Chapter 1594: Comfort from Xia Qing

Seeing the tree where the white-eyed raven that had followed them from Mountain 86 had landed, Xia Qing, who had just finished instructing the Plucked Feather family, couldn't help but sigh:

"What a competitive and unlucky strong cub."

The competitive strong cub had hollowed out a hole to live in on the tallest pine tree in the fifth district of Mountain 49; because this tree had an excellent view, it had also been chosen by the white-eyed raven.

The strong cub was indeed very strong, but facing this battle-hardened raven, it could only serve as a drinking snack.

To prevent the strong cub, who every day carried bugs to trade for food and pollution-free water, from becoming a gift the white-eyed raven brought to Molly, Xia Qing had no choice but to shake off the flat-top clinging to her leg, pull out her cat-claw shoes, climb the big tree, dig the strong cub out of its nest, bring it back to the territory, and stuff it into the freeloading big squirrel's nest.

Territory Three was guarded by Wolf Lao Er, Chen Cheng, and Xiao Jiang, so the white-eyed raven didn't dare come hunt. Xia Qing, reassured, went to Territory Seven to turn in her mission, then drove to Territory Eight to have dinner with her good friend.

The first thing upon arriving at Territory Eight was, of course, to show Xin Yu the close-up photos she had just taken of the raven.

Xin Yu carefully observed the white-eyed raven on the big screen and briefed Xia Qing on the bird's situation. "Although the tip of its beak is black, there are mottled patches of gray near the mouth; its white eye-ring is obvious, but not dense enough. Based on these two features, we can judge that this raven is about two years old, a sub-adult bird."

Xia Qing nodded. "This bird really isn't steady enough, a bit like a hot-headed youngster. Guagua was the same when she first arrived in the territory, right?"

"When Guagua arrived she had just passed one week old, her juvenile features were even more obvious than this bird's." Xin Yu continued pointing at the picture as she briefed. "Look at its broad, full skull, the thick, sturdy shape of its beak, the slightly curved tip, and these scratches and chips on the beak are its unique marks; its legs are thicker than a normal raven's, the scales and toe-claws are intact, and the claw tips are worn down short and blunt. The wear on the claw tips, the scratches and chips on the beak are all marks left from tearing and fighting. This raven has been through many battles, it's very strong."

After speaking, Xin Yu looked at Molly the raven, who was perched on the potted little tree over two meters tall inside the house, dozing with half-closed eyes, and sighed. "What a pity, Guagua doesn't like it."

"Guā." Molly opened her beak to call once, turned her neck to tuck her pure-black beak into her beautiful feathers that gleamed with a metallic sheen, and went to sleep.

Molly didn't like it, so no matter how strong it was, it was useless. Xia Qing took a sip of rose tea. "When spring warms up next month, let's take Guagua to the Bird Valley on Mountain 45 of the Western Evolution Forest, and see if she takes a liking to that raven in the valley."

Xin Yu's eyes lit up. "Have you eased the relationship with the Western Wolf Pack?"

Xia Qing nodded. "A few days ago during the Blaze invasion, the four wolves from the Western Wolf Pack that were injured all survived. Broken-Waist Wolf says the Western Wolf King is in a stable mood now. If we have Handsome Giant Wolf lead the way to Mountain 45 for a look around, it probably won't cause any conflict."

Xin Yu nodded happily. "The bird you saw should have a mate by now, so our target is its offspring."

"Good, and while we're at it let's see if there are any green-light plants in the valley." What farmer Xia Qing cared about most was how many plants of the green-light soybeans in that valley would grow this year, and what the quality would be like.

After chatting casually for a while, Xin Yu leaned back on the sofa, quietly gazed at the two parrots snuggled together inside the glass room, and spoke slowly. "My grandfather called and told me to go back for my uncle's funeral, and to attend the Heavy Union Group shareholders' meeting while I'm at it."

The chairman was dead, so according to the company charter a shareholders' meeting had to be convened as soon as possible to vote and elect a director, and decide on the chairman candidate.

Xia Qing responded, turned her head to look at her good friend whose face was half-lit by the setting sun, and listened quietly.

"He must already know that the last phone call Yu Dongming made before he died was to me, but he's the same as always, asking nothing, saying nothing. As if how Yu Dongming died doesn't matter to him at all." Xin Yu clenched her fist, her tone calm. "He had the same attitude when my parents died, just putting on a show of trying hard to take good care of the family members still alive."

"But who has he ever taken good care of? My dad was killed by Yu Dongming, the cause of my mom's poisoning still hasn't been figured out, I've had dozens of accidents at Hui Two, and Yu Wenfei's baby was cut out of her belly! I even suspected my mom and Yu Dongming weren't his biological children, but adopted children from his enemy's family. I really have no idea what he's thinking..."

Xia Qing didn't just respond, didn't interrupt, and waited until Xin Yu stopped talking before she spoke. "Xin Yu."

Xin Yu turned her head and saw Xia Qing had opened her arms. She was stunned for a moment before slowly moving over, leaning against her on the sofa, resting her head on Xia Qing's shoulder, and closing her eyes to feel her calm magnetic field.

Xia Qing raised her arm to wrap around Xin Yu's shoulder, patting her shoulder lightly with her fingers again and again.

Xia Qing didn't know how to comfort people, so she could only talk about the matter at hand. "I brought back a few branches of the prickly ash tree, brought you one, and left the rest at Territory Seven. Try to see if you can get it to take root from cuttings. If it doesn't work, once the cuttings at Territory Seven sprout, bring one back to grow. I also saved twenty prickly ash seeds for you."

"Mm." Xin Yu responded, her voice a little choked.

Before Xia Qing's brain could figure out what else to say to make Xin Yu feel a bit more comfortable, her stomach protested first, rumbling loudly.

Xin Yu laughed and opened her eyes, but her attention was drawn by the rise and fall in front of her. "You've started developing? The medicine worked that fast?"

Xia Qing, who had only been taking the body-conditioning medicine for half a month, answered honestly. "No, I'm wearing the tactical undergarment Sister Yan gave me."

This kind of undergarment has support, core protection area coverage, anti-friction, and moisture management functions; it's special equipment for female special forces soldiers.

Hearing this, Xin Yu tugged at Xia Qing's collar to check. "Are the injuries on your body as serious as the ones on your face?"

Xia Qing didn't move, letting her examine her. "I had the protective suit on, so it's much better than my face."

The injuries on Xia Qing's face weren't all from Yan Long's beating; there were also impact wounds and abrasions from falling, and scratches from tree branches.

Xin Yu looked at the purple-black handprint on Xia Qing's neck and couldn't help sighing. "You really went all out. What was Yang Jin's reaction when he saw the injuries on your face?"

"He didn't see them." Hearing that her good friend had the mind to eat melon, Xia Qing knew she had recovered, stood up to arrange dinner. "I brought hotpot base and vegetables, let's have hotpot tonight."

Xin Yu stood up too. "What vegetables?"

Whatever vegetable varieties were available in Territory Three, Xin Yu had them all here too. The ones Xia Qing had specially brought over must be vegetables she didn't have.

"Chinese toon sprouts. Big Brother Yang wanted to eat them, so I sprouted a tray, and they're just ready these past two days." Xia Qing instructed her friend. "Whatever you do, don't tell Third Brother, otherwise I'll definitely get scolded."

Xin Yu...