Chapter 363: Watermelon Pollution
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The matter between Li Sanhua and her parents did not affect Gu Qingming much.
Although Mr. and Mrs. Li pointed at her and scolded her for being a vixen and seducing outsiders, her eldest maternal grandfather’s family had avenged her.
The fact that Mr. and Mrs. Li could not tap on their daughter’s in-laws for help in the future was a very serious matter for Mr. and Mrs. Li.
It was as if they had one less person they could enslave with a wave of their hand. Moreover, it was an ATM that could dispense all the cash they need although this person was their biological daughter.
Li Sanhua found it unbelievable that her in-laws cared so much about this matter.
There was clearly no problem in the past. However, just because her parents scolded Gu Qingming, it caused her to almost cut ties with her family.
What kind of logic was this?
Wasn’t what her parents said the truth?
Gu Qingming was a daughter who had been married off. She was equivalent to an outsider.
Moreover, Gu Qingming was not their eldest branch’s granddaughter and niece. Did she have to care so much?
She cared so much that she, who had married into the family and given birth to two sons, was no longer important.
Li Sanhua was suddenly very disappointed in her in-laws.
Back then, she had taken a fancy to Shi Xiaolei. On one hand, Shi Xiaolei was handsome and had good living conditions. Most importantly, he had promised her that he would be filial to her parents with her in the future.
But it had only been a few years, and Shi Xiaolei and her in-laws didn’t seem so kind anymore. If not for her two sons, she would really consider getting a divorce. Li Sanhua felt wronged.
She thought about it and packed her luggage. She planned to go back to her parents’ house to stay for a while.
Li Sanhua thought that Shi Xiaolei would at least come out to stop her when she was packing her luggage.
However, to her disappointment, Shi Xiaolei did not even want to show his face.
When Li Sanhua was leaving, her in-laws looked at Li Sanhua with ugly expressions.
Zhou Cuihua asked Shi Xiaolei, “Xiaolei, do you want to get her back? Although Sanhua is a little foolishly filial to her parents, she’s still the mother of two children. Now that the two children are so young, they’ll definitely make a fuss.”
Shi Xiaolei’s face was ashen. He shook his head and said, “She’s a one-track-minded person. She won’t turn back until she’s proven wrong. Let her stay at her maiden home for a while. I want to see how long she can stay there. Usually, when she goes to her maiden home, her two sisters-in-law don’t look at her kindly at all. Now that she’s gone back, hehe…”
Even if Shi Xiaolei didn’t say it, they could imagine that Li Sanhua would definitely be ridiculed by her two sisters-in-law, or even be dissatisfied with her parents.
“Sanhua usually looks good. Why does she have no principles when it comes to her parents?” Zhou Cuihua sighed and said, “Forget it, let this child stay at her parents’ house for a while. Fortunately, the two children are not very clingy to her.”
Gu Qingming was very busy!
She was busy learning how to cultivate watermelons.
Watermelon plants tend to sprout branches. If allowed to grow, there will be more branches on the side; they will consume a large amount of nutrients and affect the growth of watermelons, resulting in slow growth and poor quality of fruit. They will then need to resort to measures such as pressing the vine and artificial assisted pollination have to be observed.
After the watermelon was planted, the vines would grow 17 to 35 centimeters and fall!
When the vines of the watermelon were 17 to 35 centimeters long, they were top-heavy and the leaves were vulnerable to the wind. As such, one needed to stabilize the melon seedlings, which was to turn them upside down. The method was to loosen the soil at the base of the melon seedlings, dig out the soil where the melon vines were about to fall to the side of the melon seedlings, support the base of the melon with his left hand, and raise the top of the melon vines with his right hand. Slowly, he turned the melon seedlings at will, causing them to fall to the ground. Then, the soil would be pressed on the other side of the base and patted solid. The main vines began to crawl and grow.
When the watermelon grew 30 to 40 centimeters, the entire branch had to be pressed down to properly organize the seedlings of the watermelon. The excess branches had to be swept away to ensure normal development.
There were those with a single branch, two branches, and three branches.
For the single vine whole branch, only one main vine is left, and all the other branches are removed.
For those with two branches, known as the Double Vine Spread, the farmer had to retain one robust side of the main vine and the base of the main vine before removing the other side as soon as possible, leaving the remaining two main vine branches to the same side.
For those with three branches, also known as the Three Spreading Branches, the farmer had to leave two robust side branches in the main branch base. The other side branches can be removed at any time.
Gu Qingming consulted a few melon-planting experts even though her three uncles were already very experienced in melon-planting. At the same time, they used the science and technology they had learned from books.
Of course, these watermelons had been watered in the spiritual spring water. In addition, the soil had been cleansed by the spiritual spring water and watered with the spirit spring water, causing the watermelon vines to grow especially well.
Such a good seedling had to be used well.
These vine seedlings had never been treated with pesticides, so Gu Qingming used them to feed Second Senior Brother.
Of course, this pig wouldn’t be able to finish so many seedlings.
When many villagers saw this, they expressed their desire to buy these vine seedlings to feed them to the pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, and geese.
Once, when a villager saw that the watermelon seedlings were tender and green, he suddenly had an idea and asked his wife to stir-fry a plate for him to eat.
The moment he ate it, he felt it was amazing. The entire family finished it.
The stir-fried watermelon seedlings tasted tender and refreshing. They were a hundred times better than the vegetables they usually planted.
With his publicity, the other villagers also cooked the watermelon seedlings out of curiosity.
Once they ate it, it was amazing.
In the past, no one had eaten watermelon seedlings.
It was mainly because there were many small fluffs on the watermelon seedlings that were difficult to clean. It was a little difficult to eat, so not many people were willing to eat this thing.
However, although the watermelon seedlings taken out of Gu Qingming’s greenhouse were also a little furry, they were easy to clean. Therefore, the stir-fried watermelon seedlings did not feel prickly.
Hence, the watermelon seedlings in Gu Qingming’s greenhouse were immediately bought by the villagers.
Even the vine seedlings that her grandmother had planned to keep to feed the pig had been snatched away.
After arranging the branches and pressing the vines, it was time for the watermelon to bloom.
From Grandma and the others, he learned that after the watermelons were planted, they would start to bloom in sixty days.
When the watermelon bloomed, it was time to pollinate.
The third female or the second female pollinated with the main or side vine has the best quality and the highest yield!
Watermelons are pollinated in two ways:
The first was to pluck the flowers together with the stem. Then, one would pluck the petals and reveal the stamen. Then, one would apply it directly to the top of the female flower.
The second was to gather the pollen in a clean container. Then, one would dip a soft brush or a small brush into the pollen and gently apply it on the female flower pillar. One just had to see that there was yellow pollen on the top of the pillar.
They had hired 30 to 40 people to pollinate the watermelons in more than 50 acres of land.
Pollination takes place from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m. each day. This was the period when the physiological activity of the female and male pollen was at its peak..