Chapter 429: The Great Temperature Drop

The idol had taken the stage, and number-one fan Xia Qing immediately came online to cheer him on. "Third Brother, I need some. How do you want to trade for the rooting powder—green-light food?"

Zhang San remained languid. "I'm in a good mood today. Rooting powder for up to two thousand five hundred chive roots, free of charge."

Xia Qing immediately called out her number. "Many thanks, Third Brother! I want rooting powder for soaking two hundred chive roots."

Zhao Ze jumped right in. "Territory Four needs rooting powder for soaking six hundred chive roots. Many thanks, Third Brother."

Kuang Qingwei followed at once. "Territory Six needs rooting powder for soaking twelve hundred chive roots. Many thanks, Third Brother."

"Territory Five needs rooting powder for two thousand chive roots. Many thanks, Third Brother." Qi Fu called out his number.

Mother Shi came online. "Territory Ten needs rooting powder for one thousand chive roots. Thank you, Third Brother."

"Territory Fifteen needs rooting powder for soaking two thousand chive roots. Many thanks, Third Brother." Yue Haiying followed closely behind his allies.

Right behind them, the big players started coming online.

Beard Feng began calling out his number. "Third Brother, Territory One needs rooting powder for soaking chive roots. Can I send you four jin of green-light pine nuts?"

"Two jin."

"Alright, many thanks, Third Brother."

Tang Zhengpo also came online. "Third Brother, Territory Twelve needs rooting water for chive roots. Sorry for the trouble. Can I trade you two jin of barbecue seasoning blended entirely from green-light spices?"

"Deal."

"Territory Eight also needs rooting water for chive roots. Can I trade you two bottles of green-light grape wine?" Zhou Zhaoping followed right behind.

"Deal." Having just gotten the green-light python meat, Zhang San now also got barbecue seasoning and wine—his mood improved even further.

Zhou Xun also braced himself and came online. "Territory Two needs rooting water for two thousand chive roots. Many thanks, Third Brother."

Li Si followed and came online. "Territory Nine needs rooting water for five hundred chive roots. Many thanks, Third Brother."

Everyone held their breath waiting for Zhang San's reply. They held it so long their faces turned red before Territory Nine's Ji Li finally came online.

"Apart from Territories Two and Nine, the rooting water for the other territories will be delivered together with the supply patrol vehicles."

Territories Two and Nine? Go stand somewhere cool.

Xia Qing smiled, took three jin of yellow-light corn from her house, tossed a few kernels of yellow-light corn into the sheep pen on the way, told Sheep Boss and Sick Wolf to rest at home, then drove her micro-tiller toward the south gate of her territory.

Hearing Zhong Tao's patrol vehicle stop outside the gate of Territory Three, Xia Qing only then opened the main gate and drove the micro-tiller out.

Zhong Tao, Zheng Kui, and Ji Li all got out of the vehicle. Zhong Tao, his energy restored, greeted her warmly. "Sister, the chive roots and the crab-shell fertilizer you wanted have both been delivered."

Xia Qing wanted two thousand jin of crab-shell fertilizer, twenty sacks in total. Zheng Kui opened the cargo compartment of the patrol vehicle and began unloading. Ji Li took the fertilizer Zheng Kui handed him and set it on the bed of the micro-tiller.

After weighing the yellow-light corn, Zhong Tao handed Xia Qing two hundred green-light chive roots and asked, "On this trip we brought ten jin of premium refined salt from Lan City. Want some, sister? It's just a bit pricey—sixty points per jin."

Low-pollution premium salt being expensive was perfectly normal. Xia Qing handed her points card to Zhong Tao. "I got lucky a few days ago, pulled a lot of nuts out of a squirrel's nest. I traded them away this morning and got some points. Here."

"You got it!" Zhong Tao swiped the points briskly, went to fetch the salt, then asked Xia Qing again, "Do you need vinegar and soy sauce brewed from green-light wheat bran? Eighty-five points a bottle."

Brewed from green-light food—of course she wanted them. Zhong Tao swiped the points again, then couldn't help sighing, "Sister, your life is really getting better and better."

Over the past half year or so, Zhong Tao had watched Xia Qing go from red and skinny to fair and sturdy. Among the forty-plus lords in the northern district under his patrol, Xia Qing had changed the most.

Xia Qing had not only grown sturdier, she had also become more articulate than when she first came out. "I came out here and worked hard farming just so I could eat my fill. Nobody knows when the next huge natural disaster will come. Hoarding points isn't as practical as trading them for food and putting it in my belly. These are pumpkin slices I dried a few days ago when the weather was good. You and Brother Kui take them as a snack."

"Sure, thanks a lot, sister."

Every time Xia Qing needed their help hauling goods, she would give them some food she'd produced herself as thanks. Zhong Tao didn't stand on false ceremony with Xia Qing. He took it cheerfully, only to discover that the black packaging bag was actually cold to the touch.

He immediately knew that inside wasn't pumpkin slices, but food that needed to be kept fresh. What food needed to be kept cold and fresh? Meat, of course!

Zhao Tao's mind raced, but not a trace showed on his face. In a low voice he shared a big piece of news with Xia Qing: "I don't know if it's true, but supposedly this winter we'll get several heavy snowfalls, and the temperature might drop to below minus twenty, maybe even hit minus thirty degrees Celsius. Sister, you'd best chop plenty of firewood to prepare."

Before the natural disaster, the lowest winter temperature in the area around Hui-Three Base had been around minus five degrees Celsius. In the years since the disaster, the coldest winter temperature had dropped another ten degrees, reaching minus fifteen. Xia Qing already felt that was terribly cold—she couldn't even imagine what minus thirty degrees would be like.

She and the long-haired Boss and Wolf Lao Er could manage, but what about the rapeseed and wheat in the fields?

After finishing unloading the crab-shell fertilizer, Ji Li handed Xia Qing a small packet of rooting powder. "Dissolve this packet in one liter of twenty-degree water, soak the chive roots for two hours, then plant them. Third Brother says if the chive roots are too long you can trim them—just leave two centimeters of root."

Xia Qing took it immediately. "Got it, thanks, Brother Ji."

"You should head back first." Ji Li signaled Xia Qing with his eyes—someone inside Territory Two was watching this way.

Ji Li was worried that people from Territory Two might rush over and harm her. Xia Qing nodded to show she understood, said goodbye to Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui, started the micro-tiller, drove back to her territory, closed the main gate, and hauled the crab-shell fertilizer home.

After delivering supplies to Territory Three, Ji Li followed Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui to Territories One and Eight to deliver rooting powder and pick up trade goods.

Inside the weed-wall of Territory Two, Xu Pin listened to the report from the hearing-evolver, frowning. "Minus thirty degrees? Where did this news come from?"

He turned his head and saw Tang Zhengsu staring fixedly at the gate of Territory Three. He gave a cold laugh. "If we could bring Xia Qing under our control, it would be a great benefit to us. But she's all thorns—I'm afraid you'd have to take her on personally."

Tang Zhengsu frowned. "I'm sure I've met Xia Qing before, I just can't quite recall when all of a sudden."

Heh.

Xu Pin suggested in a low voice, "Invite her over, and you can ask her yourself?"

"Are you a vice-captain or a damn madam? Can't you do something useful for once!" Tang Zhengsu glared viciously at Xu Pin. "Have you gotten through to Yang Jin? What did he say?"

Xu Pin gritted his teeth in secret, then answered meekly, "I can't get through to him on the phone. He didn't hand over the evidence right away because he wants to sit on the price and bargain. What did Liehuo say?"

The moment Liehuo was mentioned, Tang Zhengsu's anger flared even harder. "What else could they say? All of them spouting the same damn run-around! Every one of them is damn sharp when they want a piece of the pie, but when trouble comes they run faster than ghosts! Didn't you say you had someone at Liehuo who could talk sense? Then get the hell on it! Otherwise, you can damn well cut off your own flesh to plug this hole!"

It was clearly the two Tang brothers who'd been taken in by the big pie Phoenix had painted—Xu Pin had tried to stop them and couldn't. Now that things had gone wrong, they wanted to pin the blame on him?

Xu Pin's face, too, darkened.