To fundantally resolve the issue with insect eggs, the only current thod was to filter them out using filtration systems, but embarrassingly, they were all subrged.
If this issue had arisen before the apocalypse, it wouldn’t really have been a problem. Ergency production of ultrafiltration equipnt would have been possible imdiately. In the United States, everyone drank water straight from the tap, which was already filtered in factories; there, it wouldn’t even have been considered an issue.
But now, producing these devices had beco very difficult, especially the precision components, because raw materials were extrely hard to find. Filter equipnt and filter elents weren’t even produced together, and manufacturing a single device required hundreds, if not thousands, of different raw materials.
Therefore, the only option left was to salvage previously manufactured equipnt.
But there was only so much equipnt available, and with simply not enough to go around, drinking water with insect eggs wasn’t causing imdiate harm. However, it wouldn’t be long before large numbers of evolved insect eggs appeared. Drinking such water then would inevitably lead to daily stomach aches, various forms of diarrhea, and even cases of dehydrating diarrhea...
In the past, the ground would at least have lumps; in the future, it would be covered in puddles... UGH. According to the news, it was the result of bacteria reacting with the stomach and intestines, similar to getting diarrhea from eating spoiled food.
By that ti, both ultrafiltration systems and mineral water would beco exceedingly precious commodities. Those who could afford them would enjoy imnse comfort; those who couldn’t would just have to endure and survive.
So clever people, after trying various thods, had finally managed to filter out so of the insect eggs.
"Mom, if filtration systems can filter out insect eggs, then our ancestors’ thods should be able to filter them out too," Jing Shu said languidly.
"What thod? Our household filter can’t be set up like that, and the bit of water it filters every day isn’t nearly enough to water all those vegetables."
"You an other thods? Sigh, many have tried wilderness survival filtration thods, but those don’t filter out insect eggs cleanly enough to et the standards. Researchers say that insect eggs are like invisible bacteria; can such minuscule bacteria really be filtered out?"
The question of what else, besides ultrafiltration, could kill the insect eggs had beco the hottest topic recently. Just look at Zhu Chuangshi, who ca up with one such thod. Not only was he interviewed by television stations, but he also beca a Huaxia internet sensation. He was now invited daily to perform exterminations. However, Zhu Chuangshi’s thod wasn’t a permanent cure and was difficult to implent widely.
Then there were other thods like UV sterilization and chemical disinfection. All of these could eliminate so insect eggs, but the remaining ones would still consu the crops, preventing them from germinating.
"Co on, let’s go to the back mountain to gather materials. I’ll try sothing out at your work tomorrow," Jing Shu said mysteriously.
Mrs. Jing was skeptical. With technology so advanced nowadays, what use could ancient thods possibly have? They surely couldn’t et the standards for drinking water.
The standards surely couldn’t be t, but as long as they could find a different way to grow crops, wouldn’t that be sufficient?
Jing Shu dragged Mrs. Jing around the back mountain for an afternoon, gathering everything from various minerals and rocks to yellow clay.
After hauling a whole cartload of stuff, Jing Shu was woken up at four in the morning by an eager Mrs. Jing ready to go to work.
First, at the faucet, Jing Shu created a three-layer filter by wrapping different grades of soil—coarse, dium, and fine—in cloth. As the water percolated down through these layers, the red earthworms were filtered out. This soil would need to be replaced daily.
Then, Jing Shu spent an entire day constructing a super-large pool.
The water that passed through this initial filtration would enter a concave-shaped pool.
The first section contained large Shi Zi, big cobblestones, small cobblestones, tile shards, fine sand, and yellow clay. After the water settled, it flowed into a second, brick-lined section, which contained charcoal and fine sand.
Mrs. Jing seed hesitant. Hadn’t this thod been tried before? The results weren’t ideal, were they?
However, at this stage, the basic filtration was indeed complete. The third tank was a large storage container. Its upper part had a wooden plug. Once the tank was full, water would seep through this wooden block and overflow into four smaller compartnts, completing another round of filtration.
Most households could typically filter out a small portion of insect eggs by just using the third tank. There was no need for an excessive fourth step; instead, the idea was to wait for the insect eggs in the third tank to grow larger.
Insect eggs, initially as small as bacteria (the smallest known bacteria are larger than 0.1 microters), could grow much larger in just two or three days. So, since there were no ans to filter them out when they were microscopic, it was possible to wait for them to grow a bit before filtering. Of course, so people said, "Why not just filter the red earthworms directly and then catch the mature worms to eat the grown insect eggs inside them?" That thod also worked, but it was notoriously slow. In this setup, placing mature worms was rely a ans of cleaning.
"Every day, we need to catch mature worms and put them in the third and fourth tanks to clean out the grown insect eggs," Jing Shu instructed.
So eggs would inevitably slip through to the fourth compartnt. But by placing vegetable roots on the surface of this pool, about half the remaining insect eggs would be attracted to them. Once these eggs grew, the mature worms could then consu them.
This was actually known as the ’Pig-Nurturing Style’—essentially, a ’Wait-Till-They’re-Grown Approach.’
In the middle of the fourth compartnt, a drainage hole was opened so the finally filtered water could flow into a fifth compartnt.
Opening a drainage hole in the center helped sedint settle at the bottom, while the insect eggs clung to the vegetable leaves on the surface. The water drawn from the middle layer was thus filtered and generally t the quality standards for growing vegetables.
This kind of filtration system had existed since the Ming Chongzhen era. In her previous life, soone had improved it and discovered these concave pools were really effective. One stage connected to another in a seamless sequence; it was the most efficient thod, significantly more effective than individual filtration.
"Mom, the downside of this pool is that it filters slowly. One pool of water probably takes a day to filter, but that should be enough for your departnt’s irrigation needs, right?"
"It’s enough, it’s enough! My daughter might not be good at studying, but she’s good at everything else."
After Jing Shu taught Mrs. Jing the principles, the Managent Departnt managed to avoid water shortages for the next few days.
They started planting a new batch of vegetables, and Jing Shu had a premonition that her mother would definitely set a great example for Wu City this ti.
While the other twelve departnts were cultivating simple mushrooms, only Mrs. Jing’s Developnt Zone stood out, using this hospun thod to filter water and even grow crops. Although it was slow, it still counted as a significant contribution.
Speaking of the common people’s food, there had been improvents in recent days.
Although the governnt couldn’t grow other crops, they weren’t short of water, so they managed to cultivate the first batch of mushrooms teeming with insect eggs.
They looked quite scary.
Layers of mushrooms were covered with a mass of white insect eggs, resembling blackheads embedded in the fungi. After being boiled by the canteen cooks, they had a pleasantly springy and chewy texture, and biting into them released a burst of sensation, much like eating fish roe.
Boiled mushrooms with insect eggs: 0.2 Virtual Coins per serving. Add a bit of batter, and it was 0.5 Virtual Coins.
But if you voted for Zhao Shupi as the distribution director through the big data voting system, you got an extra serving of batter for free.
Zhao Shupi’s na suddenly soared in popularity in the Banana District, gaining a lot of support. From ti to ti, long lines could be seen at the batter window, where one could cast a vote and receive a serving of batter.
That very day, Wang Qiqi gave Jing Shu 500 Virtual Coins she had borrowed from various sources, asking, "How can we maximize the use of 500 Virtual Coins?"
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