Chapter 385: Surprising Trades and New Chickens

After chatting with Yang Jin, Xia Qing finally learned that the reason her idol believed Section Three’s plants and animals were top quality all came down to the soil.

Since that was settled, she could offer up her last Green Lantern plant. “I still have some dried toon sprouts left. There’s a Green Lantern toon tree in the territory with Devastation Element content at 2.4‰ and Evolution Element at 1. After soaking, they’re delicious scrambled with eggs. Want me to send some eggs along too?”

Zhang San sounded as lackluster as ever. “I can’t stand the taste of toon sprouts. Any Green Lantern chestnuts left?”

…

No wonder he was her idol. Truly picky.

Green Lantern chestnuts have low vitality, so Xia Qing can’t use them to grow new trees—she just eats them. But her idol probably has more plans in mind.

Xia Qing harvested 332 pounds of Green Lantern chestnuts this year. Two months ago, her idol traded for 292 pounds. There’s no way he finished them already.

Whatever he’s doing with them, she’d oblige. “I’ve got 24 pounds left. Want me to send them all over?”

Zhang San’s voice softened, almost warm. “No need. Just give me ten pounds. You go catch the chicken and Ji Li will come by to pick up the chestnuts.”

So her idol wanted to make chestnut chicken! The chestnuts were fine, but catching a chicken—now that would be tricky.

Xia Qing discussed it with Zhang San. “Third Brother, my territory only has three roosters left. If I lose one more, the fertilization rate of the eggs might drop and hatching could fail. How about I trade you my Green Lantern rooster for one from your territory?”

Zhang San asked, “But don’t you only have ten hens?”

“Not ten. Four died during the ultrasonic bird drive, so I’ve got six left. They’re all at peak laying season right now, so I can collect three or four eggs a day.” In other words, the hens couldn’t be eaten—they’d have to stick with the roosters.

She tried again. “Third Brother, how do you keep chickens in winter on your side? I want to build a greenhouse for mine, so they’ll keep laying even in the cold.”

Food on his mind, Zhang San was suddenly very agreeable. “I haven’t paid much attention to raising chickens myself. I’ll send Da Ya over to explain it to you.”

When Da Ya showed up outside the Northern Gate of Section Three with a huge cage packed with fifteen chickens, Xia Qing was blown away by Third Brother’s generosity.

She had a hunch Da Ya would bring some chickens, but she never thought it’d be this many. Was he about to swap out all her birds?

Da Ya handed over the surprisingly heavy cage, eyeing the newly built fence and iron gate. “That iron mesh wall of yours is tall and tight. You could let the chickens roam free in here. And with this wide gate, you don’t even need to grab them one by one from the cage. Just carry the whole thing in.”

Lugging the chicken cage, Xia Qing used her facial scan to unlock the Northern Gate, then invited Da Ya inside, curious. “Brother Ya, how many chickens do you have in your territory?”

Da Ya grinned. “Over a hundred. We’ve got more people, so you need more to eat. In your cage, there are eight hens from last year and the year before. They’re still laying, an egg every two or three days. The eggs are yours—Third Brother just wants the meat. The three roosters hatched this spring, they’re for trading with your roosters. Third Brother will come fetch one when he wants chicken.”

“The other three are young hens, also hatched this spring. Third Brother says they’re your payment for helping him raise chickens.”

“See that pure white young hen in the cage? That’s a high-grade evolved Green Lantern chicken, hatched this spring. Her bones are stronger, and her beak and claws are tough. Third Brother wants to exchange that hen for ten pounds of chestnuts. Does that work for you?”

Four hens at peak laying—and one of them is a high-grade evolved Green Lantern chicken?!

Meat from high-grade evolved animals is even better for promoting physical evolution than Green Lantern plants.

A freshly hatched Green Lantern pullet cost two thousand credits. A laying high-grade evolved Green Lantern hen would go for way more than four thousand. Trading one for ten pounds of chestnuts was a huge deal for her.

“Absolutely,” Xia Qing broke out in a wide smile. “Brother Ya, raising that hen couldn’t have been easy, huh?”

“You’re right, it wasn’t. She was hatched and raised in a special pen that blocked out Devastation Element before being let out here.” Da Ya thought his third brother was being too generous. “Honestly, when he told me to grab this one, I thought my ears were playing tricks on me.”

Her idol never said it, but Xia Qing understood why he was being so generous. Sending fifteen chickens, including a high-grade evolved hen, was his way of rewarding her for spreading those premium spinach seeds.

But since Third Brother didn’t say it aloud, Xia Qing left it at that—just a regular trade, as far as anyone else needed to know.

At the chicken yard, Xia Qing pointed at a black-feathered rooster and tried her luck with Da Ya. “Brother Ya, see this black rooster? He’s stronger than the others. Could I give you two roosters and a hen instead, so I can keep him?”

Da Ya’s eyes lit up as he stared at the black-feathered bird. “When this batch of Green Lantern chicks hatched in spring, we tested every one. We thought there were only three evolved chickens, but looks like we missed one. How’s his fighting ability?”

The black-feathered rooster had no idea he was fighting for his life now. He fluffed up his feathers, glaring fiercely at the cage Xia Qing had brought back—more precisely, at the three roosters inside.

Xia Qing replied, “Of all my roosters, he’s the toughest. Even the red lantern black-maned goose I used to keep couldn’t take him on. Should we toss the three roosters in there and see what happens?”

Da Ya’s three roosters had bright feathers and were even bigger than Xia Qing’s.

Once released into the yard, the three newcomers quickly picked a fight with her roosters. Feathers flew and squawking filled the air.

Old Goat heard the commotion and strolled out of the courtyard, narrowing his eyes in a not-so-friendly stare at Da Ya.

Da Ya flinched under that gaze. Xia Qing gave Old Goat’s head a soothing rub. “Look, we just got fifteen new chickens. All courtesy of Brother Ya. And with these eggs, we can cook all sorts of dishes.”

Old Goat, who never touched eggs, stopped glaring at the short and scrawny human. Instead, he turned his big head to watch the rooster brawl in the yard.

It didn’t take long before the black-feathered rooster beat all three newcomers. He strutted around, wings flapping, looking smug as he celebrated his victory.

Da Ya saw it clearly. “This black rooster may not be high-grade evolved, but he’s stronger than the average chicken. Keep him. I’ll take the other two roosters. I won’t bother with your laying hens since they’re all producing. Just consider yourself owing Third Brother a rooster.”

“Thanks so much, Brother Ya. I’ll give Third Brother two roosters next spring after I hatch new chicks.” Xia Qing was thrilled she got to keep her fiercest rooster.

She tossed a handful of shrunken corn kernels into the feeding trough, then quickly snatched up her two half-year-old roosters while the flock was distracted and handed them to Da Ya.

After that, Xia Qing released the twelve hens from the cage into the chicken yard.

The high-grade white-feathered hen wasted no time. As soon as she was out, she rushed ahead to peck the corn kernels, moving even faster than the black-feathered rooster.