Fairy Yao Shu’s melodious voice came through the comm-channel without a moment of delay.
“Chairman Lin,” she said softly. “The Primordial Peach Orchard is in full bloom. Ever since we moved onto Old Master Xuan’s back, the spring qi has been overflowing. Did you say you needed gourds?”
“I need three hundred billion small wood gourds,” Lin Mo said into his badge. “Can the orchard grow them by dinner?”
Down on the holographic screen, Boss Qian was still puffing his spirit-cigar. He let out a loud, mocking bark of laughter that shook his fat chins.
“Three hundred billion gourds in an afternoon?” Boss Qian sneered, wiping tears of mirth from his cheeks. “Chairman Lin, you have truly lost your mind! A tree cannot grow fruit that fast. You are bluffing to avoid paying my fifty quadrillion!”
Lin Mo did not even glance at him. “Fairy Yao Shu, tell him.”
Fairy Yao Shu chuckled gently across the comm-link. “The Primordial Peach trees are ten million years old. When fed divine spring dew, each branch can bud five thousand gourds in three minutes. They are sterile, sealed by wood-dao qi, and preserve medicine better than glass. We can harvest thirty billion every ten minutes.”
