Chapter 53: Busy Farming in the Last Days

Jun 09 2023

Ji Cha can only think of one method to propagate the preferred seeds, which is to select the excellent seeds from each crop harvest and repeat this process to solve the problem of seed degeneration. Once the complete production chain is established, Ji Cha will not have to worry about this issue alone.

With November approaching, the temperature difference between morning and night is getting bigger, and the greenhouse frame that was prepared earlier now needs to be covered with a plastic film to maintain the growth temperature required for potatoes and sweet potatoes.

The walls around the factory are now lush due to hatching eggs and managing pregnant mother rabbits, and Ji Cha has not paid much attention to the piglets for several days. He went to feed the pigs one morning and saw a boar riding on a sow.

The boar grunted vigorously while the sow lazily leaned against the trough and looked eagerly at Ji Cha, waiting for him to pour the breakfast. Ji Cha didn’t know whether to pour it down or hold it up. He also had to pay some attention to the piglets.

Now that the piglets are more than six months old, it is indeed the age to start breeding. Although Ji Cha has carefully read the guidebook and video tutorials, he did not expect that before he could give guidance, the boar would naturally mate.

Ji Cha was happy and proud. When Liang Jincheng came back to the pigsty in the afternoon, Ji Cha couldn’t help but say to him, “He’s so smart, he knows how to mate at such a young age.”

Liang Jincheng put his hand casually on Ji Cha’s shoulder and spoke naturally, but his eyes looking at Ji Cha had a different meaning, “Not too smart, it’s just that the meat in front of him is so big that he knows to eat it.”

Ji Cha shrank his shoulders and felt chills all over his body. His heart was beating rapidly.

“I’m going out tomorrow. I might not be back at night,” Liang Jincheng paused and changed the subject.

Ji Cha broke free from the embarrassment and turned his head to look at Liang Jincheng with widened eyes, “Where are you going?”

“We’re going to investigate the situation of the survivors outside. It’s a task assigned by the military, and I’m going with Qin Shuang and others.” Liang Jincheng put his two fingers on Ji Cha’s neck and groped slightly. “The base is relatively safe for now, and we have close contact with the military. You are safe at home.”

“What about you?” Ji Cha felt anxious. He didn’t want Liang Jincheng to go out during the zombie apocalypse. “Can you guarantee your absolute safety? How about…”

Anyway, they had enough food and didn’t need to risk their lives outside.

But Ji Cha didn’t say it out loud. During the last apocalypse, he knew that Liang Jincheng didn’t just want to find a safe haven.

Liang Jincheng’s eyes showed a smile, “If you are willing to give me a little extra motivation, maybe I can work harder.”

“You’re totally morally blackmailing me,” Ji Cha’s face turned red.

“Is that a no?” Liang Jincheng’s face was full of disappointment, but if Ji Cha looked carefully at this moment, he could see the teasing deep in his eyes.

“It’s not a no,” Ji Cha muttered in his heart about his own awkwardness, but his expression couldn’t be corrected for a while. He lowered his head and couldn’t look directly into Liang Jincheng’s overly enthusiastic eyes. He whispered, “If you can safely come back, we’ll talk about it then.”

“Can I come into your room and sleep with you?” Liang Jincheng asked. “If I can hold you while I sleep, I’ll definitely sleep more soundly.”

“Okay,” Ji Cha nodded.

“Can I kiss the places I want to?” Liang Jincheng continued to ask.

Hey, where does he want to kiss? Ji Cha looked at Liang Jincheng with a suspicious look, but he didn’t dare to ask. He was afraid that Liang Jincheng would say anything, and he would be the one blushing later.

It’s better to be vague now, and if it doesn’t work out later, just play dumb.

“Um, okay.”

“Can I take a shower with you? It can save water,” Liang Jincheng continued.

“You’re going too far!” Ji Cha couldn’t take it anymore, and pushed Liang Jincheng back two steps.

“It’s okay, I’m already satisfied with the first two things. I’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning, so I can’t say goodbye to you. Can I move our farewell kiss to tonight?”

“Who said yes to these nonsense!” Ji Cha couldn’t take it anymore and walked ahead by himself.

No matter what he said, Liang Jincheng continued to plot to himself, “Actually, one farewell kiss is not enough. Can I sleep with you tonight? I promise not to do anything else.”

With this kind of promise, it actually made people feel more dangerous!

After arguing for half the night, Ji Cha woke up a little later the next day. Fortunately, the various processing projects in the factory were already very organized and did not require much supervision from him.

However, there was also something unexpected that day.

Ji Cha was recording data in the fields while silently calculating where Liang Jincheng might be at this moment. That was when Zhao Tiankuo came over.

“This morning, the leader called me over to talk about the matter you raised last time. There are still a lot of land outside of the planned area, and it is indeed necessary to develop production. The higher-ups have made it clear that the land can be approved, but the army will also need to send personnel to manage it. At present, it has been decided that the grain produced cannot be sold commercially for the time being, and the distribution of grain will also be taken over by the army. The army also has some seeds and technical personnel. If you can confirm that the land can be developed, the army will prepare tools and manpower for you.”

Ji Cha understood what was going on here. This was actually a collective farm from his previous life, a public ownership system. This was a system that had to be implemented in the end times and was also for the management of the base.

Zhao Tiankuo continued, “Actually, I think this is great. Isn’t dealing with food your strong suit? The army is just to save the trouble of setting up an agricultural department or something. Your work with making tofu, sprouting beans, and planting vegetables is quite good, and the leaders trust you,” he lowered his voice a bit here, “The leaders also said that this doesn’t sound like there’s much benefit to it, but you won’t know until you actually do it. Although the distribution of grain is decided within the army, it still has to be managed by you at your level. And from what I’ve heard from the leaders, they aren’t too strict, so you can always negotiate with them in the end.”

“I understand,” Ji Cha nodded. He had worked on a farm before and knew how it all worked.

If he was really in charge of this, on the surface it would be said that all the grain would be distributed to the army. But, just like the leaders in the farms in the previous era, who didn’t move grain to their own homes? As long as it wasn’t too excessive, the army wouldn’t manage this small shortfall.

Even so, Ji Cha was clear that he still needed to clarify things face to face.

He didn’t need to store grain. What Ji Cha wanted was the supply of feed for animal husbandry.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

When he went with Zhao Tiankuo to see the leader in charge of this matter in the military, he made his requirements very clear, “I hope to get ownership of some byproducts, like straw, corn stalks, and other types from production. Additionally, I have about ten people to feed in my factory building, and I hope to keep some of the grain for ourselves.”

It didn’t matter if the army took charge of all crop production. Ji Cha just needed to focus on animal husbandry and if necessary, he could still use meat to exchange for grain.

Public ownership can never be a long-term system, it’s only a way to gather all productive forces during times of crisis. As time goes on, it will inevitably dissolve and become more liberalized. This trend had already started to emerge in the end times that Ji Cha had experienced and was also confirmed by the development of C country itself.

Therefore, Ji Cha had to reserve some of his own rights and interests during these times.

The requirements that Ji Cha proposed were not excessive to the leader’s ears. He had originally planned to offer more than this, and now that he saw Ji Cha being so straightforward, he agreed.

“After I send a report up, I’ll have them bring over a few technicians tomorrow. They can stay in the dormitory building near your factory until the farmland planning is complete. It won’t be too far away, just the area behind your factory. We’ll have someone discuss the details of personnel management and other issues with you later. As for many of the mechanical tools, they may be a bit difficult because you know that fuel and other things can only go out and not come in…”

“I have a solution to that. As long as there’s electricity and some materials, people in my factory can modify those machines.”

“Alright,” the leader’s eyes lit up. “Electricity shouldn’t be a big problem. There’s a small power plant within the range of our base, and it’s already being repaired intensively. It will be usable in no time.”Thandar: Good for him to set things straight since the very beginning.