After returning from my cultivation journey, I built a farm through fortune telling.

Chapter 82

Lin Rui took a pillow back to Bai Chen's room. She got up at three in the morning and meditated for two hours, but gained nothing except exhaustion. Now that her energy was depleted, she desperately needed to catch up on sleep.

Bai Chen lay sprawled on the sofa, looking at the orders placed through the mini-program and the complaints from customers in the group chat.

The unscrupulous merchant hasn't even offered an explanation after all this time.

Neither Bai Chen, Bai Lu, nor Bai Wei have made a single comment in the group chat. This won't do! How can we do business like this?

They're determined to make their farming business big and successful!

Bai Chen started replying to the 99+ posts, picking and choosing which ones to reply to. By the time he finished, it was time to head out to sell vegetables. He went to his room and climbed onto Lin Rui's bed: "Get up, time to sell vegetables!"

"Hmm..." Lin Rui agreed without even opening her eyes, but that was it; she didn't even move a finger.

"You're the one who made me wake you up, and you're the one who didn't want to get up!" Bai Chen leaned over the headboard and pinched her nose. "We're going to be late, you little lazybones—"

Lin Rui kicked her legs twice, then sprang to her feet in a somersault. She wiped her face and exclaimed, "Hey—!" "Brush your teeth! Let's go!"

Bai Chen set off with Lin Rui in his new pickup truck. Outside the South City Market, many aunties who were buying vegetables were chatting. They didn't react for a moment when they saw the pickup truck arrive, but they gathered around when they saw Bai Chen get out of the car!

The palm-sized transparent plastic boxes were sorted according to the order quantity and packed into large plastic bags. Each bag had a piece of paper attached to the outside with a name and phone number written on it. Actually, they were all familiar faces, and Bai Chen could match the names to the faces.

"Grandpa Zhang, here are your five boxes."

Bai Chen handed a bag to Master Zhang, who would only approach when he called out the name: "You bought so little this time, is it because you don't like toon sprouts?"

Uncle Zhang accepted it with a smile, then shook his head and said, "Our whole family thinks that toon has a strange taste and doesn't like to eat it."

I was thinking of not buying it, but I couldn't bear to part with it. What if this toon sprout is delicious?

So I bought exactly five boxes, no more, no less.

"Where are your two older sisters? We haven't seen them in ages! And this is—your girlfriend?"

After buying groceries, Zhang Erye didn't leave. He stood next to Bai Chen, glancing at Lin Rui every now and then. The topic kept changing, but eventually it returned to Lin Rui, who had been closely watched since she got out of the car.

Bai Chen said generously, "Yes, this is my girlfriend, Xiao Rui—Aunt Wang, here you go!"

Aunt Wang, with her red hair, squeezed forward and said with a smile, "What a pretty little girl! Xiao Chen, you're a lucky boy!"

Lin Rui smiled shyly and didn't say anything.

There were only a dozen or so portions of wild vegetables, and they were all distributed in no time. The customers bought the vegetables but didn't even open them to look at them. They just stood aside chatting and exchanging recipes.

Aunt Wang slung an ordinary white transparent plastic food bag over her elbow, looking troubled: "I only know that toon leaves can be used to fry eggs, how else can I eat them?"

Three hundred yuan worth of toon leaves shouldn't all be used to fry eggs; that would be such a waste!

When it comes to cooking, housewives and househusbands can really get the conversation flowing—

"Fried toon leaves! Coat them with a thin layer of batter, fry them in oil, drain the oil, sprinkle with chili powder, and take a bite while they're hot—the taste is absolutely amazing!"

"I love to eat toon and meat patties. Blanch the toon, chop it, add seasonings and minced meat and mix well. Then add some flour and mix well. If you're worried about it being too heaty, you can steam it. If you like it fragrant, you can pan-fry it after steaming. My little granddaughter can eat three or four of them every time!"

"I prefer something lighter, so let's make a toon and tofu salad. You need to blanch the toon leaves first, then chop them up, add cooked minced meat, salt, oil, soy sauce, and chicken bouillon, mix it all together, and it's delicious and goes well with rice!"

"Yellow croaker salad is delicious too! Fry the yellow croaker thoroughly, remove the head and bones, take the meat, add blanched and chopped toon leaves, green and red peppers, and a prepared sauce, and mix it all together. Mmm—just thinking about it makes my mouth water! But let me tell you, I saw this on a video, toon leaves contain oxalic acid, and eating them without blanching them can cause kidney stones!"

"Oh, is that so?" one customer said skeptically. "I love eating it without blanching it. When I get home, I just break off the toon leaves, remove the stems, soak them in salt water for five or six minutes, then drain them and add some shredded scallions, green onions, carrots, and green papaya. I add a dressing of vinegar, a little sugar, and a little sesame oil. I like it spicy, so I add some chili oil! It couldn't be easier to make!"

"..."

"Xiao Chen! The variety of wild vegetables you sell is getting smaller and smaller! Last time you had bracken and bamboo shoots, but this time it's just toon sprouts! You're young, climb more mountains and trees! Pick more!"

Aunt Wang said earnestly, "Exercise is good for your health. I really like eating these wild vegetables, but I'm tired of eating just these few kinds. Could you please find a few more kinds of wild vegetables so I can have a change of pace?"

Bai Chen was both amused and exasperated: "Auntie, in about half a month or a month, the wild vegetables will be too old, and we won't be selling them anymore!"

"No way!" Aunt Wang knew it was wild vegetable season, but she still couldn't accept it: "Absolutely not! Xiao Chen, we can't run out of wild vegetables! Auntie won't be picky, just bracken, just purslane, any vegetables will do!"

Once you get used to eating these wild vegetables, you can't bring yourself to eat any other dishes. If you don't stir-fry them with some wild vegetables, the meat doesn't taste good at all. So how can these wild vegetables ever be out of stock!

If we don't have that, how can we get through this tasteless life?

The other customers chimed in, practically demanding that the wild vegetables on the mountain near Dongshi Village not grow old, but grow strong every day, waiting for Bai Chen to pick them!
Bai Chen quickly said, "How can I stop wild vegetables from getting old? But don't worry, everyone, if there are no more wild vegetables, there are plenty of cultivated vegetables! Uncles, aunts, grandpas, and grandmas, let me tell you, we grow many kinds of vegetables at home—"

"Greenhouse vegetables? That won't do!"

Upon hearing that it was "homegrown vegetables," the customers immediately lost all interest: "Greenhouse vegetables don't taste good! These days, greenhouse vegetables have no flavor at all! If you're going to sell them, let me tell you, I won't give you any face by buying them, not even a pound!"

The older generation nowadays are very selective when buying vegetables. Some even specifically seek out stalls run by elderly people selling vegetables they've grown themselves, even if the vegetables don't look as appealing, because they taste so good!
So when they heard that Bai Chen's family wanted to grow and sell vegetables, they were greatly disappointed. They felt that they had indeed been tricked into coming here to be killed—using wild vegetables to lure them in, and then selling the vegetables when the time was right. What a vicious marketing tactic! It hurt their hearts so much!
You bought that little pickup truck with their money!
Wild vegetables cost 30 yuan per kilogram; you could buy 5,000 kilograms of them in a small pickup truck!
The money they contributed for the food was no less than what they expected!

"Hey, Lao Liang!"

The greenhouse vegetable vendor next to him was not having it: "You've been buying greenhouse vegetables from me for so many years, and you've become so picky about food after eating wild vegetables for a few days? Are you not planning to eat vegetables anymore once the wild vegetables are all old?!"

Old Liang really wanted to say, "Then let's not eat!"
Mr. Liang was definitely the saddest customer present.

He's getting old and doesn't know how to use a smartphone very well. Even if he follows the grocery shopping groups, he can't keep up with the speed of the others and often misses out on buying groceries.

On days when there were no wild vegetables, he ate home-grown vegetables, and the difference was huge.

Wild vegetables are good for bowel movements, making me feel refreshed every morning. Homegrown vegetables, on the other hand, are practically useless. As I get older, my stomach isn't functioning well, and I've been using glycerin suppositories for years. I finally found a wild vegetable version, but after only half a month of use, it's already past its trial period?

And even if you pay, you can't renew the subscription!

How can anyone accept this?!
"Everyone listen to me!"

Bai Chen stretched out his hand and pressed down: "I assure everyone, the vegetables we grow are just as delicious as wild vegetables! Once the vegetables are fully grown, I'll give everyone a portion to try. If you think they don't taste as good as wild vegetables, then—we'll understand if you don't buy them!"

Lin Rui blinked. She thought Bai Chen was going to say, "Then—it's free!"

Who knew it was meant to discourage people from buying!

Of course, Bai Chen couldn't possibly say he didn't want the money!

What if someone thinks it's delicious but then says it's not, just to get free food?

His sister also plans to sell the "homegrown vegetables" for 30 yuan per jin (500g), no bargaining!

He was worried that the price would be too high and there would be no market, so he tried to warn customers in advance, but their reaction was unexpected.

However, he is confident that once customers have tried it, they will definitely stay!
They're all grown with spiritual energy, so which one is worse than the other?

But the customers don't know that!

So Bai Chen didn't say he necessarily had to persuade them to come and buy groceries; his purpose today was simply to inform them about the "home-cooked meals."

Because his family will be very busy soon, they won't have time to deal with these matters for the time being.

"Hey bro, can I join your grocery shopping group?"

The vegetable stall owner next door asked Bai Chen.

This family sells wild vegetables in a very casual way. Except for the first time when they created a group chat and got reported, they never showed the group's QR code again. And they are always very quick to buy vegetables. They never stay for more than half an hour from arrival to departure. They will call out names and distribute bags of vegetables, and then leave immediately, as if the ground here is biting their feet. They don't want to stay for even a moment longer!

He wanted to join the group, not for any other reason than to peek at the chat and to buy some to try.

He's been selling vegetables for over ten years, but he's never sold vegetables for thirty yuan a pound before! He has to taste what kind of heavenly flavor this is, something worth buying again and again.

However, when they asked Lao Liang and the others to pull him in, good heavens, none of them would agree!
They kept saying the group was full, or that adding people required the group owner's permission—it was all just a bunch of excuses. If this guy hadn't been there every time he sold vegetables, he would have thought his family's wild vegetable business was going out of business!
"sure!"

Bai Chen scrolled through his phone, showed the QR code, and was pleasantly surprised to find another customer, who was also a fellow industry professional.

"I'll scan it too."

Several other people gathered around; they were all shoppers who had been watching for a while.

Aunt Wang and the others stared, mouths agape, wanting to stop it but powerless to do so, feeling as if the sky had fallen.

There are only so many people in the group, and they are already fighting tooth and nail every time they grab vegetables. They have kept the group and the mini-program hidden for so long, and they will never share them with anyone other than their closest friends.

Now, the deepest secret has finally been exposed!
She could already foresee the intense and tumultuous days to come.

The vegetable stall owner opened the mini-program and found that all the vegetables had zero remaining portions, and there weren't many types of wild vegetables. He swiped his phone up to the bottom and then he saw toon sprouts—

Professional vegetable vendors are extremely sensitive to price and weight. Upon seeing this, he immediately leaned back tactically. He looked at Bai Chen and then at the plastic bags that Aunt Wang and the others were carrying. Through the transparent plastic bags and boxes, he could see that there was very little toon inside.

Can you believe it? Just two of those bags they're carrying, if put together at cost, could buy their entire vegetable stall!
At that moment, his feelings were extremely complicated. They were both vegetable sellers, so why was there such a big difference between them?
……

As Qingming Festival approaches, it is the busiest time of year for farmers.

Bai Lu had planned from the beginning that she would plant 20 mu of rice this year.

Only a small percentage of the people in Dongshi Village are still farming, and this year Baijiang's family has joined them.

Twenty mu of land can be cultivated, which is unique in Dongshi Village over the years.

Grandpa Bai went to check yesterday, and the seedlings have grown to the length where they can be transplanted. Today is finally the day to transplant them.

Grandma Bai and Qin Xiu took Bai Chen and Bai Lu to the rice paddy early in the morning to harvest the rice seedlings and carry them over. It wasn't far, only a few hundred meters away from the paddy field, and Bai Lu and Bai Chen each carried one load easily over.

Grandpa Bai was spreading out a large wooden tool shaped like a bamboo dragonfly in the field. He had rolled up his trousers above his knees, and the muddy water in the field was up to his calves. At the point where his calves met the muddy water, a small leech was tentatively crawling onto his leg, but Grandpa Bai lifted his foot, and the muddy water he stirred up submerged it.
Grandpa Bai is preparing the land, the last step before transplanting the rice seedlings. As the name suggests, a paddy field involves diverting water into the field, mixing the water and mud to form a thin, muddy slurry, so that the seedlings can stand upright after being transplanted.

If the land preparation takes too long, the mud will settle and form clods. If the clods are too hard, the seedlings will float on the surface of the water, which is not conducive to rooting and results in a low survival rate.

"Sister! Why are there so many bugs in this field?!"

Lin Rui, wearing soft-soled rubber boots specially designed for transplanting rice seedlings, stood on the edge of the field, looking at the countless tiny red filarial worms wriggling in the field. Goosebumps were about to fall off her skin.

The egret put down a load of rice seedlings, glanced at them, and said, "These are red worms, they don't eat rice seedlings, so ignore them. But if there are apple snails, that won't do. Those things eat rice seedlings. If there are a lot of them in the field, they can devour all the seedlings you throw down in one night. If you're scared, don't come down."

Even egrets used to be afraid of bloodworms!

Although they don't bite, there are so many of them, they're densely packed and disgusting!

But ever since she witnessed the spirit insect, as thick as her arm and over a meter long, in the cultivation world, she felt that the creator of their modern world was still quite benevolent.

The thought of the insect's gaping maw full of sharp teeth and its limp, spineless body gave her goosebumps. She shivered and quickly banished the image from her mind.

(End of this chapter)