The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 317 - 306 First Transaction

Chapter 317: Chapter 306 First Transaction

The interface was mostly filled with posts seeking to buy; Manbao’s direct offer to sell was still the first, so it quickly attracted clicks.

Researchers whose field of study was different just glanced and moved on, but there were quite a few researchers interested in biology, or those looking to profit, who asked for the price.

Manbao checked the reward points initially given for wisteria and azalea, discussed it with Keke, then replied, "Three hundred points for each, and I’ll also dig up some soil for you to conduct cultivation research."

Three hundred points wasn’t low for Manbao, who had been saving points one by one; after all, the encyclopedia had only agreed to give her three hundred and eighty points to begin with.

But for researchers who could access the forum, three hundred points wouldn’t even cover a meal in a high-end restaurant, even including the fee for using the Alliance’s channels.

Therefore, those interested didn’t hesitate much before placing orders.

Moreover, there were quite a few orders, and Keke’s backend quickly jingled with notifications, showing seven or eight orders.

Manbao checked and found that every person ordered both items, with a minimum order of three each, which meant she instantly had nearly twenty thousand points in income.

This was much more profitable than exhausting herself looking for new plant varieties.

However, this money was temporarily held in the main system, and only after she delivered the goods and the buyer verified them without errors would she receive the payment.

Manbao couldn’t dig up so much azalea and wisteria herself, so she decided to ask her nephews and nieces for help.

Recently, Datou and the others were also catching birds; of course, they couldn’t take millet from home, so they went to the fields to pick it up.

They had plenty of time, working for the family in the morning, picking up millet in the forenoon, and catching birds in the afternoon. If they found many, they would take some home, and if not, they would roast them on the spot.

Even though the taste might not compare to that made at home, they thought it was delicious.

In the village, there were quite a few children and even young people doing this.

Ever since Manbao and the others began catching birds with nets, the number of households in the village that could catch birds increased. As long as they were willing to use bait and had patience, they generally could catch one or two.

As a result, the birds around Qili Village lately had been suffering; Manbao noticed the number of birds above the fields by the village entrance had significantly diminished.

Thus, Datou and the others either had to go to faraway places or they ended up empty-handed.

The Zhou Family’s children were daring, but their home had strict rules; it was impossible for them to go far away, so they could only watch their friends run farther while they continued to lay traps near the village entrance to attract birds.

So when their little aunt came looking for them, Datou agreed without thinking. They could rarely catch birds now anyway, so it was good to help their little aunt dig things on the mountain.

Manbao went up the mountain with them.

The azalea was large, and Manbao couldn’t possibly dig out the whole plant. Thankfully, the vines could be propagated by cuttings, so she simply snipped branches. To ensure the survival rate, she generously put two branches in each portion, dug up a handful of soil from the root area, wrapped the branches and soil in large leaves, and then tied them up with a strand of wild grass.

The wisteria was even easier; this plant was more likely to survive from cuttings, but required hard branches to be snipped. Manbao, just as generously, included two branches for each portion and gave some soil as well.

Sometimes they needed to search, but there was plenty of wisteria on the mountain, and at this moment, they were blooming. As she snipped, Manbao decided to also cut some of the nicely blooming flowers to bundle up, planning to gift one with each order.

Since they were cutting branches, both plants weren’t hard to find once they were on that mountain, as both wisteria and azalea liked to grow in clusters.

While they were snipping the branches, two more orders came in on the backend; Keke simply suggested Manbao snip extra to store in the system. Normally, these plants would be fine for three to five days if their moisture was maintained.

So a group of children snipped about thirty portions in one go, until they had cut all the good branches of wisteria and azalea on the mountain, and then carried the goods in baskets back home.

Of course, Datou and Daya carried the baskets, while Manbao and Erya, among others, walked hand-in-hand behind them.

They were curious and asked Manbao, "Little Aunt, can these things be sold too?"

Manbao nodded affirmatively, "Yes."

Datou then said, "Whoever buys them must be a fool, right? These wild flowers are all over the mountain."

"Not everywhere, we can’t find them in the hills near our home. We had to come all the way here."

By now, they had walked half the distance to the county town, truly exhausted.

"But they’re still wildflowers and weeds," Second Son said. "My dad says there are lots of these wildflowers on the mountains beyond the many hills. Little Aunt, if you like them, my dad can pick some for you when the farming slows down."

"By the time farming slows down, won’t the flowers have wilted?"

"We should have dug some up to plant at home."

Datou, disliking how his younger siblings kept veering off-topic, continued his own question alongside his little aunt, "Who’s so foolish to buy these things?"

Manbao thought for a moment, then replied, "Some very powerful people."

Keke had said that those who could enter the forum and trade with them were either research institute administrators with lots of money and power, or they had read a lot of books, were very capable, and could specialize in one or several fields of scientific research.

So Manbao believed they were all very powerful people.

Anything that reached their hands could be researched within a day or two, or at most a couple of months, to discover its uses, cultivation methods, and even some medicinal value.

Keke said that those entries usually contained less than one-thousandth of the information, with the real secrets held by the research institutes or researchers, who would use this to profit and benefit the entire star system.

She thought it was already remarkable to study the medicinal value of China root without recognizing it, and now they were even researching how to cultivate it.

Keep in mind, the China root that Manbao and Zhou SiLang secretly kept for breeding either ended up sun-dried or rotten, with such a foul smell it could make one faint.

So, such matters were still best left to them.

However, Datou still couldn’t understand, "Why would powerful people buy wildflowers? There are plenty on the mountain..."

"The value of goods isn’t measured like that," Manbao explained. "When it rains, delicious mushrooms grow on the mountains, and everyone knows you can find them if you go up there. But people in the city still pay thirty or twenty coins to buy from Second Brother. Would you buy them in the village?"

Datou shook his head, he’d just go up the mountain to look, and if he couldn’t find any, he wouldn’t eat them.

"Those who can afford to buy mushrooms aren’t necessarily very capable, but they must have money. And those who can earn money, at the very least, that shows they’re capable, right?"

Datou nodded.

"So we don’t need to care about who buys wildflowers and weeds from us, nor whether they’re clever or foolish, and we certainly don’t need to worry about what they do with them. If they want to buy, we’ll just sell."

"How do we calculate the money?" Datou asked. "Little Aunt, what if you go to school and there is more business like this, what do we do? How about we help you?"

Manbao laughed heartily, "Sure, for every order, I’ll give you guys a candy. You can save up the candy and sell it in town."

"Why give us candy and not money?"

"Because I don’t have money, and they aren’t paying me with money either."

Points couldn’t be directly exchanged for money, but they could be exchanged for candy; of course, giving candy was much better.