Chapter 745: Peas with Four-Generation Stability

This vehicle was a blast to drive, but it runs on diesel, and diesel costs points. So after Xia Qing circled it a few times to get her fix, she took Lao Zhong home, parked the vehicle in the first-floor living room of the rack building she'd cleared out earlier, separated from her tiller by a single wall.

"Boss, let's go." Xia Qing picked up the thick 'Beast Generation Four Off-Road Vehicle User Manual' from the vehicle and called to her companion as they headed out. The rack building's door had no screen, so they had to leave quickly and shut it tight, or plenty of mosquitoes and bugs would get in.

Lao Zhong rubbed his body against the vehicle to show his affection for it, then followed Xia Qing out of the garage.

Xia Qing carried a water bucket to the spring cave to fetch water, and along the way checked on the growth of the Qiangwu grass.

The third Qiangwu grass plant, propagated from a side shoot cut in March, was still small, but its fibrous roots had already taken hold in the soil, and its leaves were no longer wilted. This meant the roots could now absorb nutrients from the soil to feed the leaves.

Xia Qing now truly owned three Qiangwu grass plants.

A while back, after noticing that the cut side shoot had grown roots, Xia Qing had cut a second side shoot as well. That one hadn't dissolved either, and was now in a wilted state, expected to grow roots in about a month.

When that happened, Xia Qing would have four Qiangwu grass plants!

Even better, after Xia Qing cut the side shoots, the Qiangwu grass plant that had been cut by seven leaves sprouted yet another side shoot.

Though the mature Qiangwu grass seeds had been buried in the soil, when Xia Qing peered closely, she couldn't see any sprouts poking up. According to the cultivation guide Zhang San had given her, if Qiangwu grass seeds didn't sprout in spring, the rising temperatures of summer would send them into dormancy, and they'd only germinate and grow in autumn or the following spring.

Xia Qing wasn't worried, because the Qiangwu grass she had now was enough for detoxification. If these seeds ultimately lost their vitality and not a single one sprouted, she'd give up on propagating more Qiangwu grass from seed and switch to division propagation.

After checking the Qiangwu grass, Xia Qing went to the empty plots on either side of the greenhouse, startling the birds large and small that were digging in the soil for bugs.

Yesterday while weeding, she'd spotted some cutworms and grubs. This meant these two pests had developed resistance not only to the insecticide distributed in the safe zone, but also to the one Zhang San had developed last year, so they needed to be cleared out by hand.

The startled birds, seeing Xia Qing crouching there and refusing to leave, could only land a little farther away and keep digging for bugs.

Xia Qing closed her eyes and, from the wind, water, bird calls, frog croaks, and chirps of crickets and other insects, carefully listened for the sounds made by creatures in the soil.

A soft rustling was the sound of slender earthworms wriggling—earthworms were beneficial, so she left them alone. The scraping, crunching sounds were cutworms and grubs gnawing at roots.

She quickly locked on her target, accurately digging out a big, fat grub from ten centimeters deep in the soil, and tossed it to the large magpie waiting nearby.

Though these large magpies didn't live on her territory, every time Xia Qing turned the soil outside the greenhouse or weeded, they came over to dig for bugs in the dirt—they were good neighbors of hers.

Like wolf howls, bird calls also carry strong emotional expression and information. The more time Xia Qing spent around birds, the more information she could pick out from their calls.

When the calls were melodious and they preened their feathers, they were in breeding season, trying every way to attract a mate; when they hopped along branches with rapid calls, they were sharing happy news; when their voices were sharp and high-pitched, they were expressing anger or unease.

Right now, the magpie that had snatched the grub was delighted, while the magpies and wild pigeons that had missed out were furious.

Xia Qing curled her lips. When she dug up the second bug, she tossed it to the angry bird. Sure enough, its call turned joyful.

Digging bugs gave Xia Qing a sense of accomplishment, and so did feeding the birds.

When the sun tilted west to a certain angle, Lao Zhong, who had been grazing on the hillside, stepped on cue and face-scanned his way out of Territory Three. At the same time, the slightly grown little honey badger, sporting its insufferably smug snow-white flat-top, also came huffing along.

One sheep and one honey badger started brawling, adding to the noise.

This was a good chance to train her hearing, so Xia Qing focused even harder on using her ears to pick out the faint sounds pests made.

At dusk, Lao Zhong face-scanned through the two gates back into the territory, head held high, and came to Xia Qing's side.

Xia Qing immediately praised her companion. "Boss, you beat the little honey badger that fast? Amazing! You've been pedaling the bike a lot these past two days—your legs are nimbler, huh?"

"Baa!"

"Boss is so awesome, working hard every day. The stronger Boss gets, the safer our territory is. Boss truly is the pride of an evolved sheep..."

"Crack—snap!"

A sound of a large tree breaking and toppling came from outside the territory. Lao Zhong startled, and Xia Qing rubbed the little curls on his head, walked to the wire mesh fence, and saw a tree as thick as a waist had fallen onto the northern isolation strip outside the mesh wall.

It was the very tree that Flat-top gnawed on to vent his frustration every time he lost to Lao Zhong.

After helping Xia Qing clear out snakes and rats in Mountain 49, Area Three, this little fellow had found a new use—logging.

"Thanks, Flat-top." Xia Qing face-scanned her way out and dragged the fallen tree from the isolation strip into Area Three.

Flat-top huffed and tried to bite Xia Qing, but she kicked him lightly away, because she was afraid he'd tear the new-material summer outfit she'd bought at great expense.

Flat-top rolled on the ground, scrambled up, sniffed with his nose, and immediately lost interest in Xia Qing. He turned around and went crack-crack at the broken end of the tree.

Xia Qing walked over and found that the heart of the tree was worm-eaten. So Flat-top gnawing on this tree after every fight wasn't just venting—it was also for the bugs inside.

Any animal that could survive in the evolved forest of Year Eleven of the Calamity had a certain survival wisdom.

Xia Qing returned to the territory and had Lao Zhong put on the pannier baskets. The left basket held a large bucket of drinking water she'd just filled; the right basket was for vegetables.

For dinner she wanted steamed eggplant and green peppers scrambled with eggs; for tomorrow's breakfast, cold tomato salad—pick a few and put them in the basket. Pluck a handful of long beans, blanch them in hot water when she got back, and dry them into dried beans to stew with meat in winter. Pick a few cucumbers for Lao Zhong, cut a bunch of alfalfa. "Done, let's head home."

Passing the pea beds, Lao Zhong stopped.

Xia Qing looked back. "Want pea shoots?"

"Baa~"

"The peas are starting to flower, so we can't pick too many. Let's just pinch off a small bunch to take home and mix in for Boss."

"Baa~~" Lao Zhong's bleat was soft and long, making Xia Qing's heart melt.

The peas planted in this bed were brought back by Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui from Hui-One Base. Three hundred seeds sprouted into 105 seedlings—a germination rate of 35%, at least ten points lower than ordinary yellow-light seeds, even after Xia Qing soaked them in pollution-free spring water.

Though planted in terraced fields rich in Gao Ang elements, the pea seedlings that had a Qiang element content of 8‰ at germination now had a Qiang element content above 9‰. By the time the peas matured, the Qiang element content would surely exceed 10‰, and replanting a second crop would turn many into red-light plants.

This showed that these plant seeds bred at Hui-One, which had two-generation stability, only had one-generation stability in Hui-Three's territory.

Though both Xia Qing and Lao Zhong quite liked pea shoots, Xia Qing hadn't used Gao Ang stones to shield the pea field.

Because these 100-plus pea seedlings with only two-generation stability weren't worth more than the Gao Ang stones needed to protect them—Xia Qing needed higher-quality pea seeds.

Xia Qing had asked Kuang Qingwei, Zhong Tao, and Zheng Kui to help her look. She'd now learned that Hui-Nine Base had pea seeds with four-generation stability. Kuang Qingwei had already made contact with a middleman over there, and once Hui-Nine's peas matured, he'd buy a batch and ship them over to be sold here in Hui-Three.