Chapter 74: Gossip-Loving Student Dafu
Bai Feng didn't pay any further attention to the matter with Excadrill. He returned to his daily routine of training Pokémon and cultivating fruit trees.
On this day, Bai Feng finally received the first batch of fruit trees he had acquired through trade at the Berry Exhibition Tournament. He couldn't wait to transport all the fruit trees to Fangcun Mountain, planning to plant this batch there.
This batch of fruit trees was sent by a friend who lived in the Orange Islands of the Kanto Region. The berries produced by the fruit trees from his area had one particularly prominent characteristic: they were refreshing. Taking a bite, the sweet and sour taste felt like a cool evening breeze blowing through you on a summer day.
Because of their unique flavor, even though the fruit trees' Energy Rating was only E, Bai Feng still reached a trading agreement with the other party.
However, after transporting the fruit trees to Fangcun Mountain, Bai Feng wasn't in a hurry to plant them.
The fruit trees he traded for were mainly intended for grafting. Counting the time, Ji En's fruit trees were also about to be shipped over, and Bai Feng planned to try grafting these two batches of trees together.
The berries produced by these two batches of fruit trees from different regions had vastly different flavors, almost like two extremes. Bai Feng was very excited to see what kind of new type of fruit tree would grow after grafting them together.
Of course, it wouldn't matter if it failed; it was all just experimentation. The probability of succeeding on the first try was too small.
As expected, the next day, the fruit trees shipped by Ji En also arrived.
Since both batches had arrived, Bai Feng naturally began preparing for the grafting process. That same day, he took Chikorita, Floette, and Flabébé to Fangcun Mountain.
Bai Feng used the same grafting method as with the previous batch of fruit trees, also dividing it into two batches.
After planting the grafted fruit trees, he began having Chikorita, Floette, and Flabébé take turns using Grassy Terrain on the fruit trees.
Floette and Flabébé originally didn't know the Grassy Terrain move, but they met the conditions to learn it. So, after learning that Chikorita knew this move, Bai Feng began using his Golden Finger to help Floette and Flabébé learn it.
After several days of effort, Floette and Flabébé finally managed to learn the move, albeit clumsily. While they weren't proficient yet, they would be fine with slow progress.
After the new fruit trees were planted, Bai Feng went to check on the previous batch of grafted fruit trees.
The ones that were supposed to die had already died. The remaining living ones had started growing large amounts of foliage and looked thriving. He believed it wouldn't be long before they bloomed and bore fruit, which Bai Feng greatly anticipated.
He had already conducted energy detection on over a dozen of the better-growing fruit trees and was pleasantly surprised to find that two or three of them were already exceptionally close to Grade A in Energy Level, practically just a step away.
Bai Feng felt that perhaps when they fully matured, their Energy Level was very likely to break through to Grade A.
If they truly succeeded, he would really be taking off!
He just didn't know what the flavor of the berries produced by this batch of grafted fruit trees would be like. If the flavor was too poor, their value would decrease to some extent.
Of course, once a berry's Energy Level reaches Grade A, flavor is no longer the main focus. The key lies in its growth-boosting effect on Pokémon.
Even if the flavor is a bit lacking, as long as it's a Grade A berry, there will still be no trouble selling it, as Grade A berries are rare. But if the taste is good, that would definitely be a huge bonus. After all, with delicious berries available, who would choose the unappetizing ones?
Delicious berries are naturally a bit more expensive than unappetizing ones.
Upon returning Home, Bai Feng saw hints of green appearing on the Dragon Eye Fruit Tree in the Backyard from afar.
Through his daily efforts during this period, the Dragon Eye Fruit Tree had completely survived the transplanting and had begun sprouting new buds. When the Dragon Eye Fruit Tree was first transplanted, all its foliage had been trimmed off, leaving it bare and very unsightly.
Looking at it now, the bald tree finally had hair again. It seemed poised to regain its former appearance of lush, umbrella-like growth. How far away could it be from producing Grade A fruit?
Bai Feng was very much looking forward to seeing what kind of fruit the Dragon Eye Fruit Tree would produce after his Golden Finger intervention.
Larvitar, passing by, saw Bai Feng standing there grinning foolishly and couldn't help but walk over and pat him.
"Yo?" What's wrong with you? Did you get your head caught in a door?
Bai Feng happily squatted down and stroked its little head, saying, "Naughty. I'm happy. Maybe it won't be long before your meals get an upgrade!"
Hearing this, Larvitar's eyes lit up. Although it was already eating its fill every day, it always felt like something was missing. It ate a lot and digested quickly. It wondered if upgrading its meals would give it a new experience. It loved the feeling of having a round belly after eating.
Thinking of this, Larvitar also couldn't help but grin foolishly.
Bai Ye, passing by and seeing one person and one Pokémon standing side by side with identical foolish grins on their faces, silently shook his head and walked away.
*They say foolishness is contagious. It's better if I don't get too close...* Bai Ye thought silently to himself.
Over the next period, the fruit trees Bai Feng traded for at the Berry Exhibition Tournament arrived one after another, and he also shipped the fruit trees he had cultivated to the other parties in batches.
So, Bai Feng spent almost all the remaining time of his summer vacation holed up on the mountain conducting grafted fruit tree experiments. He attempted to graft fruit trees from various regions together and specifically allocated a Plot of Land on Fangcun Mountain to plant these fruit trees.
With the help of Chikorita, Floette, and Flabébé, the survival rate of these fruit trees was very high. Except for a few that were unable to adapt to the climate, most had started growing new foliage.
During this time, Bai Feng barely left Fangxing Mountain and Fangcun Mountain, only occasionally having visitors from the Orphanage, or Classmate Shen Mu dropping by, or him going to visit Grandpa Fu himself.
Then there was communicating with Yingzhou and Julia via telephone.
These two sisters provided Bai Feng with a lot of help in the cultivation of this batch of grafted fruit trees. Not only did they introduce him to many points to note about fruit tree grafting, but they also helped Bai Feng match grafting plans based on the types of fruit trees he provided them.
In fact, the two sisters were also treating Bai Feng's Orchard as their own experimental field. They didn't have to do the work themselves and could share the results of the grafting experiments from Bai Feng, which was incredibly cost-effective.
However, Bai Feng didn't mind. Compared to that, the help the two sisters provided him was clearly much greater.
In addition, Bai Feng also contacted Professor Sycamore several times and sold him fruit a few times. For now, his relationship with the Professor was maintained very well.
Time flew by, and it was September. This period was when a large area of fruit in Bai Feng's Orchard matured. Pecha Berry, Oran Berry, Cheri Berry, Sitrus Berry, and Persim Berry all matured during this time.
Bai Feng's efforts to keep Floette and Flabébé by any means necessary were indeed correct. Their presence had a huge impact on plants blooming and bearing fruit.
Floette would take Flabébé for a walk around the Orchard every day. Their favorite place to go was where the fruit trees were blooming. The more times they visited, the more vibrant the flowers on the fruit trees became.
Although most of the flowers would eventually be pruned to ensure the quality of the fruit, the remaining flowers were also optimized by Floette and Flabébé, and the quality of the resulting fruit was significantly higher.
While Floette and Flabébé couldn't match Florges's influence on plants, their impact on fruit trees was subtle and gradual.
The longer they stayed with Bai Feng, the more prosperous Bai Feng's Orchard would become under this subtle influence.
The large-scale ripening of fruit allowed Bai Feng to make a significant amount of money recently. For this, he specifically placed a long-term order for Grassland Goat Milk from Uncle Luobu and Aunt Balice's Ranch for the Pokémon on the mountain and the children at the Orphanage.
Of course, that included himself too. It was said that a cup of Grassland Goat Milk every day could easily help you grow to one meter ninety.
Bai Feng didn't aim for one meter ninety, but he should at least reach one meter eighty-something, right?
As Bai Feng's fruit tree cultivation deepened and with the influence of Floette and Flabébé, the quality of this newly ripened batch of fruit in Bai Feng's Orchard saw another significant improvement.
Therefore, when trading with Wanhe Breeding House, Bai Feng appropriately raised the price. Because of this, Bai Feng earned significantly more money this time than in previous times.
Wanhe had no objection to Bai Feng's price increase. Setting prices based on berry quality was a very reasonable thing to do. It was also because they were very optimistic about the future development of Bai Feng's Orchard and looked forward to achieving deeper partnership with Bai Feng in the future, so they didn't care about this small change in price at all.
In addition to the deepening partnership with Wanhe Breeding House, Bai Feng's partnership with Changqing Tree Breeding House also officially began, and he sold them the first batch of berries not long ago.
Bai Feng fully entrusted the negotiations with Changqing Tree to Dongyu; he didn't appear himself, as he wasn't skilled in that area.
After long-term coordination with Wanhe Breeding House, Dongyu was now very familiar with handling such matters. At least judging from the feedback from Changqing Tree, they were quite satisfied with Dongyu's performance.
Of course, they were even more satisfied with the quality and flavor of the berries.
According to the feedback from there, the young Pokémon at Changqing Tree Breeding House, after eating the Pokémon Food made from Bai Feng's berries, had increased appetites and became stronger, growing exceptionally well.
Eating well is still very important for young Pokémon.
However, for now, Bai Feng's partnership with Changqing Tree had not reached the same depth as with Wanhe Breeding House. To further deepen the partnership, Bai Feng would probably need to expand the scale of his Orchard's planting.
After all, Changqing Tree Breeding House is a large enterprise, and the current partnership with Bai Feng is only with one branch store.
But this is not something that can be achieved overnight. Bai Feng still needs to carry out further capital accumulation. Without money, how can he expand the planting scale?
While Bai Feng's berries were selling well, the start of the School year also arrived. He had to temporarily put aside the cultivation of grafted fruit trees and report to School on time.
On the first day of School, Bai Feng walked into the Classroom with his school bag and heard his classmates discussing where they went during the summer vacation, what rare Pokémon they had caught, what achievements their Pokémon had made in battles, and other topics.
The most boastful one was Student Dafu. He stood on a desk, holding a cute Bounsweet in his hand, showing it off to everyone:
"See? See? Isn't my Bounsweet cute? It's the cutest in the world!"
The classmates scoffed at Student Dafu's excessive boasting, and not a single person paid him any attention.
However, Bounsweet was indeed cute. It also emitted a special fruity fragrance, making the air in the entire Classroom much fresher.
Bai Feng walked around Student Dafu and went to Walen's side, asking in a low voice, "Didn't he have a soft spot for his Furfrou and was completely devoted to it? Why does he like Bounsweet now?"
Walen rolled her eyes and said, "Who knows what kind of crazy idea he has."
Bai Feng asked again, "Where did he get this Bounsweet?"
"He went on a travel to the Alola Region during the summer vacation and caught it there," Walen explained.
Bounsweet is not easy to find in the Kalos Region, but it's not considered rare in the Alola Region. They can be found active in general Forests.
Actually, Walen also went to Alola. Her family and Dafu's family were old acquaintances. Taking advantage of the summer vacation, the parents of both families agreed to go on a vacation to the Alola Region together, and Walen and Student Dafu naturally had to go along.
It's just that Walen didn't want anyone to associate her with that idiot Dafu, so she didn't mention at all that she also went to the Alola Region.
But even if Walen didn't mention it, her Pichu would talk. As soon as Bai Feng asked Walen what she did during the summer vacation, Walen stammered without answering, and Pichu proactively sold out its Pokémon Trainer.
"So you went to Alola too..."
Before Bai Feng could finish speaking, Walen quickly covered his mouth.
"Shh, don't say it out loud! What if others find out I traveled with that idiot?" Walen said, looking around nervously, afraid that Bai Feng's words would be heard by other classmates.
Bai Feng knew that Walen and Dafu didn't get along, so he wisely shut his mouth.
After Student Dafu finished showing off to everyone and saw that no one was paying attention to him, he finally noticed Bai Feng talking to Walen.
He jumped down from the desk, plopped down next to Bai Feng, put his arm around his shoulder, and asked, "Hey, Bai Feng, you're here! How was your trip to Lumiose City with Teacher Omura during the summer vacation?"
Bai Feng said irritably, "I wasn't there to play, but it was pretty good."
Student Dafu didn't dwell on that question. After showing off his Bounsweet to Bai Feng for a while, he suddenly said to him:
"Bai Feng, do you remember when Miss Baxi came to our School before the school year ended last semester?"
"I remember," Bai Feng nodded. "Didn't they say she was here to recruit students? Who did she end up taking?"
"Sigh..." Student Dafu sighed and said, "Miss Baxi didn't take any students from our School."
Bai Feng wasn't surprised. He nodded and said, "Right, our School doesn't seem to have produced any amazing students. So... Miss Baxi didn't recruit any students in the end?"
"It's said that besides our School, Miss Baxi also visited many other Schools," Dafu said gossiping. "But she didn't take any students from other Schools either."
Walen, who was usually at odds with Dafu, couldn't help but prick up her ears at this point, as she was also a fan of Miss Baxi.
Before Bai Feng and Walen could ask further, Dafu began rambling about the gossip he knew. He quietly pulled out a photo from his pocket and placed it in front of Bai Feng and Walen.
"Look, this is the student Miss Baxi just recruited."
"So young?" Walen couldn't help but say.
The photo showed a little girl with pink hair. She had a round face and big eyes, looking very delicate and cute. She was holding a playful Fennekin in her arms, but she looked only seven or eight years old.
Dafu looked at Walen disapprovingly and said, "What does being young matter? To be favored by Miss Baxi, this little sister must have extraordinary qualities. Maybe in the future, she can also become a queen like Miss Baxi, popular throughout the Kalos Region."
Walen shook her head and said, "I doubt it."
Hearing this, Dafu gave Walen a look that said, "I'm too lazy to argue with you."
Bai Feng asked curiously, "What's this little girl's name?"
Dafu spread his hands and said, "How would I know that?"
Walen immediately said irritably, "You don't know her name, so where did you get the photo, and how do you know she was taken as a student by Miss Baxi?"
Dafu glanced at Walen and said, "That's none of your business. I have my own clever methods."
Walen was immediately infuriated, almost unable to resist smashing the stool under her butt onto Dafu's head.
(End of this chapter)