Chapter 376: The Big Secret Unveiled

When Zhou Zhiming turned around, he nearly had a heart attack.

He patted his chest and said irritably, “Comrade Lin Guohai, scaring someone like that could kill them.”

However, Lin Guohai didn’t pay any attention to his words. His gaze was fixed on the small pellets of food and he asked, “Comrade Zhou, what is this feed you’re giving the chickens?”

Originally, this was a secret of Zhoujia Village and couldn’t be shared with outsiders. But now that the village plans to produce feed and establish a feed workshop, it would be hard to keep it hidden. Therefore, last night, the village head and others had decided to make it public.

Otherwise, if Lin Guohai hadn’t come here, someone would have already alerted Zhou Zhiming to hide the feed.

“This is the feed that Yimin formulated for the village, specially for poultry and other livestock. Our chickens grow fast and fat, and it’s all thanks to this feed,” Zhou Zhiming explained.

“Oh? Can you tell me more?” Lin Guohai seemed to have uncovered a significant secret.

The last time he came to Zhoujia Village to research chicken-raising techniques, Lin Guohai had suspected that the chickens couldn’t have grown so fat so quickly with the usual methods.

So, he came again today.

Sure enough, Zhoujia Village had held back some information during his last visit.

That made sense, though—after all, the villagers had come up with this on their own and wouldn’t just share everything.

He had heard that raising chickens was quite profitable for Zhoujia Village, and the villagers even received dividends from it. Since this was a collective venture, the higher-ups wouldn’t interfere.

“I don’t really know the specifics either. You’ll have to ask Yimin,” Zhou Zhiming laughed.

Lin Guohai wasn’t in a hurry to go find Yimin; he wanted to observe the feed first.

He reached out, picked up a bit of the feed, and sniffed it. It had a distinctive smell. Suddenly, Lin Guohai asked, “Can humans eat this?”

This question took Zhou Zhiming by surprise.

“I… I don’t know!” Zhou Zhiming answered, confused.

Lin Guohai pinched one of the pellets, put it in his mouth, and started chewing. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste bad.

Watching the chickens gobble it up with enthusiasm, he knew it was something poultry enjoyed eating.

After observing for a while, Lin Guohai then went to find Yimin.

Before he reached Yimin’s house, he saw him playing with the children. The kids, dressed in cotton-padded clothes, had a different energy about them.

In some villages, children couldn’t even get enough to eat, let alone be out in the cold weather playing. Did they have enough to eat or something?

Normally, at this time of year, kids would be inside warming up, not running around. The more Lin Guohai got to know Zhoujia Village, the more he realized it was a prosperous place.

The villagers were all well-fed, had money to earn, and most importantly, enjoyed a life with electricity—something rare in most rural areas. Of course, he had also heard that Yimin was the key factor behind this success, leading the village in generating income.

“Comrade Yimin, it’s good to see you again,” Lin Guohai greeted him.

Yimin was a well-known figure in their commune, even though he rarely went there, his legend had spread.

He had invented several things that benefited the country and the people, and the higher-ups had rewarded him multiple times. These included inventions like the hand pump, solar stove, and threshing machines—all directly related to the needs of farmers.

Lin Guohai’s uncle had told him that when he came to Zhoujia Village, he should try to interact with Yimin and get to know him—nothing harmful in doing so.

Even without his uncle’s advice, Lin Guohai knew what he had to do!

Even if there was no issue with the feed today, he would have come to talk to Yimin anyway.

“Yes, good to see you again. How have you been lately?” Yimin asked as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered Lin Guohai one.

For men, offering a cigarette was the highest form of greeting.

“Pretty good. The chicken hatchery gave the commune a lot of inspiration. Now, the commune’s chicken farm plans to build one too,” Lin Guohai replied.

Of course, the commune also had chicken farms, just varying in size.

Admittedly, the previous year, the commune’s chickens had been nowhere near as fat as those of Zhoujia Village. This was exactly why they had sent people to learn from Zhoujia Village.

Meat production was important for both the country and the people, and every commune was trying to find ways to increase it.

Yimin smiled, “That’s great!”

“Yes, it’s a good thing. Expanding the chicken farm is also supported by the leaders. But expanding the scale means more investment in feed, and as you know, the current situation isn’t optimistic,” Lin Guohai explained.

Some people in the commune opposed expanding the chicken farm, arguing that there wasn’t enough food for people, so why waste it on chickens?

People could live without meat, but they couldn’t live without grain.

There was some truth to this argument.

Yimin nodded, “Understood.”

“Today, I discovered that Zhoujia Village also produces its own feed. I heard from Comrade Zhou Zhiming that you formulated it. It helps the chickens grow quickly and healthily. I came to learn more about it. Just now, I tasted a bit, and it seems like there’s some soybeans in it,” Lin Guohai got straight to the point.

Yimin was surprised, “…”

Tasted it?

Well, that’s something!

However, given that some people had been starving and eating tree bark, grass roots, and even “Guanyin soil,” feed didn’t seem too bad. In fact, it was probably better than tree bark, grass roots, and Guanyin soil.

“I wouldn’t say I formulated it myself. I saw some information in ancient texts and then experimented with it,” Yimin explained.

The feed contained the necessary nutrients for animals, including proteins, energy, minerals, vitamins, and both essential and non-essential additives.

“It does contain soybean components, mainly soybean meal. Using whole soybeans would be too extravagant,” Yimin added.

“Ancient texts?” Lin Guohai was intrigued.

As far as he knew, Yimin’s inventions like the hand pump had also been inspired by ancient texts.

Impressive!

“Yes! In the old society, didn’t some people raise birds? Some even formulated bird feed to help them grow better. I thought, since birds and chickens are both poultry, the principles should be similar,” Yimin calmly explained.

His explanation was logical, leaving Lin Guohai no room to criticize. He kept nodding and giving thumbs up.

“Exactly! Exactly! Nobody thought of this before!”

Yimin continued, “In history, there were even records of using tree leaves as feed. In the ancient text Shennong Bencao Jing it says, ‘Use tung tree leaves to feed pigs, they grow three times larger and are easier to raise.'”

Many tree leaves are rich in protein, minerals, and vitamins. Over 100 types of tree leaves can be used as animal feed. They can be fed fresh, or stored in pits or jars, dried and crushed for use in winter and spring when fresh grass is scarce.

Especially for locust tree leaves, which contain 20.82% crude protein, 2.7% crude fat, 19.48% crude fiber, and 31.69% nitrogen-free extract. It’s said that 2 kilograms of locust leaf powder has the protein equivalent of 1 kilogram of soybean meal.

Adding 5% locust leaf powder to chicken feed can improve egg production and increase egg yolk color.

This was one of the feeds Yimin intended to develop.

The two continued chatting, with Lin Guohai taking plenty of notes.

(End of Chapter)