Chapter 240: 1.5-21

Xinya let out a small silent laugh at Melting Snow's words, but even he could admit that the child was right. He really should read the journal to find the clue that would activate the DEV's quest.

Since when the quest is activated, he would be able to finish up a couple of the mini-quests before he became too busy with important matters. Such as fixing up his farm.

However, Xinya foresaw a problem with trying to read the journal as he walked. The problem of how he would be able to watch where he was going as he was reading.

This question spun around in his head as he turned his attention back towards his interface. 'I guess I should try anyway, and if I start tripping over my own feet, I can always use Melting Snow as my seeing-eye puppy.'

While laughing at the ridiculous idea of Melting Snow leading him along by the hand, Xinya pulled up his inventory. After scrolling through the various objects, he had inside, he finally found the journal.

As he tapped on it to take it out of his inventory, a pop up appeared with two options. They were Manually and Virtually.

Wondering what these options meant, Xinya clicked on the small question mark on the top left corner of the pop-up box and began to read.

Manually: Do you like the feeling of reading a book the old fashioned way, then this option is for you. So sit back and relax in a nice comfy chair and start reading.

Virtually: Do you like reading on the go? Then download the contents of your book to your interface. You can read it on the screen, or the text can be converted to audio. *Except for quest items, the downloaded book will be destroyed with this option.

Xinya was glad he read the information options. Reading the journal using the Virtually option would be helpful to him, but was he willing to take the chance of the book being destroyed?

Although the journal was the trigger for the Dev's quest, he didn't think it was a quest object. Usually, when an item is a quest object, it is labeled that way, but the journal was not.

Sighing to himself, he decided to risk it, since the information inside would still be available to him anyway.

Pressing the Virtually option, Xinya watched as the leather-bound journal in his inventory began to sparkle. This lasted for a couple of seconds before he got a system prompt.

[System: Song Lingchen's journal has been downloaded to your interface! You can find it under reading material!]

To his surprise, the journal didn't disappear at all and was still completely intact. 'Maybe DEV quest objects are different from the normal ones.'

Shrugging, Xinya clicked off his inventory and found the reading material icon. Once he opened it, he tapped on the digital cover and watched as the first entry of Song Lingchen's journal appeared on his transparent screen.

3rd day of Autumn, ZhouXia Dynasty year 22.

Dearest Journal,

I have been married to my darling Ling for almost a week now. The contentment I feel now that we are wedded courses throughout my entire being. From the first day we met all those years ago, I knew we were perfect for each other.

I will not let her regret the day she became my wife. With my words as my vow, I promise to make her proud of me.

Using the farm that my parents gifted to us on our wedding day, I will become a successful entrepreneur that my sweet Ling believes that I can be.

My apprenticeship under Huang Xiaoming's father won't go to waste. I will turn this pile of dirt into a giant fortune.

'So, the farm was a wedding gift,' Xinya thought as he scrolled down to the next entry.

14th day of Autumn, ZhouXia Dynasty year 22.

Dearest Journal,

Sadly, I had come across a mild setback whilst I was getting the soil ready for planting. A neighboring landowner came over to our farm to welcome us. While we were exchanging pleasantries, he noticed that the dirt I was plowing was odd-looking and suggested that it might be clay soil.

As he was a stranger to me and may have some illicit intentions, I thanked him kindly for his insight and proceeded to check it out myself.

Bottling up some of the soil, I rode to town to see a geological specialist. Only to learn that what my neighbor said was correct. It was Clay soil.

This small setback won't deter me, though. The geological specialist gave a great solution; it will just cost a few more coins than I have. But that is what loans are for.

Xinya, who was completely inept with the different aspects of farming, was confused as to why clay soil was terrible. But luckily for him, his interface was one step ahead of him and made it so he could access more information about it.

Tapping on the word, he began to read:

Clay is the smallest particle amongst the other two types of soil. The particles in this soil are tightly packed together with each other with very little or no airspace. This soil has excellent water storage qualities and makes it hard for moisture and air to penetrate it. It is very sticky to the touch when wet, but smooth when dried. Clay is the densest and heaviest type of soil that does not drain well or provides space for plant roots to flourish.

After reading about how hard it is to grow anything in clay soil, Xinya became curious about how the NPC had solved that particular problem. Scrolling down, he continued reading all the entries.

He uncovered a lot about the NPC who owned the farm before him. He learned that the NPC had big dreams of making money with his wife, but even after fixing the clay soil problem, the quality of the produce he grew was terrible.

The farm started to hemorrhage money; the more coins they put into it, the less they got in return. Their marriage suffered because of it, but one day the NPC had an idea.

He was going to use the little bit of money he had left and would turn this farm of his to a vineyard to make and sell wine. At first, this idea failed as well, because no matter what he did, his wines never tasted right.

Not wanting to give up, the NPC planted some seeds that a friend gave him along with some other fruit and created a new wine. But it was also a failure, knowing that nobody would want to buy it; he poured it into his fertilizer.

In his own words, he did it because, in his mind, that was where shit belongs.

While using that same fertilizer, which he poured the wine in on his plants, he saw something amazing happened. The plants that he used that exact fertilizer on quality became magnificent to the point that the market he was selling them to was begging him to let them buy.

Seeing how exceptional the fertilizer he created was, the NPC begins using that mixture on all of his plants. The produce he grew became so famous among the populace that all the stores only wanted to buy from his farm.

Reading up to that point, Xinya realized that the NPC must have created a special fertilizer with the wine he made. He hoped that the NPC left the recipe for it somewhere, but as he scrolled down to the last entry of the journal, he was disappointed.

25th day of Spring, ZhouXia Dynasty year 26.

Dearest Journal,

I have finally kept my promise to my sweet Ling; we are living the lives we dreamt of. Unfortunately, we have received a lot of hate from the other farm owners.

Only my close friend and neighbor are still civil with us, but lately, even he has been giving me the evil eye, especially when I denied him the right to know the secret of my success.

Although I don't mind sharing it with my friend, my wife asked me to wait until we saved up enough capital to do so. I also believe that would be the best course of action.

I think winter would be long enough, and I can give him the recipe as a New Year gift. Until then, the formula will stay locked up tight in my brain.

As Xinya read the last word of the entry, a familiar ding sounded:

[Quest Created]