Chapter 89 (continued)

Jing Juntao spoke angrily, "Insects eat a little, birds eat a little, wild animals eat a little, and slowly they're all eaten up. How can I possibly collect them all myself?"

Jing Juntao became increasingly heartbroken as he spoke, and didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Come on, I'll take you back to see the Polygonatum I've prepared."

Tan Wenlei: "Then I'll have to check. I heard that Polygonatum needs to be steamed and dried nine times. Is that true?"

Jing Juntao: "The old recipe says to steam and dry it nine times, but there's not actually that much time involved. For what we eat ourselves, six steamings and six dryings are enough. Drying it too much at the end makes it too sweet."

Qing Mengzhu noticed this when she ate it before. "Why does the Polygonatum taste so sweet? Did they put something in it during the preparation?"

Jing Juntao: "I've only ever used it to soak in rice wine, nothing else. The longer it's steamed, the sweeter it gets, even without soaking in rice wine. We used to sneak it as a snack when we were kids."

Jing Juntao quickly took them home and took out a piece of Polygonatum sibiricum that was tightly wrapped in a sealed bag from the cabinet.

These Polygonatum, which have undergone multiple steaming and sun-drying processes, are jet black and glossy, sweet and sticky, and look no worse than the Polygonatum that Qing Guozhi gave to Qing Mengzhu and his family.

Qing Mengzhu bought some dried Polygonatum from Jing Juntao, while Tan Wenlei bought some seeds.

Tan Wenlei now works at Zhuxi Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd.., and has rented out his fields, but the terraced fields at home are still there.

He had previously planted asparagus in the terraced fields, and now that polygonatum is selling well, he simply planted some more.

Qing Mengzhu didn't buy the Polygonatum seeds from Jing Juntao's family. On the way back, Tan Wenlei asked, "I thought you came up the mountain this time just to buy seeds."

Qing Mengzhu: "I mainly want to understand the situation. I need to think it through before planting. With two mountains of such a large area, if we plant there rashly and end up losing money, the losses could be huge on such a large scale."

When he was looking at the seeds before, he secretly scanned them with the Mall Assistant. The scan results showed that Jing Juntao's Polygonatum seeds were only "Good Grade," which did not meet his current requirements at all.

Tan Wenlei shook his head. "After getting to know you, I've never seen you lose money growing anything. You definitely won't lose money growing Solomon's Seal."

Qing Mengzhu laughed, "The reason I didn't lose money is because I thought everything through carefully before planting and put a lot of thought into it. If I had just planted it haphazardly, whether I would have lost money or not would have depended on luck."

Qing Mengzhu first drove Tan Wenlei back to his home before going home herself.

When he got home, Ming Chunxi was already in the yard.

Upon seeing his expression, Ming Chunxi asked, "What happened?"

Qing Mengzhu raised her hand and touched her face. "It's nothing."

Ming Chunxi stood up and walked to his side. "You looked so preoccupied, I thought something had happened."

Qing Mengzhu chuckled, "I chatted with Uncle Wenlei the whole way and he didn't notice, but you, on the other hand, noticed it right away."

Ming Chunxi hummed in agreement. "Is this related to Uncle Wenlei?"

Qing Mengzhu: "No, I went to look at Solomon's Seal today, and I found that the Interstellar Mall seems to sell Solomon's Seal seeds. I'm not sure, I'll have to check."

Speaking of Huangjing (Polygonatum sibiricum), Qing Mengzhu pulled Ming Chunxi's hand and said, "Come on, let's go inside and talk about it."

Although the courtyard gate was already closed, we still had to be careful of eavesdroppers, so it was safest to talk inside the room.

Ming Chunxi let him pull her into the room, and after checking the doors and windows, said, "It's done."

Qing Mengzhu had already opened the Interstellar Mall and started searching. "Strange, I don't seem to find it."

Ming Chunxi walked to his side. "Let me see."

Qing Mengzhu: "I just searched using 'Polygonatum' as a keyword and didn't see any results, even though I've seen similar torrents before."

Qing Mengzhu handed the phone to Ming Chunxi and muttered to herself, "Could it be that the seeds we saw before were just similar seeds, and not actually Solomon's Seal seeds?"

Ming Chunxi: "That's possible. When did you see it?"

Qing Mengzhu: "I can't remember exactly, but it should have been around this time. I started browsing the Interstellar Mall frequently after I bought some discounted jerky."

Ming Chunxi: "Did you see it in the discount section? Let's take another look."

Qing Mengzhu: "It should be."

Ming Chunxi clicked on the discount section. "I'll set some keywords; today I'll only look at torrents."

Qing Mengzhu pulled her chair closer and sat shoulder to shoulder with Ming Chunxi, scrolling through their phones.

When he bought Gastrodia elata before, because the planting scale was not large, he just bought some decent seeds from the market.

Now we want to plant Solomon's seal in the bamboo forest. With two such large mountains, we could easily plant 20,000 to 30,000 Solomon's seal plants. Buying just any seeds would be too cost-effective; we should at least buy Fine Grade seeds.

As Qing Mengzhu was scrolling through his phone, lost in thought, he saw a picture slide up.

"Wait." Qing Mengzhu grabbed Ming Chunxi's hand and slid the picture back. "It looks like this picture."

Ming Chunxi looked closely and asked, "Is this what you meant by seeds that look like Solomon's Seal?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, that's it. I'll search for pictures online and show you. This is what the seeds of Polygonatum look like. Wait, let me see what kind of plant this is—Dragon's Head seed?"

Qing Mengzhu looked at the familiar name, feeling like she had seen it somewhere before.

He searched online and found that "Longxian" was actually another name for Huangjing (Polygonatum odoratum).

He stared at the screens on both phones, speechless. "What's going on with the Interstellar Mall? There aren't any consistent product names. Does that mean we missed out on a lot of good torrents when we searched for them before?"

Ming Chunxi: "Possibly. The product details page on the Interstellar Mall says it's a low-grade spiritual herb from a cultivation world. I wonder if it's the same as the Polygonatum here?"

Qing Mengzhu: "What is the rank?"

Ming Chunxi: "Fine Grade+", the product details show it's a 'Fine Grade+' level seed.

Qing Mengzhu immediately replied, "This grade is acceptable, not too high. We should be able to grow it."

Qing Mengzhu has now discovered that the higher the seed level purchased from the Interstellar Mall, the better is not necessarily true.

For example, the Cloud Mirror Bamboo are currently cultivating is only "Fine Grade+", while the bamboo they bought from the Interstellar Mall is "Superior Grade".

Qing Mengzhu estimates that the reason why the quality of Cloud Mirror Bamboo is not improving is not only because they use Growth Liquid, but also because their fertilizer and water supply are not up to par.

The fertilizer fermented from Superior Grade bamboo using fertilizer fermentation powder and the pond water soaked with Spirit Pearl Dregs are probably insufficient to meet its growth and development needs.

To make it grow better, it will probably need other fertilizers or spiritual spring water.

However, Qing Mengzhu currently has no way to upgrade it. They only have so many resources at hand, and they simply can't allocate them all to the Cloud Realm Bamboo. They can only plant it slowly and hope that it will grow better and better.

The current Cloud Mirror Bamboo is much better than ordinary bamboo, so Qing Mengzhu is not in a hurry.

Giving away too many good things at once might not be a good thing for them.

After reviewing the product details, Qing Mengzhu checked the price.

Eight hundred and sixty-six Star Coins and fifty grams of seeds, containing approximately five thousand seeds.

This price was within Qing Mengzhu's acceptable range, and since he was a junior member, he was also eligible to purchase.

Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi exchanged glances. "Then I'll place the order?"

Ming Chunxi decisively said, "Buy!"

Qing Mengzhu clicked on the quantity of the product, originally intending to buy five, but the Interstellar Mall had a purchase limit, allowing him to buy only three.

Three portions it is.

Qing Mengzhu quickly clicked to buy, and then saw the seeds he had purchased in his personal center.

Fifty grams of seeds come in only one small packet, and even three packets stacked together don't weigh much.

Qing Mengzhu tore open the familiar packaging and looked at the seeds inside.

"It looks like agate." Qing Mengzhu held the round seed up for close examination. "No wonder it's a seed from a cultivation world; it's just so cute."

Ming Chunxi: "It smells strongly of medicine."

Qing Mengzhu: "I just don't know if it has a dormant period. I'll cut some Luring Grass later and soak it in it."