Chapter 6: The First Draw—The Purple Agricultural Prodigy

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Su Ze continued to unroll the scroll, but soon found he couldn’t pull it any further. Beside him, the Spirit Essence Boy shook the leaves atop his head and said, “You need more Wenmai energy to repair Peach Blossom Dock. Only then can you unlock more buildings and facilities.”

Peach Blossom Dock must be this dilapidated pier. So the main city needs to be upgraded. Su Ze quickly understood the setup—wasn’t this just like a farming simulation game? Sure enough, on the scroll he saw a line of text: “Upgrade Peach Blossom Dock requires 20 Wenmai energy.”

“So how do you recruit the Spirit Essence Boys?” Su Ze asked.

“That’s on the back,” came the reply.

Flipping the scroll, Su Ze indeed saw several types of Spirit Essence Boys.

“Ordinary Agricultural Spirit Essence Boy.”

Function: Manages farmland; one boy is needed per acre.

Cost: 5 Wenmai energy per month.

The next, “Fishing Spirit Essence Boy,” was similar, also costing 5 points monthly. Just like different worker classes in a farming simulation game.

Quite expensive. And it’s not a one-time fee, but a monthly payment.

That means the more facilities he builds, the more Spirit Essence Boys he’ll need, increasing his monthly Wenmai energy cost.

The Spirit Essence Boy beside him said again, “Different quality Spirit Essence Boys will come to apply! If you’re lucky, you might get a rare orange Mythical-level Spirit Essence Boy! The higher the Peach Blossom Dock level, the greater the chance of recruiting high-quality Spirit Essence Boys!”

Alright then, even this Peach Blossom Land has learned the tactics of trashy pay-to-win mobile games.

After some thought, Su Ze decided to solve the food problem first.

That meant reclaiming a patch of “Low-grade Dry Field” and then recruiting a “Agricultural Spirit Essence Boy.”

He wrote the recruitment notice on a wooden sign and hung it on a hook at Peach Blossom Dock. Shortly after, a small figure wearing a short farmer’s cotton shirt, carrying a hoe over his shoulder, drifted on a small boat to the dock.

Unlike the Spirit Essence Boy with green leaves above his head, this agricultural boy had golden wheat ears atop his head.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and pull me up!” the boy shouted in a gruff voice from the boat.

Su Ze quickly crouched by the dock and pulled the boat onto the pier.

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The Agricultural Spirit Essence Boy jumped onto the dock and looked at Su Ze.

“So you’re the new master of Peach Blossom Land? I’m Anong. Would you like to recruit me?”

At that moment, the little radish figure beside Su Ze said, “Congratulations, Master of Peach Blossom Land! You’ve recruited an epic-level purple Spirit Essence Boy on your first try!”

A guaranteed first draw bonus?

Su Ze never trusted his luck, yet this radish boy dressed like an old farmer turned out to be a purple-tier Spirit Essence Boy?

But Su Ze first asked, “The monthly cost stays the same, right?”

Anong, the purple Agricultural Spirit Essence Boy, opened his mouth and said indignantly, “What do you take me for? Of course it stays the same!”

Feeling a bit ashamed for his penny-pinching, Su Ze asked, “Anong, what special ability do you have?”

The boy proudly said, “I can breed! After each harvest season, I can select and cultivate better seeds, increasing yield and improving seed traits!”

That was a powerful skill!

But then Anong lowered his head and added, “Because I must carefully tend the crops, I can only farm one acre per season.”

Su Ze understood—high-quality Spirit Essence Boys can do more, but because of the “breeding” skill, Anong farms only one acre like an ordinary boy. Still, Su Ze thought this skill was worthy of epic quality!

After all, the things from Peach Blossom Land could be taken out.

Seeds were the foundation of agriculture. If one could cultivate superior seeds, it was not just a matter of personal sustenance, but could even change history!

Moreover, Peach Blossom Land had the advantage of twelve harvests a year, greatly accelerating breeding speed!

And if delicious fruits from the future could appear here, Su Ze felt he had truly found treasure.

“Anong, will you work for me?”

Anong nodded; the wheat ears atop his head trembled slightly, marking their contract.

The guiding Spirit Essence Boy said, “Master of Peach Blossom Land, when you return here tomorrow morning, the dry field will be ready. Please bring some seeds with you.”

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Su Ze nodded and asked, “Do I need to use that book every time I enter or leave Peach Blossom Land?”

The guiding boy shook his head. “Peach Blossom Land exists within the book, but no matter which book you use, as long as you think of Peach Blossom Land in your heart, you can enter! However, to avoid trouble, please do not enter or exit in front of outsiders.”

Hearing this, Su Ze relaxed. It seemed the golden finger was bound to him, not to the Peach Blossom Records book, making entry and exit more convenient. He wouldn’t have to carry that book everywhere.

“How do I bring seeds in? And how do I return?”

“As long as you silently say ‘Return,’ you can leave Peach Blossom Land. Tomorrow, just hold the pouch with seeds in your hand when entering. But besides you, no living creatures can be brought in.”

Having clarified these points, Su Ze murmured, “Return, return!”

Dizziness washed over him again. When he opened his eyes, he heard a cat meow.

Sunlight bent through a hole near the desk, casting a beam by the table. Rouge Snow lay at the end of the light shaft, squinting at him.

Back already?

He absentmindedly stroked the cat’s head. Rouge Snow hummed contentedly. Su Ze stood and opened the door.

When he returned earlier, it was nearing noon; now it was midday. It seemed time flowed the same in Peach Blossom Land and the real world.

His stomach growled. He remembered he had only eaten a piece of bean cake that morning, half of which he had shared with Wang Anshi.

But the house was bare; the rice jar was empty. Where could he find food?

At that moment, a girl’s voice called from outside:

“Surname Su, if you’re not dead drunk, open the door quickly!”

A lively young woman’s image appeared in his memory.

Su Ze opened the door to see a young woman dressed in colorful silk robes, her hair braided in a traditional style, but tied back with a red ribbon to keep her wide sleeves out of the way for wandering the streets.

Such youthful vitality made Su Ze a little overwhelmed.

This was Zhang Chulan, his childhood friend from before. Daughter of Zhang Daocheng, a merchant neighbor. Su Ze’s parents had once intended to betroth them, but both his parents had passed away.

Zhang Daocheng’s business had grown so much that they had moved out of the southern city neighborhood, but Zhang Chulan still came by from time to time.

She always urged Su Ze to study diligently, but after hearing about his drunken revelry yesterday, she seized the chance to visit his little courtyard at noon today.