Chapter 1958: Bypassing the Middlemen to Deal Directly with the Buyer

Xia Qing, who was washing dishes, turned around and cheerfully greeted this clever-looking, very good-humored wolf. "Broken-Waist, you're here. Have you eaten? Want some green-light noodles? On the house, my treat."

As a carnivore, the only human food Broken-Waist Wolf liked was noodles, so Xia Qing had rolled out extra noodles tonight and saved a portion for it.

Not only Broken-Waist Wolf, but Boss Sheep, the three monkeys, and Melon-Skin Piglet all got to eat delicious noodles tonight too.

Broken-Waist Wolf, who loved noodles, immediately bared four little fang tips upon hearing they were free.

"Eat up, these have Gao Yi element spinach in them, and they've already cooled down." Xia Qing poured the cooled noodles and the noodle-cooking broth together into a food bowl, set it in front of it, then took the two bamboo rats it had been carrying on its back.

The fat, big one belonged to Her Majesty the Queen; Broken-Waist Wolf would take it back after roasting. The smaller, two sizes thinner one was a gift and processing fee Broken-Waist Wolf had brought for Xia Qing.

When it came to matters involving Her Majesty the Queen, Broken-Waist was absolutely a very particular and very generous wolf.

Both of these were green-light farmed rats that Broken-Waist Wolf had brought over from Bamboo Rat Farm No. 49.

After partnering with the Azure Dragon Squad to raise bamboo rats, the Northern Wolf Pack hadn't earned a single point. Because the bamboo rats belonging to them had all been eaten by wolf pack members.

If it weren't for the shrewd Yang Jin separately marking the farming zones belonging to the Azure Dragon Squad, every bamboo rat in the farm would have ended up in the bellies of the evolved wolves.

These two bamboo rats were very fresh, with no wounds on their bodies. Xia Qing asked, "Broken-Waist, did you feed them leaves of the evolved Hu Jiao?"

Broken-Waist Wolf, with noodle soup clinging to the fur around its mouth, grinned at Xia Qing.

"Good job!" Xia Qing went into the kitchen and began processing the bamboo rats.

The evolved Hu Jiao that Broken-Waist Wolf had fed the bamboo rats was an evolved green-light vine plant it had accidentally discovered while patrolling the Northern Wolf Pack's territory before the first Devastation Rain, checking for places that might breed high-grade evolved mold.

When the vines of this green-light plant were broken, they released a pungent fragrance that attracted insects and small animals. After these small animals ate the sap, they would be anesthetized and become nutrients for the vine.

Broken-Waist Wolf collected samples, tested and confirmed the plant's species, and after confirming it was a plant with medicinal value, designated that warm, humid valley as a planting zone for the Northern Wolf Pack.

This was Broken-Waist Wolf's second attempt at planting, after its failure to cultivate evolved Bai Mao grass. Because the evolved plants in the planting zone were native species, Broken-Waist Wolf had only cleared the weeds in the surrounding area and fertilized the plants—feeding them some bugs—so its planting project was progressing smoothly.

After silently eating the green-light soup noodles, Broken-Waist Wolf carried the food bowl back to the kitchen and handed it to Xia Qing, who was processing the bamboo rats, then raised a paw to paw at her phone on the shelf.

Xia Qing glanced at it. "What do you want the phone for?"

Broken-Waist Wolf raised its left front paw and tapped its own clever big head.

"You want to use my phone to contact Third Brother?"

Broken-Waist Wolf grinned, revealing its little fang tips.

Xia Qing, who had only been called over by her idol yesterday to get scolded because of Fourth, asked uneasily, "What do you want with Third Brother?"

Broken-Waist Wolf closed its mouth, face solemn.

"Don't want me to know, but still using my phone to contact Third Brother?" Xia Qing chuckled twice, took off her gloves, and directly sent her idol's contact info to this shrewd wolf. "Add Third Brother as a friend and contact him using your own phone."

Broken-Waist Wolf thought for a few seconds, went back to the living room, dug its phone out of its wolf-belly bag, and sent a friend request to Zhang San.

A few seconds later, the request was approved.

Broken-Waist Wolf first sent Zhang San a test report for the evolved Hu Jiao, then dialed his video call.

Seeing only a fluffy, high-brain-domain evolved wolf on the screen, Zhang San asked kindly, "Little Duan is at Xia Qing's place?"

Broken-Waist Wolf nodded solemnly.

"Xia Qing isn't home?"

Broken-Waist Wolf pressed its mouth shut.

Zhang San understood. "Xia Qing is home, but it's you who wants to talk to me, so you got my contact info from Xia Qing and added me as a friend. Little Duan called me to show me this evolved Hu Jiao test report?"

Broken-Waist Wolf nodded its fluffy big head once.

Xia Qing...

She knew what Yang Jin's non-blood-related sworn brother was about to do!

Zhang San's expression grew even kinder. "Xia Qing already showed me this test report. What does Little Duan want to ask?"

Broken-Waist Wolf glanced toward the kitchen, thought for a few seconds, then raised a paw and typed three characters and one punctuation mark: Sell herbs.

Sell the evolved Hu Jiao to him? Zhang San smiled, expression kind, voice gentle. "Sure. After Little Duan harvests the herbs, hand them to Xia Qing and have her deliver them to me."

Broken-Waist Wolf pressed its mouth shut.

Xia Qing in the kitchen: Hah.

This clever evolved wolf pressing its mouth shut meant it didn't want to hand the herbs to Xia Qing, but wanted to deliver them directly to him.

Zhang San, kind enough to crumble, said, "Little Duan wants to deal with me directly? Of course. Pick a time and place, send me a location, and I'll come pick it up. How many points do you plan to sell it for?"

Broken-Waist Wolf's eyes lit up, and it held out a big paw.

Zhang San had seen Broken-Waist Wolf make this gesture many times in video meetings and already understood what it meant. "50 points per jin?"

Broken-Waist Wolf, mouth pressed shut, kept a solemn face.

"500 points per jin?"

Broken-Waist Wolf, mouth still pressed shut, still kept a solemn face.

"5,000 points per jin?"

Broken-Waist Wolf pulled its paw back and solemnly nodded its fluffy big head once.

Zhang San asked with great interest, "What's the basis for Little Duan pricing it at 5,000 points?"

Broken-Waist Wolf kept a solemn face without moving a muscle, while Xia Qing, who was processing bamboo rats in the kitchen, was nearly doubled over laughing.

Zhang San patiently explained the market conditions for this herb to it. "It is indeed a non-toxic medicinal plant with no obvious side effects that can be used to extract anesthetic compounds, but it's not rare. Guicheng has two bases growing similar Hu Jiao, and the market price for fresh roots is 80 points per jin. The active ingredient content in the Hu Jiao discovered in your territory is slightly higher, so pricing it at 120 points per jin would be more appropriate. And also..."

Although Zhang San didn't want to discourage an evolved wolf that had proactively added him as a friend and come to sell him herbs, he still told it truthfully that Territory Seven wasn't short on anesthetics. "And also, I have evolved ants here with even better anesthetic effects. The special-effect anesthetic your and Xia Qing's clinic purchases from me is formulated using extracts from these evolved ants as the main ingredient."

Xia Qing in the kitchen grinned soundlessly. The evolved ants in Territory Seven were ones she had led a team to find under the green-light Chinese Torreya trees in Zone 3 of Mountain No. 49 the year before last!

After ending the call with its big nose, Broken-Waist Wolf deleted Zhang San's contact info, drooped its head, walked into the kitchen, sat down in front of Xia Qing, and the whole wolf radiated unhappiness.

This brain-domain evolved wolf, which had wanted to bypass the middlemen and deal directly with the buyer to sell its herbs, had taken a hit.

Xia Qing pushed the bowl of green-light bamboo rat offal in front of Broken-Waist Wolf, added five washed spinach leaves, and said gently, "Eat up. After you finish, I'll tell you where to look up the market price of herbs. Next time you want to sell herbs to Third Brother, you'll know how many points to quote."