About ten percent of the crops in this shed had died. Although it wasn’t a lot and it didn’t cause any significant financial loss, it was still quite frustrating.
"An Ping, how long have you noticed this phenomenon?" An Hao asked.
"Probably about half a month?" An Ping thought about the time, it seemed about right.
An Hao nodded, then said to An Ping, "You take them around the other sheds for a look, I need to study and figure out what’s going on here."
"Okay. Take your time, sis."
An Ping took Manager Zhang and the others to see the vegetables growing in other Dapeng sheds, and was very satisfied. The two sides started negotiating the price.
After nearly a year of experience, An Ping had made considerable progress in this area. Coupled with his daily experience selling vegetables and understanding the market, the two sides haggled for half a day and finally compromised, settling for a price in the middle of what both had quoted.
If he could supply the canteen, though the price might be a bit lower, the volume of sales would increase significantly, which was a good thing for An Ping.
So, Manager Zhang took out the contract they had drafted beforehand from his bag and gave it to An Ping.
After looking it over and finding no issues, An Ping signed his name.
They agreed that starting from early the next morning, Manager Zhang would send people to pick vegetables every week, settling the accounts on the spot.
While Manager Zhang finished dealing with his side of things, An Hao was at a complete loss.
When it came to farming, she didn’t know much.
If her father and An Ping couldn’t find the reason, how could she?
"Sis, I’ve settled my part. How are you doing with yours?" An Ping stood by An Hao’s side, tirelessly searching for the cause on the leaves of the vegetables.
An Hao shook her head, "I can’t find the reason for now. I have classes tomorrow and must leave today, but I’ll come back on Saturday. We can study it together then."
"All right then. Things are already this way, no need to rush it."
An Hao returned to school and visited the library, hoping to find some useful books, but she soon realized it was in vain.
The books in the Military Medical Academy Library were mainly medical, accounting for over sixty percent of the collection.
Therefore, the agricultural books she wanted to find were too few.
On Friday, taking advantage of two free periods, An Hao went to the Xinhua Bookstore in the city.
After flipping through the shelves for a long time, she finally reached a conclusion: fertilizer burn.
It was highly probable that too much fertilizer had been used, burning the seedlings, right?
With this conclusion in mind, An Hao returned home on Saturday. As soon as she entered, she saw An Shuchao sitting under a tree, smoking his pipe, and An Ping looking worried.
"Dad, An Ping, what’s happened?" An Hao went inside to put her things away and came back out, casually dragging over a small stool from the north room’s doorway to sit on.
"The same problem of crops dying has occurred in the other greenhouses as well," An Ping sighed. "Not a lot have died, but I’m baffled and it’s odd, how did the crops die overnight?"
"Overnight?" An Hao was surprised.
"Yeah. Overnight. The crops used to die off gradually, but this time it happened quickly." An Ping had been observing closely and had even made records.
Seeing that An Hao might have caught onto something, he quickly rose, went inside to retrieve his notebook, and handed it to An Hao, "Sis, take a look! I’ve recorded every new finding very clearly in here."