Chapter 1846 Dr. D
By the time Manbao had finished his punishment and Bai Erlang had completed his copying task, spring had already returned to the capital. Green buds and leaves had sprouted everywhere, both inside and outside the palace. Many plants had also bloomed beautiful flowers in a riot of color, with peonies being the most dazzling.
The palace was filled with the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers. The palace gardeners brought pots of peonies that were already in bloom or about to bloom and placed them in the garden.
In addition to the potted plants, clusters of peonies planted in the flower beds are also in bloom.
Manbao liked everything she saw very much. Mingda and Changyu picked a lot of flowers for her. Knowing that she liked to grow flowers and plants herself, they specially cut the branches underneath when cutting the flowers.
The peony species were not collected by Manbao, but Mingda and Changyu gave them to her, so she accepted them, separated the flowers and branches, and then cut the branches into two parts. She directly posted them on the forum to exchange with others.
Things like flowers and plants cannot be eaten or drunk, and most worlds do not have the strange genetic situation like the future world, so few people will exchange with her.
Occasionally, when she uploaded a note saying that it was a famous variety of peony, some people would be tempted, but because she hung branches, it would take at least two years to cultivate them into flowers.
So few people are willing to spend things in exchange.
Even if there are, the things they exchange for are very cheap.
For example, the host of a system was responsible for collecting various cultural relics, so he exchanged a pair of chopsticks for Manbao's pair of branches.
Manbao was curious about what the chopsticks that could be included in the system looked like, so she agreed to the exchange. But when she got the chopsticks in her hands, she was stunned. Aren’t these just ordinary bamboo chopsticks?
Manbao still didn't believe it and showed it to Bai Shan.
Bai Shan took a look and asked, "You brought chopsticks from outside the palace into the palace?"
Manbao: ...
After she went back, she threw the chopsticks into Koko's space and left them there.
People from other worlds on the forum weren't very interested, and in the end it was the people from Koko's world who paid points to exchange with her.
Dr. D also bought several pairs of branches. Seeing this, Manbao took the initiative to contact her, "Dr. D, are you still studying peonies?"
Dr. D said, "I'm short of money, so I want to make some money by breeding some genetically stable peonies."
She let slip a few clues, "Our lab recently received a large order from the Encyclopedia. They offered us a high price to research heritable, superior rice varieties. I looked at the original rice seeds and their genetics, and found they share the same genes as the rice seeds from your world. The peony genes in your world are very stable, and I'd like to cultivate them. I can make money while also studying related genes. Perhaps we'll find some commonalities, which could open up new avenues of research."
When Manbao heard this, she immediately knew that she had taken her order. She perked up and asked, "So, what stage have you reached in your research now?"
Dr. D replied, "This is just the beginning, but we have a breeding base that can grow three crops of rice a year. The original seeds we sent have already headed, and we'll be able to get the first generation of trial data soon."
She asked, "I remember you were very interested in inheritable high-quality rice varieties, so I wanted to ask you, if I cultivate one, would you like one?"
Manbao: ...
How could she answer this?
Yes, this order was placed by Teacher Mo and the Encyclopedia on her behalf, and the Encyclopedia will give her the results for free.
No, she is really interested and wants to know the research progress from Dr. D in real time. Besides, her post is still at the top of the forum. It would be too fake to say no.
Perhaps because he noticed Zhou Man's replies were much slower than before, Dr. D sent another message, jokingly asking, "It took you so long to consider this. Could it be you who asked the Encyclopedia to entrust me with cultivating high-quality rice varieties with heritability?"
Man Baocai sent a message at the same time, "Is it expensive?"
Two messages were in and out of the mailbox at the same time. It was too late for Manbao to withdraw them when he saw them.
There was a moment of silence on the other end. Then Dr. D tapped his mailbox twice and asked, "I've searched all the forum posts, and you're the only one currently looking to purchase high-quality, heritable rice seeds. There are people from two worlds who responded to your post and also want it, but they're not even willing to pay to pin their posts, let alone collaborate with the Encyclopedia to entrust me with cultivation."
"So, it's you, right?"
Manbao stared at the mailbox in silence and couldn't help asking Keke, "Are people in your world so smart?"
Koko said: "Anyway, he won't be stupid."
Manbao thought for a moment and replied, "Why can't someone from your world place the order?"
"Impossible," she said. "Although we need to buy new seeds every year, and rice seeds sown after one season are unlikely to inherit the good genes of the previous generation, people in this world don't lack money for seeds. What's more, the cost of seeds and fertilizers each year is subsidized by the Union, so farmers don't spend much. They can also choose seeds based on their needs, whether they want chewy or soft seeds, high yields, or to make porridge or rice..."
"There are so many varieties, and you can choose seeds based on your needs. Why should we stick to a fixed, heritable rice variety?" Dr. D, likely using voice input, replied quickly. "Not to mention the cultivation requirements for the order: high yield, drought resistance, flood resistance, pest resistance, and stable, heritable genes."
"Except for the last requirement, the others are very basic. Here, any kind of rice seed can meet these conditions." Dr. D said, "So the person placing the order can't be from our world."
There was one thing she didn't mention. The Encyclopedia said when the order was placed that in order to allow the rice seeds to adapt to their proper living environment, the cultivated seeds would be grown in a set growth environment to ensure that the genes were heritable, and they would only be delivered after all conditions were met.
To test whether a gene is heritable, at least five years of experience in genetic planting is required, but the encyclopedia limits it to five years.
What era is this? Why do we still have to spend five years to plant rice seeds five times?
That's definitely not in her world. Based on her long experience in forums, the person who actually placed the order was most likely Zhou Man.
I just don’t know what Zhou Man did to impress the Encyclopedia and make them come forward.
Dr. D said, "I remember you said you had a teacher in our world. Is that Professor Mo, the doctoral supervisor of paleobiomedicine at Union University?"
Manbao exclaimed, and asked excitedly, "Is Teacher Mo very famous among you?"
As soon as Dr. D saw her reply, he knew that she was indirectly admitting it, but she might have signed a confidentiality agreement so she didn't say it explicitly.
What a great girl! She managed to board the Encyclopedia without making any noise.
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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