Chapter 137: Using Drones for Artificial Rainfall

Ning Jinli smiled inwardly.

Help his family?

That's impossible.

Since Ning Family's business now has several good projects, let the Lu family invest first; anyway, later all industries will return to Father and Mother's hands—how could it possibly be cheap for Ning Hai's family?

"No no no, I won't just be kind-hearted and repay hatred with virtue," Ning Jinli said solemnly, "Anyway, you just promised Ning Yao. Besides, you wouldn't want your family to miss a money-making opportunity, would you?"

Seeing she had already said that, Lu Jue Ming didn't ask further, indicating that they should just follow her opinion.

Afterwards, the two said goodbye; Ning Jinli went to the restaurant to eat with her parents and Su Yi, while Lu Jue Ming headed to a nearby coffee shop to meet Ning Yao, who was already waiting for him.

After Ning Jinli arrived at the pre-booked private room in the restaurant, Ning Shan and Ye Zhiqiu were already chatting with Su Qinglan, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

Ye Zhiqiu had already taken Su Qinglan's hand, saying they would go traveling and shopping together.

"Dad, Mom, Su Yi." Ning Jinli sat down with a grin.

"Here I am, just in time." Ning Shan's expression suddenly turned serious, "Let me say something."

"What is it?" Ning Jinli sat upright.

Ning Shan said: "Qing Lan Jie raised you for ten years; without her, I and your mother wouldn't dare imagine whether you could have lived to this day. So we discussed it privately and have now decided: from now on, you must not call her Su Yi."

"Ah?" Ning Jinli froze.

Su Qinglan also looked startled; before meeting Ning Shan and Ye Zhiqiu as a couple, she had been nervous and uneasy, but upon seeing them she found they had no pretension and were unusually warm toward her, so she quickly relaxed—until suddenly hearing this, she instantly tensed up, her whole body stiffening.

Could it be… that from now on this couple forbids Xiao Li from having any further contact with her?

The moment this possibility occurred to her, Su Qinglan felt a sharp pang in her heart.

But she said nothing.

In her view, Xiao Li was ultimately someone else's biological daughter, while she herself was merely an uneducated lower-class commoner, never belonging to the same circle as the wealthy.

She knew the score…

"From now on," Ning Shan said word by word, "you must call her foster mother."

As soon as he said that, Su Qinglan's face filled with astonishment.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Ning Jinli's eyes lit up with joy.

Ye Zhiqiu wondered aloud: "Actually, I've always found it strange that Qing Lan Jie raised you for ten years, giving you her all, yet you still call her 'auntie' to this day—surely my daughter wouldn't be so clueless, would she?"

Su Qinglan's eyes instantly reddened, and she hurriedly said: "No, no, you've misunderstood—Xiao Li previously wanted to become my adopted daughter, to finalize the adoption, but I didn't agree."

"What?" Ye Zhiqiu grabbed Su Qinglan's rough hands and asked gently, "Why didn't you agree?"

Su Qinglan's expression turned embarrassed: "Um… well, I feel that Xiao Li is a rich young lady from a wealthy family, while I am uneducated and of poor background—how could I deserve to be called her mother?"

Ning Shan and Ye Zhiqiu stared at each other, momentarily at a loss, their hearts filled with mixed feelings.

Tears welled in Su Qinglan's eyes as she forced a smile and continued: "Although I raised Xiao Li, she also gave me emotional support; to me, she is like a little angel who fell from heaven, giving me… the courage and strength to go on. Actually, there's a secret I've never told her."

"What secret?" Ye Zhiqiu asked softly.

With tears welling in her eyes, Su Qinglan looked at Ning Jinli and choked out: "On the day I met this child Xiao Li, I was actually planning to commit suicide…"

As soon as she said that, Ning Jinli, Ning Shan, and Ye Zhiqiu were all stunned.

Two streams of hot tears spilled from Su Qinglan's eyes as she, eyes brimming with tears, said:

"Back then, all my savings and even my house were taken by my son under the pretense of marrying a wife, with sweet talk and deceit, and then he kicked me out of the house…"

"He is my own son, whom I single-handedly raised through hardship… For over twenty years I worked multiple jobs every day to feed, clothe, and educate him… Seeing him look for a partner and prepare to marry, I thought he would finally settle down and establish a career, but I never imagined he would swindle my money and my house away and then abandon me."

"He despises me!"

"He says I embarrass him! He says he doesn't want his future in-laws to have such a poor relative, nor does he want his future children to have such a lowly grandmother!"

As she spoke, Su Qinglan's emotions collapsed and she burst into loud sobs.

Although Ning Jinli knew about Su Qinglan's son's affairs, she never imagined that on the day she met him, Su Qinglan had actually been preparing to kill herself…

Ning Jinli's mind went blank.

Ning Shan's face tightened, his eyes reddened, he turned away and cursed: "That bastard is truly a beast!"

Ye Zhiqiu's tears streamed down her face as she wiped Su Qinglan's tears and said: "Qing Lan Jie, from now on we are your family, Xiao Li is your daughter, you will never suffer again."

"Daughter, come here." Ye Zhiqiu beckoned.

Ning Jinli quickly rose and walked to stand before them.

Ye Zhiqiu said: "Kneel and offer tea to your foster mother."

"All right!" Ning Jinli wiped away her tears and immediately knelt down.

"Ah… no, no," Su Qinglan sprang to her feet, tears streaming, flustered: "I raised my son to become like that, and I was even afraid I would spoil Xiao Li—but fortunately she has always been kind and sensible; seeing her grow up well has already satisfied me, and I also said that on the day I met her… I had originally planned to kill myself, but this child's appearance saved my life—how… how could I possibly deserve this?"

"Just sit down," Ye Zhiqiu said, firmly pressing her back into the seat, "If even you can't bear it, then I, this neglectful mother who's been missing for ten years, might as well just smash my head to death."

"Well…" Su Qinglan didn't know what to say for a moment.

Ning Shan poured a cup of tea, rose, walked over to Ning Jinli's side, and handed the tea to his daughter.

Ning Jinli held the tea with both hands, raised it high above her head, and said: "Daughter Ning Jinli, please have some tea, foster mother."

Su Qinglan looked at the hopeful gazes of Ning Shan and Ye Zhiqiu, and finding it hard to refuse any longer, she tremblingly reached out with both hands and slowly took the tea.

Then Ning Jinli added: "Daughter offers kowtow to foster mother, wishing you a long life of a hundred years, health, happiness, and prosperity!"

"Ah… daughter…" Su Qinglan murmured a reply, her excited tears dropping into the tea cup in her hands.

After she finished drinking that cup of tea, Ning Shan and Ye Zhiqiu each poured another cup, raised them high above their heads, and knelt before Su Qinglan.

This startled Su Qinglan: "What are you doing? Hurry, get up!"

"Qing Lan Jie," Ning Shan said earnestly, "Without your careful care, Xiao Li could not have grown up well, and we as a couple could not have reunited with her; you are our benefactor."

"Exactly," Ye Zhiqiu added, "From now on, you are not only Xiao Li's foster mother, but also like our own elder sister; elder sister above, please have some tea."

"This… I… I…" Su Qinglan, having never seen such a scene, was completely flustered.

Just now, this couple had Ning Jinli acknowledge her as foster mother—a surprise beyond her wildest dreams—and she never expected that they themselves would now kneel before her to offer tea.

"Qing Lan Jie, you wouldn't be despising us, would you?" Ning Shan said with a smile, deliberately, "Don't look at us just coming back with nothing— we won't even accept our tea offering."

Su Qinglan grew anxious, "How could I dare despise you? You're saying this..."

Ye Zhiqiu chimed in, "Qing Lan Jie, if you don't accept, we two won't be able to get up."

Su Qinglan, really at a loss with this couple, hurriedly took the two cups of tea one after another and quickly drank them.

"I've drunk it, hurry up and get up, hurry up and get up."

She said while pulling Ning Shan and Ye Zhiqiu up.

Ye Zhiqiu took her hand and said, "From now on, you must never treat us as outsiders again— we're a family now."

Su Qinglan's eyes turned red from crying, she nodded vigorously, "Okay, one family..."

Afterwards, the four of them enjoyed a happy, cheerful lunch together.

After finishing the meal, Ye Zhiqiu suggested they go shopping together in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Ning Jinli suddenly received a call from Xiao Qidi.

Xiao Qidi said on the phone, "Over in Lin Xian Cheng, the sky has turned overcast now, and there are more clouds than before. She once said that as long as the cloud layer reaches a certain level, even if heaven doesn't send rain, she can still make artificial rain."

Hearing this news, Ning Jinli could only immediately rush back to the factory.

"I have to go get busy, you three take your time shopping," she handed a card to Ye Zhiqiu, "don't worry about saving money for me."

"Oh, then we won't stand on ceremony!" Ye Zhiqiu took the card with a grin, linked arms with Su Qinglan, "Come on, Qing Lan Jie, let's go splurge on Xiao Li's card!"

"Daughter, we're off then." Ning Shan waved his hand.

"Go on, go on." Ning Jinli laughed and waved, watching them get into the car Su Qinglan had arrived in.

Then, Ning Jinli drove back to the factory alone.

After Xiao Qidi made that phone call to her, he kept waiting in the factory's small warehouse; as soon as he saw her, he immediately took out his phone to show her a video, "This is what I filmed before coming over here— take a look, can we use the method you mentioned to bring about rain in this situation?"

Since planting vegetation and crops in Lin Xian Cheng, the overall environment has been improving.

But even now, they still rely on groundwater, and not a single rain has fallen.

With Lin Xian Cheng's development and construction, water usage keeps growing, and groundwater output can't keep up.

In the end, we still need rain from the sky.

Even a light rain would speed up the local natural environment's water cycle, letting Lin Xian Cheng truly become a place of favorable winds and timely rains.

Xiao Qidi and the soldiers and civilians of Lin Xian Cheng are longing for it every day.

Several times, thin cloud layers appeared that hadn't been seen in the past half a year, but unfortunately they were far from sufficient for rain, and even the conditions for artificial rain were lacking.

Until this time, a dark cloud could be seen with the naked eye slowly drifting toward Lin Xian Cheng from the horizon.

Xiao Qidi didn't want to miss this opportunity.

"It should work, let's try!" Ning Jinli said decisively, "You go gather the drone team, I'll transmit the catalyst over."

"Okay!"

Xiao Qidi immediately ran into the spacetime portal.

The two of them each began their actions.

Now, within Lin Xian Cheng, a batch of civilians has been trained to skillfully operate drones.

Ning Jinli equipped them with agricultural drones, teaching them to use drones for sowing, fertilizing, and irrigation.

This is also why Lin Xian Cheng's vast wasteland mountains can sprout a layer of vegetation seedlings in just two or three months.

And Ning Jinli had long been preparing for artificial rain, having readied the needed catalyst a month earlier.

In less than half an hour, nearly a thousand agricultural drones were in position, neatly arranged on an open highland.

This type of drone is larger than the ones used by the soldiers for reconnaissance, and it has a cargo box underneath, capable of carrying fifty to sixty kilograms each time.

The rain‑inducing catalyst that Ning Jinli transmitted to outside the Xianzi Temple was also completely moved to beside the drones.

"Folks!" Ning Jinli shouted through a loudspeaker, "Just like when you used drones to sow and fertilize before, load the catalyst onto them, fly into the clouds, and scatter it!"

"Yes! Fairy!"

The civilians' shouts shook the heavens, and they swiftly began their actions.

They formed teams of three, swiftly loading the catalyst into the drones' cargo boxes.

At this moment, thin clouds blanketed the sky over Lin Xian Cheng, while the thick cloud mass that had drifted from afar had already entered Lin Xian Cheng's area.

Drones took off one after another, soaring into the sky.

In the blink of an eye they turned into a dense swarm of tiny black dots, continuously diving into that large mass of thick cloud.

Xiao Qidi looked up at this scene, inevitably feeling a bit nervous.

He had only heard Ning Jinli describe this method of artificial rain, never seen it himself, and Ning Jinli said it wasn't guaranteed to succeed.

"Fairy, all the drones have flown in," someone reported to Ning Jinli.

"Good!" Ning Jinli gave the order, "Release all the catalyst!"

The civilians in charge of controlling the drones simultaneously opened the drones' cargo boxes with their remote controllers.

As they watched, thousands of drones had finished releasing the catalyst and were returning to the ground one after another, yet that cloud mass seemed unchanged.

Everyone present stared wide‑eyed, heads tilted upward, fixed on the sky.

Xiao Qidi whispered, "Jinli… is it… not successful?"

"I can't say for sure either," Ning Jinli said, gazing ahead, clutching her hands nervously, "We just need a little more time."

Xiao Qidi asked again, "What is this so‑called catalyst that the drones carried into the clouds? Why can it induce rain?"

Ning Jinli withdrew her gaze, "Well, we have to start from the principle of rain: clouds are actually water vapor, and for water vapor to become droplets, two conditions are needed—the temperature must be low enough, and there must be condensation nuclei. The catalyst contains three substances that can quickly lower the temperature in a short time, turning the water vapor they touch into tiny ice crystals; another substance can directly produce ice nuclei; the third substance has strong adsorption, further promoting the condensation nuclei to absorb surrounding moisture. Once enough water gathers on the condensation nuclei, it forms droplets—"

Before she could finish, Xiao Qidi suddenly reached out and lightly touched his own cheek, then quickly widened his eyes toward the sky, "It looks like… it's raining? Did we succeed?!"