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After inspecting them, Qing Mengzhu decided to take advantage of the good weather and transplant them into the bamboo forest to avoid the seedling cups being too cramped and hindering the growth and development of the Solomon's seal root system.
With so many Solomon's seals, it would be too much trouble for Qing Mengzhu to transplant them all by herself.
He simply asked someone from the company to help him plant the crops, and then settled the bill with the company at the end of the month.
Their bamboo remains evergreen year-round. Now that autumn has arrived, while the leaves of some plants in the mountains have begun to turn yellow, their bamboo remains lush and vibrant, looking even better than in the summer.
As the autumn wind blows, the bamboo rustles and emits a wonderful bamboo fragrance.
As Feng Ningxiang planted the Solomon's seal, she exclaimed, "These bamboos are growing better and better; they're so beautiful!"
Miao Lan: "We planted this bamboo ourselves, and there was nothing strange about it when we planted it, but once it grew up, it just happened to be more beautiful than all the other bamboos. The more you look at it, the more pleasing it becomes."
Qing Mengzhu: "That's because of the forest management. Look at the spacing between the bamboo stalks, aren't they all about the same? And under the bamboo, all the messy shrubs and weeds have been removed. Now there are basically only fallen leaves on top, so it looks much better naturally."
Feng Ningxiang: "It might also be related to the fertilizer underneath. This soil is really loose. Mengzhu, how much fertilizer did you put in?"
Qing Mengzhu: "There were always dozens of truckloads, including fertilizer, chopped straw, bamboo charcoal, and peat moss. We went back and forth to pile up the soil several times."
Feng Ningxiang: "I knew it! The soil on the mountain used to be completely different."
Before they planted bamboo, the two mountains belonging to the Qing Mengzhu family were like other mountains, with mostly hard and compacted soil, completely unlike the soft and fine soil they have now.
After planting the bamboo, Qing Mengzhu indeed put a lot of effort into it.
He tried to get the bamboo to reach the "Superior Grade" quality as soon as possible. Even if it couldn't reach "Superior Grade", it would be good if it could reach "Superior Grade- ", otherwise it would be a waste of the good bamboo species he specially bought.
Qing Mengzhu spent a lot of time and energy in the bamboo forest, and the bamboo forest rewarded him greatly.
Besides bamboo and bamboo shoots, there are also many bamboo insects in the bamboo forest. Hazel groves wander around the bamboo forest every day, eating until they are plump and look very proud.
Presumably, when this batch of hazel grouse is ready for market in two months, the meat quality will be excellent.
After the Solomon's Seal was planted, Qing Mengzhu went up the mountain to inspect it every day.
The environment on the mountain is nice, and their planting techniques are also very good. The Solomon's seal has basically survived, and the leaves have recovered their bright green color and become firm.
That day, Qing Mengzhu noticed that the soil was a bit dry and decided to water it.
Actually, it doesn't matter if you don't water them. The bamboo forest is already quite humid, and there's forest mist in the morning, so these Solomon's seals can still get enough moisture even without watering.
Qing Mengzhu simply wanted to water them with the pond water.
Because of the Spirit Pearl Dregs residue, the pond water contains a trace of Spiritual Power. After they absorb the pond water, its quality may be further improved.
We don't need to hire someone to water it.
Qing Mengzhu drove his newly bought tricycle to the pond to fetch water. He could carry six buckets in one trip, and after using up the six buckets of water, he could basically water all the Solomon's seal plants.
It was already evening when Qing Mengzhu fetched water. The vast sunset was reflected among the withered lotus leaves, creating a beautiful scene.
He was distracted while fetching water, and when he saw a round little head pop out of the water, he was startled and instinctively leaned back.
The otter emerged from the water to greet him, but seeing his strong reaction, it raised its two front paws to its chest and stammered, "Eek?"
Qing Mengzhu comforted the Little Otter, "It's my own fault, it's alright."
The otter extended its paw in a friendly gesture. "Mwah."
Qing Mengzhu and asked, "Is this a gift for me?"
As she spoke, Qing Mengzhu looked closely and was about to reach out to take it when she quickly discovered that what the otter was holding in its paw was actually a snail.
It's the old-fashioned type of snail, the kind that looks rather ordinary in size, but is plump and juicy.
Such plump snails?!
Qing Mengzhu's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the pond had become overrun with snails again?
Thinking of this, Qing Mengzhu disregarded continuing to draw water and hurriedly went to check the bottom of the pond.
The water in his pond is very clear; you can see the bottom of the pond even when you stand on the bank.
Upon careful searching, Qing Mengzhu indeed discovered small protrusions on the pond mud.
Those were snails, covered in pond mud and algae, crawling and foraging on the surface of the silt.
He hadn't paid attention to the pond for a while, and there were far more snails in it than he had imagined; he could see quite a few at a glance.
Qing Mengzhu rolled up her trousers to her thighs and went down to pick up snails.
The snails were easy to find when he looked for them, and he soon scooped up several handfuls, which he threw into the bucket, covering the bottom of the bucket.
The otter watched for a while, understood what he was going to do, and then helped him fish.
The little guy is very flexible and swims very fast, catching fish one by one, much faster than Qing Mengzhu.
It used its tiny claws to grab the snails and toss them into the bucket, making a thumping sound that made Qing Mengzhu feel both gratified and heartbroken.
With so many snails, how many lotus stems and roots did they eat?
Qing Mengzhu was catching snails in the field when Zhao Hexi ran over unnoticed and stood on the bank looking at his bucket. "What plump snails! Are there so many snails in the pond?"
Qing Mengzhu sighed, "Yes, they're probably from recent breeding."
The hot weather and high water temperature in July, August, and September are the peak breeding season for snails, which is when they may have reproduced.
When they are young, snails hide in the mud and are not very noticeable. Now that they have grown a little bigger and come out to move around, their size is very obvious. That's why Qing Mengzhu could see that the pond was densely packed with snails at a glance.
Unfortunately, there are many shrimp in the pond now, so Qing Mengzhu can't release more tea seed cakes, otherwise she would have to kill a lot of them.
Zhao Hexi was not as familiar with planting Qing Mengzhu, nor did he realize that snails were actually pests. He excitedly took off his shoes and socks and went into the water to compete with otters in catching snails. Occasionally, he could even touch river clams that had grown back.
It took the otter a while to realize that Zhao Hexi was racing against it, and it started scooping up the fish even faster, whimpering softly.
Zhao Hexi watched the otter swimming around in the water, as if it were doing synchronized swimming, and praised it while speeding up the process of catching snails.
The two ponds were too big; it took them more than an hour to roughly circle them.
When it got dark, the two men and the otter had caught more than half a bucket of snails.
"I definitely can't water the Solomon's Seal today, I'll have to do it tomorrow," Qing Mengzhu thought to herself as she carried the bucket.
Qing Mengzhu and Zhao Hexi went to the nearby river to wash their hands and feet, and also scrubbed the snails several times.
The newly emerged snails were large and plump, and they were washed until they were shiny, with a crystalline luster on their shells.
Zhao Hexi scooped up a handful of snails and looked at them in his palm. "They look so tempting! I haven't eaten snails in years. Back in high school, I used to like to buy stir-fried snails from that shop next to the North Gate."
Qing Mengzhu, who went to the same high school as him, smiled nostalgically upon hearing this, "The snails from his family's farm were really delicious, fragrant and spicy."
The snack shop near the north gate of their high school had a small coal stove, where a large pot of stir-fried snails simmered year-round.
Unlike regular stir-fried snails, this snack shop doesn't add perilla leaves or make it with the usual spicy flavor; instead, it puts pickled bamboo shoots in all the snails.
The longer the stir-fried snails with pickled bamboo shoots simmer, the more fragrant they become. When you're ready to eat, first suck out the juices and air from the snail's tail. Then, when you suck out the snail's mouth, you can suck out the whole lump of meat inside. Remove the intestines and pop it into your mouth—it's incredibly delicious!
Unfortunately, the snack shop next to their school later switched to a new variety of snails. The new snails were as big as apple snails and had more meat, but they weren't as tender as the old variety.
Even though the cooking methods were similar, they never had the same amazing experience eating the old snails again.