Chapter 96: Xiaqing’s Potential and Perseverance

Chapter 96: Chapter 96: Xiaqing’s Potential and Perseverance

In response to Zhang San’s question, a hint of warmth entered Li Si’s voice. "I wanted to see what the spinach leaves Brother San likes taste like."

Everyone picked up on a peculiar undertone in that answer. Although Zhang San was nonchalant toward Li Si, the two clearly knew each other very well. Everyone wondered what their relationship was.

After the compost starter trade was finished, Xiaqing sent a trade request for water celery to Shi Zhong. "Uncle Shi, are your Green Light water celery roots available for trade? I’d like to exchange them for my Green Light chives with roots."

Xiaqing was about the same age as Shi Du, so instead of calling Shi Zhong ’brother’ like the other Lords, she addressed him as an elder.

Shi Zhong asked Xiaqing, "Ah, Xiaqing, I’ve already traded for Green Light chives. Do you have anything else?"

"That’s all I have." Of course, Xiaqing had more, but she couldn’t say so in front of Li Si.

Shi Zhong, getting dizzy from his son tugging on him, swatted him away and asked with a chuckle, "Ah, Xiaqing, do you have a lot of wheat in your territory? If you do, once you’ve harvested it, could I trade some water celery seeds for a bit of your wheat? I’m raising a pig at home, and no amount of grain is enough to satisfy him."

From Shi Zhong’s tone, it was obvious the "pig" he was referring to was his son, Shi Du. Evolved People certainly had much larger appetites than ordinary people. Xiaqing smiled and agreed, "Once I’ve harvested the wheat, we can negotiate the trade amount."

"No rush. It’ll be a while before the water celery goes to seed anyway." Shi Zhong’s voice was kind and concerned. "If you ever get too busy to handle things on your own, just have Little Du go over and lend you a hand."

Xiaqing wasn’t a fool; she knew exactly what Shi Zhong was implying. She stated her position directly, "Thank you, Uncle Shi. I’m a Strength Evolution Person. I can handle this bit of farm work."

With Xiaqing having said her piece, everyone who needed to understand, understood. Fearing it would get awkward for Shi Zhong, Qi Fu abruptly changed the subject. "It’s been a few days now. How come we haven’t heard a peep from the person in No. 8 Territory? You don’t think his walkie-talkie is broken, do you?"

Kuang Qingwei joked along, "Maybe. Brother Feng, have you ever seen the person from No. 8 Territory?"

No. 1 Territory was directly north of No. 8 Territory, making it the closest of all their territories.

Hu Zifeng replied, "I actually haven’t paid any attention."

After that, the channel fell silent.

According to the unwritten rule, the patrol team helped deliver goods for trades between Lords. Xiaqing counted out ten seeds from the spinach seeds Zhang San had given her and handed them to the patrol team.

The person who came to deliver the compost starter to Xiaqing was Hu Zi from the patrol team.

Hu Zi handed two bags of compost starter and a double-sided printout of the composting process to Xiaqing, then said in a low voice, "Sister Qing, you got a great deal on this compost starter."

Each bag of compost starter weighed two kilograms and came with a detailed guide to composting. The Green Light Spinach seeds she used for the trade were a free gift from Zhang San, so it was indeed a great deal. Xiaqing nodded.

Today’s trade was at the signpost at the southern end of the territory, so Xiaqing wasn’t wearing a Protective Mask. From Hu Zi’s vantage point, he could clearly see her long, thick eyelashes and her delicate, straight nose.

Although Xiaqing’s skin was a dark red color, in Hu Zi’s eyes, she was still a beautiful woman who made his heart race. His heart pounded in his chest as he confessed in a small voice, "Sister Qing, if you ever get too busy with the work in your fields, just give me a call anytime."

Xiaqing’s already smile-less face grew even more distant. "I can manage."

Hu Zi remained cheerful. "I know. I just wanted to let you know. You should head back now. Be careful, walls have ears."

Tang Huai, who had heard them and hurried over to get his compost starter...

Xiaqing took the compost starter and began walking back, reading the composting guide as she went. This was precious information.

In the Safe Zone, even a job like making fertilizer was considered skilled labor, and they only hired people with experience. Xiaqing had just started her first year of high school before the Natural Disaster. Afterward, she never had the chance to study again and possessed no technical skills, so she could only do manual labor on a construction team.

This document was clearly written by a professional. The composting tools, conditions, and procedures were all explained with clear, specific data. For example, the composting boxes had to be made from insect-repellent evolved camphor, pear, or beech wood, and the planks could not be less than one and a half centimeters thick, and so on.

Anyone who could read would be able to understand these instructions.

But following this process to make compost still required skill.

Coincidentally, Xiaqing had already learned all the necessary skills.

As a skilled woodworker, Xiaqing returned home gleefully. She quickly built five standard compost boxes, then went to her warehouse and brought out four large bundles of dried grass she had gathered from the sloped planting area over the past few months. Most of this grass was Yellow Light, with a small amount of Green Light. She had cut, dried, and stored it, originally intending to use it as dry fodder for Sheep Leader, but now she was repurposing it for compost.

She would prepare more fodder for Sheep Leader later.

Following the instructions, Xiaqing deftly set up a composting shelter in a damp-proof, sun-proof, yet dry and well-ventilated spot in her yard to house the compost boxes. Unlike a vegetable shed, the ground of the composting shelter also needed to be covered with rainproof cloth to prevent pests from entering the boxes from underground and affecting the composting results.

During the day, the composting shelter was to be covered with insect netting. At night, when the temperature dropped below twenty degrees Celsius, it needed to be covered with rainproof cloth for insulation.

Next were detailed instructions on how to turn the compost, control its humidity, and other key points to watch out for.

Xiaqing felt she was betraying her idol, because as she followed the composting process step by step, her favorable impression of Li Si grew even stronger.

After trading the White-haired Chicken Shit Vine for five hundred kilograms of crab shell fertilizer, Xiaqing found that the crab shells had already been ground into a powder and didn’t have much of an unpleasant smell.

To be cautious, Xiaqing steeped half a cup of the crab shell powder in hot spring water, then used an Air detector to test the steam, confirming that no toxic gases were produced. She then tested the crab shell water with a Harmful Element Detector. Although the result was a Red Light, the Harmful Element content did not exceed twenty parts per thousand, which wasn’t considered high.

Of course, this result was related to the simple and crude sampling method of soaking it in water that Xiaqing had used.

After these two tests, Xiaqing spread earthworm castings and crab shell powder in the trench she had dug the day before yesterday, then smoothed the trench over. The supplemental fertilizing for the flowering cotton was now complete.

Then, Xiaqing also added some crab shell powder to the vegetables in her garden and the flowering mung bean sprouts.

The potatoes, which were about to blossom, would get their supplemental fertilizer after they flowered in a few days. The pumpkin vines, which showed no sign of flowering at all, couldn’t be fertilized, because Xiaqing was afraid they would grow even more wildly.

After she finished fertilizing, Luo Pei informed Xiaqing that the Evolutionary Wolf crisis was over and told her to go to Mountain No. 49 to continue her training.

Every morning, Xiaqing went to learn various skills from Luo Pei, and in the afternoon, she would enter her private Evolution Forest to practice while clearing out harmful Qiang Evolved organisms.

She feared no hardship, fatigue, danger, or injury. She trained exactly as Luo Pei instructed, and her progress was incredibly fast.

Luo Pei, an extremely strict instructor from the First Military Academy, gave Xiaqing a very high evaluation:

Xiaqing’s potential and perseverance were in no way inferior to the First Military Academy’s most outstanding cadet, Yang Jin. Unfortunately, the time she had for professional, systematic training was too little, too late. Otherwise, she would certainly have a spot in the top ten of Hui City’s combat power rankings.