Chapter 9 (continued)

There was nothing he could do about a pepper variety like Tengjin 01, which had yet to be officially released.

After giving it some thought, Qing Mengzhu hurried to buy seeds of other pepper varieties instead.

He scanned them with the mall assistant. All the pepper seeds fell into the good grade, and even the best were only "good+," in the same tier as the local Xiangmei 888.

Should I just grow Xiangmei 888 instead? At least it's a local variety, better suited to the local soil and climate.

Just as Qing Mengzhu was about to buy Xiangmei 888 seedlings, an unfamiliar WeChat account contacted him.

In the friend request message, the stranger introduced himself as Jing Chi, a student of Professor Nian Xinfei. Someone had asked him to send Qing Mengzhu pepper seeds, and he wanted to know if Qing Mengzhu still needed them.

As soon as Qing Mengzhu saw the message, he accepted the friend request.

Jing Chi was checking WeChat, and when he saw that his request had been accepted, he greeted him first: [Hello, Mr. Qing.]

Qing Mengzhu: [Hello, Jing Chi. Sorry to trouble you so late. Are the seeds you mentioned Tengjin 01? I do need them.]

Jing Chi: [Yes, we're currently promoting that pepper variety. How much land are you planning to plant with peppers, Mr. Qing?]

Qing Mengzhu: [It's my first year growing peppers, so it's not much, around three to five mu.]

Jing Chi replied quickly: [That's all right. Some of the growers we work with plant that little too. Mr. Qing, please check whether the address and phone number are correct. If they are, I'll mail you the seeds tomorrow.]

His next message contained Qing Mengzhu's delivery address and phone number.

Qing Mengzhu checked the information carefully and replied: [The address and phone number are both correct. How much are the seeds? I'll transfer the money to you along with the shipping fee.]

Jing Chi: [There's no need. Our pepper seeds haven't been released yet, and we haven't set a price.]

Hearing that, Qing Mengzhu sent him a red envelope containing 200 yuan, followed by a smiley face: [Then please take this for the shipping fee. Thanks for your help.]

This time, Jing Chi didn't refuse. After accepting it, he said: [That's a lot! Thank you, Mr. Qing.]

Qing Mengzhu: [I should be the one thanking you and Professor Nian. Can you tell me who asked you to send me the seeds? I'll treat that friend to a meal.]

Jing Chi sent a head-scratching sticker: [I don't know either. I wasn't the one who spoke to your friend. The professor gave me your phone number and address and asked me to send them to you.]

Qing Mengzhu: [Then I'll ask around. Thank you.]

Jing Chi chatted with Qing Mengzhu for a few more messages and promised to send the pepper seeds as early as possible the next day. Then he went offline.

Qing Mengzhu scrolled back through the messages, his intuition telling him that the friend who had spoken to Professor Nian might be Ming Chunxi.

He and Ming Chunxi hadn't spoken since their last conversation on WeChat, and he felt awkward contacting him.

Putting down his phone, Qing Mengzhu sighed softly.

Jing Chi was efficient. The seeds arrived in the village the following afternoon.

Qing Pingdun called Qing Mengzhu. "Mengzhu, are you home? You have an express delivery. If you're home, I'll bring it over in a bit."

Qing Mengzhu jolted, his voice rising. "An express delivery? Could you check where it was sent from? Are they seeds from Tengcheng Agricultural University?"

Qing Pingdun said, "I think so."

Qing Mengzhu said, "Wait a moment, then. I'm coming to get it now!"

Qing Mengzhu, who had been clearing the field ditches, threw down his hoe and ran straight out.

He jogged all the way to the parcel pickup point.

Seeing that his face was red from running, Qing Pingdun said, "In such a hurry?"

Qing Mengzhu stood with his hands on his hips, panting. "A huge hurry. Where's my package?"

Qing Pingdun found the package and handed it to him. "Sign for it. Are there pepper seeds inside? A new variety?"

Qing Mengzhu quickly signed for it. "Something like that. I'm heading back now. I need to plant them."

Qing Mengzhu was in a hurry now, a tremendous hurry. Once Qing Pingdun had scanned the package, he took it and ran all the way home.

Back home, he slammed the courtyard gate shut with a clang, locked it, and eagerly opened the package.

Inside the box was a large bag of pepper seeds, which looked quite plump.

Qing Mengzhu took out his phone, opened the Interstellar Mall, and immediately scanned the seeds.

As he scanned them, his hands were almost trembling.

For some reason, he had a particularly strong premonition, an intuition that these pepper seeds were no ordinary seeds.

Soon, the scan results came out.

The mall assistant showed that the pepper seeds before him were the Tengjin 01 variety, their quality was "premium-," and the mall's purchase price was "7.53/500g."

It was the first time Qing Mengzhu had seen a crop from Earth reach a single-digit purchase price in the Interstellar Mall!

His heart filled with delight.

They really are good seeds. With this batch of pepper seeds, I'll definitely be able to grow good peppers!

After examining the seeds carefully and making sure there were no problems, Qing Mengzhu immediately went inside and boiled a kettle of water. Then he brought out a large, clean basin, added cold water to the boiled water, and used a thermometer to get the temperature to forty degrees Celsius himself.

He found a packet of Genfute in the storage room and prepared a solution according to the instructions. Then he poured the pepper seeds into the solution, stirring and soaking them.

Once they had soaked, he transferred the pepper seeds onto damp gauze to germinate.

He had spent a great deal of time looking for pepper seeds, and he didn't want to delay any longer.

After preparing the seeds, he carried a basket of seedling cups to the fields. He found a flat patch in one of his family's fields that was still lying fallow, dug up some soil, mixed it with well-rotted chicken manure, and filled the seedling cups one by one.

The process was extremely tedious, but he didn't mind the work at all.

After filling a large batch of seedling cups, he put up a plastic greenhouse in the field and arranged the cups inside. He kept working until it was completely dark before going home.

The peppers sprouted quickly. By the next morning, some of the seeds had already developed little white shoots.

Seeing this, Qing Mengzhu hurried to the field to fill the seedling cups. He worked from a little after seven in the morning until after eleven, finally filling all the cups.

That afternoon, he took the pepper seeds to the field and placed them in the seedling cups one by one, two seeds per cup. Once he was done, he covered them with a thin layer of soil.

After a full day of work, he had dealt with all the seeds. He carefully moistened the soil with a spray bottle, then secured the plastic greenhouse so the pepper seedlings could grow in its warmth.

After working all day, Qing Mengzhu felt as though he could barely straighten his back.

Even so, having dealt with the pepper seeds in such a short time filled him with a sense of accomplishment.

That evening, after dinner, Qing Mengzhu finally had time to reply to his WeChat messages.

He made a point of telling Jing Chi about starting the pepper seedlings and thanked him and Professor Nian again.

After finishing his polite replies, Qing Mengzhu thought again of the "friend" who had asked Professor Nian for the seeds on his behalf.

Even though his intuition told him that friend was Ming Chunxi, Qing Mengzhu didn't dare ask him to confirm it.

Now that the pepper seeds had already been planted in the seedling cups, it didn't seem right not to say anything to the person who had helped.

Besides, deep down, Qing Mengzhu did want to chat with Ming Chunxi. Before, he had no reason to contact him and felt awkward bothering him. Now that he did have a real reason to get in touch, he couldn't keep avoiding him.

After much hesitation, Qing Mengzhu sent Ming Chunxi a message, carrying a glimmer of anticipation he couldn't quite explain even to himself: [Thank you for helping me get the pepper seeds.]

Ming Chunxi replied quickly: [You're welcome.]

Two seconds later, another message came from Ming Chunxi: [How did you guess it was me?]

Qing Mengzhu: [I thought about it for two days and figured it was probably you.]

Ming Chunxi: [So you were just testing me before?]

Qing Mengzhu sent him a smiley face, then asked: [How did you know I was looking for pepper seeds from the agricultural university?]

Ming Chunxi: [I heard someone mention it. I happened to know Professor Nian Xinfei, so I asked him to give you some seeds. He needed to promote them, so he agreed.]

Qing Mengzhu: [Thank you. This batch of seeds has helped me tremendously. I'll treat you to a meal when you're free.]