Chapter 19 - Crop Selection
Zhao led everyone back to the castle and into the living room.
He helped Meirin sit down, while Meg stayed standing. She didn't look down this time, but instead stared at Zhao.
Zhao seemed calm, but on the inside his heart was beating rapidly because of the spark he felt from Meg, but this wasn't the time to think about that. He had a lot of things to do. The future of the Buda clan was at stake.
Meirin was a little used to Zhao's new way of doing things, so she didn't refuse when he helped her sit down. She had a look of excitement on her face. "Master, what should we do now?" She had unconsciously started to ask for Zhao's opinion.
"Grandma Meirin, choose some of the slaves that have had farming experience to work on the new farm land, and ask them what are the most appropriate seeds we should farm. Ah, do we have any seeds?"
Meirin nodded. "Yes, we have a lot of seeds on hand. But these seeds are of the most common grains and vegetables. We thought that they may be suitable to grow on the mountains, but to use them on such good farm land, it would just be a waste."
Zhao thought about it, but then decided to ask, "Grandma Meirin, what do we use to make fire for cooking and for keeping us warm during the cold weather?"
Meirin was undaunted. "Master, although there are magical furnaces that one could buy, our clan currently doesn't have such a luxury. Right now we can only use the dead trees and weeds that grow on the mountain for heating and cooking."
Because of the fact that Meirin and Green used to live among the higher class with the Buda clan, it was simply impossible for them to think of every single thing they would need to prepare. After all, they didn't know the Chinese saying of seven things: Firewood, Rice, Oil, Salt, Sauce, Vinegar, and Tea.
These seven things were closely related to people's lives. They could even be classified as necessities. And since firewood was ranked first, one could see how important it was. Since she used to live at the top, although Meirin brought a lot of living materials, she did not prepare one of life's simplest and most important necessity: firewood.
Even though Meirin was told of how barren the Black Waste was, she didn't expect that it was a place where even weeds wouldn't grow. In the Ark Continent, most of the population didn't have to worry about firewood. The rich and noble classes could use charcoal or magical furnaces. And even the poorest classes could find firewood to use. But finding wood in the Black Waste was very rare. There were only a few short trees and some weeds. Except for that, there weren't a lot of things available that could be used. Although she tried to prepare enough, in this continent where firewood was an insignificant thing that no one worried about, the Black Waste simply did not have it.
Meirin saw that Zhao had not spoken, and said, "Master, what do you want to grow in the new farm land?"
Zhao was thinking about it. In his space, he had a couple of seeds that were suitable such as wheat and bok choy. Although those were good crops, they weren't capable of producing a lot of firewood, so he did not want to plant them yet. This wasn't just about him. He had to first think about how to solve the problems of the Buda clan.
Zhao was left with only one choice: Corn!
For him, corn was a familiar crop. Although he had never personally planted any, in his past life, there was a lot of corn in the rural city he had lived in. Not only was corn high yield, the stalks of the corn could be used as firewood for the winter.
But right now he only had two acres worth of corn seeds. And the improved land outside was ten acres. He simply didn't have enough corn seeds.
Zhao thought about the things he had available in his spatial farm. He had two hundred gold coins (can't be used outside), six bags of hay seeds (can fill six acres), two bok choy seed bags (can fill two mu), two bags of wheat seeds (can fill two acres), two bags of corn seeds (can fill two acres), and a barn full of mature radishes, which would give him five hundred gold coins if he were to sell them in his spatial farm. Too bad it wasn't possible to bring the gold coins out of the space.
He could also cultivate two new acres of land. That was two acres of land! But he would need to spend two hundred gold coins, and after that he would have no money.
Meirin saw Zhao's frown. She didn't say anything. She knew it was useless to chase after Zhao's thoughts. She could only hope that the young master would be able to create another miracle.
Meg was also preoccupied with watching Zhao. She couldn't help but feel that the sight of Zhao, as he was lost in his thoughts, was particularly attractive.
Zhao put his hands together after he made a decision. "Grandma Meirin, tomorrow I'll be at the ten acres of improved land. For now, just organize the slaves at the mines and choose a few that I could work with. I need to get some rest." He stood up and walked out of the room.
Meirin did not know if Zhao would find a way. Recently, he had become reliable while also gaining an ability that she could not understand. So she chose to believe in him.
Meg followed Meirin to go organize the slaves. Things were about to get busy, and Meirin couldn't do it on her own.
Blockhead and Rockhead went along with Zhao as he rushed back to his room to check out his spatial farm, while the two stood as lookouts outside his door. His spatial farm still had its original appearance, which made Zhao feel relieved. After the black land improvement, a part of him thought that there would be less spatial earth and water. But he could see that there was no change.
If he could imrpove the large tracts of land out there, then it would be a huge advantage for him. Even if his spatial farm were to disappear one day, he would not starve to death. But right now he was still at the early stages. The existence of this space was needed to improve the Black Waste.
Zhao then looked at the radishes in the ground. Seeing as they were about to ripen, he finally made a decision. He whispered, "Sell the barn radishes."
The voice echoed: [Are you sure you want to sell the crops in the barn?]
"Yes."
A tone chimed and the voice continued: [All the barn radishes have been sold. Five hundred gold coins have been placed in your purse] [You do not have any crops in your barn. Make more of an effort to cultivate]
It was too early to test whether or not that batch of radishes could provide some seeds. Right now what he needed to get his hands on were some gold coins and other useful things. The test could only be done afterwards.
Zhao was now worth seven hundred gold coins, six hay seed bags, two bok choy bags, two bags of wheat seeds, and two corn seed bags. After calculating what he had, Zhao immediately said, "Cultivate the land."
The voice echoed: [Cultivating new land requires you to be at level three and two hundred gold coins. You have reached the requirement. Do you wish to cultivate the land?]
"Yes". The moment he said that, the space fluctuated and fog suddenly covered the ground. With a flash, next to his original area of farmland were two new acres of land. Zhao looked at his newly cultivated land and immediately said, "Open the ground and plant the corn seeds."
Seed bags, shovels, and buckets immediately worked together in harmony over the two acres of new farm land. Zhao was aware of how useful corn could be. He had cultivated two acres of land just to grow corn there. Once those corn mature, not only could he get more corn seeds, he could also get corn stalks that could be used as firewood.
Almost thirty thousand catty of corn could be grown from a single acre of land. And from those corn he could get a ton of seeds. Eventually, he would have enough to be able to plant at least six hundred acres of land. This was definitely a worthwhile business.
Zhao could only hope that the corn from this space wouldn't be inferior to the ones on Earth. If he could get some corn seeds and plant them outside, then that would solve a big problem. While he could make money from growing radishes, he could also get food and firewood from growing corn. This would lay the foundation for the Buda clan's future development.