My Happy Daily Life After Being Reborn-Chapter 39 - 23 Watermelon

39: Chapter 23: Watermelon freeωebnovēl.c૦m

39 -23: Watermelon

The kernel of the mutated white jujube was somewhat strange, like a thin needle with very sharp ends.

Lin Xiaoguai, full of anticipation, carefully planted two kernels and watered them with some spiritual spring water.

In fact, because of the energy, crops in the space didn’t need irrigation or fertilization; however, the spiritual spring water still had some benefits for the plants, which she naturally wasn’t stingy with.

Xiaoguai chose a few crops like peaches, melons, and grapes that she could potentially take outside and planted them in the remaining space.

Afterward, she stood beside the newly emerged fruit orchard.

The variety of fruit trees here was complete, and their branches were laden with heavy fruits.

Lin Xiaoguai had once picked and tasted them, discovering to her astonishment the unique properties of these fruits.

It could be said that their effects were comparable to the spiritual spring water, except that the water acted on the body while the fruits impacted spiritual power.

Ordinary people could relieve fatigue by eating them, and for someone with extraordinary spiritual power like her, the effects were even more significant.

According to 001, these fruits contained a small amount of spatial energy.

It was speculated that all species in the new space should have this effect, which wasn’t assimilated in the few acres near the Spiritual Spring.

At a corner of the fruit orchard, there was a small space, about half an acre in size.

Lin Xiaoguai planned to dig a pond on one half to raise fish and fence the other half for chickens, ducks, and geese.

Though the lakes, streams, and oceans had countless types of seafood, such as shad, knife fish, mandarin fish, and puffer fish, common types like crucian carp, carp, and grass carp were not absent—it was just that with her current spiritual power, it was somewhat strenuous to pinpoint and catch a specific type among the numerous creatures, let alone that the fish there all benefited spiritual power and prolonged exposure could tip off grandma and grandpa.

Not to mention the seafood; although Z Province was coastal, their county was far from the sea, and in these times, transportation was not well developed.

The only “seafood” that would occasionally appear on the dining table was hairtail, but that wasn’t really from the sea, it was from the Yangtze River.

Initially, Xiaoguai had planned to dig near the spiritual spring, but upon learning that the soil there could cause plants to mutate and optimize, she naturally didn’t want to give that up.

Moreover, the corner of the fruit orchard was akin to the border between the new space and the original space.

The species there were less affected, the energy contained in the fish raised there was much lower, and the effects on spiritual power were so minimal as to go unnoticed.

A pond a quarter of an acre in size would take at least three to five days to dig outside, but Xiaoguai could solve it in three to five minutes using her spiritual power.

After digging, she drew water from the spiritual spring to fill the pond to eighty percent before exchanging for some common fish fry, shrimp fry, and crab fry at the exchange store and releasing them into the pond.

Local species were very cheap in the exchange store.

Buying all these items, she spent less than ten gold coins.

As for the fence, it was a bit more troublesome.

She also planned to free-range some pigs, cattle, and sheep in the fruit orchard; hence, the fence had to be sturdy, or else the chicks and ducklings might get trampled by the livestock.

Moreover, both ducks and geese needed to swim, so it seemed she would need to fence around the pond as well.

Actually, raising livestock was something she hadn’t done for quite a while.

Even when she was still at home, such dirty and tiring tasks were seldom her duty; at most, she mixed some feed, and her father didn’t allow her to get involved with other tasks, just wanted her to focus on her studies.

But now, she wasn’t worried at all.

The space naturally had a purification function, and the soil could automatically absorb nutrients.

Animal waste, dead grass, and stems were quickly absorbed by the soil, so there was no need for cleaning.

As for feed, the plant growth in the space was extremely fast, but according to 001, animals didn’t fall into this category; they might grow faster than in reality, but not as exaggerated as plants.

Thus, she just needed to plant some pasture in the fence and scatter some aquatic plants seeds in the water that ducks, geese, and fish liked to eat, and she wouldn’t have to worry about feed.

Pigs, cattle, and sheep were even less of a concern; the fruit orchard was so large, just scattering some grass seeds would be enough for them to eat.

By the time she came out of the space, it was already time to make dinner.

Lin Xiaoguai cooked some sweet potato porridge, peeled potatoes and cut them into fine strips to make a simple dish of potato slaw.

She also scooped a crucian carp from the water, cleaned it, and made a crucian carp soup.

Such a meal was already quite good at this time.

White rice was still a luxury item, and sweet potato was the staple food.

Being able to make porridge instead of just eating it dry was already quite good, especially since it wasn’t white-hearted sweet potato but yellow-hearted.

The two dishes were ordinary, the potatoes were homegrown, but like Xiaoguai who was willing to stir-fry with oil, it was rare.

As for crucian carp soup, it was the flooding season when many were available.

If one wanted to eat fish, they just had to go to the countryside to catch them.

As long as they weren’t too unskilled, they usually wouldn’t come back empty-handed.

At the dining table, Shen Zhangming and Luo Yufang, as before, took several sips of sweet potato porridge before picking a small piece of potato slaw, and didn’t touch the crucian carp soup at all.

Lin Xiaoguai, feeling helpless, quickly served both elders a piece of fish belly and took out a small bowl she had prepared on the side to serve them each a bowl of soup.

“We don’t like fish, just eat it yourself,” Shen Zhangming tried to put the fish into Lin Xiaoguai’s bowl.

Lin Xiaoguai quickly blocked the bowl with her hand, “Grandpa, you know my appetite, how could I eat such a large fish?

If you won’t eat, should I just throw the rest away?”

Shen Zhangming hesitated, then said, “Then you eat the belly meat, and your grandma and I will eat the back.”

This granddaughter-in-law was good in many ways, just not quite adept at managing the household.

She was a bit delicate, inadvertently using several spoonfuls of oil when frying dishes, and not putting much salt in the meat; she couldn’t eat it for many meals, always liking fresh foods.

But however many shortcomings, as long as she thought of the two old folks, that was warmer and more comforting than anything else.

“No need, the back of the fish is fresher, just indulge me a bit,” Lin Xiaoguai said playfully.

Shen Zhangming and Luo Yufang exchanged a glance, knowing full well that Wanwan was considering the bones in the fish back and looking out for them, but their expressions were helpless while their hearts were warm.

“By the way, grandpa, grandma,” Lin Xiaoguai continued, “Shen Chi wrote in his letter that he has a week of home leave starting on the second day of next month and asked me to tell you, so he hasn’t written a separate letter.”

“Really?” Luo Yufang was delighted, counted the days, and said, “Today is the twenty-ninth, so he’ll be back in a few days.”

“Did Chi say anything else?” Shen Zhangming asked.

Lin Xiaoguai thought for a moment and said, “He said that when he returns, he would swing by San Feng’s place and also pick up some goods for the store.”

Upon hearing this, the smiles on Shen Zhangming and Luo Yufang’s faces faded.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Xiaoguai was confused.

Luo Yufang hesitated before speaking, “Wanwan, about selling the clothes, should we stop doing that?”

“Why?

Haven’t we made a good amount of money?” Although she hadn’t inquired, she could guess from the excitement of grandpa and grandma in those days.

“But I always feel uneasy,” Luo Yufang said apprehensively.

“Even though they say it’s the era of economic reform, who knows if it will happen again?

We old folks are not afraid, but what if we’re labeled as capitalists and our children and grandchildren suffer because of us?”

Shen Zhangming nodded, “I think we should stop too.

The money we’ve made is enough to pay for the hospital in the provincial city.

If a revolution happens again, we will just sell this house and hide in the countryside.” The people in their village usually shopped in the town and not the city, so no one would know they had sold clothes.

No wonder grandpa and grandma didn’t let her and Xiu’er tend the stall.

Lin Xiaoguai was somewhat amused, “Grandpa and grandma, you worry too much.

It was Shen Chi who suggested this, why wouldn’t he have thought it through?

Besides, how can national affairs be so fickle, flipping between reform and revolution at a whim?

Wouldn’t that be a farce?”

“But…” Shen Zhangming still hesitated.

For those who had lived through such a unique period, the memories were too deeply oppressively ingrained.

“Why not wait for Shen Chi to come back and then discuss it with him?” Lin Xiaoguai didn’t insist.

Everything needed to be done step by step, and anything she said now would be useless.

It had to be this way.

The elderly couple nodded, looking somewhat uneasy.

On Saturday, when Shen Xiu came home for the weekend, Lin Xiaoguai also told her about Shen Chi’s furlough to visit his family.

“That’s great.” Shen Xiu smiled happily, thinking about telling her brother about Jiang Youliang when he returned.

Lin Xiaoguai thought she was just happy to have her brother back, unaware of the underlying reasons, and said with a light laugh, “I used well water to soak a watermelon in the backyard; if you want some, go slice it yourself.”

“Really?

Where did it come from?” Shen Xiu asked joyfully.

“Someone was selling it in the alley, and I just happened to be there, so I bought one.” It was actually taken out of a special space.

“How much per pound?”

“Five cents per pound.”

“That expensive?” Shen Xiu felt a bit of a pinch, “I heard the supply and marketing co-op only charges four cents per pound.

Sister-in-law, you paid too much.”

The county’s supply and marketing co-op also had some rare items, but if you missed out, it was a missed opportunity, especially for people like them who had no connections there.

By the time you heard about it and made it over, everything would have been sold out.

“But that’s not the same, the ones I buy are definitely sweeter than those from the supply and marketing co-op,” Lin Xiaoguai said with utmost confidence.

She didn’t know how much the co-op’s watermelons cost per pound and had just made up a price, luckily it wasn’t too outrageous.

“I’ll go take a look.” Without even putting on her shoes, Shen Xiu ran barefoot to the backyard.

It wasn’t long before Shen Xiu’s excited voice came floating over.

“Sister-in-law, this watermelon is so big, how did you carry it back?” Shen Xiu walked back struggling with a round watermelon.

Lin Xiaoguai paused before saying, “That lady was kind-hearted.

She helped deliver it to the gate, so I didn’t have to exert much effort.” It was taken from the special space; she didn’t have to exert any effort at all, but she couldn’t say that.

“Even so, sister-in-law, you were still too careless.

This watermelon must weigh over ten pounds; carrying it from the gate to the backyard is no easy task,” Shen Xiu complained and rejoiced at the same time.

It’s not that they couldn’t grow watermelons here, but they usually cultivated melons on a large scale, only planting muskmelons in their personal plots.

“Sister-in-law, just wait.

I’ll go and cut it.” Saying this, she happily ran off to the kitchen.