Chapter 386: Would Young Lady Xia Like to Buy One?

After seeing Daya off, Xia Qing stood by the chicken coop with Sheep Boss and Sick Wolf, looking at the 22 chickens inside. Although 11 of them were being fostered by Zhang San, Xia Qing was still overjoyed.

"Boss, we've got Green Light fertilizer now. Next year we'll sprinkle some on your pasture grass too, so it grows even more lush."

Sheep Boss squinted at the many new chickens in the coop, seemingly inspecting something, with a very serious expression.

"Lao Er, we've got 19 hens now. I'll boil you an egg tonight." Ten chickens in their peak laying period could yield at least six or seven eggs a day, and the nine old hens might occasionally lay one or two more... So many eggs would not only be enough for Xia Qing and Sick Wolf, but the wolf with the broken leg recuperating in the wolf den—its sister—could occasionally have one or two as well, if it behaved.

Xia Qing grinned as she stared at the very conspicuous white-feathered hen. "The eggs Little White lays, I'll eat them. I'm our territory's main fighting force, I need to stay in peak condition at all times."

Sick Wolf grinned, laughing happily.

More chickens meant more grain and vegetables would be consumed.

Xia Qing had just traded 400 jin of Green Light rice with Yang Jin, and this autumn she had also harvested 200 jin of mung beans and 750 jin of corn. To build the enclosure wall, she had asked Kuang Qingwei to help her sell a sack of corn, leaving over 600 jin. This grain was more than enough to feed Xia Qing, Sheep Boss, Sick Wolf Lao Er, and the Green Light chickens.

Now that the weather was turning cold, the tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and pumpkins had stopped bearing fruit and needed to be pulled out. The vegetables still growing in the greenhouse were only Chinese cabbage and sweet potato leaves in any decent quantity; other varieties had only a few or a dozen or so plants each, which needed to be kept for seed.

In July, Xia Qing had planted a total of 250 cabbage seeds, of which 100 Green Light cabbage seeds had been traded with Zhang San, and 150 Yellow Light cabbage seeds had been traded with the Territory Management Department. All the Green Light cabbage seeds were planted in the terraced fields, while half the Yellow Light cabbage seeds were planted in the terraced fields and half in the vegetable greenhouse.

The Yellow Light cabbage seeds Xia Qing had traded for only had two generations of stability. This year's third Devastation Rain was very severe, and of the Yellow Light cabbages planted in the cultivated-land vegetable greenhouse, only 10 were still alive and had successfully formed heads. The terraced fields were tended with unpolluted spring water, so the situation was slightly better, with 35 Green Light and 40 Yellow Light cabbages remaining.

The tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and pumpkins in the vegetable storage room were all Xia Qing's own food; she couldn't bear to use them to feed the chickens.

Therefore, the greenhouse for growing vegetables and raising chickens needed to be built as soon as possible.

After eating and feeding the chickens, Xia Qing picked cotton while considering that she had already finished sowing wheat and rapeseed, and should put building the greenhouse on the agenda.

On the cotton plants, the bolls on the lower fruiting branches cracked and ripened first, then gradually moved upward. Now, the bolls on the top fruiting branches were beginning to mature and crack open, revealing soft, pale yellow cotton.

Xia Qing had already plowed and planted the wheat and rapeseed, so she wasn't in a rush to plow the cotton field. She planned to wait until all the bolls were mature before pulling out the cotton plants, drying them, and bringing them home for firewood.

After picking the cotton in the shed, Xia Qing went to pick the Devastation-Evolved Black Cotton by the abandoned village as well. There was no other farm work for the rest of the afternoon.

Xia Qing had Sheep Boss carry the cotton home, while she shouldered a shovel and wandered around the territory, looking for suitable soil to build the greenhouse's earthen walls.

The lords were all at about the same stage, all considering the matter of building greenhouses.

Zhao Mu asked, "Where is everyone planning to build their greenhouses? Would it be better to build them against the buffer forest? The winter wind is strong, and the buffer forest can block it."

Hearing Zhu Li from Territory Six answered, "Old Kuang is leading people to build the thorn wall. We're also planning to build on the south side of the river, as close to the hillside as possible."

Shi Mu responded, "Our territory doesn't have a hillside, so we're planning to make the greenhouse's earthen walls thicker. Is Xiao Qi there? How thick are you planning to make your earthen walls?"

Qi Fu was probably busy too; the one who came online was Yuan Yan. "Yesterday's broadcast said 80 centimeters would be enough. Our territory doesn't have an enclosure wall for protection, so the winter wind will definitely be stronger than in the Safe Zone, and the temperature will be a few degrees lower. So we're planning to build them one meter thick, with the north-facing mountain wall 3.5 meters high."

"Then we'll build our walls 1.1 meters thick. Put in a bit more effort now, and we'll worry less in winter." After Shi Mu decided, she asked Xia Qing, "Qing, what about you?"

Xia Qing answered, "I'll build it according to the dimensions Sister Qi mentioned."

"Xia Qing's location is the best, with mountains on the west and north sides. The winter wind happens to be from the northeast." After expressing her envy, Hearing Zhu Li added, "When everyone builds their greenhouse walls, are you using pure earth or bricks plus earth?"

This was a professional question. Yuan Yan answered, "We're thinking of laying bricks on the outside and using earth on the inside. That way it's rainproof, and the greenhouse will last a couple more years."

Zhao Mu asked, "Wouldn't the method mentioned in yesterday's broadcast work—covering the earthen walls with greenhouse plastic film or rainproof cloth?"

Yuan Yan wasn't sure either. "I suppose that would work too. I was just thinking that using the broken bricks dug out from the ruins would save us some plastic film and rainproof cloth."

Shi Mu answered, "You're right. Every little bit saved helps. I have two pieces of rainproof cloth here that were damaged by Devastation-Evolved potato vines and sunflower seeds. They'd come in handy."

"That's pretty good too. Rainproof cloth is definitely warmer than a brick wall." Yuan Yan answered.

Planting expert Li Si came online. "Plastic film and rainproof cloth aren't breathable. Earthen walls covered with them need to be regularly sterilized, otherwise they'll breed large amounts of bacteria and harmful insects."

Hearing that Li Si had come online, everyone was stunned for a few seconds.

Evolved bacteria, though too small to be seen by the naked eye, were even more terrifying creatures than large evolved beasts, impossible to guard against. Zhao Mu hurriedly asked, "Sister Si, in your opinion, given the conditions here, how often should we sterilize?"

Li Si answered very rigorously, "There's no fixed value. It depends on the environmental conditions inside the greenhouse and the test results, considered comprehensively."

This was a very Li Si-style answer. Zhao Mu didn't understand it, so she simply switched to building a brick wall.

Xia Qing began counting silently: 1, 2, 3...

Assistant Xiao Liu from Territory Nine immediately came online. "My lords, growing vegetables and grain in a greenhouse is very different from open-field cultivation techniques. Our territory has an exclusive patented technology, the 'Greenhouse Plant Cultivation Guide.' As long as you follow the requirements in the guide, you can definitely significantly increase your yield. Each guide costs only 600 points."

Here it comes! Xia Qing snapped her fingers and continued digging the pit with her shovel, looking for clay.

Seeing that the others stayed silent, Hearing Zhu Li began to plead poverty. "Assistant Liu, it's not that we don't want to buy. We just harvested grain, sure, but we need to buy compost bacterial powder, build a thorn wall, and build a greenhouse. We really don't have enough points."

Assistant Xiao Liu responded politely, "Ms. Zhu, I'll report what you've said to the lord. If there's a price reduction, I'll come online to let you know. Ms. Xia, would you like to buy one?"

Xia Qing frowned. Had Territory Nine not heard that she was so poor she could only sell grain? What did Assistant Liu mean by singling her out to ask?

Xia Qing stood in a pit over a meter deep and replied coldly, "Assistant Liu, the points for the enclosure wall were only scraped together after I sold grain. Now I don't even have enough points to buy compost bacterial powder, let alone afford a guide from your noble territory."