Chapter 19: Choosing Crops
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Zhao Hai went back to the castle. Merlyn and the others naturally followed. When they reached the living room, Zhao Hai asked Merlyn to sit down, but Meg stood behind Zhao Hai silently. However, this time, she did not lower her head. Instead, she stared at Zhao Hai’s back in a daze.
Zhao Hai had already calmed down. Although Meg had electrocuted him and her image fixed itself in his heart, he had too many things to do now, so he was not in a hurry to progress the relationship with Meg. The future of the entire Buda family was on him. The first thing he had to think about was the survival of his people.
Merlyn was already used to Zhao Hai’s way of doing things, so she did not refuse. She sat down and looked at Zhao Hai excitedly. “Young Master, what should we do next?” She was already subconsciously asking for Zhao Hai’s opinion.
Zhao Hai thought for a moment and said, “Grandma Merlyn, go outside and choose some people who know how to farm the most. Ask them what are the best seeds to plant at this time and let them plant on those ten acres of land. By the way, we have seeds, right?”
Merlyn nodded and said, “Yes, we have a lot of seeds now, but most of the seeds are of some grains and common vegetables. Moreover, they are most suitable to be planted on the mountain. The land outside is so good. It will be a waste to plant those things.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Grandma Merlyn, what do we use to start a fire now? The weather is still a little cold. What do those slaves use to warm themselves at night?”
Merlyn said with a troubled expression, “Young Master, at that time, we only thought of buying some daily necessities. For example, we used to use a magic furnace to cook food and heat the residence, but we have too few magic crystals now, so we can’t use a magic furnace. Now, we use withered trees and dry grass on the mountain to cook and warm the rooms.”
Zhao Hai nodded. Clearly, Merlyn and the others, who had been in the upper echelons of the nobles, had tried their best to prepare everything. But they did not know that there was an ancient Chinese saying that there were seven necessities of life: firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea.
These seven things were closely related to people’s daily lives, especially the four things: firewood, rice, oil, and salt. They were even more necessary. The importance of firewood was obvious.
However, because they had always been in a high position, they did not know much about these things. Although Merlyn and the others had brought a lot of living supplies, they were not prepared for the simplest and most important thing in life.
In fact, the main reason was that the Black Soil Wilderness was really too barren. Even the grass was dead. This was something Merlyn and the others had not expected.
There were many people in the Ark Continent, but it was much larger. Firewood was not something precious here. Hay and branches of trees were used by most people. The rich used good quality firewood and charcoal. The nobles usually used magic furnaces driven by magic crystals. No one had ever worried about firewood. Even the poorest people would not have to worry about not getting firewood.
However, this firewood became a precious thing in the Black Soil Wilderness. There were only some short trees and some weeds here. Other than these things, there was nothing else that could be used. Therefore, Merlyn and the others realized that although they had prepared well, they had not prepared the most inconspicuous thing on this continent.
Seeing that Zhao Hai was silent, Merlyn could only say, “Young Master, what do you want to plant on the land outside?”
Zhao Hai was also thinking about this. He had a few seeds that were suitable to be planted outside, such as wheat and pasture grass. Although there were also cabbages, the season was not right and they could not be planted yet. However, wheat and pasture grass were not suitable either. He could not use the pasture grass now. Although wheat was good stuff, it was not a sustainable material for fire. Most importantly, the yield of wheat was not high, so Zhao Hai did not want to plant this thing. Now was not the time to think about the quality of his life. He had to think of a way to resolve the problem of the Buda family.
Then, Zhao Hai only had one choice left. Corn!
Corn was a good thing, and it was also a crop that Zhao Hai was most familiar with. It was not that he had grown it himself, but many of the villages around the city where he used to live grew corn. Not only was the yield of corn high, but most importantly, it was also the main crop for producing fire. There were many places in the northern countryside where they relied on corn stalks for fire.
But now, he only had two acres worth of corn seeds, and this improved land was ten acres. It was not enough.
Zhao Hai frowned as he calculated the things he could use. There were a total of 200 space farm gold coins (cannot be brought out of the Space Farm), six bags of pasture seeds (can be planted on six acres), two bags of cabbage seeds (can be planted on two acres), two bags of wheat seeds (can be planted on two acres), and two bags of corn seeds (can be planted on two acres). There were radishes in the warehouse that could be sold for 500 gold coins, but it was impossible to bring gold coins out of the Space Farm.
Now, he could open up two more acres of land in the Space Farm, but it required 200 gold coins. If he expanded the land, he would not have a single cent left.
Merlyn looked at Zhao Hai’s frown and did not know what he was thinking. She did not speak. She knew that it was useless to urge him now. She hoped that this Young Master, who had been creating miracles recently, could continue to create miracles.
Meg was looking at Zhao Hai in a daze. She realized that Zhao Hai was especially charming when he was thinking. That expression fascinated her.
Zhao Hai calculated the things in his hand and finally chose a plan. He turned to Merlyn and said, “Grandma Merlyn, you should organize those people to clean up the mine. You have to clean up the mine as soon as possible. I will modify ten acres of land tomorrow and tell you what to plant. I’ll go and rest first.” With that, he stood up and walked into his room.
Although Merlyn did not know what method Zhao Hai had, she still chose to believe him. Zhao Hai had been doing too well recently, and he had even obtained an ability that she could not understand. She believed that Zhao Hai would have a way.
Wood and Rock followed Zhao Hai to his room, but Meg did not follow. She was going to follow Merlyn to organize the slaves to clean up the mine. Merlyn alone could not do it.
Zhao Hai returned to his room as quickly as possible. He made Wood and Rock guard the door and entered the Space Farm.
The Space Farm was still the same. Although the land and water had been upgraded, nothing could be seen from the outside. Zhao Hai looked carefully at the Space Farm and realized that the space soil and space water had not changed. There was no decrease in the amount of soil or water because of the modification of the land. He heaved a sigh of relief.
The modified black soil outside was very beneficial to him. If the Space Farm suddenly disappeared one day, he would have a large area of farmable land outside and would not starve to death.
However, he was in the accumulation stage, and the existence of the Space Farm was more helpful to him. If anything happened to the Space Farm because of the improvement of the land, it would not be worth it.
Looking at the radishes that were almost ripe, Zhao Hai said in a low voice, “Sell the radishes in the warehouse.”
The Space Farm notification sounded. “Are you sure you want to sell the items in the warehouse?” Zhao Hai said in a low voice, “Yes.” The Space Farm notification sounded again. “Selling the radishes in the warehouse. 500 gold coins have been placed in the gold coin bag. Please work hard.”
Zhao Hai had no choice. He had wanted to wait for this batch of ripe radishes to mature and see if these radishes could produce seeds, but it seemed like this experiment was too early. What he needed now was gold coins to buy things useful to him. He could only do this experiment in the future.
Now, Zhao Hai’s net worth had changed to 700 gold coins, six bags of pasture seeds, two bags of cabbage seeds, two bags of wheat seeds, and two bags of corn seeds.
After calculating what he had, Zhao Hai immediately said, “Expand the land.”
The Space Farm notification sounded again. “You need to be level three to reclaim new land and have 200 gold coins. You have already reached the requirements. Do you want to reclaim it now?”
Zhao Hai said in a low voice, “Yes.” Following his voice, there was a fluctuation in the Space Farm. The fog around the land flashed. After a flash, another small clearing appeared beside the original ten acres.
Zhao Hai looked at the two acres of reclaimed land. It was no different from the land in the beginning. Zhao Hai immediately said, “Plant corn.”
Shovel and bucket immediately got to work and the seeds were planted over the two acres of land.
Zhao Hai knew about corn. Corn was different from radishes. Root was what was eaten from the radish, while seeds were eaten from corn. When the corn was ripe, the seeds of corn would be ripe. Now that he had expanded two acres of land, he used it to plant corn. When the corn was ripe, he would not only obtain the corn seeds, but also the corn stalks that could be used as firewood.
Planting an acre of corn required about three kilograms of seeds, and the yield of an acre of corn was about a tonne. In other words, if he planted two acres of corn, he could obtain at least 2,000 kilograms of corn. If these corn could be used as seeds, he could plant at least 600 acres of land. This was definitely a good deal.
Now, Zhao Hai only hoped that the corn in the Space Farm was not like the corn on Earth where the seeds produced from the crop were inferior to the bought ones. If the corn in the Space Farm could really be used as seeds, it would solve his big problem. He could plant radishes in the Space Farm and turn them into money, and plant corn outside. This way, he would have firewood and food to lay the foundation for his future development.