Chapter 84

Chapter 85: Be the most shameless person, earn the most money!

After leaving the Commander Department, Qian Qi stayed quiet the whole way.

The System Panel drifted behind her, peeking at her face as it asked: “Are you angry?”

Qian Qi kept a blank face and walked toward the campus store as she said: “No.”

The System couldn’t hold back its curiosity as it asked: “What are you going to buy?”

Qian Qi glanced at it and said calmly: “I want to give you a surprise present. Please disappear for a bit. Come out when I call you.”

The System Panel paused. It tried to calculate, but no matter how long it ran the numbers, it couldn’t figure out what gift she’d give it.

It flashed once and said: “Alright.”

In a blink, it vanished into the air.

Qian Qi carefully swept her hands through the empty space. After making sure the System was truly gone, her lips lifted into a wicked, crooked smile.

She muttered under her breath: “You little punk, daring to spoil me? Watch how I deal with you.”

Marching into the campus store with swagger, she bought something under the clerk’s very odd look. Then she walked, still chuckling coldly, into a deserted grove by a green, abandoned river. She leaned over the water, checking the surface until she could see her face reflected clearly. She pinched her cheeks and put on a devoted, worshipful expression.

She threw her arms wide and called out: “My great Lord System, come out. I prepared the rarest, most one of a kind surprise for you. Only I would do this for you.”

The air shimmered twice and the System Panel floated in front of her as it asked curiously: “What surprise?”

Qian Qi smiled, and in the next second, the hands she’d hidden behind her back shot up and jammed something over the System Panel.

Then she turned and ran. As she sprinted, she raised a middle finger and laughed wildly as she shouted: “Hahaha! Mutt of a System, that’s for spoiling me. That’s for calling me a weak noob. Go wear the pink big underpants I bought you and eat crap!”

The System froze: “???”

Stiffly, it turned toward the green water. In the rippling mirror, it saw the pink big underpants perched on its head and jolted like it was struck by lightning: “!!!”

It blazed with fury: “What is this? How dare you put that on one as great as me! Qian Qi, you mangy brat! Come here and die!”

The next day, Qian Qi gathered the entire Magiplant 101 class.

Zhang Feng stood at the front, staring at the purple bumps on her forehead as he asked: “Qian Qi, what happened to your head?”

Qian Qi waved it off with cool dignity as she said: “Don’t ask. It’s the mark of a hero.”

The System snorted: “Ha.”

Qian Qi stood on the hilltop with both hands resting on her hoe, her face serious, as she said: “I called you here about the wager.”

She swept her eyes over all thirty seven classmates and asked in a solemn voice: “Do you know why students from other majors look down on us?”

A boy raised his hand and answered: “Because we’re ordinary people, no Awakener skills, and we haven’t contributed anything?”

Qian Qi nodded and called out: “Right. But there’s one more point you’re missing.”

She lifted her voice and asked: “Take our sophomore senior Li Shu Yun. She’s also an ordinary person and hasn’t contributed anything yet. Is anyone looking down on her?”

She answered herself in a ringing voice: “No. Why?”

She stabbed her finger toward the institute as she said: “Because her grandpa is Dean Li of the Magiplant Research Institute. No matter how much people complain about Magiplant, it has endless research value for Contract Beasts. She also comes from the well known Li clan. Her parents are both Awakeners, and Dean Li’s friends are all people with money and power.”

She spread her hands as she concluded: “So Li Shu Yun counts as rich and well connected.”

She looked back at her class and asked: “So what are we missing?”

She slammed the answer down: “Money. And power.”

Heads began to nod. If they had money and power, people wouldn’t despise them. Even Awakeners sometimes worked for others and had to bow to those with wealth and status.

Qian Qi raised her chin and declared: “If we want to rise above others, we have to become people with money and power.”

She spoke louder and clearer as she said: “Power, we can’t get right now. But money, we can.”

Her words cracked like thunder and hit the hearts of the 101 class. She swept them with her gaze and shouted: “Do you want to stand tall? Do you want to stop being bullied and looked down on? Do you want to eat without giving up your favorite braised pork because you’re short a few coins? Do you want to talk to people with confidence and become someone others admire?”

She lifted her hoe high and cried out: “Then farm. To get rich, you have to plant.”

With her small face both strict and fired up, she called to them at the top of her lungs: “If you want to get rich with me, raise your hoes. Shout with me now:”

She bellowed the slogan: “Let’s grow the wildest Magiplants, brew the fiercest potions, be the most shameless people, and earn the darkest, biggest money!”

The Magiplant 101 class couldn’t help it. Their blood heated, and they roared along: “Yes! Let’s grow the wildest Magiplants, brew the fiercest potions, be the most shameless people, and earn the darkest, biggest money!”

They raised their hoes again and again, shouting the slogan until their throats went rough, eyes burning with expectation as they looked to Qian Qi. They didn’t know exactly what they were going to do or whether it would work, but they did know one thing: following Qian Qi would never leave them at a loss. There was no one more shameless and better at making money than her.

Qian Qi cut the noise with a sweep of her hand as she said: “Good.” She set the hoe down with a heavy thud and gave the first order as she said: “Next, I’ll teach you how to plant Fire Qilin Lotus.”

She laid out the plan as she said: “I’ll cover the cost of seeds and the related fertilizer. Your job is to learn to grow Fire Qilin Lotus until it produces Fire Qilin Fruit. Then you’ll extract the seeds and keep planting until each of you holds at least one hundred seeds.”

She drew a wider circle with her arm as she said: “After that, you become the new teachers. Sign confidentiality contracts with students from other Magiplant classes as the first suppliers. Teach them to plant Fire Qilin Lotus and produce Fire Qilin Fruit, until the whole Magiplant Department knows how to grow it. Cover the entire mountain with Fire Qilin Lotus.”

Her voice rose to a shout as she asked: “Can you do it?”

An excited chorus answered her: “We can.” Just thinking of Fire Qilin Fruit made their hearts race. Even a single fruit could sell for twenty thousand.

Liang Yu Ting spoke up with worry as she asked: “But won’t you lose money, Qian Qi? Fire Qilin Lotus seeds are expensive.”

The others nodded.

Qian Qi smiled and set the terms as she said: “I’m not giving you the seeds for free. After you sell your Fire Qilin Fruit, you’ll pay me back the cost of seeds and fertilizer. The rest is yours to spend however you want.”

Zhang Feng frowned and asked the question everyone was thinking: “What about your time cost? We’re poor, but we can’t freeload. Seeds and fertilizer are one thing, but your time is the really valuable part.”

Qian Qi’s expression stayed flat as she said: “The Magiplant Research Institute already paid me for my time.”

She turned and faced the fields as she added softly: “All you need to do is make the blood red Fire Qilin Lotus bloom over this whole mountain. Lift your chins and tell the world…”

She paused, then said, slow and clear: “Our counterattack has begun.”

She drew a line in the air with her hoe as she said: “The three month wager starts here, with Fire Qilin Lotus. Whether we win depends on the fruit you grow.”

She pivoted, the hoe slicing the air with a sharp hiss, and pointed toward the countless test plots scattered through the hills as she said in a calm, cool voice: “Let’s begin.”