Chapter 251

Qing Mengzhu even specially cut down two bamboo stalks with water still attached to their joints, intending to take them back later to make tea.

The bamboo has been cut down; the afternoon sun is shining brightly and warmly.

Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi were building a bamboo frame in the backyard to dry cured meat and mustard greens.

A red fox, an otter, and two dogs were sunbathing nearby. They've probably been hanging out together for a long time, and their behaviors are becoming more and more similar.

Now each little one is curled up in a circle, with their head turned towards their belly, fast asleep.

When Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi were talking nearby, their thick, furry ears would twitch and perk up quietly to listen, even the otters did the same.

The otter's ears are round and look particularly small. It takes much more effort for it to shake them than for a dog or a red fox, but it still enjoys it immensely, which looks especially adorable.

Qing Mengzhu and the others strung the cured meat together with rye straw, hung it on bamboo poles, and let it dry in the sun.

After hanging it up, Qing Mengzhu took off her gloves and patted the Dharma Protector's head. "I'm entrusting the cured meat to you. Take good care of it and don't let the bugs and birds eat it."

Dharma Protector: "Woof woof!"

Qing Mengzhu casually touched the other three little ones; at this moment, they should be treated equally.

Ming Chunxi also came over, took off his gloves, and patted the backs of the four little ones.

The little ones were sleeping so soundly that Qing Mengzhu looked at them and felt a little sleepy herself, wanting to go back to sleep.

Just as Qing Mengzhu was yawning and walking home, his cell phone rang, clearly indicating that a message had been sent.

Qing Mengzhu took out her phone and glanced at it casually.

Unexpectedly, the person who sent the message was Duan Yu'ang.

Duan Yu'ang sent over a news article, followed by a row of thumbs-up emojis.

Qing Mengzhu stopped in her tracks. "Huh?"

Ming Chunxi: "What's wrong?"

Qing Mengzhu: "It seems Boss Duan has sent us some very exciting news."

As she spoke, Qing Mengzhu clicked on the news and murmured, "It seems to be related to bamboo."

The two opened the news to read.

[Global Debut: Huaxia's "Pengyao 09" Spacecraft Makes its Debut, Aerospace-Grade Special Bamboo Ushers in a New Era of Spaceflight!]

The title was clear enough for Qing Mengzhu to understand what the news was about. He suppressed his excitement and continued reading.

[... Bamboo-based nanocomposites... successfully reduced structural mass by 27% and increased temperature resistance by 300℃, breaking the long-standing contradiction of "lightweight - high temperature resistance - high strength" in the aerospace field, marking that my country has reached the world's top level in the application of new materials...]

[... Extra-long bamboo fibers extracted from aerospace-grade specialty bamboo... Discarded components made from this material can completely degrade in the natural environment, solving the problem of spacecraft debris pollution...]

Qing Mengzhu read line by line, her eyes quickly extracting keywords.

There were also comments below the news article, totaling over 30,000.

Qing Mengzhu couldn't help but scroll down with her finger.

[I'm a PhD student in materials science, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm even pursuing a real PhD. But this line of thinking is really brilliant! Bamboo's gradient porous structure is quite effective at absorbing energy. I just want to know, who grows this amazing bamboo? Regular bamboo doesn't have that kind of strength, right?]

[It seems they used 3D printing technology; anyway, it's a pretty new technology.]

[Panda: I never thought my food would one day be sent flying! How hard must this bamboo be? What does it taste like? Can I have a taste?]

[This kind of bamboo would be indigestible for pandas, hahaha.]

[Maybe, after all, it's an iron-eating beast!]

[You see all sorts of things when you live long enough. When we used carbon fiber before, the cost of thermal protection was skyrocketing. I never imagined that using bamboo-based nanomaterials this time would cost only two-thirds of traditional materials? This technology seems to have so many applications!]

I wonder if cars will ever be able to use this material? I'm already looking forward to it; this new material looks so cool.

[Huaxia has developed bamboo-based materials. Are the people involved in that bamboo fiber research project at that certain lab, whose budget was cut six years ago, now spitting blood? Hahahaha.]

[I checked, and they have so many patents. I don't know if the people involved are spitting blood, but the leaders are definitely spitting blood.]

After reading the entire text and the comments, Qing Mengzhu looked up at Ming Chunxi and said, "The aerospace-grade special bamboo mentioned here, is it our 'Supreme Grade-' mother bamboo?"

Ming Chunxi: "I think so."

Qing Mengzhu looked at the news excitedly. "That's amazing! I never imagined that our mother bamboo could actually be used in the aerospace field."

Ming Chunxi: "It seems we'll need to propagate more mother bamboo cuttings next year."

Qing Mengzhu: "Let's do the cuttings then. In a couple of days, I'll cut down another batch of bamboo, prepare our soil, and get ready to plant the mother bamboo."

The advantage of cuttings is that they help maintain the plant's characteristics. The other bamboo cuttings they had previously taken had never been able to break through the "Superior Grade+" grade, which meant they had reached the upper limit. In this case, they still had to take cuttings from the "Supreme Grade- -grade" mother bamboo.

Qing Mengzhu looked at her phone. "Let me see if there are any suitable fertilizers and pesticides on the Interstellar Mall."

Ming Chunxi: "I remember having over 300,000 Star Coins in the account?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Let me see? Yes, 368,000, that's enough for us to buy, buy, buy! I'll go see what we want to buy?"

Author's Note:

There's another chapter at 11:59!

Chapter 251

Spring has come again, and it's time for sowing. Qing Mengzhu and Zhao Hexi went to their seed bank to check the seeds.

Zhao Hexi had visited several times before and was very familiar with the seed bank. This time, she was mainly accompanying Qing Mengzhu.

Therefore, Zhao Hexi specifically told Gu Benshu not to come, saying that he was there and that was enough.

Qing Mengzhu was very familiar with seeds and didn't need anyone to introduce her to them.

They entered the seed bank. Zhao Hexi rubbed his hands together and even had time to ask, "Did Chunxi go abroad for a conference?"

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "There's a summit."

Zhao Hexi: "They did a really good job over there. I saw some articles by big shots before, and everyone who mentioned him praised him."

Qing Mengzhu: "He's a big shot too."

Zhao Hexi: "That's right, hahaha, it's true that when you're too close, it's hard to realize how formidable the other person is."

Qing Mengzhu turned to Zhao Hexi and smiled, "We're doing well here too. Didn't you just get a meeting last month? You even went to receive an award."

Zhao Hexi puffed out his chest. "That's true."

As the two were talking, Qing Mengzhu had already begun taking samples for testing.

They only started selling seeds this year, and currently only sell tomatoes and peppers.

Neither of these two types of seeds are staple crops, so the relevant certifications are relatively easy to obtain.

Zhao Hexi: "As you said, our seeds are mainly divided into premium grade and first grade, and the price is 30% higher than similar seeds on the market."

Qing Mengzhu conducted a random inspection, and the special grade seeds were classified as "Fine Grade+" seeds, and the first grade seeds were classified as "Fine Grade" seeds. All the selected seeds met the requirements.

After examining the seeds carefully, he asked, "How are the pre-sales going?"

Zhao Hexi: "It's much better than I expected. You didn't see our order forms; we even have customers from Northeast China ordering seeds from us."

Qing Mengzhu: "We have customers this far away? I thought our seeds were more popular in this city."

Zhao Hexi: "Let alone Northeast China, if our seeds could be exported, farmers in the Arctic Circle might even order from us. Last year, our export sales of tomato products and onion products in Northern Europe skyrocketed by 300%."

Qing Mengzhu: "I saw the report, but I didn't expect the seeds to be so popular. Our seeds are probably more suited to the local soil and climate conditions, so their performance might be slightly inferior."