Chapter 366: Autumn Harvest and Uncommon Exchanges

Rest?

She’d already gotten some shuteye from ten last night until three in the morning. After downing a bottle of Premium Nutrient Shake Xia Qing felt fired up and ready to go. Rest was the last thing on her mind.

Hu Zifeng hadn’t headed back to Territory One either. He stuck around, tackling the weeds along the edge of the greenhouse, ready to give Xia Qing a hand.

Autumn was the time when wild grasses sent up seed heads—barely emerged sprouts, no higher than a pinky, would quickly sprout heads filled with seeds.

Those seeds would fall into the earth, and with the right warmth and humidity, they’d sprout and take root, carpeting the ground in weeds.

Anyone who worked the land knew the drill: regular weeding in and around the fields was a must, keeping those seeds out of the soil as much as possible. The cleaner the field, the fewer weeds there’d be to fight for nutrients with the next crops.

The land never lies. Every bit of hard work a farmer puts in gets remembered by the earth—and always pays off.

Of course, that only holds true if you treat the earth right. Skip a step and you’ll have pests and disease, and your fields will be barren.

When Xia Qing finally cleared the weeds from the sunflower terraces, it was already nine in the morning. The sun hung high overhead, with the last of the dew long since burned away.

She called Hu Zifeng over, and together they tugged a double-layered rain cover up onto the iron frame above the vegetable terraces, handling it with care.

The spinach seeds were nearly ripe. One wrong move—a torn leaf, even—and the spinach would fire off seeds in every direction. That’s why Hu Zifeng was staying behind in Section Three, so he could help Xia Qing protect the precious spinach in the terraces and quickly pack it up and bring it back to Territory One after harvest.

Once the rain cover was in place, Xia Qing slipped her long-handled shears under the cover and snipped off a single spinach leaf. No seeds came flying—proof the spinach here wasn’t ready. They lifted the cover again, letting the sun shine down so everything could keep growing.

Next up, the two of them headed to the greenhouse by the reservoir to check out the second batch of High-Yi Element Spinach. Unlike the terrace spinach on the high slope, this batch was meant for Territory Seven.

Snipping off a leaf sent a barrage of seed pods pinging against the rain cover—the seeds here were ripe and had exploded.

Catching each other’s eyes, Xia Qing and Hu Zifeng broke into grins.

Once the rattling stopped, they lifted the cover and started clearing. They first cut away the spinach stalks riddled with holes from the seed blast and shook them out, then gathered the seeds scattered over the plastic mulch, and finally peeled up the mulch to dig out the spinach roots.

Thanks to what she’d learned last time, Xia Qing was well-prepared this go around—the vast majority of seeds were saved. From the three hundred spinach seeds they planted, one hundred fifteen plants made it to maturity: seventy-six female, thirty-eight male. The final harvest: 8,420 spinach seeds.

Xia Qing was more than pleased with the results. Without hesitation, she got in touch with their buyer, Zhang San. “Third Brother, my spinach is ready. The seeds and stalks have both been harvested. Should I deliver them now?”

“I’ll send Ji Li to pick them up,” Zhang San replied, sounding disinterested—or maybe Xia Qing’s spinach just wasn’t enough to excite him anymore.

When your idol’s in a bad mood, even the most loyal fan knows to keep quiet.

After hanging up, Xia Qing kept one eye on the clock as she lugged the spinach stalks and seeds to the Northern Barrier for inspection. “Two thousand spinach seeds, one hundred sixteen jin of spinach stalk. Ji, I’ll leave these with you to pass on to Third Brother.”

Once spinach plants start setting seeds, each one can grow over sixty centimeters tall and weigh around a jin apiece.

Thanks to the first vegetable crop’s seeds, the lords planted out a ton of greens in their territories. With production up, vegetable prices dropped sharply, though they still cost more than most folks could afford.

The Safe Zone bought vegetables in bulk, processed them, then sold the finished products to the residents. Now the rations people got tasted better and filled them up a bit more than before.

Had Xia Qing sold a regular batch of Green Lantern Spinach to the Safe Zone, she’d get only 3,480 credits. But what she’d grown was High-Yi Element Spinach—and per her deal with Zhang San, these spinach stalks could be traded for thirty-eight bottles of Premium Nutrient Shake, credited to her account.

The shakes last for two months—plenty of time for Xia Qing to get her greenhouse going and plant the next spinach crop. She was healthy enough not to need a shake every day, but Er Gou was weak, and the injured wolves needed some nutrients too.

Ji Li finished checking the goods, then asked, “Our lord’s appetite has been poor lately. Do you have any Green Lantern food in your territory he hasn’t tried? Would you consider a trade?”

“Even the Green Lantern Sweet Potato I sent over isn’t to Third Brother’s liking?” Xia Qing pressed, a bit worried.

Ji Li nodded.

If even the mouthwatering Green Lantern Sweet Potato couldn’t tempt her idol, what would? Xia Qing went through her Green Lantern foods in her head—only strawberries, Jerusalem artichokes, and toon sprouts hadn’t been sent yet.

But strawberries and toon sprouts were out of season now. Xia Qing didn’t hesitate. “Hang on, Ji. I’ll grab you something.”

The Green Lantern Jerusalem artichokes weren’t fully ripe, but with her idol off his food, Xia Qing—the ultimate fan—had to give her best. She dug up the largest of just four plants and, on her way home, caught the fattest rooster for Ji Li as well.

Ji Li didn’t mention that Territory Seven also had Green Lantern Chickens. After confirming what Xia Qing wanted in return, he took everything back to his lord.

Can’t forget the teacher either. Xia Qing went back to the chicken yard, picked the second plumpest rooster, trussed it up, and handed it to Hu Zifeng. “Bring this back for Luo Pei—it’ll help with his recovery.”

“Once we’ve got the refugees settled,” Hu Zifeng said happily, “let’s team up and wander the mountains for a bit. I’ll have Luo bag you some rabbits to keep.”

Xia Qing had ventured into the Evolved Forest a few times. She’d spotted rabbits but never managed to catch one alive. Catching them was beyond her, but Luo Pei could do it easy: an expert marksman, if he shot for a rabbit’s leg, that’s exactly where the bullet would land—not the head.

After Hu Zifeng left for Territory One, Xia Qing headed home to fix lunch. Only the Black-Feathered Rooster puffed up and charged her by the chicken yard, clucking and crowing. The rest of the chickens were busy scratching for bugs or squabbling as usual.

Laughing, Xia Qing greeted the noisy rooster, then stopped to check on Er Gou, who kept sentinel over the corn from the rooftop. Only then did she go inside, bringing out mung bean and white flour she’d milled herself, kneading them together into dough.

For lunch, she planned to make mung bean noodles with pumpkin and rabbit meat sauce. The pumpkin she’d grown herself, the rabbit meat courtesy of the wolf pack.

Since July, the wolves had brought more than twenty types of game. Xia Qing didn’t recognize them all, but after this long, she’d worked out one thing:

Herbivores had tender, flavorful meat. Carnivores were tougher and not nearly as tasty.

Since the evolution, people were definitely better off eating herbivores.

After polishing off her steaming bowl of noodles, Xia Qing found herself in a great mood.