Chapter 876: Skilled Worker

Tang Huai had just finished chatting with Wen Nengjie when Lord of Territory Six, Kuang Qingwei, came online. "Is everyone here? The yellow-light pea seeds we ordered have arrived—fourth-generation stability, qiang element content between 6-7‰, germination rate 45%. I've already packed them up, and I'm delivering door to door starting from Territory Three. Xia Qing, you there?"

Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Here. Thanks, Brother Qing. I'll wait at the south gate in fifteen minutes."

Kuang Qingwei cheerfully replied, "You got it. Zhao Ze, once I've delivered to Xia Qing, you're next, then Brother Qi."

Xia Qing blocked the irrigation ditch, called out to her companions, went home to fetch the mung beans she'd prepared long ago, and waited at the south gate of her territory.

After a short while, Kuang Qingwei, drenched in sweat, came pedaling up on an old bicycle, clanking and clanging. Seeing Xia Qing come out, he immediately grinned from ear to ear.

Kuang Qingwei had connections and had managed to get his hands on a tube of scar-removing ointment. After using it twice, the acid-rain pits on his face were no longer as obvious, and when he smiled he no longer looked as ferocious—he seemed much more cheerful and confident.

Seeing the ointment really was that effective, many people in the territory with scars on their faces, necks, or hands were tempted. Even if the medicine made them writhe in pain after applying it, they still wanted to buy some and try it.

Xia Qing handed over two jin of mung beans. "These are all green-light mung beans with qiang element content between 3.5-4.5‰. Brother Qing, run a test."

Hui Three's green-light mung beans were high-quality and high-yield, a crop Hui Nine Base wanted to introduce. The middleman Kuang Qingwei had contacted this time didn't accept points—he only wanted premium green-light mung bean seeds.

"You got it!" Friendship is friendship, business is business. Kuang Qingwei didn't skip the seed test just because he was on good terms with Xia Qing. Testing the quality on the spot put both sides at ease.

He immediately sampled and tested three seeds. After confirming the quality met the requirements, Kuang Qingwei took out a small bag of pea seeds from the basket on the back of his bike, then took out one seed to test. "Sis, look—qiang element content 6.7‰."

"Great, thanks, Brother Qing."

Xia Qing took the seeds, watched Kuang Qingwei ride off, then returned to her territory. Sitting in the shade of the cart canopy, she counted the seeds in the breeze. Half a mu of land was already flooded, but Sheepy hadn't had her fill of pedaling yet and was still spinning the bicycle like mad, the wind whistling.

Xia Qing counted once and found the bag held 1,099 seeds. Adding the one Kuang Qingwei had taken for testing, that made 1,100 in total.

Kuang Qingwei's quoted price was two jin of premium green-light mung bean seeds in exchange for 1,000 yellow-light pea seeds, but when trading with Xia Qing, he still honored last year's promise and gave her the seeds at cost.

"Little Feimao, time to work." Xia Qing placed Little Feimao on the spread-out seeds. After a short while, Employee No. 001 had stuffed 18 seeds into the pocket of Xia Qing's protective suit.

Xia Qing took one out and tested it—sure enough, it was a cultivable optimized seed with a qiang element content of 4.7‰. This batch of seeds had low qiang element content, so the odds of producing premium seeds were high; these 13 should all be green-light peas. Cultivate one crop in the terraced fields, and next year she and Sheepy could eat their fill of green-light pea shoots.

Happily patting Little Feimao's head, Xia Qing handed it an ordinary yellow-light pea. "Eat up—this is your reward."

Little Feimao wasn't interested in yellow-light food. It rubbed its little paws and wagged its little tail, gazing at Xia Qing with eager, longing eyes.

"You ungrateful little thing. Back in the day in the Safe Zone, I worked my fingers to the bone for a whole day and only earned 5 points, and that didn't even include food and lodging—and you're still not satisfied!" Xia Qing flicked its little head, then pulled a green-light pine nut from her pocket and held it out. "You're a skilled worker, you're amazing, here you go."

Little Feimao nimbly gripped the pine nut with its little paws, found the right spot, and with its front teeth—crack! —split open the pine nut's hard shell.

Does Daigua, hearing the sound, slowly turned its head to look at Little Feimao.

Xia Qing pulled another green-light pine nut from her pocket, crushed the shell, and stuffed the kernel into Does Daigua's mouth. "Eat up—it's good for your brain."

Does Daigua, wooden-faced, slowly chewed the pine nut.

Perhaps she'd gotten used to it, but Xia Qing felt it wasn't as disagreeable to look at as before. She casually picked it up and gave its belly a massage.

This set of massage techniques was something Xia Qing had learned from Chang Li—it aids digestion and was well-suited to Does Daigua's current condition.

Once Sheepy had played enough, Xia Qing stuffed Does Daigua into the basket and handed it to Wolf Lao Er to carry, while she took the water-pumping bicycle and the blower home.

By three-thirty in the afternoon, Xia Qing told Lao Da and Wolf Lao Er to watch the house—she was going to Territory Seven to pick up Zhang Tao, and then they'd head together to Territory Nine.

Zhang Tao was a researcher on Zhang San's team, responsible for promoting and planting crops, and had been assigned by Zhang San as the technical advisor for the Ninth Planting Center.

Xia Qing had seen in the Ninth Planting Center's work group that Zhang Tao was going over to inspect the farmland, so she volunteered to be responsible for his transport.

Xia Qing's own farmland was also at the stage where rice transplanting was imminent, and she wanted to follow Zhang Tao to learn advanced planting techniques.

Quite by coincidence, the person Territory Seven's security team sent out today to protect Zhang Tao was the Red Eleven Special Ops squad leader, Zheng Chen.

Thank heavens. When Zhang San called Red Eleven, Zheng Chen's squad had already boarded the aircraft, so Red Eleven had no way to swap in an uglier one.

Because of the hot weather, Zhang Tao was wearing a lightweight, breathable, Grade-2 summer-style field protective suit.

That kind of protective gear was fine for high-level Evolvers to wear, but Zhang Tao was a fragile researcher, so Xia Qing didn't dare open the car window the whole way, only stopping when they reached the entrance of the Ninth Planting Center's greenhouse.

After Zheng Chen escorted Zhang Tao into the greenhouse, Xia Qing parked the car to one side and was just about to go in when Mao Chuntai, director of the Ninth Center's Planting Department, hurried over and said in a low voice, "Sister Qing, Director Yan asks you to stop by the office."

Xia Qing nodded, said goodbye to Zhang Tao and Zheng Chen, and hurried off to the office.

The center's office was newly built, clean and tidy inside and out, with documents and office supplies arranged neatly—very much in military style.

When Xia Qing entered the office, Office Director Yan Yue, with her hands on the wheelchair's armrests, inclined her body slightly toward Xia Qing. He Hui, the office's newly assigned senior staff member, stood up holding onto the desk and said respectfully, "Sister Qing."

He Hui was Zhong Tao's wife. Her thin, sickly-yellow face still bore obvious scrape marks.

After the disaster, Zhong's father had died, Zhong Tao had been discharged from the military, He Hui had lost her Safe Zone job after a below-the-knee amputation, and Zhong Ping'an could no longer attend the Safe Zone primary school. But the three of them could live together without worrying about food, drink, or safety—He Hui was content, and very grateful to Xia Qing.

"Sister-in-law, we're not outsiders. When I come by in the future, just stay seated—no need to stand up." Xia Qing supported He Hui and helped her sit down, then looked toward Yan Yue.

Although the window was open, the room was still damp and stuffy. Yan Yue, a sheen of sweat on the tip of her nose, explained to Xia Qing why she'd asked her to come over:

"Someone from the Housing and Construction Department just called and said they won't be able to deliver the materials for our perimeter wall this year. They asked you to find time to call Director Cao of the Housing and Construction Bureau—he wants to explain it to you personally."