Chapter 47: A Small Profit

After obtaining Luo Mu's consent, the burly man took a strawberry from the crate, held it to his nose to sniff, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly: "A very fresh fruity aroma; just one whiff lets you imagine its sweet-and-sour, delicious taste."

"And clearly, no messy pesticides were used."

The burly man then handed the strawberry to the Incineroar; the Incineroar likewise held it before its nose to sniff carefully, and after a moment, a look of ecstasy suddenly appeared on its perpetually angry, furry face.

Seeing the Incineroar like this, the burly man's face showed surprise; he looked at Luo Mu, smiled, and said, "The Incineroar's nose is extremely sharp; even it shows an ecstatic expression because of this fruity aroma. I'm rather curious how you managed to cultivate such a successful crop on your very first try."

"It's mostly thanks to the Pokémon."

Luo Mu replied with a smile; he didn't think these matters needed hiding—in fact, future farm crops could use this as a selling point.

"I see." The burly man was not surprised by this answer; only the power of Pokémon could produce such miraculous effects, and the quality and appearance of these strawberries were excellent, clearly showing they had been cared for by Pokémon.

Unfortunately, many farms, due to limitations in their Pokémon's energy and strength, among other reasons, cannot guarantee that all their produced crops are tended and brought to fruition by Pokémon.

This is precisely why crops from the Hulbury Farm have received widespread acclaim worldwide; it has much to do with the farm owner, who also serves as the Gym Leader.

The burly man proceeded to inspect the crops in the other crates one by one, and after concluding that although the quantity was small, the quality was excellent, his expression became even more enthusiastic.

He reached out, briefly shook hands with Luo Mu, and introduced himself: "My name is Xiao En; as you can see, I'm a middleman who specializes in purchasing goods from farms for resale. That said, I consider the purchase prices I set to be little different from what you'd get selling personally at the market; if you find that acceptable, I'd like to buy this batch of your crops."

"Hello, Mr. Xiao En..." Luo Mu withdrew his right hand, gave a slight nod, thereby indicating his agreement with Xiao En's proposal.

Originally, he had contacted Xiao En through Peter precisely to sell this batch of crops.

"I like straightforward farm owners like you." Xiao En's lips curled upward; he immediately took professional weighing tools from the van and, cooperating with the Incineroar, began weighing the goods.

Since the crops were all in very small batches, and with one human and one Pokémon working together efficiently, Xiao En soon presented Luo Mu with his quote.

"Fifty kilograms of cabbage, thirty kilograms of eggplant, twenty kilograms of tomatoes and cucumbers, and ten kilograms of strawberries... totaling six thousand three hundred and fifty-one League Dollars."

"Not bad." Luo Mu's eyes brightened slightly; purchasing the seeds had cost only 600 League Dollars, and even adding fertilizer costs and time expenses, this first harvest had already brought such considerable returns.

Not to mention that some crops, after a period of cultivation, could continue to bloom and bear fruit; although it seemed like half a month of busy work had yielded only over six thousand League Dollars, Luo Mu knew very well that the cumulative returns from a steady, long-term flow were the most substantial.

Xiao En smiled and said, "After all, the price I offered you is somewhat higher than for ordinary crops from other farms; such high-quality produce is very popular among the wealthy."

Xiao En took a stack of cash from the satchel on his body, counted it several times, and then handed it to Luo Mu.

Accepting the first sum of money truly earned since establishing this farm, Luo Mu carefully counted it once more, and a simple smile spread across his face.

Tucking this small stack of bills into his pocket, Luo Mu asked, "Mr. Xiao En, do you also purchase items other than agricultural products?"

"Oh? Do tell!" Xiao En's eyes lit up; could it be that Luo Mu had some other valuable goods on hand?

Luo Mu fetched a small box from beneath a nearby fence; inside the box lay quietly several tufts of cotton fluff that looked soft and beautiful.

"This is...!" Xiao En's eyes widened until they were perfectly round, his mouth slightly agape, as if shocked by the item before him.

Luo Mu smiled and said, "This is cotton fluff shed by our farm's Bai Bai Pengpeng; I heard it's very popular, and since keeping it serves us no purpose, we thought to sell it for money."

Xiao En took a deep breath, pressed his suddenly throbbing temples, looked up to recover for a long while, and then said with regret, "I didn't expect you to possess something so valuable here; unfortunately, I do not have the audacity to purchase it."

Luo Mu was somewhat puzzled: "Hmm?"

Xiao En gave a bitter smile and said, "Even in the Galar region, the number of Bai Bai Pengpeng is not particularly large; only the Hulbury Farm and a few other top-tier farms have large-scale Bai Bai Pengpeng populations capable of stably producing cotton fluff."

"Whether spun into thread or woven with other materials into fabric, the cotton fluff produced by Bai Bai Pengpeng is exceedingly exquisite and beautiful; I never expected to encounter it here in the Paldea region."

"Based on my visual estimation, the cotton fluff you have here weighs only about fifty to one hundred grams; its price per jin is a full six thousand League Dollars. Rather than selling it to me, I recommend you accumulate a certain amount and then take it to the market in Mesagoza to sell."

Xiao En knew very well that if he purchased this cotton fluff, he would certainly be able to earn some money from its subsequent sale.

But his scope of work was limited to Cortondo; this small town had no need for such high-grade raw materials, and he could not abandon his work to expend the time and effort traveling to Mesagoza just to sell such a small amount of cotton fluff.

The effort and the reward would not be proportional.

Xiao En's words plunged Luo Mu into deep thought; he had not expected the cotton fluff shed by Bai Bai Pengpeng to be so valuable.

This current batch of cotton fluff had been shed today when the young Cottonee evolved into Bai Bai Pengpeng; most of the time, the Bai Bai Pengpeng used this fluff as a medium to share nutrients with the crops.

In other words, he had been burning money to farm all this time!

Suddenly, the over six thousand League Dollars he had just received didn't seem so appealing anymore.

Luo Mu thought this to himself, yet his face showed none of the distracted features typical of someone deep in thought; instead, he nodded and expressed his gratitude for Xiao En's suggestion.

Since Xiao En was unwilling to purchase this cotton fluff, he would simply wait until he had accumulated more later, and then take it all together to the market in Mesagoza to sell.

He seemed to recall that the market there sold items via auction?

Money exchanged hands, goods exchanged hands; Xiao En, accompanied by the Incineroar, transferred the five crates of crops into the crates on his truck.

"Next time you have a harvest, just contact me by phone!"

Xiao En exchanged a few parting words with Luo Mu, left his phone number, and then had the Incineroar drive the van away from the farm.

Luo Mu touched the newly added bills in his trouser pocket, thought of the pasture grass growing vigorously in the ranch area, and murmured, "It's about time I made plans for the ranch area."