The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 26 Aquaculture

"Did you put bait in there?" Yang Ming used to play with "little jars" when he was a child.

"Look at what you're saying..." Zhang Yang rolled his eyes. "You guys have too much stuff in your fridge, so I put a potato in there..." He then leaned close to Yang Ming's ear and whispered, "Besides, I got a buddy who works in mechanics to make me a few rifles. Let's go hunting in the mountains this afternoon."

"With your marksmanship... you almost shot our dog, Dahuang, dead..." Speaking of hunting, Yang Ming thought of the night he went back to his hometown. His father, Yang Zhengfang, took Zhang Yang and his wife hunting. Seeing his father hitting the target with a pistol so accurately, Zhang Yang was itching to try it himself. Yang Zhengfang gave him the gun, but this guy didn't know any of the rules. He saw a rabbit, missed the first shot, then applied poison and fired again, thinking he was shooting Japanese soldiers. In the end, he missed the rabbit but hit Dahuang, the dog, who had chased after the rabbit after missing. Dahuang's butt was swollen. Luckily, the distance was a bit far, and the pistol's power was not great, otherwise, Dahuang would have died unjustly.

"My mistake, my mistake, I didn't know the rules..." Zhang Yang felt a little embarrassed when he mentioned Da Huang.

Next, the two of them released the piglets and puppies into the yard, clipped the wings of the two pairs of pigeons, and released them into the yard as well. The chickens, ducks, and geese, however, were all moved to the west room and placed on the kang (heated brick bed). These things are not easy to raise when they are young; they get sick and die if they get damp or cold.

After unloading everything, Yang Ming drove the car back to the backyard.

For lunch, Wei Qingqing made cornbread and stewed small fish. She picked out a few of the lively little fish from the stew and put them in the water tank to keep them alive. Then she fried the small fish and stewed them in a big pot. She got some cornmeal from Aunt Liu's house and stuck a layer of cornbread around the edge of the pot. This way, the cornbread is the most flavorful. Some of it will even slide into the fish soup, making the flavor even stronger. To prevent the cornbread from sliding in, she would make a wire ring. When sticking the cornbread, she would put the wire ring in the pot and stick the cornbread onto the wire ring. With the wire ring blocking it, it wouldn't slide in.

After killing the crucian carp, she made a pot of crucian carp soup. The soup was white, like milk, and smelled very fresh. Wei Qingqing had already taken out a few lively ones and kept them in the water tank.

There were four large carp, and even if we cooked them all, we couldn't eat them all. So we killed two of them and made braised carp. The remaining two were put into the water tank. The braised carp were also stewed in a large pot. Generally, food cooked in a large pot is more fragrant. For the sake of good food, it needs to be heated up in the evening, so let it be heated up. This is what Zhang Yang said. However, Yang Ming and his wife rolled their eyes. So it was them who were heated up. Yang Ming was already planning in his mind to make a cold stove!

The loaches were stewed directly. The fattest loaches were picked and put into the pot to stew, while the smaller ones were scattered into the water tank. These things are the easiest to raise. They are kept in the water tank and eat the dirty things that settle at the bottom of the water.

I also made braised prawns. The bright red prawns were coated in a bright red sauce, which looked very appetizing.

Cut the blackfish into sections, put them in a pot and stew. Eating scaleless fish can easily cause internal heat, but scaleless fish is already quite flavorful. Apart from salt, there is no need to add any other seasonings. Just enjoy its freshness.

Zhang Yang's little jar also proved useful today. When he pulled Yang Ming to the stream to retrieve the jar, there were more than half a pound of small fish inside. They were all wild fish about an inch long, of all kinds. When they were taken out of the water, they were making their last struggles in the jar, jumping and splashing around.

Such a harvest made Zhang Yang so proud that he almost got cocky. When he carried the small jar home, he held his head high and was full of vigor. When Sun Fangfang saw her husband's harvest, she was also proud and poured the more than half a pound of wild small fish into the pot to stew.

Finally, a few more dishes were cooked, using ingredients produced in Yang Ming's farm space. They were all very flavorful, and a sumptuous lunch was thus prepared.

Everyone enjoyed a lively and sumptuous lunch together. After resting for a while, Zhang Yang and Sun Fangfang drove away from Zhengjia Village. Sun Fangfang was, after all, a department manager, and tomorrow was Monday; she couldn't very well skip work. Besides, she missed her beloved son. Before leaving, she took a lot of fruits and vegetables with her, and even took one of the two big carp from the tank, saying it tasted better than the carp sold at the market.

As for Zhang Yang's hunting plans, we'll have to wait until next time.

Aunt Liu and Zheng Bao'er also left and went home.

At home, only Yang Ming and Wei Qingqing remained.

"I released all the live fish into the tank." Now that only the two of them were home, Wei Qingqing spoke without restraint, "Don't let Fangfang's carefree appearance fool you, she's actually quite shrewd. With all these nice things you've brought out, she's starting to suspect you..."

"What are you doubting? Where did those fruits and vegetables come from? She couldn't possibly guess. If you hadn't happened to see me absorbing energy that day, you wouldn't have guessed either. Extraterrestrial technology? That's 'pseudoscience.' Once it gets out, 'experts' will criticize it very seriously!" Yang Ming said, walking to the water tank in the outer room and using the farm space's capture function to collect the fish and loaches inside into the farm space's fish farm.

"No matter what, we have to come up with a reason to shut everyone up," Wei Qingqing said, having followed them out.

"What you said makes sense. How about we call it 'space seeds'? Then we can rent a piece of land and secretly plant them there?" Yang Ming walked to the front yard and put away the two pairs of pigeons, nine puppies, and four piglets, keeping them in the farm space for optimization.

The optimization of farm space for livestock, poultry, and aquatic products differs from that for plants. Plants can be optimized in one step, but for animals, it requires a gradual process. The degree of optimization varies depending on the length of time they exist in the farm space. Of course, offspring born in the farm space develop from fertilized eggs, so their foundation is already high. The optimization level for animals in the farm space is the highest that can be achieved at the current level.

Animal optimization is based on their specific strengths. For example, laying hens are designed to lay eggs. Optimized laying hens produce one to two times more eggs than ordinary laying hens, and the quality of the eggs is also better. As for broiler chickens, optimized broiler chickens are far superior to ordinary broiler chickens in both size and meat quality.

In the farm space, for each new animal species, a special type of food will automatically grow on the pasture based on that animal's diet. If it is an omnivorous animal, a fungus will grow on the pasture. Eating this fungus can accelerate the optimization of the farm space for omnivorous animals. If it is a herbivorous animal, a small blue grass will grow on the pasture. Eating this blue grass can also accelerate the optimization of the farm space for herbivorous animals. Both the fungus and the blue grass play an excellent catalytic role.

As for aquatic products, the water in fish farms itself has an excellent catalytic effect. Aquatic products live in water all the time, and their optimization speed is more than ten times that of livestock.

"Rent the mountain land? I think it's a good idea. You can also put away the chickens, ducks and geese, but remember to let them out once every day or two, otherwise if Aunt Liu comes to visit us, we'll be exposed... Honey, you said your farm space can optimize species. Will the chickens raised there be as big as ostriches?" Wei Qingqing said, standing in the center of the main room.

Yang Ming went to the west room, collected the poultry chicks, and said, "What are you thinking? How could they possibly be as big as an ostrich? I reckon they'd be at most as big as a swan. A swan weighs eighteen pounds, which is basically the largest bird."

Actually, Yang Ming didn't intend to keep pigs, dogs, pigeons, and the like in the farm space indefinitely. Pigs were fine; he could just raise them to adulthood. But what about dogs? Dogs are for guarding the house, and they need to develop a bond with their owners during their growth so that they will be loyal. Dogs without loyalty can only be used as food on the dinner table. As for pigeons, they can't fly in the farm space. If somersaulting pigeons breed in the farm space, their offspring might forget the skill of somersaulting.

"The ostrich is the biggest, okay?" Wei Qingqing rolled her eyes, looking quite charming and alluring.

"I'm talking about something that can fly," Yang Ming said with a smile, as he leaned close to Wei Qingqing's lips and gently sucked on them.

"Hmph! Come inside and rest for a while, I'm exhausted."

"Okay! I'm tired too, so tired I'm burning up." Yang Ming laughed, put his arm around Wei Qingqing's slender waist, and the two of them went to the east room together, closed the door, and drew the curtains.

P.S.: Please recommend and add to your favorites...