Chapter 60

Ming Lexin: "Impossible! I took a picture of my face with the original camera yesterday, and when I woke up today, my face felt more rosy and smooth. I took another picture with the original camera and compared them carefully before I realized there was indeed a change. It can't just be a psychological suggestion."

Qing Mengzhu seemed to be thinking, "That might be quite nourishing, with some beauty and skin-nourishing effects."

Ming Lexin: "Really? I told you your organic produce is much better than what you get outside."

Ming Lexin chuckled twice, then said, "I called you to tell you that the ingredients you grow are exceptionally good, and the industry you've chosen is also exceptionally good."

As Qing Mengzhu's former stepmother, Ming Lexin always held a special place in his heart.

Feeling a little embarrassed by the elder's praise, Qing Mengzhu said shyly, "If you like it, I'll have my brother bring you some more."

Ming Lexin happily agreed, "Okay! Thank you for thinking of me. I'll accept what you gave me, and you can't refuse what I give you either."

Qing Mengzhu: "I won't refuse; I'll take whatever you give me."

Ming Lexin was even happier. "Okay, I'll have Ming Chunxi bring it to you."

After chatting for a few more minutes and confirming that Qing Mengzhu was doing well, Ming Lexin hung up the phone.

After hanging the [hanging banner], Ming Lexin told her son, "Mengzhu has now found a career to strive for, and his whole demeanor is completely different."

Ming Chunxi's eyes softened as she thought of Qing Mengzhu, who always looked so radiant. "Mm."

Ming Lexin said she wanted to bring something for Qing Mengzhu, and that very evening she had Ming Chunxi bring it over.

Qing Mengzhu looked at Ming Chunxi carrying large bags of various electronic products and clothes, and belatedly realized, "Does Auntie know about us?"

Ming Chunxi: "What?"

Qing Mengzhu clicked her tongue. "You know what I'm talking about."

Ming Chunxi said, "I haven't formally discussed this issue with her, so I don't know if she knows. However, I think she probably has some guesses."

Qing Mengzhu felt a chill run down her spine again. She rubbed her cheeks and muttered to herself, "Never mind, I'll talk about it later."

Ming Lexin gave feedback, and Zhao Hexi also gave feedback.

However, unlike Ming Lexin's affirmation, Zhao Hexi's parents only praised the soup as delicious and made no other remarks.

Zhao Hexi was unconvinced and emphasized to Qing Mengzhu that the old couple were in a great mood after drinking the soup. They walked with a spring in their step and looked completely relaxed. They were just a little slow to react and hadn't realized it yet.

Qing Mengzhu, holding her phone, responded with a nod, agreeing with Zhao Hexi's words. But in her heart, she thought that while lotus seed and hazelnut chicken soup was indeed a good thing, it wasn't a panacea. Most people wouldn't even think about it after drinking it.

Meanwhile, Ming Lexin, after receiving the lotus seeds sent by Qing Mengzhu again, called to express her gratitude, saying that she hadn't had lotus seed soup for several days and her face had become rough. Now that she had new lotus seeds, she wanted to cook lotus seed porridge and make lotus seed soy milk.

Qing Mengzhu then wrote this down, intending to test the nourishing effects of lotus seeds when she had time, and to see how lotus seeds could be paired with other ingredients, as well as how hazelnuts could be paired with other ingredients.

If lotus seeds have nourishing effects, then the lotus pods in the two ponds shouldn't be picked casually.

Qing Mengzhu now plans to wait until the lotus pods are more mature before harvesting them, drying the lotus seeds into dried lotus seeds, and storing them for later use.

Both lotus and shrimp need fertilizer to grow, Qing Mengzhu specially prepared the fertilizer to fertilize the pond.

It's fine if you only grow lotus, but if you also raise shrimp in it, you have to be very careful when fertilizing.

If there's too little fertilizer, the shrimp won't survive due to insufficient nutrients. If there's too much fertilizer, it will deteriorate the water quality and cause insufficient dissolved oxygen, which also won't help the shrimp survive.

Fortunately Qing Mengzhu has been very careful with the fertilizer and has been observing the pond every day. So far, neither the lotus nor the shrimp have encountered any problems.

Previously, those three wild otters would come to the pond and cause trouble, occasionally stealing shrimp.

Now their goslings are starting to molt and grow new feathers, and they're starting to look like adult geese.

If the three otters come during the day, the flock of geese will pounce on them; if they come at night, the otters and red foxes guarding the pond and the bank will not let them go either.

After several visits, the three otters learned their lesson and never dared to come near Qing Mengzhu's house again.

The other households in the village were not greatly affected by the otters.

These three creatures love to eat fish and don't eat much else. After their hopes of stealing shrimp from Qing Mengzhu's house were dashed, they stayed obediently in the river and rarely came to the village.

That evening, Qing Mengzhu returned with an empty bucket and saw that two dogs had already herded the geese back into their pen.

After the goose returned to its pen, the two dogs didn't leave; instead, they stood outside, barking loudly, "Woof! Woof!"

Qing Mengzhu called out to them from dozens of meters away, "What's wrong? Don't scare the geese!"

The two dogs were still barking, sounding excited, clearly having discovered something.

Qing Mengzhu quickened her pace and walked to the goose pen, taking a closer look.

The flock of geese huddled in a corner, oblivious to the honking.

It seemed the problem wasn't with the geese. Qing Mengzhu turned to the duck pen beside her, intending to check if the ducks were the cause of the problem.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned his head, the Dharma Protector rushed over and tugged at his clothes, barking, "Woof woof!"

Qing Mengzhu hurriedly tried to salvage her clothes. "Slow down, you're going to bite my clothes! Where are you taking me?"

The Guard ran ahead, leading the way, his steps wobbling, looking particularly cheerful. "Woof woof!"

Soon, the two dogs led Qing Mengzhu around a bit and arrived at the pheasant coop. "Woof woof!"

Qing Mengzhu immediately realized, "There's something in the chicken coop? Did a hazel grouse lay an egg?"

The hazel grouse is almost an adult; it's time for it to lay eggs.

Qing Mengzhu went inside to look, but because it was a bit dark and the lighting wasn't good, and there were no courtyard lights installed, he couldn't see very clearly. He could only take out his phone, turn on the flashlight, and search carefully.

The chicken coop was quite large, and there was a lot of clutter inside, so Qing Mengzhu couldn't find it for a while.

The Dharma Protector couldn't wait any longer, so it ran straight to the weeds under the fence and pawed at the ground with its front paws, barking, "Woof! Woof!"

Qing Mengzhu: "Coming, coming."

Qing Mengzhu walked over with a flashlight, carefully parted the weeds, and sure enough, she saw several small hazelnut eggs with slightly greenish shells. "They really laid eggs?"

Qing Mengzhu picked up the oval hazelnut egg and held it in her palm. She could still feel the slight warmth left on the egg, indicating that it had just been laid.

I didn't expect those two dogs to be so clever; they spotted the hazel grouse's egg as soon as it was laid.

Just as Qing Mengzhu was pondering the matter of breeding hazel grouse, the grouse started laying eggs—it was like a timely rain.

He was in a very good mood, reached out and touched the Dharma Protector's forehead, then patted the Guard: "Good dogs! You'll get an extra meal tonight!"

The two dogs wagged their tails excitedly. "Woof woof!"

Qing Mengzhu turned to look at the hazel grouse, who were already huddled in the corner preparing to rest, and decided to give them an extra meal.

Let them eat more and lay more high-quality eggs!

Author's Note:

I've signed up for the essay contest, so I've slightly revised the text, hehe. See you tomorrow!

Chapter 60

The hazel grouse have started laying eggs, Qing Mengzhu has adjusted their daily diet, changing it from simple rice and vegetable leaves to a mixture of rice, corn, wheat, peas, brown rice, and insect meal.

Qing Mengzhu originally wanted to reduce the amount of vegetables and give them more dry food.

Later, it was discovered that although the dry rations were more nutritious and scientifically sound, the hazel grouse didn't like them. They preferred the finely chopped vegetables from the stall and were quite used to the high proportion of vegetables, probably because they had been eating them since childhood.

Like chickens, hazel grouse are also known to lay eggs continuously.

After all the female hazel grouse in his household entered their egg-laying period, they laid one egg every day. However, some female hazel grouse laid eggs in the morning, while others laid eggs in the afternoon, and they all liked to hide their eggs.