Chapter 49 Chapter 49 Farming [Second Update]
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"What happened? Who beat you up? Your eyes are swollen like walnuts."
Early in the morning, Gu Mengran had just come out of the bedroom and was about to go to the kitchen to get food when the old man came towards him with a teacup and blocked his way silently.
Gu Mengran was stunned for a moment, raised his hand to rub his eyes, and tidied his messy hair, then said something else: "Really? I didn't even notice it when I was washing my face just now."
Meng Gaoyang narrowed his eyes, raised his chin slightly, and made an expression that showed he had seen through the truth. He leaned over to Gu Mengran's ear and said, "Weren't you still dating and watching a movie in the living room last night? Why are you rejected by Liang Zhao today with your walnut eyes?"
"How do you know—you were out last night?"
The sense of loss in his heart disappeared, Gu Mengran stared at his grandfather with wide eyes, and deliberately lowered his voice: "Grandpa, please stop talking nonsense here, let others hear it later--"
Before he could finish his words, Liang Zhao came out of the kitchen holding a bowl. As he passed through the corridor, he turned his head intentionally or unintentionally and happened to meet Gu Mengran's eyes as he was looking around.
Fortunately, Liang Zhao did not stay too long. He nodded slightly and walked straight to the restaurant with the bowl in his hand.
Gu Mengran: "Look, what did I say! Walls have ears, Grandpa, stop gossiping. It's getting late, you should go sailing quickly."
"Hey! How dare you say that." The old man laughed angrily, "What did you say yesterday? We were responsible for driving the boat, and you and Liang Zhao were responsible for the kitchen. What happened? You slept until the sun was shining on your buttocks, and when you got up to make breakfast, I'm afraid we can't set off until noon."
"It's only half past eight, it's not that exaggerated." Gu Mengran touched his nose and said unconfidently: "Who made breakfast today?"
Meng Gaoyang: "Who else could it be? Liang Zhao."
“How does it taste? Is it delicious?”
"It's OK. It's edible."
No wonder he was so resentful. Gu Mengran shrugged his shoulders and said nonchalantly, "I said it yesterday. Liang Zhao and I, you decide whether we are responsible or not."
Gu Mengran ran away after he finished speaking, and the old man angrily scolded him, "You little bastard!"
After breakfast, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao cleaned the kitchen and started a new round of preparations.
After having a luxurious seafood dinner, I plan to try something down-to-earth today.
The dried mustard greens, dried beans, and dried shiitake mushrooms were soaked in water. Gu Mengran found the stainless steel basin that he had used to store shrimps yesterday and directly took out half a basin of fat and lean pork belly.
After washing the meat and chopping the stuffing, Gu Mengran took another empty basin and poured most of the flour into it at once. Then he washed his hands, put up a small stool and started kneading the dough.
The two of them were busy kneading the dough, fermenting it, letting it rest, rolling out the skin, mixing the fillings, and wrapping them. When the last basket of odd-shaped buns came out of the pot, it was already noon and the sun was at its peak.
The buns of different flavors were mixed and packed together and put away. Gu Mengran also left some in the kitchen, ready to be put in the refrigerator after cooling down. This way, others can just steam them and eat them for breakfast. It is very convenient. The most important thing is, they don’t have to wait for him to get up!
We eat whatever we cook, and lunch is of course a feast of steamed buns.
In the afternoon, Gu Mengran kneaded half a bowl of dough and quickly made dumplings with the dumpling-making tool.
The magic tool is very useful, but the only drawback is that the dumplings are not compact enough and fall apart easily when boiled. In the end, Gu Mengran simply steamed all the remaining dumplings before the steamer was put away.
Work in the kitchen is neither tiring nor exhausting. When you are in a good mood, cooking is a pleasure, but when you are in a bad mood, it becomes a torture.
It was still early, but Gu Mengran was in no mood to do anything else today. He wanted to go back to his room to catch up on some sleep, but when he saw Liang Zhao looking a little embarrassed because he was being ignored, he still felt a little reluctant.
That’s right, today apart from “wash this, cut that”, Gu Mengran basically didn’t talk to Liang Zhao.
Reminiscing about the past brought me unhappiness, I can't blame anyone else Liang Zhao, at least I can't blame Liang Zhao who knows nothing in this life.
In this life, he has a family, his grandfather, Liang Zhao, and everyone is there, and everyone is doing well. Gu Mengran is very satisfied. The past should have been over long ago, and it should not be forgotten or mentioned.
The chatterbox suddenly fell silent, and Liang Zhao realized something was wrong, but he seemed to attribute it to something he had done wrong. He was very cautious the whole day, just working without saying a word.
Just like now, the kitchen was cleaned up, Liang Zhao stepped aside and stood there blankly, not saying much or asking any questions, patiently waiting for Gu Mengran's next instruction.
But Gu Mengran walked out of the kitchen without saying a word, turned around and walked towards the bedroom.
Liang Zhao didn't know what to do as he didn't receive any instructions. He could only follow him closely.
It was not until he reached the bedroom door and saw Gu Mengran reaching out to hold the doorknob that Liang Zhao frowned slightly and moved his lips, as if he wanted to ask something or comfort him, but in the end he said nothing.
He stood there in a daze, which was both funny and heartbreaking.
Gu Mengran could certainly sense it, so when he pushed the door open and walked in, he suddenly turned around to look at Liang Zhao, a faint smile appeared on his pale and haggard face, and he whispered, "Are you tired? Are you interested in doing something else?"
"Not tired, very interesting."
Liang Zhao's eyes lit up instantly, as if he was a big dog recognized by his owner, and the invisible tail behind him wagged rapidly.
After greeting his grandfather on the intercom, Gu Mengran invited Liang Zhao into the house, then took out a large amount of fresh cabbage and sweet potatoes from the space and took Liang Zhao to another space.
The sun occasionally rises from the west, like today, when the small animals raised in the space finally had their "breakfast", and the scene was very chaotic for a while.
Chickens, ducks and geese crowded in the front, pecking at the cabbage frantically. The half-grown piglets, calves and lambs were not to be outdone. The timid ones smacked their mouths and munched on the sweet potatoes, while the brave chickens snatched food with their beaks, risking being pecked to grab a head of cabbage.
After many days, the poultry and livestock raised in the space have grown a lot. They eat and live together, and there is no fighting because of different living habits. Instead, they get along quite well.
Xiao Huang was as timid as ever. He was not like other dogs that would immediately come to greet their owners with their tails wagged. He was very unsociable and always curled up in a corner, looking at them from a distance with an extremely innocent look.
The puppy still needs company. Now that we don’t have to run around everywhere, maybe we should take it back to the boat and raise it.
Well, I’ll take him out in a while, Gu Mengran made the decision on the spot.
We came to the space not only to feed the small animals in advance. Now that our life is gradually becoming stable, we cannot let this barren land remain abandoned like this.
No dead animals could be brought into the space, and no feed for poultry and livestock could be brought in, so Gu Mengran did not prepare anything either. The group of little guys had to rely on the leafy and root vegetables that they had stockpiled to fill their stomachs.
As they get bigger, their appetites naturally get bigger day by day. If we don’t plant some vegetables in the fields soon, our family’s assets will be drained out.
Having already decided what to plant and bringing the seeds, Gu Mengran took out a few bags of colorful seeds from the pocket of his beach pants, turned his head and raised his chin towards Liang Zhaoyang, "Let's go, while there's still time, the more we plant, the better."
After saying that, Gu Mengran turned around and left. Liang Zhao quickly followed him and walked side by side with him.
As if sensing that his mood had improved, Liang Zhaoyu glanced at the few bags of seeds in Gu Mengran's hand, frowned slightly, and asked softly: "We can't bring in a hoe, so how should we turn the soil? Although the soil here is not too hard, the efficiency will be very low without the help of tools."
Gu Mengran curled his lips and smiled, deliberately keeping the question in suspense: "Don't worry, this is not a problem, you will know in a moment."
"So, what about the animals?"
"Huh? What happened to the animals?"
Liang Zhao paused for a moment, then said after careful consideration: "If we don't use fences to enclose the chickens and ducks, and let them run around, we will plant in the front and they will dig in the back, so no matter how much we plant, it will be in vain."
The space is equivalent to two spacious football fields, a complete open space with unimpeded access. If left unattended, it will indeed be the same as Liang Zhao said.
Alas! Gu Mengran sighed, "I've thought about this before, and even thought about building a pen for them to keep. But there's no way, we can't bring the materials in, so we can only try to plant them there first."
Gu Mengran pointed to the land far away from the stream, then looked back at the chicken pecking at the leaves behind him, and said with a glimmer of hope, "The feeding and activities are all on this side of the stream, so they shouldn't run that far, right?"
In fact, it is very difficult. Even if the seeds do not attract the attention of poultry and livestock, in time, the crops will grow into green seedlings, which will be a free buffet for small animals that are used to eating green feed.
There was no better solution, so Liang Zhao said "hmm" and agreed, "Grow a little less and try. I hope they will be more obedient."
Chatting along the way, the two soon reached the other end of the space.
Seeing Gu Mengran tearing open the seed bag, Liang Zhao stared at him without blinking, not wanting to miss any details, as if he really wanted to know how he would replace the farm tools.
The red and brown round particles lay in the palm of his hand. Gu Mengran picked up the packaging bag again to confirm. After confirming that the cabbage seeds were indeed real, he casually squatted on the ground, carefully picked up three seeds with his other hand, and threw them in along the cracks in the soil.
Then...he picked up three more, moved two inches to the side and continued to throw them away.
Liang Zhao's brows knitted tighter and tighter, he stood there in shock.
He did not doubt Gu Mengran's common sense, but he doubted whether this method of planting would allow them to eat cabbage.
Liang Zhao's lips opened and closed, but he was unable to utter a single syllable. Gu Mengran seemed to have guessed what he was thinking. He turned his head to look at Liang Zhao, curled his lips and smiled softly, "Watch out for the moment of witnessing a miracle."
Having said that, he stood up slowly, holding the cabbage seeds in his hand, and took two steps to the side.
Less than five seconds after leaving, the hard, dry soil on the ground began to change.
It was like playing a farm planting game. When the seeds fell to the ground, the hard clods of mud slowly loosened and spread out. The uncultivated soil seemed to have been carefully turned over with a hoe, and the fertile soil was reborn into a square farmland.
Gu Mengran threw seeds three times in total, and three square fertile farmlands the size of flat plates appeared on the ground.