Chapter 124: The Membership System (Bonus Updates for a Hundred Subscribers)

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As for this, Zhongdi had already had doubts, but when Wild Sand Immortal Sprout made such a demand, he did not dwell on it; he only thought it must have some unusual ability.
It was like an aquatic plant—being in water all day made no difference.
Only today did he suddenly remember: water this much slurry every day, Wild Sand Immortal Sprout is not afraid, yet Goji Brother right beside it should be!
In reality, though, that Goji Brother was not only fine—he was growing even better.

“Root rot? Why would it rot? As long as my evaporation is fast enough, water can’t drown me.”
“Water is the medium that carries nutrients. Besides transporting nutrients for me to absorb, some of it goes into producing my own nutrients. The excess should simply evaporate, right?”
“So why would roots rot then? Most rot happens when evaporation is insufficient and water uptake isn’t fast enough, but look at me—could that happen to me?”
“Besides, even all that you’ve poured out isn’t enough for me to absorb. Why should that slowpoke next to me be afraid? If I hadn’t left some for them, they’d wither to death.”

After listening, Zhongdi looked over the whole root system of Wild Sand Immortal Sprout, spread out over tens of meters, and seemed to understand something.
He became clearer on one thing: plants with well-developed roots absorb water quickly, and there are those that naturally require a great deal of it.

“If that’s the case, why don’t you just absorb all the water and nutrients?”
“Why would I absorb everything? If the others die, won’t I be exposed anyway?”

After a few more exchanges with Wild Sand Immortal Sprout, Zhongdi left.

Wild Sand Immortal Sprout had already shown the first signs of awareness, and Zhongdi sighed in amazement—such is nature’s wonder.
As the sprout had said, if all the surrounding plants die, all its own growth is useless in the end; it would still be exposed and face death.
It is a form of instinctive self-preservation, no different from humans.

Nature has always contained extraordinary plants, each with behaviors that can be hard to understand.
While mulling over such notions, Zhongdi poured a few more buckets of slurry on the sprout, then prepared to eat.

When he caught the smell of the seasoned noodles, he could not hold himself back and quickly finished the plate in front of him.
Mixed noodles are meant to be eaten fast—the faster, the more satisfying. If you really chew slowly, you lose that rush and get full too soon.

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Most people eat hand-pulled noodles at noon, and few choose them at night. These are made from unleavened dough, nothing like risen dough—just little dough chunks.
One plate of hand-pulled noodles is like putting a whole big lump of dough into your stomach, so they’re deeply filling and keep hunger away for a long time.

Zhongdi had a good appetite today. He immediately added another serving and ate with garlic; it was beyond description how blissful it was.
After the meal, he wandered around to digest the food.
Usually he would just go straight to sleep.
But the mixed noodles were so good today that Zhongdi felt too full and had to walk it off.

“Sis? Why, you’re doing the digestion walk too?”
Zhongdi was watching the ducks frolic when he turned and saw his elder sister.

“Zhongdi, there’s a customer here who wants to buy a large quantity of our mosquito-repellent herb. What should we do?”
Zhong Hui raised her phone and showed Zhongdi the chat window.
She had thought that after lunch, instead of sleeping right away, she’d look at her messages—and found this.

“Hello, this is Nanyuan Floriculture of Kuren City. We’d like to buy a large amount of your mosquito-repellent herb. I can purchase at twenty yuan per pot. Can we negotiate?”
“136xxx is my number. You can also leave a message; we can discuss everything—price, terms, anything.”

The message she received was straightforward and concise, with no unnecessary embellishment.
The sincerity was evident too, with no airs at all.
At first glance this person clearly controls many channels in the flower market. In ordinary times, such a person usually stands above growers and squeezes their prices relentlessly, yet with Zhongdi here, there was almost a sense of stepping down in status.
Zhongdi understood the intention: they had spotted the commercial value of their mosquito-repellent herb.

Frankly, even setting aside that the plants themselves are worth ten to twenty yuan a pot, the mosquito-repellent function alone solves so many people’s troubles.
Think about a pack of mosquito coils—how much does it cost, and how long does one pack work? Just burning coils already drains a lot of money.
Zhongdi thought that if the other side offered twenty yuan, there was surely room to bargain. He could even ask for forty-one pots and it wouldn’t be a problem.

The only thing to decide was whether to sell at all.

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That aside, Wild Sand Immortal Sprout…
“Sis, just reply. No need to negotiate. We’re not supplying them.”
This was Zhongdi’s conclusion. Even if he wanted to run the mosquito-herb business himself, he has enough channels around. Why let anyone else do it?
“Also, do not sell the mosquito-repellent herb for now, and do not give it away either. When the membership system is ready, then we can start giving it out.”

At first they tried growing just a few hundred pots experimentally. Some customers liked it, so they sold them cheaply—fifteen yuan a pot. The cost was already low, so pricing it too high would have been unreasonable.
There were regulars, like Qian Weining, to whom they had given some away; they had not expected something like this to happen.

The membership system was broadly set, but there were still some loopholes they needed to work through.
In the future, membership at the farm would be divided into three tiers.
First, ordinary members: one thousand yuan a year to become an ordinary member, with ten percent off all farm products.
Second, Silver members: fifty thousand yuan a year. Silver members get twenty percent off, and in addition can reserve spots early, enjoy priority booking, and have one reservation chance each month, plus some benefits from the farm—the details of which are still to be finalized.
For instance, Silver members can receive one pot of mosquito-repellent herb for free, and also receive cultivation support from the farm.
The highest level is the Green Member: one hundred thousand yuan a year. Despite the name, it is really just a green card. Green-card holders get forty percent off, as well as priority booking, one opportunity each week, and additional farm benefits.
Of course, beyond these there are many details, such as non-transferability and anti-scalper measures.
To prevent unpleasant incidents, there is also a provision allowing the farm to end its relationship with a customer unconditionally.
At this stage, Zhongdi does not plan to admit too many members; numbers will be limited—having money alone does not mean you can get in.

“Hm, okay. Anything else we should watch out for?”
“Nothing for now. We can talk about the rest later.”

After discussing a few more details, the siblings went to rest, each in their own place.