Chapter 39

The commotion at Qing Mengzhu's place was so loud that some people who were patrolling the vegetable garden at night heard it and came over with flashlights, asking warily, "Who's there?!"

He quickly sat up straight and poked his head out of the boat. "It's me."

"Mengzhu?" The patrolman held up his flashlight to confirm his identity. "What are you doing in Liantang so late at night? Aren't you afraid of snakes?"

"I'll pick some lotus pods to take back; they'll be useful." Qing Mengzhu smiled. "I'll be done picking them soon."

"Then I'll shine a flashlight for you, be careful."

The patrolmen shone flashlights on Qing Mengzhu while chatting with him, praising his excellent vegetable gardening, especially his chili peppers.

Qing Mengzhu realized that the patrolmen also wanted to grow chili peppers, so she told them about Nian Xinfei's achievements and asked them to keep an eye on the "Tengjin 01" chili pepper variety. If they wanted to grow it, they should be able to do so next year.

With the help of the patrolmen, Qing Mengzhu quickly picked six lotus pods and a bunch of lotus leaves and flowers.

He didn't bother with pleasantries, said a few simple words, and then rode his electric bike home.

As soon as she got home, Qing Mengzhu immediately took the lotus seeds out of the lotus pod, removed the lotus hearts, and then used a high-speed blender to make a paste.

This time, Qing Mengzhu prepared two versions: lotus seed, soybean, and egg yolk paste, and lotus seed paste. She took a small portion of the daphnia larvae from each version, put them in a small bucket, and then fed them.

After feeding it, no results can be seen in a short period of time.

Qing Mengzhu waited by the side for a while, then had no choice but to eat her dinner without any appetite.

After dinner, the daphnia larvae in the rearing tank and the two small buckets showed no change.

He then went to take a shower and go to bed.

Because she had something on her mind, Qing Mengzhu didn't sleep well all night, constantly waking up and falling asleep, with nightmares coming one after another.

He barely made it to dawn, and without even washing up, he rushed out to check on the daphnia larvae.

Some of the daphnia larvae fed with soy milk and egg yolk in the rearing tank died; proportionally, this group of daphnia larvae suffered the most deaths.

A dozen or so of the daphnia larvae that were fed lotus seeds, soybeans, and egg yolk paste also died, but the proportion was very small, not exceeding ten percent.

All the daphnia larvae that were fed pure lotus seed paste survived; not a single one died.

Fearing she might be mistaken, Qing Mengzhu used her phone's flashlight to examine each one carefully. She then discovered that none of the daphnia larvae that had been fed lotus seed paste had died; they were all swimming around lively in the water.

There's hope!

Looking at those lively, daphnia-like larvae, Qing Mengzhu felt a lump in her throat.

He decided to try it for another day, and if he got the same result at night, he would feed the daphnia larvae lotus seed paste from then on.

Although feeding them lotus seed paste is much more expensive than feeding them egg yolk soy milk, it doesn't matter as long as these little guys can survive!

These are "Superior Grade" shrimp; Qing Mengzhu can already imagine how popular they will be once they grow up.

Because the situation had improved, Qing Mengzhu was in a good mood all day.

He observed the daphnia larvae every hour and later found that the mortality rate of the daphnia larvae fed with lotus seed, soybean, and egg yolk mixture was also decreasing, but it still did not reach the zero mortality rate that was achieved when they were fed only lotus seed mixture.

After observing for a day, Qing Mengzhu decisively adjusted the diet of the daphnia larvae, feeding them all lotus seed paste in the rearing pond.

The daphnia larvae that were fed lotus seed paste also performed admirably, with the mortality rate gradually dropping to zero. They then molted and developed into mysids.

At this stage, the larvae are no longer so fragile and can be switched to normal feeding.

Qing Mengzhu breathed a sigh of relief after observing this situation.

He calculated that the overall mortality rate of this batch of daphnia larvae should be around 35%.

Although it's not even 20% of what the experts achieve, it's still a very good achievement for a novice like him who's raising shrimp for the first time.

Author's Note:

Okay, see you tomorrow!

Chapter 39

As evening fell, the small truck, humming softly, pulled up beside the pond at Qing Mengzhu's house.

The driver and Qing Mengzhu unloaded the white bags from the truck bed and piled them on the roadside.

Tan Wenlei, who was working in the neighboring field, heard the commotion and came over to see what was going on. "Do you need any help?"

"Uncle Wenlei," Qing Mengzhu turned around, holding the bag, and smiled, "No need, it'll be done soon."

Even though he said that, Tan Wenlei still came over to help unload the goods. "Then I'll come along, it'll be faster."

As Tan Wenlei hugged the bag, his arm touched something soft and squishy, and he couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's inside? Why does it feel so strange?"

Qing Mengzhu: "The tea is dry."

Tan Wenlei didn't understand at first. "Tea what?"

Qing Mengzhu: "It's the residue left after pressing oil from camellia seeds, also called tea bran."

Now Tan Wenlei understood what it was. "What are you buying this for? To use as fertilizer? Are you not going to use Changhong's chicken manure anymore?"

Qing Mengzhu: "This is mainly used for cleaning the pond. I'm going to raise shrimp in the pond, so I need to get rid of the small fish and other unwanted fish."

These past few days, Qing Mengzhu has been setting fish traps very frequently, catching two traps a day.

However, there were still many fish and shrimp in the pond, and he could catch quite a lot every time he came to scoop them up.

He figured he couldn't catch all the fish and shrimp in the pond by using only fish traps, so he had to think of other ways.

Tan Wenlei piled the bags on the roadside. "Isn't tea seed cake used as fertilizer? How can it be used to clear ponds?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, it can be used as organic fertilizer, but the saponins in it are toxic to aquatic organisms such as fish and shrimp, so it can also be used to clean ponds."

Tan Wenlei tried to repeat the ingredient he mentioned, but it sounded like a tongue twister. He opened his mouth, then gave up. "This is the first time I've heard of using tea seed cake to clear pond water. We all use multi-killing agent to clear pond water."

Qing Mengzhu: "We must protect the pond's environment. I also grow lotus here, and using pesticides might affect their growth."

Tan Wenlei nodded understandingly. "Your lotus is growing so well, it needs to be well protected."

Soon, all the tea leaves were unloaded from the truck, and the driver said goodbye to Qing Mengzhu and the others before driving away.

Before it got dark, Qing Mengzhu carried a bag of tea seed cake, preparing to start cleaning the pond today.

Tan Wenlei thought he was going to scatter the tea seed cake into the fishpond, but he didn't expect that he would just throw the whole bag into the pond, and then rub it through the bag to extract the brown tea seed cake liquid.

Noticing Tan Wenlei's expression, Qing Mengzhu explained, "Tea seed cake is toxic to fish and shrimp. After I clean the pond, I have to scoop out all the tea seed cake and then let the pond dry until the saponins are metabolized before I can put the shrimp in. If I don't put it in bags, I won't be able to scoop out the tea seed cake later."

Tan Wenlei watched him crumple the bag vigorously, sweat beading on his forehead, and sighed, "You've had it tough."

Qing Mengzhu: "Nothing is easy to begin with, let's take it slow."

After cleaning the pond, he would also inspect the dam and patch up all the holes to prevent small fish and shrimp from escaping into the pond.

In addition, he also needs to reinstall a protective net with finer mesh to prevent fish and shrimp from escaping into the pond, and to prevent prawns from escaping from the pond.

In short, he still had a lot of preparations to make before transferring the shrimp to the pond, and shrimp farming was not an easy task.

Qing Mengzhu placed bags of tea seed powder into the pond and kneaded them.

To make it easier to work, he jumped into the pond himself, ending up covered in mud and water.

Fortunately, the weather is hot now, so soaking in the pond for a long time isn't too uncomfortable.

After finally finishing releasing all the tea leaves, Qing Mengzhu rubbed her aching lower back and climbed onto the pond embankment.

As soon as he arrived, he saw otters and red foxes watching him curiously from a short distance away.

The otter looked at him with its big, dark eyes and let out a soft "woof," as if greeting him.

Qing Mengzhu waved her hand listlessly, letting them play by themselves, and then picked the vegetables and went home.