Chapter 27: 027 part 1
After changing Z’s medicine, Zhu Ran first sent a message to Xiu Nai.
Zhu Ran: [Most of the wounds on Z have healed and scabbed over, but he hasn’t woken up yet.]
Xiu Nai, who had just been in communication with Zefaer, saw Zhu Ran saying ‘Z hasn’t woken up yet’ and understood that he shouldn’t reveal anything.
Xiu Nai: [Thank you for your trouble.]
Zhu Ran: [You’re welcome.]
While sending messages, Zhu Ran went to the balcony. The freesias and daisies were blooming beautifully in the pale sunlight, and the single lavender was also blooming enchantingly.
The mutated vine that covered an entire floor-to-ceiling glass window saw Zhu Ran coming and bent its tendril tips as a way of greeting him.
Seeing this, Zhu Ran took a photo and sent it to Mu Qingzhou.
[Zhu: (Image). The mutated plant you gave me.]
Within seconds, the other party replied.
Mu Qingzhou: [It grew so dense in just one night.]
In the next moment, a prompt popped up on Zhu Ran’s communication interface: Mu Qingzhou has requested a video call.
Zhu Ran thought Mu Qingzhou wanted to see the vine, so he agreed without much thought.
Soon, Mu Qingzhou’s image appeared on the screen.
The man had his long black hair tied back and was wearing a very form-fitting combat suit. His tall, straight posture was fully revealed, radiating a sharp beauty.
He felt a bit different than before, like a blade out of its sheath.
But when Mu Qingzhou saw Zhu Ran’s appearance, he frowned.
Zhu Ran’s state was quite a bit worse than yesterday—he was pale, haggard, and full of exhaustion.
Mu Qingzhou: “Did you not sleep well?”
Zhu Ran: “Yeah, I didn’t sleep well. Someone is temporarily staying at my home, so I’m not quite used to it.”
Hearing the words ‘someone is temporarily staying at my home,’ Mu Qingzhou’s expression darkened.
Zhu Ran… was living with someone else?
Mu Qingzhou said seriously, “Lock your door when you sleep, and be careful.”
Zhu Ran nodded. “I will.”
Zhu Ran walked over to the vine and included both himself and the vine in the frame.
“The mutated vine has very strong vitality. I just gave it some water and it grew this well.”
As Zhu Ran spoke, the vine extended a tendril and touched Zhu Ran’s cheek.
The black tendril with red patterns pressed against Zhu Ran’s fair face. With a bit of force, it left a small indentation on his soft cheek.
Seeing this, Mu Qingzhou’s voice deepened. “You’ve cultivated it well. But, be careful not to get hurt.”
Zhu Ran reached out and touched the vine. “I won’t. I know what I’m doing.”
The two of them chatted simply for a few more sentences. During this time, Zhu Ran got distracted by something, but quickly regained his focus.
It wasn’t hard for Mu Qingzhou to guess from the direction Zhu Ran looked that he was paying attention to his “temporary roommate.”
“My final practical exam is about to start. I’ll bring you some more mutated plants when I’m free next time. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Because he had to take his final practical exam, Mu Qingzhou was the one to end the call first.
However, he didn’t give the practical exam much attention. Instead, he was focusing on something else.
A shadow cast over his originally cold expression, looking like an ice field about to face an eternal night—biting and chilling.
Zhu Ran could take his call, which meant Zhu Ran didn’t reject him.
Mu Qingzhou was naturally happy in his heart.
But… a roommate?
His eyes grew cold and wintry.
After hanging up the video call, Zhu Ran first checked Z’s room.
While on the call with Mu Qingzhou earlier, Zhu Ran had felt some movement in that room.
Gently opening the door, he saw that Z was still unconscious, but the blanket had become messy, likely caused unconsciously in his sleep.
After observing for a while and confirming Z was fine, Zhu Ran left.
He went to the balcony and looked at the four pots of plants he had used for the cutting experiment yesterday.
The results were quite unexpected.
The one that grew best was the one using the soil he had purified with his spiritual power, paired with water infused with his spiritual power. This soil-cultivated daisy bloomed even more luxuriantly than the water-cultivated one—by about half as much.
Meanwhile, the interstellar high-tech pollution-free soil, which Zhu Ran had originally thought would work well, had plants that were sickly. Not only were the leaves yellowed and withered, but the daisy, which should have grown to 30cm, was only half that height.
It looked very poorly developed.
“Interstellar soil might be more suited for cultivating synthetic plants and isn’t suitable for growing natural plants.”
Zhu Ran speculated as much.
He dug several of the underdeveloped daisies out of the soil by their roots.
He washed them clean with pure water, then placed them into pure water infused with spiritual power for repair.
Upon contact with the pure water, the withered daisy leaves immediately perked up, lifting slightly from their drooping state as their veins filled with life.
This way, after another day of cultivation, they would become as vibrant as before.
Having confirmed that soil purified with his own spiritual power was more suitable for planting natural plants, Zhu Ran simply ordered 10kg of ordinary soil.
This would be enough to fill 16 to 20 flower pots, which was sufficient for Zhu Ran for the time being.
Zhu Ran prepared the cuttings for the flowers he would sell tomorrow—still five pots of freesias and five pots of daisies—and made another jar of daisy tea while he was at it.
Then, he catalyzed and divided the lavender, turning the original single lavender into five pots, intending to try making lavender essential oil tomorrow.
“Since I’m planning to list a new product, I might as well post a teaser.”
Thinking this, Zhu Ran took photos of the lavenders and added a watermark that read ‘No AI image recognition allowed.’
Then, using the [Zhuying Anxiang] shop account, he posted a new product teaser.
[Zhuying Anxiang: A new product is about to be listed (Image of purple flowers)~ Can you guess what plant it is? The first person to guess correctly will get a prize.]
After posting the shop message, Zhu Ran checked the shop’s business status. The daily report said:
[The shop is closed because there are no sellable items.] [Please list new items as soon as possible.]
Mm… a familiar prompt appeared before Zhu Ran. He wasn’t surprised at all.
Sold out again.
The purchase records showed that all natural plants were bought within two minutes of being listed. The freesias sold faster, but the daisies weren’t far behind, being bought up shortly after the shop opened.
The daisy tea was bought by a new user with an address at Jialan Comprehensive University. Perhaps a friend of ‘Qin Ke is Very Reliable’?
Zhu Ran also flipped through the customer messages.
[I bought the same natural plant as Yan You! Can I become a great painter now too?]
[The small eco-zone at the door is so beautiful! I beg the shop owner not to close just because items are sold out!]
[Did Yan You win against Yan Han just because he bought plants from your shop? Are your plants really that magical?]
[With such beautiful natural plants, doesn’t the shop owner want more people to see them? I beg you not to close after selling out QAQ.]
…
Many messages mentioned ‘Yan You,’ ‘painting,’ and ‘livestream.’ Zhu Ran used the search function and quickly learned about the two artists’ livestreamed painting match last night.
The previously unknown Yan You had beaten Yan Han, who was called ‘the number one young painter of today,’ which was quite surprising.
Yan You had stated that his inspiration came from [Zhuying Anxiang], which led many artists to come and buy daisies.
Zhu Ran remembered Yan You’s name. His Xinggou ID seemed to be ‘Paint is Too Expensive,’ the painter who had requested eco-zone authorization and bought ten pots of his flowers.
Zhu Ran found the message box for ‘Paint is Too Expensive’ among the many shop messages.
Coincidentally, the other party had left him a message.
Paint is Too Expensive: [Hello, shop owner. I mentioned your shop name during the livestream. I hope it didn’t cause you any trouble.]
This message was from 10:00 PM last night.
Eight hours later, at 6:00 AM this morning, Yan You had sent another message.
Paint is Too Expensive: [Sorry for the disturbance.]
[Many artists hope your shop can open up the permission to stay open even when items are sold out. They really want to observe the small eco-zone up close and use it as inspiration for their paintings.]
[I wonder if you are willing to grant public permission, or perhaps cooperate with artists in another way?]
[My Xingxun ID: 82951***. Looking forward to your reply.]
Zhu Ran was surprised by this message. He hadn’t expected the small eco-zone he intended to use to attract customers to be so loved by many artists.
This was a classic case of planting trees for shade and getting flowers instead.
He pondered, “Cooperating with artists to paint with plants as the theme? It seems like an interesting proposal.”
“Maybe I can take this opportunity to promote natural plants and let more people realize their beauty through paintings.”
Zhu Ran thought for a bit and felt this cooperation might be feasible.
After Zhu Ran came to the interstellar era, he had initially only thought about using natural plants to make money to support himself.
Now that he had achieved basic survival and the shop had some regular customers, Zhu Ran wanted to grow the shop, selling a richer variety of natural plants and letting more interstellar people directly feel the charm of natural plants.
“I hope one day I can build a natural botanical garden with all kinds of plants in it.”
“Jasmine in spring, lotus in summer, ginkgo and maple leaves everywhere in autumn, and then it would be time to enjoy plum blossoms in winter.”
Building a natural botanical garden was still too early for the current Zhu Ran, as he had only successfully catalyzed three types of plants… a pitifully small number.
However… if he cooperated with artists, perhaps he could hold a plant art exhibition in the near future.
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