Chapter 807: Business, Friendship, and Five Pounds of Carrots

It still comes down to what Yang Jin said: business is business, friendship is friendship.

No matter how many personal grudges Xin Yu and her uncle Yu Dongming’s family may have, Hui Three Pharmaceutical keeps its doors open for business. So it can’t risk making enemies of Hui Two Base or even Huicheng Base’s biggest company—Chonglian Group.

To put it simply: do business when there’s business to be done, and settle scores when it’s time for payback.

Of course, Hui Three isn’t refusing to cooperate with Chonglian, but there’s no way Yu Dongming is getting production rights for the new drug—nutrient source—which holds exclusive patents and intellectual property.

The Hui Three board has already decided and announced: they won’t authorize Fu Dalao’s new drug for other factories to manufacture. If anyone needs nutrient source or the matching X-2, they’ll have to buy or barter through the Hui Three management or their marketing department.

Sharp business leaders, companies, and combat teams from all the bases are already crowding around Hui Three to negotiate for agent or sales licenses. That’s why Tang Zhengbo came all the way to Section One in the north to find Zhou Zhaoping—he wants to talk cooperation on nutrient source.

Even knowing Hui Three’s policy, Yu Dongming still asked Xin Yu for production rights. In Xia Qing’s eyes, his motive couldn’t be clearer.

“He’s playing mind games with you. By asking for something you can’t possibly give, he wants to make you feel guilty or think he’s got a huge appetite. Once he’s set that up, he’ll start playing the family card and then reveal what he really wants—which gives him a better shot at getting it.”

Xia Qing kept analyzing. “Clearly, he’s after more than just exclusive distribution at Hui Two Base. Otherwise he wouldn’t be going through all this trouble. He’s probably aiming for exclusive distribution rights at all the remaining eight bases in Huicheng, outside of Hui One and Hui Three.”

Xin Yu couldn’t help but clap. “You’re amazing! Uncle Ping said the same thing.”

“I’m not amazing. I just learned the hard way through failed negotiations.” Compared to Iron Rooster Yang Jin, Yu Dongming’s maneuvers are nothing special.

Xia Qing might be a Hui Three shareholder but she only collects dividends—she’s not involved in the day-to-day work.

Her focus is still on the fields inside her own territory.

After lunch with her best friend, Xia Qing hauled five pounds of Yellow Lantern carrots back to her place.

Those five pounds of carrots were part of Xin Yu’s trade for the kestrel.

A single little kestrel wasn’t worth all those carrots, so they agreed that when Xia Qing’s Yellow Lantern sunflowers ripened, she’d pick five pounds of the best ones to give to Xin Yu.

This spring, Xia Qing had planted half an acre’s worth of Yellow Lantern sunflowers on one of the terrace fields. Happily, against all odds, four Green Lantern sunflowers sprouted in the main field, and one in the terrace. That was a stroke of luck.

To raise these rare, optimizable crops well, Xia Qing transplanted all four Green Lantern sunflowers from the main field up to the sunflower terraces on the hillside.

With High Evolution Element Soil, pure spring water, and quality fertilizer, she could boost their quality, and the Yi Stone would protect them through the Devastation Rain season.

As long as nothing disastrous happened next, she’d be able to harvest five sunflower heads, each loaded with nearly a thousand seeds.

Once those seeds dried and rested in the storage room, by next year, she’d be planting two whole acres of Green Lantern sunflowers.

Come July next year, Xia Qing would finally be free to eat as many sunflower seeds and have all the cooking oil she wanted.

“Boss, check this out!” Xia Qing was bubbling with excitement as she held the carrots up in front of Old Goat.

This morning, when her Idol said she was the only human trusted by truly wild Evolved Wolves—able to actually communicate with the pack—Xia Qing wanted to protest. She didn’t think she was anything special.

So why did the wolf pack trust her? It’s only because she claimed Section Three as her territory and, out on a high slope beyond the Northern Barrier, found a Green Lantern Toon Tree and a lone, not-so-bright Evolved Sheep.

If that sheep hadn’t been strength-evolved, if she hadn’t been so desperately lonely back then—wanting a companion she could rely on, someone to farm and live with—she’d have roasted that sheep ages ago.

And if she’d roasted it, she’d never have discovered that this sheep got along great with the wolf pack.

It was only after she and the sheep became companions that the defeated Alpha led his wounded wolves into her territory to barter for healing with a Yi Stone. That’s how everything step by step led to today’s situation.

So the real difference is this gluttonous sheep standing in front of her.

Old Goat waddled up to the bag, sniffing with its nose. In a heartbeat, its usually sleepy eyes widened into dazzling cartoon orbs, its voice whiny as it called out to the little ones, “Baa~_~_~”

Seeing how much Boss liked it made Xia Qing happy too. “Smells amazing, right? Bet you’ve never seen one before. This is a carrot—a type of edible veggie that can’t possibly grow wild in the Evolved Forest. Want me to wash one and let you try it?”

“Baa~_~_~”

Xia Qing went to rinse a carrot, broke off a little piece for the Red Squirrel family, then handed the rest to Old Goat.

Old Goat crunched through it in no time, then fixed those huge anime eyes on Xia Qing, bleating, “Baa~_~_~”

“This is all we’ve got, so we have to go easy or we won’t have enough seeds left. If the crop works next year, you’ll have plenty to eat.” Carrots had one big flaw—they didn’t make Idol’s recipe list, so they never got into the standard greenhouses in Territory Seven.

Otherwise Xia Qing and Old Goat would’ve been feasting on and growing carrots long ago.

Old Goat’s big eyes narrowed, staring at the carrot bit Xia Qing was hiding, pawing the ground like she’d start a brawl if she didn’t get it.

After a few seconds’ standoff, Xia Qing laughed and offered up the last piece. “Here, it’s all yours.”

Once the final piece was gone, Old Goat kept those big cartoon eyes on Xia Qing—until she tucked every carrot away in the underground storage under the rack building. Only then did Boss go back to normal.

“Boss, I’m going to take a nap. You’ll keep the territory safe for us, right?” Xia Qing made one more round of the territory before heading inside for a much-needed nap. She’d barely rested since last night and needed to recharge before tonight’s negotiations with Yang Jin.

After eating her delicious carrot, Old Goat lowered her spiral-horned head with pride, turned, and kicked open the Chicken House door to warn the Black-Feathered Rooster not to make a racket.

The Boss was on duty—a true professional. Xia Qing, smiling, slept for two hours before dragging herself up on schedule to give medicine to Little Fei Mao.

First, Xia Qing checked the surveillance camera. The Red Squirrel mom who loved free lunch was gone—probably out foraging. The two healthy squirrel kits were chasing and wrestling inside the Sheep Shed, while the injured Little Fei Mao was curled up next to the Yi Stone necklace, fast asleep.

To give the medicine, she’d have to catch Little Fei Mao first. Xia Qing decided to try luring her with food before adding any medicine to it.

She pulled two leaves from the High-Evolution Spinach in the fridge, juiced them, and added a dash of nutrient source to make X nutrient shake. Then she chopped a cucumber into tiny cubes, packed them up, and headed out to the Sheep Shed to coax Little Fei Mao.