“Qi Gege, why does our Yuanbao suddenly love farming?” Mother Xia watched with worry as Xia Chen grunted and dug holes in the backyard. When this child was born, the family had already started to become wealthy.

When Xia Chen first told her he wanted to farm, Mother Xia assumed it was mere childish play. To her surprise, several days later, his interest showed no sign of fading. He even asked her for additional seeds of different varieties and diligently checked on his backyard plot each day.

Other families would be overjoyed if their children liked to work, but in the Xia family, Mother Xia’s heart trembled every time she saw her son using a shovel. 

Fortunately, the stone shovel Dong’er made for him wasn’t very durable. After so much use, its edges had already dulled. Mother Xia secretly instructed Dong’er to never again make such a dangerous tool for his little uncle again.

Father Xia stood beside her, a smile on his face and a loving gaze fixed on his youngest son. Hearing her words, he chuckled, “Let him do whatever he wants.”

He wasn’t concerned in the slightest. Liking farming? Wasn’t it just that children were curious about the unfamiliar? He would indulge his little son’s curiosity.

If Xia Chen truly wished to become a farmer in the future, Father Xia planned to take him to the fields during the busy season to have a look. He was sure that would dispel any such notions.

“You’re right.” Mother Xia nodded. “Our Yuanbao is so filial. He even said he wants to grow vegetables and fruits for me to eat.” She conveniently ignored the fact that Xia Chen had included Father Xia in that sentiment.

Hearing this, Father Xia, who didn’t know the truth, felt jealous. He turned his face away and pursed his lips, striding over to Xia Chen’s side. “Yuanbao, your shovel is getting blunt. It must be difficult to use, right? I will have someone make you an iron one. It’s guaranteed to work well.”

“Thank you, Dad!” Xia Chen’s eyes curved into cheerful crescents, his mouth like it was coated with honey. “Dad, you’re the best. I like you the most.”

He had been genuinely worried about his only shovel nearing its end. The crops in his space matured quickly; vegetables like radishes and bok choy sprouted overnight. If he couldn’t harvest them promptly, they would overripen in the ground.

Xia Chen had asked Tongban about this, and its answer was that if they exceeded a certain time limit, they would rot directly into fertilizer, nourishing the soil.

Through his relentless efforts over the past few days, Xia Chen had leveled up to level 3 and now possessed eight palm-sized plots of land.

In addition to radishes and bok choy, he had also planted cucumbers, spring onion, water spinach, green onions, and cilantro. He obtained the seeds from his mother, and while he could recognize the plants, their names were different in this era. For example, water spinach was called weng cai here.

His planting journey wasn’t without its hiccups.  When the first batch of spring onions sprouted, Xia Chen impulsively pulled them out by the roots!  

Even Xia Tongban was momentarily stunned. It took a few seconds to remind him that spring onions were harvested in batches by cutting them at the base.

Xia Chen, his face flushed, stared at the plump bunch of spring onions he’d uprooted for a while and tried to save face. “Of course, I know that. It’s just… I don’t have a knife on hand.” He definitely wouldn’t admit he got carried away pulling radishes!

Xia Chen was surprised to learn that corn and potatoes didn’t seem to exist in this era. He vaguely remembered them being introduced to China in the late Ming and Qing dynasties, suggesting this period hadn’t arrived yet. 

However, the system mall tantalizingly displayed seeds for both crops. The system mall updated twice daily, at noon and midnight, showcasing a random selection of products.

But Xia Chen simply couldn’t afford them!

Based on the prices of the products refreshed in the mall over the past few days, he summarized a rule. The price of seeds was roughly inversely proportional to the ease of obtaining them. The easier the seeds were to obtain, the lower their value.

For example, radish and bok choy seeds that Dong’er directly gave him had a mall price of five copper coins. If the system mall didn’t refuse to buy them back, he would have wanted to sell the seeds.

As for the seeds he begged from his mother, the prices ranged from five to fifteen copper coins, which he could afford.

There were also some, like lotus root, which Qinghe Village didn’t have. But he had heard his father mention that the restaurants in big cities had dishes made with lotus root. The mall price was a whole tael of silver, which was very expensive. Anyway, Xia Chen wasn’t willing to buy it.

As for high-yielding crops that could be used as staple foods, like corn and potatoes, the asking price was one gold…

Xia Chen guessed that these two good buddies were probably still drifting on the overseas continent. If they were the same price as the lotus root, he would have gritted his teeth and bought them. These were really crops that could affect people’s livelihoods, but unfortunately, he couldn’t afford them…

When Xia Chen sighed at the potatoes in the mall for the eleventh time, Xia Tongban couldn’t help but speak up. It told him that it was actually possible to get potato or corn seeds from the gold reward pool.

Xia Chen: “……”

He’d only had one draw chance so far, a gift from the newbie pack. Unable to resist, he’d used it and received… a Magical Seed.

At first glance, Xia Chen thought he had turned into a lucky dog and drew something awesome. It also looked very deceptive, a round transparent bead that didn’t look one bit like an ordinary seed.

Before he could even feel happy, Xia Tongban explained the use of this seed to him. As the name implied, this was a magical seed, so it could only be planted in magical soil. Xia Chen didn’t have this kind of magical soil yet (his level wasn’t high enough), so he couldn’t plant it for now.

Here comes the point. The reason why this seed was magical was that it could possibly grow into any kind of plant. It could be an ordinary bok choy or radish, or it could be the potatoes and corn that he had been craving for a long time. It could even be a magical plant with strange functions, like eavesdropping.

When planting, he could add some unique water or soil, which would all affect the final result.

Sounds pretty good, right? 

To prevent the him from having unrealistic delusions, Xia Tongban very considerately listed data for these three possibilities: [The probability of growing into an ordinary plant that the host already possessed was 98%; the probability of growing into a plant in the mall that the host didn’t have was 1.9%; the probability of growing into a mutated plant was 0.1%, and the direction of mutation was basically uncontrollable.]

Of course, the ratios of the latter two would increase as his level increased, but for now, this was how it was.

Finally, Xia Tongban told Xia Chen with full pity that for the first draw, as a welfare, the probability of drawing an unpossessed seed from the gold reward pool was as high as 80%, and it was highly likely to be a high-priced seed that he couldn’t afford. 

If one had to rank it, the Magical Seed was probably the lowest level in the reward pool. In the future draws, nine times out of ten, it would be this.

Xia Chen: “……”

Okay, I get it. No need to say more.

He forced a smile as he exited the system space, then directly went to ask his father for a copper coin and stomped on it on the ground, barely venting his frustration.

In short, Xia Chen hadn’t been idle these past few days. His shovel didn’t wear out for nothing. Of course, he didn’t sell any of the harvested plants. The prices were too low and he couldn’t bear to part with them. Anyway, the warehouse was still sufficient for now.

The shovel, however, was on its last legs. Xia Chen planned to ask his Dong’er to help him make another, so his father’s gift really hit the spot for him.

He’d known since he was a child that children with a sweet mouth got to eat candy. After his parents divorced, he relied on his mouth to coax both sides and had a frighteningly high allowance.

Father Xia had never experienced such a situation before. He was so dazzled by the sweet words that his tanned face flushed red as if he were drunk.

Mother Xia was like she had drunk a bottle of old vinegar, almost making herself sour to death.^[1]Drunk a bottle of vinegar is an idiom, meaning overflowing with jealousy. Likewise, to be sour means to be jealous. Just as she was about to go find trouble with Father Xia, she saw her eldest son running over in a hurry. Upon seeing Father Xia, he rushed over, his face ablaze with anger.

“Father, I’ve found out, that matter…” Xia Jinzi began, but his father quickly stopped him.

With a glance at his oblivious wife and curious youngest son, Father Xia smiled at Xia Chen. “Yuanbao, keep your mother company for a bit. Your big brother and I need to discuss something.”

He then pulled his eldest son away, saying, “Let’s talk inside the room.”

Xia Chen put away his curious gaze and chatted idly with his mother, but his mind buzzed with possibilities.

His brother’s earlier glance hinted at a connection to Xia Chen in whatever he’d discovered. Xia Jinzi’s anger was unmistakable, but not directed at him, leaving Xia Chen the likely victim.

The answer was clear—his brother had uncovered some truth about the incident that led to his drowning..

Xia Jinzi was impulsive and often careless. His outburst nearly revealed the results of his investigation. A more cautious person would have considered the potential shock to Mother Xia and whether the young Xia Chen could keep the secret.

Father Xia likely didn’t mention to Big Brother Jinzi that there was a problem with Granny Lei, lest he couldn’t hold back his temper and accidentally alert the enemy. 

Xia Chen concluded that his father instructed his brother to uncover how the drowning occurred. Five children had lured him to the river, and with their families, too many people knew the truth.

A group of ordinary farming families without much knowledge, even with an agreement to keep quiet, couldn’t maintain secrecy for long with so many people, including the children, involved. It was only a matter of time before the truth surfaced.

His brother had likely discovered how those brats lured him to fall into the river.

In the span of a thought, he had already reached a conclusion in his mind. He stood up and lied to his mother that he was going to the outhouse, then turned and ran to the front.

He had always been well-behaved, so Mother Xia didn’t expect that Xia Chen had run to the front to eavesdrop.

Crouched outside the study, he heard his brother’s furious voice through the door: “If you hadn’t told me to come back as soon as I found out, I’d have thrown those black-hearted bastards into the river!”

Sure enough, his guess was correct. Xia Chen verified his speculation and was about to sneak away.

Before he could even lift his foot, the door he was leaning against suddenly flung open. Xia Chen couldn’t stop his momentum and tumbled headlong into his father’s arms.

🌻🌻🌻

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