Chapter 92 (continued)

But it's time to make some plans now.

Qing Mengzhu is very decisive and acts on her ideas immediately.

Two days later, he went to the seed shop he knew in town to buy seeds.

He made a table specifying the variety, quantity, and manufacturer of the seeds, and showed it to his boss so that the boss could configure the seeds according to the table.

The shop owner laughed as soon as he saw it, "I've been selling seeds for so many years, and you're the only one buying like this, like a big company making a purchase."

Qing Mengzhu: "Of all the seeds I bought, you're the only one who's reliable enough to match the seeds to my needs strictly according to my spreadsheet."

The shop owner laughed heartily, "Of course, if I didn't strictly follow your requirements, you would have to buy from someone else."

The boss took a small basket and carefully placed the seeds into it one by one according to the form.

He placed one package, Qing Mengzhu looked at the other, specifically checking key information such as the variety, production date, and manufacturer.

Although they are all the same variety of seeds, the seeds produced by different companies are very different. The yield, taste, disease resistance, and temperature adaptability are all different. If you buy the wrong seeds, at best you will reduce the yield, and at worst you will not be able to grow the desired taste, and the whole crop will be wasted.

He has always been very careful about distinguishing seeds.

While they were busy working, a man walked in and asked the shop owner, "Boss, have the Sichuan pepper seedlings you ordered for me arrived yet?"

The shop owner looked up at the newcomer. "We've arrived. Please wait a moment."

Then, the boss said to Qing Mengzhu, "I'll go get him some pepper seedlings first, I'll be right back."

Qing Mengzhu nodded, indicating that the boss could go and get it.

Soon, the shop owner came out carrying a bundle of smooth, rooted tree branches and handed it to the man. He then took out two packets of rooting powder from under the counter. "After you take this home, put the rooting powder in a bucket, dilute it with water according to the instructions, soak the pepper seedlings in it overnight, and you can plant them tomorrow morning, or you can plant them in the evening."

The man inspected the pepper seedlings and said happily, "Got it, thanks!"

The boss said, "You're welcome. If you have any questions, you can ask me on WeChat or call me directly."

The man nodded, took the pepper seedlings, and quickly left.

Qing Mengzhu asked, "Do we still grow Sichuan pepper here?"

Boss: "Yes, we always grow them. Don't people in your village grow them too? Didn't you know?"

Qing Mengzhu hadn't really paid attention. "What kind of Sichuan pepper is usually planted?"

The shop owner noticed his interest and smiled, "We grow everything—edible or medicinal Sichuan peppercorns, green or red ones, there are so many varieties. If you're interested in growing any, I can give you some suggestions."

Qing Mengzhu: "I'll go back and check, to see if we should plant it."

The shop owner said, "If you want to plant them, just contact me on WeChat, and I can help you buy the seedlings."

Qing Mengzhu quickly took the seeds she had bought and went home.

He first processed the seeds, and then looked up information about Sichuan pepper.

They have quite a variety of Sichuan peppercorns here, including green Sichuan peppercorns, red Sichuan peppercorns, and rattan peppercorns. There's also a local variety called "Vine City Great Red Robe," which is very popular.

In the evening, Ming Chunxi returned home and saw many printed documents about Sichuan pepper on the table. He asked, "Are we going to plant Sichuan pepper?"

Qing Mengzhu: "I'm considering it. The price of Sichuan pepper is quite good, it's easy to grow, and doesn't require much management. The profit should be good after it's grown."

Ming Chunxi: "Which kind do you want to plant?"

"I haven't decided yet." Qing Mengzhu stretched. "I'm overwhelmed by all the choices. Each of these peppercorns has its own advantages, and any of them would be good to plant."

Ming Chunxi went over and massaged his neck and shoulders. "Let's check out the Interstellar Mall to see what varieties of Sichuan peppercorns they have."

Qing Mengzhu grabbed her phone. "I'd completely forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it. Let me search for it."

Qing Mengzhu skillfully opened the search bar and started searching for Sichuan peppercorns in the Interstellar Mall.

Then he discovered that the Interstellar Mall had far more pepper seeds than he had imagined.

Qing Mengzhu: "One, two, three... eleven, there are actually eleven records."

Ming Chunxi leaned closer to look with him. "Which one is the most expensive?"

Qing Mengzhu clicked on the first item. "This kind of Bazheng Sichuan Pepper... Wow, it's actually 'Superior Grade+' quality, that's rare."

Ming Chunxi also saw it. "Two hundred thousand Star Coins for fifty grams, we can't afford it."

Qing Mengzhu glanced at the glaring price and sighed, "Even if we could afford it, we couldn't grow it. Our fertilizer, water, soil, and planting techniques are all insufficient to grow this quality of Sichuan pepper."

The Sichuan peppercorns from "Superior Grade+" look to be of very high quality. I wonder how fragrant they would be if they were grown?

Ming Chunxi reminded him, "Let's look at the next one."

Qing Mengzhu: "Alright, the next item is 'Superior Grade-' Tuli Sichuan Pepper, priced at 18,000 Star Coins for 50 grams, wow, so expensive!"

Ming Chunxi: "Let's look further down."

Qing Mengzhu: "Junyi Sichuan Pepper, 'Fine Grade+', 8,800 Star Coins for 50 grams, I can afford that. Golden Red Sichuan Pepper, 'Fine Grade+', 8,600 Star Coins for 50 grams. Taiqing Sichuan Pepper, 'Fine Grade', 5,000 Star Coins for 50 grams..."

Qing Mengzhu scrolled to the bottom of the search results. "The quality of the peppercorns at the end is not very good, there's no need to look at them."

Ming Chunxi: "Let's buy Tuli Sichuan Pepper."

Qing Mengzhu muttered, "Eighteen thousand Star Coins only yield fifty grams of seeds. We don't have enough Star Coins; we'll have to scrape together more."

Ming Chunxi: "We can sell some of the dried bamboo shoots and dried chilies. The lotus roots are almost ready to harvest. Let's sell a batch of tomatoes first, then sell the bamboo shoots to accumulate some more. The shortage isn't too big."

"It's too expensive." Qing Mengzhu looked at her balance in her personal center and felt her heart was bleeding. "We only have a little over seven thousand Star Coins now, which is less than a fraction of what we can buy with peppercorns."

Qing Mengzhu also knew that good seeds could bring them huge profits, so given the opportunity to buy good seeds, they would definitely buy them.

For trees like Sichuan pepper, which can live up to fifty years, the difference in accumulated profits between planting good seeds and planting bad seeds is enormous.

Ming Chunxi looked at his furrowed brows and patted his head.

They hoarded so many dried bamboo shoots and dried chilies to meet the requirement of selling 10,000 Star Coins worth of goods each month at the Interstellar Mall.

Qing Mengzhu likes to prepare in advance to avoid any unexpected situations.

Now that we need to sell all these accumulated supplies, the pressure next month will be quite high.

Qing Mengzhu thought for a moment and said, "I need to calm down for a couple of days. It's not absolutely necessary to plant Sichuan peppercorns."

Ming Chunxi: "Indeed, but after planting them, the speed at which we accumulate Star Coins should be much faster than now, just like the benefits that planting Cloud Mirror Bamboo brings us."

Qing Mengzhu gently tightened her grip on his waist, gritting her teeth as she said, "Don't tempt me!"

Qing Mengzhu leaned back in her chair, unwilling to move. After a while, she said, "I've noticed that the Interstellar Mall has a lot more medicinal herbs and trees than vegetables."

He tried searching for vegetables such as eggplant, pepper, and cabbage using various keywords, but to no avail.

On the contrary, you can sometimes find several kinds of medicinal herbs, such as Polygonatum, ginseng, and Panax notoginseng.

He couldn't find any results when he searched for Gastrodia elata before, but later he changed his keywords and searched for its alternative names, such as "Chijian".

Looking back now, the seeds he obtained from the Interstellar Mall were mostly medicinal herbs. Lotus seeds were medicinal herbs, bamboo could be used to make fresh bamboo sap, which was also a medicinal herb, not to mention Solomon's seal.

Ming Chunxi said, "It's possible that when the Interstellar Mall was acquiring plants, it was looking for substances with medicinal value."

"That's possible." Qing Mengzhu hugged Ming Chunxi's waist, leaned against his back, and sighed, "Why do we still feel so poor after planting for so long?"

Ming Chunxi: "It's just turning an account balance into real goods. Look at the bamboo covering the mountains and the lotus roots filling the ponds, isn't that better than an account balance? Plus, you can convert it into cash anytime."

Qing Mengzhu: "If you put it that way, it seems so."

Ming Chunxi comforted him, "That's how it is. Don't worry, you should be able to buy the peppercorns after working for a while."