Chapter 638: Clearing Weeds and New Opportunities

Xia Qing stood on the wide iron-toothed smoothing rake, letting Old Goat pull her along as they cleared out Devastation Grass roots from the territory. Just then, she heard Tang Huai post a new message in the Lords’ channel:

“Anyone heard? The Safe Zone has decided to abandon the Western Territory. They’ll be opening a brand new territory to our south.”

Xu Juan had already passed this news on to Xia Qing, so she barely reacted. Still, she found herself worrying about the mother and son living alone in the southern town ruins.

The other lords, hearing the news for the first time, erupted. “Brother Huai, will the new land be right beside ours, like in past years?”

Tang Huai replied, “Not sure yet.”

Qi Fu joined in, “I doubt it’ll be right next door. That southern area’s never been farmland. The terrain is uneven and the soil layer’s too thin.”

But Zhao Ze saw it differently. “I bet they’ll develop right next to us in the south. Our territory’s the safest. Even if there isn’t much farmland, we could clear space or plant fruit trees on the hillsides and set up terraces.”

Wen Nengjie voiced a more practical concern. “If the new land borders our territory, are we expanding the iron mesh wall?”

No one could answer that but Territory Eight, and those guys hated small talk—so the question just hung there.

Not satisfied with the silence, Wen Nengjie went back to drumming up work. “Haven’t cleaned out all the Devastation Grass yet? If you don’t, you’re gonna get wild grass seeds taking root! Any territory need hired weeders? Five credits a day, meals not included, we guarantee a thorough job.”

To Wen Nengjie’s surprise, Xia Qing spoke up. “Jie, how much land can one person weed in a day? And if your workers get injured on the job—how do we handle that?”

Section Six was short on people. Meanwhile, Territories Four and Five planted more fields every year. Xia Qing didn’t want to trouble her allies for weeding help any longer. She’d decided to hire workers from Wen Nengjie’s territory.

Wen Nengjie responded right away: “One person can clear at least three acres a day. We bring our own protective suits, tools and food. If we get hurt—not counting being attacked by people from your territory or by Devastation Evolution plants or big beasts—it’s on us. Sister Qing, how many people do you need and for how long?”

Three acres of Devastation Grass per person per day was already hard work. Xia Qing replied, “I need eight people for five days. Can you start tomorrow?”

Wen Nengjie couldn’t hide his delight. “Absolutely. I can bring my team to the south gate of Section Three by 6:30 tomorrow morning. Thanks for the business, Sister Qing!”

Tang Huai chimed in too. “Xia Qing, cleared out all the rats in your territory yet? Want me to come help you catch them? No charge!”

Everyone else was speechless…

Xia Qing stopped Old Goat, knocked the Devastation Grass roots from the rake tines and tossed them onto a nearby pile before calmly answering, “I have Evolved Wolves here. Rats are all gone. How many acres do you plan to plant in Territory Two this year?”

Tang Huai replied at once, “Twenty acres, all wheat.”

Wen Nengjie jumped in, “If you plant twenty acres of wheat and it turns out well, you could harvest over ten thousand pounds. Huai, got any extra wheat seed? Maybe we could trade a few pounds.”

Tang Huai just laughed, “If I had spare seeds, you think I’d only plant twenty acres of wheat?”

That left Wen Nengjie at a loss. No one lacked land, but good grain seed was scarce these days. Technically, Wen Nengjie could buy wheat seeds from the Territory Management Department, but last winter’s batch of Yellow Lantern Rapeseed had been such garbage, he was determined not to buy from them again unless he had no other choice.

Otherwise, months of sweat would earn him nothing and all the effort would be wasted!

You have to start early if you want good results. Sure enough, next morning at 6:30, Wen Nengjie arrived on time with his seven-man crew. He showered every corner of Section Three with praise—even boasting that the wild grass wall here grew straighter and thicker than the one in his own territory, prompting Tang Huai, busy digging for insects in Territory Two, to roll his eyes in exasperation.

Suddenly, Xia Qing understood how her Idol must have felt. With a blank face, she cut Wen Nengjie off and gave her orders: “This whole area south of the line marked in lime is your work zone. Don’t cross that line. There’s an Evolved Wolf inside my territory—if you pass the boundary and it bites or kills anyone, I’m not responsible. Any snakes or small critters you catch while working, you can keep.”

Not every area south of the lime line needed Wen Nengjie’s crew. The flat, open ground to the south had already been mown with the rotary tiller. Old Goat helped clear away the leftover grass roots, but what remained were bumpy ruins of the village—places where neither machine nor sheep could get the job done, making outside help necessary.

“No problem, Sister Qing, you can count on us. We won’t cross the line. We’ll make this whole patch spotless!” Wen Nengjie replied, then grinned and asked sheepishly, “Any leftover wheat seed? Our winter wheat flopped, so we’re hoping to grow more spring wheat. Otherwise my brothers will be living off ration bars again come fall.”

Xia Qing shook her head. “I planted all the seeds I saved last year. This spring I only managed to trade for thirty pounds—enough for less than two acres.”

She meant it. After helping the Wolf Pack drive off the Monkey Troop a few days ago, Yang Jin secured her twenty pounds of Green Lantern Wheat seeds from Base. Back in December, Tan Junjie had brought her another ten pounds of Yellow Lantern Wheat seeds from Red Eleven Base. So, now Xia Qing had only thirty pounds in total.

Wen Nengjie asked again, “What about extra Green Lantern Pumpkin seeds?”

He knew how to choose a good crop. Green Lantern Pumpkins were easy to grow, had high yields, and served as both grain and vegetable—and kept well in storage. Xia Qing nodded, “How many Green Lantern Pumpkin seeds do you want to trade for?”

Last year, Xia Qing had five Green Lantern Pumpkin vines, each giving 6–10 pumpkins—and each pumpkin contained 200–500 seeds. She’d never run short of seeds.

Still, a lot of lords got pumpkin seeds from the management department last spring, so this year’s price had dropped. What used to fetch 20 credits a seed could now be sold for just 4.

Wen Nengjie’s eyes lit up when he heard Xia Qing was willing to trade. “Could I swap for 200?”

Xia Qing didn’t hesitate. “Sure, I’ll get them for you now.”

She wanted to get him the seeds early because it was almost time to start seedling. Wen Nengjie expressed his thanks a dozen times. After watching Xia Qing cross the lime line, he called loudly for his brothers to get to work.

After handing over the Green Lantern Pumpkin seeds, Xia Qing hopped on the rotary tiller. With Old Goat and Er Gou, she headed out to haul fertilizer and spread it on the newly opened fields, getting ready to turn the earth and sow new crops.

The moment the machine chugged to life, Wen Nengjie, still weeding, straightened up and gazed northward with envy.

Aside from Territory Fourteen, Xia Qing had the fewest fields, yet her days were the best of anyone here.

Anyone would be jealous—but Wen Nengjie had long since given up on the idea of stealing or fighting for more.

Now, all he wanted was to stick close to Xia Qing—just like Zhao Ze and Kuang Qingwei—and finally enjoy a peaceful life.