My experience of grinding in another world

Chapter 182 Earth Spiritual Energy
Chen Mu ran all the way, and it took him half an hour to reach the foot of a low mountain.

On the hillside, a square courtyard built entirely of stone came into view.

That was the residence assigned to him by the Lower House of Keelung Road.

"I wonder if yellow sprout rice is easy to grow," Chen Mu thought to himself, unlocking the copper lock and pushing the door open.

The courtyard faces south and is about half the size of a basketball court.

There is a well on the east side near the entrance, with green moss growing along the bottom edge of the stone-built well platform.

There was a dent at the wellhead caused by the pressure of a bucket, but when you reached out to touch it, it was smooth.

There was a small vegetable garden on the north side of the well platform, which is now abandoned.

There is a wooden shed on the west side of the yard, and the stove is underneath it.

"It's passable." Chen Mu shrugged. "We can always modify it later."

……

After setting out the rice, meat, oil, and salt, Chen Mu moved a square table to the middle of the courtyard and began preparing dinner.

As the sun began to set, he had prepared eight dishes, four vegetarian and four meat dishes, and also cooked a pot of rice using a mixture of silver pearl rice and yellow sprout rice.

I had just finished setting everything up when I heard a noise at the door.

Chen Mu turned his head and saw an elderly man in his fifties with his hands behind his back, chuckling as he stood by the door.

His nostrils flared, and his eyes lit up: "Brother Chen, you have excellent skills."

"Mr. Hao, please come in." Chen Mu immediately stood up to greet him.

The old man was his neighbor, who lived on the other side of the hill.

He was also the master assigned to him by the lower courtyard of Keelung Road.

Hmm... the master who taught him farming.

……

Halfway through the meal, Old Hao put down his bowl.

During a break while Chen Mutian was eating, he pulled out his pipe from his waistband, lit a cigarette, and took a puff.

"Your skills are truly exceptional," Old Hao exclaimed sincerely.

"You're new here, so there must be a lot you don't understand, right?" Old Hao chuckled.

"As you've given me this meal, go ahead and ask," Old Hao said leisurely, exhaling a puff of fragrant white smoke.

Chen Mu paused for a moment. He was a little unaccustomed to not having to pay for the first time to get information!
That old man has caused a lot of harm!

"Is yellow sprout rice easy to grow?" Chen Mu asked quickly.

"The lower court requires 300 catties of yellow sprout rice per mu. Such a large piece of land requires 300 catties. Do you think it's easy to grow?" Old Hao asked rhetorically.
Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat.

"You need to prepare in advance," Old Hao said earnestly. "Be prepared to be in debt for several years."

Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat.

"A bad start."

……

"You will be allocated a total of ten acres of land in the lower courtyard. Next autumn, you will have to hand over three thousand catties of yellow sprout rice."

"If it's not enough, you have to pay it back slowly, and there's interest involved."

"According to my father, it took him five whole years to pay off his debts," said Mr. Hao with a sigh.

“Of course, if you have white jade coins to pay off your debt, you don’t need to worry. One white jade coin can be used to pay off a hundred catties.” Old Hao raised his eyebrows again.

Chen Mu looked worried: "But I don't have any jade coins!"

"Then you'll have to exchange it for something you brought with you."

“We receive two white jade coins each month. But you outsiders don’t have white jade coins; you only have two thousand taels of silver for food.”

"You can only hope to grow more yellow sprout rice to save money."

"But once you take on this debt, you'll have to work for nothing for several years."

"If the union of spirit and soul is delayed, then things will be difficult."

"You must understand that on the path of cultivation, if you are slow at one step, you will be slow at every step." Old Hao shook his head with a sigh: "If you are slow, you will lose hope, lose your spirit, and only feel resentment."

"You'll eventually need to buy the Divine Soul Unity Secret Technique, won't you?"

"The cheapest Baiyang Zhenjie costs sixty white jade coins."

"My father saved up for six whole years back then!" Old Hao said with deep emotion.

"You do the math, eleven years have gone by in the blink of an eye!"

Chen Mu's face immediately turned ugly.

The future looks bleak.

After the meal, Chen Mu saw Old Hao off and agreed to start learning how to grow yellow sprout rice the next day.

After closing the door, billowing black smoke filled the room, and the pots, pans, and dishes were quickly washed clean.

Chen Mu returned to his room, lit an oil lamp, took out all his money, and carefully checked and calculated it.

"There are still two thousand two hundred and thirty-two taels of silver left."

"There are nine gold ingots left."

"This little bit of money is only enough for food for about two months at most."

Moreover, he had mastered four-fifths of the Cloud Mirage Armor Technique, and the fusion of the armor and spirit was becoming faster and faster.

“If we eat whatever we want, we might not last a month.” Chen Mu’s face was gloomy.

At that time, it will be necessary to use the white jade coins.

"One white jade coin equals one hundred catties of yellow sprout rice."

"Based on my current appetite, I'll have to eat at least twelve white jade coins a year!"

"Furthermore, according to Old Hao, planting yellow sprout rice also requires buying exotic beast bone powder, and one bag costs five white jade coins!"

He only had seventeen white jade coins in total.

"What will we do if we can't afford to deliver the yellow sprouted rice when the autumn harvest season comes?"

"Are you in debt...?"

He didn't realize it until he calculated it, and a dark cloud immediately settled over Chen Mu's heart.

A tremendous pressure suddenly overwhelmed me.

"Hardworking and diligent in cultivation?" Chen Mu couldn't help but sneer.

"If I don't cause trouble, will I become another Supervisor Song?" A surge of anger instantly filled my heart.

"Those guys from Chicken Coop Road have been plotting against us for a long time!"

"Don't even think about getting anything done except bury yourself in hard labor!"

Chen Mu felt as if an invisible net was covering his head.

The bindings tightened, leaving him no room to move!
"In the end, it all comes down to not having enough money!" Chen Mu said dejectedly. "Me, a transmigrator, turned out to be a hero who's been brought down by money?!"

Chen Mu smiled bitterly, overwhelmed with sorrow.

"God is so unfair!" Chen Mu thought bitterly.

Those born with innate Taoist qualities are born to win at the starting line.

With extraordinary talent, people will rush to give them money without them having to work hard.

Compared to them, what do I have? I'm just an ordinary person with mediocre talent. I have nothing!

Chen Mu was filled with grief and indignation. With a resentful expression, he picked up a basket of dried calming pills.

"I've put in so much effort and worked so hard all day, and all I got was thirty pieces for only one coin of white jade?!"

"This whole bamboo basket, at most, is only worth five white jade coins!"

Chen Mu turned to look at the wooden shelf in the corner, where seven flat bamboo baskets were stacked, filled with calming pills.

Chen Mu silently withdrew his gaze, filled with grief and indignation: "This is too hard for me!"

……

The next day, in a fan-shaped field at the foot of the low hill.

“This plot of land isn’t very good. There are mountains on both sides, and although they’re not high, the sunlight is still a bit lacking.” Old Hao stood in the black soil, looking around.

"The terrain is also irregular, too long and narrow, making planting and watering too time-consuming."

"By the way, you must only use well water from the yard to water the plants, understand?" Old Hao turned to Chen Mu and instructed him.

Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat, thinking of the worn well rim: "Is there anything special about that well?"

Old Hao smiled mysteriously: "You think that courtyard was built just anywhere?"

"Where the well is, there the courtyard is."

"All the wells in the entire basin were specially dug by the experts of the Upper Academy who had carefully identified the water veins."

"The source of the water vein comes from Jilong Mountain, which contains the earth's spiritual energy."

"Otherwise, the yellow rice will not be able to germinate and grow."

Chen Mu narrowed his eyes involuntarily.

"Earth's spiritual energy?"

(End of this chapter)