CHAPTER 178: CHAPTER 178: THE LAND IS NOT FERTILE (PART 1)

"Why are you staring at me?"

Lu Yuanfeng’s gaze was too intense, and Mu Shuangshuang naturally felt it.

"Haha, nothing!" Lu Yuanfeng shook his head, then curiously asked, "Weren’t you pulling seedlings these past two days? Why are you out here?"

"There are many people at home. Missing one worker won’t have much impact. Besides, this land has been left idle for so long, it needs to be cultivated as soon as possible."

Lu Yuanfeng and Mu Shuangshuang were indeed on the same page; he too was anxious to cultivate the land.

As soon as he said he’d work, he started working. He put on gloves, carried a hoe, and began to weed.

Yuanbao followed behind, helping Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng pick up stones, sweating heavily.

After working hard for an entire morning, the wasteland was finally cultivated.

"I must say, this land looks pretty good after being cleared."

Mu Shuangshuang wiped the sweat off her forehead, looking at her results with quite some emotion.

By the edge of the wasteland, all the stones of various sizes were piled together by Yuanbao and Lu Yuanfeng, forming a small mound.

"But the soil here needs to be completely turned over with a hoe, and this yellow mud isn’t really fertile. It definitely won’t grow good vegetables.

If we want to grow vegetables that we can eat, we still need to change the soil composition."

Thinking of this, Mu Shuangshuang felt a bit troubled.

A wasteland is a wasteland, it’s tough work, and it doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t grow much.

"Shuangshuang, what do you mean by changing the soil composition?" Lu Yuanfeng didn’t quite understand, so he asked, "Is it turning this yellow mud into black soil that changes the composition?"

There are many types of soil; the most fertile, of course, is black soil. Plants grown on black soil are larger than those grown on regular soil.

"That’s right, but changing the composition is quite difficult, and we don’t have the tools.

However, we can use another method. For example, we can put a layer of black soil on the yellow mud or cover it with manure ash to allow the vegetable roots to reach the fertile soil layer."

Manure has always been indispensable for fertilizing fields in the village. Most of the time, people directly scoop it from the latrine and dump it into the fields, simple and effective.

Another way is to burn various trash, pile it with decaying leaves and animal manure, let it ferment, and then spread it over the dry fields.

Mu Shuangshuang naturally agrees more with the second method; if fermented leaves and waste residue are dumped on the yellow mud, it might just cover it.

"We have quite a bit of manure in our compost heap at home. Once I dig it out, I’ll spread it here."

Lu Yuanfeng’s household didn’t have farmland, so the manure hadn’t really been used. Last time Gu Jiulian wanted some, but he scared her away, and now it comes in handy, but it wasn’t enough.

Mu Shuangshuang realized, "Yours definitely won’t be enough. I need to think of another way to collect more manure."

Simply fermenting leaves doesn’t work as well as mixing in manure. While Mu Shuangshuang was thinking of a solution, Yuanbao suddenly unbuttoned his pants and urinated onto the newly weeded wasteland.

"I’ve got it!" Mu Shuangshuang suddenly had an idea.

"What’s up?" Lu Yuanfeng leaned over curiously and asked.

"We can build a public latrine for everyone to use when they have urgent needs while working.

The village’s fields are quite concentrated and aren’t close to home. Every time someone needs to go, they have to walk quite a bit to resolve their situation at home."

Just like Mu Dazhong, he needs to defecate seven or eight times a day at least, almost wearing out the latrine planks just by himself.

Building a public latrine near the fields could just sort out benefit lazy people like Mu Dazhong.

"That’s indeed a good idea." Lu Yuanfeng’s smile was even brighter.

This way, there’d be free manure, and no need to spend money competing for the night soil from town with villagers.

Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng agreed on developing this piece of land, both targeting to grow vegetables they like to eat.

Once Yuanbao finished addressing his physical need, he didn’t bother to wipe his hands clean but ran over to Lu Yuanfeng, pointing at the mountain.

"Second brother, shall we take a walk to the mountain? It’s almost noon, and I’m hungry."

Lu Yuanfeng had set traps on the mountain and occasionally went up to check if any animals fell into them. When they left, Lu Yuanfeng and Yuanbao planned to cultivate land first, then head to the mountain.

"Not today, you’re tired too. We’ll go home first, eat lunch, then I’ll head up the mountain."

"I’ll go with you. It’s perfect, I was planning to go up the mountain too."

Mu Shuangshuang brought Little Black out not just for fun, but to catch a few rabbits to raise at home.

"Alright, then I’ll first take these grass bundles to Uncle Wang."

This trip, they unexpectedly gathered a lot of grass, ten bundles in total. Lu Yuanfeng carried the grass to Wang Fugui’s house, exchanging it for twenty coins, handed ten to Mu Shuangshuang, and the three went home to make lunch.

Last time, Mu Shuangshuang gathered eels and mudfish in the fields, keeping them in a wooden bucket, today she planned to cook the eel, as Zhao brothers indeed worked hard at her home.

The eel was Mu Shuangshuang’s main dish, Lu Yuanfeng helped her handle the eel, saving her quite some effort.

Eel sections were placed in a small bowl, the stove’s fire controlled perfectly by Lu Yuanfeng.

Mu Shuangshuang poured three spoons of vegetable oil into the iron wok, and once the oil was hot, she tossed in a handful of garlic, and with a sizzle, the wok made a joyful sound.

Lu Yuanfeng squatted at the stove’s mouth, watching the girl cooking with a smile, sweet as honey.

After adding ginger and scallions into the wok, Lu Yuanfeng’s kitchen was filled with an enticing aroma, Yuanbao moved a stool, stood on it, watching how Mu Shuangshuang cooked, constantly drooling as he smelled the aroma, which was perfectly childlike.

Mu Shuangshuang added the eel into the stir-fried ginger and garlic, cooked for a while, then poured wine. Lu Yuanfeng noticed that she often added wine to dishes, the last time was snake stew, and before that the meat for roujiamo.

Is there a secret to it?

Before Lu Yuanfeng spoke, Mu Shuangshuang solved the mystery.

"Lu Yuanfeng, adding wine is to enhance flavor and remove odors, eel is a bit fishy, adding wine helps greatly."

"Also, you really need to learn more. Yuanbao is growing, and balanced meals are best, don’t just eat meat, have a balanced diet."

A man lives in a man’s way, but with a child around, there’s a lot more to think about.

"Sister Shuangshuang, why bother with all this, you could just cook for me every day. My second brother is good at earning money. Once he earns it, he can buy tasty food."

While speaking, Yuanbao winked at Lu Yuanfeng.

His second brother’s interest in Sister Shuangshuang is obvious enough; he’s just shy, afraid to speak up. He should be like a man and help his second brother.

Haha, this way, he’ll have lots of good food.