Chapter 6: Need to Prepare Some Nutrient Solution for the Fruit Trees

“Mengmeng, you’re asking for a beating.” Cheng Xiaolin instinctively reached out and grabbed her daughter’s collar from behind. Mengmeng charged quickly, then was suddenly caught by her mother. Her feet, still carrying inertia, stepped forward, and her whole body directly started swinging like a swing using her mother’s arm, and she was having a lot of fun.

Her little mouth kept giggling ‘hehe’, which amused all the adults.

Cheng Xiaolin saw her daughter’s behavior and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, thinking to herself, “How did I give birth to such a creature? When will she be a bit more like other normal children? It’s unbelievable!”

After the sound of firecrackers, and once the smoke and dust had dispersed with the wind, Cao Zhenggang said, “Jianguo, Shujie, shall we start working now?”

“Uncle Zhenggang, let’s do it!” Cao Jianguo said.

When Cao Zhenggang heard him say that, he immediately called for someone to operate the excavator and push down the wall. The tracks pressed against the collapsed wall as it moved inward, then it knocked the house askew. The movements were quick and efficient.

If these tasks were done manually, they couldn’t be finished in several days.

As the wall and house were pushed down, dust filled the sky in that area.

After Wang Yuelan saw it, she quickly told her daughter-in-law, “Linlin, it’s too dusty here. Quickly take Mengmeng home.”

“Mom, then I’ll go home and cook,” Cheng Xiaolin didn’t act coy.

She did want her mother-in-law to take her daughter back, but it was fine for a short time; for a longer period, her mother-in-law couldn’t control Mengmeng at all now.

Today was the first day of work. According to the custom in their area, they had to treat the workers to a meal of “pig-slaughtered” dishes (a traditional feast with fresh pork).

It wasn’t New Year’s or any other festival, so it was impossible to actually slaughter a pig to entertain people. But Cao Shujie still drove to the town and bought over 50 jin (about 55 lbs) of pork.

After his mother, Wang Yuelan, found out, she complained a lot about him, saying he was wasting money.

But Cao Shujie felt that this was only a small amount of money. Since they were providing meals, they had to make sure everyone ate well. Don’t leave them feeling unsatisfied and uncomfortable.

Only when they were full and satisfied could they work more diligently.

Meanwhile, when the sound of ten thousand firecrackers went off, most people in Cao Family Village knew that Cao Jianguo’s eldest son, who couldn’t make a living outside, was now going to spend over 200,000 yuan to build a two-story house. It was said that it would also have elaborate decoration, heating, indoor showers, and toilets. Once finished, it wouldn’t be inferior to city apartments at all.

The area was large enough, and it would be comfortable to live in.

At this moment, the group of people who had previously been enthusiastically discussing this matter all consciously shut up and stopped mentioning it.

They weren’t stupid. How many families in the entire Cao Family Village would spend over 200,000 yuan to build a small villa?

Up until now, there hadn’t been a single one in Cao Family Village!

Could someone who couldn’t make a living outside come up with over 200,000 yuan to build a house in their hometown?

Logically speaking, this matter clearly didn’t make sense.

After Wang Yuelan watched for a while, she thought that her daughter-in-law would surely be too busy cooking alone at home and also taking care of her granddaughter. So she told her husband, Cao Jianguo, “Old Cao, you and Shujie watch here. I’ll go back and help Linlin cook.”

“Alright, you go and be busy. The two of us can watch here,” Cao Jianguo said.

…

When Wang Yuelan returned home, she saw her daughter-in-law cutting meat. Beside her was a basin of chopped Napa cabbage and tofu.

In another red enamel basin, vermicelli was soaking. This was the standard way to prepare “pig-slaughtered” dishes in the countryside.

“Linlin, you watch Mengmeng, give me the knife.” Wang Yuelan went to wash her hands, then was about to take the knife from her daughter-in-law.

But Cheng Xiaolin didn’t agree: “Mom, I’m almost done cutting. You should watch Mengmeng instead. I’ll be finished in a moment.”

By this time, she had already cut half a basin of meat. By visual estimation, it was at least four or five jin (about 4.4 to 5.5 lbs).

Cao Shujie was willing to spend money. Cao Zhenggang and the other workers all enjoyed a delicious meal at noon.

Besides the good food and drink hospitality, Cao Shujie also gave two packs of 10-yuan cigarettes to each of the 9 people, including Cao Zhenggang.

This time, even Cao Zhenggang felt a bit embarrassed. He had taken people to so many places, and had also gone to the city to build buildings with large construction teams. But no one had ever been as generous as Cao Shujie when providing meals.

In the afternoon, everyone else went back to work. Cao Zhenggang also called Cao Shujie aside and said, “Shujie, you don’t need to put so much meat when you cook meals in the future.”

He quietly advised Cao Shujie, “Put more lard in the pot and less meat; you can save a lot of money.”

“Haha, Grandpa Zhenggang, just eat as much as you want. I can’t say for sure about other things, but there’ll be plenty of meat dishes,” Cao Shujie said this.

But he also sighed with emotion, “People from my hometown are still so simple and honest!”

…

The next day, the transportation of construction waste from the old house entered the regular process. Cao Shujie didn’t come over anymore. He was now taking his wife and daughter to the mountain behind to look at the fruit trees.

After the time entered late March, the temperature had stabilized above 15 degrees Celsius. The warm and gentle sunlight shining on their bodies felt especially comfortable.

It also accelerated the growth and flowering of the fruit trees.

Just like the kiwis and apples planted in Cao Shujie’s orchard, generally speaking, they would start flowering in April.

Cao Shujie and his family of three slowly walked along a small path. In the terraced fields cultivated on both sides of the path, the kiwi and apple trees were lush green, captivating the heart.

“Daddy, put me down.” Mengmeng saw so many fruit trees and didn’t want her dad to carry her anymore.

Cao Shujie bent down and put his daughter down. He also told her, “Mengmeng, don’t run around carelessly, be careful not to fall.”

But just as he finished speaking, the moment he let go, Mengmeng, taking advantage of her dad’s inattention, took off running forward.

But the terraced fields on the mountain were not flat concrete roads. There were many undulating small dirt mounds. Mengmeng, this impetuous child, didn’t pay attention to what was under her feet at all. Without noticing, her toe was blocked by a clod of earth in front of her.

“Thud!”

Mengmeng flew forward and finally fell heavily onto the ground.

Cao Shujie saw it and was terrified.

Cheng Xiaolin was originally walking slowly behind. When she saw her daughter fall, she also became nervous and ran over with big strides.

But Mengmeng lay motionless on the ground, neither crying nor making a fuss. This scared the couple badly.

“Could she have fallen and become silly?” The couple thought to themselves.

“Mengmeng, are you okay?” Cao Shujie asked anxiously.

The next moment, Cao Shujie bent down and picked his daughter up from the ground. Cheng Xiaolin quickly stood directly in front of her daughter to look. She saw Mengmeng’s face was covered in dirt, and she was staring at her with wide eyes. But on this little dirty face, you couldn’t see any sign of teary eyes or tears streaming down.

“Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!” Mengmeng finally reacted.

She was like a child who was perfectly fine, not crying at all.

“Mengmeng, you naughty child, you really scared Mommy just now.” Cheng Xiaolin finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her daughter was fine.

“Mommy, fun,” Mengmeng said this.

After speaking, she kept staring at the ground. Her little face showed a joyful excitement, as if she was thinking of trying to fall again.

…

Mengmeng was fine, so Cao Shujie and Cheng Xiaolin didn’t worry about her anymore. However, they didn’t dare let Mengmeng walk around by herself here anymore.

As they continued walking further, the couple each held one of Mengmeng’s hands as they walked into the orchard.

During this time, Cao Shujie would stop every now and then to carefully observe the fruit trees around him.

From the leaves to the flower buds, and then to the branches, sometimes he would even dig open the soil at the base of the fruit tree with his hand to check the condition of the roots.

At first, the expression on his face was quite relaxed. But later, it became a bit solemn.

Cheng Xiaolin also noticed that the expression on her husband’s face was not right. She asked him, “Honey, what’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

“No big problems, but quite a few minor issues. Overall, this fruit tree is a bit malnourished…” Cao Shujie spoke clearly and logically.

Cheng Xiaolin became even more nervous. This was one of their family’s main sources of income in the future. If something went wrong, it would be disastrous.

The next moment, Cheng Xiaolin heard her husband say, “For now, let’s apply some chemical fertilizer.”

“However, it would be even better if we could formulate a nutrient solution.”

Cheng Xiaolin was confused by what she heard. But she knew what her husband meant by ‘nutrient solution’. Precisely because of this, she was curious: “Honey, are you talking about that nutrient solution project you’re preparing to launch?”

Seeing her husband nod, she became even more curious: “I remember you said this project was just launched not long ago, have you researched it so quickly?”

“Hehe!” Cao Shujie chuckled without speaking.

Seeing him like this, Cheng Xiaolin didn’t bother asking him further: “Then hurry up and formulate it to try, see if it can add some nutrients to these fruit trees?”

“Absolutely, wife. I’ll go to the county town to buy some ingredients when I get back later. Are you coming with me?” Cao Shujie asked her.

Before Cheng Xiaolin could speak, Mengmeng, who was circling her mother, started shouting, “I’m going, I’m going!”

She was excited.

(End of this chapter)