Chapter 319: Harvesting Corn

Xia Qing squatted beside the cave and, after carefully observing the two colorless, odorless, transparent oddball Qiangwu Grass plants, decided to move them fifteen centimeters outward, putting them a bit farther from the spring.

Because these two Qiangwu Grass plants originally grew deep in the Evolution Forest north of Bai Qi's base. That place was dry and cold; comparatively, Hui Three Base was humid and warm.

If they were transplanted to her territory while keeping their original distance from the spring, they would very likely be unable to withstand the moisture and dissolve into water and rot.

Although she hadn't paid for them and wouldn't have to compensate anyone if they died, losing one plant meant losing a million—equivalent to an area larger than Mountain Forty-Nine. Just thinking about it made Xia Qing's heart ache.

Even setting aside selling them, who could guarantee she wouldn't in the future be caught in a scheme to synthesize Qiang poison, or lose control and go berserk from rising Qiang element levels in her body? Qiangwu Grass could save her life at a critical moment.

Therefore, she had to serve these two Qiangwu Grass plants like ancestors.

Xia Qing picked up the native soil Yang Jin had brought back in the stone pit and found that its moisture had increased compared to when it was poured out of the bag yesterday.

That wouldn't do—too much moisture would rot the roots. She had to increase the soil's breathability.

Fortunately, she'd considered drainage and breathability when planting. The stone pit she'd chosen had two cracks beneath it; otherwise, she might now have to move the entire Qiangwu Grass out and drill a few holes in the stone pit.

With leaking stone cracks and the soil moisture still rising, it showed the soil's drainage and breathability were insufficient. She needed to mix in granular crushed stone to improve the soil's drainage and breathability.

Which kind of crushed stone granules should she use?

After carefully observing the crushed stone granules in the soil, Xia Qing made her decision: use the crushed stone left over from making the Use Yishi protective shell, sifted from the soil near the Use Yishi.

Because this kind of crushed stone gave Xia Qing a feeling very similar to the crushed stone granules in the Strong Martial Grass.

No sooner said than done.

Xia Qing immediately went home to fetch the crushed stone, carefully moved the two little ancestors out first, then mixed the crushed stone into the soil, shifted the two little ancestors' growing position outward by fifteen centimeters, and blocked up the cave entrance.

To allow ventilation for the Strong Martial Grass, Xia Qing didn't seal the cave entrance completely, leaving a crack. The spring water would attract small animals; to prevent them from breaking through the insect net and sneaking in to drink, ruining the Strong Martial Grass, Xia Qing sprayed another round of insecticide and fungicide around Stone Cave.

Everything she could do, she had done. Whether these two little ancestors lived or died was up to their own fate.

After breaking off Chinese toon leaves for Sheep Boss, Xia Qing went home to make breakfast and fill her stomach, then headed straight for the corn shed.

Of the two jin of corn seeds Luo Pei had given her, Xia Qing had planted them in late June. A total of 1900 corn sprouts had come up, a germination rate of sixty-three percent. After losses from Qiang rain and other causes, 1415 remained now; the attrition rate after germination was as high as one quarter.

In comprehensive calculation, of the three thousand corn seeds planted early, only 47% of the seeds survived to harvest. The corn seeds exchanged from the Safe Zone next door, because the seed quality was already not high, only had 32% of seeds germinate and grow smoothly to harvest.

This was the current state of crop cultivation on Blue Star after the Great Evolution.

Because she had pollution-free spring water and had used Zhang San's soil insecticide ahead of time, Xia Qing's corn harvest rate was the highest in this territory.

Of course, as Xia Qing's planting experience improved, as long as no catastrophic natural disaster struck, next year's corn would definitely grow better than this year's. She was firmly convinced of this.

The corn plants planted in late June had yellowed and withered leaves at the bottom and husks wrapping the corn, indicating the corn was mature and ready for harvest.

To make plowing the soil easier, Xia Qing decided to dig out the corn roots together with the corn plants.

The farm tool needed for this kind of work was a type of hoe. This hoe's blade was only 10 centimeters wide but 20 centimeters long; its blade was thick, the edge very sharp, and the blade met the half-meter-long wooden handle at a right angle. It was a small farm tool.

Qi Fu called this kind of hoe a small pick. Using a small pick to dig out corn required bending the waist and exerting force, but the work efficiency was much higher than using an iron shovel.

Xia Qing, a strength evolver, was never short on strength. She swung the small pick, advancing at a harvesting speed of one plant per second, and in 40 minutes had knocked down all thousand-plus corn plants.

Looking back at the two neat rows of felled corn stalks, Xia Qing wiped the sweat from her face, raised the small pick, and shouted, "Boss, Wolf Lao Er, look! This is the empire I've conquered for you!"

Sheep Boss, who was gnawing on tender grass inside the cornfield, didn't even lift her head. The sick wolf, playing at catching grasshoppers outside the shed, was very obliging, sticking out its tongue at Xia Qing. Hahaha.

On a rock by the shed, the red squirrel shook its fluffy big tail, waiting to freeload.

Xia Qing took a few gulps of sweet spring water, wiped the sweat beads from her face, and began husking the forty corn plants she had separately picked out and thrown on the field ridge.

Very unfortunately, among the more than two thousand corn plants from early and late plantings combined, not a single green-light one had appeared. So Xia Qing only picked out the yellow-light corn with relatively low Qiang element content, large cobs, and full seeds, to save seed for next year's next crop of corn.

Xia Qing tore open the husk of the corn cob, stripped and broke off the corn, and put it into her bag. The corn stalks were green, the corn husks were withered yellow, but the stripped corn was white.

The corn planted early had white kernels; the late-planted patch grew yellow kernels. Xia Qing currently didn't know what the difference between these two types of kernels was, so she planned to save seeds of both and plant both again next year.

The chore of husking corn piqued the interest of Sheep Boss and the sick wolf. The husked cobs with their rows of kernels nearly made the red squirrel wag its tail off, leaping around outside the shed, hoping Xia Qing would quickly share a cob with it.

One whole cob was impossible, but a few kernels would do. However, the corn just husked hadn't dropped its kernels yet, so the freeloaders had to perform a while longer.

The sick wolf came over to sniff the corn Xia Qing had husked, lost interest, and went back to eating corn leaves. The sick wolf imitated Xia Qing's movements, using teeth and claws together, and finally husked out a corn cob, then expressed its joy to Xia Qing with "Aowu," "Aowu."

"Wolf Lao Er, so smart, so amazing!" Xia Qing broke off the corn the sick wolf had husked, put it in her bag, and scratched its chin.

The sick wolf was delighted, wagged its tail, picked another corn cob, and began husking with teeth and claws together.

Sheep Boss, holding a leaf in her mouth, walked to the nearest corn cob and, imitating the sick wolf's movements, stepped on it with her hoof. The result was…

The corn got stomped into the dirt.

Sheep Boss stole a glance at Xia Qing, then used her hoof to dig the corn back out and hold it down, gripped the husk with her mouth and pulled. The corn actually broke into two pieces.

Sheep Boss stared at the half cob that had fallen off, growing more and more annoyed, raised her head, and called for her companion, "Baa!"

"Boss, what's wrong?" Xia Qing heard the call, stood up and walked to Sheep Boss's side, looked at the half cob she had husked, and was speechless.

Damn it—on a corn cob over twenty centimeters long, there were actually only two lousy kernels, and they were flat and shriveled, looking like warts on a person's body, making one want to dig them off immediately!

I worked my ass off growing you for over a hundred days, and you damn thing only grew two kernels. Who are you answering to?

"Boss, that's not your fault—this corn plant is the one being unreasonable." Xia Qing husked out the half cob still growing on the corn plant to take a look.

Damn it—this half was even more outrageous; it only grew one kernel.