redvbooks Chapter 105 Vegetables Only a Paranoid Could Grow
Chapter 105 Vegetables Only a Paranoid Could Grow
The morning sun finally pierced through the thin mist over Changxiang City.
A dilapidated tricycle led the way, followed by Guan Shan's Maybach. This strange combination headed west, deep into the rural-urban fringe.
"Master, is this old man reliable?" Li Siyuan sat in the passenger seat, still holding half a half-eaten bun in his hand. "Just now, seeing him stick chopsticks through his nostrils made my nose bridge ache."
"There are many hidden masters among ordinary people." Wang Minyu leaned back in the back seat, closing his eyes to rest. "This old Cai is no ordinary person. Most people grow vegetables for quantity, but he grows vegetables for 'order.' The things grown by someone who can take obsessive-compulsive disorder to the extreme are definitely different."
The car turned onto a muddy path and eventually stopped in front of a yard surrounded by a tall barbed wire fence.
A wooden sign hangs at the entrance of the courtyard, with three characters written in extremely neat Yan style calligraphy: Jingxin Garden.
Even the strokes of these three characters are of the same thickness, which shows how much effort the writer put into them.
As soon as he got out of the car, Pierre's nose twitched twice.
"This smell..." Pierre took a deep breath, a look of rapture on his face. "The fragrance of earth mixed with the aroma of fermented soybean cake, and a hint of... faint sweetness? This is land untouched by chemical fertilizers and pesticides!"
Old Cai opened the iron gate and pointed inside: "Don't step on anything when you go in. If you damage my furrows, even if you're your savior, I'll unleash my dogs."
As everyone entered the courtyard, they were immediately stunned by the scene before them.
This isn't a vegetable garden, it's practically a military parade ground.
Every tomato plant grows to the same height, and the fruits are the same size, as if they were copied and pasted together. The cucumber trellis is built like a sophisticated engineering structure, and the direction of each vine has been artificially intervened so that it grows towards the angle with the most sunlight.
Even the weeds in the field seemed to be suppressed by some force, not daring to grow wildly.
"Incredible!" Guan Shan couldn't help but exclaim. "This isn't growing vegetables, it's embroidery!"
"Don't touch that chili!" Old Cai shouted, startling Zhao Na, who was about to reach out, into pulling back. "That's a 'bullet chili,' with a Scoville rating of 100,000. If you touch it and then rub your eyes without washing your hands, you'll go blind."
Wang Minyu squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil.
The soil has a healthy dark brown color, a loose texture, and feels slightly warm to the touch.
"It's selenium-rich soil, and you used a lot of wood ash and organic fertilizer." Wang Minyu rubbed his fingers together, sniffed the soil, and added, "It even smells like dregs of traditional Chinese medicine. Old Cai, did you bury isatis root and licorice in this field?"
Old Cai was "adjusting the bones" of an eggplant when he heard this. He turned around and snorted, "You know your stuff. Vegetables these days don't taste like vegetables because the soil is 'weak'. People need medicine when they're weak, and the soil needs to be replenished when it's weak. I've been cultivating this land for ten years, burying two tons of Chinese medicine residue in it every year to ferment. What grows here isn't vegetables, it's 'medicine'."
Pierre has gone mad.
He knelt in front of a row of bok choy, as if on a pilgrimage.
She plucked a leaf, put it in her mouth, chewed it a few times, and two streams of tears flowed down her cheeks.
"Sweet...crisp...this is the taste that bok choy should have!" Pierre looked at Wang Minyu excitedly. "Boss, buy it! Buy it no matter the price! With these vegetables, my 'Jade White Jade Soup' can be upgraded to 'Immortal Jade Soup'!"
"Don't rush." Wang Minyu stood up, brushing the dirt off his hands. "The food is good, but this person..."
He looked at Old Cai.
Although Old Cai seemed to be in good spirits, Wang Minyu could tell that his movements were somewhat stiff, especially when he bent over, his spine twisting unnaturally.
The system panel refreshed again:
[Potential transaction partner detected: Cai Genhua]
[Hidden lesion: Ankylosing spondylitis (early stage), caused by maintaining an overly rigid posture for extended periods of time.]
[Special Request: He hopes someone will inherit his "obsessive-compulsive farming methods," but due to his eccentric personality, he has driven away all his apprentices.]
"Old Cai," Wang Minyu walked over, "your back, was it as stiff as a sheet of iron when you woke up this morning? Do you need to stretch for half an hour before you can bend over?"
Old Cai paused, then said irritably, "What farmer has a good back? It's none of your business. You can buy vegetables, but there's a condition."
"you say."
"I don't deliver goods." Old Cai straightened up, wincing in pain. "Besides, I don't sell to people who don't know what they're doing. You have to send someone every day to pick them yourself, and you have to pick them according to my rules—you can't damage the roots, you can't mess up the formation, and you have to fill the soil back up after you're done."
These conditions are incredibly difficult for ordinary restaurants; they can't afford the labor costs alone.
Pierre was about to agree when Wang Minyu stopped him.
"I can agree to your terms. But I have a condition too." Wang Minyu pointed to Old Cai's waist, "I'll take your vegetables, and I'll also cover your illness. Moreover, I'll not only buy your vegetables, I'll also invest in your business."
"Investment?" Old Cai's eyes widened. "Are you crazy for money? I wouldn't sell this land for any amount of money!"
"It's not about buying land, it's about investing your technology." Wang Minyu smiled, revealing a set of white teeth. "Your obsessive-compulsive method of growing vegetables is good, but it's too inefficient and too hard on your back. I can provide you with a 'lazy person's obsessive-compulsive farming method'."
"Nonsense!"
"Is this nonsense? Look at this." Wang Minyu took out a small bottle from his pocket, which contained the diluted version of the [Plant Growth Correction Solution] that he had prepared in the system space.
"What is this?"
"Just spray a little on the roots, and the plants will grow strictly according to gravity sensing and light direction, without you having to 'correct' their posture every day," Wang Minyu began to exaggerate. "This is called bio-induction technology. It saves you the trouble of bending over, and your back will naturally be half cured."
Old Cai was skeptical.
Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out in the chicken coop deep in the yard.
"Giggle giggle—"
A flock of chickens seemed to be startled, frantically flapping their wings.
Immediately afterwards, a dark figure darted out of the chicken coop with astonishing speed.
"My 'speedy legs'!" Old Cai exclaimed in alarm, ignoring his back pain as he ran towards the spot.
The crowd followed and saw a large rooster with glossy feathers standing proudly on a fence post, looking down on the rest of the flock.
Its eyes were sharp and its claws were thick; it didn't look like a domestic fowl at all, but rather like an eagle covered in chicken feathers.
Below it, a weasel was lying on the ground convulsing, clearly having been "killed" by the chicken.
"This...this is a chicken?" Guan Shan rubbed his eyes. "Its pectoral muscles are more developed than mine."
"This is a hybrid of a wild pheasant and a domestic chicken that I caught in the mountains," Old Cai said proudly. "It doesn't eat feed, only vegetable leaves and insects, and it runs five kilometers in the yard every day. I call it the 'Running Chicken.' Its meat is so firm and chewy that you only need to add salt to make soup; it's so delicious it'll make your eyebrows fall off."
Pierre's mouth was already watering: "This is a real free-range chicken! Dr. Wang, this chicken..."
"There's something wrong with this chicken," Wang Minyu said, frowning.
He activated his [Aura Observation] skill and looked at the majestic rooster.
[Target: Mutant Hybrid Chicken]
[Status: Extremely agitated, excessively aggressive.]
[Cause: Ingestion of residue from a traditional Chinese medicine containing a stimulant (suspected to be ephedra or aconite).]
"Old Cai, have you buried some kind of potent pesticide in the ground lately?" Wang Minyu asked.
Old Cai was stunned: "A few days ago, it got damp, so I buried a moldy packet of 'Rejuvenating and Reversing Powder' next to the chicken coop..."
"No wonder." Wang Minyu sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Your chickens aren't healthy, they're on drugs. They're in a thyroid storm right now. If they keep running like this, their hearts will explode."
As if to prove his point, the rooster suddenly went weak in the knees, fell off the fence, convulsed, and foamed at the mouth.
"Speedy!" Old Cai yelled and lunged forward.
"Don't move it! Its body temperature is too high!" Wang Minyu rushed over. "Su Qing, the scalpel! Guan Shan, hold down the chicken wings! Li Siyuan, go to the car and get some chilled mineral water!"
A unique "chicken emergency rescue" began.
Wang Minyu skillfully bled the chicken's wing veins to release heat, while Su Qing precisely cut open the chicken's crop with a scalpel and removed the undigested medicinal residue.
Guan Shan held the chicken, which was bigger than a dog, like he was holding a child, looking completely bewildered.
Ten minutes later, the rooster stopped convulsing and crowed weakly.
Old Cai slumped to the ground, staring at the chicken that had miraculously come back to life, utterly convinced.
"Dr. Wang... no, Dr. Wang the Miracle Doctor." Old Cai wiped his sweat. "I believe you. This vegetable, this chicken, are all yours from now on. As long as you can cure them, and cure this damn back of mine too."
Wang Minyu stood up, his hands still covered in chicken feathers.
A pleasant system notification sounded:
[Mission Complete: Awakening of the Ingredients]
[Reward: Complete Intermediate Medicinal Cuisine Recipes, unlocking the special building "Medicinal Cuisine Kitchen".]
[Long-term supplier secured: Cai Genhua, a vegetable farmer with obsessive-compulsive disorder.]
"Deal." Wang Minyu smiled. "However, this chicken will have to be renamed 'Medicinal Chicken' from now on. Also, tomorrow I'll have Guan Shan come and install an automatic sprinkler system for you, so you won't have to bend over like that anymore."
On the way back, the trunk was filled with top-quality vegetables and two "calm-down" chickens.
Pierre hummed a song the whole way, brainstorming new menu ideas.
Li Siyuan kept looking in the rearview mirror: "Master, that deputy director at the market seemed to be secretly following us."
Wang Minyu didn't even turn his head: "Let him follow. Some 'leeks' (investors) won't wholeheartedly throw money at you unless they see the difference with their own eyes."
It was already noon when I got back to Renxin Pharmacy.
There was still a long queue outside the store, but today, in addition to the smell of stinky tofu, there was a fresh aroma of vegetables that originally belonged only to the fields.
Pierre announced his seclusion as soon as he entered the kitchen.
Half an hour later, a small blackboard was hung up:
Today's Special:
1. **Jadeite and White Jade Soup (Obsessive-Compulsive Version)**: Made with top-grade bok choy from Jingxinyuan Garden, each leaf is geometrically measured, a perfect cure for picky eaters and those with obsessive-compulsive aesthetics. Price: 288 yuan/bowl.
2. **Calming Chicken Soup**: Made with "free-range chicken" that has undergone emergency treatment according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the meat is tender and springy, and has the effect of calming the liver and suppressing yang. Price: NT$588/bowl.
Passersby, seeing the outrageous price, began to complain.
"Are you robbing me?"
"What kind of chicken costs 580?"
However, the moment Pierre lifted the lid of the soup pot, the overwhelming aroma instantly silenced all doubts.
The first person to pay was surprisingly the deputy director of the Third Municipal Hospital who had been following them. He was wearing a mask and furtively scanned the QR code.
"It smells so good..." The deputy director took a sip of the soup and felt his worldview being reshaped. "This is not just soup, it is a miracle of biochemistry."
Wang Minyu sat behind the counter, listening to the "Alipay payment received" notification, and took a satisfied sip of tea.