Jiang Wan didn't care what Yan Li thought and turned to go back home.
As soon as she arrived home, she saw Wang Hongye and Su shi anxiously looking for her.
"Wan Wan, where did you go?"
The two were scared to death. The child was sleeping in the house, but how did she disappear in the blink of an eye?
Jiang Wan smiled and said, "I went for a walk after I woke up. Sister-in-law, Aunt Hongye, I'm hungry."
Wang Hongye led her to sit by the table in the yard and quickly brought the breakfast.
While eating, Jiang Wan looked back at her house, which was almost completely finished, and her eyes narrowed with joy.
Seeing Er Lang returning from cutting grass, Jiang Wan waved at him.
"Second Brother, go find Uncle Yan by yourself in the back mountain later. He has already agreed to teach you martial arts."
Er Lang was shocked, "Agreed? When did that happen?"
It was clearly not a done deal yesterday.
"Don't worry about it, just go. Second Brother, practice well. If you can learn all of Uncle Yan's skills, your dream of becoming a general will be within reach."
Er Lang was excited and quickly went into the house to change his clothes before rushing to the back mountain.
Jiang Wan ignored him. After finishing breakfast, she decided to take a walk around the village.
In about a month, it would be time to sow. She wanted to improve the quality of her family's land.
The village fields were almost ready. In a few days, the land would be distributed. The wasteland that the Jiang family bought had also been reclaimed and was being left to rot its roots for fertilization.
Jiang Wan arrived at the edge of the field and used her special ability to accelerate the decay and fermentation of the weeds in the field.
In ancient times, farming relied entirely on household manure. It took at least several years to cultivate a piece of wasteland.
Using her special ability to speed up the decay and fermentation of weeds could provide additional nutrients to the land.
However, there were not many weeds in the field, and the fertility produced was very limited.
Her special ability could make the crops grow to a shocking extent without fertilizer, but her ability was limited and too conspicuous. Using her special ability to farm was not very realistic.
Therefore, she needed to find a solution to provide enough nutrients to these lands in a short period of time through normal means.
Unfortunately, she was born in the post-apocalyptic era and knew nothing about farming. There were places for planting in the base, but there were already many ability users at that time, so there was no need to plant using traditional methods.
How could she produce more fertilizer?
When Da Lang came looking for her, he saw Jiang Wan squatting on the ridge, her face serious.
"Wan Wan, why are you squatting here and not moving? Are you tired from walking? Come, Big Brother will carry you home."
Jiang Wan shook her head, "Big Brother, our fields are so barren. It will take several years to grow enough grain. Do you think there is any way to solve the problem of fertility?"
Da Lang was stumped.
"Our ancestors' farming methods relied on household manure. I don't know of any other methods."
Jiang Wan pointed to the place next to her and asked Da Lang to squat down with her.
"Big Brother, I think our farming methods are too conservative. We need to find a way to make fertilizer!"
"Make fertilizer?"
Da Lang was confused.
Jiang Wan nodded seriously.
She remembered someone saying that farmers before the apocalypse used chemical fertilizers. She didn't know how to make chemical fertilizers, but before chemical fertilizers, there must have been other methods.
Her gaze swept across the fields and then towards the distant mountains.
A flash of inspiration struck her, and Jiang Wan excitedly slapped Da Lang's leg, "Big Brother, I have a solution!"
Da Lang's face contorted from the slap, "Wan Wan, be gentler. I'm your brother."
Didn't this child know how strong her hands were?
Jiang Wan waved her hand dismissively, "Don't worry about these details. Let's go, Big Brother, let's go home and study how to get fertilizer."
Da Lang scratched his head, "Is there really a solution?"
"Of course."
When the siblings returned home, Jiang Wan began to assign tasks, "Big Brother, go cut some grass first, the more the better."
"Aunt Wang, don't pour out the swill from the kitchen. I have a use for it. And all the melon rinds and kitchen waste, save them for me."
After thinking for a moment, she felt it was not enough. So after Da Lang returned with the grass, she directed Da Lang to take a fishing net and cast it into the small river outside the village a few times to catch some small fish and shrimp.
Da Lang scratched his head, what did catching fish and shrimp have to do with making fertilizer?
Jiang Wan didn't explain much. After returning home, she went to the open space behind her yard and directed Da Lang to dig a large pit.
She found one of the large oilcloths used during the famine, spread it on the bottom of the pit, and then dumped all the weeds, swill, kitchen waste, and the freshly caught small fish and shrimp into the pit. She then covered the pit with the oilcloth and sealed the edges with soil.
Da Lang and Su shi were stunned.
"Wan Wan, you're... these things buried here, won't they stink a lot after they rot? Mom and Dad will definitely scold us when they get back tonight."
Jiang Wan said with great confidence, "Don't worry, Mom and Dad won't scold us. Because after these things rot and ferment in the pit, they can be used to fertilize the land."
She suddenly thought of this method at the edge of the field.
Since the weeds in the field could fertilize the land after rotting, then creating a fermentation pool at home would have the same effect.
Moreover, the fertility produced artificially would be stronger than the fertility produced by natural rotting in the field.
The decay of grass roots produced very singular nutrients, but this fermentation pool contained diverse materials, so the nutrients would naturally be more abundant!
After Da Lang heard this, his eyes lit up, "I think it makes a lot of sense! I'll go cut more grass. This little bit of grass is not enough for our wide fields!"
Although he didn't know if this method would work, it was worth a try.
Da Lang worked with great enthusiasm until dusk, cutting several large baskets of grass and dumping them into the pool.
The pool didn't have enough moisture, so Da Lang went around the village asking for swill from house to house, making the whole village confused.
When Chen Yuezhi and the others returned in the evening, they looked at the pit and felt that this method would not work.
So Jiang Pan went to find the village chief and told him about this method.
He didn't care whether the village chief believed it or whether he would promote it to the village.
Jiang Wan did not stop him. After all, the people in the small mountain village were quite good, and they had built deep relationships on the road, so she was willing to share this method she thought of.
If it could help everyone, she would be happy.
When the villagers heard about this method, they all took action.
Although everyone didn't know if this method would work, they were idle anyway, and it didn't cost anything. Even if it didn't succeed, they wouldn't lose anything.
With this idea, every household in the village was busy cutting grass and composting, working enthusiastically.
After coming up with the method, Jiang Wan put it aside.
She pulled Er Lang over and asked, "What did Uncle Yan teach you today?"
Er Lang was in a state of excitement, "Wan Wan, Master Yan is too amazing. I want to become his disciple!"