Chapter 42: Iron Skin Stone Rhododendron

  The conditions of the Lianyou Hu space are unique, and Xiao Ping doesn't want to use it to grow ordinary crops. He thought for a long time but couldn't come up with any good ideas, so he went to ask for advice from the more experienced old farmer Wang Dapao, hoping to get some inspiration from him.

  "Valuable herbs or economic plants?" Wang Dapao thought for a moment before answering: "Of course, it's the Tiepi Shihu on Mount Baiyun!"

  Xiao Pingxiao asked with interest: "Tiepi Shi? Is it very valuable?"

  Wang Dapao said, "Yunnan Baiyao is a kind of medicinal herb, known as the first of the nine major immortal herbs. Good quality wild Yunnan Baiyao was sold for over 30 yuan per gram two years ago, and it must be even more expensive now. Tiepi Yunnan Baiyao is the best quality among wild Yunnan Baiyao, and this year it has already been sold for over 80 yuan per gram. However, this thing is becoming less and less available, and after a whole day of searching in the mountains, you can't find much, as people have dug it all up."

  When Wang Dapao said that Tiepishiteng was very rare, Xiao Ping was even more delighted and hurriedly asked him: "When can we go up the mountain to take a look? One of my friends is engaged in planting Chinese medicinal herbs and must be very interested in Tiepishiteng."

  "Alright, I'll come find you tomorrow morning." Wang Dapao was a straightforward person and immediately agreed.

  The second day, just after dawn, Xiao Ping and Wang Dapao went up the mountain. Although Baiyun Mountain is not very high and is located in the suburbs of Suzhou City, some places are still rugged and difficult to traverse, with dense vegetation, and wild iron skin stone bamboo grows in such remote areas. Even for someone like Wang Dapao who lives at the foot of the mountain, it's not easy to pick herbs in such a place, let alone for city dwellers.

  Fortunately, Xiao Ping's physique was absolutely not comparable to that of ordinary people. He followed Wang Dapao up and down the steep mountain slope, without feeling any difficulty at all. Even Wang Dapao was surprised by Xiao Ping's performance and praised him several times along the way.

  Just as Wang Dapao said, wild iron skin stone bamboo is really rare. The two of them searched for more than half a day on the mountain and only found six or seven fresh iron skin stone bamboo. If they were to dry these few herbs, they would weigh at most a few grams. They spent so much effort but earned less than 300 yuan, no wonder fewer and fewer people are going up the mountain to pick iron skin stone bamboo.

  However, Xiao Ping came to dig the iron skin stone lotus not to dry and sell it, but to transplant these valuable herbs into the Lian Yao Hu space. So when digging the iron skin stone lotus, he and Wang Dapao were very careful, not only trying to keep the root system intact but also bringing the mud ball with them, which can greatly improve the survival rate of transplantation.

  Xiao Ping returned to the farm, and the sky had already begun to darken. Although it was a tiring day on the mountain, being able to obtain wild Iron Skin Stonecrop made it worthwhile. After everyone returned in the evening, Xiao Ping brought the Iron Skin Stonecrop into the Alchemy Cauldron space and planted these precious herbs in a place far away from the spring eye.

  Although Tiepi Shigu is also very precious, after all, it's not as eye-catching as Yeshan. So Xiao Ping plans to plant more in the Lianyou Hu space, which can also open up a new path to wealth. He planted Tiepi Shigu on the edge of the Lianyou Hu space just to leave enough growth space for them.

  Xiao Ping first dug several small pits on the grass in the Lian Yao Hu space, carefully planting the Tie Pi Shi Ji inside. Then he cut off most of the long stem of the Tie Pi Shi Ji, dividing it into small segments about an inch long for cutting and inserting. According to Wang Da Pao's words, Tie Pi Shi Ji could also be propagated by this method, so Xiao Ping had to try it out.

  After carefully planting all the Tiepi Shilu, Xiao Ping scooped some water from the spring and watered all the herbs. The environment in the Lianyao Hu space was extremely conducive to plant growth, and the spring water that gushed out of the spring had a similar effect to the spiritual liquid. Under the joint action of these two factors, some of the Tiepi Shilu expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, and soon became very spirited.

  As the iron skin stone lotus grew luxuriantly in the Lian Yao Hu space, Xiao Ping also put his mind at ease. He believed that these few iron skin stone lotuses would soon recover and multiply rapidly, producing more seedlings in a short period of time, and by then, Xiao Ping would have gained another way to make money.

  Before leaving the Alchemy Furnace space, Xiao Ping went to see the knife fish in the water pool again. After absorbing a large amount of jade material and fossils, the area of the pool also increased to around 150 square meters, and its depth also increased slightly. The only thing that remained unchanged was that the water quality in the pool was still very clear, and Xiao Ping could see each cobblestone at the bottom of the pool clearly.

  What surprised Xiao Ping was that the feed fish and fish insects he had put into the water pool did not seem to have decreased significantly. It seemed that they were also very adapted to life in the Lian Yao Hu, with a reproduction rate much faster than outside, and had already formed a relatively balanced small ecosystem in the water pool.

  This was certainly a good thing for Xiao Ping, meaning he wouldn't have to put fish feed into the pond anymore, and the knife fish would have enough food to eat. In fact, after several days of abundant food, the knife fish also underwent significant changes. They were swimming leisurely in the pond, much larger than when they were first released. Xiao Ping noticed that one of the knife fish had a noticeably swollen belly, clearly a female, and there should be eggs inside. This change made Xiao Ping overjoyed, maybe by next spring, he could raise knife fish fry in the pond.

  Xiao Ping stayed in the Lian Yao Hu for a while before leaving this magical space. In the following period of time, all aspects of the farm were developing in a good direction. Vegetables grew vigorously, blueberry trees were very robust, and the bass in the fish pond also grew rapidly.

  The Lianyou Hu absorbed a large amount of jade material and fossils, and each time it produced 15 drops of spiritual liquid. Xiao Ping used 10 drops to feed the fish and water the blueberry tree, and took the remaining 5 drops to strengthen his body, barely enough spiritual liquid was available.

  After receiving the balance of the fish pond and cement road, the construction team worked even harder. The renovation project of the small building is progressing very quickly, and it seems that it will be completed soon. Xiaoping is looking forward to this very much and hopes to move into the renovated small building as soon as possible.

  However, such a peaceful day did not last for several days, and trouble came again. A batch of vegetables was about to be harvested, but it was stolen by thieves for several nights in a row. The vegetable fields on the edge of the farm suffered heavy losses, with many green vegetables being secretly dug up at night, leaving only empty fields. More vegetables were trampled and damaged by these guys during the theft, and they could no longer be used. What's even more infuriating is that these guys also damaged the newly built vegetable greenhouse while stealing the vegetables, causing Xiao Ping to suffer huge losses.

  The cabbage theft incident made Xiao Ping extremely angry, losing several hundred catties of vegetables in just a few days, and tens of thousands of yuan were gone for no reason, which was unbearable for anyone.

  Looking at the ravaged vegetable field, Xiao Ping sternly told a villager: "Old Zhou, from tonight on, everyone will take turns keeping watch. We must catch those thieves!"

  Lao Zhou was an honest and affable middle-aged man. After hearing Xiao Ping's words, he hesitated: "Boss... isn't this a bit not good?"