Chapter 247 - 214: Da Pang

Chapter 247: Chapter 214: Da Pang

Since deciding to go to the Wilderness, Huai Yu’s life had become much more purposeful.

Her first goal was to earn points.

Chen Xing had said that the cheapest car would cost over 50,000 points. Adding in other expenses, Huai Yu figured preparing 70,000 points would be the safest bet. It sounded like a lot, but considering she already had over 20,000 points, it didn’t seem quite so daunting anymore.

So, after returning from another vegetable-selling trip, Huai Yu looked at the supplies hoarded by the stove, wiped the sweat from her face, and finally declared, "Let’s buy a car!"

Zhou Qian looked up and pointed at himself. "Me, 9,000 in savings. You, 27,000.

"Are we buying four tires first?"

But Huai Yu did the math. "I can make five or six thousand from selling vegetables once. Buying a car isn’t that far off, right?"

"But you can’t sell them every day." In fact, they currently kept their frequency to once a week, but the market was clearly already shifting. Zhou Qian reminded her, "Don’t casually sell vegetables anymore. If you’re targeted and the profit is tempting enough, there are people out there who’d dare to brave even the Rose Corridor."

No one had made a move before because they were too intimidated. But once they realized someone was living near the Rose Corridor, it would be hard for them not to harbor the wishful thought: "If she can do it, surely I can too, right?"

Huai Yu looked at the vegetable patch. She had only catalyzed the growth of one or two plants of each variety, so there really wasn’t much left recently anyway. But even so, a car wasn’t completely out of reach. However, if they didn’t sell vegetables, they wouldn’t even need a car anytime soon...

She thought, "If I don’t sell vegetables, I can sell other things!"

She started counting on her fingers. "Bamboo Heart Tea, Klang Balls, Da Pang..."

Zhou Qian recalled the image of Ke Taichiro gnawing on the ball and couldn’t help but look pained. But—

"Who’s Da Pang?"

Huai Yu gave him a puzzled look. "You drank Da Pang’s foot before!" With that, she called out, "Da Pang!"

The Virginia creeper on his leg started to stir restlessly; beneath the ground in front of them, a green shoot was scurrying around with something that intrigued it. Zhou Qian’s gaze fixed on the empty clearing ahead. With a sudden POP, the leaves atop the Fat Ginseng’s head sprouted from the soil.

Zhou Qian was speechless. He didn’t know what to say. This feeling of encountering a new surprise every single day was truly bizarre.

"So..." Zhou Qian trailed off. "Are you going to sell it?"

The Fat Ginseng... well, Da Pang.

Da Pang’s abilities were somewhat unique. As a ginseng meant for nourishing the body, it essentially had zero effect if consumed by an ordinary person. However, if someone had a mutated plant on their body, it was an absolute treasure!

The key detail was: on a person’s body.

That is to say, it was equally useless for mutated plants growing in the ground. It was only effective for those on a person’s body, regardless of whether the plant was parasitic, deeply rooted, or merely transplanted from harvested materials like his own creeper. As long as there was a mutated plant on the person, it would work.

Because of this, Huai Yu didn’t dare to overuse her Purification Ability on the remaining ginsengs. She simply catalyzed them in a standard way to make them grow a little faster, but nothing more.

Huai Yu thought for a moment. "I originally wanted to sell the regular ginsengs, but their high Mutant Value has already been purified. Never mind! They’re too hard to come by, so I won’t sell them after all."

She secretly thought, "What if Lin Xuefeng needs this to save his life after I find him? Just in case, it’s better to keep them."

Then there was Zhou Qian. He said he wanted to accompany her to the Wilderness, though Huai Yu didn’t really want him to. But if he actually ended up going, she would need to keep this for him too. So, although she had mentioned it, the Da Pang family was ultimately crossed off the "to sell" list.

Da Pang was completely oblivious to its perilous situation. Hearing the call, it dug itself out of the soil again and stuttered, "W-What do you, y-you want with me!"

It had held in those last four words for a moment before blurting them out in one breath, its tone quite heavy. But Huai Yu still praised it with a beaming smile. "Wow, your speech is getting so much more fluent! You only used to say four words occasionally, but now you can say four words in every sentence!"

Da Pang’s pale, plump body stood even taller, the green leaves on its branches quivering. Its lateral roots rested on its hips like a person’s hands. Zhou Qian could clearly see that one slightly thicker root had missed its mark. Because it had bent backward too quickly and at too sharp an angle, it snapped cleanly in half.

"Ouch!" Da Pang didn’t stutter this time. Its white, chubby body attempted to bend over to look at the broken root. Zhou Qian was genuinely afraid it might snap its own body in half while trying.

Fortunately, because it looked like a white radish and was indeed very fat, the movement was rather difficult for it. So, after lowering its leafy head a bit, it gave up. It was just a root anyway; it would grow back.

Zhou Qian was speechless once again.

Huai Yu, however, was quick on the draw. She scooped up the broken half of the root and offered unreserved praise. "Da Pang, your arm broke. Does it hurt? Do you want me to water you with a scoop of water later?"

The silly fat ginseng joyfully shook its leaves and nodded in agreement.

Zhou Qian couldn’t bear to watch. Did a scoop of water really count as a reward? Da Pang could walk on its own. When it was thirsty, it could even go to the pond to absorb water. It didn’t lack hydration at all.

But perhaps because they were catalyzed by Huai Yu, they naturally trusted and clung to her, obeying her every word. They even felt favored over a single scoop of water...

To this, Zhou Qian had absolutely nothing to say.

Meanwhile, Huai Yu shoved the ginseng root into his hand. After hugging and playing with Da Pang for a while, she thoughtfully asked, "It’s so hot right now. Are you hot in the treehouse?

"If you are, the Rose Corridor and Kuang Biao built a bamboo forest tunnel over there. It’s breezy, very cool, and there’s no direct sunlight. Why don’t you move there to grow?

"I already talked to the Rose Corridor, by the way. It won’t hit you guys."

Hehe, the Rose Corridor’s temper was really getting better and better!

As for that bamboo forest tunnel—though her initial intention of "telling on Kuang Biao to the parents" was just to have the Rose Corridor teach it a lesson—she never expected such a happy accident. Now, in the sweltering June heat, it had truly become a perfect summer retreat!

A couple of days ago, Zhou Qian had hauled water and mixed mud bright and early in the morning to build a simple stove there. After all, with temperatures exceeding thirty degrees Celsius, cooking inside the house or the utility shed had become unbearable.

Da Pang visibly hesitated for a moment.

It didn’t like the scorching heat, and it especially disliked direct sunlight. The bamboo forest tunnel was a huge temptation. But on one side was the formidable bamboo, and on the other was the even more formidable Rose Corridor...

It was such a difficult choice. Why was being a ginseng so hard?

After Da Pang left, carrying a bellyful of conflict, Huai Yu happily turned to Zhou Qian. "Brother Zhou Qian, let’s brew Da Pang’s arm in water for you to drink today!

"Didn’t you say that drinking this makes your leg stronger?"

After all that running around, Zhou Qian never expected he would be the ultimate beneficiary!

Zhou Qian’s expression grew even more complicated. Finally, he said hesitantly, "The dried ginseng in pharmacies can be kept for many years. Should we try drying this ginseng root in the sun first and see if we can store it?"

Eh? Huai Yu hadn’t thought about that.

But if they were going to the Wilderness, bringing Da Pang along would obviously attract too much attention. Wouldn’t bringing just the ginseng root be much more convenient?