Chapter 98: The Green Bean Trade Dispute

Before Qi Fu could answer, Zhao Ze burst out, “Xia Qing, your mung bean pods are ready to pick already?!”

Xia Qing replied calmly, “Not all of them, just a few of the early blooming ones turned black. According to the Encyclopedia of Cultivation, once they turn black, they’re ready to harvest.”

Whoever wrote the Encyclopedia of Cultivation didn’t measure up to Li Si at all. The book just said you could harvest mung bean pods once they blackened, dry them then store them sealed. But it never said how to dry them, what ‘dried’ even means, or how exactly you’re supposed to keep them sealed.

Qi Fu answered, “We used to dry them with the pods on until the pods burst open—that’s how you know they’re ready. These evolved mung beans should be the same, right, Fourth Sister?”

Li Si wasn’t online, so she didn’t answer.

Shi Chong spoke up, “Xia Qing, you better just dry them with the pods on for now. If Fourth Sister logs on and says you should open them first, you can always shell them then.”

Shi Chong made a good point. If Xia Qing shelled the pods now and it turned out she was supposed to dry them with the pods on, she couldn’t put the beans back in. “Got it. Thanks, Uncle Shi, Seventh Brother.”

Zhang San chimed in lazily, “Xia Qing, give me two jin of mung beans, would you? It’s hot out—I need a couple bowls of mung bean soup to cool off.”

Xia Qing replied without missing a beat, “Third Brother, the ones that are ready are yellowlight mung beans.”

Xia Qing’s two acres of mung beans had just twenty-seven greenlight pods—the rest were all yellowlight. She didn’t even eat the greenlight beans herself, hoping to save them as seed.

Of course, an idol like him ought to have the best, but only when she had enough greenlight beans to spare.

As soon as Zhang San learned they were yellowlight beans, he lost interest. “Anyone got greenlight beans?”

None of the other lords said a word. Li Si finally spoke. “I have some. I’ll send them over to Third Brother later.”

Zhang San, still lazy as ever, went on, “I only eat this year’s fresh beans.”

Li Si replied at once, “I don’t have any in the territory right now. I’ll deliver them to you in five days.”

Zhang San didn’t respond, which clearly meant he agreed to the deal.

From this exchange, Xia Qing realized Zhang San disliked Li Si much less than Tang Huai. Another thing—when Qi Fu called out to Li Si earlier, she ignored him. But as soon as Zhang San spoke, she answered instantly. Was it just a coincidence, or had she set Zhang San to ‘special attention’?

Could a walkie-talkie even do that?

Or maybe she had someone monitoring the walkie-talkie twenty-four hours a day, set to alert her the moment Zhang San logged on?

Xia Qing picked a few more mung bean pods and stuffed them in her sack, repeating her previous question. “Fourth Sister, this is Xia Qing. Can I buy a copy of your mung bean cultivation guide?”

“No need to say who you are—I can tell the difference between a man and a woman’s voice,” Li Si answered coolly. “One guide, two greenlight cucumbers.”

“Alright, thank you, Fourth Sister!” Xia Qing agreed, delighted. No need to ask—Li Si wanted greenlight cucumbers, probably just to taste what Zhang San liked so much. Trading two cucumbers for a detailed guide to cultivating evolved mung beans—Xia Qing had seriously scored.

Qi Fu hurried to speak up, “Fourth Sister, this is Qi Fu from Plot Five. I want to trade for the mung bean guide too. Would two greenlight eggplants do?”

Zhang San had tried the greenlight eggplants from Plot Five before.

Li Si didn’t reply. After about fifteen seconds, a gentle female voice responded, “Hello, everyone. This is Assistant Liu from Territory Nine. I’ll be handling the next trades.”

A newcomer had joined. Xia Qing straightened up and listened intently.

Although Assistant Liu’s voice was gentle, her words were anything but. “Our lord’s Evolved Mung Bean Cultivation Guide contains five patented cultivation techniques not available in the Safe Zone’s public channels. The price for a trade is eight hundred points. Once you receive the guide, every lord must strictly follow the usage instructions printed on the front page. Any technical leaks from misuse will get you sued for patent infringement and blacklisted from ever trading with Territory Nine again. We’re not accepting points for this trade. If you want the guide, state your territory number, what items you’re offering, and how much.”

Xia Qing immediately pressed the button. “Miss Liu, does the deal Fourth Sister just made with Plot Three still count?”

“Yes, it does,” Assistant Liu reminded her kindly. “Please address me as Assistant Liu from now on, Miss Xia.”

Xia Qing quickly corrected herself. “Understood. Thank you, Assistant Liu.”

Eight hundred points was worth eighty jin of yellowlight vegetables or sixteen jin of greenlight vegetables. Xia Qing had just traded two cucumbers, without even weighing them, for something this valuable. The crowd was left speechless.

After weighing his options, Qi Fu decided to proceed. “Assistant Liu, this is Qi Fu from Plot Five. Can I trade sixteen jin of greenlight eggplants for the guide? But I only have two greenlight eggplants—I’ll need to deliver them in three batches, is that okay?”

Assistant Liu replied warmly, “That’s fine, Mr. Liu. Trade confirmed.”

Then Luo Pei spoke up in an even tone. “Assistant Liu, can Territory One trade building materials for the guide?”

Assistant Liu’s voice grew even softer. “Which building materials can your territory offer?”

Luo Pei answered, “Insect-repelling wall putty, wall paint, and waterproof roof coating.”

Assistant Liu responded instantly, “How about forty jin of waterproof roof coating?”

“Sure. Thanks, Assistant Liu,” Luo Pei agreed.

Then Tang Zhengbo from Territory Twelve jumped in. “Hello, Assistant Liu. Can I trade four packs of BBQ seasoning for the guide? My BBQ spice blend is exclusive, selling at two hundred points a pack in the Hui San Safe Zone.”

Assistant Liu’s voice remained gentle. “That’s fine, Director Tang. Trade confirmed.”

Zhang San piped up lazily again. “Plot Seven will trade one pack of BBQ seasoning for medicine.”

The way Tang Zhengbo talked to Zhang San was completely unchanged from how he spoke to anyone else. “Third Brother, may I have a bottle of non-toxic insect repellent spray?”

Zhang San replied just as lazily, “Sure.”

Hearing their father strike a deal with Zhang San left Tang Huai and Tang Heng from Plot Two on the verge of tears.

It was no surprise when Li Si logged on to grab her idol’s favorite as well. “Third Brother, I want a bottle of non-toxic insect repellent spray too.”

Zhang San refused directly. “No trade. Make it yourself.”

“Hahaha!” Xia Qing, still in the mung bean field, burst out laughing. Not far away, Boss Sheep sprawled in the shade glanced over at Xia Qing, who was practically going wild in the bean trellis, then turned away in disgust.

Xia Qing picked out two of her biggest and best-looking greenlight cucumbers from her vegetable garden and traded them for four double-sided pages of the Mung Bean Cultivation Guide.

After carefully reading the instructions printed on the cover and confirming she wouldn’t break any rules as long as she didn’t share the patented techniques, Xia Qing got down to serious study.

Nowhere in the guide did it specify which methods were Li Si’s patented secrets, but after reading the whole thing, Xia Qing felt like someone had finally lit the path—a real breakthrough on how to handle evolved mung beans.

Turns out, evolved mung beans have no dormancy period. Once they’re dried, you can plant them straight away.

Turns out, evolved mung beans have deep roots. You need to turn the soil over deep and rake it fine.

Turns out, pruning is important. If the midday sun is too harsh, give the beans some shade, or water them if they get too much sun.

And there was more…

With this guide, Xia Qing could toss out everything the base’s Encyclopedia of Cultivation said about mung beans.