Chapter 162: Going into the Mountains to Plant Poria

Gao Zhuang's wedding banquet was quite good, and the chef was Gao Mingcheng's father Gao Yuanjian.

Whenever people from their village or people from several nearby villages need to get things done, they will basically ask Gao Yuanjian to cook, because his cooking skills are really good, and he can also provide wine, so you don't have to buy it and make another trip.

The chef is skilled in cooking and has a rich menu. Not long ago, Gao Mingcheng caught a wild boar in the mountains. He ate a small half of it fresh and pickled the rest with salt, then hung it in the shade to air-dry. Now he gave ten kilograms of it to Gao Zhuang, but Xi Niang refused to take it for free. In the end, they pushed and shoved each other and agreed to buy it for one yuan per kilogram.

As for the several big fish and a bag of bullfrogs that Gao Mingcheng caught, he refused to charge any more money.

After attending Gao Zhuang’s wedding banquet, it means that Gao Zhuang and He Xiuman are officially married!

On this day, the groom Gao Zhuang was naturally happy, but the happiest person was the bride and groom.

Her daughter-in-law died early, and then her son passed away due to an accident. She was the only one who raised her only grandson. Now, her only grandson is finally going to get married and start a family!

He Xiuman is older than Gao Qiang, but Xi Nainai doesn't mind at all. It's better for the woman to be older, because she will be more caring!

And, maybe soon, she will have a great-grandson!

Thinking of this, grandma's face broke into a smile.

Not long after Gao Zhuang's wedding banquet, Gao Mingcheng attended the banquet again.

His eldest brother's son was one month old, so Gao Yuanjian specially held a full-month banquet for his eldest grandson. However, he did not invite the whole village to the banquet. Instead, he invited his own relatives and only set up six tables.

As a new uncle, Gao Mingcheng naturally had to give a red envelope. In addition to the red envelope, he also gave a pound of honey and two pounds of wind-blown meat, so that his little nephew's life would be both meaty and sweet.

This was a lucky start, but it pleased Luo Xiaohua, who felt that the second child had really grown up!

Gao Mingcheng gave a red envelope, but his two younger brothers and sister did not have to give red envelopes because they were not married yet and were still family.

At the banquet, Gao Mingcheng sat at a table with several brothers. During the conversation, he found out that his eldest brother Gao Mingpeng was now learning how to build houses and was already earning a laborer's wage.

It was a cousin of his wife's who brought him into the business, and in order to make his work more convenient, he bought a bicycle and went out early and came back late every day.

"Third brother, I'm familiar with everyone on the construction site. When we need to recruit more people, I'll take you to work with me." Gao Mingpeng was in a good mood. His cheeks were flushed after drinking some wine. He patted the third brother Gao Mingwan beside him and said with a smile.

Gao Mingwan had also been looking for ways to make money recently, so he immediately agreed.

At this time, an elder at the same table said: "Mingcheng, you are the first one among the brothers to build a new house. If you have any way to make money, don't forget your brothers!"

Gao Mingcheng glanced at the elder, who he didn't know very well, so he pretended to be dumb and smiled: "How can I make money? I stay at home every day to farm and herd cattle and sheep! I only go into the mountains occasionally to get some prey."

But the elder did not let Gao Mingcheng go, and continued: "Didn't you say before that your wife Xuanyuemei was going to open a clothing workshop with Dong Feixia? Why is there no movement?"

Gao Mingcheng pretended to be honest and said, "I don't understand either. I just grow the vegetables in the field well."

When other people at the table asked about this, Gao Mingcheng always said he didn't know.

He thought these people were too simplistic. How could one open a clothing workshop casually? One had to train the employees, build a factory, buy fabrics, research clothing styles, and sell them in the county!

Each of these links requires time to polish.

However, there is still progress. For example, Gao Shouwang has applied to the brigade and has been approved for a piece of land to build a factory.

Now the country vigorously supports township enterprises and has many preferential policies. In addition, if the economy of a place develops, then people who have some power in their hands will have a better life.

So when Gao Shouwang went to apply for factory land, no one deliberately stopped him and he had a smooth journey.

The factory building could not be built in the area where villagers lived in large numbers, and the brigade wanted to display this achievement in a prominent place, so a piece of land was allocated in the Greater Khingan Range.

Xing'anling is located between Gaojia Village and Junling, where there is a primary school and the brigade's office. The factory is located next to the brigade's office, at the foot of a small hill.

After Gao Mingcheng knew about it, he didn't say much. Although it was not as convenient as in the village, it was only seven or eight minutes by bicycle, which was not too far.

Before the garment workshop was fully established, Gao Mingcheng didn't want to talk much to others, so when others asked him questions, he pretended to be stupid. When others asked again, he started to persuade people to drink.

The popular drinking game here is finger-guessing. The loser has to drink a glass. Therefore, when the game starts, the whole banquet becomes noisy and half of the village can hear the sound. By the time the banquet is over, it may be three or four o'clock in the afternoon.

Gao Mingcheng threw two rounds of punches and then ran to the bathroom.

He went all the way back to his home and lay down on his bed to sober up.

He has been relatively relaxed recently, but he will be busy soon. It is already May and it is time to plant Poria cocos!

The next day, Gao Mingcheng went into the mountains carrying a hoe and an axe. He had already made some preparations before, and now he had to do all the rest.

When planting Poria cocos, you need to prepare the land in advance and choose a hillside with good drainage as the planting site. Then deep plowing should be carried out to remove the gravel and weeds, and the soil should be broken up and leveled. Finally, some pesticides should be sprinkled to prevent termites from affecting the growth of Poria cocos.

Gao Mingcheng had already completed this step in advance.

As for the pine wood that feeds Poria cocos, it had been prepared early on, and the side branches had been removed, the bark peeled, and then left in the mountains to dry in the sun. But today he also needed to cut the pine wood that had been cracked by exposure to the sun into small pieces of about 80 centimeters, and then pile them in the shape of a tic-tac-toe in the field.

After entering the mountain, Gao Mingcheng came to the place where pine wood had been piled up before. After being exposed to the sun for a long time, the pine wood was covered with tiny cracks.

He took out a tape measure for making clothes from his trouser pocket, which he got from his wife. He measured 80 centimeters on the pine wood with the tape measure, and then began to swing the axe to chop the pine wood.

The first piece of pine wood still needs to be measured, and then you can get pine wood of similar length by visual inspection.

Because there were so many pine trees, even though he was very strong, it took him a long time to cut all the pine trees.

Since he was going to plant, he naturally couldn't just plant a little bit, as that would be boring. Gao Mingcheng planned to plant a large area so that he could feel the joy of the harvest when the time came!

Although it is said to be a large area, in fact the planting areas are scattered. After all, you have to find suitable slopes first before you can start planting.

He found seven or eight suitable slopes deep in the mountains and planted a small patch of grass on each slope.

After stacking the cut pine wood in a tic-tac-toe shape in the field, Gao Mingcheng will proceed to the next step, which is also the most important step, which is inoculation and planting!

You can use either fungus strains or fresh Poria cocos to grow Poria cocos. Gao Mingcheng does not have fungus strains, but he has fresh Poria cocos. After dividing the fresh Poria cocos into sections, place them on both sides of the pine wood or in the middle of two sections of pine wood. This is conducive to the growth of mycelium.

After inoculation, use a hoe to lightly cover it with a thin layer of soil.

After doing all this, you also need to dig drainage ditches around to avoid water accumulation. Ten months after inoculation, the Poria cocos will be mature and ready to be picked!

When digging the drainage ditch, Gao Mingcheng thought that the weather would be dry in the second half of this year, and he didn't know whether this would have any impact on the growth of Poria cocos.

But people can’t just not do anything because of some concerns. Even if the natural dryness will affect the growth of Poria cocos, he still has to try planting it first!

Although this is the first time in his two lives that he has planted Poria cocos, there is actually not much difference between planting Poria cocos and planting vegetables. You also need to choose a suitable place, do deep plowing, remove gravel and weeds, and then prepare nutrients and fungi.

To sum up, there really isn't much difference, except that it takes a lot of time and effort to prepare the pine wood.

(End of this chapter)