Chapter 80: Struck it Rich, Assets Soar
Bai Feng threw away the Berry that had made his teeth ache. He picked another Berry from the same tree that looked ripe, wiped it, and took a bite.
*Blech~*
﹌(Д)﹋ It was still that sour. Bai Feng shivered all over from the sourness.
It seemed the problem wasn't with just one Berry, but with all the Berries produced by this entire fruit tree.
This fruit tree was essentially useless. With this level of sourness, even Pokémon who liked sour flavors probably couldn't stand it!
Shaking his head, Bai Feng walked to the next tree and picked another Berry to taste.
Hmm... the fruit pulp was watery and mushy, the sweetness wasn't obvious, nor was the sourness, and it even had a slightly astringent taste.
Useless...
Bai Feng then tried tree after tree, truly tasting all sorts of weird and wonderful Berry flavors. Even though he only took one bite from each Berry, his stomach was already bulging.
These Berries with peculiar flavors could only be considered varieties that failed in cultivation. However, Bai Feng wasn't too disappointed; he had already prepared himself mentally.
A considerable number of these grafted fruit trees survived, totaling over a hundred. After all, the vast majority of them didn't suffer from being unable to adapt to the environment like the mutated fruit trees.
However, one point was that they hadn't been cultivated by Bai Feng for long enough before being stimulated to grow by Enamorus. Their Energy Levels generally hadn't even reached Grade B.
For those varieties with low Energy Levels and overly peculiar flavors, Bai Feng could only decide to cut them all down. Keeping them just took up space and was unnecessary.
Instead of spending time cultivating them, Bai Feng might as well cultivate Berries that were more popular in the market.
As for the varieties that didn't bear fruit, being cut down was still their ultimate fate.
Among these hundred-plus fruit trees, there was finally one variety that was successfully cultivated. Although their Energy Level was very low, their deliciousness surpassed the Berries on Fangxing Mountain.
This variety was grafted from two types of West Pear Fruit from different regions. One came from Ji En's home region, and the other was from the tropical rainforest area of the Alola Region.
The West Pear Fruit from Ji En's home region was particularly sour, the kind that made your teeth ache, and its taste was very dry. Taking a bite yielded almost no moisture, like eating plastic foam.
The West Pear Fruit from the Alola tropical rainforest area had a characteristic: it was very juicy. Taking a bite, the juice would gush out of your mouth like a fountain.
However, one thing was that while you could use it to quench your thirst, you'd likely be disappointed if you wanted to savor it as delicious food; it had almost no flavor.
This fruit didn't appear at the Berry Exhibition Tournament at the time. Bai Feng only heard about this Berry unintentionally while chatting with a friend who lived in the Alola tropical rainforest area.
Intrigued by this Berry, Bai Feng made an agreement with that friend to have the fruit tree mailed over after he returned home.
The West Pear Fruit from Ji En's home region and the West Pear Fruit from the Alola tropical rainforest area were arguably two extremes in terms of flavor. At the time, Bai Feng thought it would be great if these two Berries could neutralize each other, so he grafted them together.
Unexpectedly, the Berry cultivated now tasted much better than he had anticipated; it was truly a pleasant surprise.
The new variety of West Pear Fruit had a slightly sour overall flavor with moderate sweetness. More importantly, its fruit pulp was delicate and refreshing, and it was incredibly juicy. Taking a bite, you could feel a rich pear aroma filling your mouth, and the fragrance lingered for a long time, not easily dissipating.
It was truly delicious.
Of course, this new variety also differed in appearance from ordinary West Pear Fruit.
Ordinary West Pear Fruit was somewhat gourd-shaped, but without the obvious segmentation of a gourd, and its skin was bright green when ripe.
The new variety of West Pear Fruit was oval, though somewhat irregular, generally narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. Its skin was white-green when ripe, and the skin was even slightly transparent. Its appearance was quite appealing.
This truly had a promising future.
Although the Energy Level of this new variety of West Pear Fruit was a bit low, Bai Feng believed that the Energy Level would quickly improve with a period of cultivation.
At that time, wouldn't this West Pear Fruit have the potential to become a flagship product of Bai Feng's orchard?
It was just that there were only about ten fruit trees of this new variety. It wasn't that the survival rate was low; its survival rate was quite high, with most of them surviving.
It was just that Bai Feng hadn't expected such good results when grafting, so he didn't cultivate a large quantity.
He should ask Ji En and his Alola friend to send some more fruit trees back later and graft another batch.
Apart from these two batches of grafted fruit trees on Fangcun Mountain, a large number of ordinary fruit trees were also planted. These fruit trees also grew and bore fruit under Enamorus's stimulation, and now they were all laden with fruit.
Some of these ordinary fruit trees hadn't been cultivated by Bai Feng for long, and even after being stimulated, they could only produce Grade C Berries. Some had been cultivated for a longer time and barely produced Grade B Berries.
Bai Feng was equally happy. Grade C Berries could also be sold for money! Although the price was much lower than Grade B Berries, their quantity was significant. As a poor guy, he had no right to look down on Grade C Berries.
Now that most orchards in Biyi City were in a period of reduced production, Bai Feng wasn't worried about these Berries not selling.
After returning from Fangxing Mountain, Bai Feng hummed a little tune happily, his mood exceptionally cheerful.
After returning home, he first went to see Landorus and Enamorus. Then he remembered that he had been busy since early morning and hadn't eaten breakfast, so he decided to eat breakfast first before going to see Zapdos.
Bai Feng originally planned to make breakfast himself, but when he entered the kitchen, he saw that Bai Ye and Buneary had already teamed up and were almost finished making breakfast.
Bai Feng knew his Mother's cooking skills; they weren't as good as his own. It was edible, but don't expect it to taste good.
After forcing himself to finish breakfast, Bai Feng went to the Staff Dormitory to visit Zapdos. But when he reached the door of Zapdos's Room, he saw that it was empty.
Where was Zapdos?
Seeing a Fletchling passing by, Bai Feng asked it where Zapdos had gone. The Fletchling said that Helioptile had been there not long ago, and then Zapdos had flown out carrying Helioptile.
As for what they went to do, the Fletchling didn't know.
Helioptile came looking for Zapdos? Bai Feng was surprised. What did it want with Zapdos? Could it be... At this moment, Bai Feng suddenly thought of something.
Thinking this, Bai Feng left the Staff Dormitory. After asking several Pokémon, he finally found Zapdos and Helioptile at the Lightning Rod Location.
He saw Zapdos strike the lightning rod with a golden bolt of lightning. Under the effect of the lightning rod, the golden lightning was broken down into tiny strands of electric current flowing towards the ground.
Helioptile was lying below the lightning rod. Every time the electric current flowed towards the ground, it would intercept a strand and absorb it into its body, looking completely intoxicated afterward.
As expected...
Seeing this scene, Bai Feng realized that his guess was correct. After enjoying Thundurus's lightning, Helioptile had set its sights on Zapdos and even boldly went to find it.
The most crucial thing was that Zapdos actually agreed.
*You little guy really have guts.*
Helioptile was so engrossed in absorbing that it didn't notice Bai Feng's arrival. Zapdos, however, did notice, but it merely nodded slightly at Bai Feng and then continued to "feed" Helioptile its fix.
Because Zapdos's lightning was too strong, Helioptile couldn't absorb it directly, which was why it used the lightning rod to weaken the lightning's power.
It must be said, Helioptile, you really know how to apply what you've learned.
Bai Feng quietly left again. Since Zapdos had no objection to something that was beneficial to Helioptile, Bai Feng naturally had even less objection.
When Bai Feng returned home, he saw the Diggersby carrying basket after basket of Berries into the house.
These Berries were the ones that had been knocked down during the previous storm. The good parts had already been sold by Bai Feng to Wanhe Breeding House that morning.
But there were still a large number of Berries that were damaged from falling, their appearance poor. Some were missing a small piece, some had broken skin... In short, they couldn't be sold.
Bai Feng thought for a moment and finally decided to give these Berries to his relatives and friends.
He went back into the house, took out paper and pen, wrote down the reason for giving the Berries, and then called all the Talonflame over.
"I have a task for you..."
Bai Feng sorted through the baskets, selecting the parts with better appearance and repackaging them into other baskets. Finally, he instructed the Talonflame to deliver these Berries to the homes of his relatives and friends.
Blue Bird Orphanage, Grandpa Fu, Uncle Luobu and Aunt Balice, Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy, Captain Sanders... they all received Bai Feng's gift.
Although the Berries weren't in the best condition, the price of Berries in Biyi City had risen, and the Berries Bai Feng sent were exactly what everyone needed.
The Pokémon World has a considerable demand for Berries because they not only serve as ordinary fruit but also as basic daily food for Pokémon. People eat them, and Pokémon eat them even more, so a large quantity of Berries is consumed every day.
In the Pokémon World today, even if someone isn't a professional Pokémon Trainer, who doesn't have a few Pokémon at home!
Bai Feng sent a considerable quantity of Berries to each relative and friend this time, but even so, there was still a large amount of Berries left over. These Berries with even worse appearance were ones Bai Feng felt too embarrassed to give away.
At this moment, he suddenly thought of Senior Zhenli.
Why not ask Senior Zhenli to make them into Pokéblocks, which are easier to preserve?
Deciding to act immediately, Bai Feng called Senior Zhenli right away.
"Hello~"
Senior Zhenli's voice quickly came from the other end of the telephone. Seeing that it was Bai Feng calling, she was very surprised.
"Bai Feng, how is your orchard? I heard that because of this storm, the orchards in Biyi City suffered heavy losses. Are you okay?"
Bai Feng replied half-truthfully, "The losses are within an acceptable range. I'm looking for you today because of this.
I have a batch of Berries here that are quite numerous. Because their appearance isn't very good, they can't be sold, but they are perfectly fine for making Pokéblocks. So, I want to ask you to help me make them into Pokéblocks."
"I can do that, but... I won't help for free, you know."
Although their bond was good, in business, Senior Zhenli never went easy on charging for helping Bai Feng make Pokéblocks.
"Of course," Bai Feng said. "This batch of fruit is quite large, so the amount of Pokéblocks that can be made will definitely be considerable. Therefore, I want to ask you to help me sell them. We'll split the earnings fifty-fifty."
Bai Feng himself didn't plan to use the Pokéblocks made from these Grade B Berries anymore. Now that he had more advanced Grade A Berries, his Pokémon should naturally eat Pokéblocks made from Grade A Berries!
Bai Feng didn't have many Grade A Berries currently, and he didn't plan to sell them. Just maintaining his Pokémon's daily consumption should be fine.
"Really? Then it's settled!" Senior Zhenli was delighted to hear this. "Should I come to your place, or should you send the Berries to me?"
"I'll send the Berries to your place," Bai Feng replied. Fangxing Mountain was not suitable for outsiders to visit right now.
"Okay, then I'll be waiting for you!"
Senior Zhenli was currently free at home, so she was waiting for Bai Feng to send the Berries over to pass the time. It could both hone her skill in making Pokéblocks and earn money. It was truly killing two birds with one stone.
After hanging up Senior Zhenli's telephone, Bai Feng contacted a truck and sent basket after basket of Berries to Senior Zhenli's home.
Three days passed in a flash.
During these three days, Biyi City's television station reported daily on the impact of the peculiar storm on Biyi City. It wasn't just the Berry industry that suffered losses; various industries in Biyi City were greatly affected.
No one could figure out how this storm came or how it suddenly disappeared. Experts discussed it over and over in television interviews, but most of it was nonsense. Bai Feng just watched it for entertainment.
However, the losses in the Berry industry were more severe than Bai Feng had imagined. Some Small Orchards even went bankrupt and closed down directly because of this storm. Their fruit trees were completely destroyed by the storm; what was there left to operate?
Therefore, the market's demand for Berries grew day by day, and the prices of Berries of all Energy Levels continued to climb. Bai Feng had large quantities of Berries shipped out every day.
In just these three short days, Bai Feng had already sold over 30,000 catties of Berries, earning a total of over 20 million. It was simply incredible.
Of course, Bai Feng didn't just sell to Wanhe Breeding House.
Because of this disaster, many Berry merchants in Biyi City faced the predicament of having no Berries to sell. So, Dongyu seized the opportunity and contacted several Berry merchants, reaching partnerships with them.
One large Berry store even signed a long-term contract directly with Bai Feng. They were very satisfied with the Berries Bai Feng cultivated and were optimistic about the future of Fangxing Mountain Orchard. They believed that since Fangxing Mountain Orchard could seize this opportunity, its rise would only be a matter of time.
They truly had better foresight!
Brother Dong Yu was indeed very capable when it came to dealing with clients. Without him, Bai Feng might have faced a situation where he couldn't manage alone.
Bai Feng gave him a large prize money for this. Now, Brother Dong Yu could also be considered a wealthy person with some savings.
Also, the Pokéblocks made by Senior Zhenli had started selling.
Senior Zhenli was currently just a student, so her target for promoting Pokéblocks was mainly her classmates and friends.
Fortunately, Senior Zhenli had some reputation among her classmates, and many people were willing to buy the Pokéblocks she made. So, a considerable number of Pokéblocks were sold one after another, and Bai Feng also made a small profit from this.
However, this money couldn't compare to what he earned from selling Berries.
Moreover, the Pokéblocks hadn't been completely sold out. According to Senior Zhenli's plan, the rest would probably take some time to sell. Fortunately, Pokéblocks can be preserved for a long time, unlike fresh Berries which spoil easily, so there was no need to worry.
The price of Berries in Biyi City hadn't risen excessively. Currently, the Pokémon League had started regulating the market and even transferred a large quantity of Berries from other places into the Biyi City market.
However, this didn't affect Bai Feng. How many Berries did he have? Putting them into the Biyi City Berry market wouldn't even make a ripple.
Besides, his Berries had their own advantages that other people's Berries couldn't match.
Also, starting from yesterday, Bai Feng had already returned to school. After a few days of suspended classes, the school finally sent out a notice for students to return to class on time.
(End of Chapter)