Farming Games are All About Grinding
Chapter 55: The Great Vegetable Heist

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: The Great Vegetable Heist

"You’ve been hiding your skills, haven’t you? 200 points in King tier? Not that, I was asking about your competition score with Red Hair." Han Qiwu felt a faint bitterness in his heart. Six years, and he had never even glimpsed the scenery of the King tier.

"Competition score? Do you think I’m stupid?" Huang Mao said smugly. That air of smugness made Han Qiwu momentarily think he had some grand realization.

"We agreed—farming is boring, working is boring, it’s gaming that’s fun. Using League points is the fairest. Your method doesn’t really cut it."

"Sure, sure, you two keep at it." Han Qiwu patted Huang Mao’s shoulder with a pitying look.

Kid, you’re still young. Play for a while longer and you’ll realize—once you have games, you won’t even think about chasing girls.

"By the way, your grandpa came back, didn’t he?" Han Qiwu suddenly recalled the information from the task description and tried asking.

"Yeah, you know my grandpa?" Huang Mao replied.

"Then did he come here?"

"He did."

"Where is he?"

"Right behind you."

Upon hearing that, Han Qiwu instinctively dashed forward a few steps.

What’s up with you Old Huang family folks—do you walk without making a sound?

Turning his head to look, the old man was actually twenty or thirty meters away, standing by a decorative lantern and solving riddles. Judging by his clothes and that gleaming, polished hairstyle rivaling the lantern itself, it should indeed be the old man.

You call that "behind me"?

Since the person had already been found, Huang Mao, the "tool guy," lost his utility. Han Qiwu’s eyes darted, and he sent Huang Mao off to exercise: "I saw Red Hair and his crew near your family’s vegetable patch earlier; you better go check it out."

"Damn! I knew I hadn’t seen them!" Huang Mao grabbed his tool and dashed off.

Han Qiwu quickly walked over to the old man’s side, pretending to casually admire the lantern.

"One of the seven fairies gets married (Guess the phrase)."

Seeing no system prompts triggered, Han Qiwu decided not to steal the old man’s entertainment.

"Young man, what a coincidence. We met this morning." Old Huang turned his head, reacting just as Han Qiwu had anticipated.

"What a coincidence indeed." Han Qiwu smiled faintly.

Old Huang was someone who believed deeply in metaphysics and often studied success manuals. He always felt he might miss an opportunity once, but if the same chance presented itself a second time—he had to seize it!

"Could this be a sign from the heavens?" Old Huang felt a surge of excitement in his heart.

After Han Qiwu left earlier, he hadn’t caught a single fish all afternoon. While it wasn’t rare for such things to happen...

He had sworn an oath before leaving the house. Returning without even two yellow croakers would be simply unacceptable.

"Young man, could I buy two of your yellow croakers? I want my grandson to try them." Old Huang asked politely.

"You saw me fish these up yourself—purely wild yellow croakers. Even I don’t have enough to eat." Han Qiwu put on an unwilling look.

The reluctance would make Old Huang feel like he was getting a deal—this is the psychology trick!

"Yes, yes, I understand. How about 1,500 for one? That’s not a low price." Old Huang contemplated and said.

"4,500 for two. You know how rare yellow croakers are; I can’t guarantee I’ll catch any tomorrow either." Han Qiwu raised the price again without hesitation.

"Four thousand, that’s as far as I can go." Old Huang gritted his teeth. Two thousand per yellow croaker wasn’t exactly cheap, but it wasn’t outrageously high either.

Four thousand—couldn’t this money get the kid a braised pork knuckle instead?

"Deal! I’ll go get the fish." Han Qiwu walked out of Old Huang’s sight, using the chance to fetch two yellow croakers and put them in a bag.

A minute later, Han Qiwu returned with the bag, completing the transaction with Old Huang in a hand-to-hand cash-for-goods exchange.

[Task Help: Yellow Croaker Complete]

[Reward: 700 gold coins distributed]

[Special Event Triggering...]

Han Qiwu didn’t bother with whatever "special event" was.

If it hadn’t triggered—it wasn’t an event!

Off to buy tangyuan!

At Auntie’s stand, Han Qiwu bought another 14 servings of tangyuan. Counting the 49 servings from before, he now had a total of 63 [Delicious Tangyuan] in his inventory.

"Food is confidence!" Han Qiwu felt like he could dig through a mine at this point.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Suddenly, the loudspeaker at the barley field crackled to life. If not for the rhythm being off, Han Qiwu might’ve thought there was an idol concert here.

"Ahem, let me say a few words. Everyone, don’t go too crazy, alright? Being too crazy hurts the harmony. If things do get out of hand, you’ll have to come to my place to settle it later. Anyway, it’s about time; let’s get started." Niu Gang’s voice echoed through the speakers.

Han Qiwu’s system prompt appeared in front of his eyes.

[The Stealing Veggies Festival, also known as Stealing Greens, has a rich history. On this day, the more vegetables stolen from the host families, the more fortune they will have. Meanwhile, the more scolded the thieves are, the farther their bad luck will be pushed away. After stealing, the vegetables are cooked into a late-night supper to bring blessings for next year.]

[The Stealing Veggie Challenge is about to begin. You have 15 minutes. Prepare yourself!]

[Greens (0/5), Green Onion (0/5), Celery (0/5)]

The game’s alert interrupted Han Qiwu’s surge of confidence.

Han Qiwu spent the 10-second countdown quickly scanning the game instructions while sprinting towards his electric scooter.

"There’s a custom like this on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year?" Han Qiwu muttered to himself. He’d never heard of it, but it did look pretty fun.

Meanwhile, at the gathering, plenty of people took out bags and baskets, rushing straight towards their pre-selected vegetable plots.

As soon as the countdown hit zero, countless light beams appeared in Han Qiwu’s field of vision.

"No time to ride the scooter!" Han Qiwu quickly darted toward the nearest light beam. Approaching, he saw the beam surrounded a thriving green onion.

A seven or eight-year-old kid also had their eyes on the green onion; traditionally, kids stealing onions symbolized growing wiser.

Just as the kid was about to grab the onion, a big hand swooped down and yanked it free.

"Kid, focus more on your exam prep—that beats everything! Keep at it!"

Han Qiwu snatched the onion and immediately ran toward the next beam. Stealing from kids meant the adults would come soon—for sure, he had to move fast.

"Mom! Someone stole my onion!"

"Who?! Mom will get revenge for you!"

"He went that way!"

"Chase him!"

The moon was only somewhat bright tonight, casting just enough light to act as cover for the vegetable heist chaos.

Han Qiwu hurriedly stored the green onion in his inventory while sprinting.

[Stolen Green Onion]

[Note: In-game item]

Han Qiwu headed toward the next beam, but before he could reach it, the light disappeared—clearly, someone else had gotten there first.

Ugh!

Charge forward again.

Ten minutes later, Han Qiwu was utterly spent.

Having sprinted back and forth nonstop for ten straight minutes, he felt like his body was completely drained.

Running for ten minutes was exhausting enough; competing with countless elderly folks made it even tougher. These grannies and grandpas had sharp eyes, specifically targeting the highest-quality vegetables recognized by the system.

I can’t catch a break.