Chapter 218

This year they fermented cow dung, and the quality of the dung was excellent, reaching "Superior Grade".

Qing Mengzhu used new cow dung fertilizer on the bamboo, hoping to improve its quality once again.

Unfortunately, after a period of observation, the bamboo showed no improvement, and its quality showed no signs of improvement whatsoever.

After thinking for a moment, Ming Chunxi said to Qing Mengzhu, "Let's go up the mountain to dig bamboo."

Qing Mengzhu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a little more relaxed. "I knew you would support me."

Ming Chunxi: "You've been the one making all the decisions, which is why we've gotten to where we are today. If we don't support you, who else should we support?"

Without delay, they grabbed chainsaws and hoes and headed up the mountain.

The bamboo has been growing for over a year, and the rhizomes at the bottom are thick, long, and sturdy. If they didn't have chainsaws, they might not have been able to cut these rhizomes in a short time by hand.

The mother bamboo grows in the best location on the mountain. Qing Mengzhu did not plant any other bamboo around it, so that it could absorb the maximum amount of sunlight and rain.

It did not waste the sunshine and rain, nor the fertilizer and Spirit Spring Water that Qing Mengzhu buried. After more than a year of growth, it grew lush and verdant, like an open little umbrella.

Anyone who comes to see it can tell from its branches and leaves that it is growing very well.

Unfortunately, this lush, umbrella-like bamboo stalk will be dug up today so that it can grow back.

Qing Mengzhu tapped the smooth, jade-like outer skin of the mother bamboo, feeling very reluctant. "I hope you can be strong. After being soaked in the Seed Gene Agent, you will quickly grow new branches and leaves, continue to grow lush and verdant, and your quality will be even better."

While Qing Mengzhu was still grieving, Ming Chunxi listened intently for a while and asked, "Isn't the sound from inside the bamboo a little off? It sounds like there's water inside."

Qing Mengzhu hadn't noticed this before. She tapped the bamboo again before confirming, "It really is! There's water inside. We forgot to tap it the last few times."

Ming Chunxi: "It's not that we forgot, it's that we subconsciously ignored it. After all, even if there was water inside, we couldn't possibly cut it down just to get the water, so we deliberately didn't knock it down."

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, its existence is far more important than the water inside."

Qing Mengzhu was initially a little sad, reluctant to cut down the mother bamboo that had been with them for so long, but now that she knew there was bamboo joint water inside, she was no longer sad.

Although they have to cut down the mother bamboo, they can collect fresh bamboo stem water to make tea again.

The tea brewed with water from bamboo joints was so fragrant; Qing Mengzhu still remembers it fondly.

"Come on," Qing Mengzhu said, patting the bamboo with great enthusiasm. "Let's start cutting. Later, we'll collect the bamboo joint water, and then we'll use it to make fresh bamboo sap. It's the best quality, and the resulting fresh bamboo sap is quite good."

Ming Chunxi raised her head slightly. "After boiling the fresh bamboo sap, will we use it to boil bamboo vinegar?"

Qing Mengzhu: "That works too. It's perfect timing, as we need bamboo vinegar in the spring. After boiling the bamboo vinegar, we can make bamboo charcoal from it, and use the bamboo leaves to feed the cattle. Such good bamboo shouldn't be wasted."

While they were talking, they had already cut down the mother bamboo, leaving only a very short bamboo tube.

In a little while, they will dig up this bamboo tube, which is more than 50 centimeters long, along with its roots, and then soak the roots in water mixed with Seed Gene Agent.

With chainsaws, they could cut bamboo very quickly.

They dug out the mother bamboo in just over an hour.

After digging up the mother bamboo, the bamboo pits on the ground were large and deep, with dense bamboo rhizomes on the sides, just like blood vessels in the soil.

The bamboo tube, only about fifty centimeters long with a little bit of bamboo root, is surprisingly heavy.

Qing Mengzhu held it in her hand and weighed it for a moment, then said to Ming Chunxi, "It's like it's made of iron."

Ming Chunxi looked at the cross-section of the bamboo tube. "Its texture is too dense; it's not surprising that it's like metal. You lift the bamboo tube, and I'll drag the bamboo down."

Qing Mengzhu: "Okay, I'll switch hands with you when you're tired."

With Ming Chunxi's current physical strength, dragging such a bamboo tube was nothing to him. He dragged the bamboo tube from the top of the mountain to the bottom, and then drove the pickup truck back home. Qing Mengzhu didn't need to take over at all.

Qing Mengzhu hugged the bamboo tube with its roots still attached and carefully carried it home.

The bamboo has just been dug up, and even after most of the rhizomes have been removed, it is still very vigorous.

Qing Mengzhu planned to prepare the Seed Gene Agent solution as soon as possible and soak the seed in it, lest it lose its vitality if it was too late.

As soon as Qing Mengzhu entered the courtyard, she opened the Interstellar Mall to check the instructions for using the Seed Gene Agent —such an expensive product must be used strictly according to the instructions to avoid waste.

Unexpectedly, when he opened the Interstellar Mall, he found that it had changed again; the Mall Assistant at the bottom was different.

Qing Mengzhu quickly called to Ming Chunxi beside her, "Chunxi, come and see! It seems our recent spending has been quite high, and the Star-Rated Mall has given us a year's worth of access to their premium Mall Assistant!"

Ming Chunxi strode over. "Let me see. What's the difference between the senior assistant and the previous intermediate assistant?"

Qing Mengzhu is now a mid-level member of the Interstellar Mall. His Mall Assistant has been upgraded since the beginning, and he can now view the effective components of a substance and the progress of a crop in accumulating effective components to reach the next grade.

Although the Mall Assistant sometimes blocks certain things from them, and when it encounters content it doesn't want to disclose, it will directly give them a completely unfamiliar term that leaves them confused, overall, the intermediate-level Mall Assistant is still very useful.

Ming Chunxi looked at her phone.

Qing Mengzhu opened it for him to see. "Here is a table explaining the differences between the two versions of the Mall Assistant."

Ming Chunxi compared them carefully for a while. "It's more intelligent now; you can talk to it directly and ask it about planting."

Qing Mengzhu: "It looks like an AI Mall Assistant?"

As soon as Qing Mengzhu finished speaking, a small, glowing icon appeared in the Interstellar Mall. The icon enlarged slightly, and a pleasant female voice said, "I'm here."

Qing Mengzhu: "... How is this any different from our mobile phone assistant?"

Ming Chunxi: "Perhaps it knows more? Ask it how to prepare the Seed Gene Agent, what temperature of water to use, how much water to add, whether to add the water first or the Seed Gene Agent first, and what the most important things to pay attention to are?"

The Mall Assistant said, "Since you are the second user of the Interstellar Mall, I can answer you now. The most important thing to pay attention to with Seed Gene Agent is the quality of the water used for preparation. The higher the water quality, the better the effect. Sometimes, it can even break through limitations and directly improve the seed quality by one grade. Different qualities of water require different temperatures and dosages."

Ming Chunxi: "For example, using high-quality Spirit Spring Water?"

Qing Mengzhu, exclaimed to the Mall Assistant, "For example, using bamboo-joint water?!"

Their voices rang out simultaneously.

The Mall Assistant waited until they finished speaking before saying, "You can use higher-quality Spirit Spring Water. Compared to Spirit Spring Water produced from spirit stones, bamboo-joint water is a higher-quality 'Spirit Spring Water,' meaning it is Spirit Spring Water in a broader sense."

Qing Mengzhu was surprised that it actually worked. She and Ming Chunxi exchanged a glance, both looking surprised.

Qing Mengzhu composed herself. "Bamboo water seems to contain nutrients like polysaccharides and amino acids. Won't that cause any problems?"

Mall Assistant: "Used to prepare Seed Gene Agent, it will not cause interference."

Chapter 218

Qing Mengzhu and the others had never used Seed Gene Agent before, but with the upgraded version of the Mall Assistant, the process of using it went relatively smoothly.

After clarifying the scope and techniques for using Seed Gene Agent, Qing Mengzhu once again pulled Ming Chunxi up the mountain to fetch bamboo-joint water.

They are very familiar with the bamboo forest and know roughly which bamboos have sap nodes, so harvesting them is not difficult now.

However, Qing Mengzhu specifically selected higher-quality bamboo during the harvesting process. Higher-quality bamboo has better water content in its joints, which helps to stimulate the Seed Gene Agent to produce better results.