Chapter 43: The Sheep Leader Who Moved Xiaqing

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: The Sheep Leader Who Moved Xiaqing

The next morning, the inspection team delivered twenty stalks of Green Light Alfalfa.

Xiaqing fell silent as she looked at the tender green, palm-high seedlings, roots and all, in the woven grass basket. The color of these seedlings was indeed much more normal than the Evolved Perilla, but, ’Are these really Alfalfa and not Clover?’

’Or is the scientific name for Clover actually Alfalfa?’

Xiaqing took out her phone and flipped through the Planting Guide, finding the picture of Evolved Alfalfa to compare. The small leaves of the mature, meter-tall Alfalfa in the Planting Guide were indeed ninety percent similar to the leaves of the seedlings in her basket.

She stopped fussing over whether Alfalfa was Clover and, following the key points mentioned in the Planting Guide, planted the seedlings in the terraced field above the Evolved Perilla, fencing them in with Evolutionary Sour Date Branches.

If these Alfalfa seedlings survived, she could wait for them to go to seed, sow them again, and by next year, once she had filled this terraced field, she could remove the Evolutionary Sour Date Branches and let Sheep Leader eat the Alfalfa to its heart’s content, just like it did with the Perilla.

Xiaqing’s heart thrilled at the thought of next year.

After the Natural Disaster, the vast majority of people at the bottom of society lived one day at a time. They had no plans, nor could they afford to make any. In that sense, Xiaqing was an anomaly. But back when she was in the Safe Zone planning to rebuild her home, her vision for the future was just a vague and illusory dream. She had no idea when, or if, it could ever be realized.

Now, standing in her own territory and thinking about the future, she was filled with a sense of solid reality.

She reached out and ruffled the curly wool on Sheep Leader’s head as it chewed on some Perilla. Her heart surged with emotion as she swept an arm across her entire territory. "My dearest, look! This is the kingdom I have conquered for you!"

Sheep Leader ignored the dramatic Xiaqing and continued to chow down.

As the end of March arrived, the nurtured seedlings were ready for transplanting, which meant it was time for the Lords to trade them with one another.

For fairness, each Lord first had to test the Harmful Element content of their seedlings to confirm their grade before any trades could happen.

The other Lords announced on the channel that most of their seedlings were Yellow Light, with a few Red Light, and rarely any Green Light. In Xiaqing’s fields, ninety percent of her seedlings were Yellow Light and ten percent were Green Light, with no Red Light ones. However, Xiaqing hid the existence of her Green Light seedlings and claimed she had some Red Light ones as well.

When trading with the other Lords, Xiaqing only dug up Yellow Light seedlings. The first ones she dug up were for Territory No. 1: ten seedlings each of tomato, cucumber, eggplant, and pumpkin.

Of course, these seedlings weren’t traded for the micro-tiller as nominally agreed, but were instead bundled with fifty spinach seeds to get Xiaqing forty bags of putty powder and three buckets of wall paint in return.

After the Natural Disaster, wall paint and putty powder had gained a new primary function in addition to decoration: repelling insects. Both building materials were hot commodities that ordinary people couldn’t get their hands on. When Xiaqing was on the construction team, both were rationed by weight, so she hadn’t been able to save any.

She had originally planned to trade with Qi Fu for the putty powder, but it turned out he didn’t have any in stock either.

A few days ago, Xiaqing had heard Hu Zifeng mention on the Lord channel that they were going to build a house in No. 1 Territory. She took a chance and proposed a trade, and was surprised when it actually worked out. This made Xiaqing marvel once again at the formidable strength of the Green Dragon Team.

After planting the seedlings and digging up the bamboo shoots, Xiaqing planned to seize the opportunity before the next Harmful Rain to paint her little house and make it feel more like a home.

After delivering the seedlings to Territory No. 1, Xiaqing traded another ten tomato seedlings, getting five bean seedlings from Territory No. 5 and five chili pepper seedlings from Territory No. 7. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to trade for more, but she only had fifteen tomato seedlings left.

Since every territory had received pumpkin, cucumber, and eggplant seeds, Xiaqing had more of those seedlings left over: twenty pumpkin, twenty-five cucumber, and thirty eggplant.

She planted all these seedlings and the ones she’d traded for—aside from a few extra pumpkin seedlings—in the still-empty planting area on the hillside.

To ensure the seedlings would grow well, Xiaqing applied every planting technique she knew. To enrich the soil in her vegetable patch, she collected sheep manure and bird droppings from her territory, composted them, and applied them as fertilizer. After transplanting, she even watered them once with the mountain spring water she had been saving.

Now, it was all up to their Life Force.

In the days after planting, Xiaqing wished she could just live in the vegetable patch.

The Lords of Territories No. 4, 5, and 6 were even more attentive than she was, keeping their pagers on twenty-four hours a day to exchange gardening tips at a moment’s notice.

Zhang San of Territory No. 7 wasn’t interested in anything but eating, so he was never online during the day. Hu Zifeng from Territory No. 1 was always on, but only to keep track of Xiaqing’s movements and needs. Tang Huai of Territory No. 2, in turn, stayed on to monitor Hu Zifeng. Of course, those two rarely spoke.

At noon, the sun beat down on the transplanted seedlings, making their leaves droop. Half of them even bent over completely. It made Xiaqing’s heart ache to see it. Following a method Qi Fu had taught her, she carefully propped up the bent seedlings with small forked sticks. If she didn’t know the seedlings needed sunlight, she would have put up a sunshade for them immediately.

In the evening, when the sun was no longer so intense, the drooping leaves of most seedlings perked up again. Xiaqing was so happy she couldn’t stop grinning.

The next morning, even the seedlings that had bent completely over perked up. Xiaqing was so delighted she spun around in a circle.

At noon, the seedlings drooped again under the sun, their leaves and stems wilting. Xiaqing squatted by the field with a long face, sighing.

The morning of the third day, the cycle repeated. Xiaqing’s mood swung between excitement and anxiety, so much so that Sheep Leader thought she was sick. It grabbed a mouthful of grass, brought it over to the edge of the planting area, and pawed at the Evolutionary Sour Date Branches, gesturing for Xiaqing to come out and eat.

Xiaqing, full of pent-up frustration, didn’t understand what Sheep Leader meant. Thinking it wanted to eat her seedlings, she rushed out and got into a fierce tussle with it.

Although she had defeated Sheep Leader with an overwhelming advantage for the first time ever, it didn’t cheer her up. She just went back to watching her seedlings, sighing in despair.

The defeated Sheep Leader brought the grass back to the house and spat it into Xiaqing’s bowl. Only then did Xiaqing realize it wanted *her* to eat the grass.

’Is this grass edible?’

After testing it, Xiaqing discovered that the grass Sheep Leader brought back was actually a Green Light plant. She cooked and ate it, but spat it out after a single bite. It was absolutely disgusting.

Sheep Leader was not pleased. It went and got some more, spitting it into Xiaqing’s bowl again.

Seeing how persistent Sheep Leader was, Xiaqing asked Tan Junjie to look into it. She then learned that this unremarkable-looking vine was actually Evolutionary White-haired Chicken Shit Vine, which could be used to treat abdominal pain from indigestion and itchy skin!

Xiaqing finally understood. Sheep Leader thought she was sick and had gone out of its way to gather medicinal herbs for her. Deeply moved, Xiaqing plucked a few Alfalfa leaves—which she herself hadn’t even dared to taste—and gave Sheep Leader a special treat.

Thanks to Sheep Leader, Xiaqing’s territory now had another specialty product: a valuable Green Light Chinese herb, the Evolutionary White-haired Chicken Shit Vine.

Despite its awful name, it was very valuable. A whole dried plant (including roots, stems, and leaves) could sell for a surprising forty points per pound.

When she had time, Xiaqing would definitely harvest some, dry it, and trade it for points to buy compressed rations for Sheep Leader.

Six days after transplanting, ten seedlings in the terraced field had died. Most of them were cucumbers. Xiaqing figured cucumber sprouts were the most delicate; their thin skin seemed to be all water, wilting under the sun and toppling over in the wind.

She would never admit that she had accidentally broken two of them while trying to prop them up.

Nearly half of the seedlings in Territories No. 1 and No. 2 had died. The Lord of Territory No. 7 wasn’t online, but his situation was probably similar. The situations in Territories No. 4 and 6 were about the same as Xiaqing’s. Territory No. 5 had the best results, having lost only two seedlings. This was because Qi Fu’s family had been farmers before the Natural Disaster and had the most experience.