Chapter 507: How About I Be Your Assistant?

After returning to her territory, Xia Qing, in a complicated mood, didn't go home. She took a small hoe from the cabin by the farmland and went to the rapeseed field to clear out Qiang grass.

Cold-proof measures used together—digging cold-proof trenches, adding more fertilizer, and covering with rain-proof cloth at night—did achieve a certain insulating effect for the farmland, but they also gave the Qiang grass a chance to sprout during the cold Qiang Snow period.

The unmelted Qiang Snow continuously releases Qiang elements outward, causing the Qiang element content in the atmosphere during this period after the Qiang Snow to be higher than normal levels, so Qiang grass keeps drilling out nonstop.

Although the Qiang element concentration isn't enough to make the Qiang grass grow wildly, they still grow faster than normal crops, robbing the crops of growing space and nutrients.

Therefore, removing Qiang grass is the daily farm work during this period. Fortunately, Xia Qing has few fields, and after a year of cultivation, there are far fewer Qiang grass seeds in the soil, so the weeding task isn't that heavy.

After recently going through one heart-pounding ordeal after another, being able to stand in the farmland weeding with all limbs intact made Xia Qing feel exceptionally satisfied and grateful.

Satisfied that her fields still had seedlings after the Qiang Snow, and cherishing the peaceful life now.

After a short while, Sick Wolf nosed open the bamboo-rod door of the greenhouse and walked in, placing the small basket it had been carrying in its mouth beside Xia Qing, and gazed at her eagerly.

Looking at the increasingly healthy Sick Wolf, the image of Shi Jiaran covered in needle marks, dazed and curled up on the hospital bed, surfaced in Xia Qing's mind again.

Dan Ying offered a "high price" to buy Sick Wolf precisely to do to it what they had done to Shi Jiaran!

There are many people like Dan Ying. Relying solely on others' protection won't work—it must return to its peak condition as soon as possible.

Xia Qing stopped digging weeds, walked to Sick Wolf, bent down and scratched its chin, explaining gently, "Lao Er, look, these are all Qiang grass. The Qiang element content in Qiang grass is very high; it can't be used to feed chickens, fish, or rabbits, or they'll get sick."

After Xia Qing finished speaking, she actually saw an expression of disappointment on the wolf's face.

She cupped Sick Wolf's face with a look of wonder, rubbing it around as she praised loudly, "Lao Er, your expressions are getting richer and richer, that's amazing! Tonight we'll keep watching videos together, okay?"

Praised, Sick Wolf grinned and laughed happily, hahaha.

On the notebook Yang Jin had traded to Xia Qing, there were video tutorials for training domesticated beasts, with content and format similar to pre-catastrophe "Teletubbies":

A group of people put on animal mascot costumes, performed various actions on command, then happily spun around in circles.

Sick Wolf loved watching them, but Sheep Boss wasn't interested at all, and sometimes even got annoyed by the noise.

Actually, it wasn't fair to blame Sheep Boss for being unhappy, because the video tutorials had ones for wolves, bears, even birds, but none for sheep.

Because no one had ever thought to painstakingly train something on the menu into a domesticated beast.

Once things weren't busy for a while and Tang Huai's injuries had healed, Xia Qing could discuss it with him and have him wear a sheep costume and film a few videos for Boss to watch.

Finding other people would definitely require Xia Qing to pay points before they'd agree to such a bizarre request. But with Tang Huai, he'd definitely bring his own costume and ask Xia Qing to film him.

Such an excellent trading partner might be rarer on Blue Star than a Recovery Ability Evolver, so Xia Qing decided to maintain a long-term friendly trading relationship with him.

When it was nearly dark, the team members who had gone to No. 50 Mountain to clear the firebreak all returned. Zhao Ze reported today's task progress to Xia Qing in detail through the walkie-talkie.

Learning they had exceeded today's target and no one was seriously injured, Xia Qing praised Zhao Ze's project coordination ability and affirmed the work of the escort team composed of Qing Long and the inspection team members.

The moment Xia Qing finished speaking, before Zhao Ze could respond, Tang Huai came online: "Not bad, Sister Qing, you've only been in the position a few days and you're already doing a proper job. You alone have to manage both the territory and such a big mountain, you definitely can't handle it all, right? How about I be your assistant? I don't want points, I just purely want to learn management skills by following you."

Having just decided to maintain a long-term friendly trading relationship with Tang Huai, Xia Qing still politely played it down: "That's not up to me to decide. You have to go to Territory Seven and apply to Third Brother."

Before Tang Huai could speak, Zhang San came online weakly: "You can't even manage Territory Two properly, and you want to manage a mountain 1500 times the size of a territory?"

Tang Huai hurriedly explained, "Third Brother, I'm not trying to manage the mountain, I just want to run errands for you and Xia Qing, and gain some management experience."

Zhang San, impatient: "Come talk to me when you can carry 2000 jin of supplies by yourself and single-handedly kill a group of evolved giant lizards."

Hearing Ability Evolver Tang Huai wilted. Hearing Zhu Li came online to ask, "Third Brother, can I trade some Green Light green beans with you for some anti-inflammatory, swelling-reducing, and pain-relieving medicine? Green Light green beans can be sprouted, then stir-fried with vinegar and chili, they taste really good."

Zhang San replied weakly, "Sure."

Xia Qing asked, "Is Sister-in-law injured?"

Hearing Zhu Li said somewhat embarrassed, "I overestimated myself, got my foot smashed when moving a big rock. Didn't break the bone, it's just uncomfortable to walk."

A task paying 15 points a day with low danger level was too tempting for ordinary people; Hearing Zhu Li hadn't expected to get hurt either.

Although every territory had planted two crops of green beans, and the price of Green Light green beans had dropped now, trading food for medicine still made Hearing Zhu Li's heart ache terribly.

If her toenail hadn't been smashed off, fearing superbug infection, she definitely wouldn't have traded.

Xia Qing asked, "No. 50 Mountain is a danger zone, Sister-in-law's protective suit and boots don't have any tears, do they?"

Hearing Zhu Li hurriedly replied, "I checked carefully right after getting smashed, no tears. Thanks to Lao Kuang insisting I wear the new protective suit, if I'd worn the old one I'd definitely have gotten infected. Thanks to the two sisters-in-law helping me, otherwise I definitely wouldn't have finished today's task quota today. Lao Kuang took some of my dried wild fruit to send over to you, sisters-in-law, please don't dislike it."

Hearing Zhu Li worked today with Shi Mu and Yuan Yan, not in the same group as Kuang Qingwei. Kuang Qingwei knew his wife was injured and wanted to finish his own work quickly so he could do her share. But he was also an ordinary person, not as strong as Shi Mu and Yuan Yan, and couldn't work as fast as them.

Standing outside the north gate of Territory Ten, Kuang Qingwei was handing a packet of dried Green Light snake-raspberry fruit to Shi Zheng, thanking Shi Mu for helping his wife with her work.

Shi Zheng was clumsy with words and couldn't refuse the smooth-talking Kuang Qingwei, so he had to accept. Kuang Qingwei smiled and asked quietly, "Brother Shi, I think you should take your wife to Territory One or Territory Seven to test her Strength Evolution level. I think your wife has definitely reached Level Two. At Level Two she counts as an Evolver, and the points for participating in tasks can double."

Shi Zheng beamed, "Xiao Du told Captain Yang today, later she and the kid will head over. This time we really owe it all to Xia Qing."

As for why they were thanking Xia Qing, the two men smiled knowingly without saying it aloud. After Kuang Qingwei also delivered some dried Green Light snake-raspberry fruit to Qi Fu, he wrapped his cotton coat tight, stepped over the uneven snow, and returned to the territory.