Chapter 109 Cooperation with the Academy of Agricultural Sciences
As expected, the cultivators exchanged all fifty catties of immortal rice.
Li Chang'an suddenly received a transfer of 500,000 yuan into his bank card. The remitter was Mo Chenji.
He was eating watermelon in the yard when he received the message and sat up abruptly: "Huh? Why would the world's richest man suddenly transfer money to me? Where did he get my bank account number?"
Did they investigate him and try to force him to buy his vegetables?
Li Chang'an frowned slowly, and was about to return the money when he heard Tianxuan laugh beside him: "Take it, Mo Chenji is Tianji."
Li Chang'an's eyes widened.
Tianji, the Star Lord Tianji of the Cultivation Alliance.
“This money was transferred to Tianji by Yuheng,” Tianxuan added.
Since the Cultivation Alliance had nothing better to offer Li Chang'an in return, Yuheng thought for a long time and learned that the Qingfeng Sect disciples were exchanging Immortal Rice for 10,000 jin. So he also made the payment to Li Chang'an at that price.
"Tianji Star is the star of wealth. Tianji has obtained the power of its star and has excellent fortune, so he will become the richest man in the world. As a result, his wealth is equivalent to the wealth of the alliance."
Li Chang'an was stunned.
Tianxuan picked up the next slice of watermelon: "So this is money from the Alliance, so accept it without worry."
Li Chang'an then came to his senses, said "Oh," and nodded in relief.
*
The weather in the Cangxuan Realm turned cooler, but it did not affect the climate in the Xuanling Immortal Mountain at all.
Li Chang'an is picking mushrooms on Wolu Mountain.
Recently, many species have appeared in Xuanling Immortal Mountain, including various kinds of wild mushrooms, which usually appear after rain.
The mushroom spirits followed Li Chang'an.
If they encounter poisonous wild mushrooms, they will absorb them. Knowing that Li Chang'an wanted to eat non-poisonous ones, they left some for him and took him to pick them.
After a busy morning, Li Chang'an picked about 30 kilograms of wild mushrooms.
He took out one mushroom of each variety, put them all in a basket, and then held the basket up to the camera to show it off: "Wild mushrooms, not many, I'm keeping some for myself, and the rest will be given away in a raffle."
He tapped on his phone screen and set up a lottery in the live stream, with the winners announced in ten minutes.
"These fungi have all been confirmed by our experts to be non-toxic, so you can eat them without worry," Li Chang'an said, then paused and added, "Cook them thoroughly before eating, don't eat them raw, and don't eat them if they've been left overnight."
[Okay, okay~ These bamboo fungus are so beautiful! I hope I win the prize. I've already decided what kind of soup I'll make with them.]
[Fifteen portions, about a pound per person, not a large quantity. One plate will be gone in just a few bites. Don't worry, it won't keep overnight.]
Li Chang'an smiled.
Ten minutes later, the lottery results were announced. Li Chang'an then turned off the live stream, picked up his phone, and went down the mountain with the mushroom spirits.
With the help of the Blade Spirit, the work in the fields can be done in just a few minutes in the morning, leaving plenty of time for rest or leisure.
After tending to the crops in the field with its spiritual power, the mandrill is now playing in the pond, catching shrimp and crabs.
When Li Chang'an returned home, he first divided the fifteen catties of wild mushrooms into portions.
Yesterday, he also posted a giveaway on Weibo, offering fresh bamboo shoots as prizes. He gave away 300 of them, and the results are in now.
He printed out the order form according to the address filled in by the winning fans in the background, drew a guide mark, packaged the bamboo shoots, and asked the kites to help with the delivery.
After the kites set off, Li Chang'an began preparing lunch.
Now that there are many members eating every day, the remaining ten or so kilograms of wild mushrooms are only enough for one meal for them.
Bamboo fungus was used to stew chicken and pork ribs, and finally, bamboo fungus meatball soup was made.
Other wild mushrooms are either added to stewed soup or stir-fried with garlic slices, garlic sprouts, and dried chili peppers.
After lunch, several people arrived outside Xuanling Immortal Mountain and greeted the entrance from the clear pool:
"Is Mr. Li Chang'an here?"
Li Chang'an saw six people in the Tongqing Mirror at the entrance. Four of them were middle-aged men around forty years old, and the other two were in their twenties. They were all ordinary people without spiritual roots.
He stepped out of the entrance and walked towards the group: "I'm here. May I ask who you are?"
A middle-aged woman wearing glasses said, "Hello, my name is Wang Jiongyi, and I am a professor at Xiadu Agricultural University. These three are my colleagues, Ma Jiao, Xu Tiancheng, and Tian Hua. We are also researchers at the Xia State Academy of Agricultural Sciences. These two young men are my and Professor Tian's students, Xu Zhao and Lin Lan."
Li Chang'an quickly said, "Greetings, everyone. Professor, you are the senior, and I am the junior, so please don't address me with such formality."
Wang Jiongyi smiled. He had been a little uneasy, but seeing Li Chang'an's attitude, he finally felt relieved.
She nodded and said okay.
Li Chang'an greeted the others one by one, guessing that they must have important matters to discuss with him, so he led them all into Xuanling Immortal Mountain and into his study to talk.
Once seated, the four professors had already come to their senses, while only the two young men were still in awe of the scenery of Xuanling Immortal Mountain.
Li Chang'an poured a cup of tea for everyone.
With a friendly smile, Wang Jiongyi clasped his hands together and said, "I just saw the terraced fields on that mountain ahead. Seeing them in person is much more impressive than seeing them on the live stream. Were they designed by the experts you recruited through WeDog last time?"
Li Chang'an put down the teapot and sat down as well. Hearing this, he nodded and said, "Yes."
Wang Jiongyi said, "Although I only glanced at it, I can tell that the designer is very professional. The water diversion and drainage are done very well. How did they even think of planting tea trees on the ridges of the fields?"
Li Chang'an replied, "There is a formation set up on the ridge of the field, with tea trees at the center. I thought that if we planted tea trees all over the field, the scenery would look more tidy."
"That's a good idea; it takes both functionality and aesthetics into account."
Xu Zhao finally came to his senses and said with a smile, "Speaking of which, I also left a message when you posted the job ad on Weige. A friend of my teacher's happens to be able to design terraced fields and was thinking of applying, but you found someone so quickly."
Li Chang'an scratched his head and smiled sheepishly, "The designer arrived shortly after I posted the message."
“We were a step too slow,” Wang Jiongyi said, giving Xu Zhao a look.
Xu Zhao wanted to ask who the designer was, but after receiving this look, he quickly suppressed the question that was about to come out.
He suddenly remembered that designing terraced fields for Xuanling Immortal Mountain was such an outstanding achievement in his resume. If it were him, he would definitely have written it into his resume without hesitation.
But so much time has passed and there's still no news online, which suggests that the designer doesn't want others to know his name.
If he were to ask Li Chang'an directly, wouldn't that be putting Li Chang'an in a difficult position?
Fortunately, the teacher stopped it in time.
Xu Zhao silently shut his mouth, sat closer to his senior sister Lin Lan, and decided to listen without saying a word.
Wang Jiongyi looked at Li Chang'an and said, "We actually have a request to make this trip."
Li Chang'an was already mentally prepared and said, "Professor, please go ahead."
"We'd like to buy some seeds from you for research purposes, is that alright?"
Li Chang'an was not surprised at all and replied without the slightest hesitation: "Of course."
After he finished speaking, he added, "However, I have three types of seeds here. The seeds for premium crops were just bought online. The seeds for spiritual and immortal crops were transformed after being nourished by the soil of the immortal mountain, but these two types of seeds cannot be grown in ordinary soil."
Wang Jiongyi was taken aback and exchanged glances with the other three professors.
"The seeds of premium crops were just bought online?" Professor Ma adjusted his glasses and repeated incredulously.
Li Chang'an nodded: "Yes, but that's how it was at first. Later, we just waited until the crops produced seeds and then saved a little bit."
Wang Jiongyi's eyes lit up: "So, you've grown several rounds of vegetables using seeds you bought online?"
"Yes."
The other three professors, like Wang Jiongyi, had their eyes light up, as if they had seen a glimmer of hope.
"A batch of seeds is not actually suitable for multiple crop rotations."
After multiple crop rotations, the seeds will degenerate, eventually leading to a decline in crop yield and quality, and making the crop more susceptible to disease and pests.
However, the vegetables sold at Xianshan Farm have always been of very good quality, with not a single negative review.
Wang Jiongyi and Xu Zhao also managed to snag some vegetables from Xianshan Farm twice, and the taste of those dishes is still fondly remembered by the two of them.
“I know,” Li Chang’an said, “but I’ve observed that my seeds have not had any problems after being rotated multiple times, which may be related to the soil of the Immortal Mountain.”
He checks the quality of his vegetables before each harvest and sale, and there haven't been any problems over the years.
After he finished speaking, the four professors were all somewhat excited.
Wang Jiongyi said, "Can you sell some to us? We want to try crossbreeding your seeds with ordinary seeds from outside to see if we can get better seeds."
Li Chang'an had already agreed. After hearing her words, he immediately took out several large bags of seeds from his storage bag.
"This is from Chinese cabbage, this is from bok choy..."
He placed the seeds on the coffee table, and the four professors eagerly opened them to look.
Li Chang'an brought out a portion of the seeds of crops already grown on Xuanling Immortal Mountain for display, including some spiritual-grade seeds.
The cultivation conditions for immortal crops are demanding. Even if they can be hybridized, they probably won't grow in outdoor soil, so he didn't take out the immortal seeds.
Li Chang'an said, "There's no need for buying or selling. I have many seeds, so I'll donate them to the professors as a friendly gesture for their research."
Wang Jiongyi suddenly looked up at him in surprise: "This...this is not good. We said we wanted to buy it."
Li Chang'an smiled and said, "It's not worth much, professors, you can take it."
Farming depends on both the weather and the land.
Faced with a merciless natural disaster, ordinary farmers are completely helpless, and months of hard work could be destroyed in an instant.
The land in the Cangxuan Realm cannot be transformed into spiritual soil, but it would be great if the seeds could be changed.
He had planned to collaborate with the Academy of Agricultural Sciences in a while to see if they could develop some stronger seeds that could offer some resistance in the face of natural disasters.
Now that Professor Wang and her team have taken the initiative to come, this collaboration can be brought forward.
This time, Xu Zhao couldn't hold back and blurted out what was on his mind: "Aren't you worried that improving the quality of our other seeds will affect your business?"
Li Chang'an shook his head: "If you're worried about that, no matter how much money you offer me, I won't agree."
Since he agreed without hesitation, it means he wasn't worried about it at all.
Besides, if the hybrid seeds can achieve the quality of his premium crops, he can still sell high-quality crops, and his business will not be affected at all.
Xu Zhao understood and nodded absently.
The professors couldn't refuse Li Chang'an at all, and in the end they left with dozens of kilograms of seeds.
It wasn't until they reached the back gate of Qingfeng Sect and were led down the mountain by cultivators that the four professors seemed to come back to their senses. With mixed feelings, they looked back towards Xuanling Immortal Mountain, separated by Qingfeng Sect and the mountain shadows.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
