Chapter Nineteen: Formula-Based Breeding

In the kitchen, Zhong Di placed the three eggs he’d saved from lunch together and mixed them with flour and seasoning. He intended to fry all these eggs into thin pancakes so his father could take them home and let his parents have a taste. Originally, Zhong Di had planned to achieve some results before letting his parents know about anything, but after seeing his father’s hunched back today, he felt a twinge of guilt.

“You called me back just to cook me a meal, didn’t you?” Seeing Zhong Di busy at work, Zhong Tian felt a wave of emotion—his son was truly growing up.

“It’s not just about the meal. You’ll understand in a moment,” Zhong Di replied, pouring the batter into the heated oil. Soon, a thin, fragrant pancake was sizzling in the pan, and the mouth-watering aroma filled the air.

“Zhong Di, what on earth is this? It smells incredible!” Zhong Tian took a deep breath, savoring the delicious scent wafting through the room.

“Have a taste! These eggs are from the hens I bought.” Zhong Di, seeing his father’s reaction, stopped keeping it a secret and quickly dished out the hot pancakes.

After inhaling the enticing aroma for so long, Zhong Tian’s appetite was thoroughly awakened. He grabbed a piece of the egg pancake and took a bite, starting with slow, careful chewing, but soon devouring it ravenously. In the blink of an eye, he had finished an entire pancake.

Afterwards, Zhong Tian looked at Zhong Di with lingering longing—no, rather, at the remaining pancakes in the pan. “Son, take these home so your mother can try them too,” Zhong Di said, frying two more batches and packing the pancakes into a lunchbox for his father to take back.

“Zhong Di, are you sure these are eggs from the hens you bought?” Zhong Tian clutched the pancakes, looking at his son in disbelief.

“Dad, what else could they be? Aside from ours, who else’s could they be? Do you think eggs bought in the market taste like this?” Zhong Di smiled at his father, expecting this reaction—anyone would be surprised.

“Then tell me honestly, did you feed the chickens any hormones or use some underhanded trick?” Zhong Tian’s voice turned stern. “Our family may not be wealthy, but we’ve never done anything immoral! If you’ve used anything shady, you’d best put an end to it right now.”

Thinking back, the eggs from the market truly didn’t taste anything like these. That meant only the eggs from his son’s chickens could be so different. The more Zhong Tian thought about it, the more uneasy he became. If his son was really doing something wrong, he had to put a stop to it—he couldn’t let his boy go astray.

“Dad, don’t you know me? When have I ever done anything like that? It’s a special feed formula,” Zhong Di explained. “Did you really think I just came back and started all this with no preparation? I have a secret weapon up my sleeve!”

Seeing his father’s intense reaction, Zhong Di was a bit surprised. He hadn’t realized how seriously the older generation took these things—in their eyes, especially those of true farmers, it was better to remain poor than to do anything against their conscience.

“What kind of formula could be so powerful?” Zhong Tian’s tone softened as he tried to get to the bottom of things.

Hearing this, Zhong Di knew he’d have to give a full explanation or his father would never rest easy—not even in his sleep. “Remember what I told you before? There was a professor from the capital who came to give a lecture at our school—he’s a graduate advisor. This formula is his research.”

“I asked him some questions during his talk, and later he met with me privately. He thought highly of me, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. He’s an expert in wild plant resources, and he came all the way to our region to study our local wild plants.”

“You see those so-called weeds in our garden? They’re actually treasures. Don’t you remember me saying I wanted to buy a machine for making green fodder? That’s all for this formula.” Zhong Di rattled off his explanation without pause, using impressive-sounding terms to convince his father.

The part about the professor from the capital was true; the questions, the contact, the professor’s expertise, and his research in the northwest were all facts. The only falsehood was the existence of a formula—there was no such thing. However, he did receive plenty of information about using wild plants, which gave him plenty of material to work with.

With this, Zhong Di even found a cover story for the mysterious Desert Immortal Sprout—he hadn’t expected his father’s questioning to inspire such a plausible explanation.

After listening, Zhong Tian was dumbfounded—so that’s how it was. “This formula must remain a secret! Don’t tell anyone,” he finally said, after a long silence. This sort of thing was top secret and could not be shared with anyone.

“Understood. Be sure to tell Mom too. You’d better hurry home—it’s not safe after dark,” Zhong Di said, urging his father to leave now that he was reassured.

“Yes... I’ll come by to help when I have time. If you ever need a hand, just say so. I won’t look for other work; I’ll help you here first,” Zhong Tian said, having realized the potential of the formula. If they kept this secret safe, earning money was only a matter of time.

That was actually a good idea—letting his father help out at the farm. At his age, he shouldn’t be doing heavy labor anymore. But things still weren’t stable, and it wasn’t the right time yet.

“Alright, Dad, I’m still working on the formula. I can’t produce on a large scale yet. I’ll let you know when I’ve made a breakthrough,” Zhong Di reassured him.

“Okay... I’ll head home then. Remember—this stays between us!” Zhong Tian called out as he left the orchard, reminding Zhong Di to keep the secret.

After seeing his father off, Zhong Di locked the main gate and found a small pile of sheep manure he’d left in the orchard—left over from fertilizing earlier. He fetched a few empty buckets and a shovel, filled each bucket halfway with manure, and topped them off with water.

This, according to the Desert Immortal Sprout, was the best method. He’d need to buy some larger barrels in the future to help with fermentation, and that way, he could pour the organic liquid fertilizer directly into the irrigation tank when watering.

Not only would this provide cover for the Desert Immortal Sprout, it would also give his orchard a competitive edge: pure organic cultivation!

While the manure was soaking, Zhong Di made himself dinner. Since all the special eggs had been made into pancakes and taken by his father, he had to cook something else. Yu Sheng, his pet, was rather displeased and threw a bit of a tantrum.

After dinner, Zhong Di carried the buckets of manure water over to the Desert Immortal Sprout. The manure was already well-fermented, and after sitting for so long, just a brief soak was enough.

After watering the plant, he could sense the sprout’s excitement—it wanted even more. As for harvesting the Immortal Sprout itself, he’d have to wait until morning. The few leaves it had produced at noon were already the limit of what it could yield in a day. If it hadn’t wanted to win Zhong Di’s trust, it wouldn’t have pushed itself so hard.