Chapter 64

“New seeds?”

Liu Wensheng excitedly walked into the laboratory at Fengshan Farm. The current vegetable seeds at the farm included oil lettuce and tomatoes. During previous research, the farm had combined system seeds with local seeds. Now, they were directly studying lettuce.

Liu Wensheng looked excitedly at the experimental greenhouse: “Cabbage, beans, broccoli—can all of these be planted now?”

Song Yue Shan waved his hand: “It’s not that easy.”

In the A327 greenhouse, there was a 30 cm tall green lettuce, with large roots and thick, healthy leaves.

Song Yue Shan tapped the control panel of the greenhouse.

Name: Hybrid Lettuce (Wrinkled Leaf Type)

Hybrid Seed: Longxia David 76

Growth Cycle: 90-95 days

Nutritional Components: Carotene, Vitamin E…

…

Both lettuce and oil lettuce belong to the lettuce family. The acidic rain-resistant lettuce was developed by improving the acid rain-resistant oil lettuce. If other vegetables had been chosen, the results wouldn’t have been as significant.

“Looks good!” Liu Wensheng laughed heartily. After fifteen days of heavy snow in Longbei, this was the best news after the snow disaster.

“It really is good,” Song Yue Shan smiled. Although only the acid rain-resistant lettuce had been developed, the research institute already had rich experience with lettuce. Leaf lettuce, head lettuce, and Chinese celery were expected to see breakthrough research by the end of the month.

Qin Yun and Liu Wensheng toured the lab and then went to the rice paddy.

Zhou Yuanheng was observing the roots of the rice plants with several scientists. Upon seeing the two, he waved.

“No problem,” Liu Wensheng signaled the researchers to continue working. Rice was one of the three main staple crops in the country. Since obtaining the seeds, the researchers had been working diligently and carefully.

“The country plans to support hydroponics and soilless cultivation,” Liu Wensheng said after a while.

“In Longbei?” Qin Yun asked.

“Nationwide.”

According to the Agricultural Bureau’s testing, the country’s arable land area had degraded by 65%, and the planting crisis had worsened significantly. Hydroponics and soilless cultivation were relatively new techniques. Due to high initial investment, Longxia had only implemented them on a small scale in the past, but now they were planning to promote them nationwide.

Liu Wensheng chatted for a bit and then went back to his office for a nap.

Qin Yun wandered around the farm. Half an hour later, he strolled to the southern slope of the farm. This was a small white clay slope, and since it was within the farm’s boundaries, the slope had been planted with system grass. The grass was lush and thriving, but outside the farm… after the acidic rain, the land had degraded. During strong winds, yellow sand could blow through, and this area was even more barren than before.

On January 15, the Ministry of Agriculture released news: [New lettuce variety named Lettuce 01, expected to be sold nationwide on January 25…]

The farm had already partnered with major seed companies. Lettuce and oil lettuce would be the main vegetables in February.

As the temperature in Longbei warmed and residents adapted to the shortage of supplies, everyone was shocked to realize that the Lunar New Year of 3029 was almost here.

…

“Heading out?”

“Bought some seeds.”

…

At 3 p.m. on January 26, Zheng Jiawang rode his electric scooter back to the neighborhood. Zheng Jiawang was the property manager of Delong Community. In mid-September, after cutting trees and planting vegetables, the acidic rain-resistant oil lettuce in Delong had already been harvested three times. The main approach to handling the oil lettuce in Delong was: the property management planted and harvested it—sold to the residents based on demand— and the income from the oil lettuce was used for property staff salaries and neighborhood infrastructure.

Now, with the vegetable crisis, 90% of regions nationwide were trying to achieve vegetable self-sufficiency.

At 3 p.m., Zheng Jiawang and the property staff were cleaning up the empty space in the south garage of the community. After planting the lettuce seeds, the front desk staff asked, “Are we still hanging lanterns this year?” Today was the 20th of the twelfth lunar month, and there were only ten days left until the Lunar New Year.

“What do the residents think?” Zheng Jiawang asked.

“Some want to hang them, others want to save money.” Delong Community had a special public fund for community activities. In the past, the public fund covered the cost of buying decorations for the New Year, but this year, with the food crisis and the economic downturn, everyone’s income was tight.

“I see.”

Zheng Jiawang thought for a moment and contacted the Liunan Lantern Recycling Company. After some bargaining, the lantern company agreed to rent the lanterns at a 50% discount. He sent the situation to the residents’ group and asked them to vote.

“50% off is good.”

“This year has been too miserable. I want to start over.”

“If we don’t hang lanterns, can we buy sunflower seeds and cola?”

…

According to the calculations, the cost of lanterns would be 11 yuan per household. 11 yuan wasn’t expensive, but after the hardships of 3028, there was no festive atmosphere this year.

Zheng Jiawang looked at the chat records and said, “I’ll send a form so everyone can see what’s best.”

After a night of voting, the final result was: 5% chose not to celebrate the New Year, 72% chose to hang lanterns, 10% chose to buy sunflower seeds and cola, and 13% chose other options.

“Seventy percent of residents are hanging lanterns?” The property staff was surprised by the result.

Hanging lanterns is a New Year’s tradition. Even though this year had been difficult, people still wanted to celebrate.

In the next two days, Zheng Jiawang contacted the lantern company, and this year, lanterns hung high as usual. However, unlike previous years, where the lanterns were placed under rows of date trees, this year, they were placed under 30 cm tall oil lettuce. Perhaps to enhance the New Year’s atmosphere, the residents who had previously secretly picked vegetables stopped doing so, and the area beneath the lanterns was filled with greenery.

Delong Community hung lanterns, and the major supermarkets were also busy. With the shortage of supplies, chicken and pork were sold based on ID cards. Customers in the frozen meat section of the supermarket lined up from inside to outside. In addition, yogurt and milk were completely sold out. It wasn’t because they had all been sold, but because their shelf life was too short, and there was a nationwide shortage…

On the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zheng Jiawang brought home two pounds of spring onions.

The only vegetables available in supermarkets now were lettuce, oil lettuce, and enoki mushrooms. He had planned to buy two pounds of bananas, but after visiting three supermarkets, only one had them, priced at 78 yuan per pound. He stood in front of the bananas for a long time but couldn’t bring himself to buy them. When he finally decided to buy them, the last bunch of bananas was sold out.

Since the Longbei snow disaster, it had been two months since they had eaten fruit at home.

“Good evening, dear audience. Tonight, we meet here…” Zheng Jiawang entered the house to find his wife making dumplings while watching TV.

Zheng Jiawang changed his shoes and asked, “Where’s Xiao Fei?”

“Inside the room.”

Xiao Fei, the son, is majoring in architecture and currently works as a designer at an architecture firm.

Zheng Jiawang glanced at the second bedroom and helped his wife make dumplings. They were from Sichuan Province, and since the disaster in the Central and Southern regions, they had been eating noodles for half a year. The two of them were very skilled at making dumplings, and soon, three bowls of dumplings were ready.

“Time to eat,” Zheng Jiawang called out to the room.

“More dumplings again?” His son, Zheng Fei, stepped out wearing slippers.

“We’re having dumplings today, tomorrow your mom can make you some pulled noodles.”

Zheng Fei didn’t say anything. As a true Sichuan native, he could now eat more noodles than even his northern classmates…

“In the past year, we faced the Harma Storm, heavy rains in Longnan, and the snow disaster in Longbei…” The emotional voice of the host came from the program. This year had been incredibly difficult. Not only Longxia, but the entire world had been struggling with crises.

The three of them finished watching, and Zheng Fei took a sip of the dumpling soup and said, “I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“The company went bankrupt.” He was an architectural designer, and there was work only when the economy was booming. With the global crisis, many residents were selling their homes, and Longxia’s real estate industry had been in negative growth for seven consecutive months. Their company simply couldn’t keep going.

“Your cousin’s milk tea shop just closed down,” Zheng Jiawang sighed.

In the past six months, various industries across the country had faced economic crises.

The atmosphere in the living room was a little tense. After finishing the meal, the three of them went outside with their phones.

“So many lanterns!”

“The ones in the sky are really beautiful!”

…

From the park in the community, they could see the drone show from the municipal square. Several children were running around the park with lanterns. They knew the malls and supermarkets weren’t functioning normally, but in their minds, they couldn’t yet grasp the food crisis. All they knew was that they hadn’t had meat recently, but tonight, they had just eaten meat before heading out…

“Really nice,” Zheng Fei said, somewhat envious of the children in the yard.

As he sighed, Zheng Jiawang patted his shoulder. “If you can’t find a job, I’ll ask the property management for you.”

Zheng Jiawang didn’t show it, but he had been worried about Zheng Fei’s job situation. On top of that, there were still some savings at home, which would allow Zheng Fei to survive without food or drink for a few years.

“I can find one,” Zheng Fei felt warmth in his heart.

“This thing is going to spray fire, you guys step back,” a young boy’s immature voice came from the yard. Everyone looked over and saw the boy holding a fire stick, with a firework tube in front of him.

The boy lit the firework with the fire stick, then quickly ran to the back.

Three seconds later, a blue-red firework bloomed in the air.

“Wow!” Shouts of amazement came from the other children. Several adults took out their phones to take pictures of the firework.

“That’s actually pretty nice.”

Zheng Jiawang looked at the fireworks and the lanterns around him. These lanterns were installed based on a vote by the residents. They didn’t provide food or drink, but after a year of tension, today was the most relaxing moment for the community.

The three of them walked around and arrived at the lettuce field in the south parking lot.

The lettuce had already been planted, and two young people were studying the lettuce field carefully.

Seeing this, his wife said, “Now that the snow disaster in Longbei is over, when the country does more research, maybe we’ll be able to plant trees soon.”

“Indeed.”

Zheng Jiawang smiled. Now, the entire world was facing the acidic rain crisis, but they were moving against the trend, starting with food seeds and now vegetable seeds… next year would definitely be better.

The year 3028 had been somewhat rough and troublesome, but everyone was looking forward to 3029.

…

“Ding! Congratulations, Host has obtained a Hope Tree fruit: Small Hope Tree Fruit X1.”

While the whole country was immersed in the New Year’s atmosphere, Qin Yun stood frozen, staring at the scene in front of him inside the Fengshan shield. In front of him was a one-meter-tall sapling. The sapling had sprouted branches, and the branches were covered with green leaves. In the middle of the leaves was a green fruit the size of an apple.

Qin Yun placed his right hand on the fruit, and it fell into his hand.