After receiving the tip, the little shop assistant handled everything very thoroughly.
He went to inform the shopkeeper, arranged for people to load the grain onto a bullock cart, and instructed the driver to take them to the seed shop as well.
“The customers bought seeds too. They can all be loaded onto the cart and delivered to Wutong Street together,” he said.
Since it was all under the same owner, this arrangement was perfectly normal.
Qin Suining and Zhou Shi were naturally happy to save the trouble, so they followed the cart forward and soon arrived at the seed shop.
The store was filled with a wide variety of goods, yet there were almost no customers.
It seemed the drought had seriously affected business.
The shopkeeper looked half-asleep, while a young assistant of about ten years old was sneaking around swatting flies with a fly swatter.
When he saw customers enter, the little assistant immediately perked up. He quickly dropped the swatter and ran over to greet Qin Suining and Zhou Shi.
The shopkeeper also raised his eyelids slightly and straightened up to flip through the account book.
Qin Suining looked around curiously and realized that the seed shop in the county was much larger than the one in the town.
Neatly arranged wooden shelves held boxes and cloth bags of various sizes, many labeled with seed names.
Since rare customers had arrived, the little assistant seized the opportunity to perform well and immediately began enthusiastically introducing everything.
The shop sold a full range of seeds—common grains, vegetables, fruits, and even flower and fruit tree seeds.
On the far side, there was even a small shelf of medicinal herb seeds.
Qin Suining thought about the herb garden in her space. Because no one had tended it, the herbs had grown taller than her.
It was a pity she and Zhou Shi didn’t recognize medicinal herbs. Otherwise, they could harvest them and sell for money.
As she thought about this, an idea suddenly formed in her mind.
If they didn’t know, they could learn. Since they could read, why not buy a book on medicinal herbs?
While she was staring blankly at the herb seeds, Zhou Shi had already quickly decided what seeds to buy.
Now that she had several hundred taels of silver notes in her possession, she was no longer as frugal as before.
She selected high-quality grain seeds and bought a large amount of vegetable and fruit seeds.
With fertile land, mountains, and water inside the space—even flowers grew so well—crops would surely thrive too.
Once they harvested the food, they would no longer have to worry about starving.
After a major purchase spree, several large bundles of seeds were quickly bought.
At first, the shopkeeper didn’t take them seriously, but now he personally came forward to receive them.
Just as Zhou Shi finished paying, the shopkeeper suddenly remembered something and invited them to the backyard.
“There’s something over here you might not have seen before. I brought it back from Muyue Prefecture last time…”
Curious, Zhou Shi and Qin Suining followed him through a wide passage into the backyard.
There were several large water vats.
The shopkeeper pointed inside.
“This is called ‘Yujie’ over there in Muyue Prefecture. It grows in water, lives in water. The skin is slightly yellow, the flesh is as white and smooth as jade, and it has small hollow channels inside. It’s excellent for stir-frying or soup…”
He smacked his lips as if recalling the taste.
“Hahaha, this is just lotus root, right? The old man is making it sound so mysterious…”
Just as Qin Suining peeked into the vat, familiar floating text appeared again.
“Don’t laugh yet. Lotus root is just the modern name—historically it had several names, and ‘Yujie’ is one of them.”
“True, I’ve heard of that too. ‘Yujie’ praises its jade-like whiteness and segmented structure.”
“Lotus root is great—can grow in water, edible as staple or vegetable…”
The “bullet comments” kept scrolling.
Qin Suining carefully read them, afraid to miss any useful information.
After last night’s events, she had roughly understood what these texts were.
They were called “danmu”—comments made by many unseen people watching their world.
By their explanation, those people could see everything happening here, but she could not see them.
Normally, she shouldn’t have been able to see these comments either.
As for why she could, she did not know.
But so far, these viewers seemed to have no malice toward her or her mother.
“Besides Yujie, there are also water chestnuts in the other vats. They can be eaten raw or cooked—soft, sweet, and fragrant. You’ll want a second bite after the first…”
The shopkeeper pointed to two other vats, praising them endlessly.
“I brought them back hoping to expand cultivation here, but things didn’t go as planned…”
With months of drought and even rivers drying up, there was no water left to grow them.
The shopkeeper looked bitter.
Because of this, he had been scolded harshly by his employer.
These goods couldn’t be sold, and now they were stuck in storage.
Seeing how much Zhou Shi had just bought, he assumed they must own farmland or estates, so building a pond to grow lotus root and water chestnuts shouldn’t be difficult.
In reality, it was indeed not difficult for them at all.
The river inside their space could be used for cultivation. If successful, it would become another source of harvest.
“I won’t charge you extra. I’ll sell at cost—it counts as making friends,” he said through gritted teeth, naming a price with a pained expression.
The bullet comments said the price wasn’t expensive, but Zhou Shi still instinctively began bargaining.
After all, the shopkeeper was eager to sell.
Naturally, she would not be polite.
“Hahaha, this auntie is ruthless. Look at the shopkeeper’s expression—his molars are probably about to break.”
“Even if they break, there’s no choice. These lotus roots and water chestnuts aren’t fresh anymore. If they stay in these vats longer, he’ll lose everything.”
“This mother and daughter buying them is perfect anyway—they have a space. With just a few drops of spiritual spring water, they’ll grow like crazy…”