Chapter 183

Qing Mengzhu stroked the red fox. "Brother Zhou, you get up late, we get off work early, there are advantages to both."

Zhao Hexi then took out a watermelon he had specially saved and cut it up. "Brother Zhou, come and eat some watermelon first. The watermelon I bought today is especially sweet. I just soaked it in the well, so it tastes just right now."

Zhou Yan asked in surprise, "Why put it in the well?"

Zhao Hexi pointed and said, "Just open the lid, take a small bucket, and lower it into the well."

For safety reasons, the well in Qing Mengzhu's family is usually covered with a well cover and locked with a lock. Pumping water is done entirely by an electric water pump.

However, his well still has a wellhead, and he can open the well cover to use it when needed.

Zhou Yan sat down to eat watermelon and indeed found it to be cool, sweet, and refreshing, with a unique flavor.

Qing Mengzhu also brewed him tea, which made the watermelon taste even better with the tea.

Zhou Yan remarked with a sigh, "Luckily, I don't have insomnia, and I can fall asleep after drinking tea, otherwise I wouldn't be able to enjoy this tea."

Qing Mengzhu laughed, "If you have insomnia, I'll give you a different tea next time."

Zhou Yan: "No, just follow this specification. When I passed by, I saw that your tea seedlings seemed to have already sprouted leaves. Can they be transplanted now?"

Qing Mengzhu: "It's almost done. I've already sent someone to Zhaiqian Village to keep an eye on things. Once they've dug the tea pits and prepared the soil, we can transplant these seedlings there."

Qing Mengzhu couldn't possibly use Soil Fertility Restoration Agent on the Zhaiqian Village, but transporting some fertilizer there to improve the soil structure was still possible.

Once the conditions are right and technician Zhou Minyue arrives, we can start planting tea.

Chapter 183

With today's advanced logistics, the silage fermentation powder that Qing Mengzhu bought arrived on the third day.

The deliveryman, Qing Pingdun, asked curiously, "Brother Mengzhu, do you need fermented feed?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes."

Qing Pingdun: "Feeding the cattle?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Both beef and goose are edible, and a little hazel grouse is also acceptable."

Qing Pingdun stared at the baking powder curiously. "It looks pretty good."

After the silage baking powder arrived, Qing Mengzhu poured it out and replaced it with baking powder she bought from the Interstellar Mall.

From the outside, there is no difference between the two.

After the exchange, he directly asked the company for a few employees, and they mixed the chopped water chestnut leaves with baking powder, then put them into large plastic bags, manually vacuumed the plastic bags, piled them under the eaves of the backyard, and covered them with a dense canvas to let them ferment quietly.

Just like sauerkraut, silage also needs a certain amount of time to ferment. They're piled up here and will be used more than a month later.

--If needed at that time.

If there is still enough pasture at that time and this batch of silage is not needed, it can be used in winter.

They had a lot of water bamboo leaves this time, and instead of using them all, they set aside some to let the cattle try.

This year, they fed their cattle all sorts of feed, from mulberry leaves to milkvetch, and now water chestnut leaves. Qing Mengzhu discovered that their cattle are quite picky eaters, preferring high-quality feed.

The water bamboo leaves are of good quality; their cattle should like them.

Qing Mengzhu drove a tricycle to transport water chestnut leaves down the mountain, where they were carried up the mountain by hand.

As he carried it on his back, he wiped the sweat from his brow and thought to himself, "Next time I can just lead the ox down and carry the feed up."

When they bought the calf in February, the calf was already three months old. Now in June, the calf is more than six months old and has become a half-grown calf. It can't carry heavy things, but it can carry light things like feed.

Otherwise, it would be too tiring for them to carry everything up the mountain by hand every time.

Qing Mengzhu spent more than ten minutes carrying the feed to the cowshed and then distributed some to the feed trough.

The feed in the feed trough was clean and fragrant, the water trough next to it was full of Spirit Spring Water, and there was still more than half a salt brick left in the salt trough on the other side, so there was no need to replenish it for the time being.

The cowshed had been cleaned by the intelligent system, and the cow manure had been piled up behind the cowshed; everything was in good order.

Qing Mengzhu sat outside to rest, a cool breeze blowing from the bamboo forest.

With such a mighty mountain wind blowing, all fatigue dissipated. Looking at the bamboo forest in front of her, Qing Mengzhu felt quite proud of these tall bamboos with a color as green as jade.

After resting for a while, Qing Mengzhu stood up and went to inspect the bamboo forest.

They had just fertilized the bamboo, and it was growing very well, with lush foliage.

As Qing Mengzhu inspected the area, she took out sticky notes to mark the spots. Some of the old bamboo could be cut down, and these old bamboos would be sold to Pei Guangjian or Duan Yu'ang, thus freeing up space for new bamboo to grow.

There are plenty of bamboo shoots in the summer. We just sold a large batch of bamboo shoots to the Interstellar Mall. They will try their best to preserve the remaining bamboo shoots, and many new bamboo shoots should grow during this period.

The bamboo shoots and new bamboo in the bamboo forest are better than the older batches, and their quality has basically reached "Superior Grade." Many bamboos are only 40 to 50 percent away from "Superior Grade" in terms of material accumulation.

Qing Mengzhu estimates that this winter or next spring, all the newly grown bamboo will be of "Superior Grade".

Qing Mengzhu went to see the three Space Bamboo that Duan Yu'ang and the others had sent over. Space Bamboo grows relatively slowly, and its quality has not yet improved; it is still only of "Fine Grade" quality.

However, their mutated bamboo has grown lush and verdant, so it seems that they can cut bamboo branches and cultivate another batch of bamboo seedlings in the near future.

Currently, about 80 acres of land in the bamboo forest have been treated with soil fertility Soil Fertility Restoration Agent. The bamboo in these areas has grown significantly better and is closer to "Superior Grade".

The bamboo worms and newly grown bamboo fungus on the bamboo are of better quality than those on the bottom.

Qing Mengzhu examined and collected information simultaneously.

When he got to the mother bamboo, he was surprised to find that its quality had improved further, now reaching "Superior Grade+", a faster rate of improvement than he had imagined.

He thought that the quality of the mother bamboo would only reach "Superior Grade+" by autumn and winter.

The mother bamboo was the bamboo he initially bought from the Interstellar Mall; it was of "Superior Grade" quality when he bought it.

Later, they kept cutting branches from the mother bamboo to cultivate new bamboo. Because they cut too many branches, and because the soil wasn't properly prepared at the beginning, the quality of the mother bamboo dropped to "Superior Grade -", and it took them a long time to recover.

It's not surprising that the mother bamboo reached the "Superior Grade+" quality standard. What surprised Qing Mengzhu was that the mother bamboo rhizome produced a total of four bamboo shoots of varying sizes, all of which were of "Superior Grade+" quality.

If we wait for them to grow into bamboo, along with the mother bamboo, there will immediately be five "Superior Grade+" bamboos in the bamboo forest.

Then bamboo produces bamboo shoots, and bamboo shoots become bamboo, continuing endlessly. Perhaps by autumn, the bamboo shoots they eat will mainly be "Superior Grade+" bamboo shoots.

Qing Mengzhu thought about it and specially took a picture of these bamboo shoots with her phone, then sent it to Ming Chunxi, telling him that there were four "Superior Grade+" bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest.

Ming Chunxi quickly replied: [I only saw three, where is the fourth one?]

Qing Mengzhu found the fourth bamboo shoot in the picture, circled it in red, and sent it to Ming Chunxi: [This one is relatively small.]

Ming Chunxi: [So small, not much bigger than a thumb.]

Qing Mengzhu gestured with her hand near the bamboo shoot and said to Ming Chunxi, "[It's about two fingers wide. Bamboo shoots grow very quickly; they'll be bigger by tomorrow.]"

Ming Chunxi: [Great! Should we cut down the nearby bamboo to make room for these bamboo shoots to grow?]

Qing Mengzhu: [Yes, I'll go to the cowshed later and get a small chainsaw to cut it down. The cut bamboo will then be given to Boss Duan others.]

Qing Mengzhu chatted with Ming Chunxi for a few minutes, then went to the cowshed at the foot of the mountain to find a small chainsaw.

He called Duan Yu'ang and told him, and Duan Yu'ang quickly said he would send someone to take the bamboo away.

Qing Mengzhu told Duan Yu'ang's men to wait at the foot of the mountain, and he would carry the bamboo down.