Chapter 344: The First Lords' Meeting

After digging cellars and various other food storage methods were proven ineffective, the lords had to face a discouraging reality: there was no way to store vegetables on their territories unless they were all dried.

Originally, grains with hard shells like wheat, mung beans, and corn could be sealed and kept within the territory for three or four months. But now that invaders had been plundering grain and killing people, no lord dared leave food in a territory without sturdy walls.

If invaders broke through the inspection team's defense and stormed into the territory, an ordinary lord would have no way out. So what if the invaders were severely punished afterward? The lord would already be dead.

So now it seemed the safest approach was to trade all the food out, or store it in a safe zone.

Seeing Xia Qing agree, Qi Fu breathed a huge sigh of relief. "How about two o'clock tomorrow afternoon at my place? It's only a few steps for everyone to come over. If the talk goes well, our five territories can form an alliance — more people, easier to get things done."

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The principle of the insulated container is the same as a thermos for hot water, except its capacity is twenty times that of a thermos. This insulated container was traded by Xia Qing from Territory Seven, and is used specifically to hold food that won't fit in the refrigerator but needs to be kept frozen.

Xia Qing tested it: as long as the insulated box doesn't break, and the ice packs inside are replaced once a day, the meat won't spoil for half a month.

Xia Qing used a knife to peel the tough snake skin off in one piece, then collected the snake gallbladder that the wolves wouldn't eat, put the other organs in one basin, chopped the snake meat into several pieces and put them in another basin, and set them before the lead wolf.

So when the lords gathered at Territory Five at two o'clock that afternoon, Xia Qing was the least anxious of the five. She just had a habit of keeping a straight face, so others couldn't read her mental state from her expression.

With the chaos outside now, the more people left in this patch of territory, the higher the safety factor. As for Territories One, Two, Eight, Seven, and Nine — they weren't on the same level as their five territories, so they couldn't be brought into the discussion.

"Your Majesty, pick whatever you like to eat."

Xia Qing, afraid the broken-backed wolf wouldn't understand, brought it inside and let her watch as she stored the snake meat. "Meat stored this way won't go bad, so you don't need to bring food over anymore."

The broken-legged wolf's sister still glared fiercely and warily at Xia Qing, but with the lead wolf and the sick wolf above her, it didn't matter whether she understood or not — she couldn't cause any trouble anyway.

"Understood. Thank you, Captain Tan."

The lead wolf is the boss; only after it eats its fill can the broken-legged sister eat. The sick wolf eats cooked food and won't touch raw meat.

She traded for two insulated containers; one can hold forty jin of meat, so two hold eighty jin. After filling the freezer compartment and the insulated containers, the remaining meat was first sealed, then frozen, then packed into foam insulated boxes and placed in the vegetable storage room.

But after spending enough time together, these evolved animals could understand human gestures, emotions, and simple speech. So after Xia Qing communicated the current situation to them with gestures and words, and confirmed they understood, she went back inside to sleep.

Meat that can't fit in the refrigerator can be cut into small pieces, frozen solid in the refrigerator, then taken out and packed into insulated containers together with the ice, and finally placed in the underground vegetable storage room.

Two o'clock in the afternoon is the hottest part of the day, unsuitable for farm work — perfect for holding a discussion.

The broken-backed wolf stared at the refrigerator, lost in thought.

After Xia Qing agreed, she went outside to check on the three wolves. After the lead wolf arrived, both Old Sheep and the sick wolf slept with it in the sheep pen, leaving the tatami in the living room empty.

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Xia Qing agreed. "I've been thinking about this too — we had the same idea. Where should we meet tomorrow?"

So now, Xia Qing's two underground food storage rooms can not only preserve grain and vegetables, but also fresh meat, giving her a tremendous sense of security.

After surviving a heart-pounding day, Xia Qing put away the corn, went inside, and fell asleep the moment she hit the bed.

At five the next morning, before the rooster even crowed, the food-delivering wolves arrived. The broken-backed wolf and a black wolf appeared on the monitor, carrying a python in their mouths.

Xia Qing's eyes immediately lit up.

Given how clever the broken-backed wolf was, the python it brought was at least a Yellow Alert. A python weighing over three hundred jin was enough to feed the three wolves on the territory for ten days, and she could eat a few meals from it too.

After the two injured wolves had eaten their fill, Xia Qing asked, "Broken-back, shall I put this snake meat away? Stored in the basement, it's enough for the three of them to eat for ten days. You don't need to bring food for the next few days — it's dangerous out there now."

No matter how clever evolved animals are, they can't fully understand human language — just as Xia Qing couldn't understand exactly what the wolves' howls and the sheep's bleats meant.

Hearing Qi Fu's words, Xia Qing knew exactly what he was calculating.

In these rapidly changing years of natural disaster, food and water are life. Lord Xia Qing, who could store food and had a clean water source, had a far greater ability to withstand risks than an ordinary lord.

"I think so too." Qi Fu replied, seemingly not wanting to discuss this in detail, then turned to ask Tan Junjie, "Captain Tan, can we move between the territories tomorrow? I need to use the corn sheller at Territory Six, and I also need to borrow a big iron hammer for repairing farm tools from Territory Ten."

Tan Junjie responded, "You can, but don't linger outside too long. Don't cross the isolation belt of this patch of territory into the Evolution Forest."

Of course three hundred jin of meat couldn't all be stuffed into the freezer compartment, but Xia Qing had long since figured out a way to solve the problem of storing large quantities of fresh meat.

Coming out and seeing the four pairs of eyes gleaming in the dark sheep pen, Xia Qing felt very reassured. With these wolves and sheep keeping watch, she could get a good night's sleep tonight.

The lead wolf fixed its somewhat recovered gilded eyes on Xia Qing, as if trying to understand the meaning of her words.

Sure enough, Qi Fu's call came in quickly. "Sis, I'm thinking of getting Zhao Yi, Old Kuang, and Brother Shi together tomorrow — the five of us should sit down and figure out how to store grain these next few days and how to get through this winter. What do you think?"

After checking the lead wolf's condition and telling it not to wander off, Xia Qing checked the sick wolf's leg, then put night-vision goggles on Old Sheep. "I'm going to catch up on sleep tonight. Your Majesty and Broken-leg Sister need to rest well too. Boss, Wolf Lao Er, I'm leaving the territory's night to you two. If anything happens, come upstairs and wake me — and whatever you do, don't howl."

Qi Fu and his wife had made thorough preparations for this meeting, with hot water and food on the table. To Xia Qing's pleasant surprise, there were actually hot popcorn and roasted sunflower seeds on the table.

Qi Fu invited everyone to sit. "Nothing fancy — all made from grain we grew ourselves."

Kuang Qingwei ate two pieces of popcorn, his eyes lighting up. "Brother Qi, this really is popcorn made from our own corn?"