Crossing the original northern buffer zone of Territory No. 3, Xia Qing entered the high slope.
After the high slope area was incorporated into Xia Qing's territory, the patrol team no longer passed through the old buffer zone that had been incorporated into Xia Qing's territory when inspecting the perimeter.
If Xia Qing hadn't regularly sprayed insecticide and weeded the buffer zone, this ten-meter-wide buffer zone would have been gone long ago.
Xia Qing kept it to prevent insect infestations; the buffer zone could block pests coming down from No. 49, becoming half a protective wall for the territory.
The other half of the wall, of course, was Xia Qing herself. Even if an army of evolved locusts attacked, they wouldn't be able to get through the protective wall she had built.
Crossing the old buffer zone, Xia Qing entered the high slope's planting area. First, she planted the evolved perilla; to ensure that the eldest sheep could eat it, Xia Qing didn't enclose the evolved perilla within the insect-proof netting.
After killing an evolved mantis that was raising its scythe to attack her, Xia Qing entered the vegetable garden area covered by the insect-proof netting. The first terraced field within the insect-proof netting was planted with green-light alfalfa. Of the twenty alfalfa plants Zhao Ze had compensated her with, only two had died; the rest were thriving. Xia Qing had even tasted a tender shoot once, and it tasted better than perilla.
Of course, this might be because she had eaten too much evolved perilla and was simply tired of it.
The pumpkins planted in the next terraced field were a real headache for Xia Qing. If she hadn't tested them repeatedly, she would have suspected that these wildly growing vines, yet not a single flower, had been corrupted.
Five green-light pumpkin vines had filled the fifty-meter-long terraced field, and that wasn't all; they had even taken over half of the terraced field below, which was planted with green-light alfalfa. The fifteen yellow-light pumpkins planted next to the sweet potato field on the hillside were equally worrisome.
If the pumpkin vines didn't flower next month, Xia Qing would have to cut the vines to feed the sheep.
Upwards were fields of scallions, ginger, garlic, and chives. To make management easier, Xia Qing had transplanted all the vegetable seedlings she had found in Gao's dilapidated courtyard here. Further up were three terraced peanut fields, followed by empty fields prepared for sweet potato planting. Xia Qing crawled out of the insect netting and walked upwards, arriving at two apple trees whose fruit had been pruned and two jujube trees that had not only sprouted but also blossomed.
The jujube trees' small, yellowish-green flowers were fragrant and beautiful.
Xia Qing wasn't worried about insects biting the jujube blossoms at all, because these two green-light jujube trees could actually kill insects!
The branches and undersides of the leaves of the evolved jujube trees were covered with a dense layer of sharp thorns. Any insects that dared to provoke the jujube trees would be pierced by the thorns and slowly turn into dried insects. This made Xia Qing suspect that the jujubes she would harvest in the future might taste like meat.
Finally, Xia Qing reached a gentler area on the high slope and picked a lot of toon leaves from a large toon tree for Boss Yang. Humans couldn't eat toon buds in summer, but the toon leaves were still Boss Yang's food.
Back at the reservoir, Xia Qing called the sheep that was operating the waterwheel to come down for a meal, while she squatted by the fishpond feeding the fish.
Dozens of insects, large and small, that had just been killed, were thrown in, causing an immediate uproar in the fishpond. When the water calmed down again, even the insects' wings were nowhere to be seen.
This was the dog-eat-dog world of Blue Star; creatures that weren't strong enough or able to survive would be wiped out completely.
Xia Qing, strong and able to survive, stood up, clapped her hands, greeted the sheep, and went to check on her sweet potato vines, weeding as well.
The sweet potato vines weren't growing slowly, just not as frighteningly as the pumpkin vines.
While weeding, Xia Qing checked the sweet potato vines and noticed small red bumps appearing. In a few days, these bumps would sprout roots and take hold in the soil, and the vines could be cut and propagated.
To propagate the sweet potato vines, the prepared terraced fields needed to be fertilized. Xia Qing took out her phone and called Sun Zhe.
The call connected quickly, and Sun Zhe's voice was full of energy, "Sister Qing."
Not only was there no background noise from the construction crew on the other end of the line, but birdsong could also be heard. Xia Qing, realizing Sun Zhe wasn't with the construction team, asked directly, "Have you collected earthworm castings? If so, I'd like to buy a few bags."
Sun Zhe's voice was cheerful, "Yes, we have. My family partnered with someone to raise earthworms and make castings on Territory Number 48. How many kilograms would you like, Sister Qing?"
Xia Qing's voice also cracked with laughter, "How many kilograms do you have available for trade?"
Sun Zhe immediately stated, "At most four hundred kilograms, two kilograms per point. Is that acceptable, Sister Qing? Any cheaper and we won't even recoup our labor costs."
Unexpectedly, Sun Zhe had already produced so much earthworm castings. Xia Qing readily agreed, "Sure. Can you sell them all to me? Do you want to exchange for supplies or points?"
Because they arrived late and missed the optimal planting season, and because Territory Number 48 was close to the safe zone and had been ransacked countless times by humans, no edible plants were found. Therefore, Sun Zhe wanted to exchange for edible vegetables or seeds, "Sister Qing, do you have any edible plants? If you have any edible plant seeds available for exchange, that would be even better."
Xia Qing directly quoted the prices: "I have 150 yellow lantern scallion seeds, two seeds for every point; and 20 jin of dried, sealed yellow lantern bamboo shoots, one jin for 20 points."
After finalizing the quantities of scallion seeds and bamboo shoots for the exchange, Sun Zhe happily told Xia Qing, "I'll have Captain Zhong Tao deliver them to you tomorrow. Our family jointly manages the land with Captain Zhong's cousin, Zhong He. It's close to the safe zone, so it's much safer. The closest point in the territory to the safe zone is still within signal coverage, so we can use a regular phone."
Xia Qing hung up the phone, leveling the land next to the sweet potato field while marveling at Sun Zhe's good judgment in choosing people.
Although Zhong Tao was an ordinary person, he was very sociable and, as the squad leader responsible for transporting supplies to the fifty territories north of the safe zone, he was very familiar with the situation in these territories. With his help, the earthworm castings produced by Sun Zhe and Zhong He could be traded with lords who needed them without any advertising, greatly improving security.
On the third day, Zhong Tao delivered four large bags of earthworm castings to Xia Qing. Xia Qing handed him dried bamboo shoots and scallion seeds, and exchanged fifty catties of dried Evolved White-haired Chicken Dung Vine for soy sauce, salt, and vinegar. She also gave Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui fifty scallion seeds and two catties of pickled bamboo shoots in return.
Scallions and chives look very similar in their seedling stage, but they differ as they mature. Xia Qing had sixty scallions, eight of which had flowered and produced seeds. She used more than half of the seeds to exchange for supplies. Besides Zhong Tao, Zheng Kui, Sun Zhe, and the two lords, the person she exchanged with most surprised her: Tang Huai from Plot Two.
This month, Tang Huai's interest in farming had suddenly increased, and he would occasionally participate in pest control discussions in the lord channel, so Plot Two wasn't entirely wasted.
If it weren't for the spring water in Plot Three, Plot Two, with its flatter terrain and thicker soil layer, would have been Xia Qing's first choice.
The yellow-light pickled bamboo shoots Xia Qing had pickled last month hadn't spoiled. While the taste wasn't great, they were still edible, so she added stir-fried bamboo shoots with bamboo rat meat and pickled bamboo shoot soup to her menu.