Chapter 144: Race Against the Storm

After giving instructions Xia Qing grabbed the rope and hauled the rainproof tarp up, only to realize Boss Sheep hadn’t moved an inch.

You couldn’t really blame Boss Sheep; this wasn’t something it’d ever done before, so it didn’t know how to help. With the wind whipping up the cold and damp, Xia Qing—seasoned by ten years of surviving disasters—felt pressed for time but never once panicked. She pulled faster as she called out, “Boss, just stay put. Once I’ve secured this side I’ll come right over.”

Xia Qing tightened her grip and dragged the tarp from the east side of the greenhouse to the west, quickly tying down the ropes. As she ran toward Boss Sheep, she spotted the Alpha Wolf—its jaws clamped on the rope, tugging it up hard. Half the tarp was already raised.

“That’s it, Your Majesty! Just like that!” Xia Qing called out, delighted, then lunged to secure the tarp at the center of the greenhouse. Once that was done she rushed to Boss Sheep and Alpha Wolf, took the rope from the wolf’s mouth, and tied it off. The wind and rain were coming in fast. She didn’t have time to make everything perfectly waterproof—she just needed to shield the seedlings before moving to the next shed.

“Boss Sheep, you’re amazing! Your Majesty, you’re incredible! Come on, let’s hit the next one!”

With a wolf and a sheep in tow, Xia Qing dashed toward the lower slope where more fields waited, diving right back into the chaos.

Hu Zifeng’s Squad had run here from Plot One to help out. Seeing just one person, a wolf, and a sheep covering a greenhouse with a tarp in the howling wind left them totally stunned. Two of them even lost their footing and tumbled down the hillside.

Seriously—what kind of person, sheep, or wolf does something like this?

Is this… is this something a normal person’s even supposed to see?

Hu Zifeng was the first to snap out of it. He bellowed, “What are you all standing around for? Three to a group—grab tarps from the shed and cover those greenhouses! The rain’s about to hit! Move!”

“Yes, sir!” The nine team members split into three squads and sprinted toward the farm shed. Hu Zifeng gritted his teeth and charged for the greenhouses on the lower slope, shouting to Xia Qing from afar, “Xia Qing, I’m here to help!”

With Hu Zifeng’s squad here, Xia Qing finally relaxed a bit. “Captain Hu, secure that side of the tarp. I’ll take the other. When we’re ready, we pull together.”

“Got it.” Hu Zifeng braced himself and ignored the wolf, which looked anything but friendly, and quickly fastened a corner of the tarp. As he rose to help Xia Qing toss the rope, he realized—since he’d arrived, the wolf and sheep had just stood watching, leaving the work to them.

There was no time to worry about a wolf or a sheep now. Covering the greenhouse mattered most. Hu Zifeng picked up the pace.

After months of working farm jobs in Plot One and Territory Three, Hu Zifeng’s squad weren’t rookies anymore. Their teamwork had gotten sharp and their hands, quick.

Black clouds, whipped up by a wild wind from the east, rolled across the sky until not a trace of blue remained. As the temperature plunged, everyone felt it in their bones.

“Feels like hail—move it!”

Xia Qing yelled and ran with the last tarp in her arms, heading for the greenhouses that still sheltered sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkin seedlings. Scanning the others’ progress, she shouted, “Chen Zheng, over here—help me and Captain Hu cover this last greenhouse! The rest of you, once your sheds are done, go take care of the redlight peanuts, wild grapes, and pasture grass sheds!”

“Yes!”

Wind howled as everyone shouted back, their actions a blur. No matter how much Xiang rain element the hail packed, if it smashed up the vegetables, they were done for.

When hailstones the size of walnuts started thudding down, no one even had time to yell in pain—they just moved faster. Thankfully, with protective suits and masks on, hail only hurt a little.

After securing the last greenhouse, Xia Qing straightened up and took a long look at the pumpkin patch—now stripped of every healthy leaf by the hail. She shouted to Hu Zifeng, who was more than ten meters away, “Captain Hu, you guys should rest in the shed! I need to check on the wolves back home!”

The wind was blowing from the east, meaning the sheep shed—on the west side of the house with its door facing east—could be in trouble. When Xia Qing left that morning, the door had been left open. If nobody closed it, the hail would be pelting the inside by now.

The two ‘cash cow’ sheep inside had just started to recover. They couldn’t possibly survive being pummeled by egg-sized hail.

Xia Qing lifted her bamboo basket as a shield against the pounding hail and raced home. She found the sheep shed door closed, but had no idea how many wolves were in there.

At least the door was closed. Xia Qing immediately went to check on everything else.

The mesh screen she’d installed outside the security door was in shreds, but since the hail came from the east and her house had no east-facing windows, the glass was untouched.

Unfortunately, the solar panels on her roof had taken a hit. Xia Qing grabbed some boards and rushed up, covering the panels as best she could.

Next, she hurried to secure the fertilizer greenhouse, then ran inside and shut every door and window tight. She grabbed another tarp, hoisted her newly-made iron umbrella, and dashed out to cover the sheep shed.

The shed roof wasn’t as sturdy as the main house and wouldn’t stand up to the pounding. After covering it with the tarp, Xia Qing held her umbrella against the loud hail and knocked on the shed door, yelling, “You all okay in there?”

After calling out, Xia Qing braced herself against the wind and opened the door a crack, only to find five wolves and a sheep staring back with various expressions.

Perfect. Every one of them knew how to take care of themselves.

Quietly closing the door, Xia Qing used the tarp to block the raging wind and rain, then ran for the chicken enclosure.

The Greenlight Chickens might have been small, but they weren’t dumb—they were huddled in the covered part of the coop, safe from both rain and hail. Relieved, Xia Qing ran home, packed up a pile of food, threw it in her basket, and headed for the farm shed near the fields.

By now, the hailstones had shrunk to the size of pigeon eggs and were much softer. They shattered on the ground and mixed with the downpour, sweeping up torn grass and leaves as they rushed toward the river.

If Hu Zifeng’s squad hadn’t made it in time, most of Xia Qing’s crops would’ve ended up like those leaves and grass, washing down the river and right into Zhao Ze’s territory.

Technically, Hu Zifeng’s team was only supposed to defend Territory Three from outside threats and keep it safe—that was the deal they’d made with Xia Qing and Yang Jin, nothing in there about hailstorms, heavy rain, or even Xiang Rain.

Still, Xia Qing knew full well that Hu Zifeng’s team did everything they could for Territory Three out of gratitude for her letting Luo Pei stay and recover.

But she didn’t let herself act like the benevolent savior—after all, she’d only taken Luo Pei in because Yang Jin had offered enough in return. Now that they’d all rushed over to help, she really ought to thank them properly. In a year of disasters, nothing says thanks like a good meal.

When Xia Qing arrived at the farm shed with food, only three people were there—the rest were still patrolling the greenhouses in the storm.

Inside, Guan Tong took Xia Qing’s iron umbrella while Chen Cheng shared the latest news: “Lucky we moved fast, or the crops would’ve been done for. The ones in Territory Four got smashed up. Zhao Ze was just wailing for help in the Lord’s Channel, but everyone else was too busy to respond.”

“If you guys hadn’t come so fast, I’d be wailing too!” Xia Qing set her basket down and lifted the tarp. “Bet you haven’t eaten yet, huh? I brought some food from home. Just heat it up and it’s ready.”

Guan Tong collapsed the thirty-plus pound iron umbrella and leaned it against the wall. “Qing-jie, you made this umbrella too?”

As Xia Qing filled a big iron kettle with water and set it on the rack, she answered, “I had some leftover material from repairing the chopper two days ago, and remembered the kind of iron umbrella you guys used when we first went to Mountain Forty-Nine to dig up bamboo shoots. Figured I’d give it a shot and see if it worked. Didn’t expect to need it so soon.”