Chapter 15

The contact helped him look and soon said he had found a batch for him at just 1.2 yuan per jin. If he wanted it, a vehicle could be arranged to ship it to him immediately.

He also sent a bunch of pictures and videos of the small mixed fish, identifying the types and their condition.

Qing Mengzhu thought they looked all right. He searched online himself and found that the price was about the same, but those listings weren't as transparent, so he placed an order right away for 1,200 jin.

Tan Wenlei was sitting beside him. "You really are decisive."

Qing Mengzhu put his phone away. "Why wouldn't I trust someone you introduced me to, Uncle Wenlei?"

Tan Wenlei was pleased. He said cheerfully, "I like your personality. Decisive and straightforward—you've got what it takes to do business."

Zhao Hexi spat out a watermelon seed. "He's a force to be reckoned with. Once he decides to do something, he does it."

Tan Wenlei studied Qing Mengzhu. "True, though you'd never know it just by looking at him."

As Qing Mengzhu listened to their teasing, his attention had already turned to fermenting fertilizer.

He could prepare fresh and dried grass over the next couple of days, then start composting as soon as the small fish arrived.

The instructions for the fertilizer fermentation powder said the compost would be ready in about ten to fifteen days and would keep for three to five years. That meant it would be ready just in time to use as top dressing for the chili peppers.

After turning the details about the fertilizer over in his mind, Qing Mengzhu asked Tan Wenlei, "Uncle Wenlei, do you have any rice straw? If you do, I'd like to buy some."

Rice was grown locally. Some households collected the straw, while others had the combine chop up the stalks during harvest and spread them in the fields to compost.

Tan Wenlei's family happened to collect rice straw. "I do. How much do you need? I'll bring you a few bundles in a bit."

"Six hundred jin," Qing Mengzhu said. "It's for fermenting fertilizer."

Tan Wenlei was surprised. "That much? Then I don't have enough. I've only got a few bundles left. You'll have to ask Qing Changhong about that. His family raises chickens year-round and usually composts rice straw with chicken manure, so they stockpile quite a lot every year."

"I'll ask him later," Qing Mengzhu said.

Tan Wenlei said, "He also has a grass chopper. Since you're making compost, you can ask him to chop the rice straw for you. It'll be more convenient."

Qing Mengzhu really hadn't known that. "All right."

After they finished the watermelon, Tan Wenlei went home, and Zhao Hexi had to head back to the city too.

Qing Mengzhu gave Zhao Hexi a large bag of dried pond fish to take home and eat.

Zhao Hexi didn't refuse. Rubbing his hands together eagerly, he said, "I'll head back now. I'll come fishing again next week and help you with the farm work while I'm at it."

Qing Mengzhu reminded him, "Don't bring me anything next week."

"All right, then," Zhao Hexi said. "I'll bring a couple of better fishing rods."

After seeing Zhao Hexi off, Qing Mengzhu messaged Qing Changhong on WeChat about buying dried grass.

Qing Changhong agreed at once. He said he would chop the dried grass Qing Mengzhu bought into short lengths, and that Qing Mengzhu could bring fresh grass over to chop too if he needed. The grass chopper was much faster than cutting it by hand; it would be done in a few quick chops.

Qing Mengzhu accepted without hesitation.

For several days in a row, Qing Mengzhu prepared materials for the compost.

Summer was the season when weeds grew, and lush grass was everywhere along the riverbanks and edges of the fields.

Qing Mengzhu spent a morning cutting grass and got all the fresh grass he needed.

The plant ash was more trouble. He went up the mountain to collect dead leaves and dead wood, then burned them in an abandoned field for two days before he had enough to make 300 jin of ash.

Soon, the small mixed fish he had bought arrived.

They were all frozen and weren't very fresh, but there was plenty of fish, with no other matter mixed in.

After checking the delivery, Qing Mengzhu thanked Tan Wenlei's friend.

It was thanks to his help that Qing Mengzhu had been able to buy small fish of decent quality at such a low price.

With everything ready, Qing Mengzhu spread a waterproof sheet in the abandoned vegetable patch behind his house. He weighed out the fish, fresh grass, dried grass, and plant ash one by one, poured them onto the sheet, then added the fertilizer fermentation powder. He mixed everything evenly with a shovel and packed it into large crocks.

Only after he had filled six large crocks to the brim did this round of composting come to a temporary end.

He had done everything he could. Now all he had to do was wait for time to ferment the fertilizer.

Chapter 15

Before Qing Mengzhu's fertilizer had finished fermenting, and before he had gotten around to top-dressing the chili peppers, the village's vegetables were already yielding a bumper harvest.

Every day, when Qing Mengzhu went out to water the chili peppers and check on the lotus pond, he could see farmers bent over in the fields picking vegetables.

Eggplants, chili peppers, tomatoes, yardlong beans, pea shoots, water spinach, sweet potato vines... There were even strawberries. All sorts of vegetables, still dewy, were neatly packed in vegetable crates and stacked at the edges of the fields, waiting for the produce trucks to load them.

Usually, just as the morning sun rose, trucks from Hongda Supermarket and the Public Benefit Community Association would arrive to carry the vegetables into the city and sell them to households everywhere.

The grand sight of the harvest had nothing to do with Qing Mengzhu.

His vegetables weren't ready to harvest yet, and he hadn't partnered with any supermarkets or community agriculture programs.

But whenever he saw the busy scene, he thought of what it would be like when his own vegetables were harvested before long, and his mood would brighten.

Like those of most farmers in the village, Tan Wenlei's vegetables had entered the harvesting stage.

That day, he brought a large basket of vegetables to Qing Mengzhu's house. "The first crop from my garden this year. Have a taste."

"Why didn't you keep them to sell?" Qing Mengzhu asked.

Tan Wenlei smiled and pressed the basket into Qing Mengzhu's hands. "I am going to sell them, but we should have a taste ourselves too. These are organic vegetables grown according to the requirements and ripened in the fields. They're different from ordinary vegetables. You'll know once you try them."

Holding the basket, Qing Mengzhu said, "Wait a moment. I'll empty the basket and give it back to you."

Qing Mengzhu took the vegetables to the kitchen and put a few bamboo shoots and a bag of plums in the basket as a return gift. "I dug up these shoots on the mountain. Give them a try. I bought the plums yesterday. They're quite sweet."

"Oh, you go up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots too?" Tan Wenlei asked.

"I've got time on my hands anyway, so I gather some mountain produce to eat," Qing Mengzhu said.

In any case, he could sell any mountain produce he couldn't finish to the Interstellar Mall. Although the price per unit was very low, it gradually added up to a fairly considerable balance. At least he wasn't short of money for the lottery.

The vegetables Tan Wenlei had brought were very fresh, and Qing Mengzhu cooked them for lunch.

Tan Wenlei's vegetables really did taste excellent, especially the eggplants. They were soft, tender, and flavorful, completely unlike the rock-hard ones from the supermarket.

Qing Mengzhu had never understood why eggplant was one of the three ingredients in disanxian, but now he understood completely.

If the vegetables were this good, he would be willing to eat vegetarian meals every day.

After eating Tan Wenlei's vegetables, Qing Mengzhu made a point of thanking him when they ran into each other in the fields.

Tan Wenlei was quite pleased to see that Qing Mengzhu liked them. "See? I told you my vegetables were good."

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "They really are."

Tan Wenlei said, "Your vegetables look like they're growing well too. I reckon they'll be even better than mine."

Qing Mengzhu readily promised, "Once mine are ready to eat, I'll bring you some."

Tan Wenlei was puzzled. "Aren't your vegetables ready to eat yet?"

Qing Mengzhu shook his head. "My eggplants and chili peppers haven't even flowered yet, and I've only just put up supports for the yardlong bean vines to climb. I reckon it'll be at least another ten days or so before I can eat vegetables from my garden."

Qing Mengzhu had returned to the village relatively late, so he had planted his vegetables late too.

The villagers had covered their fields with plastic mulch and put up greenhouses to start growing vegetables in February, while he had only just returned and begun preparing the soil in April.

With a two-month difference in planting time, there would probably be a one- to two-month difference in ripening time as well.

Tan Wenlei understood and shook his head. "Don't just look at the fruit. You can eat the greens too. You can pinch off pea shoots and pumpkin shoots. They're best when they're tender, better than anything you can buy."

"In that case," Qing Mengzhu said, "I've already started cutting my water spinach. It really does taste better than vegetables from the store."

Tan Wenlei said, "We grow the vegetables we eat ourselves the proper way. We don't force them to ripen, spray them with pesticides, or grow fast-growing varieties. We even make our own compost. How could they not be good?"