Chapter 63 (continued)

For example, incubation time: although hazelnut eggs and pigeon eggs are about the same size, hazelnut eggs take longer to incubate, about 25 days, while pigeon eggs only take 18 days.

Qing Mengzhu couldn't continue comparing the pigeons' condition with her own, so she had no choice but to honestly ask her colleagues for advice.

His colleague told him that the hatching of hazel grouse is related to the local temperature and humidity, as well as the freshness of the hazel eggs themselves. The temperature needs to be adjusted according to the condition of the fertilized eggs, and it cannot be kept at the same temperature from beginning to end.

Having absolutely no experience, Qing Mengzhu had no choice but to buy a thermometer and video chat with his colleagues every day, paying them to help him assess the hatching progress of his batch of hazelnut eggs.

Time flies when you get busy.

Soon, the heat of summer passed, and autumn deepened. Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi even had to wear a thin long-sleeved shirt as an outer layer when they got up early.

That day, Tan Wenlei stopped Qing Mengzhu had just finished selling vegetables, and asked, "Mengzhu, how are the asparagus seedlings you were cultivating doing?"

Qing Mengzhu slapped her forehead. "I was just about to tell you these past couple of days, the seedlings have sprouted and we can prepare to transplant them. Are you free now? Why don't you come over and take a look?"

Tan Wenlei said excitedly, "I'm coming right away."

Qing Mengzhu placed the seedling cups in the empty farmland. At this time, not only did cypress grow in the seedling cups, but also fine weeds.

Looking at the somewhat messy seedling cups, Qing Mengzhu reached out and plucked a weed. "I've been too busy lately and haven't paid much attention to it. I'll pull the weeds again in a couple of days, and I'll also take care of the weeds in the tomato and chili fields."

Tan Wenlei: "Is it still done manually? Without medication?"

Qing Mengzhu: "No, if I'm too busy, I'll hire a few people. It's not safe to spray medicine."

Tan Wenlei nodded, then quickly shifted his attention to the stone cypress. "This stone cypress is so thin!"

The asparagus shoots from the asparagus plant are thick and sturdy, looking very plump and tender, while the buds that sprout from the asparagus plant are thin and weak like willow branches, leaning to one side or the other. It's hard to imagine that the two are actually the same plant.

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, it looks a bit like a shrub when it grows up. It's still small now, so it's like this. After you plant it, you need to build a trellis, otherwise it will fall over."

Tan Wenlei sighed, "I really didn't expect the seedlings to look like this. How do we transplant them now? Do we just pick the ones that are growing well and plant them?"

Qing Mengzhu picked out a Asparagus setaceus for him. "No, Asparagus setaceus is a dioecious plant, so we need to choose the male plants. Just picking the best-looking ones isn't enough. I'll pick one for you."

Tan Wenlei then remembered. "The shoots that grow from male plants are thicker and have a longer lifespan, right?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, most people usually plant male plants."

Qing Mengzhu picked out the cypress trees that Tan Wenlei wanted and explained to him again how to plant them and how to build a trellis after planting.

As an experienced farmer, Tan Wenlei understood everything he learned, and he grasped the meaning of Qing Mengzhu's explanation immediately.

Tan Wenlei: "Are you transplanting it so soon? Or should we wait a while longer?"

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "I'll transplant it this evening, so I don't forget about it when I get busy in a couple of days."

Tan Wenlei: "Should we plant it over by your fence?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, it makes management easier and also makes the fence look nicer; a bare bamboo fence looks a bit ugly."

After they finished talking, Tan Wenlei carried the cypress seedlings back home in a basket.

The lifespan of the cypress is more than ten years, so it is not suitable to be planted in vegetable fields. He wants to take it back and transplant it to the terraced fields on the mountain.

After thinking for a moment, Qing Mengzhu simply went to the vegetable garden, grabbed a vegetable basket, and moved a batch of seedlings to take back and plant.

The seedlings he selected were all male plants with similar growth rates.

The advantage of using seedling trays is that when transplanting, strong seedlings of similar height can be selected together. After transplanting, the seedlings will grow more uniformly, making it easier to apply fertilizer, pesticides, pollinate, and harvest them in a unified manner.

If you sow seeds directly in the ground, the germination time will be different, and the seedlings will vary in strength, resulting in uneven plant growth in the field, which will make management more difficult.

Transplanting should generally be done after sunset to avoid exposing the plants to direct sunlight, which can reduce their survival rate.

After the plants have absorbed enough water and rested overnight, they usually recover by the next day. Therefore, Qing Mengzhu can only plant the seedlings this afternoon after taking them back now.

Qing Mengzhu was busy when her phone rang.

He has muted calls from unknown numbers, so the calls that come through are all from family and friends.

With that in mind, he took off his gloves and answered the phone.

The caller was Zhao Hexi: "Mengzhu, how are you guys spending your week?"

Hearing his excited voice, Qing Mengzhu smiled and said, "Let's just have a normal day. Do you have any events you'd like to invite us to?"

Zhao Hexi: "No, I was thinking of coming over to fish, but I was afraid of disturbing your time together. I'll come over if you don't have any plans."

Qing Mengzhu, holding her phone between her fingers, agreed, "Come on over, there are no events this week."

Zhao Hexi: "Here I am. A classmate of mine raises sheep in the suburbs. I ordered one from him. Do you want pre-processed mutton or would you like a live sheep delivered to you?"

Qing Mengzhu thought for a moment and said, "Let's use properly prepared mutton. I'm not that fierce."

Zhao Hexi: "Okay, I'll come over Saturday morning."

Zhao Hexi said that he brought the mutton over around 7 a. m. on Saturday morning.

Qing Mengzhu was astonished. "You didn't actually drag your classmate out of bed to slaughter a sheep for you, did you? That's so inhumane!"

Zhao Hexi: "How could that be? They usually slaughter sheep at this time. I went to get them while they were still fresh."

Zhao Hexi took a huge refrigerated box out of the trunk. "My classmate said that the lamb needs to be aged a bit. If we're eating it today, we don't need to freeze it; we can just put it in the refrigerator."

Qing Mengzhu: "Then let's eat it this evening; there won't be enough time to eat it at noon."

Zhao Hexi: "Alright, can we leave some mutton for the Dharma Protector?"

Qing Mengzhu: "I'll stay, I'll stay, I'll listen to you."

As they were talking, Ming Chunxi came out.

Zhao Hexi greeted them warmly, "Chunxi, I'm troubling you again."

Ming Chunxi shook her head. "No trouble at all, don't be so polite."

Zhao Hexi carried the mutton into the kitchen. "Is there anything else you need me to cook? If not, I'll go find the otters. Are they all in their burrows?"

Qing Mengzhu: "No, they should still be over by the pond. When we went to pick vegetables, the otters and red foxes were still there."

Zhao Hexi excitedly prepared his fishing rods, bait, and basket. "Then I'll go find them!"

Qing Mengzhu chased after him, calling out, "Don't drive, ride your electric scooter!"

Zhao Hexi then switched to an electric scooter.

Zhao Hexi left quickly. Qing Mengzhu turned to look at Ming Chunxi and pushed him into the house. "You worked so late yesterday, why didn't you sleep in a little longer today?"

Ming Chunxi: "My biological clock wakes me up around this time, and I can't fall back asleep even if I try to sleep a little longer. I'll feel more alert after I have a cup of coffee."

Qing Mengzhu rubbed his back with her hand. "There's nothing much going on today, so don't drink coffee. Have some lotus tea to perk yourself up. Drinking coffee in this state isn't good for your heart."

Ming Chunxi readily agreed, "Then I'll go make some tea."

Qing Mengzhu: "Break it open, add more flower petals and less tea leaves."

After saying that, Qing Mengzhu added, "I'll go check on the vegetable garden again. You rest at home for a bit, and receive the chili peppers when they're delivered."

Ming Chunxi: "Okay."

We're picking chili peppers today; Qing Pingdun will bring them over later.

Now that they have a dryer at home, they can simply clean the peppers and put them directly into the dryer to dry; the process is not complicated.

Therefore, although Qing Mengzhu was busy during this period, she was busy with some trivial matters and was not particularly tired.

When Qing Mengzhu walked into the field, Feng Ningxiang and the other two had already picked most of the chili peppers and were now piling bags of chili peppers onto Qing Pingdun's cart.