Shao Xuan wrote down all the cloud patterns he could decipher on an animal skin scroll and the ones he couldn't decipher on another scroll. Then, he tidied up and slept for two days.
After resting, Shao Xuan's dizziness from deciphering the cloud patterns was gone. He felt refreshed and heard voices in the backyard. Thinking about the seedlings, he went to the backyard.
Taihe's Quan Bai and the other five had been living in the Yanjiao tribe. They followed Qi Qi and the rest up the mountain to Shao Xuan's backyard to take care of the seedlings. If they had anything to discuss, they would not do it in the yard. If they spoke, they would lower their voices to avoid disturbing Shao Xuan.
When Shao Xuan opened the back door and looked into the backyard, he found a dozen old men and women squatting in his backyard. There were also people standing outside the backyard, craning their necks to look inside.
He then looked at the seedlings in the field. Judging by their height, they were already above his knees. They were green and in good condition.
When they saw Shao Xuan, Qi Qi, Quan Bai and the rest quickly stood up.
"How is it?" Shao Xuan asked.
Qi Qi was confused and excited, replying, "There are sixty-two left."
A while ago, the seedlings here had also died. When they saw the wilting seedlings, Qi Qi, Quan Bai and the rest felt helpless. They even wanted to give up. But soon, they found that not all seedlings were wilting. Most of them were still fine!
Someone suggested to pull out the wilting seedlings. He felt that the wilting seedlings were infected. If they were left in the field, they would spread the disease to the other seedlings. When they were planting in Taihe, they were reluctant at first. Later, more and more seedlings were like this so they pulled out the rest. Unfortunately, they were all wiped out in the end.
However, after some consideration, Qi Qi did not uproot the seedlings directly. They had tried uprooting the sickly seedlings in their ten plots of land, but to no avail. It was the same whether they uprooted the seedlings or not. Therefore, he didn't bother about it and continued to stay in the field.
Luckily, the other 60 plus stalks were still growing healthily. As the days passed, there were no signs of illness. Qi Qi's worries were gradually put to rest. This made her overjoyed.
Shao Xuan looked at the few dead seedlings in the field and didn't pay much attention to them. It was already beyond his expectations that more than sixty of them could survive. Shao Xuan had originally thought that if he couldn't plant it, he would just eat the remaining grains. But now, it seemed that he should wait a little longer.
The few people from Taihe were very concerned about Shao Xuan's attitude. They were afraid that Shao Xuan would chase them away, so they were very obedient. Even when Duo Kang made fun of them several times, they didn't argue. Seeing that Shao Xuan didn't chase them away, Quan Bai was slightly relieved. At the same time, he was thinking about why the thousand gold seedlings in Shao Xuan's backyard could survive that 'hurdle'. Could it be that the seeds given were different?
When he thought about this, Quan Bai denied it. The seeds planted by Qi Qi and the others had all died. Shao Xuan wouldn't use inferior seeds to fool them.
Why was that?
Shao Xuan didn't know either, but he wasn't that stubborn.
When he returned to the house, Shao Xuan thought of something and opened the storage room where he stored the food. The storage room was near the back door and beside it was the kitchen. Sometimes, Shao Xuan would just take food from the storage room and go next door to cook.
Shao Xuan remembered that because he was busy with the cloud patterns, he didn't even use a pot, didn't cook soup, didn't roast meat, and only ate the dried meat. It was more convenient that way. When he was hungry, he would eat a piece of dried meat and drink some water before continuing to decipher the cloud patterns.
Thinking back, Shao Xuan remembered that when he prepared the dried meat, other than the marinated meat, he also kept a fresh beast leg. He planned to roast it. Because he had just returned from a hunt, he brought back a lot of trophies. He didn't have a place to put the leg, so he just threw it on the ground. When he was about to roast the meat in the storage room, he suddenly had an idea. He dropped what he was doing and rushed to decipher the cloud patterns. He was so busy that he didn't go back to the storage room.
Logically speaking, the beast leg that wasn't marinated and dried should have rotted in the storage room. However, Shao Xuan didn't smell a strong rotting smell.
Shao Xuan opened the door of the storage room and looked inside. There was light coming in from the window, so the situation inside was clear at a glance.
Shao Xuan's gaze stopped on the ground. There was a piece of beast skin there. The protruding part was similar to the shape of a bone, but the other parts had sunk in and were stuck to the ground.
Other than that, there was something else on the beast skin.
Shao Xuan walked closer to take a look. He found that it was something like a plant's root system. It was very thin and slightly white, as if it could be broken with a casual pull. However, it was this thin and weak thing that went up from the ground, penetrated the beast skin, and then from another place, penetrated the beast skin again, and plunged into the ground.
That was the beast skin of a fearsome beast! Even a stone knife of slightly inferior quality wouldn't be able to cut it!
But now, this beast skin seemed to be sewn to the ground. Shao Xuan pulled slightly, but it didn't budge. He had to use force. However, Shao Xuan didn't intend to tear it apart by force for the time being. He used his black knife to cut open the beast skin. There was almost no flesh under the beast skin, only bones.
The beast leg that Shao Xuan had thrown here was about a meter long, but now there was only skin and bone left!
Where did the white roots come from?
Shao Xuan stood up and looked out the window.
On the other side of the window was the backyard. There were only the Thousand Grain Gold in the backyard now. Even the weeds were weak! Now, because Qi Qi and the rest were taking care of the weeds, they pulled them out whenever they saw them. But what about before? Before Qi Qi came, there weren't any weeds in the backyard!
Shao Xuan gently kicked the white root that had pierced through the animal skin. He went out and carefully looked around the house, but he didn't find any other white roots.
Using his special vision, Shao Xuan saw below the ground. The white roots did indeed extend from the backyard where the Thousand Grain Gold was planted. However, the roots were too deep and Shao Xuan couldn't see clearly.
After thinking about it, Shao Xuan didn't tell Qi Qi and the rest about this. He wasn't sure if that was the root of the Thousand Grain Gold, so he didn't throw any more meat on the ground.
Another ten days passed.
Something happened to the seedlings in the yard.
Qi Qi and Quan Bai were worried. A few of them started to wilt. They were worried. Some even guessed that it was a second 'hurdle'.
Quan Bai even went back to Taihe to bring some special fertilizers. There were animal fertilizers and plant fertilizers. These fertilizers helped to alleviate the wilting. The number of sickly plants didn't increase. However, the sickly plants started to die. Quan Bai and the rest couldn't save them no matter how hard they tried.
Sixty-two stalks, seven of them gone in one go. Qi Qi, Quan Bai, and the others were pounding their chests in pity.
However, a few days later, the situation changed again. More plants started to wilt. This time, everyone panicked. What should they do?!
Shao Xuan asked for a piece of fresh meat. He didn't clean it up. He brought it to the storage room and placed it on top of the beast skin that was sewn to the ground.
The next day, when Shao Xuan went to take a look, he saw another white root on top of the ground. The white root was stuck into the meat.
The change was obvious. It shrunk every day until only a piece of beast skin was left. There was a white root sticking out of it. It was similar to the previous situation.
After that, the remaining 52 Thousand Grain Gold plants in the backyard didn't show any signs of illness other than the three plants that showed signs of withering. This made Qi Qi and Quan Bai heave a sigh of relief. However, they were still confused. Shao Xuan didn't explain to them.
Shao Xuan stared at the two pieces of beast skin on the ground. After a while, he patted the white root with his knife.
"Thousand Grain Gold? What a picky eater! "
As the days passed, the long and narrow needle-shaped leaves on the Thousand Grain Gold Plant gradually increased in number. They grew longer and swayed energetically in the wind.
After discovering the white roots in the storage room, Shao Xuan would cut off some meat and place it on the floor of the storage room every time he came back from a hunt. After checking, he confirmed that the roots were from the Thousand Grain Gold plants. It was even possible that all fifty plants were connected to one root.
The mountain was huge and there was still some distance between each house. Other people would not leave fresh meat on the ground for too long. It was only because Shao Xuan was too busy that he forgot to clean it up. That was why such a situation happened.
As soon as Shao Xuan stopped supplying the meat, there would be problems in the backyard, and the people who took care of that piece of land panicked again.
After that, Shao Xuan told Qi Qi about his discovery. He brought her to the storage room to see the leftovers and the white roots.
"Maybe there are other fertilizers that can support its growth. But for now, this is the only way." Shao Xuan pointed at the beast skin on the floor.
Qi Qi was shocked. While Shao Xuan was still thinking about how wasteful it was, she was already excited. "It's good that you know the reason!"
As for the meat required for this method, it wasn't a big deal. It wasn't winter now. They could bring back a lot of food every time they hunted. She could eat less but she couldn't save on the Thousand Grain Gold! There were less than forty plants left in the field. Qi Qi didn't want to see any more plants wither and die.
Meat? Here! Here! Here!
When Quan Bai and the others found out, they were even more enthusiastic than the Yanjiao people. If the Yanjiao people couldn't afford it, the Taihe people would do it for them!
Shao Xuan didn't agree to let Quan Bai and the others bring meat. He could handle it himself. However, Shao Xuan also thought that he wouldn't plant it again after this time. This thing was too picky.
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