Chapter 356: Settling Accounts

Territory Three, a small hut beside the farmland. Territory Three's lord, Xia Qing, sat across the table from Yang Jin, captain of the Azure Dragon Combat Team, with two account books laid out between them.

One account book recorded the supplies the Azure Dragon Combat Team had taken from Territory Three through barter, broken down into four main categories.

First, the amount of uncontaminated spring water the Azure Dragon Combat Team had drawn from Territory Three from July onward, after Luo Pei completed the first stage of his detox. Spring water used before July was not counted, because that portion had been bartered by Yang Jin in exchange for weapons, saplings, protective suits, farm machinery, a one-year bodyguard contract, and instruction in marksmanship.

Second, the quantity and points value of the premium nutrient solution and Green Lantern vegetables drawn from Territory Three between late August and October 15, when Luo Pei's condition worsened.

The remaining two items were the migratory birds Xia Qing had shot and sold to the Azure Dragon Combat Team during migration season, and the two pangolins a wolf pack had carried into Territory Three.

In total, the Azure Dragon Combat Team owed Xia Qing 42.4 points.

The other account book recorded the supplies Xia Qing had obtained from the Azure Dragon Combat Team, including engine oil, diesel, generators, howitzers, bullets, grenades, the tracker on the red squirrel, the labor and reagents used to mask the wolf pack's scent as they passed Mountain 49, and the fees for the Territory One medic's surgery and medicine on the wolves…

There was also an old debt: the 800,000 points Xia Qing owed the Azure Dragon Combat Team for purchasing Mountain 49.

Adding the old and new accounts together, Xia Qing owed the Azure Dragon Combat Team 1,037.6 points.

After reconciling the accounts with Xia Qing, Yang Jin kept calculating. "Per our last exchange agreement, you've already agreed to offset 42.4 points with 2,600 spinach seeds, so you still owe the Azure Dragon Combat Team 995.8 points."

Owing the Azure Dragon Combat Team, not owing him personally—Captain Yang made that very clear, though as far as Xia Qing was concerned, there was no difference at all.

After half a year of scrambling, the lord of Territory Three still owed the Azure Dragon Combat Team over 370,000 points, and at this moment she was sorely tempted to slap the long bill across Yang Jin's grinning face.

What do you find so amusing? You want me to pay up right this second?

Dream on! I rushed to invite you here and served you top-grade chrysanthemum tea not to settle accounts and pay up, but to keep doing business with you.

Xia Qing took a sip of chrysanthemum tea and led with her good faith. "Besides what's on the bill, you missed one item: the two leaves of Thousand Gu grass cut off to save the alpha wolf from Thousand Gu snake venom. The detox uses the sap in the leaves, right?"

Yang Jin, who hadn't planned to tally the Thousand Gu grass usage with Xia Qing, could only nod when she brought it up herself. "Correct."

"I counted carefully. That Thousand Gu grass plant had 20 leaves in total. At 1,000,000 points per plant, two leaves are worth 100,000 points. We agreed on a fifty-fifty split, so I should pay you 50,000. So in total I owe the Azure Dragon Combat Team…"

Xia Qing stared at the figure Yang Jin wrote on the paper, then added another 50,000 on top. "1,045.7 points. But I don't have that many points on hand right now. You saw the growth of the high-Yi-element Green Lantern spinach in the terraced fields on your way in. Barring accidents, I can harvest spinach seeds within half a month. Can I settle the account with spinach seeds?"

High-Yi-element spinach is the main raw material for making premium nutrient solution, and its seeds are a high-value commodity in short supply. Yang Jin naturally agreed. "Fine. Just give me 4,271 spinach seeds."

Over 420,000 points in debt, lop off a 0.7 fraction, and still put on a show of being generous—truly nothing less than a steel rooster.

But precisely because Yang Jin kept the accounts so clearly, Xia Qing felt reassured, because it meant her dealings with the Azure Dragon Combat Team were fair trade.

The Azure Dragon Combat Team was a very, very ideal trading partner.

Xia Qing's expression relaxed. "Thanks, Captain Yang. Adding the previous 2,600 spinach seeds, once this batch of spinach seeds matures, I'll pay you a total of 6,871 spinach seeds."

After settling the old accounts, Xia Qing moved on to new business. "Captain Yang, do you remember the chestnuts I mentioned when I called you before?"

Seeing Xia Qing's dead-serious look, Yang Jin put on his own business-negotiation face. "The batch you want to propagate and sell as saplings? Territory One has already set aside a greenhouse for seedling raising. You said last time you had over six hundred jin of chestnuts?"

Because she had already traded a portion to Zhang San, the chestnuts Xia Qing had on hand were not as many as she had reported at the lords' meeting. Moreover, she had changed her mind and no longer intended to hand all six hundred-plus jin to Yang Jin for tree propagation and sale.

The refugees were coming soon, and the unsafe factors across this stretch of territory had multiplied. Unless absolutely necessary, Xia Qing would no longer trade food for supplies. Only by holding large quantities of food could she feel at ease.

"The total is that much, but only 25 jin are Green Lantern chestnuts. I think it's better to use the Green Lantern chestnuts for propagating saplings, because Green Lantern seeds are more stable and the saplings they produce fetch a higher price." Xia Qing explained her plan first before getting down to discussing cooperation with Yang Jin.

"I counted. There are 750 Green Lantern chestnuts with intact shells and no cracks. At a 50% germination rate, that gives 375 Green Lantern chestnut seedlings. Even if only 300 survive to a sellable stage, at 1,000 points each, that's 300,000 points. I supply the seeds, you provide the labor for cultivation and sales, and we split the proceeds four-six—me four, you six. I'll buy back 20 of the saplings at the public sale price. What do you say?"

Yang Jin wanted a fifty-fifty split with her.

But proactively yielding profit didn't fit the penny-pinching steel-rooster image he had built for himself, and would make Xia Qing suspect he had ulterior motives. So Yang Jin didn't answer yes or no directly. "I need to send Hu Zifeng to the chestnut grove to take samples first, clarify the growing environment and soil conditions, determine whether artificial cultivation is feasible and what it would cost, and confirm whether the Green Lantern chestnuts can germinate."

As expected of the captain of the second-largest combat team at Hui Three Base, he thought things through thoroughly. Xia Qing, who hadn't considered this point, nodded immediately. "Of course. If the cultivation cost is high, I can lower my share further."

After reaching a preliminary cooperation agreement, Xia Qing revealed the reason she had called Yang Jin over yesterday. "Captain Yang, I urgently need points right now. If you have the funds, could you prepay the spring water points for the four months from this November through next February?"

Yang Jin confirmed the transaction amount directly with her. "We agreed on 300 liters of spring water per month, at 144 points per liter. You want me to prepay the points now?"

Still owing him over 6,000 spinach seeds—goods worth more than 600,000 points yet to be delivered—Xia Qing nodded, bracing herself. "If you can pay today, I can give you a discount on these 1,200 liters of spring water."

She needed that many points, probably because the refugee resettlement policy and Territory Two's practices had made her uneasy, and she was eager to improve her territory's security.

She was still accumulating points, which meant she already had a trading partner. Was it Zhang San, or Xin Yu?

Yang Jin laid out his condition. "No discount on the spring water. I want to take some of the spinach seeds I can sow right now today. How many can you produce?"