Chapter 30: Wild Yam Clear Soup Part 1

The Qu Family.

Qu Wanshan, face contorted with fury, was berating his youngest son.

“Have you no brains? To send people to openly ambush Ye Fengwan in broad daylight—are you afraid nobody knows our Qu Family wants her dead?”

Qu Wu, however, put on an innocent expression. “Dad, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

Qu Wanshan, hearing this, grew even more enraged. His palm slammed heavily onto the rosewood table, sending the tea set clattering noisily.

“You still dare to deny it! A few days ago, you swore up and down that Ye Fengwan was involved in the truck hijacking. I didn’t stop you then, figuring you’d find evidence to pin her down. Then, even if Ye Jianggui wanted to protect her, she couldn’t open her mouth to argue, let alone make demands. But now, with no proof whatsoever, you send people to kill her. Have you forgotten what Ye Jianggui said when we visited the Ye Family that day?”

Qu Wu lowered his head, a flicker of unwillingness passing through his eyes, but his mouth still responded: “I haven’t forgotten. Ye Jianggui said if anything happened to Ye Fengwan, she’d immediately leave Base One for Central City.”

“You haven’t forgotten, yet you still dared to do it!” Qu Wanshan’s voice was almost deafening.

Qu Wu suddenly raised his voice. “It wasn’t me anyway! It’s precisely because Ye Jianggui said that, that I didn’t act. Besides, I’m not brainless. How could I kill her openly in front of witnesses in broad daylight!”

Qu Wanshan roared: “The North Gate reported to me that the night before last, two squads from your Brotherhood left the Safe Zone overnight, heading for New Land. If it wasn’t you, then who?”

Qu Wu was about to argue further when Qu Ning, standing to the side, stepped forward to mediate. “Dad, what’s done is done. There’s no point in pursuing it further now. I’ve already spoken with Jianggui. I’ll go to New Land in the next couple of days and properly appease Ye Fengwan. Then this matter will be closed.”

Qu Wanshan’s anger subsided slightly at Qu Ning’s words, but he still glared at Qu Wu, his tone filled with disappointment: “If you had half your older brother’s steadiness, I wouldn’t have to worry so much.”

An indescribable rage surged in Qu Wu’s chest. He clenched his jaw and ground out each word: “I really didn’t do it. Why should I admit to it!”

“Enough of your quibbling! Throw him out!” Qu Wanshan gave the order.

Outside the door, two guards entered upon hearing this and, without further ado, shoved Qu Wu out.

Qu Wanshan’s anger still lingered. He said to Qu Ning: “You need to properly appease Ye Jianggui. She cannot go to Central City. Even if she has to die, she must die in Base One!”

Qu Ning nodded and withdrew.

In the elevator, the two brothers stood side by side.

Qu Ning spoke: “The Ye sisters have made tremendous contributions to Base One. Ye Jianggui holds extremely high prestige among the survivors. You shouldn’t harbor such malice towards them.”

Qu Wu’s eyes widened, shimmering with disbelief and anger: “I harbor malice towards them? Who do you think everything I do is for? They hijacked the people. How am I supposed to explain that to those people from the Unclaimed City? Now we have nothing and can only cooperate with slave traders. Otherwise, the weapons Dad wants won’t just fall from the sky for free.”

As he spoke, a flicker of sarcasm crossed his eyes. “Because of this mess, I’ve become the villain everyone wants to see dead. Meanwhile, you, dear older brother—the modest gentleman, clear as the moon and breeze—remain utterly unsullied!”

Qu Ning frowned, looking at him: “For Base One, for the Qu Family, I’ve done no less than you. But in this matter, without evidence that Ye Fengwan was involved, we can’t touch her!”

Qu Wu snorted coldly, a sardonic smile curling at his lips: “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking, dear older brother. You merely want to curry favor with Ye Fengwan so that, for her sake, Ye Jianggui will find a way for you to awaken an Esper Ability without side effects.”

Qu Ning actually nodded. “Exactly. That’s exactly what I’m thinking. So I can’t possibly let you touch Ye Fengwan. If Ye Jianggui blames us for this, you’ll be my greatest enemy!”

He spoke so bluntly for the first time, provoking Qu Wu into a fury: “I do very much want to touch Ye Fengwan, but that business yesterday—it wasn’t me!”

Qu Ning glanced at him indifferently. “If not you, then who? If Ye Fengwan’s identity is as you say, the Rebel Alliance would want to enshrine her. Who would want to harm her?”

Qu Wu was instantly speechless. He gritted his teeth and glared at him viciously, saying: “Just wait. I will definitely find the person framing me!”

The elevator reached the ground floor. The two walked out, one after the other.

Back at the Brotherhood Headquarters, Qu Wu immediately summoned Huo Yi and unleashed a torrent of furious curses upon him.

“I hadn’t even given the order yet, and you went ahead? Who did you find? Rushing in to fight in broad daylight—and now Old Man yelled at me until I’m a bloody mess, letting someone else reap the spoils.”

Huo Yi hurriedly said: “Impossible. Without the order from you above, the brothers below would never dare to act on their own.”

“Then who exactly did it?”

“I’ll send someone to investigate immediately.”

Qu Wu took a long, heavy drag on his cigarette. Through the swirling smoke, his eyes grew even more sinister. “Wei Heng and the others didn’t stop them either?”

Huo Yi answered cautiously: “I suspect those people used your name. Wei Heng didn’t want to offend us, so he turned a blind eye.”

Qu Wu spat, cursing under his breath.

“Call Wei Heng. Tell him to keep an eye on things. If a single hair on Ye Fengwan’s head is harmed, I’ll hold him responsible!”

“Yes, sir!”

Qu Wu stood behind the desk, lit another cigarette, and sank into deep thought.

Within Base One, who else wanted Ye Fengwan dead?

…

The next day.

A little past four in the afternoon, Ruan Ming was building a roost frame for the old hen.

She had previously watched Ah Yuan make the cat tree and had a general idea of how to do it. She couldn’t keep troubling him with everything.

When Ye Fengwan had visited for the first time the day before, she had even asked permission when she reached the territory entrance. This time, familiar with the route, she drove directly to the courtyard gate.

Upon entering the courtyard and seeing Ruan Ming doing carpentry, she couldn’t resist coming closer to watch.

Living year-round within the Safe Zone, what she encountered most were greenhouse plants, various data sets, and experimental samples—other things were a rare sight. She was curious about everything.

Seeing the prototype in Ruan Ming’s hands, she had a rough idea of what it was for.

She reminded her: “Make it a bit bigger. I spoke with Bai Xing last night. I’ll have her send another one over.”

Seeing Ruan Ming didn’t answer, she continued: “With just one hen, the eggs it lays can’t hatch chicks. Sending a rooster over will give it some company too.”

Ruan Ming finally looked up and asked: “It’s not even time to get off work yet. Why are you here so early?”

Ye Fengwan raised the few small plastic bags in her hand: “Here to collect samples from your territory. Still working.”

Ruan Ming couldn’t help but be puzzled: “Didn’t the channel say the sampling was starting from Territory No. 1? How did it reach me so quickly?”

Ye Fengwan nodded: “It really shouldn’t be your turn so soon. But since I’m close to you, I pulled some strings to get you priority.”

Ruan Ming’s eyelashes fluttered, but she didn’t respond to that statement. Then she saw this person suddenly pull two eggs from the pocket of her thin windbreaker and hold them out towards her.

She didn’t take them. “Where did the eggs come from?”

Ye Fengwan placed the eggs on the small table by the door and said: “Passed by someone’s territory on my way out. They gave them to me. They weren’t genuinely giving them to me though—they wanted to give them to my sister. Since they couldn’t reach her, I gladly accepted.”

“Then keep them for yourself to eat.”

Ye Fengwan shook her head: “I can often buy eggs in the Safe Zone. Aunt Geng boils two for me every morning for breakfast. I’m sick of them.”

Ruan Ming was instantly left speechless.

Remembering they needed to take soil samples from the fields, she put down the saw in her hand, patted the wood shavings off her clothes, and asked: “How do we collect the samples?”

Ye Fengwan leaned over, reaching out to pick a wood shaving from Ruan Ming’s hair, and said: “Take me out to see the fields.”

Ruan Ming felt the warm palm brush past her neck. She answered “okay” and went to get her mask.

The mask was one Bai Xing had sent for Ah Yuan to bring back. Ye Fengwan didn’t recognize it. Her eyes swept over the faint cyan patterns on it, simply finding that it matched Ruan Ming’s temperament today quite well. She didn’t say anything more.

The two walked one after the other towards the nearby fields.

The selection of soil sampling points followed principles of randomness, equal quantity, and multi-point mixing to ensure the samples were representative. Ruan Ming didn’t understand these things; she just watched Ye Fengwan take a bit of soil here and a bit there in the field.

After filling five or six bags with soil, Ye Fengwan said: “For that fifty-acre cactus field, I just took a few simple samples. No purification grass was ever planted there, so the soil conditions likely haven’t changed much. Those cacti can still yield harvests for quite a few years. Let’s keep them growing for now.”

Ruan Ming nodded. “If the remaining ten acres meet the conditions, that’s enough for me to plant.”

Ye Fengwan crouched down, pinched a handful of soil, and observed it carefully for a long moment. “Judging by visual observation alone, this soil should be close to the standard. But we’ll need to go back and test it with instruments to be sure.”

Ruan Ming was still quite anxious about the land matter and couldn’t help but ask: “What does ‘close to the standard’ mean?”

Ye Fengwan knew what she was thinking and smiled. “Did you forget I mentioned earlier that I’d give you a soil conditioner? No matter how much it’s still lacking, it won’t stop you from planting your land for the second half of this year.”