Chapter 96: Xia Qing's Potential and Perseverance

Answering Zhang San's question, Li Si's voice gained a hint of warmth. "I want to taste the spinach leaves Third Brother likes."

The others picked up an unusual note in that answer. Although Zhang San was cool toward Li Si, the two clearly knew each other well. Just what was the relationship between them?

After the mushroom powder trade wrapped up, Xia Qing sent Shi Zhong a water celery trade invitation. "Uncle Shi, would you trade your green-light water celery roots? I'd like to swap green-light Chinese chives with roots for them."

Xia Qing and Shi Du were about the same age, so she didn't call Shi Zhong "Brother" along with the other lords, but addressed him as an elder instead.

Shi Zhong asked Xia Qing, "Xia Qing, I've already traded for green-light Chinese chives. Do you have anything else?"

"Nothing else." Of course Xia Qing had more, but she couldn't say so in front of Li Si.

Shi Zhong's head was spinning from his son tugging at him. He brushed the boy off and asked with a chuckle, "Xia Qing, do you have a lot of wheat in your territory? If you do, once you've harvested it, could I trade some water celery seeds for a bit of wheat? I'm raising a pig at home, and no amount of grain can keep up with the way he devours it."

From Shi Zhong's tone, it was clear the "pig" he mentioned was his son Shi Du. Evolved humans really did eat far more than ordinary people. Xia Qing agreed with a smile. "Once I've harvested the wheat, we'll work out the trade amount."

"No rush, the water celery won't be setting seed for a while yet." Shi Zhong's voice was warm and caring. "When you're too busy to handle everything alone, just let Xiao Du come over and lend you a hand."

Xia Qing wasn't foolish; she understood exactly what Shi Zhong meant. She made her stance clear at once. "Thank you, Uncle Shi. I'm a strength-type evolved human too. This bit of farmwork is still well within my ability."

Once Xia Qing had put it that way, anyone with sense would understand. Qi Fu, afraid Shi Zhong would be embarrassed, clumsily changed the subject. "It's been several days now, why hasn't the person from Plot Eight said a single word? Could his walkie-talkie be broken?"

Kuang Qingwei played along with a laugh. "Maybe. Feng-ge, have you met the person from Plot Eight?"

Plot One was directly north of Plot Eight, making it the closest of all their territories to Plot Eight.

Hu Zi Feng replied, "I really haven't noticed."

After that, the channel fell silent.

By the established custom, when lords exchanged supplies, the Inspection Squad helped pass things along. Xia Qing counted out ten spinach seeds from the ones Zhang San had given her and handed them to the Inspection Squad.

The one who came to deliver the mushroom powder to Xia Qing was Hu Zi from the Inspection Squad.

Hu Zi handed Xia Qing two bags of mushroom powder and a double-sided printout of the composting procedure, lowering his voice. "Sister Qing, this trade for mushroom powder was a real bargain."

Each bag of mushroom powder weighed four jin, and a detailed composting procedure came attached. The green-light spinach seeds she'd traded with were given free by Zhang San, so it really was a bargain. Xia Qing nodded.

Today's trade took place under the signpost at the south end of the territory, and Xia Qing wasn't wearing her protective mask. From Hu Zi's angle, he could clearly see her long, thick lashes and her straight little nose.

Though Xia Qing's skin was a dark red, in Hu Zi's eyes she was still a beautiful woman who made his heart race. Hu Zi's heart pounded as he quietly confessed, "Whenever Sister Qing's field work gets too much, just call on me anytime."

Xia Qing's already expressionless face grew even more distant. "I can handle it."

Hu Zi remained cheerful. "I know, just letting sis know. Sis should head back now, be careful—walls have ears."

Tang Huai, who had come over upon hearing voices to pick up composting mushroom powder…

Xia Qing took the mushroom powder and, walking back, read through the composting procedure—this was precious material.

Inside the safe zone, even making fertilizer counted as skilled work, only given to those with experience. Xia Qing had just started her first year of high school right before the catastrophe, and after it she never had the chance to study again. She had no skills whatsoever, so she could only do hard labor on the construction crew.

This material was clearly written by a professional. The composting tools, conditions, and procedure were all explained with precise data—for instance, the wooden bins for composting had to be made of insect-resistant evolved camphor wood, pear wood, or beech wood, and the bin boards had to be no less than 1.5 centimeters thick, and so on.

Anyone who could read would understand this procedure.

But actually composting according to it required skill.

As it happened, Xia Qing had already learned every skill it required.

Xia Qing, who knew carpentry, returned home in high spirits and quickly built five standard compost bins. Then she hauled out of the warehouse four large bundles of hay she had pulled from the hillside planting zone over the past few months and dried in the sun. Most of this hay was yellow-light, a small portion green-light. She had cut and sun-dried it for storage, originally intending it as dry feed for Sheep Boss, but now she was using it for composting!.

Sheep Boss's fodder could be prepared later.

Following the procedure's instructions, Xia Qing briskly set up a composting shed in a spot in the yard that was moisture-proof, sun-proof, dry, and well-ventilated, to hold the compost bins. A composting shed differed from a vegetable shed in that the ground also had to be covered with a rainproof cloth, to keep pests from entering the bins through the soil and ruining the compost.

During the day, the composting shed was covered with insect-proof netting; at night, once the temperature dropped below twenty degrees, it had to be covered with rainproof cloth to retain warmth.

Then came a detailed explanation of the methods and key points for turning the compost and controlling moisture during the process.

Xia Qing felt she owed her idol an apology, because as she followed the procedure step by step, her good feelings toward Li Si grew once more.

After trading Bai Mao's chicken-dropping vine for a thousand jin of crab-shell fertilizer, Xia Qing found that the crab shells had already been ground into powder, with no unpleasant smell.

To be cautious, Xia Qing steeped half a cup of crab-shell powder in hot spring water, then used an air detector to test the steam and confirm no toxic gases were produced. She then used a Harmful Element detector to test the crab-shell water; the result was red-light, but the Harmful Element content did not exceed two parts per thousand—not high.

Of course, this result was related to the crude water-soak sampling method Xia Qing had used.

After these two tests, Xia Qing sprinkled worm castings and crab-shell powder into the ditch she'd dug the day before, then smoothed it over. The top-dressing for the cotton's flowering stage was complete.

Next, Xia Qing also top-dressed the vegetables in the garden and the flowering mung bean vines with crab-shell powder.

The potatoes, which were gearing up to flower, would be top-dressed in a few days once they bloomed; the pumpkin vines, which showed no sign of flowering at all, couldn't be top-dressed, because Xia Qing was afraid they'd grow even more wildly.

After the top-dressing was done, Luo Pei notified Xia Qing that the evolved wolf crisis was over and told her to continue training at Mountain Forty-Nine.

Every morning Xia Qing went to learn various skills from Luo Pei; in the afternoon she entered her private evolved forest, clearing out Harmful evolved creatures while practicing.

She feared neither hardship, exhaustion, danger, nor injury. Whatever way Luo Pei told her to train, she trained that way, and her progress was rapid.

Luo Pei, the exceedingly strict instructor from the First Military Academy, gave Xia Qing an extremely high evaluation:

Xia Qing's potential and perseverance are in no way inferior to Yang Jin, the finest student at the First Military Academy. It's only a pity that the time she's spent receiving professional, systematic training is far too late and far too short; otherwise, the top ten of Hui City's combat power rankings would certainly include her name.