Chapter 924: Night Harvest: Racing Bird Tides for a Bumper Crop

Xia Qing enjoyed a hearty lunch at noon, then gave Monkey a bath and applied medicine on his wounds. After that, Zhong Tao and Dai Yan arrived, bringing the Ninth Center’s thresher, dryer, and ten workers into Section Three. Xia Qing hired them to help harvest two greenhouses of ripe Yellow Lantern Rice and half a greenhouse of Green Lantern Rice.

In late May, Section One of the North was hit by returning rains and hail. The spring-planted rice, which should’ve matured by late June, was still standing stubbornly in the fields.

If it weren’t for the threat of a bird tide, Xia Qing would’ve let the rice grow a bit longer and fully ripen before harvesting. But now, all she wanted was to get every last grain into storage. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.

She wasn’t the only one. All the Alliance allies were in a race to bring in the spring rice and corn. During his patrol, Tan Junjie noticed everyone suddenly working like mad. When he checked in with Xia Qing and got the news, he sent Inspection Team members to personally notify each lord about the possible bird tide, leaving it up to them to decide what to do.

Though the Inspection Team only said it was a ‘possibility,’ the lords didn’t hesitate. They grabbed their farm tools and rushed out to harvest spring-planted corn. Their rice seedlings had come from the Territory Management Department and were transplanted over half a month later than the Alliance members’, so they weren’t ready for harvest yet.

More hands really do make light work.

By the end of the afternoon, Xia Qing’s two and a half acres of rice were all harvested, threshed, dried, bagged, and neatly stacked in the racks of the underground grain storage room. Only then did she feel a little at ease.

If she could harvest the half-acre of Green Lantern corn tomorrow morning, and haul home the dried sunflower disks from Greenhouse Six, then she’d finally be able to relax.

Bird tide? Bring it on! I’ll take two down with one shot.

Everyone was harvesting into the night under lamplight, but after a sleepless night, a morning spent digging potatoes, and an afternoon of harvesting rice, Xia Qing was beyond exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to pour food into her mouth and collapse into bed.

Zhao Ze, just as tired, sounded cheerful as he reported his rice stats in detail on the Lords’ channel. “You guys there? I just finished harvesting my Ld-8. After the second Devastation Rain, about 18% of the plants evolved, with a 4% loss or those that turned into Red Lantern. At harvest, most of the rice had Devastation Element content up by over three points, reaching 10–12‰, and the yield was over 1,100 jin per acre. How did you all do?”

Zhao Ze dared to share his yield in the Lords’ channel for two reasons: first, they were now on an encrypted channel; second, even though his yield per acre was high, he had started with only eight jin of seed, planted less than half an acre and harvested just over 300 jin.

Last year, the Fire Phoenix Trapping Team had used a poison gas bomb, causing the Devastation Snow hazard level to spike in Section One North. This led to a reduced yield of overwintered wheat for the lords. To compensate, Fire Phoenix made up for the lost acreage by giving out Ld-8 rice seeds with over seven points of Devastation Element content.

At the time, the disaster in Territory Four covered eight acres, so they received eight jin of seed. The yield made Zhao Ze so happy he couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.

Zhu Li’s voice sounded obviously tired. “We’re still harvesting. The evolution rate and loss are about the same as yours. We’ll know the yield per acre once it’s dried.”

As always, the order for using the dryer was decided by drawing lots: Territory Four and Ten in the morning, Xia Qing and Qi Fu in the afternoon, and Territory Six and Fifteen at night. At the moment, both the thresher and the dryer were at Territory Six, which explained all the background noise when Zhu Li spoke.

Qi Fu chimed in, “About the same here—Ld-8 is a great variety.”

Tang Huai, also worn out, croaked out, “No kidding! This is Fire Phoenix’s best-selling seed for a reason.”

After Shi Du had finished, Xia Qing, filled with satisfaction from the harvest, pressed the walkie-talkie button. “My numbers are just about the same as everyone else’s.”

Xia Qing had received 2.5 jin of hd-8 seedlings. After transplanting, she harvested 140 jin of rice, which came out to a yield of 1,200 jin per acre. But at this point, there was no need to fuss over the exact numbers.

Territory Five and Territory Ten probably saw even higher yields than Territory Four, since both had the most experienced growers who worked the hardest.

Hearing Xia Qing’s voice, Qi Fu straightened up in the brightly lit greenhouse, still working after pulling the rain cover back. He pressed his walkie-talkie again. “Xia Qing, how about that other rice variety—what was the yield?”

With this question, every lord on the channel pricked up their ears.

Xia Qing hit the button again. “The J-2 Yellow Lantern Rice had an evolution rate of around 15%, a 2% loss or red shift during growth, and at harvest, most had Devastation Element content between 9 and 10‰. Yield was 1,300 jin per acre.”

Tang Huai was first to slam the button, his voice even croakier. “Are you serious? That variety’s even tougher than Fire Phoenix’s, and even better than our base’s h-12!”

No wonder—the Third Brother’s team raised those high-quality seeds! With his sharp ears, Tang Huai had already heard that the Ninth Center next door had planted 200 acres of Yellow Lantern J-2. By November, that would be… 13 tons of Yellow Lantern rice!

With so much grain, Tang Huai could barely stop himself from howling with excitement.

Wen Nengjie chimed in right away. “Brother Huai’s right! The variety’s great, but Sister Qing’s management is even better—that’s the only way to get yields this high. Sister Qing, can I trade for five jin of Yellow Lantern seed from you?”

She had no idea how much J-2 Xia Qing had grown, but five jin of seed was definitely no problem.

Before Xia Qing could reply, Zhang San’s trademark weary voice came across the channel. “1,300 jin? That’s just on target. Xia Qing, you’ve still got room to improve your planting skills.”

Everyone… there’s always someone even better!

With her idol online, Xia Qing perked right up: “You’re right, Third Brother. I’ve been visiting the Ninth Center every week for the past month to learn more about rice growing. I’ll aim to reach the expected yield next time.”

What was the expected yield? Everyone was curious, but if Xia Qing didn’t ask and Zhang San didn’t say, nobody dared to speak up. It was obvious even over the air—Senior Expert wasn’t in the best mood.

Wen Nengjie seized the rare chance, jumping in after Xia Qing to make an impression. “Third Brother, J-2’s quality really is better than Fire Phoenix’s Ld-8. Your breeding skills are seriously top-notch!”

Everyone: Old Wen, you’ve got guts—fawning over the Senior Expert, huh?

Xia Qing: Wen, you’re doomed.

Sure enough, the Senior Expert’s voice was as listless as ever. “J-2 is a locally bred variety. In our region, it’s normal for evolution and loss rates to be lower than with the two outside varieties. That doesn’t prove the seed is better.”

Wen Nengjie’s mind raced as he tried to fix it. “Of course, you’re right. To really judge a variety, it needs to be tested in all kinds of soil and climates. Third Brother, I used to butcher meat before the disaster, then dabbled in whatever odd jobs I could find. I haven’t even been farming for a year yet, so I really need to learn from you.”

Zhang San snorted. “I don’t have time for that.”

Everyone was stunned into silence…

Wen Nengjie… didn’t dare speak again. Sister Qing, save me.

“Third Brother, have you had dinner yet? I just harvested some potatoes today. They’re Yellow Lantern, but the taste isn’t bad. How about I bring you two chickens and five jin of potatoes?” As a devoted fan, Xia Qing wasn’t really stepping in for Wen Nengjie. She just wanted to make her idol happy. Most likely, the Senior Expert was frustrated by slow progress with the Lanwu Super Evolution Fungus and popped online because of it.

Having followed her idol for years, Xia Qing was certain he hadn’t eaten yet.

What do you do when your idol is in a bad mood? Serve up something delicious!

Zhang San replied dully, “No appetite.”

No appetite? In this day and age, how could anyone turn down green bean chicken? Over in Territory Fifteen, Wen Nengjie, clutching his sickle, grumbled as he rushed to recall any Green Lantern food in his territory that might boost appetite.

Before he could think of anything, Xia Qing spoke up again. “Would you like some wild berries or figs to whet your appetite?”

Zhang San sounded a little better. “Forget the figs, but pick me some of those wild berries.”

“Will do, Third Brother! I’ll head over now.” Xia Qing wolfed down the last of her stir-fried potato strips and hurried to Greenhouse One. Those wild berries were a special crop she grew just to please her idol. She’d noticed some had already ripened to a deep purple today while digging potatoes. Never thought they’d come in handy so soon.

Meanwhile, in Territory Fifteen, Tan Qi set a bundle of rice at the field’s edge and pressed the walkie-talkie. “Third Brother, I’ve got Green Lantern Nymphoides blossoms in my territory. Boil them with mung beans and you get a refreshing, appetite-boosting porridge. Want some?”

Zhang San sounded in better spirits. “Alright. Pick some blossoms and young leaves for me.”

“Sure thing.” Tan Qi agreed crisply and trotted off to the riverbank to gather wild greens.

Just then, on her way to the Northern Buffer Forest, Xia Qing let out a surprised ‘Ah!’ Outside Greenhouse Ten, a pair of red squirrels—one big, one small—were stealing rice. At the sound, both got spooked and scurried back to their tree hollow.

Xia Qing ignored the two freeloaders, sighed, and kept walking.

Last year, Tan Qi had gifted Xia Qing some Green Lantern Nymphoides blossoms. Back then, Xia Qing wondered if such a bland, un-filling Green Lantern plant could possibly win over her idol. With everything that had happened since, she’d completely forgotten about it.