Chapter 261: A Mountain of Pine Cones and Plans for a New Coop

Hu Zifeng nodded. “Alright. The pine cones from the second Green Lantern pine are yours. You get half the haul.”

Tiger had told Xia Qing where the two pine trees were, and then Xia Qing had led the team to find them. According to the team’s resource-sharing rules, even if Xia Qing didn’t go the second time, she still deserved a share from the remaining tree.

Once Hu Zifeng’s squad left, Xia Qing hauled her share—two big bags of pine cones—back home. She brought down the cotton plants drying on top of the warehouse and moved them to the courtyard, making space to spread the pine cones out to dry.

Three days of hard work and the whole roof was covered in freshly harvested pine cones. Xia Qing couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear.

In years of disaster, is there anything better than a bounty of food?

Well, maybe getting even more food.

After carefully inspecting the mesh bug netting on the roof and making sure it was intact, Xia Qing sprayed both deodorizer and insect repellent before heading downstairs for lunch.

“Lunch” was a stretch—it was already three in the afternoon. She didn’t hold back today, not after all that work. Rice, meat, vegetables—everything was the best her territory had to offer.

Once she’d eaten her fill, Xia Qing went upstairs to collect the now sun-dried white cotton and peanuts, then put them into storage. Technically, she didn’t have to store cotton in the storeroom.

But with most of her storeroom still empty and protected by the Yi Stone, it would be a waste not to use the space.

She set the bundled cotton on the shelves, unable to hide the satisfaction blooming inside her. Her bright eyes sparkled with happiness. Heading back down to the tool room, she checked in on the water tank, where green lantern and yellow lantern fish swam energetically.

Since it was her first time digging a fish pond, Xia Qing had made a rookie mistake: putting the ponds too close to the river. After a third round of deadly rain, both ponds were washed out and merged with the river. She’d have to wait until winter, when the water level dropped, to rebuild the pond banks.

Or, she could just dig new ponds next year.

Seeing how well the springwater fish were doing in the tank, Xia Qing decided to wait until spring to put them back in the repaired ponds after they’d spawned.

The evolved fish had astonishing vitality. As long as they had enough food, these fish thrived even better in a tank filled with pure springwater. Keeping them indoors just cost her the power for a lamp—which, thanks to eight solar panels, was nothing for Xia Qing.

But she definitely didn’t want to bring the poultry inside. The smell was awful, and the roosters’ crowing in the morning was far too loud.

The chickens raised a racket. Even Tang Huai, and now Zhao Ze next door, knew Xia Qing kept chickens.

With the next couple of days free, Xia Qing planned to build a chicken coop next to the sheep shed—where the wolf and sheep pens’ old latrines were. She’d move the latrines south of the coop. Once built, Old Goat and Wolf would have to pass by the coop on their way out at night, which meant some extra patrols.

Once she finished her meal and took a break, Xia Qing got right to work. She drove the rotary tiller out of the garage, hooked up the cart she’d welded herself, and teamed up with Old Goat to haul red bricks and stones salvaged from the abandoned village.

The moment the rotary tiller revved up in Section Three, Tang Huai over in Territory Two was itching to act. He was smarter now—he didn’t go straight to Xia Qing, but asked someone else. “Shizhong, you there?”

Shizhong replied quickly, “Yep! Huai-ge, need something?”

Ever since using the medicine he traded from Zhang San, Shizhong’s joint pain had eased a lot. Even his voice sounded stronger.

Tang Huai asked, “I remember you said the other day—you know how to fluff cotton?”

Fluffing cotton meant using a bow-string tool to loosen cotton after it was de-seeded. After that, the cotton was pulled and smoothed into material ready for quilts and padded clothing.

Xia Qing, who was rarely online, hadn’t heard that Shizhong had this skill. She listened intently.

Shizhong explained in detail, “I saw people do it as a kid. I’ve been tinkering and finally made a cotton-fluffing tool. I’ve tried it out on two quilts—not as soft as what the factories in the Safe Zone turn out with machines, but still decently fluffy and usable.”

Tang Huai snorted. “Who told you the Safe Zone factories all use machines these days? If anything can be done by hand now, it is. No one’s wasting electricity, fuel, or machines. I want you to fluff five quilts—what’s your price?”

Shizhong asked, “You want single or double quilts? How heavy?”

“Double, warm enough for winter,” Tang Huai replied.

“Winters are colder now after the disaster. If you have heating, five pounds per quilt is enough; without it, you’ll want seven. Evolutionaries can go lighter.”

“Four quilts at seven pounds, one at five,” Tang Huai decided, then asked, “Got enough cotton in your territory? I want it white and odorless. I’ll pay Safe Zone rates for the cotton. What’s your labor fee for fluffing?”

This was Shizhong’s very first custom order since making his cotton fluffing tools. He eagerly asked, “I’ve got enough. Do you want just the fluffed cotton, or do you need the seeds as well?”

Once Tang Huai and Shizhong worked out the price, Xia Qing radioed in too. “Uncle Shi, when you have a moment, I’d like to have some cotton fluffed too.”

Following what Shizhong just described, a pound of raw cotton only becomes half a pound of fluffed cotton; he charged one point per pound for processing. Xia Qing planned to send all her white cotton over—enough for two winter quilts, two for spring and autumn, and the rest would be kept for other uses. She missed soft new cotton quilts and the warmth of bedding basked in sunlight.

Shizhong replied right away. “You home now? I’ll have Xiao Du pick it up.”

“I’m home. Let me get it packed and I’ll bring it down to the signpost,” Xia Qing said, dusting herself off. She left Old Goat in charge of watching the rotary tiller. “I’ll go home for the cotton and send it over to Shi Du. In a few days, we’ll have fresh quilts!”

Old Goat, who’d never even seen a quilt, squinted lazily. Xia Qing, with practiced ease, stuffed a compressed ration into the strap-on pouch to keep him content.

She kept the green lantern cotton and packed up the yellow lantern white cotton, carrying it all down to the signpost.

Just as Xia Qing reached the Territory Two signpost, Shi Du hurried over from talking with Tang Huai. “Qing-jie, let me take that.”

She handed over two bags of cotton. “This is a hundred pounds. Did you bring your points card and ID? I’ll transfer the payment for cotton processing right now.”

With Tang Huai standing nearby, Shi Du said little else. He hefted the cotton and left.

As Xia Qing turned to leave, Tang Huai called out, “Xia Qing, where were you this morning? Did you hear that bear roaring? Sounded like it was up on Hill Fifty—not far from your territory.”

Xia Qing was busy and didn’t have time for small talk. “If you’ve got something to say, just spit it out.”

Tang Huai gave her a crooked grin and winked. “Hey, what are you working on? Need a hand? I’m free now—I’ll even do it for free, no points required.”