Chapter 639: The New Lord of Territory Eleven

Before last winter set in, Xia Qing had dug cold-proof trenches around the overwintering wheat and rapeseed fields and along the south side of the greenhouse, packing them full of crushed crop straw and leaves to ferment while insulating the farmland.

Today, Xia Qing planned to dig out the fermented organic fertilizer, haul it to the still-empty fields, and spread it evenly as a base fertilizer together with animal manure.

Thanks to the high-efficiency composting bacterial powder Third Brother had developed, everyone could ferment qualified fertilizer at such low cost.

This kind of farm work was extremely strenuous, and the one thing Xia Qing never lacked was strength.

She first removed the covering layer over the cold-proof trenches, then used a custom-made four-tine steel fork suited to her size to shovel the fermented leaves and chopped straw into the trailer of her micro-tiller, and hauled it to the fields that needed fertilizing to spread evenly.

Wen Nengjie and his crew had been pulling weeds for half an hour when they spotted Xia Qing in the distance, already having loaded a full big cart of organic fertilizer and spread it across the field.

Wen Nengjie and his crew pulled weeds for an hour while Xia Qing hauled two big loads. By the time they had worked a little over two hours and stopped to rest, Xia Qing—who had already hauled five loads—hadn't slowed down in the slightest and showed no sign of resting, leaving the group working on the south side of the territory staring in stunned silence.

Why "listening"?

Because Wen Nengjie's crew had discovered that whenever they straightened up and stood on high ground to look north, they could see the evolved wolf in Territory Three—supposedly "recuperating from illness"—fixing them with a bloodthirsty gaze.

As if the next second, the wolf would charge over and snap their necks.

So they didn't dare look, and could only rely on their ears to track Xia Qing's movements.

After lunch, when Wen Nengjie's crew sat in the shade of a tree for their afternoon rest, they couldn't hear any movement from the north—because Xia Qing hadn't started the micro-tiller in the afternoon. She had begun carrying fermented manure down from the hillside terraces on her back.

Xia Qing carried it with a shoulder pole, Ram Boss carried it on his back—Xia Qing hauled two baskets per trip, and Ram Boss also hauled two big baskets per trip. One person, one ram, both full of drive.

When Wen Nengjie's crew finished their day's quota and called out a greeting to Xia Qing before leaving Territory Three, Xia Qing was still tidying up the fields.

Usually when they returned to the territory after a day's work, Wen Nengjie's crew would be laughing and joking, but today everyone was shaken and silent.

Tang Huai poked his head out from the wild-grass wall of Territory Two. "What's wrong with you lot? Didn't finish the work and Xia Qing's not happy?"

He hadn't heard Xia Qing say a thing.

Wen Nengjie certainly wasn't going to admit he'd been intimidated by Xia Qing's terrifying strength and endurance, and by that evolved wolf. He smiled and shook his head. "No, just tired."

The next day, Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui drove the patrol car and stopped outside the south gate of Territory Three.

Wen Nengjie's crew actually saw Xia Qing haul over a cart of goods on the micro-tiller to trade with Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui.

"This bag holds venomous scorpions over 10 centimeters long—60 in total; these two bags hold ones 5 to 10 centimeters—160 in total; these two small bags hold ones under 5 centimeters—235 in total."

That number made Wen Nengjie's scalp tingle. During the Harmful Rain, he'd heard Territory Three report discovering evolved venomous scorpions, but he hadn't expected Xia Qing to have caught this many.

After Zheng Kui poured out the scorpions and finished counting them, Zhong Tao immediately tallied the account for Xia Qing. "Over ten centimeters are 20 points each, five to ten centimeters are 10 points each, under five centimeters are 1 point each—that's 3,035 points total. Didn't you catch any snakes this time, sis?"

Xia Qing smiled. "Too busy, didn't get around to it. These two baskets are green-light vegetables being returned to Xu Juan and Li Chang—100 points per basket."

"Got it, that's 3,235 points total. What would you like to trade for, sis?" Zhong Tao said, handing the supply list to Xia Qing.

Xia Qing traded for two packs of toilet paper, plus four vegetable plates, a 2-liter bottle of green-light soy sauce, and a 2-liter bottle of green-light vinegar.

After Zhong Tao transferred the remaining points to her, Xia Qing asked, "Brother Tao, I heard the western territories have been abandoned. Is the base planning to open up new territories south of this area?"

"That's right, the area's already been marked out—ten li south of this territory, stretching all the way to the area north of the town ruins. It'll be cleared within a month. Once it's cleared, the western lords get first pick; whatever they don't claim will be opened up for public application." Zhong Tao's information was far more detailed than Xu Juan's.

Tang Huai also came out from Territory Two. "Zhong Tao, how many of the western territory lords are willing to keep their territories?"

Zhong Tao replied, "Only about a dozen. Most of them were scared out of their wits by the wolf packs."

"That's normal—anyone would be afraid. By the way, when's the Territory Eleven lottery?"

"I haven't heard about that one, but it should be soon. If they don't pick a lord soon, it'll hold up the spring planting."

After Tang Huai got talking with Zhong Tao, Xia Qing returned to her own territory and closed the big gate.

After Xia Qing had walked off, Peng Qiu from Territory Seventeen sidled up to the lord and whispered in awe, "Did you hear that, Brother Jie? Sister Qing caught nearly five hundred venomous scorpions during the Harmful Rain and traded them for over three thousand points—more than a hundred more than us. Just the points she earned from that one haul alone would be enough to hire evolvers to guard her territory during the Harmful Rain period."

And on top of that, she'd traded with the patrol car for toilet paper and green-light condiments. Unlike their territory, where they wiped their backsides with leaves and only added salt to their food!

Wen Nengjie tilted his chin up. "Get back to work."

The venomous scorpions in Territory Three hadn't been cleared out yet—they'd caught over thirty yesterday and over ten this morning. Every one of those was points.

Not long after Zhong Tao and his companion drove off, Guan Tong shouldered a big crate and entered Territory Three. Knowing Wen Nengjie's crew were working on the south side, Guan Tong didn't say much and handed the supplies directly to Xia Qing.

The big crate contained a microscope; the backpack held a thousand rounds of ammunition and twenty jin of green-light wheat. These supplies had finally arrived just before Xia Qing's sowing.

On the third day Wen Nengjie brought his crew to work in Xia Qing's territory, Qi Fu and his wife shouldered the seed drill used for sowing and came to help Xia Qing plant wheat, mung beans, soybeans, cotton, and other crops.

After sowing was done, Xia Qing immediately began tidying the terraces, then started seed-soaking and sowing the various crops that needed their seed quality maintained and improved.

It wasn't just Xia Qing—lords across every territory were up before dawn and working late into the night on spring planting.

The second Harmful Rain of the year was coming in mid-to-late May. The earlier crops were planted, the sooner they'd get through the seedling stage, so when the second Harmful Rain arrived, the losses from Harmful Evolution would be a little less.

On the very day Xia Qing finished planting the terraces, she got a piece of great news: the Territory Eleven lottery results were out—Lord Huo Lei had become the new lord of this territory.

While Tang Huai was howling in amazement over Lord Huo Lei's exploding luck in the lord channel, Lord Huo Lei was on the phone with Xia Qing, expressing his thanks.

He had slipped Zhou Qianpeng point cards a total of five times, front and back, before securing this territory. In Lord Huo Lei's own words:

"Emptied out the family coffers, but finally bought my foolish son a good place to settle down and make a living."

Xia Qing's lord alliance gained two more fierce generals—except one of those fierce generals was still in active service.