Chapter 1013: Negotiating with a Shrewd Wolf

The wolf pack asked Xia Qing to treat their illnesses and injuries and to join missions, and they would pay her with yi-stones; when Xia Qing asked the wolf pack to join missions, of course she also had to pay them the supplies they needed.

Broken-Waist Wolf understood what Xia Qing meant, raised its big paw and gently closed its notebook, gesturing for Xia Qing to follow it.

One person and one wolf walked down the mountain peak. After walking for a stretch and stopping beside a pool a bit larger than Python Pool, Xia Qing got a bad premonition. After Broken-Waist Wolf accurately pointed its big paw at the lake's surface, Xia Qing sighed inwardly and gestured to ask, "Handsome Wolf Bro wants me to... fill in this pool...?"

Broken-Waist Wolf bared its lips, revealing its adorable, snow-white little fang tips.

You son of a bitch really are Iron Rooster's own brother!

Xia Qing forced out a smile, "Handsome Wolf Bro, are there giant pythons in this pool?"

Broken-Waist Wolf closed its mouth.

No? Xia Qing asked again, "Giant pythons might burrow out of this pool, right?"

Broken-Waist Wolf bared its lips, revealing its little fang tips.

Understood, this pool is also a hidden danger of Mountain Fifty-Five that needs to be eliminated. This matter has to be broken apart, kneaded fine, and negotiated properly.

Xia Qing sat on a rock by the pool, using gestures and signs to make this shrewd wolf understand the gap between the two missions. "You guys help me protect Third Brother, it only takes the sun moving from here to... here, half a day; you want me to fill in this pool, it takes at least fifteen days, the moon going from this shape to... this shape, I have way too many missions."

The sun is the same every day, but the moon is different every day, so when Xia Qing expressed to the wolf pack a duration of more than one day, she always borrowed the changing shapes of the moon to indicate the length of time.

Broken-Waist Wolf understood, tucked away its little fang tips, and fell into thought.

"I can fill in this lake, the exchange condition is that you guys help me protect Third Brother for half a day, and pay me one walnut-sized yi-stone and one pigeon-egg-sized yi-stone."

Broken-Waist Wolf stared at the exchange conditions Xia Qing had drawn, clamped its mouth shut, and refused to agree.

At two in the afternoon, Xia Qing returned to her territory physically and mentally exhausted. She handed a bundle of green-light grass she'd cut on the way back to Sheep Boss, who had been about to teach her a lesson by flashing its spiral horn because she hadn't made it back in time to cook lunch, and that smoothed the big fellow over.

"Boss, you're really the best." Compared to the increasingly scheming, shameless wolves, Sheep Boss is the good companion standing at the top of the pyramid!

Sheep Boss buried its head in the grass, not even giving Xia Qing a glance.

"Boss, how about we water the fields together after you finish eating? Boss looks the coolest pedaling the water-drawing bicycle. Can Boss still pedal the bicycle today?"

Sheep Boss, grass in its mouth, raised its big head and squinted at its insufferable little underling.

"Understood, of course Boss can pedal it! I'll go move the bicycle and set up the sunshade right now; Boss eat your grass first, we'll play after you finish." Xia Qing ran home, carried the water-drawing bicycle out, and installed it by the reservoir. Sheep Boss, having finished eating grass, came trotting over with its head held high, and under Xia Qing's praise, pedaled like crazy.

The water drawn up gushed into the irrigation channels, rushing toward the fields to water the crops. After Xia Qing opened the channel gates for the fields that hadn't been watered yet, she hurried to Shed No. 8 and handed Daigua Monkey, who was picking mature green-bean pods, a green-light tomato. "Good work, Daigua. Hungry? Have a tomato and rest a bit."

Before the Calamity Rain arrived, not only did the fields need to be watered once, but the already-mature green-bean pods, cotton, and vegetables in the fields also needed to be picked, to avoid accidents and unnecessary losses during the Calamity Rain.

Xia Qing's plan was to make a trip to Mountain Fifty-Five and rush back before noon to cook, so before leaving she had arranged for Daigua to pick bean pods in the shed. She hadn't expected that her negotiations with Broken-Waist Wolf would eat up time, causing the obedient Daigua to work continuously for over three hours, picking bean pods from half a shed, with the big bag beside it already full.

Daigua, wearing pink briefs, took the tomato in its mouth, climbed up to the crossbeam of the greenhouse frame, loudly sucked the tomato juice dry inside, and started scarfing down food in big bites.

Xia Qing, carrying a basket and picking bean pods, felt a little guilty. "Daigua, is one tomato enough? Should I go dig you up a sweet potato?"

Daigua, gnawing on the tomato, its eyes immediately lit up.

After filling a basket with bean pods, Xia Qing heard the sound of wolf footsteps. She straightened up and saw Old Wolf, which she had sent to catch bugs, coming back with a wild duck in its mouth.

This fellow is very clever—when it doesn't want to catch bugs, it runs off to catch big prey.

Xia Qing poured the bean pods into the bag, went out and took the wild duck. "Fourth is really amazing, it can even catch a wild duck this big. Hungry? Want some freeze-dried food?"

Old Wolf didn't want to bother with Xia Qing, took the freeze-dried food in its mouth to the shade of a tree, and started eating.

After Xia Qing tested and found that what Fourth had brought back was a red-light wild duck, she chopped the wild duck into meat chunks with a couple of cracks and tossed them into the designated area of the fish pond.

When the fish in the pond went into a frenzy fighting for food, she slowly pulled up the wire fishing net and hauled in a net of big fish.

This was also a task to be completed before the Calamity Rain: sort the fish in the pond by quality and put them into net cages. Green-light fish would be protected with yi-stones during the Calamity Rain period, yellow-light fish would be traded to Kuang Qingwei, and red-light fish would be traded to Zheng Kui.

After Xia Qing tested a few fish, the brain-evolved raven Moli from Territory No. 8 brought a White-bellied Sea Eagle and landed by the fish pond, scaring the egrets, crows, and other birds waiting to freeload into scattering in all directions.

"Caw-caw, Little Jade, here." Xia Qing handed two yellow-light fish to the guest bird she had invited.

After a short while, Xin Yu brought her eagle-owl into Territory No. 3 and helped Xia Qing test and sort the fish in the pond.

When she left in the evening, Xin Yu didn't take any fish, but picked some vegetables she liked from the greenhouses on Xia Qing's terraced fields. She also had a fish pond in her own territory; she hadn't come to help because she wanted fish, but to chat with Xia Qing and check on how the swallow flock in her territory was doing.

After seeing Xin Yu off, Xia Qing heard the huffing and puffing of running footsteps. Little Flat-Top, who hadn't been seen for two days, had shown up right on schedule to fight with the boss.

Sheep Boss, which had finished watering the fields and was eating grass on the hillside, immediately charged over, letting Xia Qing put protective gear on it before rushing out.

The two animals had just started fighting when Xia Qing's phone rang. Er Yong asked, "Sister Qing, some people from the Inspection Team are coming over. Do you need them stopped?"

Because Sheep Boss fought with Little Flat-Top at the same time every day, Hu Zifeng, under the pretext that the Azure Dragon Squad had to do evening drills every day, coordinated with Tan Junjie that during this time slot, the northern section of the North Isolation Belt would be the Azure Dragon Squad's responsibility, and the Inspection Team didn't need to send people or vehicles to patrol.

Tan Junjie certainly didn't object to reducing the workload while ensuring territorial security, so over the past few months, Little Flat-Top and Sheep Boss's fights had never been run into by the Inspection Team.

Xia Qing asked calmly, "Who's coming?"

Er Yong answered, "Peng Lin, Li Pingwei."

Sure enough it was Peng Lin. Xia Qing decisively gave her handling method: "Stop them."

"Copy that."

Xia Qing leaned quietly against the north iron-mesh wall of Territory No. 3, pricking up her ears to listen for movement at the West Isolation Belt. Because the distance was too great, she couldn't hear Peng Lin negotiating with the Azure Dragon Squad members, but she knew perfectly well what Peng Lin had come for.

This person had come for her.