Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn-Chapter 211 - 22: Little Agricultural Expert

After dinner, seeing Zhuo Feng getting ready to wash the pots and pans, Xiao Xian volunteered to help. The six square meter kitchen was occupied by the aunt and niece, making it awkward for the big man Feng Xing to squeeze in. Eating overnight meals was bad for health, so the leftover food on the dining table had to be dealt with.

Since Xiao Xian couldn’t compete for washing dishes, she willingly helped wipe them instead. Zhuo Feng wasn’t skilled in household chores, but she was quite good at washing dishes and vegetables. Washing dishes in the city was different from in Ge Village. Back in Ge Village, Sister-in-law Lian liked to pick old loofahs that couldn’t be eaten from behind the house, dry them, peel, and boil them to make loofah sponges, which were very handy for washing dishes and bathing.

Zhuo Feng’s dishwashing was different; she put on an apron, wore sleeve protectors, used a bottle of detergent and a clean cotton cloth. Once she turned on the tap, water jets poured down, making the washing much faster than Sister-in-law Lian’s, but the foam that remained on the edge of the dishes needed constant rinsing, which was annoying.

"Uncle, don’t throw away those food leftovers, especially the rice and fish bones. Put them in a clean plastic bag to save as fertilizer. I remember grandpa used to apply fertilizer to the watermelons and vegetables he planted behind the house after they sprouted," Xiao Xian spoke up while wiping the dishes, noticing Feng Xing’s movements in the living room.

The reason for the yellowing and withering plants on the rooftop was not only due to lack of water but also because the soil layer was too shallow. After crops sprouted and grew leaves, they needed a lot of nutrients, so Xiao Xian thought of using fertilizer.

The acre of land behind the Zhu Family’s home was all for their own use, and Zhu Shijun never used chemical fertilizers, only the organic fertilizers he prepared by hand. These could be animal excrement or common river and pond mud or even vegetable leaves, animal viscera, and crushed bones. Such materials were easy to find in Ge Village but hard to find in Beijing. Urban residents couldn’t stand the stench of fermenting organic fertilizers.

Nevertheless, leftover food and cooked soft fish bones and peels were still relatively clean and could be used to make useful fertilizer with a little effort.

"Fermenting fertilizer?" Zhuo Feng felt embarrassed when she heard that. She only noticed the wilting vegetables on the rooftop and blamed it all on a lack of water.

A graduate from an agricultural university wasn’t as good as her little niece who had spent a few years in the mountains. Zhuo Feng had read a lot about the dangers of industrial fertilizers in school, which made her resist using them. She preferred to buy green, environmentally-friendly produce when shopping for groceries, so she never thought of using chemical fertilizers.

After Xiao Xian’s comment, Zhuo Feng internally scolded herself for forgetting about farmyard manure.

Talking about making fertilizer, Zhuo Feng quickly shook the water off the dishes and helped Feng Xing clean up all the leftover food on the table.

She pulled out information about making fertilizer. Now in autumn, there was plenty of green grass and leaves plus some household rubbish. Finding a container to soak them in water, they could decompose and ferment into fertilizer.

"Tomorrow I’ll buy a lidded water tank to collect the materials," Feng Xing proposed, being the man of the house, the dirty and tiring tasks should be his responsibility.

"How are we going to carry that thing upstairs?" Zhuo Feng opened the door, the narrow stairway corridor was also cluttered with household items. That’s why she stepped on the flowers of the strange old man on the third floor during the move, offending the neighbor.

Feng Xing wandered around the room in difficulty. The fifth-floor rooftop wasn’t too high or too low, but when it came to moving large furniture, it had always been hoisted up through the window. But since installing the anti-theft window, hoisting was no longer an option, and besides, lifting a water tank weighing over a hundred pounds from such a height wasn’t safe.

"Uncle, there’s no need to buy a water tank. Do you know how to work with masonry? Just build a small pond on the roof," Xiao Xian blinked her eyes, naturally assuming Feng Xing was as capable as Uncle San Gouzi in Ge Village, able to handle both kitchen and living room tasks. Why buy a water tank when building one was easier? Transporting cement and bricks was definitely more convenient than moving a water tank.

"Let’s just hire someone. I’ll handle transporting the cement and bricks," Feng Xing muttered under the affectionate gazes of his wife and niece, finally blurting out words while inwardly lamenting, being a good man really wasn’t easy.

The next day, a mason was hired, and after two bags of cement and several hundred bricks were brought up, Xiao Xian then mentioned building two ponds, one larger and one smaller.

Read latest chapters at f(r)eewebnov𝒆l Only