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"It was too late yesterday. I was afraid of disturbing your rest."

Ye Zhiying smiled at his politeness. "How could you possibly disturb us? We usually don't go to bed until nine or ten."

As she spoke, Ye Zhiying used a bamboo basket to take out the vegetable seedlings she had bought for Lu Ao. "You told me to buy whatever I thought was suitable, so I just picked up a few. There are five winter melon seedlings, five pumpkin seedlings, five loofah seedlings, five bird's eye chili plants, ten tomato seedlings, fifteen long chili plants, fifteen eggplant seedlings, and fifteen bean seedlings. I was afraid you wouldn't finish planting them in one day, so I didn't buy too many."

Lu Ao looked them over and nodded. "Thanks for the trouble, sis-in-law. I'll transfer the money to you."

"You're welcome. It was no trouble at all." Ye Zhiying reminded him, "Seedlings are usually planted in the morning or evening. If you're not planting them now, put them somewhere shady. Don't let them get scorched to death."

Lu Ao agreed.

Ye Zhiying added, "After you plant them, remember to water them right away and soak the soil thoroughly. For base fertilizer, a handful of ash will do. If you don't have ash, a little chemical fertilizer is fine too, but put it farther away. Don't burn the seedlings."

Lu Ao really did not look like someone who knew how to farm.

Still worried, Ye Zhiying explained practically everything in painstaking detail.

Lu Ao memorized all the precautions, thanked Ye Zhiying, then placed the seedlings in the bed of his tricycle and took them home.

He needed to prepare the soil that morning and afternoon first, so he would not be transplanting them so soon.

His household registration had never been moved away, so his family still had land in the village.

It was not much, only three mu and eight fen, all excellent paddy fields.

It might not be enough to feed an entire family if used for growing grain, but it was more than enough for vegetables.

A few days ago, someone in the village had been plowing fields. He had directly hired them to plow his land with a tiller for one hundred yuan per mu, making the remaining work much easier.

Three mu and eight fen came to 2,533 square meters. It was actually quite a large area.

Lu Ao spent the entire day under the sun and finally managed to prepare half the land.

As the sun was about to set, he went home to fetch the seedlings and planted them one by one, digging hole after hole.

When planting the long chilies and bird's eye chilies, he deliberately planted them in separate beds and kept them far apart. Otherwise, when they flowered and pollinated, the two varieties would affect each other, making the long chilies too spicy and the bird's eye chilies not spicy enough, which would affect their quality.

Growing vegetables was not easy. By the time darkness was approaching, he still had several tomato seedlings left unplanted.

Just as he was concentrating on planting, someone called out to him from far away, "Lu Ao—"

Lu Ao straightened up. His exceptional eyesight allowed him to effortlessly spot Lin Gongshang waiting by the roadside on a motorcycle.

When Lin Gongshang saw him stand up, he knew Lu Ao had heard him and could not help asking, "Why didn't you bring your phone?"

"It was too heavy in my clothes. What is it?"

"We're going squid fishing tonight. I wanted to ask whether you're coming."

Only then did Lu Ao remember that squid-fishing season had arrived again.

He said, "Do you have all the equipment?"

"Of course. Red lights, squid jigs—we have everything." Lin Gongshang was visibly excited. "We even borrowed a bigger boat. Zhang Ge has a fishing license. If you come too, we can fish and eat at the same time. How about having a midnight snack out at sea?"

"Sure. What time?"

"We were planning to leave at nine, but if you still have things to do, we can leave at ten instead."

Lu Ao looked at the dozen or so seedlings that had yet to be planted. "Ten, then. I should be done before ten."

Only then did Lin Gongshang belatedly notice. "Hey, you're planting vegetables?"

Lu Ao gave a grunt.

Lin Gongshang immediately parked his motorcycle and rolled up his sleeves. "Why are you still planting vegetables at this hour? You're not very familiar with farm work, are you?"

Lu Ao fell silent.

Lin Gongshang continued chattering, "Your method is far too inefficient. You should dig all the holes first, then cover the soil around the plants one by one."

As he spoke, he had already walked over to Lu Ao and taken the small hoe from his hand. "Watch me."

Lin Gongshang neatly dug the holes, placed the seedlings into them one by one, then began packing soil around each of them.

As he planted, he looked at the vegetables Lu Ao had planted earlier and could not help saying, "You left way too much space between these plants."

Lu Ao carried a bucket to fetch water and returned to water the vegetables. "It's fine. Plenty of land, not many vegetables."

"That's true." Lin Gongshang said, "If you have lots of land, you could plant some okra, sunflower seeds, flat beans, scallions, garlic... Then whenever you want vegetables, you can just pick them from the field."

"I didn't have time today. I'll plant more in a couple of days."

"In a couple of days? Hey, my family is transplanting sweet potatoes these next few days. Do you want to plant sweet potatoes? If you do, I'll bring you some. The sweet potatoes from my family's fields are pretty tasty, and you can eat the sweet potato leaves too."

"I'll plant them."

"Fine. I'll bring you some tomorrow."

While they talked, Lu Ao finished watering all the vegetables.

He was strong enough to lift water without effort, making him extremely efficient.

Lin Gongshang planted the last tomato seedling, stood up, and pounded his lower back. "Finished."

"Alright. Come check on them tomorrow. For the next couple of days, you'd better water them every day and keep an eye on them. If any seedlings die, replant them promptly. If none die, find time to stake these tomatoes. Tomato seedlings can't stand steadily on their own, and without supports, they'll easily topple over."

Lu Ao committed it to memory and nodded.

Lin Gongshang pointed toward the small river in the distance. "For stakes, just cut bamboo by the river. Most of the bamboo along both sides of the river in your village is wild. Bamboo is more convenient than wood for making supports."

"Mm. What else?"

"You'll also need to top-dress them in time. I don't think you're used to farmyard manure, so buying some chemical fertilizer is fine too."

Having noted that down, Lu Ao looked up and asked, "Will goose manure work?"

"Where are you getting goose manure?"

"I'm buying geese tomorrow."

Lin Gongshang looked at him, feeling that it did not sound very reliable. "Raising geese? Geese are much harder to raise than ducks. Goslings get sick very easily."