Wasteland Farming, Manual for Raising Human Cubs

Chapter 239 Cleaning the Pond
The next morning, the lords were called to the patrol station to begin learning how to drive tillage machines.

Zhao Gang thought that his family also had a tillage machine, so he took Grandma Meng and Meng Da over to learn.

Zhao Xiaoxiu opened the shop door and put the things to be sold on the counter with Sister Hou. She asked Xiwa and Meng Er to help her keep an eye on them while they were working and to call her if anyone came.

He turned around, picked up a roll of hemp rope, took the hoverboard, and walked towards the pond.

The water level in the swamp receded, leaving behind a stinking muck.

The originally clean pond was now filled with branches and roots that had floated over. Peter Pan could only stay in the river nearby, and his comfortable nest was gone.

These past two days, Zhao Xiaoxiu kept hearing Peter Pan screaming in her head, and she wanted her help to clean up its nest.

Today I couldn't stand the noise anymore, so I dragged the reluctant Monkey Sister over to help clean the pond.

The shoals of piranhas in the water had been moved away little by little by Peter Pan himself. Monkey Sister was a good swimmer and jumped into the water. Zhao Xiaoxiu threw a hemp rope to her on the shore and asked her to tie the rope to the tree roots that had sunk to the bottom.

After the rope was tied, Zhao Xiaoxiu could pull out the tree roots.

Although he is a small man, he is very strong and it is not difficult for him to pull out a tree root weighing hundreds of pounds.

When encountering those that are really stuck deep, we put the rope on Peter Pan, pull them out together, and then let Peter Pan deploy the levitation magnetic field and throw them into the poplar forest opposite.

After a busy morning, Zhao Xiaoxiu finally finished clearing the tree roots and branches in the pond. She was hot and tired. Her long sleeves and trousers were soaked with sweat and stuck to her body.

But the silt in the pond had not been cleaned yet. Zhao Xiaoxiu raised the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and squatted by the water, not knowing what to do.

The pond is wide and deep, so ordinary cleaning nets cannot be used. Do we have to go underwater and use bags to pack out the sludge?

Just when he was struggling with this, Zhao Gang, who had been out as a coach, came back. With just a little sense, he was able to determine the location of his cub and strode towards the pond.

Unexpectedly, I saw a wet little clay doll squatting on the shore, with an even more miserable clay monkey standing next to him.

Above the heads of the child and the monkey, suspended silver fish moved with the movement of the sun, casting a shadow with its body to block the sunlight for them.

If it weren't for the stench of mud wafting over, Zhao Gang would have thought the scene was quite harmonious and warm.

"Why are you still wearing long sleeves and long pants?"

A familiar voice came from behind, and the child and the monkey, not sure if they were tired or sunburned, turned their heads at the same time.

"Dad!" Zhao Xiaoxiu was extremely surprised. When she saw her father, her depressed little face instantly brightened up.

Zhao Gang's focus was still on his own baby's long-sleeved shirt and long pants which were soaked with sweat. He didn't mind the baby being dirty. He just grabbed the baby's collar and carried him home.

Zhao Xiaoxiu didn't resist, but she kept saying that she had encountered a problem and didn't know how to clear the silt in the pond.

She wants to give Peter Pan a clean and tidy home!

When Sister Monkey heard what the cub said, she became jealous. The cub was too nice to this stupid fish.

The monkey curled his lips in a humane way, patted his chest provocatively towards the sky, and looked like he wanted to pull Peter Pan down and beat him up.

Peter Pan swung his tail, drawing a perfect parabola in the air, and jumped into the river with a "bang". He swam happily in the cool water, completely ignoring Monkey Sister's provocation.

Without the sunshade fish above her head, Sister Monkey instantly felt the heat of the July sun. She felt as if all the hair on her body was being burned. She quickly caught up with Zhao Xiaoxiu and his daughter and hid in the house to cool off.

Zhao Gang found Zhao Xiaoxiu's summer short-sleeved shirt and shorts and changed her wet and muddy clothes. There was no one on the second floor, so the tentacle came out and used a cold water handkerchief to wipe Zhao Xiaoxiu's cat-like face clean.

The little girl's hair was also messy, so Zhao Gang tied it into a high ponytail again, making sure there wouldn't be any stray hair on her neck or forehead, and it was clean.

Zhao Xiaoxiu finally didn't feel hot anymore, and the sweat stopped flowing out. She sat comfortably on the chair on the balcony to enjoy the breeze.

But I didn't forget to clean the silt in the pond.

Zhao Gang threw the dirty clothes into the bathroom tub and let the tentacles wash them. When he heard the cubs mumbling, he said, "Daddy will clean up."

He left as soon as he said he would. Before Zhao Xiaoxiu could react, he had appeared by the pond without her noticing.

Zhao Xiaoxiu immediately leaned over the balcony railing and watched curiously how her father dealt with the silt.

This was not a difficult task for Zhao Gang. He transformed his arms into long and thick tentacles, stretched them into the pond and stirred it around, then scooped out a thick pile of silt.

Nature has its own way of cleaning. After a few days of sun exposure, the silt will dry up, and fresh mutated weeds will grow out, and the pond shore will return to its original appearance.

Perhaps because the nutrients in the mud are strong, the mutated weeds here will grow more luxuriantly.

Peter Pan was so happy that he wanted to shout out loud, but unfortunately he seemed to have no vocal organs, so he slapped the water surface with his tail frantically, making a loud "crackling" sound, to express his excitement.

Zhao Xiaoxiu also smiled happily. Seeing his father put away his tentacles and walked back calmly, he said loudly, "Dad is the best!"

Just one sentence, and Zhao Gang felt as if the area at his heart suddenly turned into a ball of water, becoming completely soft.

He stood downstairs and waved to the happy little girl, "Xiaoxiu, come here, Daddy will teach you how to grow seedlings for the evolved potatoes."

"Yeah!" Zhao Xiaoxiu immediately ran downstairs, carrying a basin of water and followed her father to the greenhouse with the rainproof cloth open.

The evolved tomatoes were moved by Sister Monkey outside the greenhouse where they could get plenty of sunlight, so that they could grow faster.

The greenhouse can be left vacant and is perfect for growing potato sprouts.

The task issued this time is to plant all the potatoes harvested in the first round.

The potato yield of each lord is recorded at the patrol station, and at least 50% must be planted.

Zhao Xiaoxiu's family harvested 80 evolved potatoes and gave 5 to the Meng family. They ate a lot of them, so only 60 were left.

Zhao Gang plans to plant all of them so that he can harvest more potatoes before winter.

We start by growing sprouts now, then plant them at the end of July, and they can be harvested around the end of November or early December.

According to the data from the first potato planting, 60 potatoes should be able to produce at least 1200 sprouts, and three acres of land need to be reserved for planting.

It is not difficult to make potatoes sprout, just pay attention to the temperature and humidity.

Now that the weather has warmed up, the temperature is just enough.

The only thing to pay attention to is the humidity, so the only task Zhao Gang gave Zhao Xiaoxiu was watering.

In addition to watering the potatoes, you also need to sprinkle water on the ground, and then cover the rainproof cloth on the greenhouse again to create a humid and hot environment.

After everything is arranged, 60 potatoes are neatly stacked on the hollow storage rack in the greenhouse. It only takes half a month for tender sprouts to grow.