Chapter 98: Even

Finally she could relax; Qiao Mai saw that the house where Niu Shopkeeper and his people lived was cramped, and the shop in front also needed to expand its business, so she opened up the adjacent shop and let the Yahang people carry out renovations.

The front awning was widened and enlarged, and she hired three more workers.

She handed all these to Niu Shopkeeper without further inquiry; she knew business was booming, so the manpower was naturally tight—two workers had to sell goods and also roast snacks, which was truly exhausting.

Even giving them a raise wouldn't help; over time people easily fall ill.

Because she added staff, she taught them how to make candied chestnuts, roasted peanuts, roasted sunflower seeds, Candied Hawthorn Skewers, and juice‑pressing.

Even when she's absent, people can still have an iced cold drink in front of her shop.

In summer, this sells well; not only women and children like it, but men do as well.

Even when the rainy season arrives, it can't stop refined guests from coming to Qiao Ji Snack Puzi to drink cold beverages and watch the rain; Niu Shopkeeper happily pulls the abacus each day, his accounting especially vigorous.

Qiao Mai, seeing the business doing fine, doesn't plan to expand further; continuing like this is fine—having a house, land, and a shop is enough. As for buying spirit stones, she still needs to focus her Effort on the space.

Qiao Mai swallowed, "As long as we can sell, buying things isn't urgent for now."

From the start of harvesting wheat until the fifth day of the sixth month, for ten days she didn't enter the space.

She was startled—did it double? Then the next level would be Space Tier 3; could it increase to three hundred mu?

It's exhilarating; although lingzhi isn't as valuable as Ginseng, it's comparable, and she hopes this time the space will level up again.

She placed the Ginseng in front of the computer, "Just these behind me."

"Help me check the age of my Ginseng?"

Qiao Mai turned back, smiled, and said, "Thank you!"

Ten percent, too thin; after a short try, she stopped and switched to practicing internal force.

To test, she checked prices across the Platform, chose a low‑price item to sell, just to see if it was like what customer service said.

She had planted Ginseng on eight tenths of a mu, could it be because of that?

Then a thought appeared in the Ginseng field; not only did the eight‑tenth mu sprout red Ginseng seeds, the Ginseng area seemed to triple instantly, and other fields she'd planted—Watermelon, Strawberry, etc. —also seemed to triple. My goodness.

"How many silver pieces is this Ginseng worth?"

Facing overwhelming force, those are all just commoners, hum!

The young lady at this moment truly couldn't settle down to practice Cultivation; after leaving the space, she lay on the kang and giggled.

Feeling the space had expanded, she quickly closed her eyes and used thought to survey it—My goodness, how did it get so much larger?

As soon as it was listed, someone placed an order.

"I'll go collect it, you wait."

"Hold on, I want to ask: how can I list my items for sale here?"

After closing the customer service page, she began to hustle, first applying to set up a shop.

Qing Qiao? Qingfeng Da Lu, Qiao Shi Small Puzi.

"Alright."

"You need to apply for a shop first; the Platform will assign an appropriate shop name based on your planet, plane, and space. Prepare the items you want to sell, pack them in boxes or baskets; the shop lets you set the basket size. Just describe the items well, and the shop will automatically list them. Remember not to list items you don't have, or the Platform will fine you. For details, see the beginner's guide on the shopping Platform."

"Sure, I see your space seems to be Tier 2 now. Keep up the Effort; soon you can purchase physical goods, and you can sell now."

"Hello, I remember you; please tell me what you need."

"Then what else should I trade? Selling Ginseng is enough. By the way, may I sell even if I can't buy physical goods?"

She fetched a few wooden boxes she usually used, entered their dimensions in the shop's toolbar, packed the items to sell into the boxes, and listed them on the shopping Platform.

The shop automatically displayed icons for various goods, with prices underneath.

In ten seconds the automatic transaction completed; several boxes of fruit on the ground vanished in an instant, replaced by a small purse containing a pile of Broken Silver.

A flash of bright light, and customer service stamped two characters: "Ten years!"

"Wow, I only planted for ten days, and this Ginseng already has ten years of age?"

She swallowed, crouched, and dug out a Ginseng with her hand.

"Looking forward to cooperating next time."

"Are you there?"

My goodness, from now on she won't have to worry about selling space products.

"Then how many of these Ginseng would you like to sell?"

"Your space lacks a time‑acceleration feature; what can accelerate might be the soil of your space."

This is damn amazing; who designed this space? Even "defying heaven" doesn't do it justice.

After paying a deposit of one thousand taels of gold, her Qing Qiao Puzi opened, and this shopping Platform truly saves one from laziness.

That night, after coaxing Ling'er to sleep and entering the space, she was stunned.

She isn't a Daifu and can't assess Ginseng age, so she brought the Ginseng to the computer.

She opened the online shopping Platform and found the customer service she had dealt with before.

"Ten‑year Ginseng costs Ten Taels of Silver, hundred‑year costs one thousand taels of silver, thousand‑year costs fifty thousand taels of silver; of course, we'll eventually fold them into gold for you."

Qiao Mai took a deep breath, "Alright, I'll try it myself; sorry for the disturbance."

Just as she was about to go check the field, a message naturally formed in her mind.

"Fifty thousand taels of silver, exchange for gold, five thousand taels—trade?"

Seeing hope, spotting the gleam, she grew increasingly confident about her future life.

A flash of golden light, the Ginseng on the ground vanished, replaced by two hundred small gold ingots.

"Trade!"

She felt dizzy; other seeds usually mature in five days for harvest, but this Ginseng she planted ten days ago, and had been too busy to check.

Fortunately, only she and Ling'er were in the Zhai; otherwise people would surely think a midnight female ghost was sucking all the yang energy.

"It's gone,"

She mentally gathered all the ginseng from the replicated one‑mu six‑fen plot, and on checking found five thousand ginseng.

After planting, she sat cross‑legged at the edge of the ground, originally intending to practice internal force, but recalling that the space had ten percent Spiritual Energy, she tried to run a technique to absorb Spiritual Energy.

"Anything else you want to trade?"

"Huh? What level is needed to purchase?"

When she eventually becomes the number one under heaven, she can stride through the Imperial Palace, and need not fear petty thugs harming her or her family in secret.

With a space like hers, aren't the goods infinite? She can sell everything without ever having to plant, just keep selling, keep selling?

Excited, excited, so excited—if the SpaceUpgrade comes later, she could buy whatever she wants elsewhere; imagine what that scene would be like—ah?

She felt as if she were standing atop a peak, looking down at the smaller mountains below.

"You're welcome!"

She suppressed her excitement, returned to the edge of the ground, took out the lingzhi spores, scattered them over the entire eight‑fen plot, and sprayed water.

Space level two, Spiritual Energy density ten percent, total area two hundred mu.

The eight‑fen plot turned into two mu four fen, all ginseng; the ginseng she harvested came from the replicated eight‑fen plot.

Qiao Mai blinked, then suddenly laughed out loud toward the sky.

Qiao Mai raised an eyebrow, "Whoa, my space gained another function—land acceleration—as if it had always been there."

"Not sure; after each Upgrade you can try shopping. This customer service guesses it should be above level five."

Now it's fine; the shops outside, the land, the poultry being raised—all are openly earning money.

She no longer needs to expand, nor think of ways to make money; the space itself solves it for her.

When she has time, she'll properly plan the space; she can't keep planting in such tiny plots anymore.

Mental allocation—she had already used it when she first obtained the Space Ring; thereafter she can plant and harvest with thought, which also serves to train her spirit soul and mental power.

(End of chapter)