Xia Ming hurriedly got up, brushed his teeth and washed his face quickly. He took Wang Cai and the reluctant Zhangzi and headed down the mountain. Poppy's leg wasn't in good condition, so he walked slowly. Xia Ming picked up Poppy and carried him.
Poppy is the new name for Zhangzi, Zhangzi Poppy, which sounds great. The Yordle people shouldn't mind having another Poppy.
On the way, Xia Ming realized that not only had his strength increased significantly, but his endurance also seemed to have improved a lot. He didn't feel tired at all while carrying Poppy for half the journey.
When he returned home, his mother was already cooking breakfast and was startled when she saw Xia Ming carrying something.
"What's this? How did you bring it back?" his mother asked.
Xia Ming put Poppy down and rubbed his sore arms, saying, "It's a deer. It got injured at the reservoir last night, so I rescued it and now it doesn't want to leave."
His mother suddenly realized, "Oh, I see why it looks familiar. There used to be many of them in the mountains a long time ago, but they've become rare now. Don't move." His mother took out her phone and took a few pictures of Poppy, then posted them on her social media.
Xia Ming was used to this. Apart from various posts about "surprising sightings," "quickly click to see," "parents and children," and "government announcements," his mother's social media was filled with everyday photographs. She wouldn't even add any text, just the pictures.
[A stable novel app that has been running for years, comparable to the old version of the book-chasing artifact, used by bookworms, huanyuanapp.org]
After his mother finished posting, she said, "Why did you come down so early today? Weren't you planning to skip breakfast?"
While heading towards the storage room's electric tricycle, Xia Ming replied, "The excavator ran out of fuel, so I'm going to buy some in town."
He checked the battery level, and it was full, so he loaded a few empty fuel drums onto the tricycle and started driving towards the town.
His mother shouted from behind, "Take it slow on the road."
Xia Ming waved his hand and said, "Got it. Keep an eye on Poppy and don't let it run around."
His mother yelled, "Poppy, who's Poppy?" But Xia Ming had already disappeared.
Although Xia Ming's village was a mountain village, they had already built cement roads long ago, and shortly after leaving the village, the cement road turned into a brand new asphalt road, making transportation very convenient.
It had snowed just yesterday, but today there were already signs of melting on the road. Xia Ming had to hurry and buy fuel. Whether or not he continued digging the reservoir didn't matter anymore, but he definitely had to get the excavator out.
The excavator was left at the deepest part of the reservoir by Xia Ming. Once the snow melted, it wouldn't be easy to climb out anymore. It served him right for digging so deep.
Although it was snowing, the town was only about seven or eight kilometers away, so he quickly arrived.
When he reached the town, Xia Ming was shivering from the cold. He had rushed out without gloves and although his down jacket had a hood, the icy wind felt like a knife on his face. He even doubted if he would get frostbite.
The town was called Xianzong Town, named after a mountain called Xianzong Mountain. The town wasn't large, and a provincial road ran through it from east
to west, with shops gathered on both sides of the road.
At the moment, there weren't many people in town since the Lunar New Year was still some time away. But during the New Year, there might even be traffic jams. You see, under normal circumstances, unless it was early in the morning, you couldn't even throw a stick on the road and hit someone.
First, Xia Ming went to the vegetable market to buy some green peppers and pork, then he headed to the gas station. After all, it wasn't safe to run to the vegetable market with several large drums of diesel.
The gas station was located on the east side of the town, several hundred meters away from the town.
He exhaled a breath of hot air, warmed his slightly stiff hands, and rubbed his lips, saying, "Next time, I must buy a tricycle with a windshield. It's freezing out here."
Back at home, Wang Cai and Poppy were happily playing in the snow, innocent victims of Xia Ming's discomfort.
The gas station attendant saw Xia Ming and came out of the house to greet him, "Here again? How much are you adding this time?"
"Fill up all three drums. You go ahead and fill them while I go register," Xia Ming replied.
Since Xia Ming had arrived too early, even though it was the only gas station in town, there were no other customers at the moment.
By the time he finished registering and came out, they had already started filling the second drum. Xia Ming's drums could hold 100 liters each, and filling three drums would be enough for two days of digging. So he would have to make at least one more trip later.
Although the gas pump at this station had a small flow rate, about 40-50 liters per minute, filling three drums didn't take much time.
After filling up the fuel, Xia Ming parked the tricycle at the entrance to the mountain. With the presence of a rock gear, diesel could be directly transferred from the drums to the fuel tank, so there was no need to drive up the mountain and use a pipe to pump the fuel. Besides, it would be difficult to climb in the slippery snow.
After adding some water to the bowls for Wang Cai and Poppy, who had followed along, Xia Ming left them alone to play.
Perhaps due to the water they had gone through, affected by the temporal and spatial black hole, Poppy was now able to move around. Although not very fast, Xia Ming didn't need to call the Forestry Bureau anymore.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye, during which Xia Ming found time to visit a useless relative and went to the gas station to fill up again. Finally, he managed to clean up the bottom of the reservoir according to his plan. He also drove the excavator down and had his cousin pick it up with a flatbed truck.
During these three days, both Xia Ming's and Poppy's injuries had completely healed. Their recovery speed was astonishingly fast, to the point where Xia Ming even had the impulse to sell water. However, he observed that the special effect of the water affected by the temporal and spatial black hole only lasted for about 15 minutes, after which it returned to ordinary water.
Moreover, this special effect followed Xia Ming. He could choose to apply it or not, just as he pleased.
Therefore, Xia Ming gave up on the idea of selling water. However, he considered opening a small teahouse in the mountains in the future, but that was something to think about later if he wasn't too busy.
He gave a name to the unknown energy or substance he had discovered: Spirit Qi. It was simple, easy to understand, and catchy. Xia Ming also noticed that it
seemed only liquids could be imbued with Spirit Qi, while solids could not.
During this time, Xia Ming also made some modifications to the water pipes in his home.
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During this time, Xia Ming also made some modifications to the water pipes in his home.
Xia Ming's home used well water, as well as tap water.
The well was a pressurized well, and Xia Ming created a space black hole in the middle of the water outlet pipe, which was extremely close, almost touching. When the well water came out, it naturally acquired Spirit Qi as it flowed through. Afterwards, Xia Ming noticed that his father seemed to be drinking tea more frequently, lamenting that there wasn't enough tea to go around.
Today, the weather was sunny, and the reservoir officially began to fill up.
In three days, Xia Ming dug the reservoir deeper, and in the middle, he used a rock gear to create a deep, irregular hole with a diameter of seven to eight meters. He wasn't sure how deep it was, but he estimated it to be around seventy to eighty meters. He had even dug up a small underground river.
Looking down into the hole from the edge, it was pitch black and gave a dizzying feeling.
As the saying goes, when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
In addition to the deepest hole, Xia Ming also dug several other shallower but wider holes.
As for why he did this, Xia Ming had his own considerations.
In three days, most of the snow on the mountain had melted, except for shaded areas. The mountain roads were extremely slippery, so none of these activities were noticed by anyone except Wang Cai and Poppy.
Standing on the dam of the reservoir, Xia Ming used the rock gear to create a small opening. Immediately, a large amount of water sprayed out from the cracks in the deepest part of the reservoir, with some smaller cracks directly jetting water.
The flowing water quickly filled the bottom of the hole and slowly rose. Meanwhile, the other shallower holes also began to seep water, although the volume was much smaller.
One could describe it as the main artery and the capillaries.
In fact, Xia Ming had a headache about the water source. Within the current maximum distance of the rock gear, the best places to draw water from were Jiaohu and the Yangtze River. They had a large volume of water and were unlikely to be noticed. The downside was that the water quality was slightly inferior and didn't meet Xia Ming's ideal of a clear and sparkling reservoir.
After weighing the options, Xia Ming felt that the Yangtze River was more suitable, considering the government's recent efforts to protect it. Plus, with the additional Spirit Qi, it would undoubtedly elevate the water quality by at least one level.
Xia Ming planned to transform the reservoir into one that collected underground spring water, as relying solely on the little rainwater from the mountain was insufficient. As for whether anyone would bother to investigate if it was truly underground water, they were welcome to do so. It all came from the cracks in the rocks, so what else could it be?
As for what fish to release, Xia Ming hadn't decided yet. He planned to do some online research or ask people who sold fish fry in the evening.
Of course, Xia Ming would also raise some higher-value fish in the reservoir, such as Taishan red-scaled fish, HLJ sturgeon, and Songjiang perch. Whether they could survive or not was not within Xia Ming's consideration. With the added Spirit Qi, the water was just that powerful. Well, that's how extravagant it was.
While releasing the fish, Xia Ming also wanted to introduce more water algae into the reservoir to serve as natural bait for the fish. He didn't plan to add artificial fish feed to the reservoir. Pure, natural, and wild had more value. If someone wanted to argue about starting with artificial fish fry, they could go ahead, but Xia Ming wouldn't be willing to sell to them.
In the evening, the family was having dinner at the small kitchen table.
Xia Ming, with his mouth full of oil, praised, "Mom, haven't you noticed that the dishes you've been cooking taste much better these past few days?"
His mother hit Xia Ming lightly and said, "You brat, are you saying that my cooking wasn't good before?"
Xia Ming quickly replied, "It was delicious, it was delicious. I'm just praising you for improving your skills recently. The taste is even better now."
His mother took a bite, carefully tasted it, and said, "Oh, it does seem like it's been tastier these past few days. Did my cooking skills really improve?"
His father chimed in, "Improved? It's still the same taste after all these years."
His mother immediately became displeased, "Just eat, eat, eat. All you know is eating. If you're so good, don't eat."
His father didn't respond and changed the subject, holding up his wine glass, and asked, "Is the reservoir ready for water storage? I wonder if it will be filled by the time spring arrives next year. Otherwise, it will delay the time for releasing the fish fry."
Xia Ming casually scraped rice into his mouth while swiping his phone and said, "We've already started storing water. It will be filled in about four to five days."
"Ah, it will be filled in four to five days? Not bad," his father said, raising the wine glass to his lips. Suddenly, he paused and asked, "What? It will be filled in four to five days? Did you use a water pump?"