Pokémon: Starting with a Pokémon Ranch.

Chapter 79 Fish Pond Planning

Watching Squirtle finish all the farm work in no time, Su Yu had mixed feelings.

At that moment, Squirtle raised the plate in its hand, gesturing for Su Yu to take the tea.

"Jenny, Jenny~" The boss drinks his tea. Boss, you've worked hard!

"...It wasn't hard work, I just went out to deliver some goat milk." Hearing this, Su Yu forced a smile.

In response to Squirtle's words, Su Yu picked up a cup of tea from the tray and took a sip.

Hmm... the taste is not bad, but this tea... doesn't seem to be from home?

Su Yu looked at Squirtle.

Seeing this, Squirtle chuckled:

"Jenny, Jenny~!" I couldn't find any tea leaves at home, so I used the ones I brought with me.

Upon hearing this, Su Yu understood. He had almost forgotten that this Squirtle had previously been a fire chief, so it must have some savings of its own.

Bringing your own tea or something is probably standard practice.

Just then, Caterpie returned from its training session on the back hill. Seeing Squirtle, it asked Su Yu with a puzzled look:

"Hissing?" Is this a new Pokémon on the ranch?

"Yes, I hired it to help us with aquaculture," Su Yu replied.

Seeing this, Squirtle chuckled and stretched out a hand to Caterpie, seemingly wanting to shake hands with Caterpie.

However, the caterpillar didn't seem to understand what this meant. It looked at Su Yu, who explained:

"This is called a handshake, a way for humans to express friendliness, and it can also be used when meeting someone for the first time."

"Just extend your hand and shake hands with the other person."

"Hiss." Upon hearing this, Caterpie extended one of its abdominal legs, and Squirtle immediately reached out and grasped it, shaking it slightly.

"Jenny, Jenny~" Hello, nice to meet you from now on.

Seeing this, Su Yu roughly figured out the Squirtle's personality. So... it's a bull.

But that's fine, since my ranch is exactly lacking cows. Caterpillars, tropical dragons, almonds, and farfalle don't seem to be very good at interacting with outsiders.

Strictly speaking, all of these can be categorized as social anxiety.

With Squirtle, I can leave the ranch to Squirtle to manage whenever I need to leave.

Even if you were to have it handle business with Grandpa Liu when he comes over, Squirtle could probably do a great job, which is due to its own personality.

After Squirtle and Caterpie finished greeting each other, Su Yu said:

"Alright, you should say hello to the other Pokémon in the room now, right?"

"If that's the case, then we should get down to business. What are your thoughts on aquaculture in that lake?"

The reason for hiring someone with aquaculture experience is that Su Yu knows nothing about it.

Squirtle's ability to pass the manager's interview clearly indicates it has something special; otherwise, the manager wouldn't have passed it.

Hearing Su Yu's words, Squirtle gestured for Su Yu to wait a moment. It returned to its cabin, took off its apron, and then took out a piece of paper and started writing and drawing on it.

Seeing this, Su Yu followed. Looking at the patterns Squirtle had drawn, he asked in confusion:

"Are you...drawing a design sketch?"

"Squirrel, Squirrel." Squirrel nodded.

However, the design drawings created by Squirtle did not use any numbers or words for labeling; instead, they were all represented by icons that resembled simple children's drawings.

After Squirtle finished drawing, Su Yu picked it up and examined it carefully for a long time before he understood its meaning.

"You mean, dig some aquaculture ponds around the lake and raise fish in them?" Su Yu asked, puzzled.

"Squirrel, Squirrel~!" Squirrel nodded upon hearing this.

The stocking density of farmed fish is inevitably higher than that of free-range fish. This can easily pollute the lake water and even hinder the lives of the Pokémon living there.

Therefore, Squirtle believes that digging breeding ponds is the best solution. The lake itself can serve as a home for Pokémon like Shellder, while other breeding ponds can be dug to draw water from the lake to raise fish.

This ensures that the lake water remains unpolluted, the Pokémon in the lake can live freely, and high-density artificial breeding can be achieved, resulting in a large harvest of fish.

After all... the pearls produced by the giant oysters in that lake are also quite valuable, and they deserve a better living environment.

Upon hearing this, Su Yu roughly understood what Squirtle meant; it was indeed a good idea.

He hadn't considered that a high fish density in the lake would pollute the water.

"How many breeding ponds do we need to dig?" Su Yu asked curiously.

"Jenny, Jenny..." Well, that depends on how many fish you want to raise, boss.

As he said this, Squirtle scratched his head.

After all... raising fish isn't difficult for it; as long as the surrounding environment is suitable, it can raise as many as it wants.

However, one thing is certain: digging aquaculture ponds is a huge project, after all... the ponds that need to be dug must be very large.

Upon hearing this, Su Yu nodded and said:

"I see."

"Wait a minute, I'll go contact the construction team first. This is a huge job, and relying solely on the Pokémon from our ranch shouldn't be enough."

As he spoke, Su Yu opened his phone and tapped on Mei La's contact information.

It's been a long time since I've contacted Mela. After all, I haven't had any projects to do lately, and I don't know how Mela is doing.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

While Mela was moving bricks with the superhumans at the construction site, her cell phone suddenly rang in her pocket.

After Su Yu stopped providing work, Meila and Guaili managed to survive for about a month on the meager profits they earned from him.

After that, they remained without work. With only a little money left, Meila dared not spend it recklessly and could only quietly wait for new work to come her way.

Recently, things just couldn't take it anymore, so Mela and Guaili ran away together and found some work at a construction site. Fortunately, the foreman here is pretty good; at least he still pays their wages.

However, with the influx of Fighting-type Pokémon, the wages for this kind of physical labor have already dropped to a very low level, barely enough to make ends meet.

Compared to the profits earned from contracting projects independently, it's simply incomparable.

Just then, her phone rang. At a time like this, the only people who could call Meila besides her family were probably her boss, Su Yu.

She put down the bricks, took out her phone, and saw the contact name. Meila was overjoyed. She immediately answered the call and exclaimed happily:

"The boss?!"

"Hmm..." Hearing Meila's excitement, Su Yu coughed. Then, he said in a deep voice:

"I have a job digging fish ponds, but I'm a bit short-handed. Do you have any time available?"

(End of this chapter)