Chapter 89 Planting Flowers and Washing Fish Ponds

  Orchids, a type of herbaceous plant, prefer humid and cool environments, often growing under shrubs in mountain valleys. Baiyun Mountain, located in the Jiangnan region, is well-suited for orchid growth, and in the past, it was common to see them on the mountain. However, with the rise of the orchid craze, many people came to the mountain to dig up orchids, and at one point, some even waited at the foot of the mountain with trucks, hauling away truckloads of orchids. Over the years, the number of orchids on the mountain has dwindled, and although they are not as rare as iron skin stone tusk, they have become quite scarce.

  Xiao Ping searched for half a day on Baiyun Mountain and finally found two orchids near a small stream. The two orchid plants were not large, with narrow and long green leaves that looked no different from weeds. Moreover, the orchids had not yet bloomed at this time, making them even harder to spot among the grasses.

  Thanks to the fact that Xiao Ping had previously studied knowledge about orchids and looked at many photos of orchids, he was able to discover them. If he hadn't done so much homework beforehand, Xiao Ping would have definitely missed these two orchids.

  Xiao Ping carefully dug up the orchid with a small shovel he carried with him and put it in his backpack to return to the farm. However, he did not immediately plant the orchid in the alchemy pot, but instead placed it in a shaded area that was not exposed to sunlight for temporary storage.

  The purpose of doing so is to reduce the water content in orchids. The root system of orchids is a thicker fleshy root, which is very brittle when there is sufficient water and will break easily during planting, resulting in transplant failure. However, after losing some water, the fleshy roots of orchids become softer and less prone to breaking during planting. After air-drying for one night, the originally brittle and fragile fleshy roots of the newly dug orchid have become slightly sprouted, and can finally be planted.

  Xiao Ping brought the orchids into the Lianyao Hu, planning to find a suitable place to plant them. Considering that orchids like shady and humid environments, Xiao Ping decided to plant them under the ginseng near the spring eye, which had already grown quite tall. This place could maintain humidity and the leaves of the ginseng would block out the sunlight, making it most suitable for the growth of the orchids.

  Don't look at the two orchids' fleshy roots, which have already softened a bit. If you're not careful when planting, it's still easy to break the roots. So Xiao Ping didn't dare to be careless. He dug a hole in the soft soil that was much larger than the range of the orchid's root system. First, he gently placed one of the orchids in the hole, then carefully poured the soil back into the hole. After adding some soil, Xiao Ping would gently lift the orchid up a bit to allow the roots to naturally stretch out. After repeating this process several times, one of the orchids was finally successfully planted.

  Xiao Ping carefully planted the second orchid, and only then did he let out a gentle sigh of relief. To be honest, he still had high hopes for these two orchids and hoped to sell them at a good price at the Orchid Expo in a few months. Even if they couldn't fetch nearly 20 million yuan each, which was an exaggeration, Xiao Ping would already be very satisfied if the two orchids could sell for a total of 10 million yuan.

  "I come from the mountain, with a handful of orchids..." Xiao Ping, who had successfully planted the orchid, was in a good mood, humming that classic old song as he washed his hands by the stream, and then went to inspect the situation of the Lianyou Hu as usual.

  The iron skin stone bamboo has grown very tall, and Xiao Ping decided to harvest it in two days. When Wang Dapao comes back to work after the Spring Festival, he can start processing it. The situation of the knife fish in the Shui Tan is very good, they are lively and swimming around in the water, sometimes chasing those groups of bait fish, sometimes floating to the surface and splashing up clusters of water flowers, looking very leisurely.

  Relatively speaking, Xiao Ping was worried about the knife fish seedlings. These seedlings had grown to two inches in length and for them, the space isolated by Xiao Ping's fishing net in the water tank seemed a bit cramped. Many of the seedlings were pushing against the net with their heads, trying to swim to a wider area. This situation reminded Xiao Ping that he must quickly move the knife fish seedlings to the outside fish pond, otherwise these small fish would grow bigger and soon exceed the capacity of the water tank. By then, not only would the seedlings not survive, but even the pair of parent fish might not be saved.

  "Wait until tomorrow when everyone officially goes to work, the first thing is to move these fish seedlings." Xiao Ping made a decision secretly and left the Lian Yao Hu quickly.

  The next day was the official start of work for the farm workers. The bonuses that Xiao Ping had given to everyone before the Spring Festival were not small, so this year everyone had a very happy holiday. Now that the festival is over and work has resumed, everyone's enthusiasm for work is extremely high. Hearing that Xiao Ping had already arranged for a batch of fish fry to be ready to be put into the pond, everyone immediately sprang into action to clean up the fish pond.

  After selling all the carp in the fish pond years ago, the water in the fish pond had been drained. Originally, according to Xiao Ping's idea, it was enough to fill the pond with water. However, several workers who had raised fish strongly opposed it, saying that a used fish pond without thorough disinfection would easily spread various fish diseases. Taking advantage of the fact that the fish seedlings have not arrived yet, the fish pond must be thoroughly disinfected once.

  Xiao Ping couldn't tell everyone that he had his own spiritual liquid to protect the fish, so he could only accept their good intentions. Anyway, disinfecting the fish pond was a good thing, and it wouldn't have any bad effects on the fish fry. With Xiao Ping's consent, the workers started working with enthusiasm.

  When building the fish pond, Xiao Ping had considered the possibility of using spiritual liquid to raise fish in the future. In order to avoid leakage of the fish pond and loss of spiritual liquid, the inner wall of the fish pond was paved with cement. Under the leadership of Wang Dapao, all the workers jumped into the fish pond and used a strong force to scrub the four walls and bottom of the fish pond with a multi-bacterial spirit solution. The group managed to scrub the cement walls and bottom of the fish pond clean, without leaving any moss behind, then pumped in river water to rinse off the multi-bacterial spirit solution. Only after pumping in river water to fill the fish pond was it considered ready for formal fish farming.

  These steps sound troublesome, and the actual operation is even more cumbersome. The two fish ponds in the farm add up to more than 2 mu, and it took a whole day for everyone to work together, including Xiao Ping, to complete the disinfection of the fish pond.

  Wang Dapao, who had been busy all day, was exhausted but in a great mood. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Xiao Ping: "Boss, tomorrow we can officially start raising fish. This way, the new fish fry won't get sick easily."

  Xiao Ping really wanted to tell others that even if the fish pond's fry weren't disinfected, they wouldn't get sick. But seeing how everyone was exhausted and panting, he didn't want to dampen their enthusiasm, so he loudly said to the crowd: "It's a lot of work for everyone on the first day of work, it's really tiring. Everyone should go home and rest early, thank you all!"

  Those who can work on the farm are all honest people, and they think that since they have received such a high salary, it is only natural to suffer a little more. So after hearing Xiao Ping's words, everyone expressed that this was their own job, and there was nothing to be thankful for, and then they went home to rest one by one.

  The second day had just dawned when a figure appeared by the fish pond.

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  Thanks for "red crescent moon"'s another reward, by the way, still asking for recommendation votes and collection...