Chapter 31: Young Man, Here Are Some Vegetables for You
The next day.
After breakfast, Li You was stretching by the entrance of his shop.
It was market day in town again, and motorcycles or electric trikes would pass by on the adjacent road from time to time.
An electric trike pulled into the parking area and stopped.
Li You took a look. ’Isn’t that the old man who came to charge his vehicle the day before yesterday?’
’Is he on his way to town to sell vegetables again?’
He watched as the old man got out and took two bags from the cargo bed.
One bag held two large Chinese cabbages, while the other contained celery.
The old man carried the two bags and walked toward him.
’Is he planning to give me the vegetables in those two bags?’
Sure enough.
After the old man got closer, he said, "Young man, here are two cabbages and some celery. Take them and eat up."
Li You said, "Sir, what’s all this? You’re taking these vegetables to sell. I can’t accept them. Please, take them back to the market."
The old man said, "Young man, you didn’t charge me for the electricity the other day. And then you added so much beef to the Yangchun Noodles I took to go. Beef is so expensive; all that beef must have cost you a pretty penny. I didn’t know how to thank you, so I could only bring you some vegetables. Take them, please. You have to take them. I grew these myself, no pesticides."
Li You replied, "That bit of beef wasn’t worth much. It’s really nothing. Sir, you don’t have to be so formal."
The old man said, "How could that much beef not be worth anything? Besides, young man, your beef was just too delicious. My wife and I have never eaten beef that good before. My wife said you must have been a head chef at one of those big hotels."
As he spoke, the old man walked into the shop, placed the two bags on a table, and added, "These vegetables are what’s truly not worth much. It’s just a small token of my appreciation. Young man, you must accept it."
"Well..."
After a moment’s hesitation, Li You said, "Sir, how about this? Since you were going to sell these vegetables, I’ll pay you the market price for them. What do you think?"
The old man waved his hands repeatedly. "Wouldn’t that make it seem like I came here just to make you buy my vegetables? No, no. Young man, you’re the one being too kind. It’s just a few vegetables, they aren’t worth anything, so what does it matter?"
Li You smiled. "Alright then. Thank you very much, sir."
The old man was very pleased and said, "Now that’s more like it. Don’t mention it, don’t mention it. I’m off, young man."
Li You said, "Take care."
The old man replied, "Don’t worry, I’m still in good shape."
The old man went to the parking area, got on his trike, and headed toward town.
He was indeed on his way to sell vegetables at the town market today.
Li You went back into the shop and placed the cabbage and celery from the old man into the Storage Pavilion.
The system had just notified him that both vegetables were of medium quality. It showed that the old man was truly a good farmer.
’Right, I should check on how my own vegetables are growing in the plot next door.’
Li You walked over to the vegetable patch.
The four types of vegetables he had planted last time—tomatoes, cucumbers, loofahs, and bitter melons—had all sprouted, and they were growing well.
Cucumbers, loofahs, and bitter melons are all vining plants that need trellises to climb.
’Once the seedlings reach a certain height, I’ll need to build proper trellises for them.’
Afterward, he walked over to the loquat tree, picked a few loquats, and squatted down to eat them.
Besides the loquat tree, this patch of land also had two fig trees and one hairy peach tree, all of them wild.
Both types of fruit trees were already bearing fruit, but none of it was ripe yet.
’Should I get some other fruit trees to plant here?’
The question suddenly occurred to Li You.
He loved eating fruit—all kinds of fruit.
’If I plant more varieties of fruit trees, it’ll be more convenient to have fruit to eat in the future.’
’Let’s do it.’
Li You made up his mind.
He then got up and began to survey the area, looking for suitable spots to plant different fruit trees.
’This spot is good. I could plant a plum tree here,’ Li You thought. He then bent over and moved a rock aside.
Just then.
"Side quest triggered because the host has begun preparations for planting fruit trees.
Quest Name: The Orchard in Front of the Shop.
Quest Requirement: Have no fewer than ten types of fruit trees in the orchard.
Quest Reward: 500 jin of potatoes (Quality: Superior).
jin of green peppers (Quality: Superior).
jin of red peppers (Quality: Superior).
One lottery draw.
Special Reward: Body Strengthening.
Description: Upon completing this quest, the host’s physical fitness will be further enhanced."
The system’s voice was a pleasant surprise for Li You.
He had triggered a side quest for the first time when he cleared the land for his vegetable patch.
Now, just by preparing to plant some fruit trees, he had unexpectedly triggered another one.
The reward this time was superior-quality potatoes, green peppers, and red peppers. This was fantastic!
’With these rewards, the flavor of my stir-fried shredded potatoes can be even better.’
It was something to look forward to!
Plus, the lottery draw was also exciting. No matter what the prize was, it was bound to be something good.
As for the special "Body Strengthening" reward, that was even more thrilling.
’Health is the most important thing, after all.’
He had already received one Body Strengthening reward after completing the "First Vegetable Patch" side quest.
After that, Li You had clearly felt his physical fitness improve significantly.
The thought of improving it even further was truly exciting.
Of course, for a chef, excellent physical fitness was very important to begin with.
That was probably why the system included physical enhancement rewards in its side quests.
As for the quest requirement, it was simple.
Li You was already planning to plant several types of fruit trees, so the requirement of at least ten varieties was perfectly in line with his wishes.
He already had loquats, figs, and hairy peaches, which meant he only needed seven more.
’Then I’ll go with plums, grapes, cherries, kiwis, apples, pears, and oranges for the seven.’
’I’ll start with these seven. I can slowly add more varieties later on.’
The moment Li You started thinking about it, he felt like he wanted to plant every kind of fruit tree.
There were no customers at the moment, so he might as well start clearing the stones and weeds.
He went back to the shop and grabbed a hand hammer, a chisel, a hoe, and other tools.
He began to clear the land.
As noon slowly approached, Li You had already cleared a large patch of ground.
At that moment, two electric scooters drove into the parking area.
The riders were both young women.
’It’s her.’
Li You recognized one of them.
It was the girl from the town market the day before yesterday—the one who had walked past him carrying vegetables, dropped her potatoes all over the ground, and whom Li You had helped.
At the time, Li You had told her he ran a restaurant located here at Jiulong Gorge.
’Did she come here now with a friend because of the restaurant?’
Li You wasn’t sure.
’I’ll just ignore them for now and keep clearing stones and weeds.’
’What if they’re just here to visit Jiulong Gorge?’
After all, the girl had mentioned last time that she’d been to Jiulong Gorge many times.
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