Chapter 130: Sowing

Is it the texture?

Dong Junwei pondered Tang Jing's words, recalling the celery leaves she had eaten before; that coarse fibrous texture was really hard to swallow. At first, when food was scarce, it didn't matter much, but as days gradually improved and human society slowly recovered, the demand for quality of life naturally rose.

If vegetables forever remain like this, it's indeed a headache; we can't always just juice them.

The texture is indeed one aspect.

Tang Jing laughed: "Leafy-stem vegetables are especially like that; potatoes and such are also far less delicate than before, and the most troublesome is tomato—perhaps we can only make it into tomato sauce."

But what I want to say is actually not this aspect.

Huh?

Do you know how potatoes are grown?

Tang Jing held up the potato in her hand for everyone to see.

"Potato seeds?" Zhu Hao wondered.

"Pfft… can you stop joking, potatoes are grown from potatoes." Wei Dalei was actually clearer on this point.

Ah? The potato itself is a seed?

This really stumps me; potatoes are roots, right? Old Wei, who had hardly heard this in class, was momentarily lost for words.

It should be a stem, a tuber... Chang Junyan scratched his head.

Can stems also be used for sowing?

Hey, even though biology isn't on the college entrance exam, you don't have to be like this; we went over it in class. Du Jia Jia rebuked everyone, heartbroken.

Oh, then go ahead and say it.

I forgot too...

……

Shangshi's college entrance exam differs from elsewhere: besides the three main subjects, students may choose any three from politics, history, geography, biology, physics, and chemistry, no longer divided into liberal arts and sciences.

Biology is probably the least popular of the six subjects; even Du Jia Jia, who had chosen biology, didn't put much effort into it.

A few underachievers were happily discussing, while Chen Mu and the others felt ashamed to be grouped with them.

In the end, Dong Junwei said: "Potatoes are nightshade plants; they also flower and produce seeds, but generally we don't sow potato seeds—we let the potatoes sprout and then bury them directly in the soil."

"Just bury a whole potato like that?" Zhu Hao wondered.

"This..." Dong Junwei, who had only read about it in books but had never actually set foot in a field, was momentarily at a loss for words.

Tang Jing laughed: "Considering cost, we usually cut them into pieces before planting."

Oh...

Everyone suddenly realized something.

You mean we can grow vegetables ourselves?

Although we don't yet know whether miniaturization will affect planting, this is indeed a necessary idea to try. Tang Jing said.

If it really succeeds, doesn't that mean we won't have to worry about vegetables anymore?

Before this, Chen Mu and the others had already discussed this issue.

Compared to meat, the problem of vegetables and grain might be even more serious.

Although we can obtain plant-based food through gathering, which is not exactly scarce, there are two major problems.

First, the edible plants we can find nearby taste far inferior to ordinary vegetables; humans have selected a portion of plants as food over the ages, indicating that the rest are either inedible or unpleasant to eat.

Second, gathering, like hunting, is ultimately not a stable food source, and its danger and difficulty are even greater than hunting's.

Moreover, fresh fruit is currently almost unobtainable.

The school has a few peach trees, but they are only for ornament; the fruit they bear is tiny, not very sweet, and hard to pick.

Tang Jing tossed the potato back onto the ground and said: "For now, growing our own vegetables seems a promising direction, but many problems remain to be solved."

What?

First, where should we plant?

Um...

If we just randomly pick a spot outside to plant, not only would people notice, but such a small plant would likely be washed away by any random rain.

How about planting at home? There's actually enough space here; if not, we could clear out a shelf. Du Jia Jia was the most enthusiastic about this.

Looks like that's the only way. Tang Jing nodded.

So should we get started now?

It's not that quick. Tang Jing laughed: "There are still many problems: first, we need to bring in soil; second, light, watering, fertilizing, pollination… all these must be planned before we can implement, and moreover, this month is already past the planting season; if we insist on planting, we'd have to build a greenhouse…"

Everyone present had even less knowledge of agriculture than of industry; after Tang Jing finished speaking, they instantly felt that farming seemed hopeless.

Seeing everyone's enthusiasm wane, Tang Jing smiled and comforted: "No worries, step by step, we'll eventually succeed."

Dong Junwei also said: "What we're doing, broadly speaking, is a human agricultural revolution; difficulties are normal, but once successful, there's no doubt it will directly usher in a new era!"

These words had just been spoken.

Wei Dalei suddenly started clapping, leading the applause.

In past meetings, most would end with Dong Junwei's concluding remarks; but Wei Dalei, as a high-ranking member of Qiming, often absent-minded during meetings, frequently zoned out.

To avoid bad influence, Chen Mu gave him an idea: as soon as Dong Junwei finished a summarizing statement, he would quickly clap, sure to be correct.

Thus, Old Wei became more and more like a shill on a variety show: although he had no idea what was said, he could always sensitively grasp the atmosphere and lead the applause.

This time was no exception.

Seeing him clap, everyone naturally followed suit and clapped.

Because of the habit formed from meetings, the crowd's applause was highly rhythmic, and when stopping, it was basically neat and uniform.

However, after the applause stopped, a thin clapping sound could be heard from the rear.

Obviously, it was because no one expected everyone to suddenly stop.

Everyone was stunned.

They all turned around.

Only then did they see the petite girl named Gu Yinglong, who at some unknown time had crawled back into the iron cage, sitting on the ground and clapping along with everyone.

Her face remained calm, as if Dong Junwei's words had no effect on her; she simply clapped when she saw others doing so.

However, at that moment, seeing everyone staring at her, Gu Yinglong's hands froze in midair; after a moment, she sheepishly lowered them.