Mushrooms.
That single word stayed in Lin Feng's mind all night.
He knew they were profitable. Specialty mushrooms like shiitake, enoki, and oyster fetched good prices, especially with restaurants that marketed themselves as "farm-to-table." And most importantly, mushrooms required little space and could grow in shaded areas—perfect for corners of the inner realm he hadn't yet used.
The next morning, Lin Feng rode his tricycle truck into town and stopped at the agricultural extension center. It was a small, aging building that offered guidance to rural farmers. He browsed their pamphlets and found one titled: "Beginner's Guide to Edible Fungi Cultivation."
He didn't speak to the staff. He didn't want attention.
Instead, he bought a few starter spore packets from an online supplier under a different name and had them shipped to a convenience store nearby for pickup.
Three days later, he held in his hands packets of shiitake, oyster, and straw mushroom spores.
That night, he disappeared into the inner realm again.
---
In the cool, shaded slope behind the pond, Lin Feng began laying down cut bamboo logs and moist sawdust mixed with the mushroom spores. He fashioned a basic structure from sticks and palm leaves to retain moisture and shade the area further. Then, he carefully buried some spores in rotting tree trunks he'd hauled in from the forested section of the realm.
After five inner days, he saw the first signs—tiny pinheads pushing through the bark.
By inner day fifteen, the mushrooms were large, full, and fragrant.
He picked some, sliced them, and pan-fried them over a simple stone stove he'd built outside the shed.
The taste?
Earthy. Rich. Unmistakably fresh.
Lin Feng knew these would sell well.
---
Back in the real world, he packaged a small batch in biodegradable boxes and dropped them off at Liu Ying's café along with her usual vegetables.
She wasn't at the counter, but her assistant looked at the mushrooms with interest.
"Are these fresh?"
"Picked this morning," Lin Feng replied.
The assistant sniffed one, then nodded with surprise. "These might work great with our soba dishes."
An hour later, he got a message from Liu Ying.
[Excellent mushrooms. How much can you supply weekly?]
Lin Feng paused. He didn't want to overpromise.
[Two kilos, max, for now. Still testing yield.]
[Fair enough. Add them to the regular order. I'll bump the payment by 100.]
Simple words. But they brought a smile to his face.
It was his first price increase.
---
That week, Lin Feng ran his deliveries with practiced ease. Early harvest in the realm, pack and weigh everything before dawn, drive out quietly before the town was fully awake, and be back before lunch to help his mother with housework.
In the afternoon, he would return to the inner realm to manage livestock and improve infrastructure. He had now added a proper waterwheel on the stream and was experimenting with simple irrigation canals leading into all four sectors.
He wasn't just farming anymore.
He was building an ecosystem.
---
One night, while stretching in the courtyard, Lin Feng overheard his parents talking through the open kitchen window.
His mother whispered, "Do you think he's in trouble? He keeps going out, comes back with mud on his clothes, but he never says much. Doesn't seem like he's doing construction work, though."
His father sighed. "He's grown. As long as he's not borrowing money or making enemies, let him figure things out."
Lin Feng smiled faintly. They didn't understand yet. But one day they would.
---
The next morning, something happened that threw a wrench in his routine.
When he returned to town after making his usual delivery, he found two men arguing outside the local supply store. One of them was Liu Shun, a vegetable vendor Lin Feng had seen often at the market.
"Someone's been undercutting all of us!" Liu Shun shouted. "My regulars say they're buying 'organic' now. Who the hell is selling without a license? Hiding their farm like it's some secret lab!"
The other man, clearly fed up, waved him off. "That's competition, not cheating. People want fresh. Your stuff's not even clean."
"I spray less than anyone else!"
Lin Feng quietly walked past them. He didn't say a word, but inside, he knew this was coming.
He was drawing attention.
He hadn't registered a company, hadn't declared sales to the market authorities, and had no certification for 'organic.' If anyone dug too deep, there would be problems.
That night, he made a decision.
---
He pulled out the dusty laptop he'd used in college and began researching.
He found that in China, farmers were allowed to sell personal agricultural produce without registration, as long as it wasn't on a large scale or involving dangerous items. However, if he kept growing, he'd need to formalize it soon.
But not under his real name.
He didn't want people tracing things back to Lin Feng from Qingyuan Town.
So, he opened a new WeChat account and created a front identity: Lin Chen Agricultural Cooperative. He even spent 800 yuan getting a basic logo and online name card from a freelancer. Nothing fancy, just enough to look "legit."
He also visited the village committee quietly the next day, speaking to Uncle Ma—the old clerk known for gossip.
"I've got a friend looking to rent farmland under an alias," Lin Feng said over tea. "He's from the city. Doesn't want people to know he's investing in the countryside. Think that's possible?"
Uncle Ma squinted. "Possible, sure. But why the mystery?"
"Just doesn't want people to inflate prices or cause trouble."
The old man grinned. "Sounds like he's got money."
Lin Feng smiled politely. "He's careful."
After some nudging and a 500-yuan gift in the form of "tea money," Uncle Ma agreed to introduce Lin Feng to an old farmer willing to lease out a two-acre plot at the far edge of town, away from the main road.
"Just don't mess around. No building villas or digging wells without permission."
"Of course."
They signed a five-year lease under the name Lin Chen Cooperative. No one connected it to Lin Feng.
---
That night, Lin Feng walked the plot under the starlight. It was overgrown, dry, and full of weeds.
But it was his first step into the real world.
A place outside the inner realm that he could control.
He wouldn't farm here directly—at least not yet. But he could use it as a public "face" of his operations. When people asked where his vegetables came from, he'd point here. Eventually, he'd grow a few token crops to back up the story.
It was a decoy. But also a seed.
---
Back inside the space, Lin Feng began preparing for the next stage: greenhouse construction.
With time on his side, he cut wood, designed simple frames, and practiced assembling a medium-sized greenhouse. It was basic—wooden supports, thick plastic sheets (transferred from the real world), and hand-dug drainage channels.
After four weeks in the realm (less than a day outside), the greenhouse stood solid and efficient. It held in warmth and moisture, ideal for lettuce, spinach, and even herbs like coriander.
This was a game changer.
He could now grow sensitive crops year-round without worrying about weather.
He planted basil, mint, and lemongrass in sections. High-value items. Hard to find fresh in town.
---
The next week, when he brought Liu Ying her usual order, she greeted him with a curious look.
"You know," she said, "a supplier from the wholesale market came to me yesterday. Offered cheaper rates, said they'd match whatever I was paying you."
Lin Feng tilted his head. "And?"
"I told him no. My chef says your stuff keeps longer and tastes better. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it."
He nodded. "Thank you. I'll keep the quality consistent."
She smiled. "Also, a customer asked if they can buy direct. You open to private orders?"
Lin Feng thought for a second.
Then nodded. "But only small batches. I want to keep things local."
"Good. I'll pass your number along."
---
That night, Lin Feng sat in the wooden shed of the inner realm, journal in hand.
He wrote down:
1. Mushrooms successful. Consider increasing logs.
2. Begin token planting at real-world farmland next week.
3. Build second greenhouse soon—try split crops.
4. Monitor café orders. Consider adding fruit next month.
5. Stay invisible.
He paused at that last point.
Stay invisible.
That was his creed—for now.
---
But even invisible seeds, buried deep in the soil, would one day rise.
---
End of Chapter 4