Chapter 371: Smoothing the Land, Sowing the Seeds

After plowing the fields, you need to level them with a smoothing rake so the ground in each furrow is as flat as possible. This way, you won’t end up with fertilizer and water pooling in low spots and leaving some areas parched while others are waterlogged.

Xia Qing knew how important even ground was, but without much experience, she just eyed it and thought it looked flat enough, so she started seeding right away—only to discover the highs and lows when it was time to irrigate.

So her usual habit was to even out the field according to the water level the first time she irrigated. But since the seedlings were already planted, she could only adjust the soil between them, not the whole plot.

After harvesting her first crop, she went back and tried to fix the uneven areas, but she overcorrected and ended up swapping the highs and lows around.

During a Lords’ Alliance meeting, Xia Qing carefully asked how to properly flatten a field. If judging by sight alone wasn’t enough, she’d need to borrow a builder’s level from Zhong Tao by trading in some credits.

To her surprise, Shizhong introduced her to an ancient farming tool for land leveling: the smoothing rake.

The smoothing rake looked a lot like the big iron rake Xia Qing used to gather hay, except it was woven from thin willow branches about finger-thick, made specifically for leveling soil.

After seeing Shizhong’s smoothing rake at Territory Ten, Xia Qing headed home and made one of her own. Today she was finally going to put it to use.

Old Goat pulled the plow with ease and finished two and a half acres. Afterward, Xia Qing fed him some tender cabbage leaves and a compressed ration, unhitched the plow, attached the smoothing rake, and carefully worked the freshly plowed field with it three times.

After using the smoothing rake, Xia Qing looked at her farmland and couldn’t help but feel satisfied.

At two-thirty the next morning, Xia Qing got up as usual, soaked her rapeseed and wheat seeds in pesticide-treated pure spring water at the proper temperature to start soaking, then headed out for her night watch over the territory.

Lately, Xia Qing would go to bed around eight and get up after two, taking shifts with Hu Zifeng’s squad to guard the farm equipment and construction crew in the territory.

She had to harvest crops, take night shifts, and prep for autumn plowing—no way was she not exhausted. Luckily the Green Lantern spinach seeds on the terraces weren’t mature yet, so one premium nutrient shake a day kept her going.

Today, the construction crew would finish connecting the west and north walls of her territory. Tonight, Xia Qing would finally get a good night’s sleep.

After finishing the early dawn shift from three to six, Xia Qing ate breakfast and then it was time to plant.

Qi Fu and his wife showed up at Section Three, carrying a wooden seeder.

This seeder wasn’t the same as the one Xia Qing saw at Qi Fu’s land last time. Shizhong and Qi Fu had improved it—three iron tubes at its base, each with its own furrow opener. Seeds were poured into a hopper and dropped through the tubes straight into the grooves cut into the soil.

With three tubes, you could plant three furrows at once—a big jump in efficiency over a single-tube model. And all for just 30 credits. Xia Qing thought that price was more than fair.

Qi Fu explained why his wife had come along. “We don’t have a lot of seeds. We can’t afford to waste them, so your sister-in-law will go along and sow the seeds by hand—it’s more even than just scattering them straight from the hopper.” He chuckled. “Qing, you pull, I’ll steady it, and your sister-in-law will feed the seeds.”

“Thanks for your hard work, Sister-in-law,” Xia Qing said with no objections, looping the seeder’s strap over her shoulder and gripping the handles steady as she walked forward at the pace Qi Fu requested.

Qi Fu steered the depth of the furrow with both hands while Yuan Yan followed, dropping seeds into the hopper as they went. Together the three of them walked from one end of the greenhouse to the other, planting three rows of wheat in a pass.

Qi Fu set the seeder down and carefully dug up a bit of the groove at the edge to show Xia Qing. She looked at the neatly spaced seeds in the soil and sighed in admiration. “This is such a good seeder, and Sister-in-law’s hands are really steady.”

Yuan Yan smiled. The scars on her face from acid rain had faded a bit, her color looking much better. “You did the hard part—keeping it steady. The hopper barely wobbled at all.”

Qi Fu figured it was because Xia Qing had cleared out every big stone, so those three furrow openers never caught on rocks or drifted off line. That’s why everything had gone so smoothly.

Even though Xia Qing’s territory only had one worker and her fields weren’t very large, she put in the effort and used decent fertilizer. Now, comparing the first wheat crop, Qi Fu could see Xia Qing’s grains were much plumper than the ones from his own land.

If Xia Qing knew what Qi Fu was thinking, she’d just tell him: That’s because I paid a lot for premium wheat seeds. That’s the real reason for the difference.

Qi Fu brushed off his hands, set the seeder upright, and asked Xia Qing, “It looks crowded now, but only half our wheat seeds will sprout anyway—it won’t be so dense once it’s growing. Should we go ahead and keep planting like this?”

“Sounds good,” Xia Qing answered, grabbing the seeder and carrying on.

Taking your time pays off. Sowing is a crucial step, and it took all morning for the three of them to plant two acres of Yellow Lantern wheat, half an acre of Green Lantern wheat, and one acre of Yellow Lantern rapeseed.

Once the seeds were in the ground, Xia Qing finally felt at ease.

The three of them sat by the field for a water break. Yuan Yan asked, “Xia Qing, how many greenhouses do you plan to build?”

Xia Qing had it all figured out. “I’ll build two—one for veggies, one for chickens. As long as I grow enough greens to eat, I’m not going to overdo it. How about you, Sister-in-law?”

“I plan to keep a few workers over winter and set up ten greenhouses,” Yuan Yan replied. “Once they’re up, I’ll leave them standing—in spring, I can use them to start rice and veggie seedlings.”

Veggies would definitely fetch a better price in winter, so building more greenhouses couldn’t hurt. Xia Qing asked, “Did you manage to buy the greenhouse plastic sheets? I still have two extra ones. If you’re short, just take them.”

With regular Green Lantern spinach, Xia Qing had traded for five thick greenhouse sheets from Li Si and Tang Huai. The quality was much better than what Kuang Qingwei could get his hands on.

Since Xia Qing was offering her extras, Yuan Yan didn’t refuse. “It’s tight for me right now, but once I sell some veggies, I’ll give you the credits, deal?”

Xia Qing nodded and Qi Fu suggested, “Once we finish the greenhouses and walls, how about a trip into the Evolved Forest before it snows?”

Seeing her two allies looking at her with eager eyes, Xia Qing laughed. “Of course! Let’s head to the valley by Hill Fifty and try our luck.”

After Qi Fu and his wife left, carrying the seeder, Xia Qing went to check on the wall construction. The crew was installing the final 500 meters of the northern wall. At this pace, it would be finished by afternoon.

Feeling pretty pleased, Xia Qing made her way through wild grass and shrubs to the big Toon Tree under the high slope. She checked in with Old Goat, who was supervising. “Old Goat, I’m done planting. How about we head home for lunch?”

When they’d built the southern wall, Old Goat had glanced over a few times and lost interest, going back to his usual routine of eating and lounging.

But the moment the construction crew’s vehicles rumbled up to the Northern Barrier and got to work, Old Goat called out to Xia Qing. He made her stand with him, using the Toon Tree as cover and getting into a defensive stance.

There were still over two hundred meters between the Toon Tree and the Northern Barrier, and thick brush in between. The busy crew never realized a powerful, evolved sheep had already added them to its list of possible threats and was just waiting for a chance to send them flying.

That Green Lantern Toon Tree was Old Goat’s main food source. Xia Qing understood well why he wanted to protect it. She reassured him over and over that the crew wouldn’t touch his precious tree or even come close, but Old Goat wouldn’t relax. As soon as the crew showed up, he’d stay put to keep an eye on them.

With the construction noise still clanging away, Xia Qing actually had the nerve to ask him home for lunch. Old Goat didn’t even bother to glance at her, much less turn his head.