Chapter 810: A Day of Triumphs and Tactics

Xia Qing hummed a cheerful tune as she returned home, whipping out her Points Card to show off in front of her companion pedaling the generator bike. “Boss, I’ve completed the mission perfectly, not a credit missing! 364,500! See? Your big sister’s rolling in it now—talking business in tens of thousands!”

Since the Azure Dragon Squad is a key trading partner for both Hill Fifty and Section Three, Xia Qing never planned to overcharge them for this round of compensation. She reported the losses honestly, every figure on her itemized list able to withstand scrutiny. There was simply no room for haggling.

If the deal were just regular goods, Xia Qing wouldn’t have been nearly so thorough or truthful with the compensation form.

The number is 364,500 and not 477,000 because Xia Qing split the Devastationweed leaf profits evenly with Yang Jin.

Old Goat shot her a sidelong glance, and Xia Qing quickly pocketed the Points Card, switching to a heartfelt inquiry. “Boss, it feels like you’re getting even more handsome the more you pedal! Look at those back legs, the muscle lines are popping—you’re getting stronger, right?”

“Baa!”

“No bike ride goes to waste for you, Boss. You’re Blue Star’s mightiest and handsomest Evolved Sheep—standing proud at the very peak of the pyramid! You’re the pride of every Evolved Sheep on Blue Star. The planet’s so much more beautiful just because you’re here…”

After boosting Old Goat’s ego, Xia Qing headed upstairs. She grabbed 112,500 credits from her personal stash in her bedroom and tucked them into an envelope with the compensation money from Yang Jin.

Public is public, private is private. Yang Jin’s compensation goes to Hill Fifty; tomorrow, Xia Qing needs to hand over the 477,000 credits she got from Azure Dragon Squad to Idol. Most of the Hill Fifty funds are earmarked for lab consumables, which will be assigned by Idol. As for Fire Phoenix and Hui One, Xia Qing doesn’t have to worry about those—Idol will settle with them personally.

Idol’s as shrewd as they come and always asks for more than Xia Qing does.

After taking out 112,500 credits, Xia Qing’s small treasure trove had just 32,500 left. Not exactly much, but not so little either.

As long as she and her friends stay healthy, those credits would surely last until the summer harvest. If anyone got injured, though, her stash would turn negative in a heartbeat.

After locking up her little safe, Xia Qing suddenly remembered something: Yang Jin hadn’t tried to pitch her any coveted goods today—not even once.

Xia Qing pulled up the surveillance footage, clipping the segment where she finally got the upper hand in a negotiation with Yang Jin. She saved the video to her phone and kept replaying it.

It was a beauty trap versus a beauty trap. Yang Jin was the first to crack and speak, so she won. That stingy rooster didn’t manage to knock even a single credit off!

She’d truly outdone herself today. Watching Yang Jin helplessly hand over his Points Card with that ruffled look—what an incredible sense of achievement.

A scene this precious needed to be preserved. She’d come out on top this time by keeping her face cold and then suddenly switching tactics—a beauty trap that caught Yang Jin completely off guard. It might not work so smoothly next time.

This little showdown made Xia Qing realize that, in Yang Jin’s eyes, she was a ‘beauty’ too. His momentary loss of composure was the most direct response—no way that was calculated.

Lying in bed with her arms behind her head, Xia Qing stared up at the cracked ceiling, lips slightly curved. Now that she knew her looks worked on him, next time he tried to pull a beauty trap, she’d be ready to clap back.

Yang Jin could forget about using his looks to win any more credits off her.

Stumbling out of Section Three, Yang Jin only realized as the mountain wind hit him that he’d forgotten to sell Xia Qing the new model phone in his pocket.

Just as he regained his composure, Xia Qing’s smiling face filled his mind again, making his thoughts swirl.

Even though Xia Qing’s eyes brimmed with competitiveness back then, she’d still smiled at him. He could see his own reflection in those bright eyes.

He and Xia Qing were closer than ever now…

Inside the monitoring room on Hill Forty-Nine, Da Jiang was stunned. “Boss, look! How come our Boss isn’t even wearing a protective mask? Don’t tell me Sister Qing drove too hard a bargain and the Boss had to throw in the mask too!”

Hu Zifeng, in the middle of grooming Little Five, looked up at the Hill Forty-Nine Territory Two feed and grumbled, “Are you blind? Can’t you see what Boss is holding?”

Da Jiang zoomed in. Not only did he spot the mask in Boss’s hand, but he also got a good look at Boss’s face. “Boss, Boss is smiling so… blissfully…”

Blissfully?!

Hu Zifeng looked up at once and ended up staring right into Boss’s cold, piercing eyes.

“Meow!!!”

Smack!

He’d been a little rough with Little Five and the little guy was not pleased. He didn’t just get cursed out—he got swatted. Little Five refused to let him groom anymore and jumped right onto the top of the filing cabinet.

“Boss realized we adjusted the camera to watch him—sharp as ever!”

“When Boss gets back later and asks, you’d better say you saw nothing. Otherwise, Boss might just silence you for good.”

Da Jiang was petrified…

No way, right? Why would he…?

Come eleven at night, after her ten-kilometer night run, Xia Qing headed to the Sheep Shed and called Little Fei Mao over for its medicine.

Because Red Squirrel Mom was freeloading again, Xia Qing had to use an extra cucumber. Her patience was nearly gone by the time Little Fei Mao finally showed up.

Thanks to the miracle medicine and x nutrient shake, the little one’s stamina had clearly improved. The moment Xia Qing picked it up, Red Squirrel Mom panicked, puffed up, and scrambled to snatch her baby back, cursing all the while.

“I’m just giving Little Fei Mao its medicine. It’ll only take a second.” Xia Qing explained and carried the little one inside for its dose, applied the ointment, then put it back on the grass stack.

Red Squirrel Mom picked up her baby and carried it back to the nest, still muttering curses.

The next morning at seven, Xia Qing had to hand over three extra chestnuts before she could get her hands on Little Fei Mao. Fuming as she gave the medicine, she grumbled, “Your mom’s got a screw loose, but I won’t hold it against her. I’ll put all the charges—medicine and goods—on your tab. Little Fei Mao, you owe me credits now!”

Feeble, innocent, and pitiful, Little Fei Mao clung to the dropper, not letting go. Even though it was still tiny, it was already starting to sense this was what made it feel better.

It wasn’t satisfied. It wanted more.

After popping Little Fei Mao back in the squirrel nest, Xia Qing started her daily routine. She collected bugs while making rounds in the greenhouses, checked that the insect nets were intact, and made sure no small animals had slipped in to wreck the crops. She dumped caught locusts, crickets, centipedes, green worms, and leeches into the fish pond. Then she headed to the breeding greenhouse with breadworms, scooped up some fermented feed from the barrel nearby, and fed the bugs.

Xia Qing’s fermentation technique came from insect-raising expert Tang Huai.

By fermenting Spike Ice Grass and other Green Lantern grass with a selection of leaves, she created nutrient-rich breadworm feed. Breadworms raise quicker and healthier on it than they do eating Greenlight Veggie leaves. When she found out the chickens loved the feed too, Xia Qing doubled the production and started mixing it into their meals.

Thanks to all that, her breadworm supply had grown from a single batch last year to ten batches now—plenty for daily meals for her, the Green Lantern Chicken flock, and occasional diet boosts for the swallows, red squirrels, and Pure Spring Fish in the pond.

After feeding the breadworms, Xia Qing scooped out over twenty bugs into a small bucket, picked three cucumbers and two tomatoes from the veggie greenhouse, and went home to feed the chickens and make breakfast.

Thanks to the hens’ tireless efforts, Xia Qing had twenty-eight new chicks this month alone. The Yellow Lantern Mealworms were prepared just for these little ones.

After breakfast, Xia Qing called Hu Zifeng to arrange a guard for her territory—today, she was teaming up with Xin Yu to dig bamboo shoots on Hill Fifty-Two.

Hu Zifeng didn’t send anyone else. He came over in person.

Once Xia Qing finished telling him which greenhouse had weeds needing to be pulled today, Hu Zifeng casually probed, “Sister Qing, how’d things go with our Boss last night?”

Xia Qing’s face was as blank as ever. “Everything went smoothly—the contract’s in place.”

Once Xia Qing drove off, Hu Zifeng muttered, “Doesn’t look like anything happened between her and Boss last night, but why is Boss smiling like she got him or something…”

Old Goat, on patrol, heard Hu Zifeng suddenly mentioning its name. Eyes narrowed, hooves pawing the ground, horns gleaming, Old Goat charged over. Hu Zifeng scrambled up a tree and explained quickly, “Boss, I swear I wasn’t talking about you—really, you gotta believe me…”