Chapter 925: Luo Pei's Call

Seeing that the one who came to collect the supplies was Zheng Chen, not Ji Li, Xia Qing's face stayed calm and she treated him normally.

Because her idol had said Zheng Chen was more reliable than Ji Li, even when Xia Qing told her that Zheng Chen paid her special attention, the idol had only snorted and said one line:

"That just means he isn't blind. You just don't be blind."

A Level Nine and a half visual evolver, Xia Qing was certainly not blind. "Brother Zheng, these are earth-bubble fruits. These two green-light young roosters and five jin of potatoes—please take them back together for Brother Ya, and ask him to stew a pot of chicken soup for Third Brother when he has time, to nourish him."

"Alright." Zheng Chen took the lidded bamboo tube cup holding the purple-black earth-bubble fruits and asked with a smile, "Did you make this cup yourself?"

"Yes." Xia Qing answered with a single dry word.

Since Third Brother said Zheng Chen was reliable, he would definitely be staying inside Territory No. 7 for quite some time. No matter what intentions he harbored to close the distance with her, Xia Qing had to make her attitude perfectly clear.

Because his attitude of currying favor without cause instinctively repelled Xia Qing, who was guarding a body full of secrets.

Facing the taciturn Xia Qing, Zheng Chen—who was usually quiet in front of others—couldn't help wanting to say a few more words. "I didn't expect your woodworking skills to be this good too. What do you want to trade these supplies for?"

Zheng Chen asking this meant that, like Ji Li, he had also been granted partial proxy authority over Territory No. 7 by Zhang San.

Xia Qing answered calmly, "Soil sterilant enough for four mu of land."

Having heard on the lord channel that Xia Qing had harvested crops, Zheng Chen had guessed she would trade for sterilant today, so he had brought it directly.

Taking out four bags of sterilant and handing them to Xia Qing, Zheng Chen explained, "Your supplies exceed the value of the sterilant. I'll record the excess on the trade ledger."

Xia Qing's accounts with Territory No. 7, apart from the portion she traded directly with Zhang San, were all recorded on the ledger by Ji Li. Having gained proxy authority, Zheng Chen could of course also look through and use the ledger.

After Zheng Chen left, Xia Qing returned to the territory and saw Wolf Lao Er with a monkey-skin plaster stuck on it. She rubbed Wolf Lao Er's head and asked gently, "Wolf Lao Er worked hard today. Does Daigua also did well today. Does Daigua want something to eat? Chili peppers?"

Does Daigua stared blankly at Xia Qing, motionless.

"Cucumber?"

Still motionless.

"Sweet potato?"

A flash of fear crossed Does Daigua's eyes, and it hugged Wolf Lao Er tightly.

As long as it knows to be afraid, that's good. Xia Qing asked again, "Tomato?"

Does Daigua's eyes brightened. It opened its little black mouth—right beneath the big black nose in the center of its big white face—and said, "Ah—"

Worthy of being a primate, in just a month and a half it had already accurately memorized the name of its favorite vegetable.

Xia Qing went into Greenhouse No. 2, picked a bright red tomato, and communicated with it using gestures and signs. "You help me with the work, this is your reward."

"All the food inside the territory's greenhouses is mine. If you dare steal again, I'll break your arm." After making sure Does Daigua understood, Xia Qing stuffed the tomato into its little black paw.

Seeing Wolf Lao Er smile even more happily than the Does Daigua monkey that had gotten the tomato, Xia Qing didn't let it send the Does Daigua monkey back to Wolf Valley. "Wolf Lao Er, Does Daigua can stay inside the territory, but you have to watch it. Don't let it steal food from inside the territory."

Wolf Lao Er nuzzled Xia Qing, then carried the Does Daigua monkey—still eating its tomato—on its back and continued patrolling.

Xia Qing yawned, went home, washed her bowls and chopsticks, took a shower, and went to sleep.

At nine that night, the Handsome Giant Wolf, lying on the slope of Zone 3 of Mountain No. 49, stared for a while at the noisy territory to the east of Xia Qing's territory, then turned and left.

The Broken-Waist Wolf, squatting in a big tree outside the isolation belt on the east side of Territory No. 17, glanced at the departing Handsome Giant Wolf, then lowered its head to lick its cub, telling it not to look around and to carefully watch the thing inside the human territory that made noise and could swallow plants and spit them back out.

Little Wolf Brother stopped watching the Handsome Giant Wolf, hugged the branch beneath it swaying in the wind, and continued observing the humans.

The Handsome Giant Wolf ran all the way to Mountain No. 55, only to find that the Head Wolf had taken the cubs out hunting. It fought the Black Wolf—the strongest fighter left guarding the pack—and won, but felt unsatisfied. So it turned west, heading off again to challenge the Western Wolf King.

Unexpectedly, halfway there, the Handsome Giant Wolf was blocked by three strong male evolved leopards.

These three leopards, allied together, were full of ambition and searching for a territory rich in prey.

One wolf and three leopards stared at each other for half a minute, then roared at each other to display their strength. Neither side was willing to back down. So a great battle for territory began.

When the sun rose, the scruffy Handsome Giant Wolf—having defended the pack's territory—licked the wounds on its body, hunted a several-dozen-jin herbivore, and ate its meal facing the rising sun.

As the rising sun gradually evaporated the moisture, the magnificent, colorful evolved forest gradually revealed its true colors, and countless life-or-death struggles for survival were playing out within.

Inside the territories of Northern Zone One, humans who slept late and rose early were also busy in the fields.

Full of energy, Xia Qing raised the small hoe in her hand, dug up a corn plant together with its main root, and placed it behind her.

This kind of heavy labor was child's play for Xia Qing, a high-level strength evolver. Soon, a neat row of corn plants over three meters tall lay behind her.

The Does Daigua monkey and Wolf Lao Er broke the corn cobs off the plants and put them into the carrying baskets beside them.

Once the two carrying baskets were full of corn, Sheep Eldest—who had been wandering about eating corn leaves—ducked down between the two baskets, stood back up, and shouldered the two big baskets of corn.

"Baa."

Hearing her companion's call, Xia Qing—who was cutting corn—immediately straightened up and turned around, praising it enthusiastically, "Eldest is really amazing. Wolf Lao Er and Does Daigua filling two baskets of corn so quickly is also amazing."

Sheep Eldest was satisfied. It carried the more than four hundred jin of corn cobs home, set them down in the yard, then kicked the baskets over with one hoof, poured out the corn, and carried the baskets back to Greenhouse No. 3.

After Sheep Eldest left, two red-flushed faces—one big, one small—peeked out from the weeds on the ruins south of Xia Qing's yard. The two creatures rubbed their little paws together and gazed longingly at the food inside the insect-proof net.

One person, one wolf, one sheep, and one monkey quickly finished harvesting the half-mu of green-light corn. Xia Qing put the last small bag of corn into the basket and led her companions to shift to Greenhouse No. 6, to knock the already-dried sunflower seeds off the flower heads.

This last small bag contained twelve premium corn cobs with Lu Ziqiang element content between 3.5 and 4‰—these were the ordinary optimized strains that had appeared in the half-mu green-light cornfield.

After four months of growth, 85% of the corn cobs produced by the green-light corn Y-3 had a Lu Ziqiang element content between 4 and 5‰, still within the quality range of green-light corn; 1% of the corn had improved in quality, becoming ordinary optimized strains; 14% of the cobs had a Lu Ziqiang element content reaching between 5 and 6‰, becoming yellow-light corn.

This excellent set of data was the result of using Yi Stones to protect the corn plants during the Lu Ziqiang rain period.

Xia Qing planned to wait a few more days for the corn growing on the one-and-a-half terraced fields used for breeding to fully mature before harvesting, just like the rice in the terraces.

The scent released by these food crops currently in their maturing stage probably wouldn't attract the attention of birds at high altitude.

But in case a bird tide really did occur, Xia Qing would have Chen Cheng and the others stand guard by the terraces to make sure nothing went wrong.

Knocking sunflower seeds off was skilled work—the hooves and paws of Eldest and Wolf Lao Er were no help. The Does Daigua monkey's little black paws could pull the seeds off, but it was terribly slow, so the main laborer for this farm task was Xia Qing.

The sunflower seeds, knocked loose, rustled down onto the rainproof cloth. The scent they released quickly attracted over a hundred small birds, which chirped and made a fuss outside Greenhouse No. 6. After Wolf Lao Er leaped up and caught a few of them, the annoying creatures finally scattered.

After carrying the knocked-off sunflower seeds home and putting them in the storage room, Xia Qing had just sat down inside the insect-proof net in the yard and shucked a few corn cobs when she received a call from Luo Pei.