Chapter 3

He had not expected it to lose so much value in just one day!

Was it because the wild greens were no longer fresh enough today? If he had known, he would have cleaned them up and put them in the fridge.

Looking at the wild greens in front of him, Qing Mengzhu learned his lesson. He immediately brought out all the wild greens and hurried to scan them.

A prompt popped up in the mall, asking whether he wanted to sell them.

He clicked "Confirm" without hesitation.

As he clicked, Qing Mengzhu wondered what kind of futuristic technology the Interstellar Mall would show him.

A beam of light shot out from the Interstellar Mall and enveloped the wild greens he had sold. After just two seconds, they turned soft and limp, their color much duller, as though they had suddenly gone stale.

Qing Mengzhu poked the wild greens with a finger. They felt as though they were about to rot, and the texture was unpleasant.

It seemed the Interstellar Mall only needed some of the substances in the wild greens, rather than the whole thing.

Qing Mengzhu puzzled over it for a long time, but he could not figure out how it worked, so he put it aside.

He had to hurry and see how many star coins were in his account!

Nervously opening his account, Qing Mengzhu spotted his personal balance at once.

The account balance that had just been 0.00 was now 11.23!

He had star coins!

Holding his phone, Qing Mengzhu excitedly returned to the homepage.

He was going to shop, shop, shop!

He was going to see the good things the interstellar age had to offer!

Chapter 3

His account's star coin balance had finally turned positive. With the enormous sum of 11.23 star coins in hand, Qing Mengzhu browsed back and forth through the mall, hoping to buy some interstellar products.

Soon, Qing Mengzhu sadly discovered that he apparently could not afford anything.

For example, the cheapest item on the homepage, Liaotian Leaf, was listed at 2.2 star coins per jin, but when he clicked on it, he found that the minimum purchase was a hundred jin.

Then there was Ginseng Powder Fruit, listed at 3.5 star coins per jin. When he clicked on it, the shipping cost was a whopping 119 star coins.

And then there was Stealing Spring Rice Wine, listed at 11.9 star coins a bottle. When he clicked on it, the mall showed that it was not available for sale in his current region.

Qing Mengzhu browsed the Interstellar Mall back and forth, sighing as he went.

What was the use of having an Interstellar Mall if he couldn't do this or that with it?!

After looking all around, Qing Mengzhu was certain he could not afford anything and felt somewhat disheartened as he considered leaving.

He casually swiped down to refresh the page, intending to close it.

Just then, a prize draw popped up in the mall.

"Huh?" Qing Mengzhu sat up straight and read the description carefully. "New users get three draws for 10 star coins. The draws don't have to be consecutive, and they're valid for 180 days. The chance of winning each draw is 33%."

Qing Mengzhu read the entire description carefully, then looked at the announcement of winners scrolling from left to right below it. "Spirit spring water, genetic medicine, civilian intelligent machinery, spirit spring water, spirit spring water, seeds..."

He returned to the homepage and searched for spirit spring water. The cheapest bottle cost 49.9 star coins.

The chance of winning was one in three, and the prizes seemed pretty good. A draw normally cost 5 star coins, so today's discount was decent.

He was a new user, after all, so his chances of winning would be relatively higher, right?

Qing Mengzhu thought it over for a moment and decided to give it a try.

He only had 11.23 star coins. Even if he did not enter the draw, there was not much he could do with them, so he might as well try.

If it really did not work out, abandoning the mall and cutting his losses in time would also be a decent option.

Soon, Qing Mengzhu had purchased the three draws for 10 star coins.

He took a deep breath and prepared to draw.

Just as his hand was about to press the button, he suddenly stood up and jogged all the way to the bathroom. He soaped up both hands and washed them thoroughly.

Only then did he return to the table and solemnly press the draw button with one hand.

Once the fireworks effect finished, the prize opened. A box appeared on the screen with the words "Seed blind box" written on it.

Seriously? Even seeds came in blind boxes?

Qing Mengzhu froze for a moment. Instructions had already appeared beneath the box, asking the user to choose between dryland and wetland crops.

What was this? Could they be grain seeds, like wheat for dryland and rice for wetlands?

People in their area were accustomed to eating rice. Qing Mengzhu had looked up rice seeds when he searched for seeds before, and they were quite expensive, starting at more than a hundred star coins per jin.

If he drew rice seeds, he would make a huge profit on this draw.

Suppressing his excitement, Qing Mengzhu solemnly chose "Wetland crops."

The seed blind box swelled and quickly opened. An image of a bag of seeds appeared on the screen, and as the golden light faded, a message popped up: "Congratulations to user D01 on receiving one bag of lotus seeds."

Lotus seeds, of all things!

Qing Mengzhu had thought it would be a common crop!

While he was still dazed, a new prompt appeared on the screen: "Claim?"

Qing Mengzhu immediately clicked "Yes."

Lotus seeds it was. He could not waste something he had won in a draw!

Light flashed on the screen, followed by a beam shining down onto the floor, where something emerged within it.

When the light vanished, a neatly wrapped package lay on the floor.

Qing Mengzhu crouched down and picked up the package. It was a bag of lotus seeds.

The packaging was rather strange. It looked a little like the dried leaves of some plant, and also like paper.

There was no writing on the packaging. It was perfectly ordinary packaging.

After turning it over and examining it, Qing Mengzhu found that the description of the lotus seeds was in his personal center.

This variety of lotus seed was called "Sacrificial Lord." It was a "premium" seed and needed to be planted in deep water.

He searched online but could not find this variety of lotus seed. The word "premium" held his attention, though he did not know what the label meant.

He searched the Interstellar Mall and found that premium seeds were all quite expensive, costing at least several hundred star coins. That suggested these seeds should be something good.

After pondering for a while, Qing Mengzhu continued reading. Planting instructions were included below, and they were very comprehensive. They also specifically stated that the plant would not cause a biological invasion.

Qing Mengzhu read them carefully and found that this lotus variety was well suited to the local climate. He did not know whether the Interstellar Mall had specifically selected it for him based on his location.

After making sure the description of the lotus seeds would not disappear, Qing Mengzhu turned his attention to the bag of seeds.

The lotus seeds were very dry. According to the description, the bag contained 500 grams. He went inside and brought out two baskets, removed the packaging, poured the seeds into a basket, and counted them one by one.

He counted twice. There were 467 lotus seeds in the bag, and they were medium-sized as lotus seeds went.

Should he plant them or not?

Qing Mengzhu grabbed a handful of the deep black lotus seeds and rubbed them lightly in his hand, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

He was too tired today, and there was no hurry for Qing Mengzhu to decide. He ate a simple dinner, then bathed and went to bed.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, Qing Mengzhu went first to the village committee.

The village committee had witnessed the agreement when his family rented their fields to the tenant.

Now the contract had expired, and the tenant was not renewing it. The village committee had helped find a new tenant and asked him to come back and take a look.

He had wanted to come back because he needed to deal with renting out the fields.

The current village committee director, Qing Yukai, was of the same generation as Qing Mengzhu. Strictly speaking, the two were also distant cousins.

He had spoken to Qing Yukai on WeChat beforehand, and now that he was here, Qing Yukai was waiting for him.

Since Qing Mengzhu was not sure whether he wanted to rent out the fields, Qing Yukai had not called over the family interested in renting them.

As soon as Qing Yukai saw Qing Mengzhu, he could not help sizing him up. "Mengzhu, long time no see. You still look just the same, huh?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "Don't you?"

Qing Yukai said, "No, no, no. I've gotten old."

Qing Mengzhu laughed. "Oh, come on. You're six months younger than me. How are you old?"

Qing Yukai led him to the sofa and sat down with him. "Really. I even saw white hairs on top of my head the other day. You're back this time to rent out your family's thirteen point three mu of land, right?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "I haven't decided yet. What's the situation with the family that wants to rent it?"

Qing Yukai said, "It's Uncle Dapang's second daughter and her husband, the family of that daughter of his who married into Righteous Beak Mountain. Haven't we been working on community-supported agriculture and connecting agriculture with supermarkets these past two years? Uncle Dapang wants his daughter and son-in-law to come over and work with him. The tenant renting your family's fields happens not to be renewing the lease, so they want to see if they can take over."