Chapter 17

After returning home, Qing Mengzhu cut the lotus shoots he had picked into diamond-shaped pieces and blanched them briefly. Then he packed them into sealed jars free of oil and water and added wild chili peppers, making two jars of pickled lotus shoots.

The following evening, when Ming Chunxi was heading home, Qing Mengzhu packed the two jars of pickled lotus shoots for him to take back, saying they were for Auntie to try.

Ming Chunxi couldn't refuse, so he took them home.

After Ming Chunxi started working, he didn't actually live at home very often.

Ming Lexin was quite happy to hear he was coming home.

When Ming Lexin heard a sound from the garage, she went to the elevator herself to wait for him. "How did you enjoy yourself these past two days? What are you carrying?"

Ming Chunxi handed the bag to Ming Lexin. "Pickled lotus shoots from Mengzhu."

Ming Lexin took it and looked inside. "Oh, I haven't had these in ages. The lotus shoots you buy never taste quite right."

Ming Chunxi walked past his mother to wash his hands. "The lotus shoots Mengzhu grew should be to your taste. They're delicious."

Ming Lexin was delighted. "It isn't easy to get that kind of praise from you. How should we eat them?"

Ming Chunxi said, "Stir-fry them with beef. That's how we ate them at Mengzhu's."

Ming Lexin smiled. "All right, I'll have Auntie give it a try."

Ming Lexin took the pickled lotus shoots to Auntie in the kitchen. When she came out, Ming Chunxi had just finished washing his hands.

She waved Ming Chunxi over to sit on the sofa. "How's Mengzhu doing? Why did he suddenly change careers? I heard things weren't going well at his previous job?"

Ming Chunxi said, "His former boss did have rather poor morals and professional standards, but that wasn't why he changed careers."

Ming Lexin asked, "Then what was the reason?"

Ming Chunxi said, "His ambition lies in agriculture, and he has a talent for it."

Ming Lexin was astonished. A young man who had grown up in the city and whose previous career had nothing to do with agriculture had a talent for it?

Ming Chunxi's eyes flickered as he nodded earnestly at Ming Lexin. "He's extremely talented. Given time, he'll definitely become a renowned figure in agriculture."

Ming Lexin thought for a moment and smiled. "That's wonderful."

Ming Chunxi gently patted his mother's shoulder. "Don't worry about him. He knows what he's doing."

Qing Mengzhu knew nothing about the conversation between mother and son.

He simply received a WeChat message from Ming Lexin before going to bed.

Ming Lexin said the lotus shoots were incredibly delicious and had amazed her. She thanked him for the pickled lotus shoots and wished him success in making a name for himself in agriculture soon.

Receiving a blessing from an elder was a pleasant surprise, but Qing Mengzhu still found it a little hard to believe.

Ming Lexin wasn't the kind of person who would go out of her way to message someone younger and encourage them.

Qing Mengzhu quietly asked Ming Chunxi: [Did Auntie really like the pickled lotus shoots I sent?]

Ming Chunxi replied quickly: [She loved them. She's on a diet, but she even mixed the sauce from the stir-fried beef and pickled lotus shoots with her rice and cleaned her plate.]

Qing Mengzhu: [That's the highest praise a grower can receive. I'll send Auntie more next time!]

Ming Chunxi: [Send lotus roots next time. The shoots are too small. It's a shame to harvest them now.]

Qing Mengzhu, who already had a batch of fertilizer nearly finished fermenting, was full of confidence: [It's fine. More will grow after I pick them. The lotus shoots I grow will definitely do well!]

Qing Mengzhu: [There are other vegetables too. I'll send you some when I harvest them. Just wait and enjoy them.]

Ming Chunxi: [All right, sorry for the trouble.]

Author's note:

See you tomorrow!

Chapter 17

After this period of growth, not only had the lotus shoots in the pond grown, but the vegetables in Qing Mengzhu's field were also flourishing.

Qing Mengzhu stood in the vegetable patch, watering the plants.

Tan Wenlei strolled over. "How exactly do you grow your vegetables? How come they grow so fast?"

Qing Mengzhu glanced over them. "Fast?"

His eggplants, beans, pumpkins and the like had only just started flowering. It would take at least another half month for them to bear fruit.

Tan Wenlei said, "Of course! Look how lush they are. You can't eat them all fast enough, can you?"

Tan Wenlei lifted his chin toward Qing Mengzhu's amaranth, chives, water spinach and other vegetables, then looked at the cucumbers, cowpeas and tomatoes that had already begun to bear fruit. "You don't have to buy vegetables anymore, do you?"

Qing Mengzhu said, "That's true. But didn't yours start bearing fruit a while ago? I had a look the other day, and the branches were nearly bending under the weight."

With enough fertilizer and water, modern vegetable plants bore a surprising amount of produce.

Before Qing Mengzhu started growing vegetables, he had never imagined they could bear so much.

If he weren't selling vegetables to the Interstellar Mall now, even ten of him couldn't have eaten everything from this half-mu-plus patch.

Tan Wenlei was also quite pleased with how his own vegetables were doing. "It's a good year, and I've taken good care of them. The yield really is high."

Qing Mengzhu smiled. "Your earnings are high this year too, I bet?"

Tan Wenlei said, "Not really. When vegetables are plentiful, prices aren't as high. I was thinking of having my wife come back and grow vegetables with me, but looking at things now, we'd better forget it."

Tan Wenlei's son and daughter were both in college, and it was a time when they needed money. His wife had gone to Vine City to work as a nanny, leaving him to farm at home alone, doing essentially the work of two people.

Qing Mengzhu knew roughly what his family's situation was and said, "Vegetable prices are a little low this year, but all things considered, you're still earning more than in previous years."

Tan Wenlei said, "That's true. It's just harder work."

Qing Mengzhu reassured him. "It'll be better once you get through this stretch. If you need help, just give me a shout. I'm doing all right lately, not too busy."

Tan Wenlei said, "Hey, I've found two more buyers recently. If I can't keep up, I might really need you to lend a hand sometime."

Qing Mengzhu said, "No problem."

After chatting with Qing Mengzhu for a bit, Tan Wenlei happily went off to work in his own fields.

Once Qing Mengzhu finished watering, he took a sickle and cut some vegetables.

All the leafy greens could be cut, and they would grow back afterward.

Vegetables like pumpkin blossoms, pumpkin shoots and pea shoots could also be picked.

Pumpkin blossoms in particular came in male and female varieties. Once the female blossoms had been pollinated, the male ones could be picked and stir-fried or deep-fried. Qing Mengzhu picked a big handful every day.

After cutting the vegetables and taking them home, Qing Mengzhu would pick out the best and tenderest to keep for himself and sell the rest to the Interstellar Mall, earning five or six star coins a day.

After selling them, he could put the vegetables straight into the compost bin. A few days later, liquid fertilizer would come out, which he could dilute with water and use to fertilize the vegetables, helping them produce an even bigger harvest.

With so many vegetables at home, Qing Mengzhu also picked out the older ones that wouldn't fetch a good price, chopped them up and mixed them with grain to feed the ducks.

His ducks usually ate insects and lotus leaves in the pond, enough to half fill their bellies each day. In the evening, he gave them a meal of grain mixed with vegetables, and they ate their fill.

The ducks ate plenty, got to play in the water every day and were in good spirits. Over time, they grew very quickly.

By now, all the ducks had shed their down and become half-grown, each weighing more than half a jin.

Before long, this batch of ducks would be ready to eat.

That morning, after watering the chili peppers and vegetables, Mengzhu cut some vegetables, carried them home and sold them to the Interstellar Mall. Then he took the chopped vegetables to the compost bin behind the house.

After adding them to the compost, he went to turn and air out the fertilizer he was fermenting with fertilizer fermentation powder, just as he usually did.

As soon as he lifted the lid off the large vat, he noticed that the fertilizer inside had changed.

When he had turned it the day before, the fertilizer had still been watery, with lots of liquid seeping out. Today, it had become almost paste-like, and he couldn't distinguish the solids from the liquid.

He stuck a wooden pole into the vat and stirred, feeling considerable resistance.

Almost immediately, Qing Mengzhu realized what had happened—the fertilizer had finished fermenting.

The realization filled Qing Mengzhu with a surge of excitement.

He immediately pulled out his phone, opened the Interstellar Mall and used the mall assistant to scan the batch of fertilizer.

"Beep, beep-"