Chapter 179: A Bountiful Harvest in Sight

After releasing the chickens and geese, Xia Qing thanked Beard Feng and his two teammates, saw them off from Territory Three, and then heard the Sufeng team member monitoring her report over the walkie-talkie:

"Beard Feng and his two teammates have left Territory Three. Yes, right now there's only the Territory Three lord inside. Yes, received."

Xia Qing calmly returned home, hauled the water bicycle out of the garage, and said, "Boss, let's go, time to work?"

Although it had rained a few days ago, she had covered the greenhouse in time, so the crops inside hadn't received any rainwater irrigation, meaning she needed to draw water from the reservoir to irrigate them.

Sheep Boss, lying beside the sick wolf, showed no intention of moving—apparently this sick wolf mattered more to Sheep Boss than its favorite activity: pedaling the bicycle.

Xia Qing smiled and carried the bicycle outside.

She hadn't really expected Sheep Boss to pedal the water bicycle anyway, because the Sufeng squad's eyes were hidden in the buffer zones north, south, and west of Territory Three. Xia Qing didn't want Sheep Boss, who was "playing crazy," to reveal its skill of pedaling the bicycle to draw water.

With practiced ease, she set up the water bicycle and opened the irrigation channels. Xia Qing raised the bicycle seat, sat down herself, and pedaled like crazy.

River water gushed through the three-way pipe into the channels, flowing toward the long strips of farmland covered by the greenhouse. Xia Qing gazed at the lush green rice seedlings not far away and felt thoroughly pleased.

Unfortunately, before she'd felt pleased for even half an hour, Sheep Boss came over after eating its fill of pasture grass in the village, stood beside Xia Qing, and bleated once in protest.

That toy was hers.

Xia Qing negotiated with Sheep Boss, "Boss, go take care of your sick friend, I'll play for a bit."

Sheep Boss narrowed its eyes and pawed the ground, ready to fight. Paired with the scabbed wound on its face, it looked decidedly off no matter how you looked at it.

Just as Xia Qing was thinking about how to keep coaxing Sheep Boss, Beard Feng called, "The people stationed outside Territories Three, Seven, and Nine have all withdrawn. You can act freely."

Xia Qing was surprised. "They withdrew that fast?"

"Mm." Beard Feng's voice carried a smile. "Yesterday in the swamp north of Mountain Forty-Nine, they found several pangolin scales. Today the whole team came out of hiding to search the swamp."

No need to ask—the scales were definitely planted by the Azure Dragon squad. For the Sufeng squad to find pangolins in the swamp, they'd first have to clear out the dangerous evolved creatures there.

Yang Jin truly lived up to his name as Iron Rooster—even while diverting attention, he couldn't resist digging a pit.

Still, the edible water chestnuts and the possibly still-in-place Green Lantern geese in that swamp had nothing to do with Xia Qing now.

Xia Qing hopped off the water bicycle, adjusted the seat to Sheep Boss's favorite height, and said, "Boss, you play. I'm going to patrol the territory, catch bugs to feed the fish."

Compared to catching bugs to feed fish, Sheep Boss preferred pedaling the water bicycle. It happily hopped on and pedaled like crazy.

After checking the irrigation channels once more, Xia Qing went to inspect the crops in the fields.

The corn was growing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The corn plants in the plot planted a month and a half ago had grown eight leaves and were seventy centimeters tall; the corn seeds swapped back from the safe zone, planted only twenty-two days ago, had already reached forty centimeters.

If only her Green Lantern spinach could grow this fast and this tall.

Half a month ago, Xia Qing had planted three plots of spinach in total: one in the terraced fields of the Gao Po planting zone, which produced 612 plants; two in the vegetable greenhouse south of the reservoir at the foot of the hill—one plot of 200 plants grown from ordinary Green Lantern spinach seeds Zhang San had given her, and one plot of 200 plants grown from 300 spinach seeds she would eventually return to Zhang San.

The reason the spinach with high Yi Element content—which she would eventually supply Zhang San with seeds and leaves for—was planted in the vegetable greenhouse in the farmland was that Xia Qing worried planting it in the terraced fields again would expose the secret that her territory had unpolluted spring water.

Her idol was important, but not more important than her territory's most vital survival resource.

Xia Qing kept her word. She had promised Zhang San half the leaves from this spinach, so even though Zhang San wasn't in the territory now, she hadn't touched those hundred plants.

Apart from those hundred plants, every single one of the remaining seven hundred-plus plants had been plucked of at least two leaves by her—she really couldn't pluck any more. This was also why, the night before last, Xia Qing hadn't agreed to trade with the Alpha Wolf.

If she didn't have the Use Yishi in hand, Xia Qing would never have dared pluck so harshly. Otherwise, if a Harmful Rain fell before the spinach plants recovered, at least half of them would undergo harmful evolution.

It had been over two months since the second Harmful Rain, and the third was already on its way. Even with the Use Yishi, Xia Qing needed to let the spinach rest a while and build up the plants' resistance.

Apart from the spinach being a bit miserable, the crops in the farmland and terraced fields were all growing well.

The three grain crops—rice, mung beans, and corn—were all lush and green; the pods on the Yellow Lantern soybean plants had turned from fuzzy pale green to bare brownish-yellow and were nearly ready to harvest; the soil around the roots of the Green Lantern and Yellow Lantern sweet potatoes had begun to bulge—sweet potatoes were forming; the dozen-plus Green Lantern pumpkins in the terraced fields had grown bigger than a fist.

The Yellow Lantern pumpkins in the farmland that had been smashed badly had also recovered and bloomed golden flowers; the Jerusalem artichoke plants had exceeded two meters in height and put out small yellow flowers like sunflower blooms. For these six Jerusalem artichokes, Xia Qing had been forced to extend the height of the greenhouse they were planted in by one section.

The ginger had also bloomed pale yellow flowers tinged with purple—actually quite pretty; the stinky Green Lantern perilla and Green Lantern alfalfa seeds were nearly ready to harvest; her Yellow Lantern and Green Lantern chives had grown garlic chive scapes and were about to flower; the pegs the Yellow Lantern and Green Lantern peanuts had pushed into the soil had grown thick, so the peanuts underground were sure to be sizable.

The second planting of cucumbers, chili peppers, tomatoes, and green beans was already edible; radishes, onions, sunflowers, and cabbage were also growing vigorously under Xia Qing's care. Xia Qing had made two kinds of pickles: pickled cucumbers and red-oil cowpeas. The pickle jars were stored together with potatoes, wheat, and other grains, protected by the Use Yishi, and hadn't spoiled to this day.

After inspecting the grains and vegetables she'd grown, Xia Qing tossed a few evolved insects to the Green Lantern peanuts, her mood bright.

The terraced fields needed watering too. Because of the terrain, the terraces couldn't be irrigated by waterwheel; they had to rely on Xia Qing and Sheep Boss hauling water up. Moreover, the precious Green Lantern plants in the terraces needed to be watered with filtered water, or filtered water mixed with spring water. Today was out—earliest tomorrow, once Xia Qing's hand was better, she'd carry water up with Sheep Boss to irrigate the fields.

After the harvest, the crops needed to be stored properly. She had to finish digging the cellar for storing grain and vegetables as soon as possible.

Watching the Green Lantern peanuts use their leaf-vein needles to suck the evolved insects into dried bug-mummies, Xia Qing walked out of the planting greenhouse in the Gao Po planting zone to pick Chinese toon leaves for Sheep Boss.

Sheep Boss had worked hard pedaling the water bicycle this morning—it deserved a gourmet reward.

Before Xia Qing even reached the big Chinese toon tree, she saw a streak of red light dash past—it was the little thief red squirrel that stole tobacco and green dates. Even with Xia Qing's Level Nine visually evolved eyes, she couldn't tell whether the red squirrel had anything hidden in its arms or mouth.