Chapter 4: Signing the Contract

Mei Mengzhen tucked the letter away, feeling a sense of sentimentality in her heart, the space truly belonged to her now.

With that, she was also free to touch everything in the space as she wished.

In fact, the large boxes against the wall had already caught her attention, and she was extremely curious about what might be inside.

She walked over to the large wooden boxes, which indeed were quite big. Each box was roughly one meter long, 80 cm high, and 60 cm wide; such dimensions definitely qualified as large boxes. To put it plainly, she could fit inside with room to spare.

Since the boxes were hers, Mei Mengzhen didn't hesitate to open them one by one, only to be truly dazzled by their contents.

Two large boxes of gold, two large boxes of jewelry, and two large boxes of porcelain, there were also three boxes filled with neatly packed books, and another box piled up with a hodgepodge of things she couldn't quite identify.

Each box was packed full; not to mention the porcelain which took up a lot of space, but gold and jewelry were small items. The sight of these four hefty boxes was almost overwhelming.

Mei Mengzhen felt restless, worrying she wouldn't be able to leave, so she quickly covered the boxes and descended the stairs.

Mei Mengzhen arrived at the lowest floor, where the items were also neatly arranged. Like the third floor, there were six shelves lining the walls of the more than one hundred square meter room, leaving just enough space for a walkway.

However, instead of books, these shelves were filled with previously harvested medicinal herbs, and on the corresponding railings, the names of the herbs were written, albeit in traditional characters, which she could understand.

Besides the medicinal herbs, there were also several wooden boxes in the corner about the same size as the ones upstairs that contained gold. These boxes, however, were packed full of supplements like Ginseng and Ganoderma, each one sizable.

Mei Mengzhen was truly amazed, "Oh my goodness, I feel like eating these could really make me live forever."

Excited, Mei Mengzhen left the thatched hut, then exited the space. She entered and exited several times, finally figuring out how to do so. All she needed to do was think about entering and she would go straight in. Each time, she would appear next to the large Osmanthus Tree, and she could even enter with her mind only, without her body; in any case, it was very convenient.

This time, when Mei Mengzhen entered again, she brought a large kitchen knife from the kitchen. With resolve, she sliced her finger with the knife and, as instructed by the letter, let the blood drip onto the root of the Osmanthus Tree. In an instant, the tree shone with golden light, shaking the entire space on its own. After a while, it returned to normal.

"So, the contract is signed just like that? Wasn't it supposed to help with automatically harvesting crops? Is there any indication required? That's it?"

Indeed, it was done. The contract had been formed, and the Osmanthus Tree would begin its functions after Mei Mengzhen started planting vegetables.

Mei Mengzhen had been so excited she forgot that she had been seriously injured. Once her adrenaline subsided, her head began to spin again. Suddenly, she recalled the previous owner mentioning the rejuvenating effects of the Spiritual Spring Water. Her health was poor right now, would drinking some help to relieve it, even just a bit?

She suppressed the dizziness and made her way to the edge of the Spiritual Spring, noting it was level with the spring's edge, easily scoopable by hand to drink.

Mei Mengzhen gulped down several mouthfuls and, whether it was the placebo effect or not, her dizziness considerably eased shortly after she drank the water.

Sitting beside the Spiritual Spring, she rested a while longer until she was sure that the dizziness had subsided, then she was struck by a wave of joy, "This Spiritual Spring really does strengthen the body."

Such wonderful Spiritual Spring Water shouldn't be enjoyed by just one person; she wanted her brother to recover quickly as well. She left the space with a full cup of Spiritual Spring Water and brought it to her brother in the hospital.

After drinking the Spiritual Spring Water, the siblings felt as lively as dragons and tigers the very next day, explaining why, despite the 'serious' injuries, they appeared normal within a few days.

Having experienced the effects of the Spiritual Spring Water, Mei Mengzhen began to busy herself with farming. It was only when she actually started planting that she realized it was just as the letter described, far easier than outside. Her grandfather had to nurture seedlings and wait months before vegetables were ready, but the space was completely different, skipping the seedling stage entirely. Throwing seeds in the ground was all it took.

Not only that, but her vegetables matured incredibly fast. Just moments after sowing the seeds, the vegetables ripened and were automatically harvested, sorted, and placed to one side. Afterwards, the plot was cleaned as though nothing had been planted, which must have been the automatic harvesting and cleaning mentioned in the Osmanthus Tree contract.

After staring blankly for a while, Mei Mengzhen conducted several experiments, achieving the same results every time. Then she took out some seeds from each bag and began experimenting with each.

From her experiments, she roughly determined that leafy green vegetables (like bok choy, cabbage, lettuce, and romaine) all matured in one minute.

Vegetables like cucumbers, loofah, bitter melon, eggplant, and tomatoes took just two minutes to mature.

Larger fruits like winter melons and pumpkins matured in five minutes.

This rapid growth meant that there was no need to stock up; eating as soon as they were planted was entirely feasible. This likely explained why there were no vegetables stored anywhere else in the space.

However, the space's vegetables had a downside: while outside, a vine might produce several fruits and multiple harvests, the space's vegetables could only bear fruit once. Meaning, to have more vegetables, you would have to plant anew.

But looking at the vegetables on the ground, an idea popped into Mei Mengzhen's mind.

She could sell these vegetables.

According to her memories from her previous life, her parents had left them no money. She and her brother needed funds to live, and these vegetables could be their capital.

Considering selling the vegetables, it was clear that in 2007, selling vegetables online wasn't possible; such apps likely hadn't been developed yet. Therefore, the Vegetable Market was undoubtedly a good option.

Setting up a stall inside the market wasn't feasible, as those were rented by regular vendors and she had school to attend.

However, there were informal vendors outside the market.

These private vendors simply spread a tricolor bag on the ground and displayed their vegetables for sale.

Since they didn't have to pay for a stall, these private sellers offered vegetables cheaper than those inside, so there were always more people outside the market than inside.

There was no established rule on who could set up there, so it was a matter of first-come, first-serve, and if others could do it, so could she.

But another problem troubled Mei Mengzhen: how should she price these vegetables?

Although she hadn't tasted them yet, convention suggested the quality of space-produced items should be excellent. Considering the effects of the Spiritual Spring Water, selling them too cheaply would be a loss for her.

After counting the vegetables, Mei Mengzhen decided to take some time to taste them before determining their prices.