After placing the bamboo rat meat into the dryer, setting the time and temperature, and pressing the switch, Xia Qing hummed a tune, turned on the radio, listened to the evening news, and continued flipping through the instruction manuals for the dryer and vacuum packaging machine.
The news broadcasts offered no valuable information. The base's weather forecast predicted no heavy rain or large-scale insect infestations for the next five days, but today's base agricultural news was surprisingly about how to eliminate the evolved rats. Xia Qing raised an eyebrow, closed the manual, and turned on the walkie-talkie.
Zhao Ze spoke first today, asking Qi Fu about accumulating farmyard manure.
As is well known, inorganic fertilizers are fertilizers containing one or more nutrients needed for crop growth, produced using chemical or physical methods; they are also called chemical fertilizers. Organic fertilizers refer to fertilizers made primarily from animal excrement or byproducts rich in organic matter, fermented and decomposed.
Before the great evolution of life on Blue Star, chemical fertilizers were the main fertilizers for planting crops. However, after the great evolution of life, the application of chemical fertilizers, which rapidly replenish various elements needed by plants, has ironically become the culprit behind crop mutations. The application of organic fertilizers has become the only option to promote the growth of evolved crops.
Speaking of agricultural knowledge, Qi Fu began to speak eloquently, "We don't raise livestock or poultry. With just these few people in our territory, we can't accumulate much manure. The safe zone doesn't sell organic fertilizer either. Do you know how many pigs the wild boar breeding center north of plots four and five raises? I wonder if they sell pig manure..."
This topic was too unappetizing; Xia Qing was glad she had eaten early today.
Not only Xia Qing was affected. Qi Fu's words were interrupted by Zhang San, "Stop, don't ruin my enjoyment of my wonderful dinner."
Qi Fu immediately shut up, and Kuang Qingwei asked cheerfully, "What did you eat tonight, Third Brother?"
Zhang San answered sincerely, "Of course, the incredibly delicious Green Light Vegetables. If I could find more, I'd be willing to exchange them for any amount of points."
Xia Qing knew that Zhang San was saying this to her.
Not only her, but Hu Zifeng, who was eating stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork, knew, as did Tang Huai, who was eating fried insects. However, Tang Huai couldn't say he knew, otherwise he would be incriminating himself; Hu Zifeng left the choice to Xia Qing, because Xia Qing was the one who discovered that bamboo grove first.
Xia Qing didn't respond to Zhang San's comment. Instead, she waited until their conversation ended before dialing his number and introducing herself, "Third Brother, this is Xia Qing from Plot Three."
Zhang San's voice was extremely serious and direct. "Xia Qing, how many Green Lantern bamboo shoots do you have left? Name your price."
Xia Qing was equally frank. "I have ten jin left, which I need to keep for myself. I also have thirty jin of Yellow Lantern bamboo shoots that I can trade. Do you want them, Third Brother?"
"No," Zhang San unsurprisingly refused. "If we can't trade Green Lantern bamboo shoots, can we trade the location where you found them?"
Xia Qing directly stated her terms. "Sure. That bamboo forest is at least a hundred acres. We only searched about ten acres today and found one Green Lantern Evolution Bamboo. I'd like to trade the location for two solar panels, along with the matching wiring and batteries. Is that possible?"
The Evolution Forest doesn't belong to anyone. Such a large bamboo forest can't be kept secret. Even if Xia Qing didn't tell Zhang San now, he could deduce the general direction and area, and send people into the Evolution Forest to find it in a couple of days. Therefore, Xia Qing wanted to use this location to exchange for some practical items.
If it were anyone else, they certainly wouldn't agree, but Zhang San, who loved delicious food and had no shortage of supplies, was no ordinary person.
Xia Qing was prepared to haggle with Zhang San, but to her surprise, he agreed immediately, "Of course, I'll give you a brand new solar panel system. Where is the bamboo?"
Xia Qing described it precisely, "In the Evolution Forest north of Territory One. Walk north along the stream in the ravine where Territory One and Territory Three meet, and you'll see it in fifteen li."
Zhang San sincerely thanked her, "Thank you very much. Tomorrow I'll have the inspection team move the things over to you. I'll take pictures and show you when my cat has kittens."
The next day, just as Hu Zi had installed the solar panels for Xia Qing, Zhong Tao arrived.
Xia Qing handed him four sealed red lantern rats and, at market price, exchanged them for ten jin each of yellow lantern bamboo shoots for Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui. Xia Qing used the red lantern rats and the points earned to exchange for some thickened vacuum food packaging bags, and used the remaining points to buy rainproof cloth. Zhong Tao couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why are you getting so much tarpaulin, girl?"
Xia Qing explained, "I'm planning to build a rain shelter for the vegetable garden, otherwise a single downpour will leave only a few seedlings."
"You're really going all out, girl. But it makes sense; it's heartbreaking to see seedlings ruined by rain after all that hard work." Zhong Tao chatted with Xia Qing about something interesting, "In one territory in the northern district, not far from the safe zone, the day before yesterday, all the seedlings I'd been tending to for over a month were destroyed by rats. There were two others in the western district too; one lord, having lost his seedlings, went to steal some from the neighboring territory and got beaten to death..."
Zhong Tao drove back and forth between the safe zone and the territories, gathering a lot of information. Hearing his explanation, Xia Qing finally understood why the farming knowledge she'd learned the previous night had focused on rat extermination.
The rats were discovered a month later in the inner territories than in their peripheral territories. Xia Qing remembered this time difference and headed home with her bags.
With enough electricity and food packaging bags, Xia Qing soaked and cleaned both the green and red bamboo shoots in spring water, then sliced and dried them.
The spring water used for cleaning the bamboo shoots wasn't wasted either; Xia Qing carried the water up the hillside to water the saplings. She planted the apple and jujube trees on the higher slope, not far from the toon trees.
A few days ago, the apple trees began to sprout. Holding a book on apple cultivation techniques, Xia Qing carefully compared the buds on the branches and confirmed that the two trees had a total of thirteen flower buds, meaning she might be able to eat apples this year.
But the book said that saplings transplanted in their second year shouldn't bear fruit; they should bear fruit in their third year after a year of growth. However, she hadn't eaten fresh apples for ten years and couldn't bear to cut off the flower buds.
The book was talking about apple trees before evolution; after evolution, the trees should be stronger, so bearing fruit in the second year shouldn't be a problem… right?
Even if she didn't let them bear fruit, she could leave the flower buds to watch the apple blossoms for a couple of days, and then prune them, right?
Xia Qing's troubled gaze shifted from the apple tree to the bare jujube tree, her beautiful eyebrows almost knitting together.
It was so frustrating! Half a month had passed, and the two jujube trees were exactly the same as when they were planted, showing no sign of sprouting. If the jujube trees died, could she ask Yang Jin to compensate her with two more?
Would a miser like him be willing to give her anything?
After watering the trees, Xia Qing carried the bucket downhill to the vicinity of the spring. Five meters below the spring, in a small terraced field, grew two grapevines and two strawberry bushes. The strawberries were already in bloom, and the grapevines had sprouted promising little leaves. Once they grew a few more leaves, Xia Qing would be willing to pluck one to test its nutrient content.