Chapter 48: High Requirements for Growing Sweet Potatoes

Liu Heming had a very comfortable sleep and had a nice little dream. He dreamed that he was driving a Seeder on the Ranch with the little one, happily planting crops.

But the dream was a bit too short. Just as he wanted it to continue, he felt the world spinning around him. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the little one had brought the two Bear Cubs onto his bed.

Liu Heming was startled, not for any other reason, but because he thought he had overslept. If this made Sasha unhappy, would she still let the little one stay over in the future?

He picked up his Mobile Phone and checked the time. Fortunately, it was only seven o’clock. The little one was full of energy, and he wondered if she had been woken up by the Bear Cubs.

“Dad, what are we having for breakfast?” the little one asked, resting her chin in her hands.

Hearing the little one call him Dad, the last bit of sleepiness in Liu Heming vanished completely. How could he still be sleepy? Even if someone asked him to run around the entire Ranch right now, he wouldn’t hesitate at all.

“How about I make you some congee? Next time you come, Dad will definitely prepare more delicious food for you,” Liu Heming said as he picked up the little one and held her in his arms.

This time, his preparations were really insufficient, and he could only make do with a simple breakfast. But next time, he would definitely stock up more. If Xiangshui Town didn’t have what he needed, he would go to Walker Town to buy them. He had to make sure the little one was satisfied with the food.

“Dad, other kids’ dads live with their moms. Why don’t you live at home?” Alex tilted her little head and looked at Liu Heming.

“Uh… Dad is here to grow delicious food for you. In a little while, there will be lots of tasty things here,” Liu Heming said after thinking for a moment.

He didn’t know how to explain it to the little one, and he had no idea how Sasha usually described him to her. But he instinctively felt that he might have misunderstood Sasha before. Otherwise, the little one wouldn’t call him Dad—it must have been Sasha who told her to.

It was just that the little one might not have accepted him before. Yesterday, she had a lot of fun with him, so she slowly started to accept him. After all, he had never appeared in her life before. To the little one, he was still somewhat unfamiliar.

The little one nodded, seeming to understand but not fully, and didn’t ask any more questions about it.

After washing up, Liu Heming hurried to the Kitchen. He left the task of helping the little one get ready to Sasha, afraid that his rough hands might not do a good job.

“Sasha, I’m sorry. The ingredients I prepared this time aren’t very sufficient. Next time, I’ll make sure to prepare in advance,” he said. The breakfast was rather simple—just Plain Congee, milk, Bread, and fried eggs, without even any Bacon.

“It’s okay. You’ve done very well. As long as Alex is happy, anything is fine,” Sasha shook her head.

Liu Heming sighed inwardly. Nowadays, he always felt somewhat lacking in confidence whenever he faced Sasha. It wasn’t like when he first arrived—she was his creditor now. He could only hope that the Finger Sweet Potato would prove effective and help him pay off his debts quickly.

After breakfast, Liu Heming played with the little one and the Bear Cubs for a while longer. Then he saw Sasha starting to pack up. He knew that his daughter had to go back.

He really didn’t want her to leave. It felt like he had just met his daughter and wanted to hear her call him “Dad” a few more times. But there was no helping it—they had to take a flight that would last several hours. It was all because he didn’t have enough funds to afford the expensive Airplane tickets.

The little one was also reluctant to leave, as she hadn’t had enough fun here. But she was very sensible and didn’t make a fuss. Before leaving, she hugged each of the Bear Cubs goodbye. After getting into the car, she kept waving to Liu Heming.

Liu Heming waved back, but his tears once again betrayed him and streamed down his face. It’s all because of money, he thought. When I have money in the future, I’ll buy a Private Jet. Then, whenever I want to see my daughter, I can just “whoosh” over there.

But he knew that such grand ambitions were just thoughts to entertain. Even if Sasha’s family was wealthy, they wouldn’t buy a Private Jet for fun—that was more like something a real billionaire would do.

After calming his emotions, he went to the room upstairs where the Finger Sweet Potatoes were kept. He brushed away the soil on top and took a look. It was great—the Sweet Potatoes had sprouted little buds. Interestingly, the buds appeared only at the two ends of each Sweet Potato.

If it were just one or two, it might be a coincidence. But since all of them were like that, it had to be intentional. He explained it to himself as: a magical Sweet Potato must have magical traits.

“System buddy, are you there? My daughter came yesterday, and I called for you for a long time, but you didn’t show up,” Liu Heming felt he should communicate with the System.

“I’m here. I know. It was because I saw Alex that I hid. I was afraid I might betray you,” the System said, sounding a bit gloomy.

“Haha, it’s fine, really. It’s no big deal. Yesterday, the little one called me Dad. It made me so happy. By the way, can this Sweet Potato relieve heat, quench thirst, and lower body temperature? I felt like it should have those effects,” Liu Heming said cheerfully.

“If I betrayed you, you’d be done for,” the System muttered softly. “Those are some of the Sweet Potato’s effects. There are many more powerful effects waiting for you to discover later.”

“Can these Sweet Potatoes be planted and cared for like normal ones? I noticed Alex really likes eating them,” Liu Heming asked cautiously.

“It’s the same as normal, but each Sweet Potato only has two sprouting points. You don’t need to wait for the stems to grow too tall before planting them. During planting, you must be especially careful to keep the stems undamaged. If they get damaged, it will affect the future yield and quality,” the System explained.

Liu Heming broke out in a cold sweat. The Finger Sweet Potato was quite delicate. It seemed he needed to plant them soon. Otherwise, once the leaves grew, who could guarantee they wouldn’t get damaged during planting? For such a magical Sweet Potato, even a tiny bit of damage would be heartbreaking.

“You need to work hard to complete the tasks assigned to you now. Only then can you improve yourself,” the System displayed a line of text in his vision and then fell silent.

Liu Heming waved his arms. It seemed he really had to put in more effort. Improving his abilities was secondary—not being able to see his daughter often was the real problem.

Thinking back, he now had only two unfinished tasks: Soil Improvement and the Chef’s basic skills. The Soil Improvement task couldn’t be completed just because he wanted to—he had to wait until the Wheat was sown. For now, he could only focus on the Chef’s basic skills. The reward for that was quite generous, after all.