Chapter 851: Wolfdog Number Two’s Guilty Secret

“Er!”

Xia Qing sprinted across her vast seven-thousand-mu territory and finally found Er hiding near the bamboo field in the northwest corner of the buffer forest.

Wolfdog Number Two lay flat on the ground, his ears pressed back and eyes darting away like he’d done something bad. Xia Qing had only seen this look before on that silly, lame wolf after he’d gotten into trouble.

She quickly checked over Er, and once she confirmed he hadn’t been scratched by the lynx, she let out a big sigh of relief. Then she tried to calm him down. “Er, you and Old Goat really are top dogs here on Blue Star! You two did amazing last night! If it weren’t for you, Monkey would’ve been dragged off and eaten by that lynx.”

Sensing Xia Qing’s joy, Er’s drooping ears perked right up.

With a cheerful tone, Xia Qing gave his head a good rub. “Are you worried because Monkey made a mess in the cabin and you’re afraid I’ll blame you? How could I? You did great, Er. The runs were Monkey’s problem, not yours. I’ll get it cleaned up when we’re back—don’t worry, we might be low on some meds but we’ve always got deodorizer to spare!”

Last year, after Xia Qing and the three wolves had fought against the Fire Phoenix Trapping Team, they’d only made it back to the territory and detoxed by relying on the Balding Weasel’s toxic gas to break through the beast tide.

That time, the plucked one made quite the contribution, but also left Xia Qing’s place smelling horrible. She’d swapped all sorts of deodorizers with her Idol and Yan Long, and still hadn’t run out.

With Xia Qing’s praise, Er’s eyes grew clear and bright again. He stood up and gave his tail a wag.

The one girl and one wolf chatted as they strolled up to the high slope of the northern buffer forest, spent some time admiring the tiny apples and budding Sichuan peppers on the trees, then checked out the fresh jujube sprouts. After that, Xia Qing picked some toon leaves from the old tree, grabbed a few cucumbers and tomatoes from the terraces, plucked a giant pumpkin from the planting greenhouse, and made sure to feed the twelve trays of breadworms while she was at it.

She even scooped out over thirty breadworms to bring back for the chicks. May was a busy hatching season—her hardworking hens had already brought out another three broods, twenty-eight chicks this time. Now Xia Qing had more than ninety chickens.

With so many chickens, feeding them was a real task. Thankfully, she’d set aside lots of Yellow Lantern corn, which she could crush up and mix as chicken feed.

Walking back home, Xia Qing saw the chicken yard was intact and her lively flock, so she made sure to praise Er again—along with Old Goat, who’d come home stuffed and satisfied.

Old Goat just looked indifferent as always, while Er grinned with pleasure.

Xia Qing tossed the breadworms into the chicken yard for the chicks to fight over, then headed inside to clean up after messy Monkey.

After washing Monkey with warm water, Xia Qing made a simple net and hung him from the drying rack under the eaves so he could air out naturally. Then she got to scrubbing the cabin—disinfecting, sterilizing, and making sure to deodorize the place.

Once the house was clean, Xia Qing finally got started on breakfast.

For breakfast, Xia Qing liked to have tea soup, some jerky, cold tomatoes, and boiled eggs. Old Goat wanted toon leaves tossed with cucumber and pumpkin. Er got diced Yellow Lantern rabbit stewed with pumpkin and eggs. Of course, everyone’s breakfast would also come with a few slices of high-evolution Green Lantern spinach leaves—great for nutrition.

Technically, Old Goat and Er could find their own food, so Xia Qing didn’t actually need to cook for them. But these two had gotten too used to her meals—if she didn’t set their breakfast out, they’d stand there by the table giving her those hopeful puppy eyes. It made it impossible for Xia Qing to eat in peace.

With the rabbit on the stove, Xia Qing grabbed a basket to go collect eggs and tidy up the chicken house.

But the moment she opened the chicken house door and saw a basket on the ground surrounded by flies and ants, egg yolk oozing everywhere, and a dozen cracked eggs inside—she finally understood why Er had looked so guilty.

Did it hurt to see that mess?

Of course! Each Green Lantern hatching egg was worth 750 credits.

Still, Er meant well. What’s broken is broken, and he hadn’t eaten any, which showed lots of restraint. Besides, Xia Qing didn’t really have any other way to sell these eggs except to White Weasel. And now that she had nearly a hundred chickens, she wasn’t planning to hatch more chicks any time soon.

At this point, she had more eggs than she could possibly eat.

With Monkey cleaned up, Xia Qing moved on to the chicken house.

She scraped the egg mess together—ants and all—and tossed it into the snake box for the snake to eat. The egg yolk and shells in the basket went into chopped vegetable leaves for the chickens. The three eggs that survived got washed and brought back inside, and she took the dirty basket out to the fish pond for a rinse.

The strong smell of egg yolk filled the air. The finger-long fish fry quickly swarmed over, fighting for the egg in the water, while a few brave fish tried nibbling on the bamboo basket itself.

Er, who’d been feeding the fish nearby, caught a whiff from the basket and immediately let his ears droop again.

Xia Qing shook off the water and the fish from the basket, then scruffed Er’s head. “How about I teach you to collect eggs at noon today, Er? Sound good?”

Once again, Er’s ears stood up straight.

After breakfast, the three lords of Section Three each went about their business. Zheng Kui and his new partner drove the patrol truck in through the South Gate, bringing goods into Section One of the North.

Xia Qing handed Zheng Kui twenty Green Lantern corn seeds and received her trade from the eastern lord: a hundred twenty-five-centimeter-long sweet potato vines, each with four or five leaves. She also gave Zheng Kui three packs of Green Lantern vegetables: one to trade with Xu Juan, who was in the hospital; one for Zheng Kui himself; and one for Li Chang from the Territory Management Department.

For the past six months, Li Chang had kept in touch with Xia Qing, frequently proposing trades. Xia Qing agreed to most of them—after all, it didn’t really matter who got the veggies grown in Section Three’s farmland or greenhouses.

Zheng Kui handed Xia Qing a pack of yellowed old book pages, twenty Green Lantern cucumber seeds inside. “These are autumn cucumbers—supposed to taste pretty good. Why don’t you give them a try?”

“Sure.” Xia Qing loved Green Lantern seeds, so she happily took them back to Section Three.

Right after Xia Qing left, the new recruit behind the wheel couldn’t stop grinning as he pulled out his phone. “The lord of Section Three is so pretty! How come there aren’t any pictures of her on our base’s forum?”

In the Safe Zone, everyone described her as a cold-faced, gun-toting iron lady.

After radioing Territory Two to pick up supplies, Zheng Kui warned his new partner, “The last guy who tried secretly taking a photo of the lord didn’t even leave bones behind. If you don’t believe me, look up why Jiang Qin from the Chonglian construction crew got fired and how he died.”

“No need to look it up. I can tell you right now.” Tang Huai, for once with a serious face, walked out from Territory Two. “Jiang Qin photographed the lord and the territory, violated the Lords’ Law, and Xia Qing caught him in the act and turned him over to the Inspection Team. After his stint in detention, he went back to Hui Two Base and was fired from Chonglian. Then, his enemies broke his leg. He died from an infection of evolution bacteria.”

After telling the story, Tang Huai handed a cigarette to the obviously restless rookie and spoke in a heartfelt tone. “Listen, brother, don’t get too curious about this land or its lords. We all just want to work the fields in peace, but that doesn’t mean we shy away from trouble.”

The young recruit, barely twenty, looked rattled, and was still shaken up when their patrol truck stopped at the north gate of Territory Nine while Zheng Kui and Zhong Tao chatted.

By then, Xia Qing was already in the breeding greenhouse planting sweet potato sprouts.

The greenhouse had sheltered chickens all winter. After months drying out, the soil—now rich with well-rotted chicken manure—had become even more fertile.

Er helped her dig holes, Old Goat lounged in the shade outside, chewing his cud and keeping an eye on things, while inside, Monkey was hooked up to an IV on the greenhouse’s metal frame.

As she planted, Xia Qing listened to her allies chat over the walkie-talkie, swapping tips about sweet potato vines and how to grow them.

Plenty of lords had traded new varieties of sweet potato vines this season, and the lords’ channel was full of excitement. Xia Qing was busy daydreaming about all the ways to cook sweet potatoes—when Monkey made another mess.