Chapter 868: Little Eleven in the Valley

After the second Harmful Rain, Xia Qing received 150X-2 spinach seeds. Like her allies, Xia Qing planted half the spinach seeds inside her territory and half in the hidden valley.

Of the 75 spinach seeds planted in the hidden valley, 43 spinach seedlings sprouted, a germination rate of 57%. This was because Xia Qing, wanting to be the same as everyone else, did not use pollution-free spring water to soak the seeds, only using the filtered warm spring water from inside the valley.

During the more than two months of growth, 5 spinach plants died for one reason or another. Of the 38 that survived to harvest, 21 were female plants that bore spinach seeds—the highest female-plant ratio among the six spinach plots in the valley.

Female plants bear seeds, and the seeds can be sold for money. Xia Qing was happy, and her allies were envious.

Zhang Shi helped Xia Qing lift the protective film stretched over the spinach. Zhang Shiyi carried over two large and one small wooden stumps. "Auntie Xia, here you go."

Having moved into the hidden valley two months ago, Zhang Shiyi's little face had filled out a bit, and she had also started greeting people on her own.

"Thank you." Xia Qing took the wooden stumps and handed Zhang Shiyi a small packaging bag only a little larger than her tiny hand. "Can Eleven fill this bag with a hundred spinach seeds?"

"Mm." Zhang Shiyi happily took the small bag, sat back-to-back with her mother, and began picking the spinach seeds stuck on the protective film, her little mouth moving as she silently counted.

Watching her obedient, well-behaved appearance, Xia Qing thought of Does Daigua, the bald monkey at home whose body kept twitching, and felt a pang of frustration.

After Zhang Shiyi filled the bag with a hundred seeds, she handed it to Xia Qing and watched Xia Qing's fingers counting the seeds with wide, nervous eyes.

"No problem, exactly a hundred seeds."

Watching Xia Qing set the small bag next to the large bag of spinach seeds, Zhang Shiyi turned to look at her mother. After receiving an encouraging look, the little girl smiled silently, her cuteness making Xia Qing want to go home immediately and throw Does Daigua away.

With the help of Zhang Shiyi and her mother, Xia Qing quickly gathered 1,995 spinach seeds, then pulled up the spinach seedlings by the roots and packed them into a large packaging bag. These spinach seeds and seedlings, Xia Qing would take back and hand to Tang Huai to exchange for points.

Before leaving, Xia Qing pulled out a ten-jin bag of Green Light mung bean flour from her backpack and handed it to Zhang Shi.

This was something Zhang Shi had exchanged with her for points—Zhang Shiyi loved eating noodle-soup slices made from mung bean flour. The method: mix mung bean flour with white flour into a dough, roll it thin, and cut it into triangular pieces two or three centimeters long with a knife. Once the filtered warm spring water boils, add the dough pieces, a few slices of Green Light vegetables, and one Yellow Light poached egg. For seasoning, just a little salt, soy sauce, and a few drops of sesame oil.

The seasonings they used and the eggs they ate were all exchanged with Zhang San.

Little Eleven could eat a bowl of this noodle-soup slice as big as her own head.

After handing the flour to Zhang Shi, Xia Qing pulled out two flowery pink hair ties from her backpack, bent down, and handed them to Zhang Shiyi. "This is payment for Eleven helping me pick spinach seeds. Next time I'll bring the strawberry seedlings over, and Eleven can start preparing the field for planting strawberries."

Xia Qing had hired Zhang Shiyi to help catch bugs to feed the Green Light peanuts, with payment being five Green Light strawberry plants. This five-year-old girl carried a bag through the Evolution Forest every day catching bugs, keeping Xia Qing's half-acre of Green Light peanuts well fed.

Only after seeing her mother nod did Zhang Shiyi take the pretty hair ties and politely thank her. "Thank you, Auntie Qing. When will Auntie Qing come next time?"

Xia Qing gave her a very precise time. "Tomorrow morning, seven-thirty."

Tomorrow, she had to work on Mountain Fifty-Five one last time.

Such a delicate pink color—it was obvious Xia Qing had specially prepared it for a girl. Zhang Shi nodded in thanks and pointed to the empty spots in the peanut field. "During the Retrospective Rain, 45 Green Light peanuts degraded to Yellow Light, and 23 were uprooted due to Harmful Evolution; 78 Yellow Light peanuts were uprooted due to Harmful Evolution."

The Retrospective Rain had suddenly descended, and the Use Yishi rented inside the hidden valley during the second Harmful Rain had already been "returned to the Azure Dragon Squad." Without the Use Yishi's protection, the crops inside the valley also suffered certain losses under the Harmful Rain's assault.

Xia Qing nodded. "These were already relatively weak plants. If they hadn't been protected during the second Harmful Rain, they would have undergone Harmful Evolution long ago."

Zhang Shi nodded and asked, "After harvesting the peanuts, what are you planning to plant?"

Xia Qing had already made her plan. "Sunflowers. The sunflower seeds our base issues have about a 2% chance of aggressive Harmful Evolution, so planting them here is safer than planting them in the territory. I had pretty good luck this year—the Yellow Light sunflowers planted in my territory burst out five cultivable optimized seeds, all Green Light."

Sunflowers are oil-pressing crops. Hearing that Xia Qing had cultivated Green Light quality ones, Zhang Shi was also very happy. "The sunflower seeds our base issues are dwarf sunflowers used for pressing oil. One flower head can produce 1,500–2,000 sunflower seeds, with about 1,200 that are fully developed and can be used as seeds. If all five flower heads are successfully harvested, that's 6,000 seeds. After soaking them in warm spring water, the germination rate should reach 50%, enough to plant a full acre."

Xia Qing didn't know whether Zhang Shi had newly learned these cultivation techniques or had always been skilled at them. In any case, she could now explain planting theory clearly and use the experimental equipment very smoothly. By every measure, she was now a genuine researcher.

The laboratory that Zhang San had specially carved out of the hidden valley's stone wall for the mother and daughter to use as an emergency shelter had truly fulfilled its purpose as a laboratory in Zhang Shi's hands.

Xia Qing nodded. "This kind of sunflower has a growing period of 90–110 days. Plant them after harvesting the peanuts, and they'll be ready before we raise rice seedlings next year. During the sunflowers' growing period, I'll still need Tenth Sister and Eleven's help looking after them—turn on the supplemental lights for a longer time each day."

Because Xia Qing's one-acre plot was on the side where Zhang Shi and her son lived, she used supplies to trade with Zhang Shi and her son for help with the field's daily management.

Sunflowers are sun-loving plants, and the natural light inside the valley is insufficient, so supplemental lighting is needed.

Zhang Shi nodded. "Sure, after you harvest, just give me 10 Green Light sunflower heads."

"No problem." Seeing Zhang Shiyi watching her with expressive eyes, Xia Qing said, "I'll be able to harvest the sunflowers by the middle of next month. I'll pay you 200 Green Light seeds first, and once the seeds pass their dormancy period, Tenth Sister can plant them in the new experimental plot."

Hearing Xia Qing's words, Zhang Shiyi's little face indeed lit up.

Zhang Shi thanked her. "After you press the oil from next month's Yellow Light sunflower harvest, can I exchange for some?"

Vegetable oil is one of the important sources of energy the human body needs. Now that Zhang Shi and her son had settled down, they could cook with oil just like before the disaster.

After Xia Qing sold the spinach seeds and seedlings to Tang Heng and returned to her territory, she found her allies chatting on the lord's walkie-talkie about which territory the threshing machine and dryer had reached, while chatting on the phone group about what to plant in the valley's fields.

Some people wanted to plant sunflowers like Xia Qing, while others wanted to plant potatoes. Without exception, both of these plants carried a certain probability of aggressive Harmful Evolution. Planting them in fields without Use Yishi protection during Harmful Rain periods was like a ticking time bomb.

Without prior arrangement, every lord planned to set aside a spot in their assigned plot large enough for a chicken coop. When the third Harmful Rain came, they would transfer their precious Yellow Light or Green Light chickens from their territories to the valley to "shelter from the disaster."

The Green Light crabs the lords had exchanged with the Tang family had always been raised in the valley, so they didn't need to be moved back and forth.

When Xia Qing returned to her territory and turned on the walkie-talkie, she heard her allies excitedly discussing the new drug the Hui San Pharmaceutical Factory was about to release—Scar-Clear.