Chapter 310: Eliminating Hidden Dangers

When the inspection team reached the northern buffer belt, Xia Qing stepped out of her territory and handed Tan Junjie a folded note. The note contained a single sentence: At 12:20, Qian Lin of the Sufeng Squad passed through the northern buffer belt of Territory No. 3 from west to east.

Tan Junjie pocketed the note without asking further questions and continued the patrol.

Team member Hu Zi stopped and consulted Xia Qing, "Sister Qing, can I buy two pumpkins? I want to make the dried pumpkin that Territory No. 5 mentioned."

Compared to other crops, pumpkins had a remarkably pleasing yield. After the third Harmful Rain, although Xia Qing was left with only seven yellow-light pumpkin plants and five green-light pumpkin plants, each plant could bear around ten pumpkins—the large ones over twenty jin, the small ones at least five or six jin.

Most of the mature pumpkins had been stored by Xia Qing in the vegetable storage room, while a small portion of the yellow-light pumpkins had been sold to Zhong Tao or the Beard Feng squad. Since Hu Zi wanted to buy, Xia Qing certainly wouldn't refuse. She immediately went back to the vegetable greenhouse south of the reservoir, picked two large pumpkins, and handed them to Hu Zi.

Hu Zi took the pumpkins and asked casually, "Sister Qing is going to fence in your territory?"

Xia Qing had mentioned building an enclosure wall in the lord channel, which had sparked an enthusiastic discussion among everyone—it wasn't exactly a secret. "I earned some points selling fish. I'm planning to hire people to cut trees after the autumn harvest and build a wattle fence."

Hu Zi didn't dare stare at Xia Qing's pale face and turned to look at the trees around them. "Fencing it in would be much safer, and it would keep your sheep from running out. But your territory is so big—cutting only the trees inside the buffer forest won't be enough, right?"

The perimeter of Territory No. 3 was roughly nine thousand meters, so Xia Qing certainly couldn't cut the buffer forest bare just to build a wattle fence. "I plan to use thorny trees and shrubs as much as possible. I'll use all the ones inside the territory, and selectively cut some from the nearby evolved forest."

"Mountain No. 51 has quite a few Harmful-evolved thorny shrubs. When you have time, Sister Qing, I can take you over to have a look." Hu Zi, afraid Xia Qing would refuse, added, "I haven't taken any of my leave this year. After the autumn harvest, I'll have time."

Last time he had wanted to invite Xia Qing to go gather green-light pine nuts, but an emergency transfer order had prevented the trip. So Hu Zi seized this chance to spend more time with Xia Qing.

Xia Qing had long seen through Hu Zi's intentions and certainly wouldn't go alone with him. "You're talking about that patch of trees on the slope of Mountain No. 51 on the side near the territory, right? I've been to look. They really are usable. After the autumn harvest I'll start cutting. If you have time then, come help with Brother Qi, Shi Du, and Guan Tong. No meals provided, fifteen points a day."

"Alright, just give me a shout when the time comes, Sister Qing." Hu Zi's heart rose and fell with Xia Qing's words. He hugged the two large pumpkins and went after his squad leader.

After Hu Zi left, Xia Qing picked a mature green-light pumpkin from the terraced fields and took it home. She decided to have pumpkin-braised noodles for lunch that day, and to slice and sun-dry the remaining pumpkin according to the method Yuan Yan had described, then steam it to make dried pumpkin.

When Xia Qing got home, the sick wolf, who had been sprawled under the eaves soaking up the sun, raised its head and wagged its tail to show its joy. This behavior was getting more and more dog-like.

The little swallows perched on the eaves, who hadn't yet begun their migration, chirped noisily—perhaps debating whether the creature sprawled below was a wolf or a dog.

"I'm back. Feeling any better, Lao Er?" Xia Qing greeted it and held up the large pumpkin for the sick wolf to see. "Look, this is a pumpkin. I'm having pumpkin noodles for lunch today, and you'll have noodle-soup-boiled pumpkin with dried meat. How does that sound?"

The sick wolf stood up, stretched, walked over to sniff the pumpkin in Xia Qing's hand, and stuck out its tongue, panting. Xia Qing rubbed its head, went to the chicken coop and found two eggs. She decided to add a poached egg to lunch and have Beard Feng take the other one back to Territory No. 1 for Luo Pei's health.

Now she could collect two eggs a day. The eggs for trading with Territory No. 9 for green-light soybeans would be saved up in five days. The eggs for trading with Tang Huai for the oil press weren't urgent, because the corn and sunflower seeds hadn't been harvested yet, and there'd be no way to press oil even if she got it now.

Xia Qing had already obtained one oil press today. One was more than enough, so she planned to sell the one Tang Huai had sold her to her ally—Territory No. 5.

In the afternoon, after picking the cotton that had already burst open in the cotton shed, Xia Qing carried her sack to the Harmful-evolved cotton patch. Tang Huai had told her to be careful. Xia Qing felt he must have noticed or sensed something, so she decided to do a thorough check of the hidden dangers within her territory.

The Harmful-evolved cotton, which could release flammable gases, was the first hazardous area to deal with.

Xia Qing first picked the already-opened black cotton and packed it into a sack, sucked out the air, and sealed it for storage. Then she would sell the cotton when Zhong Tao came by.

The cotton produced by Harmful-evolved cotton plants could only be sold for four points per jin—one fifteenth the price of pure white cotton. This price really killed any motivation, and on top of that, the cotton's blooming carried a fire hazard. Xia Qing decided that next year she would simply sun-dry the Harmful-evolved cotton plants and burn them as firewood.

After finishing the cotton picking, Xia Qing contacted Territory No. 4 through the walkie-talkie. "Brother Zhao, you there?"

It was Zhao's mother who answered Xia Qing. "Xia Qing, Zhao Ze is working in the fields. If you need anything in the future, just tell me."

Xia Qing asked, "Auntie, are you free now?"

Zhao's mother answered immediately, "Yes. Shall I wait for you by the river?"

"Alright." Xia Qing agreed.

From the meeting place Zhao's mother had chosen, it was clear she had far better observation skills than her son—she understood that talking with Xia Qing required staying away from Territory No. 2. Meeting by the river not only kept them away from Territory No. 2, but the sound of the water could also cover their conversation.

Zhao's mother was not only more observant than Zhao Ze, she was also more efficient. When Xia Qing crossed through the wild grass wall and reached the agreed spot, she found Zhao's mother already standing by the water waiting for her.

Zhao's mother wasn't wearing her protective mask, and the scar left on her left cheek from being bitten by a poisonous insect was very visible beneath her short hair. Xia Qing also took off her protective mask and hung it at her waist, then hurried forward to greet her. "Aunt Zhao."

Seeing Xia Qing's face, Zhao's mother was pleasantly surprised. "Qing, you look much better. Has the poison been cured?"

Xia Qing nodded. "I traded with Third Brother for an antidote, and it's working pretty well. Auntie, you could ask Third Brother about it too—there should be a way to deal with that scar on your face."

"Once I've harvested the crops and have some points, I'll go ask." Zhao's mother bent down, took a sealed, compressed bag of dried wild vegetables from the basket beside her, and handed it to Xia Qing. "This is green-light horse-ear vegetable. It should keep for a few months. When you eat it, soak it in water, chop it up, and use it as filling for meat buns."

Sun-dried green-light wild vegetables were quite expensive. Xia Qing was about to refuse when Zhao's mother pushed the vegetables into her hands. "The other day we benefited from you and caught quite a few fish. This is just a small token of thanks—it's all home-dried. Please don't refuse. I've only got one hand, I can't push back against you."

When Zhao's mother was attacked by the poisonous insect, she not only ended up with a scarred face but also lost her left arm.