Fruit Farmer In A Cultivation World

Sen Lin was feeling restless.

Even though he convinced himself that he'd just treat the encounter with Lin Tu was a run-in with a weirdo, he just couldn't get the thought of spiritual plants that could grow in the snow out of his head.

He had tried to go back to sleep several times only to fail repeatedly. In the end, he decided to stop chasing after sleep and reviewed the contract he had signed.

Sen Lin went through it carefully and scratched his head in confusion. The contract indeed had nothing that was disadvantageous for him. As advertised, the special package by the Green Wind Spirit Farmer Association designed for newbies suited his needs perfectly.

The association would hand him several saplings free of cost. The only restraint on him was that he had to sell the mature spiritual plants back to the association.

Now, the only problem remaining was how that salesman would find him.

Should I go back to the teahouse where I met him? I guess that's the only option.

Sen Lin made up his mind to commute to East Ridge city once again. There wasn't much to do in his farm anyways.

Since he wasn't sure if he'd meet up with Lin Tu immediately, he was prepared to spend quite some time at the teahouse. He put on his best dress and walked out of his hut.

But before he could set out, he was caught off guard by what he saw – a giant goose the size of a large dog was waiting on his doorstep.

"Are you Sen Lin?"

Hearing the human words coming out of the giant bird's beak, Sen Lin forced himself to smile. Suppressing his urge to run away, he spoke cautiously. "That would be me. Do you have any business with me?"

The goose retrieved the contract Sen Lin had placed his fingerprint on and unfolded it using its webbed feet.

Sniff sniff.

The bird sniffed the paper as if it were a dog. Done with the contract, it smelled Sen Lin and nodded in satisfaction after confirming they matched.

Its beak entered its feathers once again. After a bit of rummaging, a small pouch was pulled out.

"Here's your batch of spirit seedlings for winter sunflowers. Please inspect the goods and sign here if there's no problem."

Sen Lin opened the pouch and saw 10 seedlings the size of a long-grain rice. Though tiny, the healthy green leaves that had just sprouted assured him of their vitality.

He checked each seedling individually and signed a paper saying he received the goods without an issue.

The goose inserted the paper into its feather and pulled out a small booklet. "Here's the booklet with all the information you need to tend to the winter sunflowers. My work here is done. Remember to use the services of our Golden Goose Escort Group if you need to deliver anything in the future."

Sen Lin watched dumbfounded as the goose's figure turned into a dot and gradually disappeared on the horizon.

His heart had nearly stopped beating when he first saw the giant goose staring at him when he opened the door. Thankfully, he had already seen a flying paper bird and the drunk Lin Tu who could walk faster than the fastest athlete back on Earth in the past month.

If not, he really wouldn't have been able to maintain his calm facade in front of the talking bird.

'I guess that Lin Tu wasn't a scammer after all. These cultivators really have magical means. I could have never expected they'd use a talking giant goose to handle delivery for them.'

Changing his evaluation of the drunk cultivator he had met yesterday, Sen Lin began reading the booklet.

When he was done, he couldn't help but admit that this world couldn't be judged by the common sense he had developed back on Earth. Not only could these spirit seedlings be grown in winter, they'd only thrive during snowfall.

Such a thing would have been impossible on Earth. But thinking about it, the seedlings didn't shock him too much. A plant growing without sunlight was much more reasonable than a paper bird that could take to the skies or a goose the size of a dog that could talk.

Sen Lin pushed the thoughts regarding the cultivation world to the back of his head and planted the seedlings into small makeshift pots. They weren't ready to be planted yet and according to the booklet, he'd have to wait until the first snowfall to plant it.

Still, that didn't mean he could take it easy. While the booklet didn't mention it, acclimating the seedling to the outside world was a necessary step. He had lost plenty of seedlings to the harsh elements in his past life for skipping this step.

He placed the pots outside in a place that received sunlight and not so strong wind. He'd leave the pots here for an hour today before bringing them back indoors. He'd continue doing this for the next week, gradually increasing the time the seedlings were left outside each day.

This way, the seedlings would be better prepared for the harsh conditions outside and the chances of the seedlings dying would drastically decrease.

Just as Sen Lin was done moving all the pots outside, Blacky walked up to him and observed the seedlings curiously.

"Are you here to check up on the spirit seedlings? They're called winter sunflowers and apparently grow up during snowfall. Make sure you don't eat these. Also, make sure the chickens don't mess with it."

Sen Lin, who had grown accustomed to talking to his donkey to relieve boredom, spoke gently. In response, the donkey brayed lightly and rubbed its head on the young farmer's hand.

Sen Lin pet the donkey lovingly. He always felt that Blacky was smart and could even understand some of his words.

The two made rounds around their tiny farm, retrieving eggs from the chicken coop before standing by an empty plot of land.

"This place looks good enough. Let's create a tiny mound so that the snow doesn't pile up too high and suffocate the winter sunflowers."

Improvising on the spot, Sen Lin tilled the soil before mixing some of the organic mixture he had prepared for mulching. He then created ten tiny mounds, one for each seedling. He hoped that the elevated mounds would help prevent the seedlings from being completely covered by snow.

The booklet called for a snow dispersing spell to be cast on the seedlings to ensure that didn't happen but he didn't have any knowledge about arcane spells. Creating mounds was the idea he came up with.

He wasn't sure if it would suffice but he didn't have any other alternative. As a mortal, this was the best he could do. Besides, even if it failed it wouldn't matter. According to the contract he signed, there wasn't any penalty for failure to raise the seedlings.

Sen Lin looked at the mounds in satisfaction. The soil was already loosened because of the tilling and the mounds were shaped so that snow would most likely roll off once the weight reached a certain amount.

Red Rock village didn't experience heavy snowfall and these mounds should serve their purpose. If it didn't, he'd just have to put in more effort and shovel the snow every few hours to make sure the seedlings weren't buried.

"Let's go back Blacky. It's been an hour already. We can't leave the seedlings outside for too long. Seedlings grown indoors can't be left outside for too long during the acclimating phase or they will die because of the sudden exposure to the outside world."

Hearing the energetic braying of Blacky, Sen Lin smiled and walked to his hut. He was looking forward to growing these magical winter sunflowers that could grow up in winter.