Over the next three days, Qin Lin completed the court-related paperwork. However, the approvals and documents from the other relevant departments would take another three days.
That was already fast. He'd heard that approvals for some court-auctioned properties commonly took several months, or even half a year.
During those three days, he earned 116,076 yuan. In the game, the coins he earned from fishing and from planting and selling okra on six newly unlocked plots finally let him upgrade that Level 3 plot.
Qin Lin immediately sent his Game Character to the seed shop in Mineral Town.
Once the land reached Level 3, the Level 3 seeds available for purchase lit up.
A quick glance showed seeds for multi-core winged beans, yellow-heart tribute vegetables, green-skinned kiwifruit, Dandong milk strawberries, and more.
On the market, these were all premium vegetables and fruits, often selling for dozens or even over a hundred yuan per jin.
One seed in particular caught Qin Lin by surprise. It had a star in front of its name, making it especially conspicuous.
When he focused on the star, a note appeared: it marked a mysterious treasure, an extremely rare Level 3 seed that appeared randomly in the shop.
[☆Seedless Watermelon Seeds (Quality 2)]
[A specially cultivated seed. The watermelons it produces taste delicious. They can be planted in any season and have an extremely short growing cycle.]
So there were even seeds with Quality 2? He'd never seen that before. The watermelons they produced must all be Quality 2. And they could be grown in any season, with such a short growing cycle. That was incredible.
The moment Qin Lin saw the seeds, all kinds of ideas came to mind.
This was something special.
Besides, Level 3 land could also grow more advanced ornamental plants.
When he spotted a seven-color bougainvillea plant, he immediately thought of what Zhao Moqing had said: a sea of bougainvillea.
Qin Lin took out his phone and searched online. He found that multicolored bougainvillea plants were considered premium varieties.
Multicolored plants were created by grafting different-colored bougainvillea varieties together, allowing one plant to produce flowers in several colors. They were beautiful and highly ornamental.
Naturally, the more colors a plant had, the more valuable it was.
Online, a mature three-color bougainvillea plant could sell for at least 3,000 yuan, while a five-color one could fetch as much as 5,000.
The game's seven-color variety, though, was extremely rare. Three- and five-color varieties were easy to cultivate, but seven colors were much harder.
Qin Lin had been planning to create a sea of bougainvillea as a surprise for Zhao Moqing. What a coincidence.
Besides, now that he'd bought the villa, a sea of bougainvillea would be an excellent project.
Even an ordinary bougainvillea garden could attract plenty of visitors. His had seven colors, and came from the game with bonus attributes. Why worry about drawing a crowd?
There wasn't a single worthwhile bougainvillea attraction in the area around Youcheng, Shacheng, or the nearby regions.
If he used these seven-color bougainvillea plants from the game to create a sea of flowers at the villa, it would be a huge draw and a major selling point.
What's more, the south had a relatively warm climate, and bougainvillea flowers could bloom until mid-November. The flowering season was still two months away.
He could charge 50 yuan per ticket to see the flowers.
With 100 visitors a day, tickets alone would bring in 5,000 yuan.
With 200 visitors, that would be 10,000.
With good promotion, he could attract even more people.
Then would he still need to supply the vegetables and fruits he grew in the game to RT-Mart?
He could just open a natural produce market somewhere at the villa. The game's products already tasted better, so he wouldn't have to worry about finding buyers—or let other people profit from the markup.
Wouldn't that be great?
Now that he'd bought the villa, of course he wanted to develop it into a business.
Qin Lin acted as soon as the idea came to him. He clicked to buy a batch of seven-color ornamental bougainvillea plants.
"Flowering-type seven-color ornamental bougainvillea seedlings (batch): A special variety. Once mature, the seedlings produce beautiful ornamental bougainvillea plants. Each batch yields 20–30 mature plants at random.
Maturity period: 3 days."
Qin Lin immediately directed his Game Character to plant the batch of seedlings on the Level 3 plot.
Another three days passed, and Qin Lin finally completed all the paperwork for Fuhai Villa.
After changing the registered name at the Administration for Industry and Commerce and obtaining the business license, hygiene license, and all the other relevant permits, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
From that day on, Fuhai Villa belonged to him. He changed its name to Qinglin Villa.
Spring colors in the rocky woods, dense with green; only the idle clouds drift, bringing no rain.
How poetic was that?
Of course, that was nonsense. He'd simply taken one character each from his and Zhao Moqing's names.
Over those three days, another batch of strawberries and okra sold to RT-Mart had earned him 120,146 yuan. His bank balance had climbed to 353,419 yuan.
After bringing all the paperwork home, Qin Lin rode his little electric scooter out of the county and headed for Fuhai Villa.
Fuhai Villa was less than thirty minutes from the county seat, very close by. It also sat where Shacheng, the city, and Youcheng converged, with plenty of traffic passing through.
It was an excellent location. The previous managers simply hadn't known how to run the place.
Even Dongmin Lake, a rundown and remote spot, had done well with fishing and a farmhouse restaurant.
This place had a much better location and greater potential, yet they'd turned it into a hangout where a few corrupt officials could eat and drink to their hearts' content.
Worse, they'd bragged about their feasting and drinking there, and someone had recorded and posted a short video online. Did they have any idea what era they were living in?
Qin Lin had visited Fuhai Villa once before, but this time, arriving at the villa felt entirely different.
It was his own property now.
When Qin Lin arrived, he parked his scooter in the lot and chose to walk through the villa, so he could take a close look around.
How big was 500 mu? About the size of 47 large football fields.
Of course, he'd only spent 1.2 million yuan, so he couldn't expect much of those 500 mu to have been developed. Most of it was wasteland.
The main buildings were what mattered. Aside from a decent reception hall and a few dormitory rooms, there were only a few simple areas of semi-open private dining pavilions.
The pavilions were for visitors, and each one had a cooking counter and barbecue grill outside.
Most people came to a villa like this to cook for themselves, didn't they?
Cooking for fun on an outing felt completely different from cooking at home.
Naturally, the villa also had its own kitchen. Some visitors couldn't or didn't want to cook, so they could order dishes prepared by the chef.
There was also a vegetable garden nearby where visitors could pick their own produce.
And a fishpond with not a single fish in sight.
Fortunately, the villa had swings, a jungle adventure course, and other activities farther back, as well as a grass-sledding attraction.
These facilities hadn't cost much, and they were simple to use, but at least visitors had something to do.
There were also some potted flowers and plants around the facilities. They were hardly a major attraction, but they added a little color.
Not far from the main buildings, he spotted two towering trees, each dozens of meters tall, enclosed by a stone wall. Their branches had withered, and they looked close to death.
But the dead trees had been carefully surrounded with stones, and there were traces of fertilizer nearby. Someone had clearly tried to save them.
A sign hanging above read: "500-Year-Old Ginkgo Trees."
So they were ginkgo trees?
They reminded him of the thousand-year-old ginkgo tree planted by Li Shimin, which had become an online sensation.
But not every ginkgo tree was as lucky as that one, with the best care for a thousand years and still looking as graceful as ever.
These two were nearly dead.
People weren't the only ones whose beginnings mattered. Trees were the same.
Aside from that, the rest of the villa was barren wasteland, especially the area around the reservoir. It seemed they'd simply added it to the property without ever intending to make use of it.
How should he rate the place? With his tourism-management background, he could only say it barely passed in a place like Youcheng. Near the city, it wouldn't even meet the passing grade.
Simply put, there was nothing at all to attract customers.
So if he wanted to develop the villa, he had to create an appealing attraction. The sea of bougainvillea was a project he couldn't afford to skip.
As Qin Lin thought about it, a notification appeared in the game. The seven-color bougainvillea on the Level 3 plot had finally matured. Judging by the timing, one batch matured every three days—six times as long as the strawberries and okra.
Qin Lin directed his Game Character to harvest the seven-color bougainvillea from the Level 3 plot.
[Obtained 25 mature seven-color bougainvillea plants!]
This time, the seven-color bougainvillea plants weren't stored in the storeroom. They went into a courtyard behind the ranch, where mature plants were kept.
Then he directed his Game Character to buy another batch of seven-color bougainvillea seedlings and plant them again.
After that, Qin Lin walked to the restroom in the main hall and entered a stall. With a thought, he entered the game.
Once inside, he went straight to the courtyard where the mature seven-color bougainvillea plants were stored.
As soon as he stepped in, his eyes lit up.
At first glance, the 25 bougainvillea plants lined up together, their seven colors blending into one another. They were beautiful and stunning, a feast for the eyes. His gaze was drawn to them before he even realized it.
They were far more beautiful than the five-color bougainvillea plants he'd seen online selling for 5,000 yuan apiece.
When he directed his Game Character to harvest them, he'd easily moved the plants into the courtyard. But now that he was standing right beside them, he saw they were taller than he was, with their roots wrapped in soil ready for transplanting.
Then he reached out and touched one of the plants. A note appeared.
[Flowering-type seven-color ornamental bougainvillea plant: Quality 2]
[A special ornamental variety of bougainvillea. It grows 2.5 meters tall, with a crown spread of 2 meters and a flower head 12 centimeters across. Its blooms are vivid, and it is highly ornamental. It is also easy to transplant and flowers year-round.]
[From the game: vividness +2, ornamental value +2, attractiveness +2, lifts spirits +2, photogenic +2, transplant survival rate +2!]
Qin Lin was amazed. No wonder a single glance was enough to draw people in.
It had so many attributes.
And what did year-round flowering mean?
In the south, bougainvillea generally bloomed from November to June. In the north, the flowering season was about the same length.
But year-round bloomers were exceedingly rare.
Some ornamental bougainvillea plants might flower all year if carefully tended by private growers, but it was impossible to achieve on a large scale.
Now, with a sea of these seven-color ornamental bougainvillea plants, the flowers would bloom all year. And they came from the game, with bonus attributes.
That was incredible.
It meant this flower garden could bring in money all year round.
Before you continue