Chapter 85: Bird Eggs and Bartering

Back home, Xia Qing quickly disinfected herself, peeled off her protective suit and eagerly pulled out three pale blue bird eggs from her little bag.

Ever since the egrets evolved they’ve grown bigger—and so have their eggs. Each one was as big as the old goose eggs from before the cataclysm.

Just one of these eggs would be enough for a whole stir-fry!

Xia Qing soaked and disinfected the eggs, cleaned them, then cracked one into a bowl. The clear egg white and rich golden yolk made her mouth water. She set a bit aside for the Xiang Tester—the red light blinked on.

All clear.

She sanitized and tested the second egg, same result: red light.

The third—finally, a yellow light. Safe to eat.

It seemed at least one of the two birds must be a yellow-light egret. That meant she had another fat egret for her meat reserves.

Happily, Xia Qing fed the red-light egg whites to her snake and set the yolks aside to dry as treats for her little kitten.

Next, she washed the green-glow chives she’d just harvested and whipped up an egret egg and chive stir-fry so good she wiped the entire plate clean with a white flour pancake.

Even after the meal, Xia Qing was still savoring the taste in her dreams. The next day, as she rode the rotary tiller to clear Xiang Grass, she kept glancing longingly at the egret nest.

She wanted another bite…

Switching off the rotary tiller, she grabbed her walkie-talkie. “Qi, are you there?”

“Here.” Qi Fu’s voice answered right away. “How’s your injury?”

“Getting better. How’s your arm? By the way, Qi, do you know how many clutches egrets lay in a year?”

Qi Fu chuckled. “Just one. Usually four or five eggs per nest. If you’re thinking of eating more, be careful—evolved egrets are fierce. Someone here tried to grab an egg and got pecked through their protective suit. Without it their arm would have been shredded.”

Only one clutch a year… She couldn’t wipe them out. With a sigh, Xia Qing looked toward the metasequoia forest and was surprised to spot two extra birds with the egret pair.

“Qi, have you ever seen a bird slightly smaller and fatter than an egret, with a short neck, black pointed beak, mostly white with a black cap and back, and two long white streamer feathers sticking from the head?”

Before Qi Fu could answer, Zhao Ze jumped in, “I know! That’s the so-called Night Raiders—night herons!”

Night heron? Xia Qing paused. “So night herons are active at night?”

Zhao Ze replied right away, “Exactly. They hide during the day and come out at night. They look nice, but their calls are terrible. That’s why you rarely find night herons as landscape birds in gardens.”

Xia Qing eyed the two hunched night herons squatting at the edge of the egret nest. She’d just taken three eggs last night and this morning the egrets had suddenly picked up two night-owl bodyguards.

Was this to guard against her or the snake? Since when had birds on Blue Star gotten this clever?

She stopped looking at the four birds staring her down, thanked everyone and was just about to shut off her walkie-talkie when Zhang San’s voice chimed in, “Xia Qing, craving more bird eggs?”

Xia Qing went silent…

Zhang San tossed out some bait: “I’ve got evolved chickens. One’s nesting now, should hatch chicks in mid-June. Want to trade for one?”

Xia Qing gritted her teeth and resisted, “Third Brother, last night during the tail end of that red Xiang rain, all the spinach in my plot exploded. I’ve got nothing left to trade or share, not even spinach seeds. Sorry.”

Hearing her say “exploded,” Qi Fu thought her field had gotten dangerously Xiangified and quietly felt sorry for her. Kuang Qingwei hurried to grab an opportunity: “Third Brother, can I reserve a chick with green-glow chives?”

Who wouldn’t want a chicken that lays eggs?

Zhao Ze jumped in, too. “Third Brother, can I offer green-glow alfalfa for a chick?”

Qi Fu quickly threw in his own offer. “Third Brother, I’ve found five green-light, two yellow-light wild grapes in my territory. By September they’ll fruit—each grape’s about the size of a soybean, clusters of a dozen or more, taste pretty good. We call them wild grapes here. No matter how much they yield, you can have all seven plants’ fruit for one pullet. Deal?”

Zhang San chose to deal with Qi Fu. “I’ve eaten wild grape before. I’ll swap you a yellow-light pullet. If your grape haul’s under fifteen pounds, just make up double the shortage with green-light food—nothing from the onion, ginger, garlic or chive family.”

Raise a pullet well and you’ll have eggs in four months! Qi Fu was overjoyed. “Of course! Thanks, Third Brother!”

Even Tang Huai couldn’t help speaking up. “Third Brother, I have yellow-light cicada larvae. Fried up, they’re amazing. Trade ten pounds for two chicks?”

Zhang San’s answer for Plot Two was blunt: “No deal.”

Tang Huai…

Hu Zifeng tried too, “Third Brother, would you swap two chicks for forty pounds of green-light dried bamboo shoots?”

“No deal.” Clearly Zhang San was sick of dried bamboo shoots and not interested.

After Zhang San’s decisive rejection, Kuang Qingwei tried to negotiate his own deal, but Zhao Ze spoke up next: “Third Brother, can I trade green-glow alfalfa for a pullet?”

This time, Zhang San didn’t shoot him down immediately. “How many pounds you got?”

Really wanting a chick, Zhao Ze answered honestly: “I can harvest six pounds today. Second batch will be ready in two weeks.”

“Thirty pounds of green-glow alfalfa for a pullet. Settle up within the year.”

Zhao Ze cheered, “Deal! Thanks, Third Brother!”

After agreeing to Zhao Ze, Zhang San turned back to Xia Qing. “Don’t you want a chick too?”

Of course Xia Qing wanted a chicken that could lay eggs. “Third Brother, I’m out of green-light food right now, but I have ten green-light sweet potatoes. Could I reserve a chick and pay with November’s sweet potato harvest?”

Zhang San shook his head. “I’ve already got sweet potatoes.”

At that, Kuang Qingwei and the others quickly started negotiating for Xia Qing’s sweet potatoes. Qi Fu said, “No wonder you asked about sweet potato cuttings before. How did it go—did they root?”

Just thinking of it annoyed Xia Qing. “Right after I set them out, that Xiang rain hit—only twenty-something survived, and they’re still recovering. No idea if they’ll make it.”

Tang Huai couldn’t help asking, either. “Xia Qing, are you selling green-light sweet potato seedlings? I’ll swap cicada larvae for them.”

Xia Qing shot him down coldly. “You owe me for my losses first.”

Hu Zifeng jumped in right away. “And don’t forget what you owe Plot One. You’d better pay up soon.”

Tang Huai exploded, “You’re crazy to ask me for payment! Those evolved rats, martens and pangolins that appeared in Plot Two last night were clearly your doing! I nearly got killed thanks to your antics!”

Hu Zifeng sneered. “Got proof? Show me and I’ll pay you right now.”

“So what if I don’t have proof! Those pangolins and martens must’ve come from Mountain 49. Isn’t Mountain 49 under your Azure Dragon Unit?”

“Did the animals you caught have ’49’ carved on them? Bring them out and let’s have a look.”

Xia Qing started up the rotary tiller again, listening to the growing argument as she continued mowing down Xiang Grass.

So last night’s shootout was caused by rats, martens and pangolins showing up in Plot Two. Rats were one thing, but pangolins were burrowing experts. Tunneling underground, they’d perfectly hidden the passage leading from Territory Three to Plot One.

A clever plan—just like the Azure Dragon Unit to have pangolins up their sleeve. Luo Ge was bound to show himself soon.

Thud-thud-thud. Thud-thud-thud.

Whirr—whirr—whirr—

“Argh—”

As Hu Zifeng and Tang Huai quarreled, Tang Huai suddenly roared, “Xia Qing, could you turn off that noisy thing for a while? Let me dig out these bugs in peace!”