Chapter 206 (continued)

Shi Wen, "Yes, in the wild, it's always this small. If it grew as big as a garlic clove, it would be a vegetable."

"Alright." Zhu Ji muttered, still not entirely convinced, he held it to his nose and sniffed it again, then detected a strong medicinal scent. "The fritillaria smell is indeed quite strong."

The fritillaria bulbs they dug up from the pasture were so small that they just stuffed them into their pockets.

Zhu Ji said, "We're going to dig up fifty fritillaria bulbs? They're so small, I'm afraid we won't have enough."

Shi Wen had no objections. "Sure. Walk to the side, there's one there."

Zhu Ji had just dug up one, and it was already quite recognizable. He pinched the fritillaria's leaves. "Shall we dig up this one?"

Shi Wen sighed, "It's already produced seeds; it's such a waste to dig it up. Dig up the one next to it, the smaller one."

Zhu Ji compared the two plants and said, "Oh."

Shi Wen leading the way, they dug out all fifty fritillaria bulbs in just over an hour.

There was only a small handful of fritillaria bulbs dug up. Zhu Ji held them in his hand, feeling that he had spoken too confidently. He didn't know if such a small amount of fritillaria bulbs would be enough.

Shi Wen saw through his thoughts. "Don't worry, this fritillaria is really potent. If you need more, just dig up some more."

Zhu Ji smiled and said, "Okay, I'll take it back first, and come back to you if I need more."

He nodded from Shi Wen.

Zhu Ji had things to do, so he didn't stay long at their ranch. After digging up the fritillaria bulbs, he took 30 milliliters of fritillaria honey and left.

That evening, Zhu Ji Shi Wen: "[I've delivered the fritillaria to the right person. It's 10,000 per piece. How about I transfer you 500,000? And the fritillaria honey is 1 million?]"

Shi Wen somewhat surprised by the other party's generosity, but didn't refuse. "[Sure, please thank the boss for me.]"

Zhu Ji: [They should be thanking you. They've already started using the fritillaria and fritillaria honey, and we've received word that it's very effective.]

Zhu Ji: [As expected of products from your ranch. Thumbs up. JPG]

Shi Wen that products from her family's ranch were always of high quality, Shi Wen didn't take the praise to heart, "[Call me again if you need anything.]"

Zhu Ji: [Okay, but we probably don't need it for now. These fritillaria bulbs are just too effective.]

Zhu Ji: [By the way, they asked me to bring you a gift. I'll take it to them in the next couple of days.]

Shi Wen: [What gift?]

Zhu Ji mysteriously, "[I'll bring it to you, you'll see, it'll be a real surprise.]"

Two days later, Zhu Ji drove over, and as soon as he arrived at the ranch gate, he called for Shi Wen to come out and receive the gift.

Shi Wen was quite curious about what Zhu Ji had prepared that was so mysterious, so she went out to take a look, and as soon as she stepped outside, she was handed a long, narrow brocade box.

This brocade box was as long as his arm; it looked like some kind of work of art.

After taking it, Shi Wen glanced at the exterior and asked, "May I open it and take a look?"

Zhu Ji: "Go ahead and look. They're already sent to you over there; I'm just helping to bring them over."

Shi Wen gently opened the box, but inside was neither the artwork he had imagined, nor a musical instrument, but a piece of... bamboo?

The bamboo still had branches and leaves, very green and looking very fresh.

He picked it up and looked at it, and saw a card lying under the bamboo.

Zhu Ji looked at it with him. "This next part should be an introduction to this bamboo."

Shi Wen guessed as much as he had guessed; he picked it up, and sure enough, it was an introduction.

The card said that this bamboo was a cold-resistant variety cultivated specifically for Shi Wen's area. The bamboo shoots were of good quality, with Abilities value of over 60, and the bamboo shoot yield was 10% to 30% higher than that of ordinary bamboo. It hoped that Shi Wen would like it.

Shi Wen at the description on the card, Shi Wen asked Zhu Ji, "Was this a gift specially cultivated for me, or a gift specially chosen for me?"

Zhu Ji: "It must have been chosen specifically for you, right? Cultivating them would be too costly."

Seeing Shi Wen's somewhat disbelieving expression, Zhu Ji explained, "The Abnormal Affairs Bureau has plant-related Abilities who have cultivated quite a few plants over the years. However, their Abilities values aren't very high, so the plants they've cultivated aren't very famous."

Shi Wen nodded to indicate that he understood.

Zhu Ji was eager to try. "This gift is quite nice, do you want to plant it now?"

Shi Wen nodded. "Plant them. Someone specially delivered them; it would be a shame if they withered."

Zhu Ji immediately replied, "Then I'll go plant them with you."

Shi Wen, "I'll go call Yan Kexing."

Shi Wen carried the box to find Yan Kexing.

Yan Kexing looked at the bamboo inside and said, "The gift they sent is truly ingenious."

Shi Wen laughed and said, "Yes, that's very sincere. Maybe they remembered that we grow bamboo on our mountain."

Shi Wen also sent bamboo and bamboo shoots to the giant panda Zhengzheng. At the time, it wasn't kept secret, and many people knew that his family grew bamboo.

However, although the bamboo from his family was better than that on the market, its overall quality was rather average, and he didn't know if its Abilities value was over 60. In any case, it was definitely not as good as the bamboo that Zhu Ji sent over.

This bamboo is a rare find on the market; hopefully, it will find a good home on the ranch.

Three people went up the mountain to plant bamboo.

Shi Wen in order to facilitate the future propagation of this bamboo, a special open space far away from other bamboos was found for it, enough for it to grow into a bamboo forest in the future.

Planting bamboo is a simple process: dig a hole, adjust the direction of the bamboo, bury it, water it, and you're done.

Because the bamboo stalk was relatively small, the entire process of planting it took them less than five minutes.

Zhu Ji, seeing Shi Wen had finished the work in a few quick movements, asked, "Is it all done?"

Shi Wen, puzzled, "What else is there to do? There's nothing to do."

Yan Kexing smiled.

Zhu Ji slapped his forehead. "Having seen you guys bury fertilizer so many times, this time planting bamboo so simply feels like something's missing."

Shi Wen, "It's too small. If you fertilize it, it'll easily burn the newly grown roots. You should fertilize it only after it's confirmed to be alive. If it doesn't survive, fertilizing it will be a waste."