Chapter 1173: Harvesting Corn and Peanuts

Wolf Lao Si was a very clever wolf. Xia Qing only spent half an hour negotiating terms with it, reassuring it that it could safely bring the scarred little wolf to work and recuperate within Territory Three. Once the little wolf healed and was on its way back to the wolf pack's territory, it just needed to make a trip to the Blind Tiger's territory for her.

With Wolf Lao Si's help, the fish, chickens, and black-maned geese in Territory Three all ate their fill of insects, so Xia Qing no longer needed to feed them. Thus, Xia Qing shifted her focus to farming.

After entering October, the weather turned cooler, and most of the crops in the fields entered their mature stage and were ready for harvest.

After more than four months of preparation, Center Nine finally welcomed its first harvest—the 80 mu of Green Lantern Corn Y-3 in the center's greenhouse had matured.

Center Nine had plenty of staff, so the corn harvest didn't require Director Xia Qing to do it herself. She took a quick look around and then returned to her own territory to harvest the two and a half mu of corn she had planted.

What was being harvested now was the summer-planted corn sown in June after the wheat harvest. All the corn planted at Center Nine was the premium Red Eleven Corn Y-3, while the corn Xia Qing planted in her own territory came in three varieties.

First, to trade with her daughter for meat from the high-evolution Green Lantern Python, Tan Junjie had sent Xia Qing some Green Lantern Corn Y-3. She had sown some in spring, and this time planted all the remaining 2 jin of seeds. Second, there was 8 jin of Green Lantern Corn SY-2 bred by Hui San—harvested by Xia Qing last year and rewarded this year for participating in the Shang Rain Period mission with the inspection team. Third, there was 12 jin of Yellow Lantern Corn SY-2 harvested last year, with a Shang element content of 6-7‰.

The reason she planted Yellow Lantern corn was that in June, Xia Qing didn't have enough Green Lantern seeds, but the fields still had room to spare. A farmer simply couldn't bring herself to waste land.

After this harvest, Xia Qing could plant as many mu of Green Lantern corn as she wanted next year, because she now had enough Green Lantern corn seed.

First, the 200 Xiao Feimao Selected corn kernels she had sown in the terraced fields grew into 132 plants. Under Xia Qing's careful cultivation, the Shang element content of these corn plants dropped by more than one point, settling between 3-3.5‰.

Second, the 200 premium Green Lantern corn kernels Xia Qing had personally selected, sown in the terraced fields, grew into 125 plants. At maturity, the Shang element content of these plants was between 3.3-4.0‰. Though the quality couldn't match the cultivable optimized seeds selected by Little Xiao Feimao, they could still be kept as seeds.

The seeds produced by just these 257 corn plants, after being soaked in pollution-free spring water to raise the germination rate to between 55-65%, could plant a full 33 mu of farmland next year!

Besides the premium corn being bred in the terraced fields, the Green Lantern corn Xia Qing planted in the cultivated-land greenhouse also maintained a quality of 4.5-5.5‰ at maturity. This was because during the second and third Shang Rain Periods, Xia Qing had used Yi Stones to protect the Green Lantern corn fields.

From this one and a half mu, Xia Qing could harvest nearly 2,000 jin of corn. After selecting out the cultivable optimized seeds, she and Sheep Lao Da would eat the Green Lantern corn with lower Shang element content, and the rest would be kept for feeding the chickens and cattle.

The one mu of Yellow Lantern corn that wasn't protected by Yi Stones served as "normal" corn to disguise the quality of the corn in her territory. Xia Qing would first store this corn in the Territory One food storage warehouse, then trade it away at an appropriate time.

Two and a half mu of corn was neither a lot nor a little. Xia Qing first cut down the corn stalks and laid them out in rows, then snapped off the corn cobs together with Wolf Lao Er.

Wolf Lao Da wouldn't do this kind of work, so it wandered around the field eating corn leaves.

After snapping off corn for a while, Xia Qing looked up at the red squirrel mother and child waiting outside the greenhouse for a free meal. The strong squirrel cub had drunk pollution-free spring water in the morning, then left Territory Three to return to its own territory to find food. At this moment, only the big red squirrel and Little Xiao Feimao were standing outside the greenhouse.

Right now, Xia Qing missed her temporary worker No. 002, Daigua the monkey, terribly.

Wolf Lao Si? It didn't like catching insects, so it took the scarred little wolf, whose fever had broken, and left Territory Three to hunt in the Evolution Forest. It would only return at night when it needed to take medicine and have its wounds treated.

When Xia Qing used the micro-tiller to haul the corn home and laid it out in the yard to dry by quality, the red squirrels and birds by the fields followed Xia Qing home, eyeing her corn covetously.

Thus, Xia Qing began missing her good neighbors—the swallow flock—once again.

That flock of swallows had a strong sense of territory and would actively drive away other birds gathering near the yard. The sparrows that had occupied the swallow nests had a weaker sense of territory; once full, they just stayed put chirping and no longer drove away other birds.

Fortunately, Xia Qing still had Wolf Lao Er, which could drive away birds.

After a few more busy days, she used Kuang Qingwei's thresher to shell the slightly dried corn cobs, then dried them with Center Nine's dryer, and only then did Xia Qing feel at ease.

The corn for eating was dried, while the corn for seed she shucked and hung under the eaves, covered with wire mesh and insect netting to air-dry. This row of corn added a strong farming flavor and harvest atmosphere to Xia Qing's little courtyard.

After finishing the corn harvest, Xia Qing handed her territory over to Er Yong, drove her off-road vehicle to Mountain Fifty for inspection, and harvested the peanuts in the hidden valley along the way.

Currently, the hidden valley had six permanent residents: three seriously injured people from Territory Fifteen in recovery, Li Kai who was caring for the injured, Zhang Shi, and Ye Yiyi, who had developed autism from the shock.

Little Eleven had already integrated into human territory and was safely studying at school. Under Zhang Shi's care, Ye Yiyi's autism symptoms had also eased somewhat. Seeing Xia Qing come to harvest peanuts, although she didn't come out, she pressed her face against the window, secretly watching with a pair of black grape-like eyes.

Xia Qing pretended not to notice this little one, and with Zhang Shi and Li Kai's help, focused on quickly harvesting the peanuts.

Yellow Lantern peanuts were fine, but Green Lantern peanuts were aggressive. Once pulled up, their roots needed to be immediately soaked in salt water to destroy their attacking ability.

The allies from Territories Four, Five, Six, and Ten in the valley, who had traded Yellow Lantern peanut seeds with Xia Qing, had already harvested their peanuts, re-fertilized and tilled their fields, and planted potatoes, spinach, or sunflowers.

The valley had hot springs, so even during the coldest part of winter, the temperature inside the valley could stay around 20°C, making it an ideal place for growing crops. After harvesting the peanuts, Xia Qing would also plant Green Lantern oil sunflower seeds, to be pressed for oil after harvest.

Li Kai, the ordinary sniper with an amputated left leg, was usually a man of few words, but today he talked a lot. Because the person in front of him, loosening the soil and digging up peanuts with a four-pronged iron fork, was Hui City's hottest new top-tier sniper!

Not just Li Kai—the three seriously injured people recuperating in the valley also struggled over to listen, pricking up their ears as expressionless Xia Qing, in a flat tone, explained how she had trained, and under what kind of mindset she had boldly stood on the hillside and used firepower to suppress Hui Five's phantom.

Many hands make light work. Xia Qing only needed half a day to bag the peanuts and carry them down to the off-road vehicle at the foot of Shanfeng.

When she went up the second time to carry the already bundled peanut vines, Xia Qing noticed little Ye Yiyi's face was almost pressed against the glass. She discussed with Zhang Shi, "Sister Shi, I have a lot of work in my territory. Can you help me turn over the soil once? Half of the peanuts you dig up are yours."

Peanuts grow underground, so when harvesting, a few peanuts are left in the soil. That's why the allies carefully turn over the soil after harvesting, finding every peanut left in the ground.

Green Lantern peanuts left in the soil have already lost their aggressive ability. This farm work was simple and gave a great sense of accomplishment—discovering peanuts brought the joy of harvest. Xia Qing felt this kind of work was very suitable for Ye Yiyi, who had autism.

Zhang Shi, wearing a white coat and glasses, used her magnetic sense to confirm Xia Qing's good intentions, and replied with a smile, "I don't need half. Thirty percent is enough."