A succulent-obsessed mom who calls herself useless is getting ready for life's big comeback

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Thanks to the author [Miaomiaojiang W-xyz] for theoriginal submissionsharing

Submission date: 2018.04.09

Edited and compiled by: Encyclopedia Jun

Location: Xinyi, Xuzhou, Jiangsu

We Are All the Same  (Live)

 China's New Voice Season 3  Episode 13

Zhang Jie 

00:00/05:04

It's 5 a.m. now. I had long planned to write an article, thought of countless openings, and yet somehow I don't know how to write it!

I remember that among the most viral Moments posts of 2017, one image was a child's essay, and in just a few short lines it said, "My mom is a useless middle-aged woman in her thirties, she can't cook, she doesn't understand anything, she only knows how to spend dad's money buying things." That was roughly the meaning. Whether it was a joke or not, I don't know. When I saw it at the time, I felt it hit a sore spot, because I had truly been through it!

My son is five years old. A modern child's childhood is not like ours back then, playing in mud for a day, picking up twigs for a day, catching a little pebble and still playing for a day. Now they are surrounded by all kinds of electronic products!

Thinking of signing the child up for an interest class, I pulled my darling along and introduced them to him one by one:

My high school deskmate is a very impressive auntie. She has played piano since childhood and is now an outstanding piano teacher!

A close high school girlfriend of mine is beautiful and elegant, and now runs a high-end children's English institution. Her English classes are lively and easy to accept!

Mom has another classmate who stood out since childhood, loves hosting and dancing, and is now the principal of a speech education institution!

If you like drawing, Mom is finding you a reliable, awesome classmate auntie to teach you!

At this point in the story there is always a twist, like however, but, yes! After saying all that, my son seized on a key point I had never considered before. He lifted his little face and asked me, "Mom, why are all your classmates so impressive, so great! How come you don't know anything, how come you're so useless?"

I went from being an eloquent, lofty speaker to a deflated balloon, suddenly with no center of gravity! My brain nerves traveled through time and space back to reality, and I had to properly maintain the image of a mother! I continued my spiel: "Look, Mom can grow succulents, and these aunties can't! Mom can also work hard to paint pots herself! Mom also has a succulent greenhouse! Mom is still a tiny, tiny bit impressive, right!"

For a five- or six-year-old child, Mom is the whole sky. He no longer dwelled on that sentence, but from then on I felt more and more that I really was a "useless" mom!

2018 arrived in the blink of an eye! My husband probably felt I had something on my mind! After thinking for a long time, he suggested, go out and do something! Since you like succulents, and you rent a small greenhouse to grow them but can't even see them every day, why not just switch to a bigger greenhouse and try growing while selling! Friends who have seen my Moments all know that the succulents I grow myself, I would rather give away to people who love succulents; I don't want to sell them to people who don't know how to grow them! He kept encouraging me: You've been disconnected from society for quite a few years while raising the child! Come out! I'm not forcing you to sell the succulents you like. Every day in the greenhouse, at least someone will be there to talk with you and exchange thoughts on what you love. It doesn't matter how much money you make, as long as you don't lose it all. Even if you do lose money, you still have a whole greenhouse of succulents! Isn't that what you want! And you can also say domineeringly to others, "This one's not for sale, that one's not for sale either"!

What truly moved me was actually the last sentence, I admit it! Friends who often visit greenhouses should all understand the feeling. You always come across some rare one-of-a-kind plants the greenhouse owner won't sell, or succulents raised from seedlings like one's own children! Those repeated "not for sale, not for sale" ring like thunder, exploding and echoing in my mind! Finally, can I say that too?

All right, with so many "not for sale" pieces in my mind, I arranged them beautifully in prominent positions! And so began my road to finding a greenhouse!

It happened to coincide with urban planning, and a flower market was demolished. The flower market where the original shared greenhouse was located suddenly became scarce. The site owner negotiated back and forth for twenty days and still didn't come up with the cheap greenhouse he had promised me. The original idea was mainly growing, with consignment selling as a supplement, a private model, visits and exchanges, a relatively not particularly noisy environment, where succulent friends could gather and chat, say things that in normal people's eyes seem abnormal, about succulents loved with mad devotion, choosing pots for them, putting makeup on the pots... In the blink of an eye another month passed...

My friends didn't know why I had become so busy. In the local group, the active, professional, huge-pit "excavator" had actually not dug a pit for a long time... Every day I struggled between persistence and giving up! On one hand I wanted to keep photographing the cat, taking care of the child, and chasing anime; on the other hand, "useless mom" echoed in my mind! On one hand I thought of three or five good friends staring at a pot of succulents and debating fiercely; on the other hand I thought of sitting in a rocking chair admiring my private treasures not shown to the world! Just like that, while wavering, an urgent problem arrived! The greenhouse originally shared by 6 people had made it through a year with us supporting each other. A year of this chop-chop-chopping had pushed the small greenhouse to its maximum capacity. Either everyone moved to a bigger space together, or we had to free up room! Reality was right in front of me, and my husband firmly told me to turn my hobby into a career. The timing was also such a coincidence: the greenhouse I hadn't been able to find for a month, through one brief conversation, I reached an agreement with the current neighbor and got half a greenhouse split off!

Now that the dust has settled, I didn't tell my friends during this period, because deep down I didn't want to stand on the opposite side...

Next, I really went from a tomboy to a real man! A bare greenhouse with a crushed-stone surface, combined with local costs, I poured a cement floor. During the curing period it rained heavily for days, and in the morning I got up and went to smooth and level the exposed ground by the entrance that was less than ten square meters! My hand cramped from holding the tools!

Timber counted for several days, shelf placement, dimensions for making the shelves, specifications of the wood! The seller actually forgot to ship, and another week passed...

The carpenter made the shelves, I was the laborer, moving, lifting, hmm, not carrying on my shoulder...

Designing the shop sign, contacting the advertising company!

Can you guess the name?

The shelves took shape little by little, then were stacked bit by bit

The originally empty greenhouse slowly became filled

Every day my hands look like this, with mud in my nails that never washes clean!

This person who never knew succulents has started talking about the arrangements in Korean greenhouses, the old plants inside... while sanding the edges and corners of the table!

Another three days passed...

The general model came out! The new neighbors around also came over to visit, asking me about succulent issues, the cost of making shelves, the investment in the greenhouse, and asking why I didn't just use cement boards to set things out like they did!

The carpenter took half a day off! I moved things left and right! After moving, what to do! The tools were there, and there was a lot of leftover wood! Why not do it myself! Try making a few shelves!

Using a nail gun, truly domineering!

Make a shelf! Not used yet for now!

These two came in handy!

A whole day of sanding, because summer was coming soon and some succulent friends brought their children to play. Afraid the wooden splinters would prick the little ones or bare arms, I sanded every one of them! Then rinsed off the wood shavings! Only the next day did I discover that a flying wood splinter had cut a gash between my eyebrows!

The earliest batch of succulents arrived! Almost buried by wood shavings! Plant them first so they can settle in!

Moving from home to the greenhouse, my son helped too! He might have hurt his hand from the strain, put it down to rest a moment, and still carried it himself! I hurriedly put down what I was holding and snapped a few photos!

All kinds of strongmen appear!

Finally this day arrived! 2018.4.1, my birthday. Even though it was an empty greenhouse, let's have a small opening ceremony! Sister Danran had ordered the cake early. I had also thought of throwing our group owner a wedding anniversary party too, an April birthday banquet! But the group owner's wife didn't show up! The roses were all ready!

Here I must give ten thousand thanks to the succulent friends who came specially from Xuzhou, Brother Yu San and Brother Xian! They helped me pick succulents and choose succulents, and even gave me succulents!

Flower stalks cut from the greenhouse! I love them so much!

Ouyang, big sister has an idea for you. When you propose to your little princess, be sure to choose spring, hold a big bouquet of succulent flower stalks, no less impressive than Qiaomei's bridal bouquet!

Thanks to the greenhouse owner I used to frequent, Awei, for specially bringing carnations!

Flower baskets sent by family! They all came, I was so moved! Someone who tears up even watching cartoons was very strong today in front of you all, laughing in all kinds of ways!

All kinds of figures!

The little princess in the group's little braids are super cute! I love them so much!

People who don't love succulents are also trying hard to capture the beauty of succulents! Wanting to show off to their friends!

The pots arrived too, but after growing succulents for a long time, my standards for choosing pots keep getting higher! Handmade and hand-painted! Sigh, if they can't sell, I'll just use them myself!

An inherited habit! My son picked out the pots he liked and asked me which shelf's succulents were not for sale. He wanted to put the pots on the not-for-sale shelf!

Succulents that arrived at night!

My close girlfriend back then kept turning up her nose at me for wallowing in the hand-painted pot pit! Now she herself is deeply trapped in it and can't pull herself out!

After the greenhouse opened, the loneliest one is the little princess Mooncake! Every night when she sees me come home, she has to jump onto my lap!

Mooncake's daily life is strolling among the succulents!

She has to cross the peach egg forest, the ebony forest, and reach the pp pit on the other shore, find a pot where all the PP have double heads, lie down leisurely, stretch, and sleep!

She won't hatch new PPs, will she?

By the way, now that the greenhouse has begun to take shape, the happiest person is still one person! That's my dad! Bonsai, photography, calligraphy, jade, porcelain, and orchids are all his hobbies!

As soon as he enters the greenhouse, you can clearly feel his eyes light up, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily stretch to the widest! His inner line: My orchids finally have a place!

See, before my succulents have even filled the shelves, the orchids have already occupied two shelves! He came over to show off to me, saying, look, I got a rare flower! This is what you call rare flowers and exotic plants!

Every time I go to choose succulents! I can never forget the most important thing! Collecting flower stalks! How beautiful!

The day before I wrote the article was my husband's birthday! Early in the morning I went to the greenhouse to choose succulents! I specially picked a big bouquet of Chihuahua flower stalks, and when I saw him at noon, I proposed to him! What does life need! Money, power, status! Finding one good person beats all! Eight years ago, you didn't propose to me! Eight years later, I'll ask you! Will you marry me? Of course, as a little fairy, I won't do the knightly romantic kneeling method, and these flowers still have to belong to me!

In just a few days, I encountered drunks who insisted on breaking off Aeoniums! I also met people who asked about all the beautiful ones' prices, turned up their noses at all the common ones, and in the end bought nothing, and even pulled off a peach egg leaf propagation seedling themselves! I also met people who started finding fault and being disdainful the moment they walked in!

But something as artistic as growing succulents is not something everyone can appreciate! A little fairy generally doesn't get angry!

You can tell from my smile!

Encounter: We all hope it is beautiful

Every encounter is fate from a past life

We will remember, the unforgettable encounter

We will smile, the beautiful encounter

We will occasionally recall, the heart-stirring encounter of an instant

We will smile bitterly, the regretful encounter where there was no time to say hello

We often imagine, there will be a different encounter

We will look forward to an unexpected encounter with an old friend

We occasionally pray, for a grand and magnificent encounter

......

We cannot refuse,

This time, the encounter arranged by fate.......

The legend of the battlefield comes from the encounter of heroes with heroes

Timeless love comes from the encounter of devotion with waiting

The fate with succulents comes from a long-premeditated encounter

I am meeting succulents, waiting for you

May you not let down every passing encounter

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This article has been authorized by the authorexclusivelyWeChat public account: Succulent Plant Encyclopedia (ID: duoroubaike). The article's content does not represent the public account's views or stance

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