Chapter 320: Threshing Machine

Chapter 320: Chapter 320: Threshing Machine

Xiaqing picked the only three kernels off the white corncob, placed them on a rock outside the shelter, and called over to the Red Squirrel, which was putting on an enthusiastic performance.

"Hey, freeloader. These are all the kernels from the first cob I shucked. They’re for you, for free. No need for a trade, just take them and go hide them."

As Xiaqing turned back toward the corn shelter, the Red Squirrel shot forward like a red blur. It snatched all the kernels from the rock and fled, just before a few descending birds could steal the food.

Having failed to get the food, the flock of birds flapped their wings and returned to the trees and rocks. They kept a close watch on the corn shelter, waiting for their next chance to steal a meal.

The corn was likely emitting a scent that was undetectable to Xiaqing, but highly attractive to the birds.

A few impatient birds had already started pecking at the insect-proof netting, trying to get into the shelter and eat the corn.

More and more birds gathered. It looked like this was going to be an even bigger ordeal than the wheat harvest.

Frowning, Xiaqing pressed the button on her intercom. "Everyone, is anyone harvesting corn today? Are birds gathering around your shelters while you’re shucking it?"

Shi Zhong answered immediately, "We have them here, too. It’s terrifying. I’ve stopped shucking the corn, and I definitely don’t dare take the cobs outside the shelter. I’m afraid of being attacked by the birds."

A single small bird isn’t much of a threat, but dozens or even hundreds of them charging at once could peck a person until they’re injured, or even dead.

Mrs. Zhao, who hadn’t started her corn harvest yet, chimed in with her own worries. "A large gathering of small birds will attract carnivorous raptors. It’s one thing if the raptors just come to eat the birds, but if they start hurting people or damaging the shelters, we’ll be in big trouble."

Tang Huai came on the line, asking enthusiastically, "Xiaqing, harvesting corn? That’s some dirty, exhausting, heavy labor. Need any help? I’ll do it for free. Just give me a tender ear of corn to take back and boil when we’re finished."

’If I gave him the cob with only three kernels on it as payment, would he flip out?’

Xiaqing grinned. "There weren’t many plants. I’m already finished."

Tang Huai...

’Does she think I’ve never been to her territory? How could she possibly have finished harvesting that much corn so quickly?’

Qi Fu, who also hadn’t started his harvest, chimed in. "Corn isn’t like wheat. Wheat dries in two or three days after you harvest it. For corn, even with good weather, you need more than half a month of sun. If the weather’s bad, it could take one or two months to dry. We can’t spare a few people to chase birds away for half a month. We need a better plan."

Seeing a business opportunity, Assistant Liu from No. 9 Territory immediately came on the line.

"To all respected Lords, No. 9 Territory offers a chemical agent that repels birds. Just one bottle of this medicine, for 300 points, will protect a 60-square-meter area for ten days. Within those ten days, not a single bird will be able to touch the fruits of your 110 days of hard labor."

Kuang Qingwei asked politely, "Assistant Liu, is this a new formula? I recall you saying last time that the Bird Repellent from No. 9 Territory only works on birds below Level 6."

Assistant Liu’s voice was warm. "Mr. Kuang, your memory is perfectly correct. This isn’t a new formula; it is indeed only effective against birds below Level 6. However, more than ninety-five percent of birds above Level 6 are carnivorous raptors, and raptors aren’t interested in corn."

"Alright, I understand," Kuang Qingwei responded cheerfully.

Assistant Liu could tell that Kuang Qingwei had no intention of buying the Bird Repellent, so he turned to his next potential customer. "Miss Xia, what do you think? Would you be in need of some? With the limited labor on your territory, you must have a greater need for new methods and technologies to protect your corn, wouldn’t you say?"

Xiaqing replied politely, "I don’t need any for the time being. I can use the covers from when I dried my cotton to put over the corn, which should offer some protection against the birds. Besides, I need to save my points to build a fence. Living alone, I just don’t feel secure without one."

’Even if she didn’t have the covers, Xiaqing had no plans to use the Bird Repellent from No. 9 Territory. It was a chemical agent, and she wanted to save some of her corn for seed. She would never dare let a chemical agent come into contact with her corn seeds.’

She wasn’t the only one; the other Lords all felt the same.

Before the Natural Disaster, synthetic chemical agents had been an indispensable part of agriculture. But in the post-Disaster era, using them had been proven to increase the probability of a crop undergoing Qiang Evolution and to contaminate the soil.

Whatever Li Si’s reasons were for dedicating himself to this kind of research, Xiaqing had no intention of participating. She wasn’t about to use her own grain and land to gather data for him.

Having failed to make a sale, Assistant Liu went offline. Kuang Qingwei then started talking business. "Did you all catch the farming broadcast last night? Did you hear the segment introducing corn harvesters?"

"I heard it. Brother Qing, you managed to get a harvester? Which type is it?" Zhao Ze, who hadn’t managed to get a word in on the intercom for several days, finally chimed in.

Xiaqing had also listened to the farming broadcast last night. She learned that there were two types of large corn harvesters: one was a grain combine, and the other was an ear picker. As their names suggested, the former harvested the corn as loose kernels, while the latter harvested whole ears of corn.

The two types of harvesters had different requirements regarding the corn’s maturity.

The grain combine required the corn to be fully mature; otherwise, the mechanical shelling process would shatter some of the kernels.

In the atmosphere of the evolved Blue Star, the virulent Harmful Element and powerful microorganisms would cause any broken kernels to go moldy in just a few short days.

This machine was impractical. After the corn harvest, the Lords needed to clear their fields to plant wheat. By the time the kernels were hard enough to use a grain combine, the optimal window for planting wheat would have already passed.

The ear picker didn’t require the corn to be fully mature and could be used right away. However, it only picked the ears and shredded the stalks. The territories had too little corn to justify using such agricultural machinery.

It wasn’t just the territories that didn’t use them; even the Safe Area Planting Center harvested corn manually to conserve resources.

’Kuang Qingwei wouldn’t have bothered getting either of those types of harvesters,’ Xiaqing thought. ’No one would buy or rent them.’

Sure enough, Kuang Qingwei wasn’t talking about either of those. "What I got isn’t a big harvester," he said. "It’s an electric motor-driven corn thresher."

"After you shuck the corn and let it dry for two days, you can use the thresher to get the kernels off the cob. Then you just have to dry the kernels for another one to three days, and they’ll be ready to bag and store. In other words, using a thresher can cut the total drying time down to five days or less."

Xiaqing’s interest was piqued. That was a very tempting offer.

Kuang Qingwei stated his price. "The thresher I got is a new model developed by Hui Er Base. It can thresh 2,200 pounds of corn in an hour. It costs 1,500 points to buy one, or you can rent it for 20 points an hour. If you rent, I’ll even send a worker over to help with the threshing."

A machine like this would only be used once a year, so renting made more sense than buying.

Xiaqing was the first to sign up. "I’ll rent it for an hour at ten a.m. the day after tomorrow."

Delighted to have business, Kuang Qingwei said, "Great! I’ll have the machine delivered to you at the stop sign at 9:45."

After the other Lords successively signed up to rent the thresher, the group started discussing how to protect the drying corn kernels from birds.

Zhang San, who rarely joined these kinds of discussions, came on the line. "My cat is highly efficient at catching birds and can take on this task. I won’t charge any fees, but any birds it catches belong to the cat. All territories are welcome, except for the Third Territory."

Hearing this, Xiaqing was drowned in a river of sorrow.