When Chang'an saw Lord Lin arrive by the stream, he didn't walk towards Gu Lili.
So he simply went to do other things.
"That was indeed my idea, but Lord Lin, is there something you need at my house?" Gu Lili asked with a smile.
Because Gu Lili had already seen the worry on Lord Lin's face.
Lord Lin sighed and replied, "The county princess is indeed wise. I heard that you were busy with the rice paddies today, and I was thinking of telling you about this problem tomorrow. But when I went to the sweet potato field, it seemed that the situation was getting worse."
These sweet potato fields belong to Gu Lili's family.
However, since Lord Lin spent almost every day in the sweet potato field, Gu Lili rarely went there.
So they didn't know what had happened.
"Lord Lin, what is it?" Gu Lili asked with a serious expression.
Gu Lili calculated that the sweet potato vines had been planted on nearly one hundred acres.
If something goes wrong, it will result in significant losses.
Seeing how serious Lin Xiyao, Gu Lili, and Lord Lin were, he immediately stopped smiling, let go of Gu Lili's hand, and stood obediently to the side to listen to them talk.
Lord Lin quickly instructed his attendants to hand Gu Lili the sweet potato leaves they had picked from the field.
"In the past day or two, I've noticed small green worms on the sweet potato leaves. They're almost invisible unless you look closely. I had someone spread some wood ash on several acres of land to see if that would get rid of them, but not only did it not work, the number of these small green worms has actually increased."
After a quick inspection, I found that most of the sweet potato vines were covered with these insects, and the leaves were turning black. If this continues, I'm afraid these insects will eat up all the sweet potato vines! Lord Lin rattled off all the problems with the sweet potatoes in one breath.
Gu Lili held the sweet potato vine in her hand and examined it carefully.
While she appeared to be looking at insects, she had actually already summoned the system to check what they were.
Although Gu Lili comes from modern times, she has not had much contact with agriculture, so she is not very clear about it.
"These are aphids. They live by feeding on vegetable juices, and they reproduce extremely quickly!" Gu Lili read what she saw to Lord Lin as she looked at it.
Lord Lin had previously planted sweet potatoes inside the house, isolating them from external infections, so he had never seen the insect before.
Gu Chenxi leaned closer to look and exclaimed, "These bugs are amazing at eating vegetables! They can eat most of a cabbage leaf in one night! Lord Lin, sprinkling wood ash won't work. We usually just pick off the cabbage leaf with the bug and throw it away, then the bug won't crawl onto the other leaves!"
Gu Chenxi had seen this kind of insect when she was at home growing vegetables.
The old lady next door told her about this method, and it was extremely effective.
Upon hearing this, Lord Lin felt his vision go black.
"So many leaves! How many people would it take to pick them all?" Lord Lin couldn't help but exclaim.
It's impossible to find anyone to pick leaves now; everyone's busy with things in the rice paddies.
Moreover, even if we could find someone, a single sweet potato vine has many leaves. By the time we've searched through nearly a hundred acres, the harvest would be too late.
Gu Chenxi was at a loss for a moment, "This...this is how we get rid of the pests, there's no other way."
While Gu Chenxi was talking with Lord Lin, Gu Lili had already learned about the aphid in detail.
There are many ways to get rid of these aphids, one of which is to pick off and throw away the infected ones.
Another method is to use pesticides or raise natural enemies of aphids.
She has many natural enemies, such as ladybugs, ants, parasitic wasps, and so on.
These things are available for purchase in Gu Lili's system, but if they become rampant, the harm they cause will probably not be much better than that caused by aphids.
Crabs are edible, so they can be raised in rice paddies.
However, none of the aphid's natural enemies are edible.
Applying pesticides is also not ideal, for the same reason as eliminating golden apple snails.
Those pesticides contain toxins, and besides, it's not appropriate to take out the pesticide sprayer.
Another method is to sprinkle lime water or wood ash water on it.
Gu Lili immediately told Lord Lin about the information she had seen.
“Lord Lin, when my mother was alive, I remember she once told me about a method: to sprinkle lime water or wood ash water on these insects.”
Upon hearing this, Lord Lin's previously low spirits instantly lifted, though he was somewhat puzzled, not understanding what lime water was.
He cut to the chase and asked, "I know about wood ash, but what is this lime water?"
Even the word "lime" seemed to be something I had never heard of before.
Not only Lord Lin, but Gu Chenxi had also never heard of it before, and she looked at Gu Lili with curiosity.
"Lime water is made by burning seashells on the beach into ash and then mixing it with water," Gu Lili told Lord Lin directly without hiding anything.
Upon hearing this, Lord Lin turned around and left in a flurry.
"Yao'er, hurry home, I still need to go to the sweet potato field!" Lord Lin urged Lin Xiyao.
Lin Xiyao pouted, not really wanting to go back.
She had only just arrived at Gu Lili's house and hadn't even had a chance to play with Xiao Li'er yet, and now she was being told to go back. She really didn't want to go back at all.
Seeing her like that, Gu Lili couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, "Lord Lin, why don't you go ahead and do your work? We're going to Donghai Town later, so we can take Yao Yao back on the way."
Upon hearing this, and seeing Lin Xiyao's expectant expression, Lord Lin had no choice but to nod in agreement.
"Then don't cause trouble for the county magistrate. I'll go and get back to work!"
After saying this, Lord Lin and his attendants hurriedly climbed into the carriage and sped away.
Gu Lili knew that Lord Lin wanted to test whether the two methods she mentioned would work.
Gu Lili also knew that, just like a crab eating a snail, one had to see it with their own eyes to believe it.
It was already completely dark, and everyone was busy with the rice paddies.
Even if Lord Lin believed it now, there was no way to implement it.
Therefore, tomorrow morning is the best time, so let him be. In one night, the aphids won't eat up all the sweet potato seedlings.
"Let's go, Yao Yao, Chen Xi, let's go back inside!" Gu Lili took one of them by the arm and they went home.
After a busy day, it's time to take a good rest.
Gu Lili was a little confused; she didn't know where Chang'an had gone.
Just as it was time to cook, Gu Lili finally learned the answer.
Looking at the bucket full of cicadas, Gu Lili gave Chang'an a reproachful look.
"You've had a long day, you need to rest. If the restaurant sells less for one day, that's fine too!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com