Chapter 309: Bargains, Cameras, and the Evolving Lunch Menu

Xia Qing brushed the dirt off her clothes and called out to Old Goat, “I’m heading up to the high slope to pick some veggies. You and Er, stay here. There’s someone up there.”

Tang Huai, who had been waiting for Xia Qing with mounting frustration, finally saw her arrive. He huffed, “Xia Qing, that’s just too much.”

Xia Qing couldn’t care less about trying to figure out what worm-diggers thought. With a blank face, she asked, “What is it?”

Tang Huai shook out his aching legs and, feeling rather smug, said, “Oil press. Interested?”

Oil press? I already have one, but you can never have too many. “How do you want to trade?”

With a grin like they were the best of friends, Tang Huai went on, “This type of compact, household oil press—I got it from Hui Two Base, cost me 2,900 credits. Four Green Lantern eggs and it’s yours. I barely made one hundred credits out of all that effort. See how fair I am?”

Hui Two Base sat in a region rich with mineral resources. Before the disaster, it was home to one of Huaguo’s top two home appliance factories. Even after things settled down, its home appliance production is still first-rate. The fridge Xia Qing traded with Zhang San for, and the large temperature-controlled equipment in the basement, all came from Hui Two Base.

Xia Qing nodded. “Okay, but I need to save up enough eggs for my trade with Territory Nine first, then I’ll trade with you.”

“No problem. Thanks to some harebrained decision by one of our base’s managers, these home oil presses are off the market at the moment. Just don’t go blabbing about it.” Having finished his main errand, Tang Huai leaned in, turning up the charm.

Tang Huai took another step closer, as if he wanted to write ‘sincere’ on his palm and stick it to Xia Qing’s forehead so she’d feel just how earnest he was.

“Scarcity makes things valuable. Right now, only you and Third Brother have edible eggs in this area, that’s why hatching eggs fetch such a high price. If you take advantage of this fall and next spring, you can swap out your bramble fence for a metal one.”

No one flatters for no reason—there’s always an angle. This guy must be scheming something. Xia Qing remained impassive. “You guys sell metal fencing, then?”

Damn it, is Xia Qing really a woman? Look at all he’s doing, and she still doesn’t appreciate his sincerity?

Tang Huai gave up on fawning. As he left, he dropped his voice low, “The wolf hunters are still in my territory. Be careful.”

Xia Qing had already seen Tang Zhengsu’s helicopter take off, so she knew not everyone from the Su Feng Squad had left with Jiang Xiong Squad.

After watching Tang Huai head east along the Northern Barrier, Xia Qing nodded and started down, opening a surveillance app on her phone and focusing on the barrier’s camera feeds. She’d realized Tang Huai’s friendliness was just an act—except for that last warning. So Xia Qing decided to check the cameras for the real watchers.

Half a minute after Tang Huai left, two people in camo protective suits showed up on the surveillance feed. One paused near the northern edge of her territory, peering inside.

Xia Qing immediately took a screenshot and zoomed in on the person’s face.

These two-thousand-credit cameras weren’t a waste. Even with a protective mask on, Xia Qing recognized the man’s identity by his greedy eyes behind the mask.

It was Qian Lin, the level-four Strength-Based Evolutionary from the Su Feng Squad. Xia Qing had heard his voice a couple days earlier when eavesdropping on Tang Zhengsu in the south.

Why did the Su Feng Squad leave Qian Lin behind in her territory? Or rather, what did Tang Huai really want to warn her about?

Xia Qing spent about twenty minutes weeding in the high slope terraces before she got a text from Ji Li.

Once Ji Li delivered the camera and the oil press, Xia Qing tried to transfer him some credits, but Ji Li waved her off. “Our lord says no need for credits. Just pay in Green Lantern meat.”

Xia Qing knew what Zhang San meant—he figured the wolves were back in her territory, so soon there’d be more Green Lantern meat. Still, Xia Qing had her doubts—the only one back this time was Er Gou.

She installed the camera about five meters above the spring cave, wedged into a large rock. From there, it covered the entire shady slope and its terraces. No matter which way people or animals came in, if they approached the terraces or the unpolluted spring, the camera would catch them.

Plus, from that angle, the camera couldn’t see the cave entrance. That meant whenever Xia Qing fetched water, it stayed off the record. That gave her plenty of peace of mind.

After putting up camera number five, Xia Qing stuffed the oil press into her big backpack. She was about to check her walkie-talkie to see what the other lords were having for lunch when a loud yell carried over from the neighboring territory—Zhao Ze’s mother shouting, “No food until the work’s done!”

Xia Qing raised an eyebrow. Lately, Four Section had been echoing with Zhao Ze’s Mother’s scolding. In fact, she’d been more active on the lord channel than a marsh. Looked like there’d been a change of leadership there.

If work wasn’t finished in Four Section, there’d be no lunch—good thing Xia Qing had already finished her own chores. She turned up the walkie-talkie and heard Zhu Li from Section Six. “I’m planning purslane congee and coarse grain flatbreads for lunch today.”

Hearing Zhu Li’s voice, Xia Qing checked the time and headed back toward the Northern Barrier. It’d soon be time for the Inspection Team’s regular patrol—she wanted to ask them to pass a message to Section Six.

Just moments after that shouting match, Zhao Ze’s Mother was sugar-sweet on the lord channel. “Zhu Li, do you still have tender purslane left?”

Zhu Li replied, “A fresh batch just sprouted in the cornfield. In a few days, it’s harvest time, so we might as well eat it instead of letting it go to waste. Auntie, what are you eating today?”

Zhao Ze’s mother sighed. “Everyone in my territory is lazier than the next. It’s been all morning and they still haven’t finished watering the veggies. No time to make lunch, so it’s ration bars today.”

From her spot next to Four Section, Xia Qing could just make out Zhao Ze’s wailing.

Madam Shi from Ten Section chimed in as well. “Been feeling a little under the weather lately, so I’m picking some bitter lettuce to cook porridge, and making a few pumpkin cakes. I’m honestly sick of plain steamed pumpkin.”

Bitter lettuce is a wild plant with little yellow flowers and a sharp, bitter taste. Xia Qing wasn’t a fan, but plenty of people liked it for its flavor.

In August, pumpkin vines were seen as a nuisance. Now, with harvest coming, they’re the mainstay of every territory’s table. It’s not that no one wants to sell pumpkins for credits—it’s that every territory has them, so the purchase price has dropped from 10 credits a kilo down to six. So everyone prefers to sell other vegetables, keeping the pumpkins for themselves.

But like Madam Shi said, no matter how good pumpkin is, eating it every day gets old. The lords have started experimenting with all sorts of new pumpkin dishes.

Yuan Yan from Section Five shared her latest recipe. “First, peel and slice pumpkin, sun-dry it until almost completely dry, steam for five minutes, then dry it again. The result is a lot like sweet potato strips. This way, bag it up and vacuum seal it—it’ll keep for two or three months easy.”

For lords without proper food storage, finding new ways to preserve food long-term is crucial. Everyone peppered Yuan Yan with questions, and Xia Qing made careful notes of the details.