Future Pet Shop

Chapter 316: Chapter 316: What Kind of Seeds Will It Choose This Time?

Maphario harvested the peanuts first. This time, it didn’t ask for help, digging furiously into the soil by itself. Sand and dirt flew everywhere as the peanut plants toppled over. Maphario unearthed one plump, large peanut after another. A single glance was enough to see that these peanut shells were much longer and thicker than usual.

"One, two, three, four, five..." I casually picked one up and cracked it open. Five peanuts were nestled inside. The most common varieties only had two or three kernels, so finding this many was truly rare.

"Boss, I found one with six peanuts!" Xia Shixuan quickly broke Shen Yibin’s record. She took out her phone and snapped picture after picture of the six-kernel peanut. ’If this were ancient times, this could probably be reported to the emperor as an auspicious omen. Then again, isn’t Maphario the greatest auspicious omen of all?’

"I found one with six, too." A few years ago, Gao Shu had still been in her village helping with farm work, and she used to love playing this game with her younger sister. Of course, the peanuts Maphario grew were far superior to the ones from her family’s farm.

"I’ll roast these in a bit and make some garlic peanuts. You all can have a taste," Shen Yibin announced. Since Maphario loved nuts so much, he definitely had to save these for it.

After they finished with the peanut plants, it was finally the watermelons’ turn. The watermelons from just a few vines likely weighed more than all the previous harvest combined. Just like before, Maphario climbed on top of a watermelon and, KRAK KRAK, bit through the stem. The rest of the task was up to Hah’Er.

Hah’Er reached out a paw to test the weight, but it was apparently heavier than it had expected. Hah’Er strained with all its might but couldn’t even budge it. So, it scratched its head, pondered for a moment, and then simply started pushing the watermelon forward. It rolled it all the way from the sandbox to the farm plot, and from the plot right up to Shen Yibin.

Blinking its little eyes, Maphario watched from behind. It seemed to have discovered a fun new game. It quickly scampered to the front, leaped onto Hah’Er’s arm, and then bounded onto the rolling watermelon.

The watermelon went RUMBLE RUMBLE, rolling forward, while Maphario sprinted atop it. At first glance, it looked as if Maphario were log-rolling the watermelon forward.

’Holy crap, you’re a daring little thing!’ The sight made Shen Yibin’s heart leap into his throat. ’This watermelon has to weigh at least twenty pounds! If Maphario slips and gets run over, it’ll be flattened into a pancake!’

Fortunately, Maphario was incredibly skilled, and the journey passed without incident. It rode the watermelon smoothly right up to Shen Yibin. Using its forward momentum, it leaped straight into Shen Yibin’s arms and pointed at the watermelon, as if inviting him to eat. Shen Yibin was once again moved to the brink of tears.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to eat it right away. ’Watermelon is so much better after it’s been chilled in the fridge.’ He gathered all of today’s harvest. First, he roasted the soybeans and peanuts, setting them aside as snacks for Maphario. Then he used the tomatoes and eggplants to prepare a few dishes for when Director Kong arrived that evening.

’As for the corn, we can roast it on the grill after dinner,’ he planned. ’Same for the watermelon. Tonight, we’ll have watermelon and corn to go with our drinks.’

When Director Kong tasted the food that Maphario had grown, he gave a constant thumbs-up and was full of praise. Shen Yibin, Hah’Er, and the four young women were too busy eating to speak; their chopsticks fell upon the plates like raindrops. The food Maphario had grown was just that delicious.

After a satisfying dinner and a good night’s sleep, Shen Yibin woke up the next morning and replayed the previous day’s events in his mind. He then noticed a small detail: it seemed Maphario had only set aside a few plump watermelon seeds for planting, but hadn’t collected any seeds from the peanuts, soybeans, or corn.

’That’s strange. Does that mean Maphario doesn’t plan to grow those anymore?’ Shen Yibin stroked his chin, wondering, ’Then what does it plan to grow next?’

’I don’t have to be at the film set until two this afternoon, so there’s plenty of time this morning. Maybe I should take Maphario to the flower-and-bird market and the seed market for a look? See what kind of seeds it picks out?’

No sooner said than done. After finishing breakfast and taking Hah’Er and Maphario for a few laps around the park’s lake, Shen Yibin got in his car and drove them toward the flower-and-bird market.

"Hey, I’ll take a pot of this devil’s ivy. Also, could I see what kind of seeds you have?" He was using the same tactic as last time. ’First give them some business, then ask for seeds. Otherwise, why would anyone just hand them over? They worked hard to collect these seeds, didn’t they? It’s only fair they get some kind of reward, right?’

’When you ask for "seeds" on a forum, you have to call the OP a saint. When you ask in a group chat, you have to send a red packet. So, when you’re at a flower shop, you’ve got to buy some plants first before you can ask for actual seeds. Of course, they’d probably be happy if you just bought a flowerpot, but Shen Yibin didn’t need one.’

"You got it! Just a moment, I’ll go get them for you." The shopkeeper could at least make a small profit from the devil’s ivy, so he cheerfully brought out his collection of seeds for Maphario to inspect.

"Well now, this little fella seems to have put on some weight." Apparently, the shopkeeper remembered Maphario. "Are we looking for cineraria and morning glory seeds again?"

"SQUEAK SQUEAK!" Maphario squeaked in protest. It clearly knew that wasn’t a compliment. But what could it do? Nuts were packed with nutrition; gaining weight was inevitable.

After a couple of protest squeaks, Maphario went back to inspecting the seeds one by one. For whatever reason, it seemed uninterested in flower seeds like cineraria, China asters, butterfly weed, and morning glories this time. It trotted right past them to inspect the other seeds.

It trotted from one end of the table to the other, looking over every single seed the shopkeeper had painstakingly laid out, but Maphario didn’t find anything it liked. It let out two squeaks at Shen Yibin, then retreated into Hah’Er’s pouch.

’Huh? What’s all this about? Didn’t it pick out a whole bunch last time? Why didn’t it choose a single one today? Could it be that Maphario’s tastes have changed? Has it lost interest in planting?’

Shen Yibin could only apologize to the shopkeeper before leaving with the pot of devil’s ivy. After getting in the car, he didn’t head straight home but drove on to the seed market instead. ’If the seeds at the flower-and-bird market weren’t to your liking, maybe we’ll have better luck here?’

But Maphario didn’t choose anything at the seed market, either. Seeing that time was running short, Shen Yibin had no choice but to turn the car around and head back to the pet shop.

Just as they were approaching the shop, Maphario suddenly popped out of Hah’Er’s pouch. It scrambled onto Hah’Er’s shoulder, pointed at a store outside the car window, and started squeaking excitedly.

’Hm? Could it be that the seeds you want are in that shop?’ Shen Yibin hit the brakes.