Chapter 1313: French Fries and Stone Beaded Bracelets

After redividing the planting area inside the valley, Xia Qing appointed Zhao Ze as the person in charge of the valley renovation project. Once he drew up a concrete construction plan and the renovation supplies arrived, he could lead the alliance's core members, including Xia Qing herself, in carrying out the work.

Of course, Xia Qing was not the main labor force. She planned to study frantically in the days before construction began, then show up openly at Mountain No. 50 during the construction period to survey the flow direction of the hot spring water and conduct soil testing together with Broken-Waist Wolf, Brother Little Wolf, and Does Daigua.

The evolved wolves had first-rate senses of smell and incredible speed; Broken-Waist was even more familiar with soil sampling standards and procedures than Xia Qing, and his technique was more standardized than hers. Does Daigua was clever, agile, and good at climbing. Xia Qing was convinced that teaming up with the three of them would absolutely double the results with half the effort.

If things went smoothly, the survey team of one person, two wolves, and one monkey should be able to complete the survey of the hot spring water system on the third peak of Mountain No. 50 — its flow direction, whether there was Gao Yi element soil at the outlet, and whether it connected to the unpolluted water systems of Mountains No. 49 and No. 55 — before construction ended, confirming whether a water plant could be built.

Until the survey results came out, the quality of the hot spring water still needed to be kept secret from outsiders.

So Xia Qing stressed emphatically, "What Third Brother is planting in the valley is precious, scarce medicinal material that needs to be irrigated with filtered spring water. Therefore, the hot spring water hidden in the valley remains our alliance's top-level secret."

Hearing that the spring water would not be made public, Tang Huai was a little disappointed. The spring water was a top-level secret and absolutely could not be leaked outward. Therefore, the Soil Research Institute could not use the high-quality hot spring water for crop breeding research, because many researchers in the Soil Research Department did not even know the hot spring water existed.

Tang Huai also understood that compared to the Soil Research Department's breeding research, the medicinal materials of Territory No. 7 were more important, so he raised no objection.

After the other three agenda items were discussed and voted on, this core members' meeting of the territory alliance came to an end. Only when Zhang San lazily stood up did everyone else dare to rise and follow the big shot out.

Tan Qi gathered her courage and walked up beside Zhang San, looked up at his bony jawline, and asked, "Th-Third Brother, we're frying green-light french fries with green-light cooking oil tonight. Sister Yingzi says they're delicious. Can I bring you a portion to try?"

The children born during the Calamity Year had never even eaten french fries. The lords looked at Tan Qi and felt a pang of heartache.

Zhang San did not refuse. "Alright. I'll have Zheng Chen come pick it up. What do you want to trade for it?"

Tan Qi wanted to say she didn't want anything in return — she just wanted to let the big shot, who fought day and night on the front line of scientific research for all humanity, eat something delicious and put on a little more flesh.

But the big shot definitely wouldn't just take her green-light food for nothing, so Tan Qi carefully asked, "I'd like to trade for a pesticide that kills or drives away evolved snow-jumping bugs — the kind you can spray at your door. Would that be okay?"

Snow-jumping bugs were the main winter pest. Under the influence of evolved soil anaerobic bacteria, this winter's snow-jumping bugs would definitely be worse than in previous years — this was the topic the lords had been discussing most frequently in recent days.

Zhang San nodded. "Sure."

Hearing that the big shot was so easy to talk to today, the allies immediately presented delicious foods from their respective territories.

Green-light alfalfa flatbread from Territory No. 4, pickled green-light eggs from Territory No. 5, mung bean cakes from Territory No. 6, rose curd from Territory No. 8, pickled water celery from Territory No. 10, green-light venison jerky from Territory No. 11, and crab-roe buns from Territory No. 12 — Zhang San accepted them all and had Zheng Chen, the courier from Territory No. 7, go pick them up.

Xia Qing, who always sent her idol a portion whenever she got something good, didn't crowd forward. After seeing her idol off at the north gate of Territory No. 5 and handing him over to Zheng Chen and Zhang Jingwu, Xia Qing waved Tan Qi and Yu Shou over. "Qiqi, I'll drive you back, and stop by the Ninth Center on the way."

Tan Qi cheered, "Okay, thank you, Sister Qing!"

Everyone knew at once that Xia Qing had something to say to Tan Qi. Even Tang Huai, who had wanted to ditch his brother and hitch a ride with Xia Qing, tactfully changed direction and threw an arm around Huo Zhun's neck. "Uncle Huo, Brother Huo, shall we head back together?"

Territories No. 4, No. 6, and No. 10 were very close to Territory No. 5, so they didn't need a ride — a short walk would get them there quickly.

Luo Pei of Territory No. 1 followed behind Tan Qi and got straight into Xia Qing's car.

After driving forward for a stretch, Xia Qing pulled two beaded bracelets from her pocket and handed them to Tan Qi. "Qiqi, happy birthday. The bigger one is for you, the smaller one is for Shiyi."

A few days earlier, Tan Junjie had specifically sought out Er Yong to learn how to make french fries, just to give his daughter a surprise on her birthday.

So Tan Qi, who idolized the big shot, split this most precious food in two and traded one portion to the big shot.

After hearing about it from Er Yong, Xia Qing dug out the various small granular minerals Does Daigua had brought back, ground them round, polished them, drilled holes, then strung them into bracelets as a birthday gift for the little girl — and made one for little Shiyi as well.

"Thank you, Sister Qing!"

Tan Qi took the bracelets, so happy her eyes curved into crescents. "These bracelets are so pretty! Sister Qing, is this crystal?"

Xia Qing explained, "Only the yellow and brown beads are crystal. The red, brown, and black ones are very common stones — I just thought they looked nice together, so I strung them like that."

Xia Qing also had small pieces of pink glowing fluorite at home. It wasn't that she was reluctant to give them to Tan Qi, but that kind of stone was rather precious, and having a child wear it would invite unnecessary danger. So Xia Qing only picked out stones that were low in value but pretty.

She hadn't expected that once these stones were strung together, they'd actually look quite pretty — Does Daigua and Ergua liked them a lot too.

So Xia Qing traded two of these necklaces to Does Daigua in exchange for the little monkey studying geology and surveying underground water systems with her. The little monkey agreed readily.

"Indeed very pretty." Luo Pei watched Tan Qi, who had been in the territory for almost a year and had shot up half a head, with a little flesh on her small face and a smile on it, and his own smile grew even gentler.

Tan Qi was as happy as a little skylark. "Uncle Luo, Sister Qing, will you come to my territory tonight for birthday cake? My dad bought a birthday cake — we can stick candles in it and make birthday wishes."

Xia Qing shook her head apologetically. "I have something on tonight. I'll definitely keep tonight free next year and come to your territory for cake."

In truth, even if she were free, Xia Qing wouldn't go. Food was precious during the Calamity Year, and Tan Junjie had carefully prepared a birthday dinner for his daughter — it wouldn't be appropriate for her to go eat it.

Luo Pei couldn't go either. "There's a training camp tonight, I have to lead the team. Before you eat your birthday cake, you'll receive birthday gifts from me, Yang Jin, Xie Yu, and Yan Long. I'll keep tonight free next year too and spend your birthday with you."

Tan Qi looked up, her eyes still sparkling with the light of the crystal bracelet. "Uncle Luo, Sister Qing, it's a promise — this day next year!"

In the Calamity Year, with disasters striking one after another, no one knew how many more days or months they had left. Being able to make a date for next year was something that made people excited and full of anticipation.

Xia Qing curled up the corners of her mouth and answered in the affirmative.