Chapter 1005: Cooperative Partner

There was something she had to make clear today. Xia Qing took a deep breath.

Hu Zifeng felt Xia Qing was being too polite. "It's only right—my mission is to protect you and the security of Territory Three. That helicopter that just landed in Territory Seven, it's from our base?"

"Mm, our base's special ops team took over Squad Jili's duties and took on the defense mission for Territory Seven." Xia Qing pushed open the conference room door, invited Hu Zifeng inside, then turned to fill a kettle with filtered water, pressed the boil button on the kettle, and only then turned back. She gathered her thoughts for a few seconds before speaking. "Last year, when I first entered the territory, my combat strength was too low. To hide the secrets inside the territory, I had to trouble Captain Hu to pretend to be my boyfriend…"

The topic was genuinely awkward. Before Xia Qing could finish, Hu Zifeng laughed and spoke up to change the subject. "Sister Qing, I know you're worried about my safety. Given the current situation, continuing to pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend between us really won't serve any purpose."

Xia Qing had improved too fast. In the past, he could stand in front of Xia Qing and block anyone who had designs on her; now Xia Qing was growing more and more dazzling, and the people eyeing her were ones he simply couldn't block.

Hearing Hu Zifeng say that, Xia Qing immediately relaxed. She poured him a cup of hot water, her face full of sincerity. "The security of Territory Three will still need to trouble Captain Hu and the brothers to keep an eye on."

"Sister Qing hired our squad with points and gives us high-quality food from time to time. Of course we have to give it our all—we can't let some other squad snatch such a good mission." The steam from the water cup hid the flash of reluctance in Hu Zifeng's eyes. He put on a clearly visible smile and raised his head. "Right now too many people have their eyes on you. To cut down on unnecessary trouble, you need to come up with a plan as soon as possible."

Xia Qing nodded, her expression relaxed, even carrying a faint smile.

Hu Zifeng's heart skipped a beat. He tightened his grip on the cup and asked, "Sister Qing already has someone in mind?"

Xia Qing shook her head. "I just have a preliminary plan."

She had to discuss it with Third Brother before she'd know whether it was feasible.

When Xia Qing went to Wolf Valley in Area Three of Mountain 49 to pick up her three companions, Hu Zifeng hurriedly called their boss, telling him to come over right away.

Because if he didn't come soon, Xia Qing was going to partner with someone else!

Unlike Hu Zifeng's tension, Xia Qing was very relaxed now.

The Yellow Bean problem was resolved, Squad Jili had left, Third Brother's territory security had improved, and her and Hu Zifeng's boyfriend-girlfriend relationship was over. Her next task was to prepare well for the third Devastation Rain.

Xia Qing cheerfully brought her companions back to the territory. Those who should pick cotton picked cotton, those who should catch bugs caught bugs, and those who should pedal the water-pumping bicycle to irrigate the fields pedaled and irrigated.

Currently, the two most labor-intensive tasks in the territory were irrigating the farm fields and installing the automatic drop-down rainproof-cloth devices for the greenhouses. The farm fields had to be irrigated within the next two days, and the automatic devices had to be installed and debugged before the Devastation Rain.

The main force for irrigating the farm fields was, of course, Sheep Boss. For it, pedaling the bicycle to pump water and irrigate the fields was a game.

Xia Qing cheered Sheep Boss on while keeping an eye on the irrigation progress, while directing the six squad members of Hu Zifeng's team to dig holes and assemble the automatic drop-down rainproof-cloth devices, and keeping constant watch on the territory patrol progress of the magnetic-evolution users Geng Min and Wang Jun.

By evening, Geng Min and Wang Jun had finished patrolling Northern Area One, Sheep Boss had irrigated eight greenhouses and didn't even feel like going to fight the Little Flat-Top, Does Daigua had picked a big sack of cotton, and Xia Qing had led the construction squad to finish assembling the devices for seven greenhouses.

Tomorrow morning, the construction squad would continue digging holes, and Sheep Boss would continue pumping water to irrigate the fields. Xia Qing would take Old Wolf to Area Three of Mountain 49 to pick chestnuts and Chinese torreya nuts for her idol.

After arranging tomorrow's hole-digging task with Er Yong, Xia Qing knocked off, went home, showered, and made a lavish dinner. After the family of four ate their fill, she made it to the North Gate right on time.

The sales proceeds from the second batch of cordyceps mushrooms she and Yang Jin had co-cultivated had already come in. Yang Jin had called at noon to say he would arrive at Territory Seven tomorrow morning to pick up the Devastation-Reducing Agent. Coming a day early meant he could use this time to deliver the points card to Xia Qing and discuss a big deal while he was at it.

After she boiled a pot of pollution-free spring water, steeped some dried honeysuckle in it, and poured a cup for Yang Jin—who across the table somehow looked even more handsome than before—the main event of the evening, settling accounts and negotiating, officially began.

Yang Jin first handed the account book to Xia Qing. "For this batch we used 6,006 Green-Light spinach seeds, hydroponically sprouted 3,923 spinach seedlings, and cultivated a total of… cordyceps buds."

The account book was recorded very clearly. After deducting the cost of the hydroponic nutrient solution and mushroom spawn, labor costs, material wear and tear, and other expenses from the revenue of selling the cordyceps mushrooms, the net profit was points.

Yang Jin handed Xia Qing a card worth 735,365 points and began discussing the next batch of cordyceps mushroom cultivation with her. "Per our previous agreement, the 6,000 Green-Light spinach seeds for the next batch of cordyceps mushrooms will all be provided by you."

Xia Qing very readily took out the seeds and handed them to Yang Jin. "X-2 with a Yi-element content of 5.5–6.0?, 6,010 seeds."

The extra few seeds were because Xia Qing hadn't checked carefully and wasn't sure whether any of them were damaged.

"Doing business in partnership with Sister Qing is always爽快." Yang Jin took the seeds and put them in his pocket. "Lan Wu's disaster state has already been lifted, and the quality of the pollution-free spring water from the Sea of Death hasn't dropped. Let's use that spring for the next batch of spinach first."

The spring inside Territory Three entered its dry season in January, so Xia Qing had to start storing pollution-free spring water from December for daily drinking and bathing. Being able to use Lan Wu's pollution-free spring water was of course the best option.

Xia Qing discussed with Yang Jin, "Third Brother says that by the end of the year, advanced technology can be used to mass-breed the special enzymes needed to make the Devastation-Reducing Agent. When that time comes, the demand for cordyceps mushrooms will definitely increase. Should we expand the cultivation scale?"

The cordyceps mushrooms used to make the Devastation-Reducing Agent had to be cultivated with pollution-free spring water and Gao Yi-element vegetables. Once the special enzymes could be supplied in large quantities, the main factor limiting Devastation-Reducing Agent output would be the supply of pollution-free spring water.

Pollution-free spring water was a scarce resource, so even half a year from now the Devastation-Reducing Agent would still be a scarce medicine, and its price wouldn't drop much. Xia Qing and Yang Jin each held a pollution-free water source, so she felt they should expand production.

As long as risk prevention was handled well, this was a sure-profit business. Yang Jin of course didn't object. "After the Devastation Rain I'll arrange construction and add another cultivation room to double the output?"

Xia Qing nodded. Their spring water wasn't only used for hydroponic spinach, but also for irrigating crops, drinking, and other purposes. Doubling the output was already the limit.

Seeing that Xia Qing agreed, Yang Jin immediately began making plans. "The third batch of cordyceps mushrooms will start cultivation at the beginning of next month. The expanded cultivation room will take a month to complete and will be put into use in mid-October. The seeds, spring water, mushroom spawn, and nutrient solution for the fourth batch—we need to start planning now…"

After the two agreed on the investment budget and the cooperative matters for the third and fourth batches—who would provide the seeds and spring water, and how they would be provided—they finalized the agreement.

Now it was time to discuss the "big deal" Yang Jin had mentioned. Xia Qing sipped her floral-scented tea with an expressionless face and waited for Yang Jin to make his move.

In terms of cooperative philosophy and integrity, Yang Jin was absolutely more decent than 99% of merchants during the Calamity years. Doing business with Yang Jin was always a win-win; it was just a question of who won a little more and who earned a little less.

Neither side wanted to be the one who earned less, so the focus of the upcoming negotiation was how much cost each party would bear in this transaction.

This was the key to the split—no one wanted to earn less.