Chapter 9

Qing Mengzhu read the short line over and over, and even the fatigue of the past few days eased considerably.

What mattered most to him was the "Good Grade-" rating. The lotus seeds he had drawn from the system before had been rated "Fine Grade." Since there were ratings like "Good Grade-" and "Fine Grade," that meant the Interstellar Mall had a relatively complete rating system.

Qing Mengzhu didn't know whether there were ratings below "Good Grade," but there were definitely grades above "Fine Grade." Otherwise, the ratings wouldn't have been arranged as "Good Grade" and "Fine Grade."

It looked like growing crops had great potential!

In high spirits, Qing Mengzhu picked a batch of green plums from the sun-facing side of the treetop, planning to take them home and make green plum jam.

After picking green plums for days, he was craving some.

Now that he had the mall assistant, Qing Mengzhu contacted several seedling nurseries after dinner and arranged to visit them to look at pepper seedlings.

He was going to pick the best-quality pepper seedlings he could afford!

Qing Mengzhu only needed to plant a total of three mu of peppers. Even with two seedlings in each hole, the actual number was quite small.

So he was especially polite when speaking with the owners of the nurseries.

Though they were called seedling nurseries, most were actually small, privately run operations that mainly served farmers nearby.

Nowadays, most seeds were produced by seed companies and weren't genetically very stable. Farmers generally didn't save seeds, but bought packaged seeds or ready-grown seedlings each year.

The ready-grown seedlings had been treated and were generally a little sturdier than plants grown from seeds sown by farmers, as well as less susceptible to pests and diseases.

This was Qing Mengzhu's first year growing crops, and he didn't want to put his sowing skills to the test. Buying ready-grown seedlings was safer.

The nurseries weren't far away, so Qing Mengzhu drove over.

The first nursery was on the outskirts of their town, so Qing Mengzhu went there first.

Before going in, he had worked out what to say to the owner so he could scan the seedlings on his own, away from him.

Although he had tested it and found that ordinary people couldn't see the Interstellar Mall app on his phone screen, using the app for a long time would inevitably make people think something was off. It was better to stay out of the owner's sight.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the nursery, the owner, who was opening a greenhouse to weed the seedlings, heard him and turned around. "Hello, and you are?"

Qing Mengzhu hurriedly introduced himself. "My name's Qing Mengzhu. I'm the one who arranged on WeChat yesterday to come look at pepper seedlings."

The owner nodded repeatedly. "Oh, right, I know. The greenhouse with the pepper seedlings is over there. Take a dustpan and pick out what you want. Just call me when you're done."

With that, the owner turned back to his work.

Seeing that the owner was too busy to pay him any attention, Qing Mengzhu had no choice but to look at the pepper seedlings himself.

The nursery started its seedlings early, and greenhouses stood in neat rows across the fields. When he opened one, he could smell fertilizer and the earthy scent of soil.

Qing Mengzhu squatted down and looked at the pepper seedlings rooted in clumps of soil.

The seedlings were over ten centimeters tall, with fairly thick stems and dark green leaves. They looked sturdy.

He studied them for a while, then took out his phone, opened the Interstellar Mall and scanned them: "'Jingmei A18' peppers, Good Grade, 0.013/500g."

It seemed the quality of these peppers was ordinary. If he grew them himself and sold them to the Interstellar Mall, the peppers would only fetch 0.013 per jin, less than wild vegetables.

These peppers didn't quite meet his requirements.

After securing the plastic sheeting again, Qing Mengzhu stood up and scanned the pepper seedlings in several other greenhouses. The mall assistant's results were much the same.

They didn't meet Qing Mengzhu's requirements, so he told the owner he'd do business with him another time.

The owner didn't mind and went back to tending the greenhouses.

Since it was still early, Qing Mengzhu went to the other greenhouses he had arranged to visit.

According to the mall assistant's scans, all the pepper seedlings he saw were Good Grade. The best variety was called "Xiangmei 888," and its quality reached "Good Grade+." The mall's offered price was also 0.018/500g.

That quality was fairly good, but after spending so much time, effort and money, Qing Mengzhu was reluctant to settle for growing "Good Grade+" peppers.

Even the owner who showed him the "Xiangmei 888" seedlings was at a loss. As he secured the plastic sheeting, he asked, "My pepper seedlings are disease-resistant, drought-resistant and high-yielding, and you're still not satisfied. What kind of peppers are you looking for?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "I'm looking for ones that taste good and are high-quality."

The owner kindly reminded him, "Once the peppers turn red, pepper dealers usually come and buy the whole crop. Otherwise, with that many, selling them yourself takes a lot of time and effort."

The implication was that no matter how good the peppers were, it didn't make much difference, since they would all be sold to pepper dealers.

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "I know. I'll think about it some more."

The owner turned to look at him. "Doesn't look to me like you came back to farm for money. You're here to pursue an ideal."

Qing Mengzhu smiled. "I need to make money too."

If he couldn't make money in the real world, he could sell to the Interstellar Mall and earn Star Coins instead. Either way, he wouldn't take a loss.

The owner said, "That's not how an ordinary pepper farmer thinks about making money. Honestly, my pepper seedlings are already among the best around here. If you're not satisfied with them, you won't have any luck elsewhere either."

Qing Mengzhu asked, "Could you point me in the right direction?"

The owner looked him over. "Do you have any connections at Tengcheng Agricultural University? If you do, why not ask over there? I hear they have a few good varieties."

Chapter 9

After getting the owner's suggestion, Qing Mengzhu thanked him sincerely and went home to look up information on Tengcheng Agricultural University's peppers.

After a night of research, Qing Mengzhu found that Tengcheng Agricultural University's pepper breeding program had started very early. Its first long pepper variety, called "Tengda No. 1," had appeared back in 1991.

After that, Tengcheng Agricultural University had developed a new long pepper variety every few years, from "Tengda No. 1" through "Tengda No. 17." They had been well received by the market and had a certain competitive edge locally, though the main market for the "Tengda" pepper series was in Ezhou and Ganshan.

Tengcheng Agricultural University had just released a new pepper variety that year called "Tengjin 01." It was highly regarded in the industry, but the breeders hadn't provided contact information, so it probably hadn't been made available to the public yet.

Qing Mengzhu could see why the owner had recommended Tengcheng Agricultural University's peppers.

If he could successfully grow a new variety that was highly regarded in the industry, the financial returns would surely be good.

What was more, a new variety developed for the local area would be better adapted to the local environment and perform better during cultivation. Otherwise, it couldn't have stood out and become a new variety.

He certainly wouldn't lose money growing peppers like these.

After reading the papers he had downloaded over and over, Qing Mengzhu began asking around for information on "Tengjin 01" peppers.

None of his friends had graduated from Tengcheng Agricultural University, but he had several friends who worked at universities.

Their universities were all in the same city, so there ought to be plenty of connections between them. He might actually be able to find something out.

Besides asking his friends, Qing Mengzhu also contacted the agricultural students he had met while picking mushrooms on the mountain and asked them to help inquire.

He was waiting on pepper seeds, and there was no need to hold back when it came to important business. The more people he asked, the better his chances of success.

Qing Mengzhu asked quite a few people, but the replies that came back the next day yielded nothing.

[Mengzhu, I asked around, and everyone said they weren't very familiar with the people at the agricultural university.]

[Sorry, I can't help you this time.]

[Brother Mengzhu, our professor isn't really on speaking terms with Professor Nian. I've asked some senior students to inquire for me. I'll let you know when there's any progress.]

[Mengzhu, are you going to grow peppers? Our company doesn't do much business with Tengcheng Agricultural University, but we know the professors at Haida Agricultural College pretty well. Want me to ask about Haida's peppers for you?]

Qing Mengzhu replied to each message, growing anxious as he looked at one refusal after another.

It seemed he wasn't destined to get peppers from Tengcheng Agricultural University. Should he look for another pepper variety instead?

Most seed companies had public contact information. If he wanted to buy peppers already on the market, he could contact the company that produced them directly, even if both physical stores and online shops were out of stock.