Chapter 256

Qin Yan's answer was to stride away, and the others immediately followed.

They had just left the shop and immediately went back.

"Shopkeeper, buy melon seeds."

The shopkeeper was stunned, then went over to attend to them.

Buy seeds quickly, go to the Barbarian Lands quickly.

By the time Qin Yan and his group arrived at the Barbarian Lands, Lin Yao and Guard Yan had led a squad of guards to plant things on the two mu of land; planting melons was the most complex, while fruit tree seeds were easier to handle.

Qin Tang was also there; he had brought the advanced Grain-Bountiful Cloud and met up with Qin Bi's group at the Ministry of Revenue, coming together to the Barbarian Lands, so he was ranked second, waiting for Qin Bi to finish irrigating before the Grain-Bountiful Cloud could be used by him.

Above the two mu of land, a palm-sized white-level cloud churned wind and rain in the sky.

The cloud cluster was not large and quite small, but it was diligent! Just having advanced, it was very cheerful and worked hard to rain, pouring down heavy rain that the soil absorbed.

Nearby, the guards were busy planting watermelon seeds.

It wouldn't do to have the cloud rain directly on them; besides getting soaked like drowned rats, it would be inconvenient for planting. Here they planted melon seeds while the rain fell just right on that side; by the time they finished one side, the other side would have fully soaked up the water.

Qin Bi smiled brightly, in high spirits; after the guards finished a section, she called the cloud cluster to cover that area with rain.

Qin Lang looked up at the Grain-Bountiful Cloud, initially puzzled why his cloud had shrunk; Qin Yan and Qin Xun also observed, and Qin Yan said, "After advancing, the Grain-Bountiful Cloud has become denser."

Before, the cloud was more scattered, like mist; after advancing, the small Grain-Bountiful Cloud had condensed into a proper cloud.

Even without understanding, one should know the difference between mist and a cloud.

Qin Lang grinned: "It really advanced?"

Qin Xun narrowed his eyes and reminded him, "The rain has already intensified, yet no summoning was needed. Look, Qin Bi didn't even use a summoning artifact. This rain is heavy; before, it only rained lightly."

The group strode over; Qin Bi had seen them long ago and walked out of the field to speak.

"You rest and prepare the land first," Qin Bi said. "Take your turns; I'll irrigate first, then the farmland opened by my eldest brother. How the rest are arranged is up to you; discuss and decide among yourselves."

The advanced Grain-Bountiful Cloud produced heavy rain; in about half a cup of tea's time, the two mu of land would be irrigated once, with a second pass remaining. Qin Bi had no intention of being polite to anyone.

She wouldn't mention the benefits of the rain irrigated by the Grain-Bountiful Cloud yet, lest everyone try to snatch it from her.

As the eldest cousin, Qin Yan wouldn't compete with his two younger cousins; Qin Tang also emerged from Qin Bi's farmland and said, "My farmland isn't urgent; you irrigate first. Jiang Shi, did you buy the seeds?"

"Bought, bought." Jiang Shi asked Qin Lang for watermelon seeds; she didn't have a storage bag.

Storage bags were very expensive; not everyone had one.

Qin Tang had given Jiang Shi a storage bag obtained from the small space in the Demon Beast Realm; Jiang Shi couldn't bear to use it and kept it at home. Besides, it was only a low-level small storage bag with limited capacity.

Qin Tang took out the seeds Jiang Shi had bought and handed them to Qin Tang; Qin Tang couldn't judge their quality either. As the legitimate son of the fourth branch of the Marquis Fu, he knew nothing about farming; last time he had only come to reclaim wasteland, not to plant anything.

The brothers discussed and agreed that after Qin Bi irrigated, Qin Lang would irrigate next.

The rest was easy to arrange; Qin Yan would certainly yield to his younger cousins.

With the plan settled, each went to prepare their reclaimed farmland. After Qin Bi finished irrigating the two mu, she took the Grain-Bountiful Cloud to rain on the spiritual melon field. She had originally planned to pick the small melon seedlings and leave only one melon.

Now the plan had changed; all would be left, and no extra melons would be picked.

Qin Bi had managed to secure the Grain-Bountiful Cloud and let it rain relentlessly on her and Rong Juan's spiritual melon field. One by one, the spiritual melons grew rapidly, with several melons on a single vine.

Qin Bi was delighted and said nothing. After the watermelons had grown to full size, she watched the Grain-Bountiful Cloud rain for a while longer, then directed the cloud cluster to rain on another mu of ordinary watermelon plants.

Walking briskly back to the spiritual melon field, Qin Bi inspected the melons, hesitating to pick any after looking for a long time, worried they weren't ripe.

Qin Bi went to call Lin Yao. Lin Yao, with dirt on one hand, followed her: "Young Lady of the Heir, there's no need to rush planting melons. This time the rain was abundant and soaked through completely. It's already evening; we should return early. We can come back to the Barbarian Lands tomorrow to plant melons."

In such a hurry, the field was still muddy, making work difficult.

Besides, the young heir was still at Qin Yan Marquis Fu. The Young Lady of the Heir held great weight in the heir's heart; returning late, the heir might blame him and Guard Yan.

Lin Yao sighed inwardly. Coming tomorrow to plant melons seemed a bit late; the soil, perennially drought-stricken, would likely dry out slightly overnight. Based on Lin Yao's farming experience, he estimated it wouldn't delay planting the seeds.

"We must finish planting today." Qin Bi's tone allowed no argument.

Lin Yao reminded her, "There are two young heirs; we should return early. Summer days darken slowly, but it's already evening. If we arrive late, by the time all the seeds are planted, it will be very late."

Lin Yao chattered on, and when they reached the spiritual melon field, he was stunned.

Qin Bi entered the melon field and gestured for him to pick a melon: "See which melon is ripe? We'll pick one spiritual melon to eat and one small one. Spiritual melon fields are few, and the quantity is small; there won't be enough to eat."

Lin Yao's pupils contracted sharply, his heart pounding. He stammered, "G-grew this big????"

Qin Bi smiled happily and told Lin Yao, "The Grain-Bountiful Cloud, as its name suggests, can bring abundant harvests to all grains. It just advanced; these past few days, crops in fields irrigated by the Grain-Bountiful Cloud have grown rapidly."

Such a major event was simply amazing; Lin Yao's hands trembled with excitement.

"Don't say anything yet." Lin Yao entered the melon field to pick a melon, his eyes shining remarkably: "Let's irrigate first. With such a powerful Grain-Bountiful Cloud, one irrigation is far more effective than ordinary rain."

Qin Bi also picked a melon: "Pick a melon for me, then take the guards and plant all the seeds."

"No problem." At this moment, even if Qin Bi told Lin Yao to leave, he wouldn't go.

Lin Yao scanned the ground full of spiritual melons, found one weighing over ten jin, and grew increasingly delighted. He patted the melon: "This one is ripe. Look at the skin pattern; it's definitely fully ripe."

Qin Bi waved her hand, and Lin Yao hurried off to the two mu of land.

Although she said not to say anything, how could Qin Bi stay silent? Her eldest cousin and others weren't enthusiastic, so she decided to provoke them a bit. Qin Bi picked a spiritual melon, hugged it, and went to find Qin Yan and the others.

Qin Lang looked at the melon Qin Bi was holding, puzzled: "Where did this spiritual melon come from?"

"I planted it!" Qin Bi then told everyone, "The rain irrigated by the Grain-Bountiful Cloud these past few days promotes crop growth. My spiritual melon field was thoroughly watered, and the spiritual melons are all ripe."

Qin Yan paused only for an instant, then strode toward the spiritual melon field, with Qin Xun and the others following behind.

Upon seeing the ground full of spiritual melons, everyone became alert. Well, they wouldn't return tonight. They would queue up, waiting for the Grain-Bountiful Cloud to rain, irrigating through the night. After Qin Bi's one mu was irrigated, the ordinary watermelon vines turned into spiritual melon vines and continued to grow rapidly.

Qin Yan and Qin Xun's eyes turned green.