Chapter 697: Two Courtyards

A sheep weighing over two hundred catties with four legs probably didn't seem all that big in the eyes of a twenty-something-catty honey badger. So when it saw Big Brother Sheep charge over, the little honey badger still charged forward indignantly, opening wide its little mouth full of tiny teeth.

The little honey badger was unquestionably sent flying by Big Brother Sheep's headbutt. But after it landed on the ground with a slap, it stood up, shook its flat little head, and charged again indignantly — only to be sent flying once more.

After being sent flying nine times, the little honey badger lay on the ground grunting, unsure whether it was injured or simply out of strength. Big Brother Sheep raised high its big head with the spiral horns, and glanced sidelong at its little underling.

Xia Qing immediately delivered a flood of effusive praise, "Boss, you, a grass-eating sheep, can even beat a meat-eating honey badger — you're really amazing! You're the pride of our territory, the sheep who opened a new chapter in Blue Star's evolutionary sheep history, the sheep standing at the top of Jin Zita — every sheep on all of Blue Star is proud of you…"

Big Brother Sheep was satisfied, came back to pick up the bamboo basket, and strutted back to its territory with Xia Qing. The little honey badger lay on the ground for over ten minutes before crawling up, then turned and walked away grunting.

Looking through the wire-mesh wall, Xia Qing watched its four legs seeming uncoordinated, each running its own way, and figured this time the little fellow had taken a nasty fall — it should learn a lesson and remember that sheep were not creatures it could defeat.

After returning to the territory and finishing the compost, Xia Qing checked the Gao Yi elemental spinach in the Gao Po terraced fields. After counting carefully, she found that the germination rate of the X-2 seeds issued by the base was about the same as the first-generation seeds in her territory, reaching as high as 65%, which put her mind even more at ease.

"55% germination rate, premium Gao Yi elemental seeds — higher than ordinary green-light seeds, and you can grow four crops! By this time next year, we'll be able to grow at least three mu of spinach, and our physical fitness will be better than it is now."

The next day, on the way to Territory Fifteen, Zhao Ze excitedly discussed the germination rate of the Gao Yi elemental seeds with Xia Qing as they walked. Zhao Ze had also been invited by Tan Junjie to help build the house; although he wasn't an Evolver, he had plenty of experience in construction and dispatching.

Walking further on, Qi Fu joined the discussion too. "Too bad we can't eat too much of it, otherwise next year I'd only eat this one kind of vegetable."

The broadcast repeatedly reminded everyone that Gao Yi elemental spinach was a good thing, but too much of a good thing was bad — eating too much would affect the stomach and intestines and carried the risk of causing stones.

"This year each of our families only has a few dozen spinach plants, so no matter how we eat them it won't be too much." Hearing Zhu Li came out from Territory Six and walked forward with them. Without Xia Qing asking, she took the initiative to explain, "Old Kuang and I are planning to build a house next year, so I wanted to come take a look at what supplies Captain Tan has prepared, so we can get ready ahead of time…"

To put it bluntly: I just want to come watch the fun.

"Sister Qing, Sister Li, Brother Qi, Brother Zhao."

Tan Junjie, who had taken the day off, was already waiting at the north gate of Territory Fifteen with his daughter. Tan Qi waved her arm in greeting from far away.

This area had both old and young. Apart from the Shenzhong couple in their fifties, Zhao's mother, and Lord Huo Lei as elders, everyone addressed each other as "brother" or "sister." These were disaster years — being alive and having food to eat was already good enough, and no one would fuss over forms of address.

After entering Territory Fifteen, the first step was choosing the site for the house.

Building a house required choosing a spot with higher ground that wouldn't collect water when it rained. Territory Fifteen had two areas with relatively high ground: one to the south, occupied by the veterans' container dormitory, with the cultivated farmland in Territory Fifteen also on the south side; the other to the north, which had been where humans lived in this area before the disaster, and after the disaster was nothing but an abandoned village and ruined houses. This spot was a bit closer to the patrol team's dormitory.

Now, a large area of this ruin had been cleared, piled with stone bricks, red bricks, cement, steel bars, gravel, and other building materials needed for construction.

Tan Junjie explained, "I plan to build two houses in this area — a two-story one here, with three rooms on each floor; and a single-story one here, with two rooms."

The three who had come to help all looked at Tan Junjie. Hearing Zhu Li asked, "Captain Tan, didn't you say you were building one small building?"

Tan Junjie explained, "The two rooms over here are being built for Jiang Hu's sister, Jiang Ying."

After Jiang Hu sacrificed himself, the base issued his family a condolence payment of eight thousand credits. Jiang Ying was arranged to work at the food factory, and mother and daughter also moved into the food factory's dormitory.

Soon, nineteen-year-old, unmarried, fully limbed, and not at all ugly Jiang Ying became the most eye-catching Miss in that dormitory area — within half a month, more than twenty people had tried to introduce suitors to her.

Because Jiang Ying was an ordinary person, most of the introductions were also ordinary people; the few Evolvers among them were all disabled or sick, and naturally neither Jiang Ying nor her mother was satisfied.

With human legal awareness weak in disaster years, when the matchmaking failed, some people started using underhanded tricks. After Jiang Ying was drugged and nearly had something terrible happen, she walked the road from dormitory to workshop in fear and trembling.

After the northern Zone One territory wall was repaired and the base issued the lords over a hundred Gao Yi elemental spinach seeds, Jiang Ying's mother began to have ideas, wanting her daughter to work in a territory.

When Yuan Rui went to the safe zone, Jiang Ying's mother still wanted Jiang Ying to go to Territory Three. "There's only Xia Qing alone in Territory Three, and I can see she has a pretty good temper. Yingzi following her, and with you all looking out for her, nothing bad will happen."

After Yuan Rui figured out what Jiang Ying's mother was thinking, a few sentences put an end to her idea. "Territory Three has a strength-evolved mad sheep, raised as a plow ox by the lord of Territory Three. That sheep has a very strong sense of territory — usually it's fine, but once it's provoked it goes crazy and fights people. The Blue Dragon Squad's level-five strength evolver Guan Tong was butted by that sheep and had to hide up in a tree, too afraid to come down. We saw this with our own eyes on patrol — Guan Tong's belly was bruised a huge patch of blue."

Mother and daughter Jiang were scared pale. Jiang Ying's mother immediately changed her mind. "Then let Yingzi live with Sister Qiqi, keep her company — would that work? Two young girls living together can look out for each other. Can you arrange a job for Yingzi in Territory Fifteen?"

Before coming, Yuan Rui had already discussed with Tan Junjie the matter of Jiang Ying entering Territory Fifteen. "At the current stage, there are no other jobs in the territory, only farm work — you earn credits based on how much you do, ordinary hired labor gets 3-5 credits a day. If Yingzi goes to Territory Fifteen, she can pay 50 credits a month to eat with everyone in the territory canteen, or she can cook for herself."

Hearing that eating required paying so many credits, Jiang Ying's mother was reluctant. "If she cooks for herself, does she have to prepare the vegetables and grain herself too?"

That was natural. "She can grow her own, or buy at market price from Territory Fifteen or other territories. If Yingzi wants to grow her own, we can help her open up a plot no larger than one mu, and everything the plot produces belongs to Yingzi."

Jiang Ying was very tempted, and asked, "Brother Yuan, then where would I live after going into the territory?"

"Captain Tan said we can build two rooms for Yingzi right next to Tan Qi's courtyard, and she can live there as long as she wants, no rent." To avoid future conflicts, Yuan Rui made everything clear that needed to be made clear. "Territory Fifteen belongs to Tan Qi — all the supplies and buildings in the territory belong to Tan Qi, that's what the Lord Law stipulates. If you and Yingzi feel it's not suitable, you can consider applying for your own territory. Right now there are still unclaimed territories in the south, east, and northern Zone Two."