Spring comes to the desperate place

It would be fine if the Song family had never seen corn, but they had not only seen corn, but they had also eaten corn. The tiny, thin corn in front of them, with only one row of corn kernels, was completely different from the half-pound cob of corn they had seen before.

Not only were the Song family members puzzled, even Song Chunlin was dumbfounded. He squatted in front of the pot of corn, looking left and right. This thing really didn't look like corn, at least not like the corn of later generations.

He picked up a corn kernel. The kernel was a little old and hard. Song Chunlin pinched it in two with his fingernails and rubbed it a few times on his fingertips. He found that it was indeed corn, the kind with a high starch content.

As for why it grows like this, Song Chunlin can only attribute it to the fact that this type of corn has not yet undergone later selection and improvement, so it looks short and has a low yield.

This statement barely convinced him. Song Chunlin stood up and asked Gu Fengyue: "Are all these things for me?"

Gu Fengyue nodded: "These are all for you. My brother asked someone to get the potted plants from the greenhouse. It's winter now, so they'll add some scenery to the house."

What the hell, just adding a little scenery. You rich people really know how to have fun.

However, these potted plants really touched Song Chunlin's heart. He was worrying about how to get the corn and pepper seeds out openly, and Gu Fengyue's offer was like a pillow sent to him just as he was sleepy. So Song Chunlin waved his hand and took all the potted plants for himself.

"These are mine, no one is allowed to snatch them away!" Song Chunlin said domineeringly. No one else in the Song family had any objection, and Gu Fengyue had even less objection. After he left, Song Chunlin quickly plucked the fruits from the potted plants.

Grandpa Song looked at the potted plants that had suddenly become bare, and his mouth twitched with pain.

Song Dazhuang blasted him mercilessly: "You prodigal son, you should have waited until the end of the year before you started to plunder him. Now you are bald and so ugly."

Song Chunlin turned a deaf ear to her and asked Song Qin for a few small winnowing baskets. He put some peppers and corns in them and waited for the seeds to dry so that they could be stored over the winter. In the spring, he planted them in the backyard. He tried to water half of them with diluted spiritual spring water to see if he could get a better next generation. He used modern planting methods for the other half to see if he could improve them under the most primitive conditions.

He took the remaining seeds into the space and reclaimed a small experimental field next to the field, intending to plant these ancient native seeds to see if these seeds could produce the same peppers and corn as modern ones under the continuous updating and iteration of the space.

Song Chunlin divided the seeds in the space into three parts. One part was not watered, allowing the seeds to grow freely; one part was watered with the stream water in the space to see if other changes would occur after the watering accelerated the maturity; the last part was diluted spiritual spring water. This part was the one that Song Chunlin was most optimistic about. He hoped that through the spiritual spring water, modern improved seeds could be bred as soon as possible.

The seeds in the space sprouted one day after being planted. Song Chunlin carefully observed and recorded every change of the seeds and found that even before watering, the germination rate of all the seeds was very high and basically all of them sprouted. Moreover, the soil in the space was fertile and the seedlings that grew were very strong and healthier than the previous potted plants.

The next day, Song Chunlin started to water the plants separately. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the seedlings watered with spiritual spring water grew much faster than those not watered with spiritual spring water, and the plants looked even stronger.

Song Chunlin watered the seedlings more and more diligently, watching them grow visibly with his own eyes. The peppers and corn that had been grafted and watered with spiritual spring water bore fruit at noon the next day. There seemed to be more of them than in the pots, and the corn kernels were obviously fuller than those in the pots. Although there was still only one ear, there were more of them.

Song Chunlin was very satisfied with the result. He picked the ripe peppers and corns, took out some space, and placed them next to the stove to dry.

Song Dazhuang looked at the obviously fuller peppers and corn kernels and said in amazement, "Chunlin, is this what you call seed selection and breeding? I think it's better than before."

"Yes, Dad. You see, there are still some shriveled seeds among these seeds. We don't want these. Only good seeds can grow good food. Plants grown from shriveled seeds are shorter and smaller than those grown from full seeds. Such seeds will be worse from generation to generation. Only this kind of seeds..." Song Chunlin held up the full-grained corn in his hand and explained to Song Dazhuang: "Only seeds like these can guarantee better and more food. Then, we will continue to select the best seeds from generation to generation. Sooner or later, one generation will grow the kind of corn we ate before."

Song Dazhuang understood a little after listening to his explanation: "This is just like how we saved seeds in the past. We picked good, full seeds to plant. But we farmers have too much land to plant. It would be too time-consuming and laborious to pick them one by one like you."

Song Chunlin smiled and said, "So I only plant this. Breeding seeds is a very time-consuming job. I only know a little about your son, but it's always right to select the best seeds. This corn looks too ugly. It will probably take many years just to breed it."

Song Dazhuang: "It's okay. Corn is a pleasant surprise. We already have sweet potatoes and potatoes on the market. Just take your time."

With the support of his family, Song Chunlin spent almost every day in the space. Even when Gu Fengyue came to play with him, he had no interest in playing. He was daydreaming all day long. After Gu Fengyue tried to talk to him many times without success, she also chose to stare blankly with him.

There are only a few days left until the Chinese New Year, and Song Chunlin's breeding business is still at a standstill, but the Chinese New Year still has to come.

While it’s still early, Song Chunlin decided to replicate the main dish of the New Year’s Eve dinner in later generations - Buddha Jumps Over the Wall!

Not only have the Song family members never eaten this thing, but Song Chunlin himself has never eaten the authentic one. He has eaten the frozen one. On New Year's Eve one year in the apocalypse, Song Chunlin hid on the top floor of a building and unpacked a package of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall from the space. He excitedly heated up the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall and had it as a New Year's Eve dinner. Although it was frozen, it still tasted delicious. If zombies did not eat human food, Song Chunlin was afraid that the monsters would riot because of the smell.

Now that he is no longer in the apocalypse, there are still many ingredients stored in the space. There is also a recipe for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall in the pile of books. Song Chunlin thinks that even if he cannot replicate it 100%, then 80% should be possible, right?