Chapter 737: Alliance Orders and the Day of Rain

Tan Qi, the young lord of Territory Fifteen, gazed eagerly at Yue Haiying. In just a few days, she would be heading to the Evolved Forest for field training with Aunt Yan and Sister Qing, and she desperately needed that kind of pesticide.

Yue Haiying nodded. Territory Fifteen definitely wanted to buy, but exactly how much? That would have to wait for discussion back home.

Tang Heng asked, “Sister Qing, can I split my order of Nutrient Source? Like, pick up some now and then get the rest next month or the month after?”

Xia Qing shook her head. “No, you have to take it all at once. Third Brother is too busy.”

Huo Lei chimed in as well. “Qing, I bought some of that high-quality Premium Nutrient Shake made with this pesticide. Can my family safely use it?”

Xia Qing nodded. “Yes. As long as you don’t give away the source and don’t trade it for credits, it’s fine.”

After the meeting, the lords left Territory Five in batches, heading off in different directions.

Zhao Ze’s mother, Zhao Ze, Xia Qing, and the Tang brothers walked west along the Northern Barrier. Though everyone was brimming with excitement about the Alliance, they kept it inside—no one discussed Alliance business out in the open, just in case someone overheard.

The Zhao family reached home first and slipped into Territory Four.

Tang Huai stopped at the northern gate of Section Three and refused to go any further. “Xia Qing, would you let that little honey badger out for a while?”

The honey badger Flathead, who used to roam Hill Fifty, had discovered there were no predators like leopards or wolves on Hill Forty-Nine. It decided to stick around, refusing to leave. Every day, it would get into a tussle with the young sheep from Section Three.

Xia Qing shook her head. “It doesn’t listen to me, so I can’t call it out.”

“Sister Qing, we’re heading back now,” Tang Heng said. He was curious about the honey badger but cared more about the Nutrient Source. He tugged his brother away to discuss how much to buy.

Not long after Xia Qing entered her own territory, Kuang Qingwei showed up.

“Hey, Sis Xia Qing, let me ask you something. If you can’t tell me, just pretend I never said a thing.”

Worried that someone outside or a lurking Auditory Evolutionary might overhear, Kuang Qingwei pulled out his phone and typed out a message for Xia Qing:

‘That pesticide, the pharmaceutical factory’s going to produce it in about two months, right?’

No wonder they say merchants are sharp.

When Tang Heng asked about splitting pickups during the meeting and she explained it wasn’t possible, Kuang Qingwei immediately realized the pesticide would soon hit the market. That meant Third Brother wouldn’t have to handle custom orders himself.

Xia Qing typed her reply right on her phone:

‘Right. Once the second batch of X-2 is planted and sprouted, production will start.’

Kuang Qingwei’s eyes lit up. “When that pesticide goes public, it’ll sell even better than Antifungal No. 3. Mini juicers are gonna jump at least forty percent in price. I’m planning to stock up. Want to invest, Sis?”

Territory Six had been hit by disaster last year. Both leaders got injured, and most of their stocked goods were ruined. Life was hard for Kuang Qingwei and his wife.

So Xia Qing didn’t buy into this sure-win investment. She let the couple have this one for themselves. How much they made would depend on their own skills.

While Kuang Qingwei was already drafting up plans to raise credits and stockpile, the other lords were trading messages or drawing figures in the dirt to decide how much Nutrient Source to order for their own territories.

In Territory Eleven, Huo Lei could make decisions on his own. After settling on a number and sending it to Qi Fu, he immediately fired off a message to his son:

‘Busy?’

Huo Zhun wasn’t too busy, so he called his dad back right away. “Dad, what’s up?”

Huo Lei frowned. “Isn’t this work time? Why do you have so much free time? Don’t tell me you’re slacking off now that you’re thinking about retiring? As long as you’re a soldier, you should do your job right, understand?”

A few more words and Huo Lei’s temper was up again. “You get kicked out for goofing off and I’ll give you a real beating!”

Huo Zhun…what on earth had gotten into his dad this time?

Soon enough, every territory sent their purchase quantities to Qi Fu, who added them up in a chart and forwarded it to Xia Qing.

Every territory had chosen to buy Nutrient Source, though the quantities varied. Territory Two and Territory Twelve each placed orders for the full hundred grams, meaning Tang Group must have grown more than six hundred X-2 plants.

How had they gotten their hands on so many seeds?

Just the two territories could claim three hundred seeds. Then, with the Tang family’s people in the Safe Zone getting two each and some private seed purchases, getting nine hundred seeds was easy.

Other territories had less high-evolution spinach, so they could only trade for ten, maybe twenty grams.

Xia Qing handed the order sheet off to her Idol and was about to get back to work when Old Goat, who’d been lounging outside the greenhouse, stood up and started heading north.

Xia Qing listened carefully and soon caught the familiar sound of panting—Flathead the troublemaking honey badger was here to challenge Old Goat again.

She grabbed an antiparasitic pill at home and hurried to the North Gate, but by the time she arrived, the fight between Flathead and Old Goat was almost over.

As usual, Old Goat won without suspense, but Flathead had improved—it still had the strength to gnaw furiously on a young tree out of frustration.

Xia Qing praised Old Goat and tossed Flathead a piece of jerky with an antiparasitic pill inside.

Flathead, busy chewing on the tree, sniffed the jerky first, then nudged the pill away with its nose before eating the meat.

Xia Qing went right up and shoved the pill into Flathead’s mouth herself. She’d traded credits for those pills and wasn’t about to waste even one!

Flathead, bullied by a little human, flew into a rage and tried to pick a fight with Xia Qing. Of course, Old Goat stepped in and sorted him out, leaving the little badger too tired to chew anything else.

With her sidekick Xia Qing in tow, Old Goat strode home to Section Three, head held high.

Back in the territory, Xia Qing strapped on her little folding stool and went back to work.

This afternoon, she planned to snap off every shoot—the wild branches—growing on half an acre of cotton plants.

The cotton was only up to her knees, but bending or squatting to do the job quickly became exhausting.

She’d learned this sitting-to-work method from Shizhong in the Lords’ channel. After making herself a small wooden stool to tie on, harvesting became a whole lot easier.

Sitting on her folding stool, Xia Qing slowly moved from one end of the greenhouse to the other. Old Goat shifted positions too, always settling down nearby to chew his cud.

If it weren’t for the rain, Old Goat would have rather lounged outdoors. For now, though, he had no choice but to sprawl in the greenhouse’s central passage.

Even though the rain was normal and low in Devastation Element, just a few days prior, Xia Qing and Old Goat had irrigated the cotton fields together. So, she pulled down the greenhouse’s rain cover.

Listening to the gentle rain patter on the cover, Xia Qing worked and chatted with Old Goat. “Did you notice? Flathead’s gotten much tougher.”

“Baa.”

Old Goat answered in his usual, deadpan voice. Clearly, he disagreed.

Xia Qing laughed. “Yeah, Flathead hasn’t gotten stronger—it’s you who’s not as tough as before.”

Old Goat stopped chewing and narrowed his eyes at Xia Qing, clearly ready for a fight.

Was he just understanding the words, or picking up on her tone?

Xia Qing glanced up, pulled a few stubborn weeds from beside the cotton plants, and continued, “You skipped your bicycle workout yesterday. Your legs aren’t as strong now.”

She even lifted her own leg to pedal an imaginary bike, making it extra clear what she meant.

Ever since Old Goat got a hammock chair, he preferred lounging over pedaling the generator bike. This meant there wasn’t enough electricity at home, so Xia Qing couldn’t even boil water in the kettle anymore.

She had well and truly shot herself in the foot.

Trying to fix it, she coaxed, “You need to keep pedaling if you want to stay strong and rule from the top of the pyramid. Otherwise, some harder-working evolved sheep will knock you right off your throne and you’ll end up as dust in evolution’s history…”

After Xia Qing’s verbal barrage and a reward of some compressed ration, Old Goat finally got on the generator bike when they got home, lighting up their house.

With the lights shining, Xia Qing hummed a tune as she cooked in the kitchen.