Chapter 51: Buying a Mountain?!

Chapter 51: Buying a Mountain?!

Returning to her territory with two yellow-lamp bamboo rats and over two hundred pounds of bamboo shoots, Xia Qing received a warm welcome from Boss Yang.

Judging by Boss Yang's demeanor, Xia Qing was convinced that if it weren't for its heavy tail, the creature would have been wagging it so hard it would have turned into a whirlwind. She placed her heavy backpack on Boss Yang's back to let it carry the load home, then generously gave it a small, tender yellow-lamp bamboo shoot. "Eat up. Follow me from now on and work hard, and I won't treat you poorly."

With delicious food in sight, Boss Yang had no interest in paying Xia Qing any mind, focusing instead on crunching away at the shoots.

After putting away her supplies, Xia Qing practically dragged her legs into the bathroom. While carrying seven hundred pounds for fifteen li was not her absolute limit, it wasn't as effortless as she had made it appear. After stripping off her clothes, Xia Qing leaned against the wall under the showerhead, letting the warm water wash over her stinging shoulders.

Thanks to solar power and her own hard work, she finally had access to a simple solar water heater, allowing her to take hot showers without needing to build a fire.

After her shower, Xia Qing rewarded herself for a hard day's work with a feast of bamboo shoots, falling into a deep sleep before it was even dark.

Having finished its high-quality meal, Boss Yang trotted over to Xia Qing's table and licked every plate and bowl clean. Then, it curled up on the tatami straw mat, waiting for Xia Qing to clear the table.

After waiting a long time, seeing only Xia Qing snoring away without getting up, Boss Yang squinted at her for a moment, then trotted back to the table, picked up a bowl in its mouth, and carried it toward the kitchen.

The porcelain bowl hit the stainless steel basin with a crisp clatter.

*Clang!*

The sound startled Xia Qing. Clutching a knife in her left hand and a gun in her right, she jumped up and rushed toward the source of the noise. Seeing the bowl shattered in two, and then seeing Boss Yang standing by the basin squinting at her, her tense nerves immediately went limp.

She sheathed her knife and gun, reached out to rub the short fur on Boss Yang's head, and spoke softly to affirm its work. "Good job, Boss. You even know how to help clear the table now. It's okay that the bowl broke; we'll just get a new one."

Praised, Boss Yang grew happy and trotted back to fetch a plate. Xia Qing used a broken bowl to repeatedly demonstrate to Boss Yang how to place dishes into the washing basin. "Like this, put them in gently and slowly, and they won't break."

Boss Yang squinted at the broken bowl in Xia Qing's hand, lost in thought, and with a "crack," bit the plate in its mouth. Half the plate fell into the washing basin, while the other half remained in its mouth.

Xia Qing took the half-plate out of Boss Yang's mouth and sat on the floor laughing hysterically. Although Boss Yang had broken one of her few pieces of tableware, the creature's ridiculous expression was simply too funny to resist.

Unable to hold back her laughter, Xia Qing was met with two strikes from Boss Yang's hooves. Grimacing, she behaved herself and crawled back to bed to continue sleeping.

Early the next morning, having fully recovered her energy through sleep, Xia Qing planned to pickle a jar of sour bamboo shoots. She had helped her grandmother make them when she was a child, and the method was very simple. Xia Qing dug out a well-preserved ceramic jar from the tool room, cleaned it thoroughly, and then washed several yellow-lamp shoots—she couldn't bear to pickle the green-lamp ones for fear of losing them if the fermentation failed. After washing them, she sliced the shoots, placed them in the jar, filled it with mountain spring water, and sealed the lid.

If all went well, she would have sour bamboo shoots to eat after a month of resting.

Xia Qing carried the ceramic jar upstairs, hiding it in a place where Boss Yang would never think to look or be able to reach, before pulling out her phone to message Luo Pei, intending to send him some shoots.

Although Xia Qing knew Hu Zifeng would definitely send some to Luo Pei, what he sent was his, and what she sent was hers; the meaning was different. It had been over half a month since Xia Qing last visited Luo Pei, and she also wanted to see how his treatment was progressing.

Luo Pei replied quickly, telling Xia Qing she could come over anytime.

Xia Qing took one yellow and one green bamboo shoot and headed to the desolate village in the southwest of her territory to visit Luo Pei. This time, the person greeting her in the dilapidated house was not Wei Chengdong, but Luo Pei himself.

Although he still needed assistance to walk, Luo Pei was able to stand up. There was more flesh on his face, so he no longer looked as terrifying as a skeleton wrapped in human skin, and the pallor of his skin and the bloodshot look in his eyes had receded significantly. The progress of the treatment for the toxin synthesis was even better than Xia Qing had expected.

Following Luo Pei into the first-floor basement living room, Xia Qing composed herself and handed over the sealed bamboo shoots. "I and Captain Hu dug these up from the Evolution Forest. Brother Luo, you can make bamboo shoot rice porridge; it's easy to digest and nutritious."

Luo Pei, whose eyes could not yet remain open for long, glanced at the shoots before closing them again, a gentle smile on his face. "Zifeng sent some over last night; the taste is indeed better than the shoots from before the evolution. I didn't expect someone your age to know how to cook."

When the catastrophe occurred, Xia Qing was only fifteen. Logically, in that era of peace and prosperity, very few fifteen-year-old girls knew how to cook. After the catastrophe, food became scarce, and there was no longer an opportunity to learn. Xia Qing didn't mention that her family used to cook when she was little; she simply said, "I collected a few cookbooks, and this kind of porridge happened to be in one."

The cookbooks Xia Qing had collected did indeed have this porridge, though they used glutinous rice, while Xia Qing used regular rice.

After some small talk, Luo Pei brought up teaching Xia Qing marksmanship. "By mid-May, you can come over every day to learn shooting. The timing can be whenever is convenient for you. We will start with basic movements and principles here, and in June, I will take you to the Evolution Forest for live-fire practice."

In another two months, would Luo Pei's body be recovered enough to face the dangers of the Evolution Forest? Xia Qing advised, "Brother Luo, you should focus on your treatment for these next few months. I'm in no rush."

Luo Pei smiled and gestured for the two people in the room to go out and close the door. Once he was sure no one could overhear, he spoke to Xia Qing in a low voice. "You've come at the right time; there is something I want to discuss with you. To be safe, the Azure Dragon Team wants to buy the usage rights for Mountain No. 49, north of your territory. Then, we will sign a private agreement to transfer that mountain to your name, so it belongs to you."

After the catastrophe, earthquakes, and the Great Biological Evolution, the landscape of Blue Star had changed drastically. Original place names were abandoned, replaced by numerical designations for mountains and rivers.

Hearing Luo Pei say they wanted to buy Mountain No. 49 and then transfer it to her, Xia Qing was stunned.

Luo Pei kept his eyes closed, his expression gentle. "Whether the spring water in your territory bubbles up from underground or flows from within the body of Mountain No. 49, once the spring is exposed, Mountain No. 49—which currently has no owner—will certainly become a key resource fought over by various factions. It isn't realistic to buy it directly in your name because, on the surface, you lack both the motive and the strength to buy a mountain. That is why I am proposing that the Azure Dragon Team buys it under the guise of establishing a training base for its members, and then transfers it to you. There is no need to rush this; take a day to think it over, and give me your answer once you've decided."

Only one day of consideration, and it wasn't considered "too rushed"?