Chapter 124 Secretly
Manbao stretched out his finger and poked Zhou Silang in the lower back. Zhou Silang moved forward but did not move.
Manbao poked him harder, but Zhou Silang took another step forward, still squatting without moving.
Man Bao was so angry that she reached out to push him. Zhou Silang didn't expect her to be so strong and he fell to the ground.
Zhou Xi and the others who were doing housework looked over, and Man Bao punched him in the lower back with his little fist. Zhou Silang had no choice but to grunt forward and blush, saying, "Third sister-in-law, it's your turn to clean the chicken coop today, right?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
"Let me clean it," Zhou Silang said. "I'll clean the chicken coop from now on. I have nothing to do anyway."
When did the fourth brother become so hardworking?
He looked at him suspiciously.
Seeing that he was silent again, Manbao rushed over and said for him, "Third sister-in-law, Fourth brother said he is too idle, but my sister-in-law and the elder sisters are so busy every day, so let him do the dirty work at home."
He glanced at Zhou Xi standing beside her, and thought she understood. She said happily, "Great, the fourth child is considerate now. It seems he has really grown up."
Not only Mrs. He, but also Mrs. Qian and Mrs. Feng felt that Zhou Silang did this to share some of the burden with Zhou Xi, because it would be Zhou Xi's turn to clean the chicken coop tomorrow.
Even Zhou Xi thought so. She glanced at the fourth brother and felt a little relieved, but she said nothing in front of her sister-in-law and brothers and sisters.
Zhou Silang let out a breath and immediately went to get a broom to clean the chicken coop. Seeing Manbao standing far away, he raised the broom and glared at her.
Zhou Silang cleaned the chicken coop, laid a layer of straw inside, and then took the garbage out.
He looked around and saw that no one noticed, so he poured half of the garbage he had cleaned from the chicken coop into his own manure pile, and the rest into a dirty bamboo basket. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he stuffed the dead grass and rotten leaves he had prepared long ago into the basket to cover it, then picked up the bamboo basket and ran to his wasteland.
Manbao was already waiting there. Zhou Wulang, Zhou Liulang and Datou swept out a lot of dead leaves and mud from the woods. They threw the mud directly into the woods, and put the dead leaves on a wooden board, cut them a few times with a knife and threw them in.
The three brothers stirred the water with thick sticks, poured water on it, and covered the pit with the prepared straw as Manbao requested. They also put a lot of dry grass on it to keep it warm.
Zhou Silang was very skeptical, "Is this all right?"
"Not yet. You'll have to add more food every day. Fourth brother, you must remember to clean the chicken coop every day."
Zhou Silang slumped his shoulders and said, "If Dad knew I stole chicken manure from our house, he would definitely beat me to death."
"No," Manbao comforted him, "Dad never cares about the chicken coop, he won't suspect anything. If you're afraid, just dig some dirt from the mountain and throw it in there, so Dad won't find out."
Zhou Silang thought this was a good idea. He, Lao Wu and Lao Liu looked at each other and started to make things happen secretly.
Manbao had planned it all out. He would steal half of it every day and fill it with soil. His father shouldn't find out. But Zhou Silang became more and more greedy. After a few days, when he found that no one was paying attention at home, he secretly dumped all the garbage he cleaned up into his own compost pile, and the only thing left for the compost pile at home was the mud dug from the mountains.
Old Zhou didn't notice it at first, but in February, Zhou Dalang and Zhou Sanlang plowed the field for growing rice seedlings and chose a good day to sow the seeds, so he went to check the fertilizer at home. It turned out that there was a large layer of soil next to it.
Although the soil looked better than river mud, he had never dug any mud other than river mud. After careful consideration, he found that there was much less fertilizer this year than last year.
Old Zhou was furious. In the countryside, the whole family would fight over a sip of water or a spoonful of fertilizer. His first instinct was that someone had stolen his fertilizer, so he walked home angrily and wanted to question his three daughters-in-law, asking how they could take care of the house without even knowing that the fertilizer had been taken away.
When Manbao ran home happily with his small school box on his back, he saw Zhou Silang kneeling on the ground. The yard was very quiet and there was no one there.
Manbao stopped for a moment, and Datou, who was going to take Manbao's turn, also peeked in cautiously. Then the two children tiptoed in, walked to Zhou Silang and peeked into the main room.
Zhou Silang lifted his eyelids and glanced at her, then said, "Don't look anymore. She's not here."
Manbao breathed a sigh of relief, and finally had time to ask him, "Fourth brother, what bad things have you done again?"
"I didn't do anything too bad. I just listened to you and stole the fat from home."
Manbao felt guilty instantly and asked quietly, "Did my parents find out?"
"Well, Dad asked me to wait for you at home. When you come back, I will take you to see him." So Zhou Silang got up and left with Manbao.
Manbao was a little short, so he picked her up and quickly hugged his arm, shouting, "I want to walk by myself!"
Most of the Zhou family members were in the fertilizer pit on the other side of the wasteland. Old Zhou was very angry at first. His son and daughter actually stole the fertilizer from home. Didn’t they know that this affected the harvest for the whole year?
So he took his three older sons with him to retrieve the manure. When they arrived and opened the lid, a wave of hot steam hit their faces and they almost vomited.
But Old Zhou quickly came to his senses, smelled the scent in the air, and became a little excited.
Even Zhou Dalang was a little surprised.
He is also a good farmer. Since he was nineteen years old, he and his father have been fermenting the fertilizer for the family. Of course, he knows what kind of fertilizer is good.
What does it smell like, what does it look like...
When Zhou Silang brought Manbao over, Old Zhou and the others only shoveled out a shovelful of dirt and then put the lid back on.
Zhou Silang and Manbao came over with their heads down, expecting a scolding. But Old Zhou pulled his daughter over to him and asked in a friendly tone, "Manbao, Wulang said you were the one who taught us how to make compost. Is it also mentioned in the book?"
Manbao glanced at her father secretly and found that he was not angry, so she became more energetic, nodded, put down the bookcase, and took out the book from it to show her father.
Old Zhou's hands were a little dirty, so he didn't dare to take the book. He just asked Manbao to open it and let him take a look. He was illiterate, but that didn't stop him from looking at the words in the book with awe.
He sighed deeply and said, "Reading is really good. I didn't expect that the book would even mention composting. Come on, tell me what it says."
There are many methods of composting described here, but they are actually similar. The only differences are the requirements for materials and some changes in temperature requirements.
Of course, Manbao couldn't replicate it completely, because she didn't have the shed or the heating bags mentioned in the book. But Manbao was not stupid. She knew that the temperature had to be maintained when composting, so she thought of covering the fertilizer pit with straw. She also planned to set a fire if the temperature was not high enough.
Well, this is also written in the book, commonly known as burning manure, but it has too many requirements, and Manbao himself doesn’t fully understand it, so he doesn’t plan to do it for the time being.
(End of this chapter)
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