Chapter 819: Negotiations Amidst the Spinach Harvest

Last autumn, the Yi Element Content in the native spinach Xia Qing harvested was 6.0. This year, Zhang San wanted her very first batch of spinach to have a full two-point increase.

It had taken Fire Phoenix over five years to get their high-evolution spinach up to about 9.0. Now Zhang San was asking Xia Qing to push it all the way to 8.0 in just one cycle. It sounded almost impossible.

But Xia Qing, no longer a newbie at farming, had no complaints about the standard set by her idol.

Compared to last year, the growing environment and conditions for this spring’s batch in Section Three had seen huge improvements.

She’d used Evolution Element shielding the entire time, watered with pure spring water, and fertilized with the special blend her idol mixed just for her.

So, this batch of spinach should show the fastest improvement in quality.

According to Zhang San, if this spinach didn’t reach 8.0, then chances of Xia Qing surpassing Fire Phoenix’s 9.0 within three years would be close to zero.

After three months of careful nurturing, the spinach Xia Qing grew was still 0.4 points short of her idol’s benchmark. That’s why she didn’t think of herself as impressive at all.

Yang Jin could tell Xia Qing wasn’t satisfied with the quality. While quickly picking spinach seeds, he tried to help her brainstorm. “What do you think kept this batch from reaching your target?”

Only Zhang San and the three heads of Qinglong knew she was growing native spinach.

Yang Jin wasn’t an expert in farming, but he’d seen a lot. Xia Qing wanted to hear his thoughts. “The main issue is the humidity and precision of water and fertilizer management. Third Brother suggested I install an integrated water-fertilizer machine.”

When she said Zhang San had suggested it, it meant she found it unsuitable and was still undecided. Yang Jin, who knew Xia Qing’s personality inside and out, analyzed from her perspective.

“If it’s just about humidity and water-fertilizer control, the essential part is the monitoring system in the integrated machine, not the machine itself. Installing the whole unit in your territory would attract too much attention. Your spinach seeds are already excellent—you have time to gradually breed and improve them, no need to rush for results this year or next.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Xia Qing hadn’t expected Yang Jin to understand this much, and he’d pinpointed the core issue at once. “So I wanted to install soil moisture and pest spore monitors on the terraces for real-time tracking. I’d still do watering, fertilizing, and pesticide work manually.”

The fully automated water-fertilizer units in Territory Seven were complete with cloud platform, control system, monitoring sensors, and irrigation setup. You even needed to build a dedicated space and install plumbing and filtration. Just like Yang Jin said—putting something like that in Section Three would light up all the warning bells.

She wasn’t in a hurry to get results in a year or two—she had three years ahead of her.

Low-key farming was her ideal. She had no desire to draw attention.

Yang Jin asked, “So Territory Seven’s water-fertilizer system monitoring isn’t suitable for your needs?”

“Yeah.” Xia Qing nodded. “Third Brother’s system is all wired and integrated.”

Territory Seven always had the best equipment, but it just didn’t fit Xia Qing’s situation.

Now that they’d identified the hurdle, the solution was in sight. Yang Jin said, “That does sound off for you. I’m heading to Red Two Base next month to pick up equipment—want me to grab a few sets of wireless integrated soil monitors for you?”

Red Two Base was the hub for cutting-edge scientific instruments. Nearly all smart devices used in Huaguo now came from their factories.

Since they’d brought it up, and Xia Qing had originally planned to ask Xin Yu for help with the order, she changed her mind. “Thanks, Captain Yang. Please bring me three sets.”

Yang Jin grinned. “No problem. The Squad Alliance order by itself won’t fill a whole transport plane. Your items will help split up some of the shipping costs.”

His easygoing attitude made Xia Qing feel much more at ease. “In that case, could you please also bring eight spore catchers and two handheld soil testers? I’ll cover the shipping myself.”

“No problem.” Yang Jin handed over the gathered spinach seeds to Xia Qing and started collecting the spinach stalks.

By the time Xia Qing finished counting her seeds, he’d already packed up the stalks and was peeling back the ground cover to dig up spinach roots. No wonder he was a top-tier Speed Evolver—not just fast on his feet, but quick with his hands too.

Xia Qing watched him with envy. She seriously wanted an evolution ability like his.

Yang Jin, feeling Xia Qing’s gaze on him, felt his heartbeat pick up again. But with more experience under his belt, he no longer got so flustered when she looked at him, so she wouldn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

Yang Jin dramatically shook the dirt off the spinach roots, making sure not a single crumb of soil stuck before dropping them in the bag. And sure enough, when he stood up, Xia Qing was giving him an exasperated look.

He couldn’t help but laugh, those clever fox-like eyes sparkling. “Sister Qing, ready to weigh in now?”

“Let’s do it.”

There were 48 x-2 spinach plants on the terraces, yielding 2,503 seeds and 47 jin of spinach stalks—all high quality. Xia Qing kept three jin for herself and sold the rest to Yang Jin, earning a total of 8,600 credits.

As for the spinach seeds—not only were the x-2 seeds from the terraces off-limits for sale, even those grown in the valley couldn’t be sold.

That’s because Xia Qing needed to deliver 6,000 spinach seeds to Yang Jin in August for the third batch of cordyceps fungus cultivation.

When they grew the first batch of cordyceps at the end of last year, Xia Qing and Yang Jin had split the seed supply fifty-fifty. For the second batch in April, Xia Qing had none to offer, so Yang Jin provided all the seeds. They agreed that for the third batch, Xia Qing would supply them all, and going forward they’d go back to splitting evenly.

Only by collecting every seed from both the valley and the x-2 plants in the territory, plus some from 70 native spinach plants she’d grown on the terraces in April, could Xia Qing scrape together the 6,000 seeds she needed.

So spinach stalks were the only thing she could sell.

Yang Jin didn’t rush to transfer the credits. Instead, he nodded toward the native spinach that was still growing nearby. “Sister Qing, what’s your plan for this batch?”

“It’s hot in here. How about we discuss it in the meeting room?”

Xia Qing invited Yang Jin to leave the greenhouse. She picked two cucumbers and a few tomatoes along the way. Once they reached the meeting room, Yang Jin took off his protective mask and gloves, washed up, and ate a ripe tomato. He praised, “These tomatoes taste even better than before. Sister Qing, you’ve got real skills!”

They hadn’t even started negotiating yet, but he was already buttering her up.

Xia Qing wasn’t buying it. She took a sip of spring water, offered a modest reply, and got straight to business. “There are 97 upcoming spinach plants maturing on the terraces, 51 of which are female—about 5,000 seeds in all. Third Brother will take 2,000 seeds at 100 credits each. I need to keep 1,500 for seed selection. I can sell you a maximum of 1,500, at a rock-bottom price of 130 credits per seed.”

Yang Jin raised an eyebrow. “Because Third Brother’s in the Alliance?”

“No, it’s because Third Brother is my exclusive spinach-growing advisor. Didn’t you get tens of thousands of seeds from your x-2 plants? If you’re just producing premium nutrient shakes to sell, x-2 is more than enough. There’s really no need to pay a high price for my native seeds.” Xia Qing was no pushover now—her skill at strategic retreat was second to none.

Yang Jin shook his head. “My main reason for buying top-quality spinach seeds is to cultivate them for food, boosting the evolution ability of our core Squad members. The rest get sent to Territory Seven where Third Brother can make miracle medicine out of them. Don’t worry—I’d never leak word that your seeds came from your territory. I’ll take all 1,500 at your price. Are you selling any spinach stalks?”

Xia Qing could only shrug. “All the spinach stalks are already reserved by Third Brother.”

Yang Jin looked even more disappointed than her. “Save a third for me next batch?”

“Of course.”

Just as Xia Qing was about to see Yang Jin off, he started pitching goods. “I got my hands on the latest phone from Red Two. Want one?”