After developing all 12 plots of land, Qin Lin controlled the Game Character and took out seeds to start planting.
But after planting just three plots this time, he suddenly got a notification: "Not enough seeds!"
Qin Lin slapped his forehead. He'd forgotten about that.
In the game, crops needed seeds to grow.
Seeds weren't unlimited. Once he ran out, he had to spend money at the in-game seed shop to buy more. But he'd already spent all his in-game money on seedless watermelon seeds.
Under the normal game progression, he would plant watermelons, sell them in the game for money, then buy new seeds to plant.
That way, he could gradually build up his funds and develop the ranch.
But now he was growing watermelons in the game and bringing them into the real world to sell. That meant he had no way to earn back his money in the game—unless he sold his newly harvested watermelons there to buy more seeds.
Then he thought of something. Could he bring real-world seeds into the game and plant them?
He decided to give it a try. Qin Lin locked up the fruit and vegetable shop and went to Youcheng County's designated crop seed sales outlet. As soon as he walked in, the woman sitting behind the counter greeted him warmly. "Take a look, young man. What kind of seeds are you after?"
"Do you have seedless watermelon seeds?" Qin Lin asked, looking at the seeds in the shop.
The game's starting plots could grow plenty of fruits and vegetables, but he'd only just started selling seedless watermelons. Naturally, he wanted to keep growing them.
"We do." The woman smiled and introduced them. "But ours are just ordinary varieties of seedless watermelon. They're 80 yuan per jin. How much would you like?"
"I'll take two jin for now." Qin Lin wasn't sure if he could bring the seeds into the game, so he didn't buy too many. When he returned to the fruit and vegetable shop, he locked the door again, entered the game, and put the seeds in the seed storage box.
Once he was done, he exited the game.
When he looked at the game screen in his mind again, a packet of watermelon seeds was now lying in the toolbox.
[Seedless Watermelon Seeds: Quality 1] [These are seedless watermelon seeds. Plant them to harvest seedless watermelons!]
The information was simple.
Qin Lin immediately controlled the Game Character and went to plant them in the 12 newly opened plots.
A short while later, seeing that all 12 plots showed they had been planted, he couldn't help smiling with delight.
He could bring seeds from the outside into the game and plant them.
That solved one of his current problems.
He just didn't know whether watermelons grown from these real-world seeds would taste the same as those grown from the game's seeds.
For the rest of the afternoon, people in the WeChat group bought the remaining 30 watermelons wholesale.
Qin Lin also sold off all the fruit and vegetables he'd stocked the day before at low prices. He didn't plan to restock; from now on, he would focus on selling watermelons.
The sun set. He closed up and went home, where his mom had already made dinner.
As soon as he finished eating, he looked at the game screen in his mind.
The watermelons in the original 12 plots had been infested with bugs, and weeds had sprung up among the watermelon seedlings in the 12 new plots. Both needed tending.
After he cleared the bugs and pulled the weeds, a message came through on WeChat.
Moqing, my wife: "We're done here. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Come pick me up after work, and I want watermelon too."
The moment he saw Zhao Moqing's message, Qin Lin replied, "Of course, my dear wife."
Like him, Moqing had returned to Youcheng County after graduating from college. Unlike him, Moqing had an uncle by marriage who worked at the Youcheng County Tax Bureau, so she'd taken the civil service exam and joined the bureau.
It seemed that a township business with considerable assets had run into trouble these past few days. He'd heard that several of its executives had been filmed bragging and drinking at a farmhouse restaurant, and someone had uploaded the video to the Mouyin platform. Then they'd gotten into trouble.
A team from higher up had gone to conduct a tax audit, and Moqing was part of it. She was probably handling the miscellaneous work of checking and calculating the figures.
Qin Lin and Moqing chatted sweetly on WeChat and stayed on a video call until late into the night.
The next day.
When Qin Lin got up and looked at the game screen in his mind, all 24 plots of watermelons had ripened.
He looked at the watermelons grown from the real-world seeds. Their vines and leaves were a lush green, and they didn't look much different from the ones grown from game seeds.
Qin Lin controlled the Game Character to harvest the watermelons from one of the plots planted with real-world seeds and put them in the storage room. Then, with a thought, he entered the game.
He went straight to the storage room. Inside were the 16 watermelons he'd just harvested from that plot. They were still huge, each weighing over 10 jin.
He picked one up and saw the information, just as before:
[Seedless Watermelon: Quality 1] [Note: Though this isn't a special variety of watermelon, it's a game product, and its flavor is among the best of ordinary watermelons. Deliciousness +1, sweetness +1, texture +1.]
The information was the same as before.
Qin Lin still wasn't entirely sure. He carried the watermelon back to the room, went straight into the kitchen, cut it into wedges, and took a bite. Only after confirming that it tasted just as delicious did he relax.
There was no problem using real-world seeds to grow watermelons in the game, then taking the watermelons out to sell. He didn't have to worry about their flavor being worse and hurting his business.
"Xiao Lin, why are you eating watermelon so early in the morning? It's not good for your stomach." His mom, Lin Fen, came into the kitchen and couldn't help nagging him.
Qin Lin smiled and explained, "Mom, I'm just tasting the watermelon. I'll be selling these later."
Lin Fen didn't say anything more. Instead, she picked up a wedge of watermelon, intending to help her son assess it. She'd barely swallowed her first bite when she exclaimed in surprise, "Xiao Lin, this tastes great! The watermelons we buy wholesale for the shop rarely taste this good. If they all taste like this, they'll definitely sell well."
After running a fruit and vegetable shop her whole life, Lin Fen could tell at a glance whether a watermelon was good.
Qin Lin also looked at the game screen in his mind. He controlled the Game Character to harvest all the watermelons in the 24 plots and put them in the storage room. Then he had the character remove the watermelon vines and plant new seeds.
That way, another batch of watermelons would be ready by evening.
Then Qin Lin had breakfast with his mom before heading out. He rode his bike to the warehouse he'd rented.
At the warehouse, he locked the door and entered the game with a thought. He walked toward the storage room, and as soon as he entered, he saw a sign displaying the following information:
Seedless Watermelons: 418 (Quality 1)
That was the harvest from the 24 plots this time.
What surprised Qin Lin was that three separate watermelons were set apart behind the pile. They had a sign of their own, with the information:
Seedless Watermelons: 3 (Quality 2)
A watermelon of higher quality had appeared? The stripes on the rinds were clearly darker, and they were rounder too.
He immediately walked over and picked one up. Information appeared before his eyes:
[Seedless Watermelon: Quality 2] [Note: A high-quality watermelon produced by the game. Its texture, flavor, fragrance... are all far superior to those of Quality 1 watermelons. It'll leave you unable to control your taste buds. Deliciousness +2, sweetness +2, texture +2, aftertaste +2!]
The Quality 2 watermelon's deliciousness and sweetness had gone up to +2, and it also had a new aftertaste +2 attribute.
But the note seemed a little over the top.
Could a watermelon really be so captivating that you couldn't control your taste buds?
It wasn't some rare delicacy.
Qin Lin was curious about how much better the Quality 2 watermelons tasted than the Quality 1 ones. But business came first. He carried all 418 watermelons out of the game, then filmed a video and sent it to the WeChat group: Freshly arrived seedless watermelons, wholesale at 1.5 yuan per jin, delivery available.
Not long after he sent the message, WeChat started going ding ding as he carried watermelons to the vehicle. Those fruit and vegetable shop owners, including Liu Dasheng, were the first to message him with their orders.
Even the Quality 1 watermelons tasted better than ordinary ones. During watermelon season, he wouldn't have to worry about selling them. Customers who'd bought them would come back for more, so all the shop owners who'd ordered watermelons before placed another order, and they ordered even more than last time.
On top of that, several new fruit shop owners in the WeChat group messaged him to order watermelons too. Some ordered 20, others 30. Their shops were in Dongcheng and on Shuixi Street.
After two days of wholesaling, everyone else in the group had naturally caught on as well.
Qin Lin worked out the numbers. The watermelons all the shop owners had ordered today came to 395 in total—nearly the entire batch.
Once he'd finished tallying the orders, he loaded the watermelons onto the vehicle and drove back to the county town, delivering them shop by shop.
By noon, he'd driven a vehicle full of watermelons to Market Street to deliver them to the three shop owners there, including Liu Dasheng.
"Xiao Qin, you're here?" Liu Dasheng saw Qin Lin and came out to greet him with a smile. "Your watermelons sell really well. I ordered ten more today."
"Thanks for your support, Brother Liu." Qin Lin smiled as he started unloading the watermelons for Liu Dasheng. After completing the transaction, he delivered watermelons to Chen Dahe and Ai Quni as well. By noon, he'd taken the remaining 23 watermelons back to his own shop.
He tallied the accounts. The 395 watermelons in this batch weighed 4,424 jin in total, bringing in 6,636 yuan. Once the next batch ripened that evening and he sold it, his daily income would exceed 10,000 yuan.
He could make in one day what he'd previously earned from a whole month of selling fruit and vegetables.
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