Chapter 147: You’d Think They’d Wear Something Warmer

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As he scattered the chicken manure, Zhong Di kept sneaking glances toward the Hundred Herbs Garden. The argument seemed to have quieted down a little?

The moment that thought arose, he heard another burst of fierce quarrelling. All right—apparently, that had been nothing more than wishful thinking.

Compared with fermented chicken manure, the fish much preferred finely chopped chicken. They all fought over it, so in order to distribute the food evenly, Zhong Di had no choice but to mix the chicken pieces into the manure and feed them together.

Quack, quack, quack!

He watched as a duck plunged into the water. When it surfaced, it had a fish clamped in its bill. With a toss of its head, it swallowed the fish whole.

Well, well! These ducks were catching fish while he was feeding them. One of these days, he would have to catch one and roast it—or perhaps stew it into soup.

Compared with free-range chicken, duck meat had far more sinew and a distinctly different flavor.

After about half an hour, Zhong Di finished feeding the animals.

Should he slack off and rest for a while?

The thought had barely surfaced before he dismissed it. Rest? With so much to do, where would he find the time?

He glanced once more toward the Hundred Herbs Garden. The argument still did not seem to be over. Women really were so shallow. How could they quarrel for so long over such a trivial matter?

Zhong Di went straight to the greenhouse and began inspecting it.

Compared with the last time he had collected data, the greenhouse parameters were now much more reasonable. Some areas had undergone particularly obvious revisions; it was clear at a glance that they had been dismantled and rebuilt after the initial construction.

These were the minor adjustments his father had made after Zhong Di had pointed out all the problems. Major changes were impossible. The orientation and angle of the greenhouse foundation, among other things, could no longer be altered.

Still, with the construction of this first greenhouse as a foundation, the ones that followed would be much better.

Take the deviation angle, for example. Zhong Di had checked Shache County’s winter temperatures over the years—the highest and lowest temperatures, the daily ranges, and so on—and discovered that once the harshest part of winter arrived, the temperatures were nowhere near as low as he had imagined.

Only an unusually severe cold wave might cause trouble. Zhong Di therefore considered increasing the angle toward the east-northeast.

But not by very much.

After all, the purpose of adjusting the angle was simply to take advantage of the high efficiency of morning photosynthesis, allowing the plants to see sunlight earlier and increasing the rate at which they accumulated organic matter.

The drawback was equally obvious. The insulating covers would have to be raised earlier in the morning, when the temperature was still too low.

If the angle were too large, the afternoon sunlight would disappear too early, making the change more harmful than beneficial.

Likewise, because the rear wall had been built higher than expected, the distance between the two greenhouses had been increased.

There were also plenty of other details...

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Zhong Di considered each point in turn. Then, based on the actual conditions, he thought about whether anything could still be corrected—or whether there was some solution that would satisfy all sides.

Hmm. Designing the plans himself and watching the greenhouse take shape piece by piece gave him a considerable sense of accomplishment.

These were the figures he had worked out himself.

In the past, he had merely studied and calculated countless sets of data, even using latitude to determine the angle of elevation. All of that had existed only in theory. Now that theory had become reality, it fulfilled, at least in part, Zhong Di’s wish to design a greenhouse with his own hands.

Hmm?

Just as Zhong Di was making his preliminary assessments, the sky suddenly darkened.

He looked up and was stunned. A moment ago, the sky had been perfectly clear; now, dark clouds had gathered everywhere. Seeing them swallow the sun, Zhong Di hurried toward the homestead.

Drip, drip!

The clouds accumulated with astonishing speed. Before Zhong Di even had time to react, raindrops had begun to fall.

The already gloomy sky grew darker still, and the beautiful scenery around him gradually lost its color.

“Big brother, it’s raining! It’s raining!” Sun Miaomiao’s voice suddenly rang out.

“How did it start raining?” Su Rou asked immediately afterward.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The drizzle gradually turned into a downpour, hammering against every corner and producing a different sound wherever it landed, composing a marvelous melody of nature.

“Get inside! Inside!” Zhong Di called out. He ushered Sun Miaomiao and Su Rou, who had rushed out of the Hundred Herbs Garden, straight into one of the guesthouse rooms.

It was the very first room—the one he intended to live in himself someday.

There was no particularly fine furniture inside, but there were stools and other basic items.

Autumn rain was chilly. Getting soaked could do more than simply make someone catch a cold. Water on the hair could easily cause a headache as well. It was absolutely best avoided.

The Hundred Herbs Garden did have umbrellas, but they were sunshades. In the northwest, especially in this region farther south, rainfall was scarce throughout the year, so there was hardly any need for rain umbrellas.

Accordingly, the facilities had been equipped with sunshades rather than ordinary umbrellas.

A sunshade could serve as a makeshift rain cover for a short while, but after any length of time, it would no longer keep the rain out.

Once inside the guesthouse room, Zhong Di looked at the two women. Both were in a sorry state. It had only been a moment, but the rain was heavy, and they were soaked through.

Hmm... Their clothes clung tightly to their bodies, revealing the contours of both women. Sun Miaomiao was clearly fuller, while Su Rou’s...

Ahem. What was he even thinking?

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“Ah!” Su Rou was the first to realize what was wrong. She quickly folded both arms across her chest.

No wonder she had felt so uncomfortable.

Sun Miaomiao, however, did not seem to mind much. She even pushed herself forward slightly, as though deliberately showing off.

“Wait here. I’ll find you some towels, then get a fire going,” Zhong Di said awkwardly, rubbing his nose. Autumn was so cold—why had they not worn something thicker?

Then again, it was only the end of August. Anything too heavy would still be rather hot. Zhong Di glanced at his own short sleeves before leaving the guesthouse room.

He returned to the house where he was currently staying, found two fresh towels, then went to the kitchen and collected some firewood.

“Here. They’re new. There’s an inner room inside; you can go in and dry yourselves off a little. I’ll start a fire for you so you can warm up.” Zhong Di handed the towels to them, making no deliberate effort to avert his gaze.

He had already seen everything. What else could he do—pluck out his own eyes?

“Th-thank you.” Su Rou took the towel first and went into the inner room.

What an embarrassing day. Why had it suddenly started raining? They had not even prepared an umbrella. And what was wrong with this weather? Why had the rain come down so quickly? She had completely humiliated herself.

“Big brother, don’t peek,” Sun Miaomiao called, leaving him with a teasing view of her back as she entered the inner room as well.

Once the two women had gone inside, Zhong Di began making a fire. The house was nothing more than an empty structure, so he simply built the fire on the floor.

Before long, he had a blaze going. The firewood was dry, and with some smaller kindling, it caught easily.

The fire could not be too large. A bigger blaze might set the roof on fire, which was obviously unacceptable.

Cluck, cluck! Cluck, cluck!

The free-range chickens kept calling, their voices louder than all the rest.

It was raining, and Zhong Di had been so busy taking care of Sun Miaomiao and Su Rou that he had not yet spread the rain covers over any of the enclosures.

As soon as he finished lighting the fire, Zhong Di did not linger for even a moment. He threw on his coat and ran outside, spreading the rain covers one by one.

Unlike ducks, mandarin ducks, and similar waterfowl, chickens could not be left out in the rain.

By the time he had finished spreading all the covers, Zhong Di was soaked from head to toe. The rain was truly coming down hard.

After dealing with everything, he returned to the house where he lived. He changed his clothes and cleaned himself up. The only reason he had not changed immediately was that he still had to spread the rain covers outside.

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