Chapter 1178: A Contest of Wits

Xia Qing parked the car in the yard, went up to the top of the rack building to check on the peanuts drying there, and after inspecting the bird netting over the peanuts to confirm it wasn't damaged, stood on the rooftop and called out to her neighbor, "Lao Si, Lao Si, Lao Si…"

The old wolf who hadn't gone out hunting poked its head out of the weeds in annoyance, and the little wolf with the scarred face poked its head out too. Because Xia Qing applied medicine to it every morning and evening and gave it delicious food, it wasn't as resistant to her as before.

Xia Qing greeted it cheerfully, "Scarface, you're here too? The wound on your face looks much better. Don't open your mouth too wide. In a few more days of recovery we can stitch it up, and it'll be completely healed. Lao Si, I'm going to water the fields. Will you watch these peanuts for me?"

The old wolf looked at Xia Qing calmly, not moving at all.

Xia Qing held up three fingers. "Three eggs. You watch the peanuts for me."

Over the past few days when Broken-Waist Wolf came over to learn, the old wolf would also bring the little wolf with the scarred face along to sit in on the class. Xia Qing simply let them learn together. Whether the little wolf with the scarred face learned anything, Xia Qing didn't know, but the old wolf definitely had, because when watching the videos, its eyes shone with the light of wisdom.

However, this fellow was rather proud and didn't like taking tests, so Xia Qing had no way to verify it.

The old wolf looked at Xia Qing's three fingers, not moving at all.

Think it's too few?

Xia Qing began to bargain. "Three eggs is already a lot. The plucked chick only gets two for catching a qi snake! If you don't want to, I'll call the Plucked family over to watch the peanuts for me."

The old wolf pulled its head back in, which meant it agreed.

Xia Qing went downstairs, carried the water-drawing bicycle out to the yard, and the sheep leader, who had been chewing cud under the tree with the little yellow ox, immediately stood up when it saw the machine and followed Xia Qing outside.

"Moo—" the little yellow ox tied under the tree stood up and called out.

Xia Qing simply led the little yellow ox to the reservoir too, letting it stay next to the sheep leader. Perhaps because they were both herbivores, this little yellow ox really liked following the sheep leader. But its brain hadn't evolved, so it had to be tied up, otherwise it would go around gnawing on plants.

Next spring, Xia Qing planned to fence off ten mu of land and plant green-light grass on it, so the little yellow ox could move around freely inside. Of course, she'd also need to make a movable gate for this pasture, so the sheep leader could come and go freely.

After Xia Qing left home with the cattle and sheep, birds, red squirrels, gray squirrels, and other small animals began gathering toward the peanuts on the roof. Lao Si walked down from the house ruins, leaped up onto the rack building's roof in a single bound, scaring the birds into flight and the squirrels into scurrying.

At the fields, after Xia Qing set up the water-drawing bicycle, without her having to coax it, the sheep leader stepped up and pedaled a few times. When the gurgling sound of water came, it stopped and gave Xia Qing a sidelong glance.

"Boss, you're really amazing. If it weren't for a capable partner like you, the crops in our territory would all die of thirst, and I'd starve too. Boss, are you hot? Shall I set up a canopy for you?"

The sheep leader pedaled a few more times and gave Xia Qing a sidelong glance.

"Good, I'll set up the shade canopy for Boss!" Xia Qing briskly erected the shade canopy, absolutely not letting her hardworking partner get sunburned or overheated.

Then Xia Qing brought a bundle of corn stalks over for the little yellow ox, letting it graze contentedly beside the Boss, before she herself went to Greenhouse No. 5 and had Guan Tong take a note back, to be delivered to Luo Pei.

Xia Qing didn't know Yang Jin's situation at Hui-1, so she wrote a note detailing the matter of the Fire Phoenix calling her, and told Luo Pei to handle it as he saw fit.

The reason she didn't call Luo Pei was that although her phone had anti-wiretapping software installed, it could only interfere with wiretapping devices, preventing the other party from obtaining her communication content. If someone used advanced technical means, they could still capture her using her phone to contact the outside.

So at this time, writing a note was safer than making a phone call.

After Guan Tong left, Xia Qing first went to Greenhouse No. 6 to enthusiastically praise Wolf Lao Er, who was pulling weeds and picking up stones, before she herself shouldered a shovel and walked along the irrigation ditch checking for leaks.

Walking past the beekeeping greenhouse, she saw Does Daigua, wearing a little pink hat, squatting in the grass, gazing longingly at the beehives.

Xia Qing stopped and asked, "Does Daigua wants to eat honey?"

"Ee—" Does Daigua bared a mouthful of teeth, its pair of watery eyes looking at Xia Qing. Its expressionless face had become animated.

And even uglier.

Xia Qing pointed at the beehive with her shovel, warning with killing intent, "The bees are mine, and the honey is mine too. If you dare sneak in to eat the honey, I'll kick you out of the territory, and I won't give you any more food ever again!"

Does Daigua was so scared it curled into a ball, and its face wasn't animated anymore.

After the warning, Xia Qing handed it a small basket, pointed at Greenhouse No. 5 beside them, and said, "Does Daigua, go pull all the weeds in that greenhouse clean, and pick up the small stones and put them in the basket, and I'll give you honey to eat. Deal?"

"Ah!" Does Daigua's little face became animated again, and it took the small basket and burrowed into the greenhouse to work enthusiastically.

It was the busy farming season now. Not a single animal in Territory Three could be idle.

The little yellow ox? Its status was different. Xia Qing had bought it to breed calves and produce milk, so it could be idle. But if the sheep leader ever threw in the towel and refused to plow, Xia Qing would hitch the little yellow ox to the plow and use it as a draft ox.

Hui-1 Base, Liehuo Mountain.

Qu Fangzhou, with short graying hair and gaunt cheeks, knocked on the Fire Phoenix's door. "Captain."

The Fire Phoenix, who was watching the wound on the sole of her foot slowly heal, reached out and pressed the video doorbell. "Speak."

Qu Fangzhou showed no inappropriate emotion at the brigade captain not opening the door, and didn't push the door to enter. As an intelligence analysis expert, she certainly knew that the air in the room behind the door was surely full of the Fire Phoenix's blood toxins, and going in without a protective mask would be seeking death.

"Captain, through monitoring the signal base station in the northern district of Hui-3's territory, we've confirmed: within the past half hour, Xia Qing has not used her phone to contact anyone outside."

The Fire Phoenix calmly gave the order. "She probably hasn't deeply bound herself with the Azure Dragon team yet. Notify Liao Wendong, execute Plan B."

"Yes."

Qu Fangzhou turned and left, contacting Vice Captain Liao Wendong, who was currently in the Hui-1 safe zone, dealing with all parties.

In the Hui-1 safe zone, Liao Wendong, who was in a car outside the Hui City main base office building and at his wit's end, received the message, leaned back against the seat with his eyes closed, and said calmly, "Go to the south outer city."

Inside the Hui City main base office building, the Hui City base commander, the newly appointed Hui-1 base commander, the Hui-2 base commander, the Hui-3 base commander, the Hui-5 base commander, and the Hui-1 Research Institute director sat around an oval conference table, smiling on their faces as they exchanged sharp words.

Yang Jin, sitting behind the Hui-3 base commander, took out his phone and glanced at it. Using the documents in his hand and his body for cover, from an angle the surveillance cameras couldn't capture, he quickly edited a message and sent it out. Raising his head, he met the gaze of Hui-1 Research Institute director Yan Pan, who was sitting across the table, sizing him up.

Yang Jin didn't dodge or avoid. He slowly curved his lips into his signature smile. Yan Pan smiled and nodded slightly, then shifted his gaze away.

The two Azure Dragon team members who had been wandering outside the office building quickly turned around and headed east.