Chapter 206 Ah Chen is about to turn one month old!
In light of the unexpected incident, the Fearless Mercenary Group decided to waive its commission. The families of the 18 people who died that day from the mutated pangolin were each given a compensation of 5,000 silver coins.
The bean harvested by everyone was exempted from commission as compensation for being frightened.
In total, the families of the victims will only receive six or seven thousand yuan. Zuo Shan lamented that human life is worthless, but could only sigh in despair.
The wasteland residents seemed to have long been used to this, and there were no scenes of crying or petitioning. When faced with such a situation, the family members could only accept their bad luck.
It is said that mercenary groups like the Fearless Mercenary Group are considered relatively honest. Some mercenary groups, when something like this happens, don't even offer a single dollar in compensation, and sometimes they even embezzle the items collected by the families.
Life had to go on as usual, and after these close calls, Zuo Shan made a crucial decision.
Before she and Lele break through to the third tier, they will no longer go to remote gathering points. Thinking back to the time when her family went to remote gathering points alone, it felt like they were risking their lives.
When you're starving, you have no choice but to take risks. Now that you're no longer starving, there's no need to be so reckless.
**
Early in the morning, the Zuo family went to the plantation again, but the old housekeeper and Madam Gu had already arrived there before them.
The old housekeeper has been busy building a temperature-controlled greenhouse whenever he has free time, as he wants to finish it before the extreme cold weather arrives.
Madam Gu has recently taken a closer look at this plantation, paying particular attention to the fact that the mutant poplar trees can reduce soil radiation.
Previously, she had tacitly allowed the old housekeeper to help Zuo Shan rent land and build a greenhouse, just to give it a try and let them do whatever they wanted.
The old housekeeper was bored, and having this to keep him busy made him much more energetic.
As for Zuo Shan, she's still young. If she fails, she can get back up and start over. After all, the rent for that piece of land isn't expensive, so even if she comes away empty-handed, she won't lose too much.
But in just 15 days, the soil radiation level dropped by 10 points.
Zuo Shan, that girl, might not understand how significant this was, but she and the old butler were very clear about it.
If this experiment can continue, it means that the wasteland surrounding District 48 can be used for planting.
Of course, this is still just a possibility at the moment.
First, we must see if the plants in this temperature-controlled greenhouse can survive the extreme cold; second, we must see if the mutated poplar trees will absorb any radioactive substances from the soil and experience any rebound effect.
However, in any case, current data has at least confirmed that poplar trees have the function of reducing soil radiation.
If this function can be sustained, then poplar trees can be planted on a large scale in District 48, or even the entire Green Algae Star. Could this reduce the radiation in the air?
Just thinking about this guess made Old Madam Gu feel her blood boil!
She was already very old, and life was not so precious to her. But Algae Star was her home planet. If this conjecture could be confirmed before she died, it would be a great achievement that would benefit generations to come!
In fact, many agricultural experts have proposed this hypothesis a long time ago, but they have never been able to find a plant that truly has this effect.
After all, there are so many mutated plants, it's impossible to experiment on them one by one, right? Poplar trees mostly grow in the peripheral areas of the Northern Hemisphere, and the common understanding of them is that they are easy to grow and suitable for making furniture.
Most of those who cut down poplar trees were scavengers or mercenaries. None of them were agricultural experts, nor could they have noticed that the radiation levels of the plants around the poplar trees were relatively low.
If you happen to collect one or two low-radiation leaves, you'll just think you're incredibly lucky. Who would have thought that poplar trees have this soil-purifying effect?
But now, Zuo Shan, a girl from District 50, has easily proven this point.
Neither Madam Gu nor the old housekeeper asked Zuo Shan why she knew that poplar trees could reduce soil radiation.
Madam Gu had already planned in her mind how to cover up this matter for her.
She decided to give Zuo Shan two years, and once it was confirmed that poplar trees could effectively reduce soil radiation in the long term, she would immediately report it to the Agricultural Research Institute.
It is said that Zuo Shan rented land to grow wild vegetables, and in order to protect against the wind and heat, he planted a circle of mutated poplar trees around the area that could grow very tall.
Later, it was discovered that the wild vegetables growing around these poplar trees had relatively low radiation levels, which led to the unexpected discovery of the amazing soil-improving effect of poplar trees.
Zuo Shan was unaware that Old Madam Gu had already laid the groundwork for her. At this moment, she stood in the plantation, looking at the poplar saplings that had grown to more than a meter tall, feeling the same sense of accomplishment that a farmer feels when looking at an endless golden wheat field.
The mutated poplar trees reduced radiation much faster than Zuo Shan had expected. The average radiation level of the soil in the plantation has now dropped to 207 points. She plans to start planting various edible plants once the radiation level drops below 200 points.
Ah Chen was exceptionally happy today. He woke up early and started babbling away. When Madam Gu and the old housekeeper saw him, their eyes crinkled with laughter.
"Why is my baby so happy today? Is there some good news?" Grandma Gu asked, pinching his chubby little hand.
“Ah ah!” Ah Chen replied with a baby talk.
Just then, Zuo Shan's wristwatch vibrated. When he answered it, he saw that it was a video call from Xiao Bai.
There were no outsiders in the plantation, so Zuo Shan simply clicked the call button, and Xiao Bai's holographic projection appeared in the plantation.
After taking in the surrounding situation, Xiao Bai looked slightly embarrassed. He just wanted to meet his godson and get to know him better, but he didn't expect there to be so many people around.
To ease the awkwardness, he quickly changed the subject: "Um, Ah Chen seems to have grown a bit more, he looks like a one-month-old baby."
"Oh my! Xiaobai, I almost forgot about this. The baby will be a month old tomorrow!" Zuo Shan patted his head and said.
She's been so busy lately that she hasn't even thought about having a full-month celebration for her baby. Of course, she doesn't have the means to do so right now.
"What?! The baby will be one month old tomorrow?!" Xiao Bai blurted out, and Old Madam Gu and the old housekeeper said the same thing at the same time.
"I want to prepare a full-month gift for baby Achen!" The old housekeeper was the first to speak up.
"Yes, yes, absolutely," said Madam Gu.
"I will come in person to give the baby a full moon gift," Xiaobai said decisively.
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