Chapter 131 - 129: An Ordinary Specialty

Chapter 131: Chapter 129: An Ordinary Specialty

The online buzz surrounding the Lin Xian Village Land God Temple had barely died down when a new trending topic appeared on all major platforms: "The food at the Lin Xian Village Restaurant is delicious."

This news attracted many foodies, particularly food-focused content creators.

Upon seeing the news, the food bloggers who had been struggling to figure out how to cash in on Lin Xian Village’s popularity knew their moment had arrived.

A wave of food bloggers began flocking to Lin Xian Village. Meanwhile, Hu Xia, a former food blogger once known for her extravagant (and often disappointing) food reviews, was being flooded with requests from her followers to do an episode on the village’s food.

"Look at that. The Restaurant’s opening was a massive success."

Lin Feng glanced over. He had stopped by at noon and seen the first-floor dining hall was full, but he hadn’t expected this many people.

"And that’s with us limiting the number of tourists. Otherwise, the Restaurant might have been completely overwhelmed today."

"It’s a good thing we did. They definitely wouldn’t have been able to handle it otherwise. It made things a lot easier for everyone today."

"It was much easier. There was less to worry about. We should experiment over the next few days to find the perfect number of visitors."

Hu Xia recalled the past few days, when even the toilets had long lines. It was a miserable experience for the tourists and for the staff.

On top of that, someone had nearly stolen the Jade Grapes, which had infuriated her.

The current situation was much better. The daily flow of visitors was manageable, and they were still earning plenty of money.

If it weren’t for the county’s requirements, she would have capped the number of visitors at under 5,000.

"Shiyun has been complaining to me. She doesn’t want to make medicine anymore and wants to do a different job. She’s asking you to hire another Pharmacist."

Lin Feng had noticed it too. Both Feng Ziling and Zhao Shiyun were tired of preparing medicines, mainly because things at the Medicine House had become a pressure cooker.

With everyone else working so hard, the two of them felt too awkward to slack off. It was a complete departure from their previously relaxed jobs.

This was especially true for Feng Ziling. Ever since the Land God Temple was built, he wished he could just sleep inside and never leave.

"Then let’s recruit two more Pharmacists to free them up. We can have Shiyun manage the performances."

"I’ll pick two people from the resumes in a bit, then."

Recruiting for Lin Xian Village was incredibly easy these days. Resumes poured in daily, and they could now take their pick of talented people they could never have attracted before.

It was mainly because Lin Xian Village had become so incredibly popular, especially after the Land God Temple was featured in the news. Even a fool could see that this place was not going to go out of business.

Not long after Hu Xia left, Lin Dongyue came over. "Xiaofeng, I followed the list you gave me and have already hired the people to clear South Mountain."

"The pay is 200 yuan a day, and they’ll handle their own meals."

"That was fast! Have them come over tomorrow, then. We’ll start clearing South Mountain. I also want to plant some tea trees."

"Planting tea trees, huh? We actually planted a lot on that mountain in the past, but sadly, we could never sell them."

"I wonder what happened to those tea trees up there. I think there were some fruit trees, too."

Lin Dongyue recalled how the entire village had gone to South Mountain to plant tea and fruit trees in an effort to develop a collective industry. In the end, however, they harvested a crop they couldn’t sell.

Back then, Lin Xian Village didn’t have any paved roads, and the county road outside didn’t exist either. Transporting anything out of the village was an extremely difficult task.

He still remembered one year when everyone carried the fruit on their shoulders and in their hands for dozens of miles, only to make a few hundred yuan after finally reaching the county seat.

"Once it’s cleared, let’s see if any of the fruit trees inside are still salvageable."

"If they are, we can transplant them to the Orchard."

He thought about the information he’d received earlier today while picking vegetables in the greenhouse, and a sense of anticipation for Lin Xian Village’s agriculture began to build.

Some of the chives growing in the greenhouse had mutated, though no changes had been discovered in the other vegetables yet.

According to a prompt he received, this was related to his "Number One Village Under Heaven" title (Crop Yield +20%, Specialty Product Trigger Chance +10%).

He had always assumed the increased "Specialty Product Trigger Chance" referred to unique products like the Jade Grapes. Now that a vegetable had mutated, he realized he’d misunderstood.

In addition to "special" specialty products like Jade Grapes and Lin Xian Tea, there were also "common" specialty products, whose effects weren’t as powerful.

The "Fruit Improvement" and "Medicinal Herb Mutation" from his last quest reward were this type of "common" specialty product. This kind of product was the true foundation for the village’s development.

This was because these "common" specialty products had no planting restrictions. As long as the Farmland, Orchard, and Medicinal Herb Garden were large enough, he could fill them completely.

Take the chives, for example. They originally had properties that nourished the liver and kidneys and strengthened the muscles and bones, making them useful for treating deficiencies and weakness. After mutating, all these effects would be enhanced.

And there was an even more incredible result: when these mutated plants produced seeds...

...even if those seeds were planted in ordinary soil, they would still be superior to the original seeds, though they wouldn’t achieve the same results as they would in the special Farmland.

It was basically like creating a superior strain of seeds, just as an agricultural scientist would. The implications were enormous.

If staple crops like wheat, rice, and corn mutated, planting their seeds would be equivalent to creating an excellent, improved strain.

Agricultural scientists could work themselves to the bone their entire lives and might never develop a single beneficially improved strain, yet he could get them consistently just through mutation.

’Any agronomist would want to kill me!’

As his Farmland expanded in the future, the number of these "common" specialty products would surely grow.

It was possible that eventually, every crop grown in Lin Xian Village would mutate.

When that time came, any crops from Lin Xian Village sold to the outside world would be snatched up in a frenzy.

’No wonder the "special" ones are limited,’ he thought. ’The "common" specialty products are the real mainstream, the true foundation for growth.’

From now on, he would have to make a point of strolling through the fields every so often, otherwise the prompts wouldn’t appear at all.

He only understood this after discovering the information about the chive mutation; he had to personally witness the change before the system would provide a notification.

In the afternoon, he went to check on the Clothing Workshop and found that construction was moving along quickly. It shouldn’t be much longer.

Planting had also recently begun in the Orchard, and the same was true for the Medicinal Herb Garden. It seemed he wasn’t far from completing his current quest and receiving a new one.

"Lin Feng, Lin Feng! It really is you!"

"Jiang Peng, Liu Lei, Wu Qian, Wang Yueyue, long time no see! You’ve all changed so much."

Wang Yueyue said, "I told you Lin Feng would recognize us, but you didn’t believe me. You’re the one who’s changed the most!"

Liu Lei said, "I can’t believe you actually started this Lin Xian Village. I didn’t believe it when my dad told me."

Jiang Peng also chimed in, "Last I heard, you were working in Shanghai. I never expected the next time I heard about you, you’d be famous all over the internet."

Wu Qian said in amazement, "Lin Feng, you’re amazing!"

"It’s not that amazing, I just got lucky. What brings you all back now?"

Jiang Peng said, "When we heard you were the one who started this place, a few of us who work in Jiangcheng decided to come over and take a look since we had the day off."

These were all his high school classmates, whom he hadn’t seen in several years.

Back in college, they would have a high school reunion every time they returned home. But later, as everyone scattered across the country for work, it became impossible to organize one.

Of course, those kinds of reunions usually went sour in the end, turning into a showcase for the most successful classmates to flaunt their superiority.

After Lin Xian Village became famous, his old college roommates had also contacted him, but only to offer their congratulations.

At least no one had shown up on his doorstep with a "don’t forget about us now that you’re rich" speech.

As for his university, his accomplishments probably hadn’t yet reached the level where they would seek him out to be honored as a distinguished alumnus.

"Don’t leave tonight. Dinner’s on me."

Wang Yueyue replied, "It’s okay. We only had time to come over today because it’s Sunday. We have to work tomorrow."

The group didn’t have any other intentions. They had just been shocked when they saw the news online and confirmed with their families that it was really Lin Feng, so they wanted to come and see the place for themselves.

They also wanted to pay their respects to the Earth God. If they hadn’t happened to run into Lin Feng, the four of them would have already been on their way out.