Chapter 3 - 3 Chapter 3 Planting Skills Upgrade Part 1 (1/2)
3 Chapter 3 Planting Skills Upgrade Part 1
Translator: 549690339
Qin Niu went to open the door and saw a pretty girl standing outside, dressed in a pale green cloud-patterned robe. She was carrying a heavy bag of corn in one hand, and a large piece of pork in the other.
Young ladies generally have the strength of a chicken, and she seemed to be struggling, already panting slightly.
“My dad’s fiftieth birthday is coming up soon, and he asked me to bring you some food. This meat has been salted, so it can be kept for a few days, but don’t keep it too long or it will be a pity if it goes bad.”
Wang Wanyan’s nostrils flared slightly, as she caught the special ‘aroma’ emanating from the pot.
She glanced discreetly at the pot that was steaming hot.
She did not ask any further questions.
“Take it!”
She stuffed the items into Ah Niu’s hands.
Every time she saw this neighbor, she felt he was different from other boys. There was a light in Ah Niu’s eyes, determination, persistence, confidence, and perhaps a hint of pride.
She couldn’t quite put it into words.
“Consider it a loan from your family, and when I have money, I will pay you back,” Qin Niu finally spoke.
He also took the bag of corn and the piece of meat.
“No need to pay it back, we are neighbors, it would make things awkward to be so calculative. By the way, here is a meat pie and a pickled vegetable pie that I specially kept for you, they are really delicious.”
She then pulled out a package of food from within her cloud-patterned sleeves.
The aroma was overwhelming.
It carried her faint scent mixed with the unique aroma of the meat pies.
Ah Niu involuntarily had a reaction in his throat, swallowing saliva.
“I’m going back now, or my dad will scold me again! Don’t go into the mountains when it gets dark, okay? It’s very dangerous, you know?”
Her pair of clear, watery black eyes showed concern.
Since Old Man Liu died, no one had looked at him with such eyes.
At this moment, her image was deeply etched in Qin Niu’s mind.
“Mm!”
After taking the items, he murmured a soft agreement.
He didn’t say a word of thanks the whole time.
True gratitude never needs to be expressed in words; kept in the heart, and if a time comes when her family needs help, and he is capable, he will repay the kindness a hundredfold.
“I’m going now, take care of yourself, and if you run into any trouble, just tell me,” she said, making sure he understood before leaving.
As her figure disappeared from sight, Qin Niu reluctantly retracted his gaze.
He firmly suppressed that inappropriate flicker of thought in his heart.
The difference in their statuses was too great for there to ever be a chance of anything happening.
He was even more afraid that any action of his might cause her to look down on him, or worse, to stop interacting with him altogether.
After closing the door and looking at the food Wang Wanyan had brought, Qin Niu’s heart was filled with gratitude and joy. With so much food, if he was careful, it should be enough to last about three months.
As for what to do after that, he could only take it one step at a time.
Right now, his greatest hope was for the Termite Queen to survive, as this was his ace in the hole for turning his fortunes around.
He cut a small piece of meat, chopped it up, and added it to the pot with the ‘hulls’ to cook.
He believed that with the addition of meat, it would certainly become much tastier.
He placed the remaining meat into a jar, then hung it with a rope in the well at the back of the house.
This well was only five or six meters deep and had been dug by Old Man Liu and himself together when the old man was still alive.
The water in the well was a spring that came from underground, warm in winter and cool in summer, which would extend the shelf life of important food stored in this environment significantly.
By this time, the pot had begun to emit a meaty aroma, and he gulped down the saliva forming in his mouth.
He didn’t rush to eat, but instead, under the faint moonlight and the light from the fire in the stove, he carefully chose the fullest and healthiest kernels of corn from the bag.
These were selected to be seeds.
The yield of that thin plot of land wasn’t great, but he still needed to plant it!
Having some yield was better than not planting anything at all.
Each time he picked a corn kernel to be a seed, the words “Labor Point +0.01” appeared in glowing text.
He was taken aback.
What the heck were Labor Points?
He had picked out 2100 kernels of corn from the bag.
Based on past planting experience, about 4000 stalks of corn could be planted per acre.
That was double planting, which meant two stalks per hole.
This year, he planned to improve his planting techniques and try single stalk planting.
The extra 100 kernels of corn were in case some didn’t germinate or were damaged by insects or rats, so he could use them to replant.