Chapter 42
Among the mountain of food rations, earthworms were the most numerous, some of which were already rotten, leaving a trail of putrid liquid on the ground.
Jiang Zhi was glad she had bubbles on her head, otherwise just smelling them would probably make her dizzy.
Those earthworms that were relatively well-preserved, even the smallest one was as thick as an arm; if they were edible…
As she was thinking this, Jiang Zhi had already moved the detector closer.
"Drip—low level of toxin, edible."
The brother and sister were stunned for a moment, neither of them able to react.
Jiang Shu: "A-Zhi, did I hear that right?"
His response was yet another notification from the detector.
"Drip—low level of toxin, edible."
"Ah, Ah Zhi, this earthworm you're holding must weigh about two pounds, right?"
Jiang Zhi couldn't suppress her smile. "More than that, it should be at least three jin."
After all that work, the mole hair and the earthworm alone have already made my money back.
Jiang Shu couldn't help but run over as well.
Pick up an earthworm:
"Drip—low level of toxin, edible."
Jiang Shu: "!!!"
It's another low-level toxin!
The brother and sister exchanged a glance, both seeing the burning passion in each other's eyes.
The two tested several earthworms in succession, and they were all found to have low levels of toxins!
Jiang Shu: "We're going to be rich today, Azhi! We're going to be rich!"
There are at least fifty or sixty earthworms here, weighing at least one or two hundred pounds!
And these were all low-level toxins, enough for them to eat for a long time.
Jiang Zhi barely suppressed her joy and calmly analyzed, "These should all be the food for those two giant moles. If I'm not mistaken, the reason why those two giant moles evolved superpowers is probably related to these low-toxicity earthworms."
Perhaps they even ate golden items.
At this point, Jiang Zhi smiled and said, "It's a pity we couldn't find anything as good as gold items."
Jiang Shu chuckled sheepishly, "I think this is enough."
He couldn't resist picking out some corn kernels from the side and examining them.
Unfortunately, only a small portion of those corn kernels were moderately toxic; the rest were highly toxic.
Seeing the moles all over the ground, Jiang Zhi stopped the testing. She checked the time; it was almost the agreed hour, and if she didn't go up soon, Jiang Wen would probably get anxious.
"Brother, take some of the earthworms up first, and come down with Second Brother. We need to hurry."
Jiang Shu quickly agreed.
After the two of them packed the five largest earthworms into snakeskin bags, Jiang Shu tied the bags around his waist like he was tying cotton branches and leaves, and dragged the mutated earthworms, which weighed dozens of kilograms, up the hill to climb back up.
After the ginger tree left, the ginger branch checked again and found that in addition to the corn worms, there were also some mutated nuts.
The ginger twigs were tested one by one, and most of them contained moderate levels of toxins.
She didn't stand on ceremony and put everything into a bag.
The two brothers, Jiang Shu and Jiang Zhi, didn't keep Jiang Zhi waiting long; they returned to their nest in just 15 minutes.
Although Jiang Wen had heard Jiang Shu describe it on the way, he was still shocked when he saw a large number of moles and several large bags of earthworms in front of him.
He couldn't help but mutter to himself, "This...this is too much..."
Jiang Shu said smugly, "See? I didn't lie to you, did I?"
"Don't just stand there, let's move everything upstairs together. We still have some time, we can pick some more cotton."
Before the two came down, Jiangzhi had already gathered up all the moles on the ground.
Jiang Shu and Jiang Wen brought some ropes down from above.
"We don't have enough bags, we only have rope."
It took the three of them some time to tie up all the moles and earthworms, and they made four trips to move them all away.
The three of them breathed a sigh of relief only after the poisoned mole leader was brought to the ground.
Jiang Shu: "A-Zhi, how do we pop this bubble?"
Jiang Zhi poked Jiang Wen and Jiang Shu's heads with her finger, and the bubbles on their heads popped and disappeared without a trace.
Jiang Wen exclaimed, "This thing is truly amazing."
With so many moles, if Jiang Zhi hadn't become much stronger than before, she might not have been able to carry them all back. At least Jiang Shu and Jiang Wen were exhausted.
But looking at the harvest all over the ground, even though I was tired, I felt satisfied.
Jiang Shu lay sprawled out on the muddy ground, looking rather disheveled. "Today's trip is equivalent to several days' worth of goods we've collected."
Jiang Wen smiled and shook his head, "It's just that we harvested more here. You can't find this much grain in other gathering areas, and..."
He looked at Jiang Zhi.
This time, Jiang Wen has gained a new understanding of his younger sister's strength and courage.
Jiang Zhi urged, "Stop resting, it's getting late. We need to hurry up and bring everything back to the camp, otherwise the smell of blood will be too strong and attract other mutated creatures."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Shu had no choice but to stand up and tidy up the things piled on the ground.
Earthworms with low levels of toxins are a good thing and must be carried with you at all times. The group took out the cowpeas that they had previously put in the basket and replaced them with earthworms.
Each person had a basket, filled to the brim.
Jiang Zhi picked some sweet potato leaves from next door and spread them on top, completely covering the earthworms.
Cowpeas weren't a rare commodity, so the group simply piled them on the cart.
While the ginger twigs and ginger trees were underground, Jiang Wen and Niu Dali were not idle. Jiang Wen asked Niu Dali to go to the sweet potato field next door to pick sweet potatoes, while he himself picked a lot of cotton, totaling more than 20 jin.
They had so much cargo that the cart couldn't hold it all. Luckily, Jiang Jun and Jiang He had modified their cart beforehand; otherwise, a regular cart would have collapsed under the weight of all that stuff.
When it was Jiang Shu's turn to deal with the mole, he had a bit of a headache.
"Ah Zhi, what should we do with these moles?"
They simply couldn't carry away more than thirty moles. They weren't even sure if the meat from the poisoned moles was safe to eat, and just the mole pelts they were after would be a huge undertaking to take them all.
Jiang Zhi thought for a moment, "This giant mole isn't dead, and it even has special abilities. I plan to sell it to those mutants."
Jiang Wen quickly guessed her thoughts: "Azhi, do you want them to help us transport it back?"
Jiang Zhi smiled and nodded, "That's right."
Then she said to Niu Dali, "Brother Dali, use the signal flare you have."
Niu Dali was puzzled, but he still obediently fired the signal flare.
With a "bang," the colorful projectile shot into the air, then exploded into multicolored smoke that filled the sky.
The signal flares modified by Jiang Jun did not have as long a range as those developed by the base, but their colors were much more appealing.
Jiang Shu leaned closer and curiously looked at the rubber band pistol in Niu Dali's hand.
"This is similar to the big guns we used to play with when we were kids! I didn't expect it to be so powerful after my brother modified it. I'll ask him to make me a bigger one to play with sometime."
Jiang Wen also thought it was a good idea, looking at it over and over again. "It would be nice to make a few more for us to use as weapons. When we see mutated beasts, we can just shoot them at each other."
The two then began to discuss the wooden gun.
Jiang Zhi was speechless for a moment—the saying "a man is a boy until he dies" is no joke.
Too lazy to pay attention to the two, Jiang Zhi was about to pull the unconscious mole leader aside.
Just as she was about to approach, the mole suddenly squeaked at Jiang Zhi.
In a flash, Jiang Zhi's extraordinary intuition made her roll to the side at lightning speed.
The next instant, a huge clod of earth appeared out of thin air where she had been.
If Jiang Zhi hadn't moved in time, given the speed at which the clod of earth was falling, she would have been seriously injured, if not killed, by the weight of the clod.
Even with Jiang Zhi's great courage, she was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.
"A-Zhi! Are you alright?!" Jiang Shu and the others also ran over.
Just as Jiang Zhi was about to speak, the giant mole that had been tied up but was not dead suddenly jumped up and scratched at Jiang Wen, who was rushing towards her.
In the blink of an eye, just as the mole's claws were about to strike, Jiang Wen's body vanished without a trace.
The giant mole missed its target, its pointed face contorted with human-like anger, before it turned and ran away.
All of this happened in just one second.
Jiang Zhi realized what was happening, but it was too late to stop it.
She quickly shouted at Niu Dali, "Brother Dali!! Don't let it get away!!"
Niu Dali, who was closest to the mole, pounced on it and grabbed the mole's rear end, which was a step too slow.
The mole squeaked and kicked its legs desperately, but it couldn't budge the arms on its body at all.
At this moment, Jiang Zhi was certain that after that attack, the giant mole had no more energy left.
Jiang Shu ran over, holding the rope that the mole had chewed through, and said angrily, "A-Zhi, that rat is too cunning! It pretended to be unconscious and chewed through the rope when we weren't paying attention, and it even tried to ambush us before it ran away!!"
"Luckily, Brother Wen reacted quickly just now, otherwise..." Jiang Shu became angrier and angrier as he spoke, and couldn't help but hit the mole's butt with a stick, making it squeak sharply in pain.
The giant mole glared at them fiercely, as if it were ready to fight them to the death at any moment.
Jiang Zhi hadn't expected this mole to be so vengeful. She asked Jiang Wen, who had regained his strength, "Second Brother, are you alright?"
That last move had drained Jiang Wen of a lot of his mental energy, and his face was now quite pale. He composed himself and said, "I'm fine."
Just now, the mole's claws were only one centimeter away from him. Even though they didn't touch him, Jiang Wen could feel the power of those claws.
Jiang Shu was furious and said directly, "Azhi, this dead rat can't be kept alive. Let's kill it, or this will happen again..."
Before he could finish speaking, the sound of a motorcycle engine suddenly came from not far away, and the group looked over.
The mutated members of the patrol team arrived after hearing the news.
Jiang Zhi immediately recognized them as the two mutants who had been guarding the tent at noon.
The female mutant jumped off the motorcycle, intending to ask what was going on, but her pupils contracted when she saw the mole corpses scattered all over the ground and the large mole in Niu Dali's hand.
"You...you...you killed them?"
Jiang Shu stood in front of Jiang Zhi as usual, "That's right, we killed them all."
Chen Xuan and her teammate Ning Tao exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of seriousness in each other's eyes.
Chen Xuan looked at Jiang Shu, "What method did you use?"
It's worth noting that these moles posed a significant obstacle to the cleanup of Collection Site No. 15.
The mutants who were previously in charge of this area thought they had wiped out most of the moles, which is why they applied to open Collection Zone 15.
But unexpectedly, the surviving ones had an extremely strong reproductive capacity, and within a few days they reproduced a large number of baby moles.
In addition, the leader of the moles is extremely intelligent. He leads the mole horde in guerrilla warfare against them, firing one shot and moving to another position. Even the mutants can't do anything about them.
These past few days, the upper management has been discussing how to exterminate these moles, but unexpectedly, they were easily eliminated by the four people in front of them.
Jiang Shu glanced at Jiang Zhi, not revealing their secrets to the two of them: "We just used a little trick."
Seeing that the others were unwilling to talk, Chen Xuan and the other woman did not force them.
"You summoned us here because...?"
Jiang Shu was about to speak when Jiang Wen interrupted him, saying directly, "It's like this, we've caught this giant mole and want to make a deal with you."
Upon seeing the large mole still struggling desperately, Ning Tao's voice rose several octaves, "You actually caught the mole leader?!"
Both mutants were somewhat incredulous.
But they couldn't help but believe it; the giant mole in Niu Dali's hand was simply too eye-catching.
Jiang Zhi and the others looked at each other in bewilderment—judging from the two people's reactions, it seemed like this giant mole was difficult to catch.
Chen Xuan quickly asked, "Where is the female mole?"
Jiang Shu pointed to the pile at the bottom, its body already starting to stiffen, "You're not talking about that one, are you?"
Ning Tao was taken aback, then took three steps at a time and walked over. Sure enough, he saw the female mole with her head covered in blood.
He said in disbelief, "You guys actually killed him..."
Jiang Shu chuckled: "Good luck, good luck."
They were indeed lucky. The mole leader at his peak would not have been so easy to deal with. Most importantly, the mole couple's abilities were the kind that would be greater than the sum of their parts. If they hadn't been injured, it would have been much more difficult for them to handle the situation.
Chen Xuan glanced at the mess around her and could roughly guess how they had caught the moles. Without wasting any words, she asked, "You want to sell these moles to us?"
Jiang Wen shook his head, "I'm only selling this big one, do you want it?"
Both men were cautious by nature. After exchanging a glance, one of them asked Jiang Wen, "How many points do you plan to sell?"
Jiang Shu was overjoyed.
My sister was right; these mutants were indeed willing to buy.
Jiang Wen: "How many points can you give us?"
Jiang Wen truly lives up to his reputation as a salesman; he has a firm grasp on negotiating prices.
Chen Xuan took a deep breath. "We can give you 5,000 points for the live one, and 3,000 points for all the dead ones. I won't haggle with you; this price is fair no matter where you ask."
Jiang Zhi, who had been standing at the back, suddenly spoke up: "These moles are poisoned, and you're still willing to buy them?"
Don't be fooled by the fact that the male mole that attacked them earlier is still alive and kicking; it's been poisoned by snake venom and who knows how long it will live.
Chen Xuan and the other person looked at the pile of moles next door and noticed that the moles' paws were indeed bluish-green, so they said, "Okay."
Jiang Zhi looked at the moles thoughtfully, and finally said, "We won't sell the dead ones, but we can use their fur. 5,000 points, and you can have this live mole, but you have to help us transport these moles back to the base."
Chen Xuan frowned, feeling somewhat cheated.
"You sent us a signal flare to find you, you didn't just want us to help you transport these things, did you?"
Jiang Zhi did not deny it, saying, "This is also one of the conditions of the deal. If you don't agree, we won't force you."
These young people are too cunning.
Ning Tao, who was standing to the side, finally couldn't hold back any longer. "If we don't buy it, you'll have to hand over 20% of it to the base even if you take it back. You'll be the ones who suffer."
Jiang Zhi smiled and said, "You said it's a base, but if you're willing to buy it, this giant mole will be yours."
Ning Tao was immediately rendered speechless.
Chen Xuan pondered for a moment, then said, "If you only want the fur, we can help you with that; we'll buy the rest anyway."
The smaller ones don't matter, but the larger one has special abilities and is far more valuable than the smaller ones.
Jiang Zhi raised an eyebrow. "Free?"
Ning Tao was afraid she would disagree, so he quickly said, "It's free."
Jiang Zhi seemed to be thinking for a while.
"If you can help us process these furs, we can sell them to you, but there's one condition."
Ning Tao exclaimed, "Oh dear! Little girl, why are you being so demanding? We've already given way several steps!"
Jiang Zhi said expressionlessly, "If you don't agree, then forget it."
Then he turned to Jiang Shu and said, "Brother, let's think of another way to transport these things back."
"Hey, you little rascal, I didn't say I disagreed!"
Chen Xuan sighed and thought to herself, "Ning Tao has already revealed all his cards. How are we supposed to negotiate the price now?"
She looked at the little girl again. "What are your requirements?"
Jiang Zhi: "I want to know, why do you want these two big moles?"
Chen Xuan and Ning Tao's expressions froze.
This young girl really hit the nail on the head.
After a moment of silence, Chen Xuan spoke, "We can tell you, but you must promise to keep it a secret, otherwise the deal is void."
Jiang Zhi nodded, "Okay."
Jiang Shu and Jiang Wen immediately perked up their ears in curiosity.
Chen Xuan glanced at them and said, "These two moles who can use superpowers have something that the base can turn into a weapon."
Jiang Shu couldn't help but gasp.
—Is the technology at the base really that advanced?
Chen Xuan added, "Of course, the technology is not yet mature, so it is still in a semi-confidential stage."
In other words, if the experiments at the base are successful, the future technology landscape could very well be revolutionary!
This is great news for humanity!
Jiang Wen beamed with joy.
The stronger the base, the more secure they will be, and perhaps they can even return to the state they were in before the Great Cataclysm.
Having gotten the answer she wanted, Jiang Zhi said to Niu Dali, "Brother Dali, give that mole to Comrade Chen Xuan."
Niu Dali: "Okay."
Chen Xuan took out a chain from her handbag, tied the giant mole up, and then transferred 8,000 points to Jiang Zhi.
The two then exchanged their addresses.
Chen Xuan: "We've taken all these moles back. Once the fur is processed, we'll let you know so you can come and pick them up."
Jiang Shu smiled so hard her eyes narrowed, "Okay, thank you!"
Chen Xuan: ...
The boy's smile made her feel like she was being taken advantage of.
After the two men's modified motorcycles had driven far away, Jiang Shu patted his chest.
"Ah Zhi, you're too bold. Since you dare to negotiate with them, what if they get greedy and kill us? Have you forgotten about that woman?"
Jiang Zhi, of course, hadn't forgotten. "They wouldn't. If they were those kinds of scoundrels, they wouldn't have come over at all when they saw our smoke bombs."
The smoke grenades modified by Jiang Jun are somewhat different from those at the base.
If someone's character is questionable and they just want to get by here, they'll definitely pretend they don't see this.
But Chen Xuan and her colleague still came, proving that they were responsible.
Jiang Wen checked the time; it was already 4:45.
"Ah Zhi, should we go back now?"
At their pace, it would take them half an hour to get back, so they would have at most fifteen minutes of free time.
Jiangzhi: "I'll set a timer, collect some more cotton, and we'll leave in ten minutes."
Since we're already here, we should maximize our profits.
The other three had no objections and got to work.
This time they did not specifically harvest the cotton stalks.
Firstly, because it takes up too much space, the cotton stalks are of little use to them; secondly, they want to save the cotton stalks for the next batch of cotton.
If this large field of cotton could be utilized, it could save even more lives when temperatures drop.
Jiang Wen was the fastest among them. He had often helped his family pick cotton when he was a child, so he was the most experienced. In no time, his net bag was full of cotton bolls.
There were many vegetable plots in front of the cotton fields. I couldn't help but glance over when I was picking ginger twigs.
I discovered that the nearby fields were full of strange things. Some leaves were long and thin with pointed edges, and if you accidentally brushed against them, you were sure to leave a red mark; others had leaves so big that they could cover half a face, and the patterns on them looked like talismans, a messy jumble.
The fruits come in all colors: red, green, purple, and more. The red ones look like freshly cooked chili peppers, the green ones like freshly picked cucumbers, and the purple ones like ripe mulberries.
In the old days, it looked like the kind of food that would cause poisoning.
But even with Jiang Zhi's strong curiosity, she couldn't investigate any further.
Ten minutes passed in a flash, and the detector issued a reminder that the time had come.
Jiangzhi stuffed the cotton in her hand, tied it around her waist, and called out to the ginger tree not far away, "Brother, let's not pick anymore, let's go!"
Everything had been packed up long ago; their carts were piled up like small mountains, and each person carried a basket half a person's height, all of which were fully loaded.
This is definitely a bumper harvest.
The load on the cart alone weighed over a thousand pounds. Fortunately, their team had Niu Dali, so these things weren't too much of a burden for him.
On the way back, Jiang Shu looked at the fist-sized tubers hanging on the vines by the roadside and felt a little envious.
Not only him, but most of the people who came today came for these whole grains.
I only regret that time was too short to collect everything I saw.
The four of them rushed as fast as they could and finally returned to their lodgings before 5:30.
Surprisingly, quite a few people returned just in time, just like them.
Jiang Zhi and her team weren't even the last ones to arrive.
For a moment, the scene became quite lively.
There were seven or eight minibuses and two large buses parked at the entrance.
The large buses were specifically used to transport their goods.
Each team can receive a hemp strip, which they use to wrap their goods, making it easy to distinguish them from others' goods.
Their combined gains were definitely the best of the entire event.
After all, no ordinary person could match the strength of those few.
The four of them didn't dare put the earthworms containing low levels of toxins on the large bus, but instead spent more points to bring them on the small bus.
It was already 6:10 when all the minibuses were full.
Jiang Shu looked at the several people who had just returned outside the car and muttered, "If only I hadn't been so honest, I could have picked a lot more sweet potatoes if I had been half an hour later!"
He couldn't forget the sweet potato field in front of the cotton field.
Jiang Wen laughed and said, "Forget it, we can come again tomorrow. It won't make a difference if we don't spend another half hour."
Niu Dali then said, "Big Tree, I just picked some sweet potatoes, I'll give them all to you when we get back."
Jiang Shu quickly said, "No! Let's split it equally. We're not bandit leaders who can just take whatever they want."
As the group chatted and laughed, the car started moving.
The driver was still the same slovenly middle-aged man, but the passengers had changed; Jiang Zhi only recognized a few of them.
In the afterglow of the setting sun, the shadows of the passengers in the car were stretched long, and everyone's face seemed to be plated with gold, glowing.
Everyone was carrying bulging burlap sacks, and their satisfaction was practically written all over their faces.
A few people were even sharing tips on how to get good results, their laughter echoing across the ground.
Listening to these sounds, Jiangzhi's heart was gradually filled with small moments of happiness.
Perhaps because everyone was immersed in a joyful mood, they didn't feel the bumps in the car much. This time, the driver returned to the base in just forty minutes, a speed that could be described as "flying".
When they got off the bus, Jiang Zhi and the others felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted off their shoulders.
The cargo bus had already returned to the base parking lot before them.
The base's parking lot is underground, and you need to show your ticket to enter and exit. This isolates you from outside sight and indirectly reduces robbery and theft.
Jiang Zhi was very satisfied with the design of the base and couldn't help but sigh again—the base leader was indeed someone who cared about the people.
Seeing several mutants unloading goods in front of the bus, with a long queue of people being weighed and taxed, Jiang Shu immediately said, "It's better to come back early. At this rate, it'll probably be 8 o'clock by the time it's our turn."
At this time of year, conflicts are most likely to arise during the distribution of goods.
When goods are close together, during unloading, there are always people who try to take advantage of others and claim goods that don't belong to them as their own.
In such cases, the base will choose to fine both parties and confiscate the food.
This kind of thing is the most confusing.
Those who are extorted can only accept their bad luck.
Fortunately, everyone gained a lot this time. Everyone was afraid of being scammed, so nothing unexpected happened.
After waiting for half an hour, it was finally Jiang Zhi and the others' turn.
They then discovered that the person in charge of weighing the items was actually Hu Yang, whom they knew.
Hu Yang recognized Jiang Zhi and her brother and greeted them in a relaxed tone. After seeing their goods, he smiled and said, "You've had a good haul today!"
Jiang Shu puffed out his chest, but said modestly, "Oh, it's just good luck!"
Hu Yang weighed the goods for the group, and the total weight was a staggering 1728 jin (approximately 868 catties). According to regulations, 20% of the proceeds, or 345.6 jin (approximately 127.3 catties), had to be handed over.
This amount caused the four of them considerable pain.
Let alone 300 pounds, I'd cry if I lost even a pound.
But that's the rule, there's nothing they can do. After discussing it for a while, the four of them decided to hand over one-third of the cowpeas and a small portion of the yam beans and wild vegetables.
It's absolutely impossible for them to hand over the mole crickets and earthworm meat.
Jiang Shu felt a surge of relief; thankfully, Chen Xuan had taken the moles away, otherwise he would have had to hand over even more things.
The group was still feeling sorry for the mutated individuals, their faces contorted with grief, when they heard Hu Yang say to the mutated individuals recording their losses next door, "A total of 1156 jin, 231 jin were handed over."
The group was taken aback and couldn't help but look at Hu Yang.
They all had the same thought in their minds—could they have seen it wrong just now?
Hu Yang smiled at them, "By the way, the fried cotton aphids that Aunt Ye gave us before were delicious. Please thank her for me."
Jiang Shu suddenly realized, "So it was all thanks to his mother!"
It's lost over a hundred pounds! If it weren't for the rule, Jiang Shu would have picked up Hu Yang and swung him around in a circle to express his gratitude!
Jiang Wen subconsciously looked behind him and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that no one behind him had noticed anything unusual.
He smiled and said, "Thank you, Comrade Hu Yang."
Jiang Zhi was also very happy, "Little Hu, remember to come visit us when you have time, my mom always talks about you!"
What does 100-plus kilograms of grain mean? It's enough to feed their whole family for more than half a month!
Jiangzhi didn't understand her mother's way of surviving before, but now she does.
—As expected, experience matters!
Only they themselves know the benefits involved.
After handing over about 100 jin of grain, Hu Yang, in accordance with the base's policy, transferred 100 points to each of the four people as a bonus.
The four thanked Hu Yang and then left the underground parking lot.
By the time we left the parking lot, it was already dark.
"Oh no! It's so late, their families must be worried!" As soon as Jiang Shu finished speaking, the three of their detectors went off at the same time.
It was Ye Qingyun and Yuan Ying calling.
Jiang Zhi answered the phone.
Once the call connected, the person on the other end visibly breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah Zhi, why are you so late?"
Jiang Zhi offered a few words of comfort and explained the situation before hanging up the phone.
Jiang Shu chuckled, "If they knew what we got today, they'd be ecstatic."
Jiang Wen reminded him, "Don't be so smug. Go back quickly; it's not safe to walk alone at night."
The four of them returned home in one go. From afar, they saw the dim tungsten filament lights in the house, and several women were waiting for them at the door. Seeing this, they felt at ease.
Niu Dali was even more excited than the others. As soon as he saw Liu Xu standing next to Ye Qingyun, he shouted happily, "Wife!"
As soon as she got close, Liu Xu pinched her ear and yelled, "What are you shouting for? Do you want people to know you're back so late?!"
"Ouch, ouch, honey, be gentle."
The two of them made everyone laugh.
"Don't stand outside, come in quickly."
When they saw what was on their cart, they were all stunned.
Grandma Jiang exclaimed dramatically, "Ah Zhi, did you go on a robbery? How come you have so much stuff—even cowpeas!?"
Little Ginger clapped her hands excitedly, "Great! We have beans to eat! Auntie's cooking is so delicious!"
This made everyone laugh.
After the four entered the house, Ye Qingyun checked the three siblings over twice, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they had only minor wounds on their bodies.
"Nothing major happened over there today, right?"
"Mom, did things go well over there today?"
The mother and daughter spoke at the same time.
After saying that, they couldn't help but laugh again.
Wu Xiu smiled and said, "Alright, alright, don't just stand around in the yard, let's feed the children first."
Liu Xu was a little embarrassed, "Auntie, we'll go back first..."
Grandma Jiang said, "Why go back? Let's eat here!"
Dinner was prepared by Ye Qingyun. She didn't make any fresh dishes, just stir-fried mutated frog legs and wild vegetables.
The hungry group ate with great relish.
The whole family gathered around the table; it was incredibly lively.
As Jiang Shu ate, he gesticulated wildly as he recounted the events of the day.
Of course, fearing his family would worry, Jiang Shu didn't forget to omit the part about the mole.
The group listened with a mixture of worry and curiosity.
Wu Xiu: "According to you, this No. 15 gathering area is now overflowing with food!"
Jiang Shu nodded repeatedly: "That's right, we plan to go more often while there aren't many people and stock up on more food."
If it weren't for picking cotton, they could have brought back more food.
But Jiang Shu also knew that although grain was valuable, cotton would be more expensive than grain when winter came.
While the young people were eating, Jiang Hai and the others unloaded goods in front of the cart, while Grandma Jiang, Ye Qingyun, and Yuan Ying sorted and packed them.
Several hundred kilograms of cowpeas, yam beans, and sweet potatoes were placed on the ground.
Yam beans can be used as a staple food, and cowpeas, besides being pickled and kept as a salted vegetable, can also be exchanged for more grain.
Although there weren't many mole crickets, there were still more than twenty of them, and they weighed about twenty pounds.
The most exciting thing was the mutated earthworms with low levels of toxins. Jiang He weighed them, and they totaled 237 jin (118.5 catties).
This is quite a lot; even people in Zone B might not be able to produce this much low-toxicity food.
Grandma Jiang, who was keeping count, couldn't help but laugh when she saw a large bunch of chive leaves. "Oh, you even brought back chives!"
Yuan Ying covered her nose, "This smell is just too strong."
Ye Qingyun smiled and said, "It's alright, it can be eaten after some processing."
With a bumper harvest at home, the two younger children, along with Niu Xiaolu, were excitedly looking around.
Especially Jiang Si and Niu Xiaolu, the two little devils held hands and touched heads, whispering to each other, and then covered their mouths and giggled.
After the Jiang family finished organizing their belongings, Ye Qingyun decided to give Liu Xu a quarter of each item.
"Da Li is very strong, so we're actually getting the better deal. Please don't complain—"
Before Ye Qingyun could finish speaking, Liu Xu waved her hand with a face full of shame, "Aunt Ye, please don't say that. We don't know how much we've taken advantage of you. I think you've given us too much..."
In Liu Xu's mind, Niu Dali wasn't very bright. Without Jiang Zhi and the others leading him, how could Niu Dali have gotten so many good things on his own? They only needed enough to eat.
I never expected the Jiang family to be so kind...
Ye Qingyun waved his hand, "Even close brothers should keep clear accounts. We're not unreasonable people. If you think this distribution isn't right, you should have the courage to tell us."
Liu Xu blushed, feeling both touched and ashamed.
"Okay, that's fine!"
She knew in her heart that without the help of the Jiang family, her family's life would be even more miserable.
They could never repay the debt of gratitude they owed them.
After seeing Niu Dali's family off, Jiang Shu looked at the harvest scattered on the ground and felt a surge of happiness.
He turned to Jiang Hai and asked, "Uncle, what good stuff did you find this time?"
Jiang Hai said with a smile, "You'll never guess."
"Could it be that they captured a mutated beast?"
Jiang Hai shook his head, no longer bothering to beat around the bush, and said directly, "It's a mutated wild duck egg."
Jiang Shu's eyes widened. "Wild duck eggs?! Can't that be used to make scrambled eggs with chives?!"
Jiang Sui burst out laughing.
"Uncle, you love this bun!"
Jiang Shu blushed, "What do you know? Don't eat it when your great-aunt makes it."
Jiang Sui quickly covered her mouth and shook her head vigorously. "I didn't say anything!"
The two clowns made everyone burst into laughter.
Although Jiang Hai's "older team" did not achieve the same level of success as Jiang Zhi and others, their results were still quite considerable.
The collection process went very smoothly. The group first found dozens of edible mutated wild duck eggs in a puddle, and then found some other good stuff nearby.
Jiang Hai pointed to the bulging woven bag in the corner and said with a smile, "Your mother found potatoes today, and these are all the potatoes she found today."
Jiang Shuxin's heart pounded.
He ran over and opened the woven bag. Apart from being larger, the mutated potatoes looked no different from before, with their bumpy appearance.
The skin was still covered with a thin layer of soil, like a chubby baby who had just rolled out of the soil.
Jiang Shu was already seeing all sorts of dishes.
Whether stir-fried into shreds and crispy, or stewed into chunks and soft, mushy, the taste of these potatoes is so enticing that it makes you want to eat two more bowls of rice.
"Mom! Mom!" Jiang Shu couldn't help but exclaim, "I want potatoes to eat tomorrow!"
Ye Qingyun said irritably, "You brat, you've never been short of food, and you're always eating!"
Jiang Shucai didn't care. He could get a good meal just by saying a few words to him. It couldn't be more cost-effective.
Ye Qingyun found a small bag in the corner, and when she opened it, a bright red color was revealed.
"Your dad had someone bring some food back today, and it's just what we like."
Jiang Shu swallowed hard. "There are so many dishes that suit our tastes, Mom. Stop keeping us in suspense, what are they?"
Upon seeing this, everyone exclaimed in surprise, "It's chili peppers?!"
The Jiang family loves spicy food. In the past, a large part of Grandpa Jiang's vegetable garden was planted with all kinds of chili peppers, such as beauty peppers, Erjingtiao peppers, and small red chilies...
What Jiang Shan brought back this time was a small red chili pepper. It didn't look like it had mutated; it looked the same as it did before the Great Cataclysm.
Jiang Shu asked excitedly, "Mom, is this Dad's wages for the past two days?"
Ye Qingyun rolled her eyes at him: "Of course not, this is a new breed cultivated by the base, given to your dad as an employee benefit. It's said to be much spicier than before."
"Spicy is good, spicy is good!" Grandma Jiang said repeatedly.
Nowadays, there are fewer seasonings available, so most of the time the food we cook doesn't taste very good.
With chili peppers, things change.
This is perfect with rice!
Today's harvest is bountiful. Everyone's face is beaming with joy as they look at the harvest piled up like small mountains. Their mouths are stretched to their ears, and their happiness is like firecrackers exploding in their hearts, which they can't stop!
Even the usually taciturn Jiang Jun had a broad smile on her face.
Jiang Shu slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Grandma, we've had such a great harvest today, shouldn't we celebrate?"
Grandma Jiang smiled at him and asked, "How do you plan to celebrate?"
"Then how about a glass of sweet and sour water?"
Upon hearing the words "sweet and sour water," the two youngest children in the family immediately looked over eagerly.
Grandma Jiang scolded, "You child, there are so many good things in the house, it's not enough for you to squander them all."
Despite saying that, Grandma Jiang still made a small pot of sweet and sour soup for the children.
Everyone returned late that day, but they had a lot of harvest. Even after the power was cut off at the base, the family was still tidying up in the dark.
Jiang Zhi hadn't expected things to go so smoothly today, so she thought she'd have her family go with her the next day.
Although it's uncertain whether the moles have been completely eliminated, Jiang Zhi guesses that without the moles causing trouble, the No. 15 collection area should be safer than before.
Compared to the potential gains, the risks, which are still within acceptable limits, are insignificant.
Upon hearing this, Ye Qingyun, who was processing cotton bolls, said, "I think it's a good idea. Look, our senior group has been busy all day, and our harvest is not even a third of what you've gathered. Besides, I don't think you've picked enough cotton today. You should bring back more."
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