Chapter 819: People Worth Negotiating With

The native spinach Xia Qing harvested last autumn had a Yi element content of 6.0?. Zhang San demanded that her first crop of spinach this year raise the Yi element content by two points.

Liehu took over five years to raise the Yi element content of their high-Yi-element spinach to around 9.0?. Zhang San asking Xia Qing to raise it to 8.0? in a single crop sounds unreasonable.

But Xia Qing, no longer a farming novice, had no objections whatsoever to the standard her idol had set.

Because compared to last year, the planting environment and conditions for this spring's spinach crop in Territory Three had undergone a qualitative improvement:

full-process Yi element protection, irrigation with pollution-free spring water, and idol-exclusive fertilizer.

Therefore, the quality of this crop of spinach should be the fastest-improving one.

Zhang San said that if this crop's spinach quality didn't reach 8.0?, then the likelihood of her spinach quality surpassing Liehu's within three years and reaching above 9.0? would be very low.

After three months of careful cultivation, the quality of the spinach Xia Qing grew was still 0.4 points short of the standard her idol had set, so she felt she wasn't impressive at all.

Yang Jin noticed that Xia Qing was dissatisfied with the current spinach quality, and while quickly picking up spinach seeds, helped her think of a solution. "What's the reason this crop's spinach quality didn't meet your expected target?"

Only Zhang San and the three heads of Qinglong knew she was growing native spinach.

Although Yang Jin was a layman when it came to farming, he was well-informed and experienced. Xia Qing also wanted to hear his opinion. "Mainly because the humidity and water-fertilizer control weren't precise enough. Third Brother suggested I install an integrated water-fertilizer machine."

She said Zhang San suggested she use one, meaning she felt it wasn't suitable and was still hesitating. Yang Jin, who understood Xia Qing's personality very well, analyzed the matter from her perspective.

"If it's only a humidity and water-fertilizer control issue, what you need most is the monitoring system in the integrated water-fertilizer machine, not the whole machine. Installing one in your territory would be too conspicuous. Your spinach seeds are excellent—you can cultivate and optimize them slowly, no need to rush in the next year or two."

"That's exactly what I was thinking too!" Xia Qing hadn't expected Yang Jin to understand these things and get straight to the point in one go. "So I want to install two types of monitors in the terraced fields—soil moisture monitors and pest/spore monitors—to monitor pest situations and soil moisture in real time. Spraying, watering, and fertilizing will still be done manually."

The automated integrated water-fertilizer machine in Territory Seven, which includes a cloud platform, control system, monitoring system, and irrigation system, requires a dedicated space to house it, plus the installation of tap water and filtered water systems. Just as Yang Jin said: placing it in Territory Three would be too conspicuous.

She wasn't in a rush for a year or two, because she had three years.

She wanted to farm quietly, without attracting attention.

Yang Jin asked, "The monitoring system from Territory Seven's integrated water-fertilizer machine isn't suitable for use on your side?"

"Mm." Xia Qing nodded. "Third Brother's machine over there is wired and all-in-one."

Territory Seven's equipment was all top-of-the-line, but it wasn't suitable for Xia Qing.

Once the specific difficulty was known, it was easy to solve. Yang Jin asked, "Then it really isn't suitable. I'm bringing in a batch of goods from Red Two Base next month—shall I bring you a few sets of wireless all-in-one soil moisture meters?"

Red Two Base was where precision scientific instrument manufacturing enterprises were located; the vast majority of smart devices currently used within Hua Country were produced there.

Since the conversation had naturally led to this point, Xia Qing, who had originally planned to have Seeing Xin Yu place the order for her, changed her mind. "Then I'll trouble Captain Yang to bring me three sets."

Yang Jin replied with a smile, "You're welcome. The goods ordered by the battle team alliance can't fill one transport plane—your goods can help us share some of the shipping costs."

His attitude made Xia Qing much more at ease. "Then I'll trouble Captain Yang to also bring me eight spore catchers and two handheld rapid soil testers. I'll cover the shipping costs myself."

"No problem." Yang Jin handed the spinach seeds he'd picked up to Xia Qing and began gathering the spinach seedlings.

By the time Xia Qing finished counting the spinach seeds, he had already packed the spinach seedlings, peeled back the plastic mulch, and was digging up the spinach roots. Truly worthy of being a top-tier speed evolver—not only fast at running, but also efficient at work.

Xia Qing was envious, desperately wanting speed evolution abilities.

Sensing Xia Qing staring at him, Yang Jin's heartbeat involuntarily sped up again. But he had experience now and wouldn't blush and turn red from Xia Qing staring at him, letting her notice something was off.

Yang Jin deliberately shook the spinach roots vigorously, shaking off every bit of soil from the roots before putting them into the bag. When he stood up, he indeed saw Xia Qing's somewhat speechless expression.

He laughed, his fox-like eyes charming and clever. "Sister Qing, shall we weigh them now?"

"Okay."

There were a total of 48 X-2 plants in the terraced fields, yielding 2,503 spinach seeds and 47 jin of spinach seedlings, all of high quality. Xia Qing kept three jin of spinach seedlings; the rest were sold to Yang Jin, earning a total of 8,600 credits.

Spinach seeds? Not only could the X-2 spinach seeds harvested from the terraced fields not be sold, neither could those from the valley.

Because Xia Qing needed to hand over 6,000 spinach seeds to Yang Jin in August for the third batch of cordyceps cultivation.

When cultivating the first batch of cordyceps at the end of last year, Xia Qing and Yang Jin each provided half the seeds needed; when cultivating the second batch in April this year, Xia Qing had no usable spinach seeds, so Yang Jin provided them all. The two agreed that the third batch of seeds would all come from Xia Qing, and afterward it would return to each providing half.

All the seeds produced by the X-2 planted in the valley and the territory, plus some of the seeds from the 70 native spinach plants she had planted in the terraced fields in April, were needed to make up the 6,000 seeds.

So the only thing Xia Qing could sell was spinach seedlings.

Yang Jin didn't rush to transfer the credits to Xia Qing, but pointed at the native spinach still growing nearby. "Sister Qing, how do you plan to sell these?"

"It's hot here—shall we go to the meeting room to talk?"

Xia Qing invited Yang Jin out of the greenhouse and picked two cucumbers and a few tomatoes along the way. After the two entered the meeting room, Yang Jin took off his protective mask and gloves, washed his hands, and ate a ripe tomato, praising it: "This tomato's quality is better than before too—Sister Qing is really impressive!"

They hadn't even started discussing the deal yet, and this guy had already begun pouring honeyed words on her.

Xia Qing didn't fall for it. She took a sip of spring water, said a few modest words, and began discussing the deal. "Among the 97 spinach plants in the terraced fields that are about to mature, there are 51 female plants, which will produce around 5,000 seeds. Third Brother will take 2,000 seeds at 100 credits per seed. I need to keep 1,500 for breeding. At most I can sell Captain Yang 1,500 seeds, at 130 credits per seed—my lowest price."

Yang Jin raised an eyebrow. "Because Third Brother is an alliance member?"

"No, because Third Brother is my exclusive technical advisor for growing spinach. The X-2 Captain Yang grows can yield tens of thousands of seeds, right? If it's for producing premium nutrient solution to sell, Captain Yang's X-2 alone is sufficient—no need to spend big money buying my native spinach seeds." Xia Qing was now very skilled, her use of yielding as a means of advancing absolutely masterful.

Yang Jin shook his head. "I buy premium spinach seeds partly to grow and eat them, enhancing the evolution abilities of the battle team's core members; and partly to send to Territory Seven and ask Third Brother to formulate special medicine. Don't worry, I absolutely won't leak any information and let people know these spinach seeds were cultivated in your territory. At your price, I'll take 1,500 seeds. Are the spinach seedlings for sale?"

Xia Qing regretfully said, "Third Brother has already ordered all the spinach seedlings."

Yang Jin's expression was even more regretful than Xia Qing's. "Save me one-third for the next crop?"

"Sure."

Just as Xia Qing was preparing to see her guest off, Yang Jin began promoting supplies to her. "I got my hands on the latest phone from Red Two—want one?"