Chapter 647: Big Shots Fight, Little Shrimp Picks Up the Scraps

"That person's watch and phone contain a lot of photos and videos of our territories — besides mine and yours, there's also Territory Seven's." Seeing Xin Yu's lips curved slightly. "Although he hasn't sent anything out yet and insists he wasn't acting on anyone's orders, Yu Dongming is already on his way here."

Yu Dongming is Seeing Xin Yu's maternal uncle and the current chairman of the Chonglian Group. If this were a small matter, there'd be no need for him to come in person.

Xia Qing immediately grasped the key point. "He's here to apologize to Third Brother and beg his forgiveness? This guy actually secretly filmed Territory Seven — the matter definitely isn't simple."

Zhang San's territory isn't just for farming; it's also a P3 laboratory with an extremely high security rating. Even Xia Qing, as the manager of Mountain Fifty, has to go through strict inspection every time she enters Territory Seven. Her personal flyer can only land outside Territory Seven — if she flies over Territory Seven's airspace, she'll be identified as a dangerous intruder and shot down on the spot.

For someone to dare secretly photograph and video Territory Seven — that's a serious charge.

Seeing Xin Yu gave a cold laugh. "He insists he only used photos and videos to document the construction process in order to better build the walls and improve his work skills. The Territory Management Department used the excuse that this case exceeds their authority to forbid Captain Tan from interrogating him. Now what looked like a trivial little case has become a four-way contest between Hui Three, Territory Seven, Hui Two, and Chonglian. How it ultimately gets defined will depend on the outcome of that contest."

The truth can be fabricated at will — profit is the real key.

When big shots fight, a little shrimp like her can still pick up some scraps. Xia Qing immediately figured out what benefits she could secure for the Territory Alliance from this case, discussed it carefully with Seeing Xin Yu for a while, then loaded her share of the rice seedlings into the tiller's trailer and went putt-putt-putting back to Territory Three.

The other territories had few seedlings, so their lords declined Zhou Zhaoping's offer to deliver them by truck and carried them off together in baskets on their backs or on carrying poles.

People from Territories Three, Four, Five, Six, Ten, and Fifteen hurried one after another to Territory Eight, then returned to their own territories carrying quite a few seedlings, which immediately drew everyone else's attention.

Wen Nengjie was very curious about how much cheaper it was for Xia Qing's group to hand the rice seeds to Territory Eight for cultivation than to hand them to the Territory Management Department, but he was afraid of angering Xia Qing and didn't dare ask directly, so he probed in a roundabout way:

"Sister Qing, you there? Want us to come help with the transplanting?"

Xia Qing, who had parked the tiller beside the paddy field, pressed the walkie-talkie button. "I don't have many seedlings here either, no help needed — thanks."

Of course Xia Qing understood why Wen Nengjie was being so attentive. Wen Nengjie didn't steal or rob; he wanted to establish himself in this territory through his own skills and manpower. Xia Qing certainly wasn't going to dampen his enthusiasm.

Once the Territory Alliance grows strong, Xia Qing will bring all the territories in the northern first district into the alliance, forming a greater combined force to farm and survive together.

That's the vision. Xia Qing has to take every step steadily before she can turn that vision into reality.

Wen Nengjie was overjoyed to get Xia Qing's "thanks." "Great, great! Just call me anytime you need any work done in your territory, Sister Qing. The rice seedlings from the Territory Management Department haven't been delivered yet, and the spinach seeds haven't been issued either — there's nothing for me to do in my territory right now."

"Liar! Telling that bald-faced lie with your eyes open!" Tang Huai, who was huddled by the weed wall of Territory Two digging for bugs, snorted. "You hauled such a huge load — and you have the nerve to say you didn't have many seedlings!"

Not far off, by the wheat field, Liu Jing, who was weeding, heard Tang Huai's words, immediately tossed down his hoe and scampered over. "Brother Huai, Territory Three hauled a really big load of rice seedlings?"

Tang Huai glared at Liu Jing. "None of your damn business! Finished clearing the weeds? All you know is slacking off!"

"Not yet — I'll get right back to it!" Liu Jing didn't mind Tang Huai's nasty attitude at all and asked with a grin, "Is Brother Huai tired? Thirsty? Want me to bring you a stool and a bottle of water?"

Damn it, Territory Two's broke as can be — where the hell would a stool come from? Tang Huai rolled his eyes. "Do I look like a stool to you?"

Liu Jing realized he'd picked a bad moment today, chuckled sheepishly twice, scampered back, grabbed his hoe, and went on weeding.

Liu Jing is a Level Five auditory evolver from the Sufeng Squad. When Tang Huai went to Territory Twelve to "recuperate," Liu Jing was assigned to Territory Two to continue the mission of monitoring Territories One and Three.

After Tang Zhengsu was killed and Tang Zhengrong was imprisoned, Sufeng collapsed — everyone piled on, and it turned into total chaos. No one remembered Liu Jing, still out on assignment in the territory, so he pretended he knew nothing and kept his head down here, hiding from trouble.

Although life in the territory was boring and the lodging conditions were poor, he didn't have to worry about being robbed or taken revenge on while others took advantage of the chaos. Plus, there was fresh natural food every day — boiled, sure, but rich in nutrients and good for building resistance, far better than what he'd eaten back in the Safe Zone.

Besides, although Tang Huai, the agent of Territory Two, had a sharp tongue and a bad temper, he wasn't a bad person and didn't like playing dirty. So Liu Jing planned to stay in the territory one day at a time, and deal with things when Sufeng's current leadership finally remembered someone like him existed.

When that time came, if the squad assigned him a low-risk, well-paid mission, he'd go back to the Safe Zone to carry it out; if the mission they gave him wasn't much, he'd leave the squad and stay in the territory as a hired hand, farming steadily alongside Tang Huai.

The Sufeng squad members and refugees who stayed on in Territory Two all shared this mindset, so now nobody was making trouble — everyone was honestly and diligently doing farm work.

Seeing Liu Jing back at work, Tang Huai paid him no more attention, digging for bugs while listening to the sounds outside. The south gate of Territory Three wasn't locked — that meant something was definitely going on.

Soon, Zhao Ze and his mother from Territory Four entered the south gate of Territory Three. After a while, Captain Tan's daughter also arrived. The sharp little girl had actually spotted him hiding behind the weed wall of Territory Two, peeking out. Tang Huai clicked his tongue twice to himself: the little girl seemed to have grown quite a bit taller since last winter.

Tan Qi ran into Territory Three, dashed to the edge of the paddy field, and politely called out to each person in turn. "Wang Laoshi, Sister Qing, Brother Zhao — I'm here!"

Tan Qi had been in the territory for over three months, and she'd actually grown taller, her little face had filled out, and she was livelier too.

After learning that Zhao's mother, who taught her math and Chinese, was surnamed Wang, Tan Qi changed how she addressed her and stopped calling her Grandma Zhao. Led by Tan Qi, Xia Qing and the others also started calling her "Wang Laoshi." At first Zhao's mother would shyly correct them, but later she just happily accepted it.

Xia Qing, holding a handful of rice seedlings, straightened up. "You've already finished planting the seedlings in your territory?"

"We didn't have many seedlings — we finished in no time." Seeing Xia Qing was running low on seedlings, Tan Qi immediately grabbed a handful from the basket beside her and tossed them over.

Tossing seedlings was a breeze for Tan Qi, who trained often.

Xia Qing reached up and caught them. The feeling was like being back in the days when they trained under Yanlong, and both of them laughed.