Chapter 5: Buying Jade Dew Seedlings

After setting aside grains, vegetables, fruits, and medicinal herbs, what remained were just flowers, grasses, and such. Zhou Yu decided to grow succulent plants, which had become popular in recent years.

Several years ago, he hadn’t even heard the name “succulent plants”. But now, succulent plants were already popular all over Huaxia, creating a real craze. As for how they became so popular, many people couldn’t explain the reason.

You could say the internet was a base for the popularity of succulent plants. In many forums and online communities, it was common to see people sharing photos of their succulents. These plants, with their unique and interesting shapes, wide variety, and adorable appearance, could indeed make people develop a fondness for them.

When Zhou Yu was in college, he had also kept succulents for a long time. He was considered somewhat of a veteran on some succulent forums. The reason was simple: his former girlfriend really liked succulents.

The moment he thought of succulents, that clear, beautiful face appeared in his mind. But, that was already in the past. They were fated to be people from two different worlds.

Right now, the area of the Spirit Gathering Array was limited. To maximize benefit, it naturally wasn’t possible to plant ordinary varieties. As someone with experience with succulents, Zhou Yu clearly knew which succulent varieties were currently the most popular and valuable.

In recent years, a very popular succulent variety was Jade Dew. It was almost crazy popular. Just like its name, the Jade Dew plant was small and exquisite, with leaves that were crystal clear. It looked like a very cute piece of art.

In the succulent community, there was a saying that went around: the less wealthy play with Sedum, the wealthy play with Haworthia. And Jade Dew was one of the high-end varieties among Haworthia, also a favorite of many rich enthusiasts.

Many ordinary succulent friends took pride in owning one pot of fine Haworthia. In some people’s social media circles, the things they showed off had already changed from money and jewelry to high-end succulents.

In his heart, Zhou Yu also wanted to own a pot of fine Haworthia. At first, he started keeping succulents to pursue his girlfriend. As time passed, he also grew to like succulents more and more. But he had always been stuck with ordinary varieties.

However, now, with the Spirit Gathering Array, nothing was a problem. Sitting on the small stool inside the Spirit Gathering Array, he quickly took out his Mobile Phone and opened the well-known domestic succulent forum, Xianrou Garden.

This was one of the top succulent forums in the country. Its registration system was very strict, and so was its permission management. This greatly prevented the appearance of some scammers.

Entering the website, Zhou Yu went straight to the trading section. Newly registered members had to reach a required amount of points and a certain number of days before they could browse posts there. But if someone wanted to post a trading thread in this section, they had to meet even higher requirements.

As a semi-veteran succulent friend who often posted casually, his level on this forum had already reached the rank of “veteran member”.

Holding his Mobile Phone, Zhou Yu kept scrolling through the posts in the trading section that were selling Jade Dew, looking for any possible high-end Jade Dew varieties. Soon, he saw a post selling leaf-cuttings of Pan Deng. He clicked into it.

Pan Deng was the short name for Pan’s Ice Lantern Jade Dew. You could say it was the finest among Ice Lantern Jade Dew varieties. Many people now simply equated Ice Lantern Jade Dew with Pan Deng. This was an Ice Lantern variety that was carefully selected and cultivated by an old master surnamed Pan in the country. It was enough to be called a source of national pride.

However, the reproduction speed of Ice Lantern Jade Dew was very slow. And to ensure the excellent traits of the parent plant, reproduction basically relied only on beheading (cutting off the top) or leaf cuttings.

Leaf cuttings, as the name implied, involved planting healthy, full leaves from a Jade Dew in soil to grow new seedlings.

Because the Pan Deng base released very few into the market each year, this led to the preciousness and rarity of Pan Deng. It was something you could encounter by chance but not by search. Even though cultivated Pan Deng produced through tissue culture was now available on the market, it didn’t have much impact.

Looking at the Pan Deng seedlings in the post, they were about two centimetres in diameter. The price was two hundred and twenty yuan per seedling. Seeing this price, Zhou Yu couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Back in his college days, that was almost more than a week’s living expenses for him. Indeed, succulents could impoverish three generations, and Jade Dew could ruin a life.

He had once bought two succulent seedlings costing over a hundred yuan each before. Unfortunately, he managed to kill them both. After that, he only played with ordinary varieties.

Closing this post, Zhou Yu continued scrolling. He saw the next post selling Black Muscle Jade Dew seedlings and immediately opened it to look. This Black Muscle Jade Dew was also called Neon Light in Huaxia. Actually, it was the Black Muscle Jade Dew with variegation that was called Neon Light. But people got used to calling it that way, so it became the default name.

Variegation referred to a kind of color mutation in succulents, often appearing as yellow, white, or pink. Some people also called it a pathological change. It was influenced by many factors. As for how it appeared, that depended on luck. Once a plant showed variegation, it would not only become more beautiful, but its value would also multiply.

Black Muscle Jade Dew were also leaf-cutting seedlings, and their price wasn’t much different from Pan Deng. This filled Zhou Yu with emotion. When he was in college raising succulents, the price for one ordinary Black Muscle Jade Dew seedling was at least four or five hundred yuan. Now, with more tissue-cultured plants available, the price had been pulled down.

Looking at these beautiful Jade Dew seedlings, Zhou Yu really wanted to buy them right away. This was an impulse many succulent friends experienced. But the price was just too expensive.

He looked at some other high-end varieties, and their prices were even more expensive, one after another. He shook his head. Buying tissue-cultured ones was still more cost-effective. For others, the disadvantages of tissue-cultured plants, such as not germinating or growing slowly, wouldn’t appear under the powerful effect of the Spirit Gathering Array.

Zhou Yu looked at the prices of some tissue-cultured seedlings on the forum, then also browsed on Taobao. In the end, he bought ten Pan Deng seedlings and ten Black Muscle Jade Dew seedlings. It cost him less than a thousand yuan. Cheap—that was the biggest characteristic of tissue-cultured plants.

Based on his estimate, these twenty Jade Dew seedlings would occupy about half of the empty space in the Spirit Gathering Array. Although there was still half left, he didn’t plan to buy more for now. He would use these twenty seedlings for an experiment first.

After completing the transaction, Zhou Yu reluctantly put down his Mobile Phone. If the range of this Spirit Gathering Array could expand to the whole yard, that would be perfect. Having one pot of every succulent variety would create a beautiful paradise.

Snapping back to reality, he turned his gaze to the grapevine. He roughly counted them. There were about thirty to forty bunches that were nearly ripe, and there were also many unripe ones and grape buds hanging on it.

Since there were so many Grapes, Zhou Yu decided to give those four people two bunches each, and bring back a few bunches for his uncle. It was still early. He looked at the land within the Spirit Gathering Array and decided to turn the soil first. That way, when the seedlings arrived tomorrow, they could be planted right away.

For now, the Jade Dew were small seedlings. It wasn’t too late to put them in flowerpots after they grew a bit bigger in the soil. Moreover, within this Spirit Gathering Array, without a doubt the place with the most abundant Spiritual Energy was within the soil itself, because the four Immortal Stones that made up the Spirit Gathering Array were buried there.

He searched around the Old Family House and found a rusty hoe. Then, Zhou Yu started turning the soil within the range of the Spirit Gathering Array.

After finishing turning this small patch of land, he was exhausted. He fetched well water to wash his face. Then, he picked a bunch of purple Grapes from the vine, washed them with water, sat in the yard, and looked at the Sea in the distance.

Tasting these almost-ripe purple Grapes, Zhou Yu’s face was full of enjoyment. The taste of these Grapes was even sweeter than the ones he picked at noon.

Many artistic youths dreamed of having a house facing the Sea, with spring blossoms. But now, he had easily realized this dream, even though this house was so run-down it was practically uninhabitable.