Chapter 252: Mountain Ginger

Chapter 252: Chapter 252: Mountain Ginger

Whenever a team sent a mission squad into the Evolution Forest, if they failed to collect their target resources or if the Strength Evolvers hadn’t reached their carrying capacity, they would haul back manure. They’d turn it in to the Safe Area Planting Center for one point per five jin.

As a former non-staff logistics team member, Xiaqing had carried her fair share of manure.

The Alliance of Teams had obviously noticed the Lords’ demand. They were now calling for teams to stop delivering manure to the Planting Center. Instead, they were to collect it, ferment it, and sell it to the Lords. This way, the teams could make more money.

The Alliance of Teams was a council-based organization, run by a core of eleven councilors. Seven were appointed by the top seven teams in terms of combat power, while the other four were elected by the smaller teams.

When the Alliance of Teams passed a resolution, all member teams had to comply. As a result, the Alliance held significant power. Even the base’s officials would consult the Alliance before making major decisions.

’From the Alliance of Teams’ perspective, there was nothing wrong with what they were doing. But who set this outrageous price?!’

’Was it Xie Yu, the clever vice captain of the Green Dragon Team, or Xu Pin, the Su Feng vice captain with the punchable face?’

Those two were key figures in the Alliance of Teams.

Xiaqing continued to ask, "Brother Qing, what’s your plan?"

Kuang Qingwei sighed. "Farming without fertilizer is impossible. We can’t produce our own, and we can’t find a cheaper supplier, so we have to bite the bullet. I’m planning to buy the earthworm castings from No. 49 Territory. By the way, another batch of crab shell fertilizer is coming from Gui City Base in a while, still six points a jin. You want some?"

"I’ll think about it. Thanks, Brother Qing." Xiaqing didn’t commit, because she wanted to ask Zhong Tao first. He could probably get cheaper crab shell fertilizer too.

With the imminent arrival of the crab shell fertilizer, the earthworm castings coming in twenty days, and her own fermented plant-based compost, Xiaqing would have enough for her autumn wheat and the greenhouse. She felt a little more at ease.

Shi Du asked, "Sister Qing, Brother Qi, what if we team up, go to the Evolution Forest to haul back animal manure, and ferment it ourselves?"

Qi Fu had already revealed to everyone that he was a Strength Evolver, so he was now able to take on missions in the Evolution Forest.

Kuang Qingwei immediately jumped on the idea. "That’s a great plan! If you have any left over after you ferment it, can you sell it to me? Or you could give it to me to resell, and you’d get a cut."

Qi Fu raised a practical point. "Hauling manure isn’t the problem. But the animal manure in the Evolution Forest is full of eggs and bacteria. We’d have to use insecticide on it first, then ferment it. Plus, the areas where animals congregate in the forest are dangerous. We’d have to hire powerful teammates, and paying them would cost at least 100 points a day, right? Add the cost of insecticide and fermentation starter, and our homemade fertilizer might end up being more expensive than just buying it."

Shi Du conceded, "Brother Qi has a point. I oversimplified things."

’It really isn’t practical to go to the Evolution Forest just to collect animal manure. Besides, most of the manure there is Yellow or Red Light. She’d have to rely on her own chickens for Green Light manure.’ Still, any usable fertilizer that could be brought back should be. Xiaqing replied, "If we find any animal manure during future missions, we’ll bring back what we can."

Tang Huai, for his part, had no intention of volunteering for any manure-hauling missions. Curious about what she’d accomplished yesterday, he asked, "Xiaqing, what did you get in the Evolution Forest yesterday? Wanna trade?"

Xiaqing shut him down flatly. "No."

Tang Huai...

Afraid that Tang Huai would say something nasty and put Xiaqing in an awkward position—or worse, cause her to offend the Tang Family—Zhao Ze quickly interjected, "Xiaqing, Brother San was looking for you last night, but you were out."

Xiaqing replied, "I’ll contact Brother San as soon as I can. Thanks."

"You’re welcome," Zhao Ze replied happily. ’Even though Xiaqing’s voice was still icy, at least she said ’thanks’ to me. That’s a lot better than how she treated Tang Huai.’ As her good neighbor, Zhao Ze was content with that.

When Hu Zifeng came to pick up the spinach juice, the vegetable basket Xiaqing handed him contained an extra five jin of Green Light Chestnuts. "Captain Hu, take these back for Brother Luo to try."

"We boiled some of the Yellow Light ones last night, and they were delicious. Brother Luo is in for a treat." Hu Zifeng accepted the basket and added, "By the way, when we were picking Chestnuts yesterday, I thought I saw some Mountain Ginger in that valley. From the color of the leaves, it might be Green Light."

Hu Zifeng sent Xiaqing a picture of the Green Light Mountain Ginger they had found in another area of Mountain No. 49. "There’s no rush to harvest the Mountain Ginger. You can wait to test it until after the migratory birds have passed."

"Got it. Thanks, Captain Hu." According to her agreement with the Green Dragon Team, Luo Pei was supposed to inform her of any Green Light lifeforms discovered on Mountain No. 49. So, she already knew about the Green Light Mountain Ginger and had scheduled a search for it.

Hu Zifeng didn’t know about the agreement between Xiaqing and his captains, which was why he’d given her the tip.

After discussing the medicinal plants, Hu Zifeng brought up another matter with Xiaqing. "Can I buy thirty jin of Yellow Light Chestnuts from you? The quality is excellent this time, and I’d like to stock up. Is 100 points a jin fair?"

’One hundred points a jin was the same price Zhang San had offered.’ Xiaqing hadn’t planned on selling the Chestnuts, but she wouldn’t refuse an offer from an acquaintance. "Sure. Wait here, Captain Hu. I’ll go get them."

"The ones with cracked shells are fine," Hu Zifeng added, then asked, "Are the Green Light Chestnuts available for trade? How many points per jin?"

While shelling the Chestnuts yesterday, she had set aside the ones with cracked shells. There were eight jin of Green Light and over twenty jin of Yellow Light. In fact, Xiaqing had used the cracked ones for her chicken stew last night.

’But of course, she couldn’t give Hu Zifeng the cracked ones for a formal trade.’ "Brother San said this batch is excellent quality, worth four hundred points a jin. He traded for over two hundred jin, so I don’t have much left. How many do you want, Captain Hu?"

Hearing this, Hu Zifeng immediately lowered his requested amount. "Two jin, then. For a gift. I’ll transfer you 3,800 points?"

"Sounds good." Xiaqing accepted the offer without hesitation.

’After all her recent dealings, Xiaqing was starting to really appreciate the saying, "business is business, and friendship is friendship."’ Following that principle when trading resources really saved a lot of time and trouble.

After fetching the Chestnuts and giving them to Hu Zifeng, Xiaqing asked, "Captain Hu, have you heard of Jiang Quan, the head of the Lord Management Department? What’s his story?"

Hu Zifeng nodded. "He was Tang Zhengrong’s subordinate before the Natural Disaster. They’re cut from the same cloth. Why?"

Xiaqing explained how Jiang Yansheng was trying to steal Sun Zhe’s earthworm casting business. "Sun Zhe worked under me on the construction team for a few years. He’s a steady, hardworking guy and a fast learner. He’s been doing well for himself these past six months since starting his own territory to raise earthworms."

Hu Zifeng nodded. "I haven’t heard of Jiang Yansheng, so he’s probably not one of the Evolved People. No. 1 Territory does need a lot of fertilizer, but I’m not sure how difficult raising earthworms is. I’ll mention it to Brother Luo when I get back."

Xiaqing didn’t press the issue for Sun Zhe any further. Instead, she asked Hu Zifeng to send someone to watch her territory for a bit. "I’m heading to the valley. I’ll be back soon."

While waiting for Hu Zifeng to send someone over, Xiaqing kept busy. She brought the Goat Power Water Bicycle out of her warehouse and set it up by the reservoir.