The barrage of mocking comments about Li Ning went unnoticed; he was on the phone getting yelled at.

Li Ning studied under Cui Mingjue, the eldest son of Cui Shengguo, and was strictly speaking the direct descendant of the Cui family's swordsmanship. So, while others might address Cui Mingcheng as "Grandmaster" out of respect, it was only right and proper for Li Ning to call Cui Mingcheng "Grandmaster".

[You brat, what have you done now? Why are so many people on Weibo urging me to say that your master was fighting with someone over radishes in Ningcheng?!]

Cui Mingjue's voice boomed loudly on the other end of the phone, and Li Ning quickly explained to the person:

“Master, this is not my fault. I really saw my grandmaster flirting with a young girl in someone’s live stream. He even said he wanted to bring his disciples and grand-disciples over to be cut into pieces for her. Do you think this is my fault?”

[...]

Cui Mingjue's confusion was palpable over the phone, and Li Ning could easily guess that his master must have a face like an old man on the subway looking at his phone.

Are you still half asleep?! Your grandmaster is seventy-one this year!! He's old enough to be that young girl's grandfather, has a donkey kicked your brain?!

Li Ning then realized that his words were ambiguous and quickly explained:

"I mean, my master is probably attracted to that girl's culinary talent. I watched the live stream, and the way she cut the fish slices was clearly the Cui family's knife technique. Master, could it be that I'm going to have a junior sister?"

A click came from the other end of the phone; Cui Mingjue hung up. A short while later, she called back and gave Li Ning instructions:

Go to Ningcheng.

"Huh? What am I supposed to do in Ningcheng? The Golden Magnolia Culinary Competition is in less than six months. I can't possibly be asked to chop and assist my junior sister, can I?"

Li Ning's face scrunched up like a bitter gourd.

Cui Mingjue sneered on the other end of the phone:

What are you thinking? That's my junior sister, you have to call her aunt. Grandpa wants you to go and chop her up.

"???"

Li Ning looked bewildered.

...

...

"Dami Food Shop" became incredibly popular thanks to the momentum of Wang Tiantian's live stream, and the "super grapes" that appeared in the live stream also attracted a lot of attention.

The power of Weibo is immense; many people dug up Ningcheng's interview from some time ago and managed to find a clip of Liu Mingji being interviewed.

Ruihua Chain also took the opportunity to post several Weibo posts, directly pushing the keywords "Ningcheng", "super grape planting base" and "Cui Shengguo" to the top of the trending searches.

Xu Milu had no idea that she was about to have a handyman, nor did she know that her rice food shop had become famous.

Once all the ingredients she had prepared for the day were sold out, she drove her black minivan to Xingning Village.

...

After a few days, the plastic greenhouse had undergone a complete transformation. When Xu Milu arrived, Xu Lanjuan was leading the villagers to cover the greenhouse with insulation blankets. Tian Wen saw the familiar van and immediately came over.

"Mr. Xu, your grapes have been growing really well these past few days! The seedlings are growing like crazy after they drink water, it makes me so happy."

Tian Wen's face was almost splitting with laughter. This land, which had originally been leased out at a low price, had grown into a gold mine. Even if they couldn't eat the meat, they could at least drink some soup, right?

He was about to say something when he caught a glimpse of an ugly, green turtle perched on Xu Milu's shoulder and was startled.

"This is... a turtle?"

Enraged, Ah Chou struggled to bite him.

"This is my pet turtle, not a soft-shelled turtle."

Xu Milu casually pulled Ah Chou off and stuffed her into her pocket, then got straight to the point:

"Village chief, I'd like to hire people to cultivate the land for ten acres to grow vegetables. Could you help me arrange that? The wages are negotiable."

Xu Milu is not short of money right now. She hasn't even spent all the fruit money she received from Ruihua Chain Stores yet, and the bag of gems she has is worth a fortune. If she were short of money, she could easily become a millionaire by selling any one of them.

But at this critical juncture, she decided it was best to keep a low profile.

Upon hearing that she wanted to farm, Tian Wen readily agreed, regardless of whether it was the right time for cultivation.

"Okay, okay, there are only a few days left until the New Year. Everyone's gone home and just lazing around. I'll call them over in a bit and make sure they clean it up perfectly for you."

He paused, then cautiously probed:

"Hey Mr. Xu, what are you going to plant this time? Are you going to plant those super grapes again?"

Xu Milu plans to grow giant, delicious radishes this time. They only take about ten days to mature, and their taste is amazing.

She had about 50,000 jin of giant, delicious radish seeds, enough to plant on ten mu of land, which was only for supplying the store.

Genetically edited radishes can only be eaten and not used to grow seeds, which means that these radish seeds can only be harvested once.

Thinking this through, Xu Milu had an idea and suggested:

“Village chief, this time I’m planting a new variety of radish that I’ve developed. Why don’t you ask if anyone in the village is willing to plant it with me? You can buy the radish seeds from me.”

Tian Wen was a little disappointed when he heard it was radish seeds, but then he remembered the ping-pong grapes in the greenhouse and couldn't help but ask:

"So, how much do you sell your radish seeds for?"

Xu Milu smiled and said, "This variety is called Giant Delicious Radish, and the seeds cost 9.9 yuan per gram."

"How many?"

Tian Wen was terrified by the price.

You know, the most expensive white radish seeds on the market are only 85 yuan per kilogram, which is only 17 cents per gram. What kind of radish seeds can cost 9.9 yuan per gram?!

He was straightforward and asked what was on his mind right away.

Xu Milu wasn't angry and patiently explained, "This radish is a new variety. When it matures, it can grow to more than a meter tall and a single plant can weigh more than 100 kilograms. It has a fresh, crisp, and juicy taste and is mainly intended for restaurants."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!