By the ti Manbao finished her punishnt and Bai Erlang completed his copying task, spring had returned to the capital. Both inside and outside the palace, green buds and leaves were sprouting everywhere, with many plants blossoming beautiful flowers in an array of colors, especially the most dazzling peony flowers.
In the palace, it was a scene of chirping birds and fragrant flowers. The palace gardeners placed pots of blooming or about-to-bloom peonies in the garden.
Apart from those in pots, there were clusters of peonies planted in the flower beds that were also in full bloom.
Manbao loved looking at them. Mingda and Changyu picked many flowers for her, knowing she enjoyed growing plants herself, and while cutting the flowers, they deliberately cut the flower stems as well.
Manbao had collected peony varieties before, but when Mingda and Changyu gifted her flowers, she accepted them, separated the flowers from the stems, and cut the stems into two segnts. She then directly posted them on the forum for exchange with others.
Such items as flowers and plants couldn’t be eaten or drunk, and most other worlds did not have the strange genetic circumstances of the future world, so very few people exchanged with her.
Occasionally, when she noted that the peonies were nad varieties, so people showed interest, but because she posted stem segnts, cultivating them to bloom would take at least two years.
Thus, few were willing to exchange valuable items.
If they did, they exchanged very inexpensive items.
For instance, a system host responsible for collecting various artifacts exchanged a pair of chopsticks for Manbao’s stem segnts.
Manbao was curious about what kind of chopsticks the system registered, so she agreed to the exchange. But once she received them, she was astounded, as they were just ordinary bamboo chopsticks.
Manbao, still skeptical, took them to Bai Shan for a look.
After glancing at them, Bai Shan asked, "Did you bring chopsticks from outside the palace into the palace?"
Manbao: ...
Afterward, she threw the chopsticks into Keke’s space and ignored them.
People from other worlds on the forum showed little interest, and ultimately, it was Keke’s world that exchanged points with her.
Doctor D also bought several pairs of stem segnts. Seeing this, Manbao proactively contacted her, "Doctor D, are you still researching peony flowers?"
Doctor D replied, "Lacking money, I’m thinking of cultivating several genetically stable peony flowers to make so money."
She revealed a bit, saying, "Recently, our laboratory received a large order from the Encyclopedia Pavilion. They’re offering a high price for us to research a strain of rice seeds with inheritable superior traits. I checked the original rice seeds submitted by them and their genes; they resemble the rice seed genes from your world. The peony flowers genes in your world are very stable. I wish to cultivate them, hoping to make so money and study the related genes. Perhaps there will be so similarities, which could broaden our perspective."
Upon hearing this, Manbao imdiately knew she was handling her order and beca invigorated, asking, "Which step are you at now in your research?"
Doctor D replied, "It’s only just begun, but we have a cultivation base and can plant three seasons’ worth of rice a year. The original seeds sent have already headed; it won’t be long before we get first-generation experintal data."
She then asked, "I rember you were very interested in inheritable superior rice seeds, so I wanted to ask, if I cultivate them, do you want any?"
Manbao: ...
How was she supposed to answer that?
To want them—the order was placed by Teacher Mo and the Encyclopedia Pavilion on her behalf, and they would later provide her with the results free of charge.
Not wanting them—she was truly interested and wanted real-ti updates from Doctor D about the progress, and her post was still pinned on the forum. Saying she didn’t want them seed too insincere.
Perhaps noticing that Zhou Man was slower in responding than before, Doctor D sent another ssage, jokingly asking, "Taking so long to consider, isn’t the person who entrusted the Encyclopedia Pavilion with cultivating inheritable superior rice seeds you?"
Manbao simultaneously sent a ssage, "Is it expensive?"
Both ssages entered and exited the mailbox at the sa ti. Manbao saw it and wanted to withdraw it, but it was too late.
The other side also went quiet for a bit before Doctor D tapped the mailbox a few tis and asked remotely, "I’ve searched through the entire forum post, and currently, only you are looking to purchase inheritable superior rice seeds. Although there are two worlds’ people who echo your interest under your post, they aren’t even willing to pay for a pinned post, let alone for Encyclopedia Pavilion cooperation to commission for cultivation."
"So, it’s you, right?"
Manbao stared at the mailbox without speaking, then couldn’t help but ask Keke, "Are all the people in your world this smart?"
Keke replied, "For sure, they’re not very dull."
Manbao thought for a mont and ssaged back, "Why couldn’t it be soone from your world placing the order?"
"Impossible," she replied, "Although purchasing new seeds every year for sowing is necessary, it’s challenging to inherit the superior genes of rice seeds after one season of planting. But in our world, people don’t lack money for seeds, let alone every year’s seed cost, fertilizers, etc., which are subsidized by union finances, aning farrs spend very little. They can choose the type of seeds based on their needs, whether they want chewy ones or soft and glutinous ones, or high-yield ones, whether for porridge or rice..."
"Variety is vast, allowing them to choose seeds based on their needs. Why should they fixate on inheritable rice seeds?" Doctor D perhaps used voice input, speedily replying to her, "Not to ntion the cultivation requirents you ordered, such as high yield, drought resistance, resistance to floods, pest control, and stable inheritable genes."
"Apart from the last requirent, the others are basic requirents, any rice strain here can et these conditions," Doctor D added, "So, the order is definitely not from soone in our world."
Another point she didn’t ntion: Encyclopedia Pavilion had said that to ensure the rice seeds adapt to their intended survival environnt, cultivated seeds would grow under set growth conditions to ensure genes are inheritable, and only after eting these conditions could they be delivered.
And to test whether genes were inheritable would require at least five tis of planting and inheritance experiences, with Encyclopedia Pavilion’s tiline set at five years.
In this era, who would still spend five years planting seeds five tis?
It surely couldn’t be in her world, as per her experience from interacting with the forum this long, the real order placer would most likely be Zhou Man.
The question was what Zhou Man offered to move the Encyclopedia Pavilion to act.
Doctor D said, "I rember you ntioned you have a ntor in our world, was it Director Mo of Alliance of Paleobiology and dicine Departnt?"
Manbao exclaid with interest, replying eagerly, "Is Teacher Mo very famous there?"
Seeing her response, Doctor D knew she was indirectly acknowledging it, possibly because of a confidentiality agreent so she didn’t speak outright.
Man, this little girl managed to quietly board the Encyclopedia Pavilion’s big ship.
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