Mountain Looting: Targeted by a Leopard at the Start
Chapter 177 - 176: Major Release, Solid Pastel Pink!

Chapter 177: Chapter 176: Major Release, Solid Pastel Pink!

On the farm.

Old Xu and three employees were shucking gem corn together.

One could only see Old Xu grab an ear of corn, cut off the base, and with a slight pull, the corn husk was peeled away by him.

Afterward, an ear of corn with a jumble of colors, including brown, dark purple, yellow, and dark red, was presented before the viewers.

If one looked closely at the kernels, they would find them quite beautiful; the insides were white, and the outsides were semi-translucent, resembling gems.

But overall, this ear of corn didn’t look that appealing.

The size of the gem corn was not large; it fit just right in one’s hand. If sold like normal corn, it definitely wouldn’t weigh as much as ordinary corn, so it wasn’t worth much money.

"This ear of corn is completely worthless, not just because of the color, the kernels are also irregular."

"Look at these kernels; some are crooked, some large, some small, some are squeezed, indicating they haven’t grown too well."

"The best ones are still the regular ears of corn."

"There’s no specific standard for ornamental corn, the price is determined by color, beauty, and the regularity of the kernels."

"It’s a niche market, but there is at least a market for it."

Old Xu didn’t forget to explain to everyone.

After all, he was live-streaming; occasionally interacting with netizens was good, too.

Everyone could roughly judge that this particular ear of corn was not very good-looking.

Then, Old Xu began to shuck another ear of corn.

As the corn leaves were peeled off, the appearance of the second ear of corn emerged.

The colors were still chaotic, but the kernels were much more uniform-looking, neat and tidy.

"The traits expressed by these corn kernels are a bit variable; it’s the high-quality corn bred by research institutes that’s better."

"Each ear of corn is neat and orderly, and the taste is soft and glutinous."

"This is also the significance of agricultural research, cultivating increasingly superior varieties."

Old Xu looked at the corn in his hand and carelessly tossed it into a bucket of water nearby.

The netizens gradually caught on to the trick.

[It feels a bit like the gun skins in CS; I remember some skins are more expensive the more blue there is, and for corn, the more light pink, the more expensive!]

[It’s got the vibe of unboxing!]

[Hahaha, Old Xu is still an unboxing streamer, corn blind boxes!]

[The best one is still unopened!]

Everyone was discussing animatedly.

Just then, Ma Wen asked from the side,

"Farmer, how do we deal with this useless corn; we can’t just throw it away, right?"

Hearing this, Old Xu replied, "I’ve thought about it; some will be used as feed, and we’ll keep some to make popcorn."

"This kind of corn has a high starch content, so the popcorn it makes will surely be larger."

"That should taste good."

Hearing him say this, Li Shan immediately said,

"Brother Yang, Old Liu in the village has a popcorn machine that he hasn’t used in years; I’ll borrow it when the time comes."

Old Xu was quite interested, "Alright, let’s study it and also give some popcorn to Old Liu."

At this time, Old Xu was peeling yet another ear of corn.

This time the corn looked much better.

Although the colors were mixed up, there were only dark red and dark purple, and these two colors matched well without looking too abrupt.

"Ah? This one’s not bad."

"It could fetch the price of a craft item."

Old Xu held the corn in his hand, displaying it.

When the netizens saw the appearance of the gem corn, they became excited.

[Old Xu, I’ll take that one! Name your price!]

[Can I buy it for two hundred?]

[This one’s pretty!]

Immediately, a flood of comments arrived.

Old Xu glanced at the barrage and saw people making offers, and laughed,

"The gem corn market is not large, but there are quite a few merchants who specialize in growing gem corn, so attractive ears of gem corn are not expensive."

"If we go by the market rate, this one is about sixty. With some minor decoration back and forth, it can sell for seventy to eighty."

"It won’t break a hundred."

"There are some good-looking ones that can break a hundred, then they would be around five to six hundred, belonging to the level of fine goods."

"If you really want to buy it, just search for stores online."

Old Xu was still straightforward.

Or to put it another way, he didn’t like to overcharge for things, as it made him feel uneasy.

An item worth fifty bucks, because fans liked him, didn’t investigate the market, and was willing to spend 500 to purchase it.

If Old Xu sold it, he wouldn’t be comfortable about it either.

So there’s a saying, "You can’t do business if your heart isn’t hard."

Sometimes you really need to have a heart of stone to make a killing.

[Old Xu is really straightforward!]

[I just want to buy the one in your hand; I have my eye on it, money is not an issue!]

Another fan commented.

Old Xu laughed, "If you really like it, you can place an order online; I need to see how many I can sell from this batch first."

"It might be because it’s the first cultivation; no excellent varieties have formed."

"The chances of producing good stock aren’t too high."

At this point, Wang Wu picked up a lighter-colored ear of corn and said,

"Farmer, how about this one?"

The gem corn in his hand was generally pale, with a few parts light pink and some light yellow and pale red mixed together.

Most crucially, this ear of corn was very uniform, with perfectly shaped gaps.

"This one looks pretty good!"

Old Xu exclaimed.

"Unfortunately, this one could reach the level of breaking a hundred."

"How many have you shucked?"

Hearing that, Wang Wu turned around and counted the corn in the basin, "Almost ten."

"That’s not bad, this one is nice, the chances of selling it are pretty high."

Old Xu didn’t have much hope initially.

Because Wu Kai from Agricultural University grew gem corn, although the corn stalks had fallen over, corn had still grown in the end.

When the Agricultural University students were shucking the corn, Old Xu went to watch.

There weren’t many good ones.

They were mostly dark-colored corn with irregular shapes, and many kernels were malnourished, resulting in small size and thus large gaps.

They didn’t look good.

But now that he had grown his own gem corn, the results were surprisingly good.

Perhaps it was because the greenhouse environment was good, and he himself was a planting expert, so everything he cultured grew rather well.

At the very least, the corn’s shape was uniform, and there were rarely any large gaps.

Seeing Wang Wu find a valuable corn, Li Shan and Ma Wen were invigorated, their movements quickening as they hoped to find one just like it immediately.

The probability was fixed.

And sure enough, before long, Li Shan and Ma Wen each found a very decent ear of corn.

The one Li Shan found was a deep red throughout; because the color was uniform and it was a deep red, it looked both restrained and beautiful.

"This one’s not bad, worth at least five hundred, not too shabby!"

Xu Yang instantly became joyful.

Growing corn was all about making money, you couldn’t just do it for nothing.

If they couldn’t sell for the price of ordinary corn, then they’d make money off its collectible value.

Seeing that he had already earned several hundred, he was naturally happy.

What Ma Wen found was a light yellow corn with blood-red streaks.

Rarity is prized, and the least valuable gem corn is the yellow kind unless it’s a uniform yellow throughout with a gem-like luster, which could fetch a higher price.

But the one Ma Wen found was different, the color was a translucent light yellow, and every kernel had red stripes like blood vessels.

This kind of blood-streaked corn was also expensive.

"Wow, this one’s nice, yellow blood," Xu Yang, who knew his stuff, took one look at the corn and promptly exclaimed.

"No way, I planted so little corn, is the yield rate really this high?"

"All of these are valuable."

The joy in Xu Yang’s expression was extremely genuine.

The online friends could feel his delight.

Actually, these few corns together were worth a thousand or two yuan, but the thrill and satisfaction of opening a mystery box made people feel very content.

And now, there was still a large amount of gem corn left.

If they picked carefully, they could certainly find many more.

Selling them for ten thousand or so shouldn’t be a problem.

"Okay, keep searching, to this standard."

"Those with very dark colors, twisted kernels, or particularly large gaps should be disregarded."

"If you find any with light pink or sky blue kernels, put them together; later we’ll remove the kernels to use as next year’s planting seeds."

"If you find any that look really nice, show them to me."

Xu Yang stood up and arranged tasks for the employees.

Two dogs followed at Xu Yang’s side, wagging their tails, while the little leopard was in the yard, not appearing on the farm in today’s live stream.

In winter, all is desolate, and the greenery of plants is gone, so the environment of the farm seemed somewhat bleak.

But with people and animals in the yard, the atmosphere was lively.

The three employees became more and more engrossed as they shucked the corn.

This was actually quite fun!

Who knew corn could be so enjoyable like this, interesting!

With every ear they picked up, their hearts were filled with anticipation.

Sometimes they would peel one that was pitch black and shake their heads in slight disappointment.

Sometimes they would find one with bright colors and happily call Xu Yang over for an appraisal.

Occasionally, they would also lift their heads to see each other’s findings.

Viewers in the live room grew more eager as they watched.

[How come watching this has made me want to shuck corn too!]

[Me too, I really want to peel a few!]

[Old Xu, save some, let us spend money on mystery boxes and peel them ourselves!]

[Yeah, you don’t know how to do business. We want to buy unpeeled ones, we want to shuck too!]

The bullet chat became lively once again.

Clearly, everyone wanted to join in.

But Xu Yang had no such plans.

Mainly because the corn he grew in the greenhouse was already of good quality, with most kernels being full and well-shaped.

While many other merchants sold gem corn with pits and bumps and you could buy an ear for seven or eight yuan, it was quite cheap.

If Xu Yang sold his for too high a price he would be criticized, but selling too low would result in a loss.

It was definitely more appropriate for him to do the peeling.

The employees kept bringing corn to Xu Yang for appraisal.

But Xu Yang hadn’t made any discovery himself.

The ones he found were not good, not a single valuable one among them.

Although all the corn belonged to him, there was still a different feeling between peeling it himself and having the employees do it.

Xu Yang hoped to peel one himself.

After peeling another five ears of corn, they all turned out to have mixed, messy, and dark colors.

Xu Yang was almost ready to give up.

"My luck seems a bit off today!" he sighed internally.

He always felt he had a buff, perhaps due to the Treasure Compass, which was the "luck" buff.

Things generally went well for him.

He felt that whatever he did tended to go relatively smoothly.

But today, it was as if his buff wasn’t working.

He just couldn’t find any good gem corn.

At this moment, Xu Yang picked up another ear.

The shape of this corn was still very good.

Xu Yang cut off the base of the corn and peeled back the husk.

When he peeled back the last layer of corn husk, the next moment, a crystal-clear light pink color appeared in Xu Yang’s eyes.

"Holy smokes!"

"We’ve hit the jackpot!"

Xu Yang’s pupils slightly dilated, and his whole being was somewhat excited.

He completely peeled off the corn husk.

On closer inspection, this ear of corn was entirely a crystal-clear light pink, like a gemstone, radiating a dazzling light.

The most precious color: maiden pink!

Xu Yang looked in disbelief at the corn in his hand.

The three employees, noticing this moment, all stood up as well.

The viewers in the live room were even more stunned.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on this single ear of corn.

The truly supreme corn:

The entire maiden pink gem corn!