The apple seed, once planted, behaved differently from other seeds. Only one apple tree grew on that patch of land, and the numbers on it changed incredibly slowly compared to other plants. Ding Yun waited for a full minute, and only then did the number on it change from zero to three hundred and sixty-five.
This meant it matured once every minute, producing three hundred and sixty-five fruits at a time.
As for how many times it would mature before reaching its limit, Ding Yun didn't know yet. She decided to leave it for now and harvest it only when the number stopped changing. At the same time, she would exchange for seeds with higher experience points.
Following this, Ding Yun did not rush out.
Instead, she waited slowly within the farm. After a whole afternoon, her experience points accumulated to one hundred million again, and she leveled up to level four.
She also saw the experience points needed for level five.
It required a full ten billion.
It seemed the numbers would only get more terrifying as she progressed.
As her farm upgraded, she unlocked another plot of new land and four new types of seeds. The new land, as expected, was still less than ten square units. The new seeds, however, brought a pleasant surprise. Not only were there honey peaches and watermelons, two fruits she particularly loved to eat, but also soybeans and baby bok choy.
All in all, it was quite good.
Because she was eager to eat honey peaches, Ding Yun quickly decided to plant the honey peaches on the new land first. As for the watermelons, she planned to plant them after the apples reached their maximum yield.
It shouldn't take too long anyway.
After completing these tasks and confirming that there was nothing else pressing in the farm for the time being, Ding Yun finally left the farm again to continue with the tasks that had been delayed by the farm's upgrade, and which she hadn't yet completed.
That was, to investigate the specific situations of the several Taoist temples near Jinling City.
She wasn't inquiring from others, but intending to personally sneak around at night to see if those Taoist temples had any hidden dirt, if their conduct matched their reputation, and if the people there were truly benevolent.
The reason for her investigation was that she wanted to use a Taoist temple to obtain a household registration for herself, specifically as a female Taoist priest.
If she didn't investigate thoroughly, what if she encountered a temple with a good reputation on the surface but was actually harboring corruption and engaging in all sorts of bad deeds?
She, a weak woman, would not be a match for them, so she had to be cautious. It was better to be safe than sorry.
As for choosing to obtain the household registration of a female Taoist priest, Ding Yun had her own considerations.
She thought it through clearly; with her personality, she would certainly not settle in one place and stay for decades. Not to mention the rumors, gossip, and difficulties she might encounter in establishing a female household registration, even if she managed to obtain it, it would be difficult for her to leave the place of registration. Obtaining a travel permit would be problematic.
At this time, local officials, for the sake of their own achievements and to prevent people under their jurisdiction from settling in other places, were very strict with the household registrations of local residents. If you wanted to obtain a travel permit to go elsewhere, you needed a legitimate reason, such as visiting relatives or engaging in business.
It was not easy for ordinary male citizens to obtain one, let alone a woman with a female household registration.
Only two types of people were relatively special.
One was scholars, and the other was monks and Taoists.
Scholars traveled extensively for their studies, so permits were generally not too restrictive. As long as they had an excuse for traveling for academic purposes, they could usually obtain a travel permit to roam all over the country. However, this method was clearly not feasible for Ding Yun. As a woman, she didn't even have the qualification to take imperial examinations, let alone travel thousands of miles or study.
No one would approve it for her.
Therefore, she could only choose the path of a monk or Taoist.
People outside the established system, being less subject to the jurisdiction of the imperial laws, naturally made it normal for them to wander the world. Thus, monks and Taoists had very few restrictions on travel permits, allowing them to travel almost anywhere in the country. They could even stay at fellow temples or Taoist temples, saving on accommodation fees.
Therefore, Ding Yun, who did not want to face difficulties in traveling far in the future, naturally set her sights on obtaining a monk or Taoist household registration.
As for why she chose Taoism over Buddhism,
It was obvious, wasn't it?
Which young woman would willingly shave her head for no reason? She wasn't a devout believer; she was only doing it to obtain a household registration, so naturally, she would choose what she preferred.
Originally, Ding Yun had planned to wait until nightfall to investigate the specific situations of the several suburban Taoist temples nearby. Who knew that the farm upgrade and the subsequent planting of rice and wheat had delayed her significantly? By the time she emerged again, it was already evening, so the next step was to proceed with her original plan.
That night, Ding Yun stayed up all night, relying on her willpower, and visited all five Taoist temples she knew of in the vicinity.
After that, she decided not to investigate any other Taoist temples. She returned to her temporary residence to catch up on sleep. Once she had rested enough and regained her energy, she quickly tidied herself up and headed for Nanhua Guan.
After the investigation the previous night,
Ding Yun discovered that Nanhua Guan was not only the only Taoist temple in the vicinity composed entirely of women, but its abbot, Female Taoist Priest Yunxi, was also a person with great compassion.
The women in the temple were mostly pitiful individuals she had rescued. Some were rescued by the yamen after being abducted by bandits, but their families, deeming them defiled, refused to acknowledge them, leaving them with nowhere to go, and were thus rescued.
Some, whose husbands had died, were forced by their clans, mothers-in-law, and parents to follow them in death, but they refused and were rescued.
Some were abandoned from childhood and taken in by her.
Others had their entire families wiped out by debt collectors, and so on.
In short, they were all pitiful individuals. Some of these rescued women left the temple once they found a way out, and those with means occasionally contributed.
Those who remained were those with no other recourse.
Furthermore, whenever there was a natural disaster nearby, Female Taoist Priest Yunxi would do her best to provide support. If it was close, she would organize believers and temple staff to distribute porridge and provide relief. If it was far and beyond her capability, she would try to donate some of her own money and grain.
To prevent corruption,
She would specifically dispatch one or two temple staff members to transport money and grain with the believers, delivering it directly to the disaster area, bypassing the yamen entirely.
During her covert visit, Qiao Mu overheard Female Taoist Priest Yunxi calculating accounts in her room, muttering that this amount of money and grain might not help many people during this great drought, and wondering if she should pawn some of her dowry from before she became a nun. Besides this, she was also seen kneeling before the statue of a deity, praying quietly for a long time.
Qiao Mu, having summarized the popular rumors and her own observations, felt that this Nanhua Guan was relatively reliable. At the same time, this abbot was not a pedantic person.
In this era, she could even be considered progressive and enlightened.
Therefore, she decided to use this as a starting point.
To see if she could use a large amount of wheat and rice to strike a deal with her, and have her help her obtain a female Taoist priest household registration to solve her problem.
As for how to make the deal,
She would naturally have to spin a tale.
After all, she couldn't outright say it was grown by herself.
In fact, before she came up with the plan to use wheat and rice for a transaction, Ding Yun's idea was to play pitiful, pretend to be a refugee, or pretend to be abandoned, and see if she could be taken in by the Taoist temple. It was only later, when she learned that the women who remained in the temple were basically only novices and did not possess female Taoist priest household registrations,
And without a certificate of ordination and a female Taoist priest household registration,
They had no right to travel the world.
Only then did she abandon the idea of playing pitiful.
And instead pursued a path of transaction.
Because it would be abnormal for a refugee, whether male or female, to want to apply for a certificate of ordination or a female Taoist priest household registration. If she expressed such a desire, there would be loopholes everywhere. If she did not express such a desire, she couldn't just stay in the Taoist temple as a novice, could she? Who knew how many years it would take to obtain a female Taoist priest household registration, and to smoothly obtain it, she would have to pass an examination for a certificate of ordination, which required literacy. In short, it was very troublesome.
After all, how could an ordinary refugee be literate?
These factors, combined,
Forced Ding Yun to develop a plan to fabricate a false identity and a false story, and then use wheat and rice as a transaction to gain the help of Female Taoist Priest Yunxi.