Chapter 152

The otter let out a soft "whoosh" and dived to the surface.

The two men guessed it was catching fish underwater, so they patiently waited on the shore, but after waiting for a long time, it still didn't surface.

Zhao Hexi was a little disappointed and was about to say something when Little Otter suddenly appeared, holding up a large clam. "Eek."

"This is for me?" Zhao Hexi reached out and took the clam, a happy smile spreading across his face. "Great, great, thank you, Little Otter."

The otter then dived underwater.

Zhao Hexi examined the river clam from all angles.

Qing Mengzhu glanced at them as well. "They're not as good as the river clams from our pond; they'll probably taste a bit fishy."

Zhao Hexi: "Who cares? This is a gift from Little Otter. As long as it's edible, it's fine."

Qing Mengzhu ignored his blissful expression. "Let's go to the pond later and catch a few more, enough for a dish tonight."

Zhao Hexi: "I'll go touch them, let me touch a few big ones."

Just as they were talking and about to leave the riverbank, the otter emerged from the water again, this time clutching something green in both front paws. "Eek."

Zhao Hexi asked with delight, "Are there any more gifts for us?"

As he spoke, Zhao Hexi squatted down and stretched out his hand to take the thing from the otter's front paw.

The otter only gave him what was in one of its front paws. "Eek."

Zhao Hexi took it and then realized, "Huh, it's water bamboo?"

Their area is crisscrossed by rivers, and many people grow water chestnuts, but the Qing Mengzhu family doesn't.

Qing Mengzhu took the water chestnut from the otter's other front paw. "Perhaps someone upstream was harvesting water chestnuts, and the chestnuts floated down the river and were found by the Little Otter."

Zhao Hexi: "Is it still possible to harvest water bamboo this season?"

Qing Mengzhu: "It should be possible. Besides cultivated water bamboo, there's also some wild water bamboo, which can be harvested year-round. It's just that water bamboo that's out of season is a bit hollow and doesn't taste as good."

The otter gave them four water chestnuts; they'll stir-fry them with some shredded beef later, and that'll be enough for a dish.

Besides water bamboo shoots, they also have fish, and they're going to catch river clams later. That should be enough for dinner.

Zhao Hexi remarked, "Little Otter has planned out tonight's dinner perfectly, saving us the trouble of thinking about it."

Qing Mengzhu stared at the water bamboo shoots thoughtfully. "I was wondering whether to plant water bamboo shoots before, but now that Little Otter has brought them to us, it seems like fate, and I feel we should go with the flow."

Zhao Hexi: "Then let's plant them. We've just rented so much land anyway. Water bamboo is delicious; if we plant some, we won't have to worry about food for years to come."

Qing Mengzhu held the water chestnut, thought for a moment, and then said, "Let's try it tonight first."

Qing Mengzhu was used to sharing fresh food with Ming Chunxi, so they only ate a little at noon, and the water chestnuts were specially prepared for Ming Chunxi to come back in the evening.

In the evening, the three of them ate a simple meal: a steamed fish, a plate of stir-fried bamboo shoots and river clams with two kinds of peppers, a dish of stir-fried beef with water bamboo shoots, and a soup made with pork bones and mulberry leaves.

Everyone sat down at the table to eat, Zhao Hexi asked, "What are the black spots on the water bamboo shoots?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Infected with smut fungus. If water bamboo shoots are not harvested in time, you can see traces of smut fungus inside, but they are still edible."

Zhao Hexi remembered. "Water bamboo shoots only turn into water bamboo shoots after being infected with this fungus, right?"

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "Before infection, it was called wild rice, mainly producing wild rice grains. After infection, its stems swelled up, at the cost of infertility, so it became water chestnut, whose stems are edible."

Zhao Hexi picked up a piece with her chopsticks, tasted it, and commented, "It's quite delicious, and the price seems reasonable. It can sell for four or five yuan per pound now, so it's not a particularly low-end vegetable."

Ming Chunxi: "Should we plant it?"

Qing Mengzhu: "I'm considering it, but I'll probably plant it."

Zhao Hexi: "Let's plant them! I'll go find out where the best water bamboo is, and then we'll buy some seedlings."

Qing Mengzhu: "Alright, it's up to you."

Zhao Hexi: "Don't leave everything to me. I noticed last time when we were planting spring vegetables that the vegetables only turned out well from the seeds you personally selected. If it wasn't seeds you personally selected, they always just weren't quite right."

When they were selecting spring seeds, Qing Mengzhu entrusted Li Ba and his team to select Good Grade suitable for the local area. The seeds they brought back were generally fine; he personally inspected them and found they were all of "Good Grade" or above.

However, the previous crop of cabbage and cauliflower was indeed a bit lacking, failing to differentiate itself from other vegetables on the market. Only tomatoes and radishes stood out, both of which were seedlings personally cultivated by Qing Mengzhu using vegetables from her own garden.

Hearing Zhao Hexi's suggestion Qing Mengzhu agreed without hesitation, "Alright, find some more suitable water bamboo shoots, and I'll personally select them."

Ming Chunxi: "Should we wait until the weekend to go?"

Before Qing Mengzhu could speak, Zhao Hexi said from the side, "Waiting until the weekend is too slow. We'll be busy distributing vegetable packages to the members on the weekend. Let's go in the next couple of days. I know the area well, and I guarantee I can find you a bunch of good water chestnut seedlings."

Since her date with Ming Chunxi was canceled, Qing Mengzhu could only say, "Then let's do it in the next couple of days. Get it done first and then contact me."

Zhao Hexi was quite efficient when he got to work. The next day, he went to Qing Mengzhu and said that he had found several villages that grew water chestnuts and that they all knew how to raise and sell seedlings. He suggested that they go and visit the villages and talk to whichever one they liked.

Qing Mengzhu: "Okay, shall we drive there?"

Zhao Hexi: "It's not convenient to drive around the village, is it? I'll give you a ride on my electric scooter."

Qing Mengzhu couldn't help but say, "You'd better watch out, or you might get chased by a dog."

Zhao Hexi: "It's alright, at worst I'll just drive faster, the dog shouldn't be able to catch up. If all else fails, I'll call the Dharma Protector and Guard over to get their scent on us. Those two are practically dog kings, with them protecting us, other dogs shouldn't dare to chase us."

Qing Mengzhu sighed, "Alright, let's go out and do some research."

Chapter 152

April is the perfect time for spring. The sun shines warmly, the spring breeze is gentle, and the mountains, forests, and fields are covered in shades of green, a sight that is truly delightful.

Qing Mengzhu would have been in a better mood if she hadn't been sitting on the back of the electric scooter enjoying the view.

Not only did he hunch over and sit on the back seat, but the person riding the electric scooter kept nagging from the front. "Mengzhu, you've already looked at water chestnut seedlings from four villages, and you still haven't found one you like?"

Qing Mengzhu: "It's not that we haven't found anything we like. We'll take another look later, and if it doesn't work out, we'll go back and choose again."

Zhao Hexi understood. "You've prepared a few backup options, right? How many in total?"

Qing Mengzhu: "There's only one."

Qing Mengzhu inspected so many water bamboo shoots, and only one met the "Good Grade+" quality standard. He even scanned them with the Mall Assistant 'Mall Assistant, which showed that the scanned water bamboo shoots were still 82% short of meeting the "Fine Grade- " quality standard.

He was not satisfied with the result and wanted to see if there were any other water bamboo seedlings later that could be of higher quality.

Zhao Hexi rode the electric bike very fast, the wind whistling past and blowing their clothes backward.

Qing Mengzhu was wearing a helmet, so she could see her surroundings quite clearly.

He quickly tugged at Zhao Hexi's sleeve. "Go check out that field on the right; the water chestnut seedlings there should be quite good."

Zhao Hexi glanced to the side, then gripped the handlebars of the electric scooter and turned. "Okay, I'm going now."

Water bamboo and Rice are closely related and have similar planting requirements.

As they rode by, they could see patches of paddy fields cleared up along the roadside. Under the sunlight and shadows of the clouds, the water chestnuts lying horizontally in the fields had sprouted new shoots—this was this year's water chestnut seedling.

Water bamboo shoots are formed from wild rice infected with smut fungus. After infection, it can no longer produce seeds, so in most cases, farmers use the stems harvested the previous year to cultivate seedlings.

Remove the withered leaves from the stems and lay them horizontally in the paddy field. The stems, like bamboo, will sprout new leaves at the nodes and roots will grow from the bottom.

When planting, cut these segmented stems into several sections, keeping the newly sprouted branches, leaves and roots in each section, and then bury them in the field to plant.