Chapter 60: Pruning and Branching
The mountain had been leased to someone else; there was no way she would get a share. Xia Qing sighed.
Besides, if it weren't for the purpose of exploring the mountain, what fool would pass up a vast expanse of green mountains full of free points just to pay thousands of points to enter Mountain No. 49? This business was only good for scamming people with ulterior motives; it wouldn't last long and wouldn't earn much.
While comforting herself, Xia Qing continued her patrol of the buffer forest.
After Tang Zheng and the others entered the evolution forest of Mountain No. 49, Yang Jin glanced in Xia Qing's direction, then turned and walked back toward Buffer Forest No. 1 at an unhurried pace.
"Brother Jin—"
Hearing Tang Lu's cheerful shout, Xia Qing felt a wave of cringe. This "melon" was too sweet for her to stomach; she quickened her pace to escape.
"Brother Jin—"
Dressed in a pink protective suit, Tang Lu stood within Territory No. 2, calling out to Yang Jin from a distance as he descended from the northern buffer forest of Territory No. 1. "Brother Jin!"
Yang Jin's face was even colder than when he had faced Tang Zheng. "Does Miss Tang have business with me?"
Because they were too far apart, Tang Lu had to shout. "I managed to buy 50 liters of pollution-free spring water and had it delivered overnight. Brother Jin, take it to treat Instructor Luo."
"There is no need. I heard from the Second Miss Tang that the Old Madam of the Tang family is ill. Miss Tang should take the water back and show filial piety to your elder." Yang Jin walked down the slope, his figure completely obscured by the tall, wild grass.
Tang Lu stomped her feet in anger and turned to scold Tang Huai. "What are you people even doing? Can't you see how high this grass is? Clear it out immediately!"
Even if the wild grass in Territory No. 2 were cleared, the grass in Territory No. 1 would remain as it was; she still wouldn't be able to see Yang Jin! Tang Huai couldn't be bothered to explain and simply went to take the task of clearing the grass, refusing to argue with this brainless woman.
After scolding Tang Huai away, Tang Lu asked indignantly, "Where the hell is Xu Pin? He hasn't been seen for ages!"
"Reporting to the Eldest Miss, Deputy Captain Xu has taken men out," Tang Lu's bodyguard replied, simultaneously firing a shot to kill a palm-sized spider lunging toward her.
"What kind of godforsaken place is this!" Tang Lu, who had always lived in the inner city of the Safe Zone, turned pale with fright at the sight of the evolution spider and quickened her pace.
On the other side, Tang Heng, Tang Huai's younger brother, led Xu Pin, the deputy captain of the Sufeng Team, to the road sign of Territory No. 7. "Captain Xu, Zhang San is in this territory."
Before them stood a dense wall of grass, over a person tall. Even so, Xu Pin accurately pinpointed the positions of two sentries within the grass wall. He stood obediently under the road sign and called Zhang San.
The phone rang for a long time without an answer, which was expected. Tang Heng pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Captain Xu, the people in these territories usually use walkie-talkies to communicate. Shall I ask if Zhang San is around?"
After Xu Pin nodded, Tang Heng turned on the walkie-talkie and asked loudly, "This is Tang Heng from Territory No. 2. Is Brother San from Territory No. 7 there?"
Kuang Qingwei's voice soon rang out over the channel, "Brother San definitely isn't around this morning. If you want to find him, it's best to come back at 7:45 PM."
Holding the walkie-talkie, Tang Heng looked at Xu Pin. "Captain Xu, Zhang San has quite a temper. If he finds out we forced our way in, it'll be hard to trade supplies with him again."
Just because of a piece of spoiled mutton, Zhang San still refused to trade with Territory No. 2. A man so petty must be a disfigured bald man!
"Let's head back." Xu Pin turned to walk back. Since he couldn't see Zhang San, he would go check out Mountain No. 49. He didn't believe Yang Jin would buy a mountain for no reason; there must be important resources on Mountain No. 49.
A woman as inexperienced as Tang Zheng wouldn't be able to find anything at all.
Not far into their walk, Xu Pin's group encountered a patrol team inspecting the isolation belt.
Xu Pin stood at attention and gave Tan Junjie a military salute. "Teacher Tan."
Tan Junjie returned the salute, but without even removing his protective mask, he led his team forward.
Xu Pin stood his ground and called out loudly, "Teacher Tan might not know yet, but the Azure Dragon Team has purchased Mountain No. 49. The evolution forest north of this territory is now the responsibility of the Azure Dragon Team, so there is no need for you to patrol here anymore."
Tan Junjie walked past him calmly. "I lead my team to execute orders. To whom the mountain belongs is none of my concern."
Watching Tan Junjie's team walk away, a member of the Sufeng Team behind Xu Pin spat. "He's just a minor captain in charge of five or six people, yet he dares to put on airs in front of you. He really thinks he's still a military academy instructor acting all high and mighty like before the Great Catastrophe."
"Shut up." Although Xu Pin told him to shut up, he showed no sign of being angry at his subordinate's outspokenness. "Even with the Great Biological Evolution and humans being reclassified by ability, there is still much I need to learn from the Teacher."
"What a sarcastic piece of trash!" Cao Xianyun, an auditory evolver, cursed under his breath. "How could a military academy produce such a scoundrel?"
"I'll deal with him sooner or later!"
"Continue the patrol. Stay alert."
"Yes, sir!"
All the commotion outside had nothing to do with Xia Qing. After leading Boss Sheep on a patrol around her territory, she crouched by the potato and sweet potato fields, listening intently. The whistling wind, the chirping birds, the rustling of long earthworms in the soil, and... the *scritch-scratch* of cutworms crawling!
Xia Qing opened her eyes, walked over, and dug out a cutworm—an evolutionary moth larva—that was five meters away from the potato field, tossing it to the large magpies flying over.
The two magpies, having failed to catch any worms, didn't leave but stood by Xia Qing's side waiting to be fed.
After cleaning up the evolutionary grubs and cutworms from the soil around the two fields, Xia Qing looked at the light-red potato vines, which had grown significantly, with eyes full of affection. Since the vines were so tall, there should be potatoes growing on the roots, right?
She was truly craving them; she decided to dig up two small potatoes first to satisfy her hunger.
Xia Qing pulled out her phone and flipped through the *Complete Guide to Planting*, only to find with disappointment that potatoes wouldn't grow until after the vines flowered.
Potatoes... they wouldn't flower until next month...
Giving up on the potatoes, Xia Qing turned her gaze to the sweet potato vines. Sweet potatoes could grow even without flowering. Since the vines were so long, they must have grown, right?
After crouching by the field for ten minutes, Xia Qing finally couldn't resist and extended her "sinful" claws, carefully brushing away the soil at the base of the sweet potato roots. She discovered that while the roots had begun to swell, they weren't even as thick as a little finger; they couldn't be considered sweet potatoes yet.
After filling the soil back in, Xia Qing moved on to the cotton field.
The cotton plants had already grown to her knees, and the main stems had produced three to five branches. Yesterday, the base broadcast said that once cotton reached this stage, it was time for "pruning and branching."
Pruning and branching meant keeping the fruiting branches on the main stem that would grow flower buds, and snapping off the leaf branches that did not directly grow buds. Because leaf branches grow faster than fruiting branches and consume more nutrients, removing them in time can promote the growth of fruiting branches and increase cotton yield.
Xia Qing had been very interested in this farm chore after hearing the broadcast last night. Since pruning involved snapping off leaf branches, she could squeeze the juice from them to test the trace element content of each cotton plant.
During the years of the Great Catastrophe, every crop was precious. Xia Qing compared the images of leaf branches and fruiting branches from the *Complete Guide to Planting* to the cotton plants in front of her, but the more she looked, the more she lost the ability to distinguish between them, making her afraid to start snapping.
She turned on her walkie-talkie and, as expected, heard the three lords of territories four, five, and six discussing pruning.
Zhao Ze sounded worried. "These branches all look the same. Which one am I supposed to snap off? I don't dare touch them."
Qi Fu taught him patiently, "Count from the bottom up. The first fruiting branch usually grows in the armpit of the fifth to seventh leaf on the main stem. Once you find the fruiting branch, just strip off all the branches below it."
Zhao Ze became even more worried. "Brother Qi, many of my cotton plants haven't even reached the fifth leaf yet. Which leaf are yours at?"
Answering that question meant exposing the growth status of one's crops to others, so no one replied. Xia Qing counted the leaves on the cotton plant in front of her; it already had seven leaves.