Qi Fu explained the key points of planting the rice seedlings to everyone over the walkie-talkie: "Don't water them every day, water them only when the soil is dry to the touch, and spray them frequently with camphor tree sap to prevent rodents. If a seedling's leaves look fine and haven't been bitten, but are still yellowing and wilting, it's probably a problem with the soil."
Xia Qing, squatting by the field, diligently wrote down Qi Fu's words in her phone's notepad. Zhao Ze asked, "Brother Qi, what's wrong? Tell me more."
"We're planting our first crop on newly cleared land, and we've used insecticide and fungicide powder, so there shouldn't be many pathogens in the soil. The most likely culprits are those two beasts, the evolved grubs and the evolved earthworms." Qi Fu's voice sounded like he was gritting his teeth.
The lords had already witnessed the savagery of these two insects in the wheat, cotton, and mung bean fields. Even if you're careful not to damage the main root after digging up the soil to kill the insects and then backfilling the soil, the seedlings will still be weak.
The most infuriating thing was digging up the soil and finding the roots bitten but the insects already escaped. The fragile seedlings, already weakened by insect bites and root-diggering, were even more vulnerable.
Every night, a lord would get so angry about this that he'd jump up and down in frustration.
Xia Qing, an evolved hearing being, would use her exceptional hearing every day to thoroughly clean her vegetable garden, farmland, fruit trees, and the surrounding area within a dozen meters. Not only had she never gotten angry about this, but she had also established friendly neighborly relations with the four evolved magpies and two evolved egrets in her territory.
The two egrets had moved here a few days ago, building their nest in a small grove of dawn redwoods on the north side of the reservoir. Having not eaten eggs for many years, Xia Qing was eagerly waiting for her neighbors to lay eggs so she could steal them.
After turning off the walkie-talkie, Xia Qing looked up and confirmed that the toon sprouts had grown to twelve to fifteen centimeters long and were ready to be harvested. This was the second batch of toon sprouts to be harvested. Xia Qing cut down all the ones she could and exchanged them for thirty-five liters of diesel fuel from Tan Junjie.
Although there were no other evolved Chinese toon trees for comparison, Xia Qing was quite satisfied with the yield of this large Chinese toon tree. Carrying two oil drums, Xia Qing explained tomorrow's itinerary to Tan Junjie, "I'll be out of my territory for half a day tomorrow, exchanging supplies for the people from Land One to help me guard it."
Many things were growing in the territory, and the amount of important supplies at home was increasing, so it couldn't be left unattended. Therefore, Xia Qing was using her security team for the first time. Informing Tan Junjie in advance was to avoid any misunderstandings if he found people from Land One in or around Land Three during his patrol tomorrow.
Tan Junjie nodded and left. He didn't ask what Xia Qing had exchanged with Land One, nor what she was doing away from the territory. Of course, Xia Qing didn't pry into how Tan Junjie would handle the Chinese toon sprouts.
Curiosity can kill humans, before natural disasters, and even more so after them. Cats won't kill them, because most cats have evolved to be very powerful, capable of supporting their curiosity.
After making plans with Hu Zifeng for tomorrow, Xia Qing started discussing her trip with Boss Yang. "I'm going to dig bamboo shoots tomorrow, do you want to come? It's that bamboo grove we used to cut bamboo in, you've been there before."
After the chicken-dung vine incident, Xia Qing felt that Boss Yang was smarter than she thought, so she became more talkative around him, hoping that one day he would truly understand her meaning.
Boss Yang didn't even lift his eyelids, continuing to lie on the tatami mat, chewing on his food.
The straw mat on the tatami was something Xia Qing had newly woven when she was bored while tending the seedlings. On top of the mat was a comfortable large straw mat, specially designed and made by Xia Qing according to her understanding of sheep ergonomics to thank Boss Yang for his concern.
Judging from Boss Yang's expression, he seemed quite satisfied.
Looking at his smug expression, Xia Qing's desire to eat Fresh Sheep Eighteen had diminished considerably. She smiled. "Goodnight, Boss Sheep."
After Xia Qing fell asleep, Boss Sheep, his large head with spiral horns resting on the raised side of the meadow, slowly closed his eyes as well.
Early the next morning, after Xia Qing finished her pest control inspection, she invited Hu Zifeng's team in. Hu Zifeng's team consisted of ten men, all male evolved beings. Today, they only left one member to guard Territory Number One; the rest were all there. Four of the nine remained in Xia Qing's territory, while five went with her to the Evolution Forest to dig for bamboo shoots.
Xia Qing wasn't worried that the remaining members would rummage through her territory. The team Yang Jin had chosen wouldn't tarnish his reputation.
Besides, this wasn't the first time Xia Qing had met this team. Because Hu Zifeng's team often cooperated with Luo Pei's team on missions, and although Hu Zifeng looked fierce and had a loud voice, he was always the first to rush into danger. Mission points were distributed according to member contributions, so this team was very united and had never betrayed a brother; they were trustworthy.
Wearing a two-piece camouflage protective suit and carrying a pistol, Xia Qing walked out of the western buffer zone and turned back to loudly ask the sheep leader who hadn't followed, "Boss, I'm going to dig bamboo shoots in the evolution forest over there, do you want to come?"
The sheep leader squinted at the group of people standing inside the safety barrier. Hu Zifeng and his gang also curiously sized up Xia Qing's sheep leader. Silence fell between them.
Seeing that the sheep leader didn't move, Xia Qing waved to it, "Then I'll go by myself. Boss, stay and watch the house."
"Baa—"
Just as Xia Qing crossed the safety barrier and was about to enter the evolution forest, the sheep leader suddenly bleated. Xia Qing, already familiar with the sheep leader's bleating, heard a warning in this sound. Did the sheep leader sense danger over there and warn her not to go?
With delicious food right in front of him, Xia Qing couldn't turn back. "I'm fully equipped and have a team. Nothing will happen. Boss, wait for me to bring back some good food."
After saying that, Xia Qing asked the team members who stayed behind not to let the sheep, Boss, enter other territories. "Although it's a red-light animal and can't be eaten, it's not good to disturb the people in other territories."
Hearing this, Tang Huai, who was eavesdropping in plot number two, sighed silently. If this sheep hadn't been a red-light animal, he would have already been eating roasted lamb chops.
After Hu Zifeng's team had gone far away, Zhou Xun, the visual evolutionist, reported to Tang Huai in a low voice, "Boss, Hu Zifeng took some people and Xia Qing to dig bamboo shoots in the Evolution Forest. Should we follow?"
"Follow my ass!" Tang Huai got up, crushed a few bugs that were burrowing into his protective suit, and went back to guard the vegetable garden. After listening to Qi Fu and the others nagging about planting vegetables for several days, Tang Huai's interest in planting vegetables hadn't been piqued; instead, he had developed a liking for digging up bugs by sound.
Today, the mini-tillers in plots one and three were finally quiet, and he wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to dig up insects to his heart's content. This was much more interesting than the eavesdropping mission.
"Miss Xia, stay behind me. The whole team on alert, maintain formation." Although Hu Zifeng didn't know that Xia Qing had provided the spring water, he knew that Luo Pei was healing in Xia Qing's territory, so he was especially grateful and respectful to Xia Qing, speaking very politely.
Xia Qing thanked him and reminded Hu Zifeng through the earpiece-style walkie-talkie inside her protective mask, "Now is the best time to eat bamboo shoots. Everyone be careful of any dangerous animals that might be lurking in the bamboo forest. My sheep is very sensitive to danger; if it doesn't come, it means there's a danger it doesn't want to face."
Based on Xia Qing's experience, when delicious plants ripen, evolved animals that prefer those plants will gather nearby. An evolved animal that likes to eat bamboo—could it be an evolved giant panda?!
Xia Qing's eyes lit up, her hearing and vision fully activated, trying to spot the black and white figure.
Speaking of which, shouldn't giant pandas still be black and white after evolution?