hobby, but unexpectedly, I started messing around with fish tanks.

Huang Zeji also came over to take a look out of curiosity, but he was much more capable than his sister. He asked, "Dad, do you need any help?"

Huang Xiaochuan didn't let his son help him, but instead asked him, "Why are you home so early today?"

"Oh, my mom called and told me to come home early." Huang Zeji said, glancing around the house, but he didn't see his mother or little sister.

Huang Xiaochuan knew who his son was looking for: "Your mother went to your maternal grandmother's house, and August went with her."

"Then why did she make me come back so early?" Huang Zeji was puzzled by his mother's actions.

While busy laying aquatic plants in the fish tank, Huang Xiaochuan said to his son, "Your mother knows you often stay up late at school, so she asked you to come home early. She had someone make some nourishing soup and sent some to your maternal grandparents. Your soup is simmering on the stove, and you can drink it in a little while."

"What soup? What soup?" Huang Ruiying, who was originally planning to go back to her room, immediately turned back when she heard the words "nourishing soup".

"You'll get yours too. Auntie will call you when the soup is ready." Huang Xiaochuan looked at his daughter speechlessly.

It's been like this since I was little, so no matter what the family buys, they always have to buy two, otherwise the younger one will definitely not allow it.

This is probably the consensus among most families with twins!

Only after hearing that she had her own did Huang Ruiying go upstairs contentedly.

Huang Zeji, however, stayed with his father while he worked on the fish tank.

Seeing this, Huang Xiaochuan asked his son, "Give me a hand, I'll stand on it, and you hand me the stone."

He's planning to create a landscape with stones, and there's also driftwood, with moss already tied to it.

"This?" Huang Zeji asked, pointing to a pile of stones on the ground.

"Yes, give me the biggest one first."

The father and son worked together seamlessly; whatever Huang Xiaochuan wanted, Huang Zeji would hand it to him.

When it was time to take the driftwood, Huang Ze asked, "Dad, what's tied to this log? Is it also seaweed?"

"Yes, it's aquatic plants. They look beautiful when they grow."

Huang Xiaochuan took the pieces of driftwood from his son and placed them among the rocks, explaining to his son as he did so: "This wood needs to be boiled in boiling water first. If you put it directly into the water, the water will turn yellow over time."

"I see!" Huang Zeji nodded. Although he wasn't interested in this, he was giving his father face.

Then Huang Xiaochuan started planting aquatic plants with long tweezers. He planted a type of aquatic plant called dwarf pearl aquatic plant, which grows into a grassy area. However, this type of aquatic plant is relatively small and takes quite a long time to plant.

Huang Zeji helped divide the aquatic plants into small portions and handed them to his father. The two chatted casually.

"Dad, you don't seem as busy as you used to be."

Huang Xiaochuan was lying face down in the fish tank. When his son brought up the issue, he replied, "Now that we have a family office, I don't have to worry about many things. Besides, at my level, I need to learn to focus on the big picture and let go of the small details. I can't be involved in everything."

"oh!"

Huang Xiaochuan stood up and took a batch of disassembled aquatic plants from his son, asking, "How's your project going?"

"It's still in progress, and there are many problems to overcome, but the general direction is basically complete. Now it's just a matter of some modules and equipment issues."

"It's still in progress, and there are many problems to overcome, but the general direction is basically complete. Now it's just a matter of some modules and equipment issues."

"Let me know when the results are in, and let me see them too."

Huang Zeji nodded: "That's for sure."

He knew that his father loved taking photos when he was young, and would take a Leica camera everywhere to take pictures. Now, there are still many old photos of Shanghai in the 1990s at home. Whether they are negatives or photos, every single one is well preserved.

Moreover, the Leica camera was later returned to him, which led him to develop a love for photography, which resulted in his current project.

It took more than an hour to plant the plants. There was no way around it, the fish tank was too big. This fish tank is three meters long and was specially made by ADA. The lighting, filter, aquatic plant soil, substrate fertilizer, aquatic plant fertilizer, and CO2 equipment are all from ADA.

It means that the living room of the house is large, and most people cannot fit such a large fish tank.

After planting the plants, Huang Zeji realized that the aquarium was filled with purified water when he started filling it with water.

His father connected a water pipe to the kitchen's purified water tap. Huang Zeji was in charge of turning on the tap in the kitchen, while his father directed the operation. The water pipe was then fixed in the fish tank, and the water flow was kept very small to prevent the water from washing away the aquatic plants.

"Dad, do we need to use purified water? The water flow is so low, when will this tank ever be full?"

Huang Xiaochuan said confidently, "No rush. Start slowly, and when you've reduced it to one-third, you can increase the flow rate a bit. It will be full before you go to bed tonight."

Then Huang Xiaochuan waved his hand and said, "I'm all done here. You go and drink your soup."

"understood."

Just as he finished drinking, the door opened and a little girl skipped and hopped in.

"dad!"

This is after she came back with Yu Xiang in August. The little girl is already four years old. She is very lively and especially likes her dad and her brother, but she is not as close to her sister. Huang Ruiying was so angry that she called her an ingrate and said that she had forgotten who brought her back in the first place.

Of course, I wouldn't say this to the little girl's face.

The fact that the little girl was adopted is a family secret. The family has discussed it and decided to decide whether to tell August the truth about her background later, depending on the situation. For now, she is still young, so let her enjoy her happy childhood.