Chapter 48

The man's long, slender fingers traced across the table. His gaze shifted from the paper to the window, and he strolled to the windowsill. The crabapple trees in the yard swayed in the wind, and many petals drifted down onto the small pond beneath the trees, swirling a few times on the surface before settling back to stillness.

Song Junwu stood with his hands behind his back, his posture as straight as a pine tree. He gently squeezed the note in his palm into a ball. After a long while, he finally spoke, "Qin Li, what are you thinking?"

Qingyun didn't see Lin Wanjun, and after hearing what Song Junwu said, she didn't come to the command post today either.

[Strange! Really strange! Where else could she have gone? Could she have already returned to the capital? System, could you check for me?]

System: [Sorry, not found. My business is not in this area.]

Qingyun: ...You son of a bitch.

She couldn't find the person, and she didn't even have a chance to confront them.

After Qingyun finished her farm work, Lin Wanjun was nowhere to be seen, as if she had vanished into thin air. She was anxious and asked Mu Helian, who told her that Lin Wanjun hadn't left, so she was simply avoiding her.

Perhaps she had a plan in mind, or maybe the other party knew her intentions but wasn't ready yet. Seeing this, Qingyun didn't want to force her and decided to wait until she was willing to come see him.

"I'm going to the bathroom." This was the fourth time Feng Sijing had told him he needed to use the toilet. As soon as he finished speaking, he threw the shovel to Qingyun.

"Is your butt blocked?" Qingyun said irritably, thinking that Feng Sijing might not want to work and was doing it on purpose, and that he had been sitting there for an hour, pulling nails.

The man, who was forging ahead, stopped upon hearing this, turned around, pointed at Qingyun, his face a mixture of shame and anger, "A young lady like you!"

Seeing this, Qingyun put her hand to her lips and shouted back, "If you really can't poop, I have some laxatives here, do you want some?"

Feng Sijing waved his hand dismissively, "Keep it for yourself!"

After he finished taking care of this important life event, Qingyun finally couldn't help but ask him, "Are you constipated?"

Feng Sijing clearly didn't want to discuss this with the other party, stating bluntly that he wouldn't talk about such things with Qingyun, an unmarried young girl.

After finishing today's quota, Qingyun hurried back. Yinglian had told her that there would be something good to eat that night, and she couldn't wait to see what it was. She saw Mu Helian still talking to the other foremen, so she greeted them and told them to make sure Lin Wanjun stayed with her.

She was walking fast, and before she could even turn around, she bumped into something. Her nose immediately suffered, and a sharp pain shot through her. Qingyun covered her pain mask and squatted down, thinking to herself that she had almost worn out this road. There were clearly no stones here, so how could she have bumped into something?

Clearly, what she collided with wasn't an object, but a person, who was also seriously injured. The two unfortunate souls covered their faces and groaned with their heads pressed together.

"Don't you watch where you're going? Look what you've done to me... look what you've done to me!" the other person said first.

"Damn it!" Qingyun sprang up upon hearing this, pointing at the person and saying, "Why didn't you walk to the side of the road? You just rushed straight at me! Whose fault is this?!"

Seeing this, the man pointed at his bright red nose, quickly stood up, and yelled at Qingyun, "Dare to say that again!"

Qingyun's judgment of people was indeed quite poor. Thinking about going back for a good meal, he helplessly shrugged, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm blind. You bumped into me, I bumped into you. We're even, OK?"

Before the man could answer, Qingyun dashed off, covering a hundred meters in a flash. While that was somewhat of an exaggeration, when Song Chaoli turned around, all that remained was a silhouette. "O...OK? What the hell is OK?! Come back here and explain yourself!"

Qingyun realized something was wrong halfway there; the person was a stranger, someone she had never seen before.

Today, Yinglian went to the mountain with some older women to dig for wild vegetables. Everyone was scrambling to dig them up. She excitedly told Qingyun about the interesting things that happened today, such as how the older women taught her.

"That's good. I was worried you'd be too bored at home." Although the wild vegetables tasted a bit bitter, the environment didn't allow Qingyun to be picky anymore. Just then, she suddenly had a brilliant idea: why not grow some vegetables herself? Although Song Chaoyun's plot of land was now planted with sweet potatoes, it was impossible to clear out a small area for growing vegetables.

“I offered to help you plant trees, but you refused.”

Qingyun smiled upon hearing this, "Planting trees is too hard work, and doing housework at home is also tiring. We two women can work together, so it won't be tiring."

Qingyun was thinking about growing vegetables, so she would go to the field whenever she had a spare moment. She hadn't eaten any fresh vegetables for so long, and it was obviously not enough to just rely on wild vegetables to supplement her vitamins. In winter, she ate dried vegetables, which cost her a lot of money. She asked the system to assess whether the soil in this area was suitable for growing vegetables.

System: [It's feasible to grow potatoes in soil mixed with sand, but because it can't retain water and loses a lot of moisture, it's unsuitable for growing vegetables.]

Since that's the case, let's solve the problem of water loss first. Qingyun doesn't need to look up the solution in the system; she roughly knows how to do it. One way is to apply farmyard manure, but a faster and more effective way is to directly change the soil composition.

Qingyun: [Could you check if the mall has any biochar?]

Good news, yes; bad news: 300 points per bag.

[Damn it! Why don't you just rob someone?!]

System: [I will forward this to the programmer's computer.]

Biochar is made by mixing organic matter such as straw, sawdust, fruit shells, and weeds together and carbonizing it in an oxygen-deficient and high-temperature environment. This material is lightweight, can absorb water and fertilizer like a sponge, and is not easily decomposed. It also promotes the reproduction of microorganisms and plays an important role in soil remediation.

However, there is also a more accessible version of biochar, which is easier for farmers to understand and use. This version consists of thoroughly burned charcoal powder, but it is not pressed into charcoal blocks and is specifically used for soil improvement.

Then you can just use charcoal ash directly. Although the effect will be greatly reduced, if Qingyun wants to promote vegetable planting, she can't just rely on buying biochar from her space. There are thousands of acres of land here that need to be improved.

Thinking about it, Qingyun suddenly remembered the scene of Feng Sijing frequently going to the toilet that day. Could it be that the people here do not eat vegetables often and cannot get enough vitamins, which is why they are constipated?

[A lack of vitamin C can easily lead to bleeding gums, slow wound healing, and weakened immunity; a lack of vitamin A may cause night blindness, decreased vision, and dry skin; a lack of folic acid can easily lead to anemia, mental fatigue, and gut microbiota imbalance; and insufficient minerals can cause muscle weakness, high blood pressure... and so on.]

Qingyun interrupted the system's explanation at the opportune moment, saying, "I know, you don't need to remind me." If he didn't shut the other party up soon, a series of remedial measures would probably have to be devised.

Ignoring all that for now, Qingyun decided to finish her work first. She turned over the soil once, and luckily there weren't any grass roots or stones in it. She then bought a bag of soil from the system, mixed it in, and asked the system to recycle the sack.

She didn't want anyone to find plastic bags.

Next, he used a hoe to dig furrows and create raised beds, creating furrows 20-30cm deep. Upon seeing this, the system immediately guessed what Qingyun was planning to do. [Raised bed planting? The host knows this without even checking?]

Upon hearing this, Qingyun smiled dismissively. "What? Raised bed planting? What's with all this fancy terminology? It's just making raised beds. You see rows of these in the countryside; why bother looking them up?"

Most people here go to plant trees, and those who stay at home to farm mainly grow wheat. Ridges and furrows are very common in the south. Ridges are rows of earthen ridges along the edge of the field, while furrows are neatly arranged plots of land that are convenient for irrigation and management. They are mainly used for growing vegetables, and planting on raised furrows helps with drainage and maintains soil temperature.

[You idiot, you think only your artificial intelligence understands this? This is something that farmers have been doing for thousands of years, okay?]

system:【……】

Sweat splattered on the ground, breaking into eight pieces. The sunlight in the spring daytime was very strong, making people extremely hot. Qingyun straightened up, supporting his back, wiped away the sweat fiercely, and looked into the distance with a frown. The air seemed to distort under the scorching sun.

She had her own plans regarding the charcoal ash. It wouldn't be too late to put it in after she had finished planting everything. She wouldn't bother with seedling cultivation, and she would have to buy seedling soil anyway, so she might as well just buy some seedlings directly from the system, even if they were more expensive.

She decided to plant some tomatoes and lettuce first to see how easy or difficult they were to grow. If they died, she wouldn't lose anything. Just then, Qingyun looked up at the fiery red round sphere. With this temperature and weather, if she didn't find something to shade them, the seedlings would probably die from the sun.

When she got home, she looked around but couldn't find any cloth that was too heavy to cover herself with. She had thought about cutting a few feet of blue gauze, but the price deterred her, and she lost interest for a moment.

Then, the system's voice appeared in his mind: "[You could go to the command center and find some unwanted items.]"

Upon hearing this, Qingyun remembered that they seemed to change their supplies regularly. Since they were going to change them anyway, she might as well find some. However, she planned to ask for them after work and try to get more today to accumulate some points.

I always feel like I'm constantly finding things to do.

By the time Qingyun finished everything, it was already dark, and the environment exuded a sense of dread. Anyone who tried to play tricks at this time would surely scare Qingyun's heart out.

This matter is simple, and there is no need to go to the two masters in the mansion. As soon as the steward heard that it was Qingyun who wanted it, he sent someone to the storeroom to look for it without saying a word. His attitude towards Qingyun was respectful, after all, he was a man who had seen a lot of things and could not be compared with those who fawned on the powerful and looked down on the weak.

After taking the gauze curtain, she kept turning back to express her gratitude. But as soon as she left the courtyard, she bumped into the same person again.