Chapter 757: East and West of the Valley

When Xia Qing drove back to her territory, it was almost dark.

She parked at the south gate of Territory Four and honked twice. The thorn gate on the south side of Territory Four opened quickly, and Zhao Ze came out with his people to greet Xia Qing and began unloading bags from the cargo bed.

A few days ago, Zhao Ze had gone with Xia Qing to the Evolution Forest, where she and Wolf Lao Er had caught rabbits, and gathered some green-light and yellow-light grass along with over ten bags of soil to raise rabbits. Xia Qing had swung by today to haul back the remaining bags of soil.

While her son led the unloading, Zhao's mother handed Xia Qing a bag of frozen dumplings. "This morning I traded with Territory One for a green-light bamboo rat and made a bunch of dumplings. Qing, take them back for dinner."

Territory Four also had an ice cellar that could freeze and preserve food.

"Sure." Xia Qing didn't stand on ceremony with Zhao's mother. After taking the dumplings, she handed her a bag of wild grass with roots. "I saw sheep droppings and rabbit droppings next to this green-light grass, so rabbits should like eating it. Try planting some too."

Zhao's mother took it happily. "Good, this grass looks a lot like bitter herb, so I bet it can be eaten as a vegetable too."

Xia Qing had heard her allies muttering about bitter herb on the Territory channel — they said it was delicious dipped in sauce and cleared internal heat. She happened to be planning to make yellow soybean sauce from this year's yellow soybean harvest, so she could try it.

After the soil was unloaded, Xia Qing returned to the outside of her own territory's south gate. Just as she was about to get out and open the door, she saw Liangzi, who was guarding her territory, opening it from the inside.

"Sister Qing, you're back." Liangzi was eyeing Xia Qing's off-road vehicle covetously. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the death-summoning sound of hooves and turned to run.

Xia Qing...

When Sheep Boss charged up to the car and found his little brother had already opened the door, he nimbly climbed onto the vehicle and lay down in his special seat, signaling his little brother to drive him around a few times.

Liangzi? He didn't dare fight Sheep Boss for it and had retreated back to Territory One.

After a year of training with Xia Qing, this strength-evolved sheep from Territory Three had not only mastered sheep attack methods but had also developed his own move of staring at someone while kicking out black hooves. When the Hu Zi Feng squad sparred with it, more than half of them had been kicked by its black hooves.

Getting kicked by Sheep Boss hurts like hell, yet they can't tell anyone outside? Because it's embarrassing.

Inside Territory Two, Tang Huai, who was moving the wooden trays of bug-raising into the house, heard the engine of Xia Qing's "clunker" still running steady and even, with no abnormal noise. He couldn't help muttering softly, "Yuehai Camp is still reliable. No matter what you say, this clunker's engine really isn't bad..."

Liu Jing, who was also carrying a tray of bugs, immediately leaned over. "Boss is right about that. Our squad used to cooperate a few times with the squad Yuehai Camp brought. The guy has a bad temper, but his character isn't bad..."

"Stop saying 'we' and 'us' with me, I'm not on your side! Has your brain been eaten hollow by evolution bugs? How many times do I have to tell you before you remember!" Tang Huai cursed. He suddenly felt it was really annoying having a hearing-evolver beside him — whatever he muttered would be overheard.

Xia Qing took Sheep Boss for a short spin, parked the car beside the shed where she grew Bai Mao chicken-dropping vine, got out and went into the shed, and planted the green-light grass she had just dug up in this shed.

The green-light Bai Mao chicken-dropping vine didn't grow in high-Yi-element soil, so it was a Territory Three specialty product safe to trade externally. Xia Qing had built a small shed of less than half a mu here to protect the chicken-dropping vine.

This shed also had various green-light grasses that Sheep Boss liked to eat. Seeing Xia Qing plant new grass inside again, Sheep Boss happily called out.

"Right, this is new green-light food." Xia Qing replied. After planting the grass, she watered it and blocked it off with thorns, telling her companion, "This needs to be tended for a while. It can only be eaten once it takes root and grows new leaves."

"Baa~~"

Sheep Boss's tone stretched out, his voice gentle, making Xia Qing's heart soften. Somehow she thought of Zhang Shiyi, who had just moved into the hidden valley.

On the halfway slope of the third peak of Mountain Fifty, the firelight from the cooking stove on the east side of the hidden valley stretched Hu Ningsheng's shadow long. When he stood up, his shadow was cast on the valley's stone wall, looking like a monster baring its claws.

Standing by the stove in the wooden house on the west side of the valley, Zhang Shiyi gripped a sharp dagger in her small hand, watching Hu Ningsheng's every move to protect her mother, who was cooking.

The stove inside the valley was sited and built only after Zhao Ze carefully surveyed the valley's terrain and wind direction, to ensure that when people inside the valley lit fires to cook, the smell of food and cooking smoke wouldn't be detected by people outside. Because of the need to vent smoke, the stove couldn't be built inside the house, so Zhang Shi could only cook outdoors.

She put a small iron basin filled with rice, dried meat, and filtered spring water into the big pot, sat on a small wooden stump, and tended the fire. Zhang Shiyi closely followed her mother's movements, always keeping a back-to-back posture with her so they could watch for dangers that might appear from any direction.

Zhang Shi gripped the bellows by the stove and gently pulled and pushed them. Wind blew from the bellows into the firebox, and the flames were blown straight and bright. This was a sound Zhang Shiyi had never heard before, and she was a little nervous. Though her thin, small back pressed tightly against her mother, she still dutifully watched Hu Ningsheng, guarding against him suddenly launching an attack.

Zhang Shi stoked the fire high, picked up her daughter, and sat her by the stove, teaching her how to use the bellows and watch the fire. She herself turned her back to her daughter and began washing vegetables while keeping an eye on the people on the east side of the valley.

Because Xia Qing had given advance notice, the five bedridden wounded and the two people caring for them in the valley would not cross the spring eye to bother Zhang Shi and her daughter on the west side of the valley. The two groups coexisted peacefully in silence like this.

The people from Territory Fifteen expressed understanding of Zhang Shi and her daughter's wariness. Having lived through eleven years of catastrophe, everyone had countless times brushed with life and death. Even sleeping in familiar surroundings, they had to keep one eye open, let alone facing strangers in an unfamiliar environment.

This way of getting along put not only Zhang Shi and her daughter at ease, but also the people from Territory Fifteen.

When the smell of rice and meat drifted from the pot, Zhang Shiyi pressed her small hand against her growling little belly. Zhang Shi blanched green-light alfalfa and perilla, then added salt and sour fruit juice and stirred.

She had found the green-light sour fruit in the Evolution Forest; squeezing out the juice could be used as vinegar. Although both she and her daughter were recovery evolvers, and even using red-light or poisonous food wouldn't kill them, it would consume the Yi elements and physical energy stored in their bodies to break down the toxic substances. So they would also try their best to find green-light food to reduce the burden on their bodies.

The green-light alfalfa and perilla were picked by Zhang Shi from the vegetable garden inside the valley. Territory Seven had paid points for the vegetables, so she and her daughter could pick vegetables from the valley's garden to eat.

Zhang Shi didn't take advantage of Professor Fu Tianfeng. Her current identity and living conditions were exchanged for thirteen precious herbs.

After the rice was steamed, mother and daughter carried the rice and dishes back to the house.

Hu Ningsheng, who was still cooking, glanced west when he heard the movement and found that the child had noticed his gaze and immediately looked back, her small figure full of wariness.

He hadn't expected a five-year-old child to have such keen sensory reactions. Even though the distance was too far for the other to see clearly, Hu Ningsheng still gave a friendly smile.