Chapter 693: Planting Bamboo

Back home, Xia Qing happily counted the points on her card.

After a year of farming outside, she had refreshed her gear from head to toe: iron-net walls around her territory, lots of new appliances at home, plenty of clothes and bedding, and she'd saved up points and over a hundred Yi stones.

This was something she wouldn't have dared imagine before getting her territory last year.

Farming is grueling work that lives or dies by the weather. Xia Qing managed to save these points and build up her homestead because her territory has pollution-free spring water and high-Yi-element spinach, because as an Evolver she can leave the territory to scavenge supplies from the Evolution Forest, and most of all because she became a middleman between humans and the wolf pack.

If she were just an ordinary person, with no pollution-free spring water in her territory and no high-Yi-element spinach…

Xia Qing turned her head, gazing through the window at the neat greenhouses inside her territory, at Boss Sheep lying and chewing his cud beneath the big pagoda tree on Gao Po, and at the red squirrel leaping through the branches with its big belly, while listening to Zhao's mother loudly hollering in the neighboring territory.

If she were just an ordinary person who'd only been assigned an ordinary territory, she'd still bravely venture out of the safe zone like other ordinary lords, or stay inside her territory working hard every day, farming and digging for wild vegetables. Even if she couldn't save many points after a busy year, she wouldn't go hungry while working like she used to.

Thanks to the red squirrel, she found the pollution-free spring water; thanks to Boss Sheep, she gained a companion and established ties with the wolf pack.

After hiding her points card, Xia Qing changed into light clothes, sprayed herself with insect repellent, put on a sun hat and gloves, and went out to work.

After more than a year of careful management, the toxic flora and fauna that could threaten her had basically been wiped out in Territory Three, so when Xia Qing worked in the yard or greenhouses, she no longer had to wear protective clothing or a protective mask.

Of course, when going to uncleared areas or abandoned villages, or traveling before or after a Calamity Rain or in extreme weather, she still had to put on protective clothing and a mask.

Today's scheduled tasks were all done. With about an hour before dark, Xia Qing used this time to first process the hardness-evolved bamboo pole she'd brought back today, then plant the bamboo roots she'd brought back, and at dusk move the big chickens from the greenhouse into the coop in the yard, then call it a day, go home, cook, and eat.

Generally speaking, for greenhouse frames and furniture, bamboo grown over three years should be used. New bamboo under three years has high moisture content and easily cracks or bends.

But the bamboo pole Xia Qing hauled back was hardness-evolved, much harder than ordinary bamboo over three years old, and very tough too, so Xia Qing had high hopes for it.

This bamboo grew very straight, so it didn't need straightening—just drying treatment before use.

There are four drying methods: natural air-drying in shade, light roasting then sun-drying, boiling then sun-drying, and fire-roasting. Natural air-drying preserves the bamboo's natural color and texture best, but takes too long; the latter two are hard to control in degree and heat. So Xia Qing chose the light-roasting-then-sun-drying method.

She first chopped off a two-meter section with her machete, then split the remaining pole into bamboo strips, which could be used to reinforce the greenhouse once processed.

After slicing the bamboo strips, Xia Qing put on her protective gear, said hello to Boss Sheep who was watching, picked up the two-meter section of bamboo, and walked out the south gate. Before she'd gone five meters, she heard rustling from Territory Two, then Tang Huai's shout.

"Xia Qing, taking bamboo over to Uncle Huo?"

Xia Qing's lips curved slightly upward; she stopped and nodded.

Tang Huai, clutching a shovel, poked his head out from the wild-grass wall and stared at the bamboo wood in Xia Qing's hands, nearly twenty centimeters in diameter. "What a beautiful color—is it evolved purple bamboo?"

Xia Qing shook her head. "I'm not sure either."

After biological evolution on Blue Star, identifying plant species became much harder. For Xia Qing, the species didn't matter—as long as it was usable.

Tang Huai negotiated with Xia Qing, "Can you trade me a section? I want to make my dad a tea tray from this kind of bamboo."

Xia Qing shook her head. "This bamboo has high Calamity-element content, so it's not suitable for a tea tray. Besides, I've already split the rest into strips."

Tang Huai asked, "Split into strips? What are you planning to use them for?"

"Greenhouse frames," Xia Qing explained. "This bamboo pole is hard, tough, and lighter than other woods—perfect for frames."

Though Xia Qing was right, Tang Huai still felt it was a waste of good material. But this was Xia Qing's supplies, so how she used them was her call. Tang Huai reached out his hand. "Give it here, I'll pass it over for you."

Territories 11–18 fall under another inspection team's jurisdiction, so Xia Qing couldn't have Tan Junjie's team help transport supplies.

Territory Eleven and Territory Three are separated by Territory Two, but to get from the south gate of Xia Qing's territory to the north gate of Territory Eleven, you have to take this east-west corridor, then loop around to the east-west corridor on the south side. Having Tang Huai relay it was much more convenient—he only had to walk from the north side of Territory Two to the south side.

Put visually: the route Xia Qing would take to deliver the bamboo is three sides of a rectangle, while having Tang Huai relay it only requires walking one side of that rectangle.

"Thanks." Xia Qing handed the bamboo pole over without hesitation and returned to her territory.

Tang Huai, shovel in hand, hoisted the bamboo wood onto his shoulder and muttered as he headed back to his territory, "How is this so heavy?! She was so quick about it this time—I can't help feeling she planned to have me deliver it all along…"

Back in Territory Three, Xia Qing's lips curved even higher. Exactly—she had planned exactly that, because she knew Tang Huai would definitely come out and offer to help, which is why she hadn't asked Beard Feng's team to come over and watch the territory.

After finishing with the bamboo pole, it was time to plant the bamboo roots.

The idea of planting bamboo was proposed by Yuan Yan. After learning that the Calamity-evolved bamboo Xia Qing had discovered was a hardness-evolved variety, Yuan Yan came up with the plan.

Because of Calamity elements and pests/diseases, farming in a territory requires building greenhouses. Steel-frame greenhouses cost too much, while greenhouses built from ordinary bamboo and wood, even with proper maintenance, only last two years—environmental conditions during the Calamity years are harsher, increasing external stress on the greenhouse and shortening the lifespan of bamboo-frame greenhouses.

So, to make wooden greenhouses last longer, lords came up with many tricks—for example, using steel frames at key load-bearing points during construction, and other hardwoods for internal supports. But the arched structure of the greenhouse still had to be bamboo.

Now they had a better building material: the hardness-evolved bamboo discovered in Mountain Fifty-Two, so Yuan Yan wanted to plant a few in her own territory.

Planting Calamity-evolved plants inside a territory is very dangerous, but after analysis, Yuan Yan believed the danger was controllable.

First, this bamboo attacks with its roots, making it a low-risk aggressive Calamity-evolved variety. Yuan Yan and Qi Fu are both strength Evolvers and can handle this risk.

Second, Yuan Yan is a magnetic-sense Evolver. If this bamboo evolves again during a Calamity Rain, she can sense it before the mutation completes and chop it down with her husband to stop the mutation.

So Yuan Yan asked Xia Qing, when she went to fetch bamboo poles, to bring back a few sections of bamboo roots. Calamity-evolved plants are very tenacious—roots dug up just yesterday could still survive being planted today.

Xia Qing agreed with Yuan Yan, so when she went to fetch bamboo poles today, she not only brought back several sections of roots to plant in her own territory and Territory Five, but also planted the remaining roots in a moist, open spot on Mountain Fifty.

If all goes well, after this year's second Calamity Rain, she'll harvest at least a dozen hardness-evolved bamboo poles to reinforce the greenhouses in her territory.