Chapter 4: Earning Ten Thousand a Day Already!

Chapter 4: Earning Ten Thousand a Day Already!

After fully developing all 12 plots of land, Qin Lin controlled his game character to take out seeds and start planting.

But just after planting on three plots, a sudden message appeared: "Insufficient seeds!"

Qin Lin patted his head, having completely forgotten about this.

In the game, planting crops requires seeds.

Seeds are not unlimited; once used up, they must be purchased with in-game currency from the seed shop. However, he had already spent all his in-game money buying seeds for seedless watermelons.

Normally, in the game's progression, he would plant watermelons, sell them in the game for money, then buy new seeds and plant again—continuously accumulating funds to develop the farm.

But now, he was planting watermelons in the game and selling them in the real world, so there was no way to recover the investment in the game unless he sold the newly harvested watermelons in the game to earn money to buy new seeds.

Then a thought occurred to him: could real-world seeds be brought into the game to plant?

Without hesitation, Qin Lin closed the fruit and vegetable shop and headed to the designated crop seed outlet in Youcheng County. Upon entering, the lady behind the counter greeted warmly, "Hey there, young man, what seeds are you looking for?"

"Do you have seedless watermelon seeds?" Qin Lin asked while scanning the store's selection.

Although the initial game land could grow many fruits and vegetables, the seedless watermelon trade was just starting to pick up, so naturally, he wanted to keep planting seedless watermelons.

"Yes, we do," the lady smiled and said, "But these are ordinary seedless watermelon seeds, 80 yuan per 50 grams. How much do you need?"

"I'll take 100 grams for now," Qin Lin replied, unsure if these seeds could be used in the game, so he didn't buy more. After returning to the fruit and vegetable shop, he locked the door again and entered the game, placing the seeds into the seed storage box.

After finishing, he exited the game.

Looking at the game screen in his mind, the toolbox now contained a packet of watermelon seeds.

[Seedless Watermelon Seed: Quality 1]

[This is a seedless watermelon seed; planting it will yield seedless watermelons!]

A simple note.

Qin Lin immediately controlled his game character to plant on the newly opened 12 plots.

After a while, seeing that all 12 plots showed crops planted, he couldn't help but smile.

Real-world seeds could be planted in the game.

This solved one immediate problem.

What remained unknown was whether the watermelons grown from these external seeds would taste the same as those grown from in-game seeds.

The whole afternoon passed, and someone in the WeChat group had already wholesaled the remaining 30 watermelons. Qin Lin also sold off all the fruits and vegetables he had purchased yesterday at a low price, deciding not to restock and instead focus solely on selling watermelons.

As the sun set, he closed the shop and went home, where his mother had already prepared dinner.

***

After dinner, he immediately checked the game screen in his mind.

The watermelons on the initial 12 plots had been infested with worms, and the watermelon seedlings on the newly opened 12 plots were overrun with weeds; both needed cleaning.

While clearing the pests and weeds, Qin Lin received a WeChat message.

From Mo Qing’s wife: "It's over. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Come pick me up after work, and I want some watermelon."

Seeing Mo Qing’s message, Qin Lin replied instantly, "Alright, my lady."

Like him, Mo Qing had returned to Youcheng County after graduating from university. Unlike Qin Lin, however, Mo Qing had an uncle working at the county tax bureau, so she passed the civil service exam and joined the tax bureau.

Recently, apparently a sizable township enterprise had been caught in trouble. The story went that some of the enterprise’s leaders were filmed partying and boasting at a farmhouse restaurant, and the video was uploaded to a social media platform, leading to an investigation.

Mo Qing was part of the tax audit team, mainly handling the tedious calculations.

Qin Lin and Mo Qing chatted sweetly on WeChat and even video-called late into the night before ending.

***

The next day.

When Qin Lin woke up and looked at the game screen in his mind, all 24 watermelon plots had fully matured.

He inspected the watermelons grown from the real-world seeds; they were lush and green, showing little difference from those grown from the game seeds.

Controlling his game character, Qin Lin harvested one plot of watermelons grown from real seeds and placed them into the storage room. Then, on impulse, he entered the game.

Heading straight to the storage room, he found the 16 watermelons from that plot, each weighing over ten pounds.

Picking one up, a note appeared:

[Seedless Watermelon: Quality 1]

[Note: Although not a special variety, this watermelon is a game product. Its flavor is among the best of ordinary watermelons, with Taste +1, Sweetness +1, Texture +1.]

The note was the same as before.

Still somewhat uncertain, Qin Lin took the watermelon back to his room, went into the kitchen, sliced it into wedges, and tasted one. The flavor was indeed just as delicious, putting his mind at ease.

Using real-world seeds inside the game to grow watermelons and then selling them in reality posed no problem; the taste remained unaffected.

"Lin, why are you eating watermelon so early? It’s not good for your stomach," his mother Lin Fen scolded as she entered the kitchen.

Qin Lin smiled and explained, "Mom, I’m just tasting the watermelon’s flavor since I plan to sell these later."

Lin Fen said no more. Instead, she picked up a wedge to help her son judge. After one bite, she exclaimed, "Lin, this watermelon tastes great. Even the ones we wholesale at the shop rarely have this flavor. If every one tastes like this, they’ll definitely sell well."

Having run a fruit and vegetable shop all her life, Lin Fen could tell instantly if a watermelon was good.

Qin Lin looked back at the game screen, controlled his character to harvest all 24 plots of watermelons into the storage room, then cleared the vines and planted new seeds.

By evening, another batch of watermelons would mature.

Afterward, Qin Lin and his mother shared breakfast before leaving, cycling to the rented warehouse.

***

At the warehouse, after locking the door, Qin Lin entered the game and headed to the storage room. Upon entering, he saw a sign:

Seedless Watermelon: 418 pieces (Quality 1)

This was the harvest from the 24 plots.

What surprised Qin Lin was that behind this pile of watermelons were three individual watermelons placed together, each with a separate sign:

Seedless Watermelon: 3 pieces (Quality 2)

Higher-quality watermelons had appeared? These had darker stripes and a rounder shape.

He immediately picked one up, and the following info appeared:

[Seedless Watermelon: Quality 2]

[Note: High-quality game-produced watermelon. Superior in taste, flavor, and fragrance compared to Quality 1 watermelons. It can captivate your taste buds beyond control. Taste +2, Sweetness +2, Texture +2, Aftertaste +2!]

The Quality 2 watermelons had doubled taste and sweetness attributes and gained an extra aftertaste attribute.

But the note seemed somewhat exaggerated.

Could a watermelon really be so addictive that it overwhelmed one’s taste buds?

It wasn’t some rare delicacy, after all.

Still curious about how much better the Quality 2 watermelon tasted compared to Quality 1, Qin Lin focused on business first. He moved all 418 watermelons from the game to reality and posted a video in the WeChat group: "Fresh seedless watermelons just arrived, wholesale at 1.5 yuan per pound, delivery available."

Not long after he sent the message and continued loading watermelons onto the truck, his WeChat started buzzing with messages from Liu Dasheng and other fruit and vegetable shop owners placing orders.

Even though these were Quality 1 watermelons, their taste surpassed ordinary ones, making them easy to sell in the watermelon season. Customers who bought before would return, so the shop owners who had ordered previously placed even larger orders this time.

Besides them, several new fruit shop owners from East City and Shuixi Street also sent orders ranging from 20 to 30 watermelons.

After a couple of days of wholesale, everyone in the group naturally followed suit.

Qin Lin did a careful count: the total number of watermelons ordered today reached 395—almost all of this batch.

After tallying, he loaded the watermelons onto the truck and headed back to town, delivering to each shop one by one.

By noon, he arrived at Market Street and delivered watermelons to Liu Dasheng and his two partners.

"Xiao Qin, you’re here?" Liu Dasheng greeted with a smile. "Your watermelons sell well. I ordered 10 more today."

"Thanks for looking out for my business, Brother Liu," Qin Lin replied with a smile and began unloading the watermelons.

After completing the transaction, he delivered to Chen Dahe and Ai Quni, returning to his shop with 23 watermelons left by noon.

Calculating the accounts, this batch of 395 watermelons weighed 4,424 pounds, yielding 6,636 yuan in revenue.

If he sold the batch maturing that evening, his daily income would exceed 10,000 yuan.

That single day’s earnings equaled what he had worked hard for in a whole month selling fruits and vegetables.

(End of chapter)