Chapter 184
Duan Yu'ang's men arrived quickly, just as Qing Mengzhu finished cutting the bamboo, trimming the branches, and dragging it down the mountain. Duan Yu'ang's men were already waiting below.
The handover went smoothly, Duan Yu'ang's men took the bamboo back with them. The money from selling the bamboo was quickly transferred to them.
The bamboo forest was filled with "Superior Grade+" bamboo shoots, Qing Mengzhu was delighted, a smile constantly on her face.
Everyone could tell he was in a good mood just by looking at him.
The next morning, Ming Chunxi went up the mountain with Qing Mengzhu before going to work, intending to take a look at the bamboo shoots of "Superior Grade+".
Qing Mengzhu led the way for Ming Chunxi: "It's right here. It's a pity there are only four. If only there were more, we could try the 'Superior Grade' bamboo shoots."
Ming Chunxi: "It will happen sooner or later."
As she said this, Ming Chunxi went forward to look and quickly noticed something was wrong. "These bamboo shoots seem to be the same as they were yesterday."
Ming Chunxi didn't say anything, Qing Mengzhu hadn't even noticed yet. "Hmm? Let me see."
Qing Mengzhu went to check, and he found that after a day, the bamboo shoots didn't seem to have grown much at all; they were exactly the same as yesterday.
He even pulled up the photos he took yesterday and carefully compared them, finding that there was really no difference between the two.
He frowned and carefully peeled back the bamboo leaves on the bamboo shoot, intending to get a better look.
After peeling back the bamboo leaves, the bamboo shoots were still small and showed little sign of growth.
Qing Mengzhu looked up at the bamboo and muttered, "Really? It's already summer, how come they're still like winter bamboo shoots?"
Winter bamboo shoots grow very slowly.
No, these bamboo shoots are growing even slower than winter bamboo shoots, which don't remain unchanged even after a day.
Ming Chunxi pondered, "Could it be that because the quality of the bamboo shoots has improved, the surrounding environment can't provide them with enough nutrients, causing their growth rate to be slower and requiring more time to accumulate nutrients?"
Qing Mengzhu: "That's possible. Let me bring up some more fertilizer and see."
Ming Chunxi kicked the bamboo leaves beside her. "We've already fertilized it, won't fertilizing it again burn the roots?"
Qing Mengzhu: "It shouldn't matter too much, let's try it first. Never mind, we'll just use the fertilizer from the Interstellar Mall."
Qing Mengzhu spoke, she retrieved the fertilizer they had previously purchased from her personal center, dug a hole next to the bamboo shoots, and fertilized all four bamboo shoots and the mother bamboo.
Seeing his slight dejection, Ming Chunxi patted his head and said, "Don't worry, high-quality plants do need more time to grow. It might not be a lack of fertilizer; it's just that their natural growth cycle is longer."
Qing Mengzhu: "That's possible. Never mind, I'll go down and fetch some Spirit Spring Water to water them later. Let's do our best and leave the rest to fate."
While Qing Mengzhu was busy planting bamboo, he and Ming Chunxi took a look at the cowshed on their way down the mountain and found that the hay in the cowshed had basically not been touched.
The haystacks piled up yesterday look the same as they do today.
Qing Mengzhu was puzzled. "Why hasn't the fodder changed? But it's drunk a lot more water."
Ming Chunxi went to check the intelligent system in the cowshed. "They came back to rest last night, and only came out of the cowshed around eight o'clock this morning."
Qing Mengzhu picked up a water chestnut leaf and smelled it. "Then why aren't they eating the fodder? These water chestnut leaves smell quite nice. They're genuine grasses, and the quality is 'Good Grade+'. They should be quite popular, and they're not even particularly old leaves."
Ming Chunxi was also puzzled. "Do they prefer to eat the pasture grass on the mountain?"
Qing Mengzhu: "The weeds on the mountain may not be of 'Good Grade+' quality. Even if they like to eat weeds, they wouldn't just ignore these fodders if they were right under their noses, would they?"
Ming Chunxi: "Judging from the surveillance footage, they don't seem to be sick."
Qing Mengzhu: "Then there must be something on the mountain. You go to work first, I'll go find those cows and see what's going on."
It was almost time for work, Ming Chunxi couldn't afford to delay any longer, so she put her arm around his shoulder and said, "I'll go to work first. If anything comes up, just let me know, and I'll ask for leave to come back if needed."
Qing Mengzhu urged him, "Go ahead, everything should be fine. I'll call you directly if there are any problems."
Ming Chunxi went to work soon after, Qing Mengzhu went down the mountain to call for the Dharma Protector and Guard.
He was going to take his two dogs to look for the family's cow and see what was going on.
Chapter 184
The Dharma Protector and Guard were already clever, but after eating too much of the jerky Qing Mengzhu bought from the Interstellar Mall, they became even cleverer.
Qing Mengzhu called to them, and they ran up to Qing Mengzhu in a hurry, panting heavily with their tongues hanging out.
Qing Mengzhu patted the back of their necks one by one. "Take me to find the cows at home."
Both dogs turned to look at him, and after a moment, they seemed to realize what he meant and barked loudly, "Woof!"
The two dogs sniffed the ground, leading Qing Mengzhu forward.
Qing Mengzhu followed behind, watching them sniff around as they went, seemingly quite certain which way the herd had gone.
The two dogs sniffed and led the way, crossing half a mountain. Qing Mengzhu was so tired that he was sweating profusely when he finally heard some movement ahead.
He was almost certain that the cows were just ahead.
Qing Mengzhu quickened her pace and hurried toward the direction from which the sound came.
The two dogs no longer needed to lead the way; they walked beside him, and even trotted along when they were in a hurry.
After running for more than a hundred meters, Qing Mengzhu finally saw the silhouette of a cow in the bamboo forest ahead—their cow was a yellow ox, which was quite conspicuous in the bamboo forest.
Qing Mengzhu couldn't help but exclaim in surprise upon seeing the ox.
What surprised Qing Mengzhu was not that the ox was right in front of him, but that his ox did something completely unexpected!
--A calf actually used its front hooves to hold onto a bamboo stalk, bending it with its own weight, while the other cows ran ahead to nibble on the bamboo leaves!
Cloud Mirror Bamboo belongs to the Nan bamboo family. As a type of luxuriant bamboo, it grows very tall, with mature bamboo reaching more than ten meters in height. The part of the bamboo culm close to the ground does not grow branches at all, only at the top. The bamboo crown is at least five or six meters above the ground.
Because the bamboo crown is quite far from the ground, Qing Mengzhu rarely looked up at it when she had nothing to do, so she didn't notice that the bamboo leaves had been eaten.
These cows are actually eating bamboo leaves!
Bamboo leaves contain relatively few nutrients and have a coarse and hard texture, making them far from being a good source of pasture for cattle.
There are so many weeds on the mountain, the cattle have no shortage of food.
Logically speaking, bamboo leaves shouldn't be on their diet, but for some reason, one cow started eating them.
Qing Mengzhu rushed over to check, and the herd of cattle, startled, quickly ran ahead. The bamboo that had been bent under the weight quickly springed back to its normal shape once it was released.
Only when he looked up could he see that some of the bamboo leaves at the top had been gnawed off.
When cows gnaw on branches and leaves, they usually gnaw on the leaves one by one. After the leaves are eaten, new leaves will grow. So even if he cuts down bamboo, he will not find that the bamboo leaves have been eaten.
With so many insects in the bamboo forest, it's perfectly normal for the bamboo leaves to have been eaten.
Qing Mengzhu stared at the tender leaves above her head, feeling a mix of amusement and exasperation.
He planted so much bamboo but never found that the bamboo leaves could be used as fodder, but this herd of cattle did.
No wonder they don't eat water bamboo leaves; the quality of water bamboo leaves is at best "Good Grade+", and at most "Fine Grade- ".
These bamboo leaves are different. The quality of bamboo leaves from any bamboo plant can be "Superior Grade- ", some are even "Superior Grade", and now there are even "Superior Grade+" bamboo plants. In the future, there will be more and more "Superior Grade+" bamboo plants.
These cattle roaming in the bamboo forest must have plenty of high-quality tender bamboo leaves to eat.
Qing Mengzhu shook his head as he thought about it. No wonder he felt that the cattle were in very good condition recently. Their skin was smooth and shiny, and they were growing very fast. They were only half a year old and already weighed two or three hundred pounds.