Qing Mengzhu

Biodata

Power Progression

Qing Mengzhu advances through crop-specific skills, broader Grower ranks, and Interstellar Mall membership. These are distinct systems: a crop’s quality grade is not his personal rank 87 202 223.

Advancement Requirements

• The Mall’s stated route from Junior Grower to Intermediate Grower requires Intermediate Soil Science, Intermediate Fertilizer Science, Intermediate Fruit and Vegetable Pest and Disease Science, and intermediate planting skills in rice, soybeans, and any vegetable 223.
• Intermediate Mall membership requires monthly sales of 100,000 Star Coins; high-level membership requires more than one million Star Coins in monthly sales 180 194.
• After the accidental soil-science purchase, the Mall prevents him from buying additional skill books for three months 194.

Background / History

Family and Early Adulthood

Qing Mengzhu’s mother died during his childhood. His father, Qing Yan, married Ming Lexin while Qing Mengzhu was in middle school, making Ming Chunxi his stepbrother. The marriage lasted five years and ended amicably during Qing Mengzhu’s high-school years. Over that period, Qing Mengzhu’s attitude toward Ming Chunxi changed from hostility to friendship and familial affection, then to romantic feelings he tried to suppress 9 93.

During the summer after his first university year, his father drowned while swimming outdoors. His father’s company went bankrupt, and its assets were used to settle its debts; Qing Mengzhu did not inherit those debts. What remained to him was the old house and farmland left by his grandparents. Ming Lexin helped resolve the company’s affairs and offered to fund his education, but he declined and supported himself through work while studying 9.

He withdrew from many former acquaintances and took two or three years to begin reconnecting. He nevertheless maintained contact with Ming Lexin, sending holiday greetings and occasional gifts in gratitude for her help 9.

Return to Pingkou Village

Qing Mengzhu returned to the family’s aging two-story home in Pingkou Village and began testing local produce through the Interstellar Mall. His early efforts included scanning courtyard chives and gathering wild vegetables to earn Star Coins 2 3.

Rather than immediately rent out the family’s 13.3 mu of land, he decided to try agriculture. His initial plan combined lotus and vegetable cultivation with online illustration and design commissions, preserving another source of income if farming failed. Although he remembered watching his grandparents grow lotuses, he had no previous farming experience and researched varieties, fertilizers, and planting methods as he worked 4 5 11.

His produce soon attracted local customers and agricultural specialists. Nian Xinfei praised his detailed growing records and scientific approach; his first two large pepper harvests averaged 227 jin per mu each. Qing Mengzhu also offered his promising lotus stock to the germplasm bank to support cultivation research 53 105.

Reconnecting with Ming Chunxi

After years apart, Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi resumed contact and met for dinner on May 3. Qing Mengzhu remained deeply attached to him but carefully concealed his feelings. Ming Chunxi subsequently became a frequent visitor, helping in the fields, staying overnight, and installing cameras around the house 15 23 33 47.

Their relationship changed after Qing Mengzhu rescued a drowning child with Dharma Protector and Guard. He performed CPR until the boy resumed breathing, but returned home shaken. Ming Chunxi hurried over, embraced him, and confessed. Qing Mengzhu admitted his feelings while explaining that he feared change and another painful ending 93.

They began dating, and Ming Chunxi moved into his home. When the rescued boy’s family publicly thanked him, Qing Mengzhu reflected that, although his own father had not been saved, he had become someone else’s good fortune. Ming Lexin later openly welcomed their relationship, easing his lingering guilt about dating her son 95 96 132.

The couple planned Zhuxi together, and Qing Mengzhu entrusted Ming Chunxi with his enormous secret. Their partnership developed into shared domestic life, business planning, and travel. They later exchanged rings with Ming Lexin, staff, and their dogs present 119 120 287 344.

Agricultural Expansion

With Zhao Hexi joining the business, Qing Mengzhu expanded beyond his original ponds and vegetable plots into rented fields, orchards, bamboo production, and agricultural products. He applied his soil-science knowledge to acidity testing, lime treatment, microorganisms, and organic-matter improvement 120 175 194.

His bamboo became a significant commercial crop. He secured an exclusive three-year agreement for bamboo remaining after fresh-sap extraction, negotiated further purchases with Duan Yu’ang, and cultivated a mutated stalk that attracted research interest. His company’s products also included Insect-Killing Bacillus, Insect-Killing Bacillus Biological Missiles, and earthworms 243 251 262 263.

Duan Yu’ang’s recognition of his contribution to the country, together with the opportunity to lease borderland farmland, deeply moved him. Later operations included a tropical orchard in Qiongwei City and fields in Ye’erqingele, where he purchased an oilseed-sunflower crop, leased the farm, and arranged pollination and soil care. Tomato sauce, tomato paste, and dried-pepper production also began through a contract manufacturer 257 287 362.

The opening chapter previews his eventual success: after years of work, agricultural workers seek out his farm as a place of “pilgrimage” and call it the number one farm in the world. Qing Mengzhu credits both his unexpected opportunity and his sustained effort 1.

Youth What-If Timeline

In the alternate youth route, Qing Mengzhu continues living with Ming Chunxi after their parents’ divorce. The former family villa is transferred into both boys’ names, and they prepare for the college entrance examinations together 389 390.

They acknowledge their mutual attraction before university. Qing Mengzhu performs better than expected, enters a 985 university in the same city as Ming Chunxi, and unexpectedly chooses agronomy rather than design. Both families accept their relationship 390 391.

After graduation, his father buys him a small house. Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi maintain their relationship during Ming Chunxi’s postgraduate studies, then reunite when he completes his doctorate; Qing Mengzhu welcomes him home with green-centered sunflowers he grew himself 391.

Appearance

• Fair skin and a slender build: His exposed arms are described as exceptionally white; later passages note his lean waist 1 383.
• Refined, handsome features: A hairstylist asks to film him after giving him a particularly flattering haircut, but he declines 15.
• Straight posture: He sits upright both while waiting for Ming Chunxi and while studying agricultural papers 15 232.
• Sun-protective workwear: Usually wears a hat, face covering, and sun-protection gloves when working outdoors 15.
• Glasses for reading: Wears blue-light-blocking glasses while researching rice cultivation 232.

Personality

Qing Mengzhu is self-reliant, cautious about accepting help, and uncomfortable with obligations he fears he cannot repay. Farming gives him a sense of security because he believes the land will reward effort and provide a basic livelihood. Ming Chunxi challenges his tendency to treat friendship as an exchange of equivalent favors 9 92.

Repeated bereavements leave him afraid of emotional change. He initially prefers preserving his existing connection with Ming Chunxi to risking a confession, and sometimes invites Zhao Hexi over to interrupt an increasingly intimate atmosphere. Once he accepts the relationship, he becomes more openly affectionate and playful 93 96 137.

His agricultural enthusiasm is matched by persistence and self-criticism. He keeps careful records, reads research papers, and worries when his progress appears to depend more on purchased resources than on personal skill. Even after establishing a successful business, he continues seeking a deeper understanding of cultivation 53 232 338.

He is generous without courting status. He shares produce with friends and relatives, offers planting stock for research, and remains composed when he suspects Qing Guozhi has an influential background. His care also extends to animals: he rewards their work while allowing them recreation and companionship 29 35 70 105.

Abilities & Skills

Agricultural Assessment

His Grower ranks turn accumulated agricultural knowledge into increasingly immediate practical judgment 202 345.

• As a Junior Grower, can recognize plant varieties, estimate quality, and identify problems in crops, soil, and water at a glance 202.
• As an Intermediate Grower, develops a unified evaluation system for living and nonliving things 345.
• Can assess unfamiliar crops well enough to select healthy, well-positioned durian blossoms and decide which to remove 356.
• Still uses Mall scans for detailed confirmation; identifying a mutation does not automatically reveal its useful properties 262.

Professional-Skill Perception

After becoming an Intermediate Grower, he can sense people’s professional specialties and skill levels 340.

• The Mall Assistant gives these perceptions a visible form, identifying Ming Chunxi’s artificial-intelligence and quantum-computing skills as master level 340.
• Scans display skills at proficient level and above. Qing Mengzhu believes he can sense lower levels even when the app does not show them 340.

Cultivation and Soil Management

Combines research, practical experience, skill-book knowledge, and resources from other planes 175 180.

• Formulates fertilizer for bamboo’s current growth stage 96.
• Plans soil restoration through organic matter, acidity management, microorganisms, and specialized agents 175 194.
• Manages pond preparation, seed germination, transplanting, orchard care, and bamboo-grove density 191 287 380.
• Recognizes that results depend on seeds, water, soil, fertilizer, and technique rather than any single enhancement 180.

Notable Cultivation Results

Animal Handling

Builds cooperative relationships with household pets and nearby wildlife rather than relying solely on confinement 70 73.

• Trains Dharma Protector and Guard to refuse food from strangers while allowing them to visit village dog friends 70.
• Uses food rewards and guidance to encourage Little Otter and the red fox to protect the shrimp ponds from predators 73.
• Gradually settles conflict between orchard wolfdogs and visiting cats, encouraging the dogs to allow cats in to catch mice 301.

Cooking and Other Skills

• Prepares everyday meals, seasonal dishes, pickled ingredients, and dishes using interstellar produce 71 118 159.
• Has illustration and design skills that he initially intends to maintain through online commissions 5.
• Has learned rescue techniques and successfully performs CPR on a drowning child, although the rescue itself leaves him frightened and disoriented 93.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Interstellar Mall and Mall Assistant — Used to sell produce for Star Coins, acquire seeds and agricultural resources, inspect quality, and access skill books 2 25 87 202.
• Growth Liquid — Accelerates bamboo growth dramatically, requiring corresponding fertilizer and water support 112 113.
• Spirit Pearl Dregs — Used in ponds, fields, and orchard wells as part of his cultivation improvements 268 287.
• Soil Fertility Restoration Agent — Improves growing conditions; treatment of the bamboo grove helps restore the mother bamboo’s quality 181.
• Seed Gene Agent — A technological-plane product that generally raises seed quality by one minor grade, or two with good luck 327.
• Farm tools and transport — Uses hoes, brush knives, an electric chainsaw, scooters, and a small three-wheeler 55 102 156 277.
• Bamboo-grove map — Specially made by Ming Chunxi; Qing Mengzhu marks the location of his mutated bamboo on it 262.

Relationships

• Ming Chunxi — Former stepbrother, longtime mutual crush, romantic partner, and business collaborator. Supports his farm work, reviews plans and contracts, and shares his secret 9 95 119 120 175 204.
• Zhao Hexi — Close friend who encourages his agricultural career and later resigns from his job to join the business. Takes an increasingly managerial role 5 120 338.
• Ming Lexin — Former stepmother and Ming Chunxi’s mother. Helps after Qing Yan’s death, remains close to Qing Mengzhu, and accepts the couple as family 9 132 209.
• Qing Yan — Father, whose accidental drowning profoundly affects him. Remains alive and supportive in the youth what-if route 9 93 391.
• Meng Zhenyu — Mother, who died during his childhood 93 119.
• Qing Guozhi — Distant elder relative addressed as “Sixteenth Grandpa.” Becomes a frequent visitor and customer, brings gifts, and helps with liquor-distilling equipment 29 30 332.
• Tan Wenlei — Neighbor addressed as “Uncle Wenlei.” Provides seedlings, local knowledge, and introductions to other growers 6 11 145.
• Zhou Yan — Chef and friend who cooks with his ingredients, helps prepare cured meat, and becomes a recruitment prospect for Qing Mengzhu’s business 53 159 220.
• Nian Xinfei and Ji Qinglin — Agricultural contacts who exchange knowledge with him and recognize the value of his growing methods or planting stock 53 105 232.
• Duan Yu’ang and Pei Guangjian — Important bamboo-business contacts. Duan Yu’ang also connects his bamboo work with research and borderland expansion 243 251 257 262.
• Dharma Protector and Guard — His dogs, companions, and household protectors. Help save the drowning child, find wild sealwort, and participate in the couple’s ring exchange 93 145 344.
• Little Otter and the red fox — Wildlife companions rewarded with dried meat. Protect his property and ponds and bring fish or wild plants 43 73 118 129.

Notable Quotes

“When one door closes, another opens. Let’s see if I can make something of myself in agriculture.” 5

“I feel like as long as I’m willing to work hard, the land will give me something in return.” 92

“Holding your hand, growing old together with you. I hope we’ll still be like this a long time from now.” 209

Trivia

• His name combines Qing from Qing Yan and Meng from Meng Zhenyu. The final character, zhu, expresses his parents’ blessing and wish for a peaceful, smooth life 119.
• He proposes Zhuxi as the company name by combining the zhu in his name with the xi in Ming Chunxi’s, deliberately continuing that naming tradition 119.
• To conceal the unusual origins of his crops, he creates ordinary purchase records, including buying outside bamboo and burning it for plant ash 148.