Chapter 171 is exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City and invites you to visit.
Villagers usually go to the general store to buy all sorts of supplies, including mushrooms, meat, grains, and fish.
However, this time the mutated food accounted for a large proportion.
On average, each household spent more than 300 jin, and the whole village combined brought Lu Xuan more than 15,000 jin of grain in one day.
Aside from upgraded bio-suits and air conditioners, the largest and best-selling items are various small home appliances.
Lu Xuan previously recycled and processed mainly large machinery that the village no longer needed, and almost no small household appliances were processed.
Because it's not worth it.
It's different when it's given to the villagers.
On the surface, the price has dropped significantly, but in reality, the points earned from recycling and processing the grain are almost ten times higher than the original price of the small appliances.
It's incredibly profitable.
Besides small home appliances, hoverboards, which are the most affordable and high-quality mode of transportation and whose price has dropped to the same level as upgraded bio-suits, are also selling well, with almost every household buying at least one.
The profit margin is not as high as that of small home appliances, but it can still reach five times.
No one has approached him to buy the house yet, but Lu Xuan isn't in a hurry.
Anyway, we'll have to buy it sooner or later, and we'll get hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain in the end, plus at least one or two hundred million points from the redemption.
Lu Xuan sighed, "Indeed, no matter the era, real estate is always the most profitable."
He can make this much money from just over fifty households in one village. If he expands his real estate business across the entire plane, let alone one warship, he could probably make ten...
Lu Xuan paused slightly when he thought about the price of ten warships.
Forget it, I'm thinking too far ahead.
Not all the disaster victims outside are as wealthy as the villagers of Yunlu Village.
If you really want to develop real estate, you need to make more people wealthy and able to afford it first.
Lu Xuan murmured, "We still need to cultivate more land."
The viewers in the live stream couldn't help but react when they heard this.
[If they knew they should cultivate more land, why did the village still give up so much in dividends? They're losing out big time!]
Today's income is high, but most of the goods sold are one-off transactions; there certainly won't be much profit in the future. Compared to the losses from the land, it's far less significant.
If the streamer's harvest is less, will our prize pool also decrease?
【No way! I've never won anything before!】
[With more and more people participating, but fewer and fewer prizes? Doesn't that mean the odds of winning are even lower?]
[I don't understand the streamer's actions either. Actually, even if you didn't mention it, the villagers wouldn't see anything wrong with the current revenue sharing method, so why insist on lowering the price?]
Lu Xuan said, "We don't need the profit sharing anymore. Aren't there still the energy consumption of air conditioning and plant protection machines? Each mu of land consumes at least 200 jin per month. Overall, we can still maintain 35% of the grain we get, which is not bad."
"Besides, although the yield in the field looks like a lot, in reality, even if we split it 50%, it's only a few hundred thousand catties of grain, and the points earned from recycling are only tens of millions, which is far from my goal of 10 billion."
[This streamer has really gotten arrogant; he's looking down on tens of thousands of kilograms of grain???]
[But reducing your share will only make things worse!]
[Is the streamer planning to reinstate the wood-based ability to accelerate growth and shorten crop maturity time?]
[That's one way. This way, production will at least double, and the 20% profit share can be indirectly restored to 40%, which isn't much of a difference.]
Lu Xuan shook his head, "I don't plan to use supernatural abilities to accelerate food production on a large scale anymore."
He had already given up on mass production of ginseng and lingzhi, so how could he possibly start growing and dying in the fields again?
Even if two hundred acres of land can't kill him, the daily exertion will still be exhausting.
"I prefer to let others take the lead rather than exhaust myself."
Lu Xuan said, "The village has only a small population and limited production capacity. We should broaden our horizons and have a bigger vision."
Viewers in the live stream were confused: How far? How big?
Lu Xuan said meaningfully, "The village doesn't have a large population, but the Huo family army has more than three thousand men."
With so many people practically right under our noses, how could we not cause some trouble?
He had been deliberately trying to see Huo Tiankuo's reaction when he dealt with the Wei family.
If the other party tries to smooth things over or treats the matter leniently, then there is naturally no need for further cooperation.
Huo Tiankuo kicked the man out without hesitation. His decisive and clear-cut style of action impressed Lu Xuan.
A person of respectable status, strong capabilities, and clear judgment in handling affairs—exactly the kind of trading partner he wanted.
So, before it got too late, Lu Xuan sent a message to Huo Tiankuo.
·
Huo Tiankuo never expected that Lu Xuan would contact him after only two days apart.
The purpose of the contact was still to invite him to visit Yunlu Village.
He had long been curious about Yunlu Village, and without saying a word, he brought six personal guards and followed Lu Xuan, who had come to pick him up, to Yunlu Village.
The seven people were immediately struck by the houses, which looked even more exquisite than the buildings in the city, and their eyes clearly showed amazement.
However, when Lu Xuan deliberately parked the car near the greenhouse and saw through the transparent glass the lush green crops growing so well that they shouldn't be there in winter, Huo Tiankuo and the other six's attention was naturally diverted.
Huo Tiankuo's eyes were filled with disbelief.
Those are all crops!?
In this freezing weather, with heavy snow falling outside, how can Yunlu Village grow so many crops that haven't frozen to death?!
And such a large glass house, even the royal family couldn't produce one, so how did Yunlu Village obtain it?
The bodyguard who followed kept rubbing his eyes, muttering, "Am I dreaming?"
Some people even pinched their thighs hard, exclaiming, "Ouch! That hurts! Is this not a dream!?"
Lu Xuan had anticipated that they would be most interested in the greenhouse, and said, "Let's go inside and take a look."
Huo Tiankuo naturally wouldn't refuse.
As the group followed Lu Xuan into the greenhouse, a gust of hot air hit them, startling Huo Tiankuo and the others who were already deeply shocked.
"So warm!"
"How can it be so warm inside!"
"General Huo!"
The villagers, led by the village chief, who had received the news in advance and were waiting in the greenhouse, excitedly came over to greet them.
The villagers, who had never seen Huo Tiankuo before, all had their eyes shining.
This is General Huo in his living form!
If it weren't for the catastrophe, they would never have had the chance to see it in their lifetime.
Huo Tiankuo suppressed his shock and greeted the village chief and other villagers, exchanging a few pleasantries.
Unexpectedly, in just a short while, I started to sweat.
It's so hot!
If it weren't for the heavy snow falling outside, one would almost forget that it's the dead of winter.
Huo Tiankuo couldn't help but ask, "Why is it so hot here?"
Before Lu Xuan could answer, Li Tie said enthusiastically, "The glass greenhouse itself has good heat retention, but the main reason is because of the air conditioning."
Li Tie pointed to the standing air conditioner placed in a corner of the greenhouse and said, "The air conditioner can adjust the surrounding temperature at will, cooling in the hottest season and heating in the coldest season. It is a treasure that Lu Xuan obtained from the immortal."
Huo Tiankuo and his personal guards' eyelids twitched.
Another immortal?
For Huo Jiajun, who never believed in ghosts or gods, the story of Yunlu Village was highly suspicious.
As Li Tie explained, he led them to the nearest air conditioner, where they personally experienced the hot air blowing out.
Now they have no choice but to believe it.
After all, they couldn't imagine anyone else who could produce such an incredible treasure unless it belonged to an immortal.
Li Tie continued, "Because the cost of building greenhouses is relatively high, we only planted 200 mu of land. In addition to the dozens of mu here, there are more than 100 mu on two nearby hills, all of which have been covered with greenhouses."
Huo Jiajun's personal guards gasped.
Two hundred acres of greenhouses? That's quite a grand undertaking.
Huo Tiankuo was also starting to lose his composure.
Before the catastrophe, the royal family also had special greenhouses and hot spring resorts for growing off-season vegetables, but these were limited to leafy greens.
The quantity was so small that it could only be specially supplied to the royal family and noble families; the grains in high demand simply could not be grown out of season.
Yunlu Village planted 200 mu in one go, and they even called it "only"?
Now that there are no higher-ups collecting taxes, most of what is grown belongs to them. Even if each acre only yields two or three hundred catties of grain, they can still get forty or fifty thousand catties of grain!
No wonder they can donate thousands of kilograms of supplies to them so easily; Yunlu Village is truly wealthy!
Just as I was thinking this, I heard Li Tie continue, "The crops we grow here are all mutated varieties improved by magic, and their yields far exceed those of ordinary grains. The average yield of various crops per mu exceeds 1,500 jin!"
"What!?"
"1500 jin? Is that true?"
Huo Tiankuo and his personal guards gasped in shock once again.
How can there be so many?!
Li Tie grinned and said, "Of course it's true, we've accepted it several times already."
The other villagers around also nodded in agreement.
"During the hottest season, we only planted 80 mu (approximately 13 acres), and the yield was not very high at that time. The lowest yield was only 700-800 jin (approximately 350-400 kg) of grain and vegetables."
"But during the rainy season, we expanded our reclamation by 200 mu (approximately 33 acres), and each family received at least 2,000 jin (approximately 1,000 kg), with some receiving more than 4,000 jin (approximately 2,000 kg)!"
Li Tie said, "General, you saw the mutated radishes and cabbages we donated to Huo's army before. They were so big, how could the yield be small?"
Huo Tiankuo nodded subconsciously.
The yield of cabbage and radish is already relatively high, so if they are all that big, a significant increase in yield is inevitable.
The sweet potatoes, too, were much sweeter and bigger than any he had ever eaten before!
But wouldn't this mean that the actual yield of the fields in Yunlu Village was several times higher than he had expected?
A single harvest can yield hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain!?
Huo Tiankuo felt that he had never experienced more shocks in his entire life than he had today.
Li Tie said with emotion, "We are able to have this day all thanks to Ah Xuan. The improvement of the seeds was all accomplished by his wood-type ability, including the greenhouse, air conditioning, and all the immortal treasures. He also obtained them for us."
Huo Tiankuo looked at Lu Xuan, who was standing to the side with a relaxed expression, and was once again amazed by his abilities.
He had thought that the huge vines that the other party had shown that day were Lu Xuan's biggest trump card, but now it seemed that it was just the tip of the iceberg.
"Wait a minute." One of the guards suddenly realized something was wrong.
"When you talk about the hottest season, are you referring to the two months or so at the beginning of the severe drought? And the subsequent floods? It's only been half a month since the famine started, how many times have you actually harvested grain?"
Do crops mature that quickly?
When this was mentioned, Li Tie straightened his back even more.
"There were many. We harvested three times during the extremely hot season alone, and twice during the rainy season."
If it weren't for the delays caused by the extremely hot season and the early stages of the rainy season, they might have been able to harvest at least one more time.
"So many times?"
Huo Tiankuo looked astonished. "Five times in less than half a year? That means they could collect it once a month!?"
How is that possible!
In the past few months, there has been either extreme water shortage or excessive water.
Neither of these environments is suitable for crop growth; they are enough to cause a complete crop failure.
But Yunlu Village not only didn't suffer a complete crop failure, it also frantically harvested grain.
That's outrageous.
Li Tie nodded: "More or less. Mutant crops grow much faster than ordinary crops. There is a large waterfall not far from our initial settlement, so we don't lack water. We also have many other ways to escape the heat."
Later, during the rainy season, and now during the extreme cold season, there are ways to avoid disasters, so crops remain unaffected, and naturally, you can harvest as much as you want.
Huo Tiankuo glanced at the air conditioner and believed that Li Tie hadn't favored him.
There may be many other methods in Yunlu Village that he did not know about.
But if grain is harvested once a month, wouldn't that mean 12 harvests a year? And the total yield...
Huo Tiankuo was deeply shaken.
Haha, you're so shocked you're questioning your existence, aren't you?
This is the diversity of the world.
Harvesting hundreds of thousands of kilograms of natural food in one go—I wouldn't even dare to dream of it.
Forget hundreds of thousands of kilograms, I could run naked around the entire neighborhood ten times if you gave me just a few hundred kilograms.
It's not that bad.
Looking at Huo Jiajun, the impact on them has only just begun.
Afterwards, Li Tie showed them how to operate the plant protection machine and explained its uses.
A magical device that only requires a small amount of so-called energy to replace manual labor in all tasks such as weeding, watering, and fertilizing!
So they can not only harvest so much grain, but they don't have to work themselves to death on the farm at all?
What an amazing day this is!
Seeing that the village chief had finished speaking, Lu Xuan, who had been silent until now, said, "The crops in the fields will take another half a month to ripen. General Huo can come and visit again then." He added that it was also possible to help with the work.
"Your trip today wasn't in vain. The mushroom farm and orchard next door are just about to be harvested. General, are you interested?"
Mushroom house?
There are even orchards!?
Huo Tiankuo nodded without hesitation, both shocked and unwavering.
...
Unlike bright and vibrant greenhouses, mushroom houses are relatively dimly lit, made of blackout glass, and the air is noticeably more humid.
Without the lush greenery of a greenhouse, the rows of thriving mushrooms provided Huo Tiankuo and his companions with a different kind of visual spectacle.
When they arrived, the women responsible for picking mushrooms had already started, and there were several baskets full of mushrooms next to each row of shelves.
"So many mushrooms!"
"Don't mushrooms only grow after rain? How come you've cultivated so many artificially?"
How many mushrooms can you harvest at once?
The soldiers, deeply shocked by the poor harvest, kept pressing for answers.
Lu Xuan said, "We can harvest 2,500 catties every seven days, and 10,000 catties per month."
Huo Tiankuo and his group: "!!!"
Tens of thousands of kilograms produced per month!?
This was the first time they had ever heard that such a small thing as mushrooms could be weighed in the tens of thousands of kilograms.
With so many mushrooms, the people of Yunlu Village could probably eat their fill just by eating mushrooms!
Li Tie said in a highly persuasive tone, "We've grown a kind of 'meat mushroom' that tastes almost exactly like meat. General, why don't you stay for lunch? You can try it for yourselves; I guarantee you'll love it!"
Listen to this: while they are still struggling to make ends meet, the people of Yunlu Village are enjoying the pleasures of food!
The more Huo Tiankuo thought about it, the more he felt that he was really doing terribly.
·
When they arrived at the mutated fruit forest laden with all sorts of colorful fruits, another wave of amazement ensued.
The fruit trees should have ripened a couple of days ago, but Lu Xuan was delayed for a few days because he encountered the Huo family army and couldn't transfer his supernatural abilities, which is why it was a little late.
To 'entertain' Huo Tiankuo, Lu Xuan publicly channeled his supernatural power into all the fruit trees one last time, ripening all the fruits that were already on the verge of maturity.
Seeing the fruit on the branches grow larger and smelling the rich, fragrant aroma, Huo Tiankuo and his group were astonished and their mouths dropped open.
Huo Tiankuo was mainly shocked by witnessing Lu Xuan's ability to stimulate plant growth.
Several guards couldn't help but swallow hard.
There's no other reason than that the food here is just too fragrant and too sweet!
In the past, we could hardly eat any wild fruits all year round in the military camp. Who would have thought that we would see so many big and fragrant fruits during the snow disaster?
After ripening all the fruit, Lu Xuan didn't kick it with his feet as before. Instead, he chose to use his wind-based ability to create a gust of wind that shook the entire orchard.
With a rustling sound as the tree trunks and branches shook violently, the fruit on the tree fell into the large plastic boxes placed under the tree, piling up into small mountains in the blink of an eye.
Of course, this harvesting method is not suitable for all fruits.
Strawberries, watermelons, and grapes that are easily damaged by falling still need to be picked by hand.
Lu Xuan let Huo Tiankuo and his group experience the fun of picking fruit as well, and told them to eat as much as they wanted.
The fruits he led Huo Tiankuo and the other seven to pick were all mutated fruits.
Purple grapes that can't be stuffed in one bite, strawberries the size of an adult's fist, and watermelons so big they require two arms to encircle—each one offers the pinnacle of its kind in terms of taste.
At first, Huo Tiankuo and the others were a little reserved, but once they tasted the fruit, they clearly couldn't control themselves and ate faster and faster, their eyes shining with an astonishing light.
Viewers in the live stream were showing off their fruit while simultaneously expressing their envy:
These soldiers are incredibly lucky to have gotten a mutated fruit that can improve their health right from the start!
[It's unfair! Why can we only eat fake food, while they can eat real food!]
[The streamer is so generous, serving mutated fruit to guests!]
After all the fruit was picked, Lu Xuan kept the subsidy for the elderly and children, and put the rest into his spatial storage.
This was the first time Lu Xuan had ever seen someone collect items out of thin air in public.
Huo Tiankuo's pupils contracted as he looked at it.
This is why supplies can be readily available at temporary camps.
Huo Tiankuo had read some supernatural tales when he was young. Combining this with the village chief's previous indoctrination about immortals, he guessed that this might be the immortal's mustard seed space.
·
Afterwards, they strolled through the vegetable garden, saw countless leafy greens, picked some cucumbers and tomatoes to try, and then took a walk around the livestock shed.
Upon seeing the cattle raised in Yunlu Village, Huo Tiankuo's first thought was that plowing the land must be much easier.
But as soon as the idea popped into my head, the image of agricultural drones flying around in greenhouses came to mind.
Huo Tiankuo: "..."
I almost forgot, Yunlu Village doesn't need oxen for farming at all. It's said that even tilling the land is done by Lu Xuan using his wood-type superpower.
Are these cows raised for meat?
Li Tie said, "Lu Xuan brought all the cattle back from the grasslands. Besides raising them for the village, he also slaughtered quite a few himself."
In other words, they have no shortage of beef.
Huo Tiankuo asked, puzzled, "Then what are these cattle for...?"
It doesn't work and doesn't eat meat, isn't that just a waste of a lot of feed?
He saw it for himself; the feed the cattle and sheep were eating was fresh soybean residue.
When food is scarce, soybean residue can be a decent source of sustenance.
Li Tie said, "Of course, you should drink milk from cows! You can also mix it with tea to make milk tea, or add some fruit juice to make fruit milk. It's delicious in every way."
Huo Tiankuo: "..."
I watched as several women from the village actually went over to milk the cows, and someone even picked up a basket of eggs from the chicken coop next door.
The overly leisurely rural scenery gave Huo Tiankuo the illusion that the famine simply did not exist.
It can only be said that life in Yunlu Village is too disconnected from their lives and the lives of other disaster victims.
Seeing the ten-acre lotus pond filled with pink lotus blossoms, Huo Tiankuo's thoughts grew even stronger.
...
When he left the planting and breeding area, Huo Tiankuo's fluctuating emotions finally eased a little.
He thought that today's visit should be coming to an end.
As a result, Li Tie warmly invited them to watch the children's class.
This is a Chinese language class.
After more than 20 days of learning, the children have mastered all the pinyin and started learning the modified versions of the Three Character Classic and the Thousand Character Classic.
In addition, Lu Xuan also asked Xu Wenze to tell him some myths and legends such as Nuwa patching up the sky, Houyi shooting down the sun, and Nezha making a ruckus in the sea to expand his extracurricular knowledge.
Li Tie told Huo Tiankuo what classes the children would have.
Mathematics, first aid knowledge, practical skills, and natural sciences that sound amazing.
The soldiers were already shocked to learn that the village children had time to read and write, and they were even more astonished when they discovered that the content they were teaching was so rich.
"You've learned so much?!"
The first aid knowledge and the so-called natural sciences, in particular, sounded very interesting, and even Huo Tiankuo was interested in attending the classes.
Lu Xuan glanced at the sky and said, "There will be other opportunities in the future. It's almost noon, why don't we go have lunch first?"
...
Lunch was naturally served at the Lu family's residence.
Those sitting with him included the village chief, Ge Yuan, Grandpa Zhang, and Lei Yan.
The dishes were somewhat different from those served to Elder Miao and others. Many of them were warming and nourishing dishes suitable for winter, as well as seasonal dishes such as pickled cabbage stewed with pork ribs, stir-fried meat and mushrooms that the village chief had mentioned, and tomato stewed beef brisket, which is not available elsewhere.
Each dish was served in large portions, ensuring that Huo Tiankuo and his group would be well-fed.
At first, Huo Tiankuo, who felt he had already eaten half his fill in the orchard, thought he should be more restrained.
But after not being able to eat a decent meal for half a year, and with the Lu family serving dishes that were even more lavish than those served at a restaurant, they couldn't help but overindulge and couldn't control themselves at all.
By the time I came to my senses, almost all the dishes on the table had been eaten.
Huo Tiankuo was still a little embarrassed, but as Lu Xuan asked the question, his attention was immediately diverted.
Lu Xuan asked him, "What are your thoughts after seeing the assets of our village, General?"
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