Xia Qing excitedly shared her strawberry-growing experience with Luo Pei, "At first, I planted strawberries in the terraced fields, but the scent of the blossoms attracted too many insects, so I transplanted them into pots and brought them home. I keep them indoors, and when the sun is out, I move them outside to bask in the sun."
"If you don't keep them indoors, such fragrant fruit will definitely be eaten by the evolutionary insects," Luo Pei cautioned Xia Qing. "Make sure to keep the doors and windows closed, and be careful that the evolutionary insects aren't attracted by the strawberry scent and come inside."
Xia Qing nodded, "I've been careful. Yesterday, I just exchanged a bucket of deodorizer with the lord of Plot Seven, and it works very well, greatly reducing the danger in that regard."
What came from Zhang San of Plot Seven was, of course, good stuff. Luo Pei smiled gently, "That's good."
After a few more casual words, Luo Pei returned to the main topic, "After the great evolution of life, apex predators with evolved brains, such as elephants, wolves, lions, tigers, gorillas, and monkeys, will not only stop hunting herbivorous evolved brains, but will even form alliances with them to gain greater benefits. You and A-Jin are both certain that the wolf is a very intelligent evolved brain, so the only possibility for its friendly relationship with your evolved sheep is that your sheep is also an evolved brain."
Evolved brains will play a leading role in their species. If different species of evolved brains form alliances, it will be a powerful alliance, which is a disaster for humanity. Just how far will natural disasters drive humanity to despair and collapse?
The happiness brought by the strawberries vanished, and Xia Qing's face turned grave. "Brother Luo, this is terrifying."
Luo Pei nodded. "That's why this hasn't been made public. Xia Qing, what's your relationship with your sheep?"
Xia Qing knew Luo Pei's intention in asking this. Although she had only spent a little over two months with the sheep, Xia Qing trusted it completely. "We share territory and edible plants within it; we consider each other companions. Of course, if the wolf comes and it sides with the wolf against me, then it's no longer my companion."
Yang Jin, who had been eating cucumber slices with his head down, spoke up. "You allowed the evolved sheep to bring food outside the territory to wait for the wolf. Were you trying to test their relationship?"
"Yes." In front of the two big shots, Xia Qing didn't hide her plan. "If my sheep is the wolf's prey, it will lure it out and eliminate the threat; if my sheep and the wolf are companions, maybe I can benefit from it too."
Luo Pei was surprised. "You want to form a platonic relationship with wolves? Evolved wolves are incredibly intelligent, and their fighting power is formidable. Humans have been trying to tame wolves or form platonic relationships with them for years, but now even peaceful coexistence is impossible. What you're doing is a bit risky."
Xia Qing shook her head. "That's the most ideal, yet also the least likely, scenario. I was thinking that if I could connect with the wolf pack through the sheep leader, perhaps I could have another channel for trading goods. That alpha wolf is very intelligent, and it lives in the Evolution Forest; it must have a lot of good stuff."
After Xia Qing left, Luo Pei couldn't help but sigh, "She actually wants to trade goods with wolves… no wonder you like her. Ten years of natural disasters have passed, and fewer and fewer people still have hope in their eyes."
Now, apart from those protected by large families, most humans live numb, desperate, indulgent, and insane lives. But in the helpless Xia Qing, Luo Pei saw not a trace of pessimism or slackness. She was low-key, clear-headed, independent, principled, and full of hope for the future.
Seeing Xia Qing, Luo Pei felt that humanity still had a future.
Yang Jin munched on his cucumber, remaining silent. He liked Xia Qing; it was unspoken, and he couldn't say it.
Because Xia Qing had no interest in having a boyfriend; she only wanted to live her own life. Before, she had focused on learning various independent living skills; now that she had mastered them and left her comfort zone, she was wholeheartedly focused on farming to improve her life.
She had been alone for years, and it was foreseeable that she would remain so for a long time to come.
Strictly speaking, she wasn't alone anymore; she had a companion—a foolish sheep.
In her eyes, he was at best a reasonably good-looking trading partner.
How could the ever-proud Yang Jin possibly admit that he wasn't even as good as a foolish sheep in Xia Qing's eyes?
Seeing Yang Jin remain silent, Luo Pei smiled and said, "Don't tell me you don't like her. If Territory Number Three didn't belong to Xia Qing, you would have taken it long ago."
Yang Jin finished the cucumber in Luo Pei's fruit plate before leaning back in his chair and asking, "Brother Luo, how much have you recovered?"
He neither answered nor denied it. It seemed he truly liked Xia Qing. When did he fall for her? Luo Pei knew that if this guy didn't want to talk about something, he wouldn't get it even if he knocked his teeth out. So, he stopped wasting his time and answered directly, "Seventy percent, I think. I should be able to recover to ninety percent in a month. What's your plan?"
"Once you're ninety percent recovered, I'll go track down that wolf," Yang Jin said, his calculations running smoothly. "That wolf probably knows there's an unpolluted water source in Territory Three, but it hasn't firmly established itself there. That leaves only one possibility: there's another unpolluted water source in its core territory."
Luo Pei's eyes lit up too. "Take some supplies that the wolf might be interested in. Xia Qing is right; if you can trade supplies with the wolves, don't fight them."
Trade? He was interested. Yang Jin lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and slowly said, "If it hadn't been an evenly matched contest, one of us would definitely have died yesterday."
Luo Pei, feeling much better, was in the mood for jokes. "A male wolf?"
Yang Jin was speechless for a few seconds. "A female."
Luo Pei chuckled twice before getting down to business. "The safe zone will definitely cause us trouble because of the evolved wolf injuring the wild boar. Can Xie Yu handle it alone?"
The tight-fisted Yang Jin wouldn't leave such a loophole in a deal. "No need to deal with it. I signed a written agreement that after buying the mountain, we'll send people to guard it starting from the third month. Before that, any dangerous evolved creatures coming down the mountain are none of our responsibility."
Luo Pei was impressed. "It's such a pity that your smart brain didn't evolve; otherwise, you could have taken over the entire Blue Star."
Xia Qing went home, ate three hot scallion pancakes for lunch, took a short nap, then put on her big straw hat, slung her water bike over her shoulder, and took the sheep to work in the fields.
After feeding them hay and evolved insects for over a month, the largest fish fry in the pond had grown to three centimeters long, enough to be fried and eaten.
As long as she fed them well, the fry would definitely be palm-sized by the end of July. The dried fish were already prepared; her cat couldn't be far behind! Xia Qing grew happier with each thought, showering the sheep, who had been pedaling the waterwheel with praise, with praise before inspecting the farmland.
Xia Qing first went to the planting area on the low slope north of the reservoir, carefully plucking a spinach leaf to confirm the seeds weren't mature before continuing upwards. Beans, eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers had all flowered and fruited; in another half month, her table would be even more abundant.
Xia Qing passed by each vegetable seedling and cucumber/bean trellis, shaking the plants or bamboo frames to artificially pollinate them. Actually, in strong winds, artificial shaking wasn't necessary, but Xia Qing shook all the vegetable plants inside the insect netting for peace of mind.
Passing by the cucumber vines, Xia Qing plucked a blooming male flower and placed it on the female flower to pollinate it. Then, she casually plucked the excess male flowers and tucked them into her straw hat. By the time she emerged from the insect netting around the planting area below the spring, Xia Qing's hat was adorned with over a dozen fresh cucumber blossoms.
She put on her hat and continued upwards.
Insects attracted by the fragrance of the cucumber flowers were all killed by Xia Qing and stuffed into her small basket. Passing the spring, Xia Qing washed some spinach leaves and popped them into her mouth before continuing her ascent.
Zhang San was a picky eater, and his favorite food was spinach leaves. Although Xia Qing didn't find spinach leaves particularly delicious, she wouldn't waste a single green vegetable.