OFR – Chapter 23 Childhood Memories That Were Almost Forgotten

“Hm? A message from Mu Bai.”

Han Mengyun opened WeChat and saw it was indeed from him. She had always been a little interested in this young man.

On one hand, she wanted to connect with the mysterious person behind him who could cultivate top-grade plants. On the other, she found Mu Bai himself principled and trustworthy.

Give him an extra thousand, and he would return it without hesitation. Transfer him fifty thousand yuan on WeChat, and within an hour, he would faithfully mail over two rare plants.

Nowadays, very few young people could hold on to such integrity and self-control.

“This must be about the two orchids he mentioned two days ago.”

Han Mengyun knew Mu Bai never contacted her for no reason. If he did, it meant he had something new—and that likely meant more top-grade plants. The thought made her quite happy.

She opened their chat and saw, sure enough, photos of two orchids—each with seventeen blossoms, classified as super top-grade.

In fact, between the categories of “top-grade” and “rare treasure,” there were two transitional tiers: super top-grade and quasi-rare.

Super top-grade plants usually sold for more than double the price of their top-grade counterparts.

Han Mengyun had been expecting two top-grade orchids, but instead, Mu Bai had given her a pleasant surprise.

They were both super top-grade.

“Seventy thousand for the pair, how about it? And don’t call me President Han anymore—I told you that last time.”

She sent him a fair offer. At an auction, they might fetch a little higher, but at most only by tens of thousands more.

By 9 p.m., Nanjing’s early winter darkness was complete. Street lamps glowed along the bustling avenues, their yellowish light guiding the few pedestrians.

Mu Bai accepted her price—it was fair, even generous.

Seventy thousand for two super top-grade orchids was already near the ceiling price.

He carefully packaged the orchids and arranged for express delivery to Han Mengyun.

The courier had technically finished work for the day, but Mu Bai’s fivefold express fee plus a 500-yuan insurance convinced him to take the job.

After all, a trip under an hour for nearly two hundred yuan profit was well worth it.

“No problem, I’ll get it there within an hour.”

The courier handed over the receipt before driving off in his electric tricycle.

Mu Bai pocketed the receipt and headed back to his basement. On the way, his phone buzzed with a bank message:

“Dear customer, on November 28th at 21:02, your account ending in 2868 received a deposit of 700,000. Current balance: 708,658.18 yuan.”

Mu Bai saw that Han Mengyun’s transfer had cleared.

He replied with a quick “Received” on WeChat, then turned his thoughts to the next step—cultivating the arowanas.

The arowana was without doubt his most profitable project.

A single fully grown fish could sell for hundreds of thousands. Five of them would be worth at least four million.

“Four million in profit… but who should I sell them to?”

The number left him tongue-tied. But the problem of buyers remained. Han Mengyun only dealt in plants, not fish—so she wasn’t an option.

As for other wealthy collectors, he didn’t have connections yet. He could try selling on the arowana forums, but given the multi-million value, he wasn’t confident about the safety.

After much consideration, he decided to open a Taobao store.

That way, not only would he have a proper sales channel for the arowanas, but also for any other plants or animals he cultivated in the future.

And most importantly, Taobao was China’s biggest e-commerce platform, even a global one. Millions of sellers operated there, some dealing in private jets, yachts, and prime real estate worth tens of millions.

So what were arowanas worth a few million compared to that? Even platinum arowanas worth tens of millions would have no issue there.

Thinking along these lines, he returned to his basement.

He flicked on his desk lamp, dim light filling the cramped space.

Lifting the jade pendant from his chest, he entered the mysterious space with a thought.

As always, it was quiet and dim, with two glowing cultivation slots radiating their soft light.

He went to the magical storage and took out two arowana fry.

Frozen in stillness inside the storage, they resumed movement as soon as they emerged.

These fry were showing signs of dying. He quickly placed them into the two cultivation slots, where the gentle light held them like water, gradually restoring vitality.

“Ding! Congratulations, Host. Two arowana fry successfully placed. Cost: 100 network copper coins.”

The more valuable the lifeform, the greater the currency cost. Mu Bai already knew this, so he didn’t feel distressed—after all, the profit from grown arowanas would far outweigh a few hundred coins.

Checking the timer, he saw the nutrition cycle would last 2 months and 28 days, requiring three beginner growth cards.

“Three? Looks like I underestimated their growth cycle.”

He had thought two would be enough, but clearly online knowledge wasn’t always accurate.

If one fish required three cards, then five would take fifteen. His current currency wasn’t nearly enough.

So Mu Bai decided to go online and earn more copper coins.

With a thought, he exited the space.

Just as he was considering what to buy online, a QQ notification popped up.

“Huh? Who’s messaging me?”

He frowned and opened it. A private message from a contact named Tiantian appeared.

Tiantian: “Are you there, Mu Bai?”

“Tiantian?” Mu Bai furrowed his brow. He couldn’t quite recall who that was, or when he had added them.

But since they knew his name, they must know him in real life.

He checked the group they were listed under—Elementary School Classmates.

Looking into her profile, he saw mostly posts about poor mountain children and elderly in need of charity, along with some of her own photos at different ages.

Then he saw an old childhood photo, and memory stirred.

There had been a girl in primary school named Zhang Tiantian. In fifth grade, she had transferred schools after her parents divorced, moving to Nanjing with her mother.

That explained why his impression of her was so faint. Almost ten years had passed since then, and childhood memories had blurred.

After nearly a decade without contact, he had all but forgotten about this classmate.

“But… what does she want with me now?”

Back then, their relationship had only been ordinary classmates. If it weren’t, they wouldn’t have gone ten years without speaking.

So Mu Bai had no idea why Zhang Tiantian was suddenly reaching out.