Chapter 14

Qing Mengzhu had not expected Ming Chunxi's luck to be just as good after all these years. With a single draw, he had won fertilizer fermentation powder worth 388 Star Coins.

Ming Chunxi asked over the phone, "Did I win?"

Qing Mengzhu took a deep breath. "You did! It's exactly the prize I wanted!"

Ming Chunxi chuckled on the other end. "Treat me to a meal."

Qing Mengzhu caught his laughter and readily agreed. "Sure! I'm free every day, so you pick the time and place. But if it costs more than three hundred per person, I can't afford it."

Ming Chunxi said, "I'll find an affordable restaurant."

The two chatted briefly and settled their meal plans.

After hanging up, Qing Mengzhu hugged his slightly warm phone and rolled around on the bed. His heart felt a little full, and he lay there not wanting to move.

When he was done rolling around, he picked up his phone and saw that the news of Ming Chunxi's award was still on the webpage. He instantly calmed down.

Ming Chunxi had long been someone to look up to, and now he was even further out of reach.

When would he be able to become like Ming Chunxi?

At that thought, Qing Mengzhu reopened the Interstellar Mall, found the package of fertilizer fermentation powder in his personal center, and tapped to retrieve it.

Soon, a beam of light shot out from the Interstellar Mall, and a large package of fertilizer fermentation powder appeared silently before him.

This time, the fertilizer fermentation powder was also wrapped in the dried leaves of a plant. The whole package was shaped like a brick and felt heavy in his hands.

He went to his personal center to read the description of the fertilizer fermentation powder.

The package contained one kilogram of fermentation powder, divided into ten small packets. Each packet could ferment a thousand jin of fertilizer, so the entire package could ferment ten thousand jin.

The materials and process required for fermentation were listed below.

The fermentation ingredients were listed in descending order of quantity: meat, fresh grass, hay, and plant ash, in a weight ratio of 4:3:2:1.

The fermentation conditions were also rather particular. The ingredients had to be placed in a vat, and the temperature had to be kept between 20 and 40 degrees Celsius. If it got too hot, the mixture had to be turned promptly. In addition, this fertilizer used aerobic fermentation. If conditions allowed, the fertilizer could be turned and dried in the sun, but each exposure could not exceed two hours.

Looking at the detailed fermentation instructions in his personal center, Qing Mengzhu thought fermenting the fertilizer should not be difficult this time, but the cost was extremely high.

A thousand jin of fertilizer required four hundred jin of meat. It was practically burning money.

The only consolation was that one jin of the finished fertilizer could be diluted with fifty to a hundred jin of water for use.

He only needed to ferment a thousand jin of fertilizer, and he would basically have no need to worry about fertilizer for the year.

Before Qing Mengzhu had figured out what to do about fermenting the fertilizer, Zhao Hexi came back from fishing.

Zhao Hexi carried a small bucket in his left hand and a fishing rod in his right. As soon as he saw Qing Mengzhu, he said smugly, "Come look at the fish I caught. What do you think? Impressive, right?"

Qing Mengzhu leaned over for a look. "That's a nice catch."

Zhao Hexi said, "Of course. I sat there pulling them in one after another. They didn't stop biting all afternoon. If one fish hadn't snapped my line, I'd have kept going for another four or five hours."

Qing Mengzhu looked up at his sun-reddened skin and reckoned it would turn dark by tomorrow. "Didn't the sun bother you?"

Zhao Hexi snorted. "Would an angler be afraid of a little sun?"

After setting down the bucket, Zhao Hexi leaned over to look at the slip of paper in front of Qing Mengzhu. "What's this you've written? Are you making some kind of snack?"

The paper listed fish, fresh grass, hay, and the like. It looked pretty tasty.

Qing Mengzhu flicked the paper. "No, these are ingredients for compost."

Zhao Hexi's eyes widened. "You're composting meat and fresh grass? Do your vegetables eat meals too?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "Meat, especially fish, has always been a source of fertilizer. Have you heard of sea fertilizer? One kind uses fish scraps and small shrimp as fertilizer, and it works very well."

Zhao Hexi said, "Wouldn't that be expensive?"

Qing Mengzhu was worried about the same thing. "If I can find a source, it shouldn't be too expensive."

Zhao Hexi stared at the paper and sighed. "All right. Farming really is a subject of its own. The way you do it is completely different from what I imagined."

Qing Mengzhu agreed. "It's different from what I imagined too."

Qing Mengzhu planned to start fermenting the fertilizer as soon as possible, so he made a special trip to the county seat to buy large water vats.

Local people usually used these five-hundred-jin-capacity vats to grow lotus roots or raise fish. They were not expensive, but they were big and heavy.

Qing Mengzhu's front yard was already piled with things. A few more large water vats would make it far too crowded.

He planned to put the vats behind the house and move the compost bins and everything else back there too.

There had originally been a large vegetable garden behind his house, but it had later been abandoned. It was suitable for storing things.

The seller drove the large vats over in a truck the next day.

Tan Wenlei heard about it and came running over to help move the vats and compost bins.

Tan Wenlei was also shocked that Qing Mengzhu wanted to ferment meat into fertilizer. "I've farmed for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen fertilizer like that. Meat is expensive. You could buy chemical fertilizer or manure for much less."

Qing Mengzhu said, "It won't be that expensive. I can buy meat scraps from a meatpacking plant or get some fish and shrimp scraps. They should cost only one or two yuan a jin, and quality doesn't matter for composting."

Tan Wenlei said, "It's still more expensive than chemical fertilizer or manure."

Qing Mengzhu said, "Fertilizer composted this way will work better."

Tan Wenlei immediately asked, "How much better?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "The fertilizer isn't ready yet, so I don't know. We'll only know once it's ready and we've used it. In theory, this kind of fertilizer remains effective for a long time and can improve the soil structure too."

Tan Wenlei was tempted. "Then let me know when you see the results. I'll make some too."

The large vats and compost bins were heavy, and everyone worked up a sweat moving them.

When they were done, Qing Mengzhu took a watermelon out of the fridge and cut it up for everyone to cool off.

Tan Wenlei asked, "Your compost bins have been going for a while, haven't they? How are they working?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "I think they're doing all right. I've been using the liquid fertilizer from the compost bins in the vegetable patch, and the vegetables seem to be growing pretty well."

Tan Wenlei agreed with that. "Your vegetables do look good. Even though you planted them so late, it doesn't look like they'll take too long to bear fruit."

Qing Mengzhu said, "Yeah, now I'm just waiting to eat the vegetables from the patch."

Tan Wenlei nodded, then steered the conversation back to compost. "Do you have any idea where to get the meat for the compost? Are you buying meat scraps or fish and shrimp? Where will you buy them?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "Not yet."

Tan Wenlei said, "How about I ask that shrimp-farming buddy of mine? I think he feeds his shrimp fish and shrimp scraps."

Qing Mengzhu's interest was piqued. "Could you?"

Tan Wenlei said, "I'm just asking him a question. Why couldn't I? It's better than you running around blindly on your own."

Qing Mengzhu knew he had always been eager to help, so he said, "Then sorry for the trouble, but please ask him for me. If he knows a source, could you help me buy a batch too?"

Tan Wenlei took out his phone. "How much do you need?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "Twelve hundred jin to start."

Tan Wenlei was a little surprised. "That's a lot. The price should be easier to negotiate, then."

Zhao Hexi, who had been listening nearby, whispered to Qing Mengzhu, "Can't you use fish from the river? What about the fish I caught?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "How much can you catch with a rod? Fishing with nets does too much damage to the environment, and it's easy to end up at the police station."

Zhao Hexi, who had just gotten hooked on fishing, fell silent.

Tan Wenlei said cheerfully from the side, "I've asked my friend. He said this kind of small frozen mixed fish costs only one or two yuan a jin. He'll ask around for you and have the supplier send it over."

Qing Mengzhu said, "I'll add him on WeChat first. That'll make it easier to explain what I need."

After getting Tan Wenlei's friend's permission, Qing Mengzhu added him on WeChat, greeted him, and explained what he needed.

He only needed animal-based materials like fish. The quality did not matter, since they were only for composting anyway, and he had no requirements at all for freshness or species.