From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 78 - 72: Da Hong’s Face

The moon was beautiful tonight.

But the gentle breeze wasn’t intoxicating enough.

Gu Xi had specifically pulled two cases of pre-apocalypse beer from her dimensional space.

It was the first time Shen Yue and the others had ever seen such a thing. Though they were curious, one glance at Lu Chenyuan beside her was enough to keep them from asking any questions.

Time always flew on a tipsy night.

Before they knew it, a sliver of dawn broke on the horizon, its rosy light gradually suffusing the clouds.

Gu Xi tilted her head to look at Lu Chenyuan beside her. "It’s getting light. Should I see you off?"

Lu Chenyuan stared silently at the dying embers of the fire.

Nearby, Shen Yue yawned, stretched, and was the first to stand up. "Alright, let’s go. I’ll see you all out."

"I’ll stay behind." Wei Heng glanced at Lu Chenyuan and began to quietly clean up the mess in the yard.

Qi Xiang wished the night wasn’t over, but remembering she had to go put on a show at the experimental fields soon, she reluctantly stood up.

After they saw off Gu Xi and the other three, the sky had brightened considerably. The four who remained in the yard also went their separate ways.

Wei Heng started tidying the yard, feeding the chickens, and letting out the ducks. Qi Xiang went back to her room to freshen up before rushing to the experimental fields—the mission Gu Xi had given her wasn’t finished yet.

The Qin sisters exchanged a glance and headed for the orchard. After crossing two hills, they saw Zhou Jing already busy in the distance. Several containers for sample collection were placed beside her.

The sisters shared another look, recalling Gu Xi’s instructions, and casually went up to greet her.

"Morning, Zhou." Qin Yi walked over with a bright smile, letting out a yawn. "So sorry. We had guests over yesterday and it got pretty late. I completely overslept. You must have been waiting for a while."

"Not at all, I just got here myself," Zhou Jing said with a smile, shaking her head. She bent down to place a nearby testing kit into her toolbox.

Her gaze, however, discreetly swept over the sisters’ obviously tired faces, then drifted down to the dew clinging to their shoes. ’Didn’t they sleep at all last night?’

"You didn’t sleep well last night?" Zhou Jing asked, then paused before adding casually, "Yang Chi mentioned last night that it was pretty lively over at your place..."

Qin Yi yawned. "Yeah, it got pretty late. An old army buddy of Mr. Shen’s came to visit. You know how men get when they reunite after a long time... It was chaos, I’m telling you..."

"Oh, so it was one of Mr. Shen’s army buddies..." Zhou Jing looked up, feigning curiosity. "But with all that noise, wasn’t Gu Xi angry? I remember she doesn’t really like having strangers over..."

"Ah, but that’s the thing." Qin Yi’s dimples appeared as she squatted down, a gossipy look on her face. "Mr. Shen’s friend is a Beast Tamer. You know how our farm is planning to open a livestock station, right...?"

Zhou Jing nodded. She knew about that.

Qin Yi leaned in and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "His friend was specially dispatched by the Military Department to help us build the livestock station. Besides, you know Da Hong, right...?"

Zhou Jing nodded again.

Back when Gu Xi had first planned to start the orchard, Zhou Jing had seen her chance.

She had advised Gu Xi not to accelerate the fruit trees’ growth all at once, claiming she wanted to record data from every stage of their development. This, she argued, would benefit the professors’ research later on.

Gu Xi had been very cooperative. After forcing the saplings to sprout, she had let them grow naturally.

As a result, Zhou Jing was able to come and record the trees’ growth every day.

Over the past half-month, she had become somewhat familiar with Gu Xi and her group. A few times, she had almost made it through the gate into that little courtyard.

Unfortunately, every attempt had ended with her fleeing in terror under the watchful, poultry-powered glare of Da Hong.

After all, how could a "defenseless" female agricultural student, one who "couldn’t even truss a chicken," not be terrified of such a majestic, imposing rooster?

’Can’t break character, after all.’

So, Zhou Jing had an especially vivid impression of Da Hong.

Qin Yi glanced around before whispering, "Gu Xi was only able to get Da Hong because she pulled strings through Mr. Shen’s old friend. So, you know, even if she’s not a fan of the guy, she has to give face... for Da Hong’s sake, at least. She couldn’t very well throw a fit."

"I see..." Zhou Jing murmured, lost in thought.

Then she added, as if joking, "Who knew Da Hong was such a big shot?"

Qin Yi nodded. "Of course." ’Da Hong is the reason we get to eat meat. He deserves to be a big shot!’

Zhou Jing was speechless. ’This idiot doesn’t even understand what I’m saying.’

Her mind already racing with a new plan, Zhou Jing offered a few more perfunctory replies to Qin Yi. Then, on the pretext that she was almost finished and didn’t need any help, she urged the Qin sisters to go back and get some rest.

Seeing her mission as complete, Qin Yi couldn’t be bothered to feign politeness with "certain people" any longer. Yawning, she and her sister drifted away.

After the Qin sisters had departed in a fit of yawns, Zhou Jing considered for a moment, then also got up and headed back toward the experimental fields.

As soon as she entered the lab building, she saw Qi Xiang, dark circles prominent under her eyes, dozing off to one side.

An idea sparked in Zhou Jing’s mind. She approached Qi Xiang. "Qi Xiang? What happened to you? Your dark circles are so severe. Didn’t you sleep well last night?"

Qi Xiang mentally rolled her eyes. ’Dark circles? This is my smokey eye look! I spent over half an hour putting it on just for you.’

"I didn’t sleep well," Qi Xiang said with a yawn, shoving a stack of documents into Zhou Jing’s arms. "Perfect timing. You’re back, so you can handle the rest of this. I need to go catch up on my sleep."

"It was noisy outside all night. Gu Xiaoxi and I barely slept a wink..."

Zhou Jing was annoyed, but she kept a smile on her face. "Gu Xi didn’t get any rest either? No wonder I didn’t see her at the orchard this morning..."

Qi Xiang gave a lazy nod. ’I can’t believe she took the bait so quickly. My acting skills must be pretty good.’

Qi Xiang immediately put on a disgusted expression. "Tell me about it. That Shen Yue is really something else... If my dad hadn’t insisted... there’s no way in hell I’d be waiting on him..."

Zhou Jing watched Qi Xiang’s retreating back, deep in thought.

’So Qi Xiang is staying here on Dr. Qi’s orders after all.’

’I knew it. Why would Miss Qi give up the good life at Central Base to come to this godforsaken shithole?’

’And she claimed it was for the food?’

’Hah. She’d had some of the sweet potatoes Gu Xi grew, courtesy of Qin Yi, and they were admittedly delicious. But to say that Qi Xiang was really staying here just for a few bites of food? Zhou Jing wouldn’t believe that if you beat her to death.’

’But Dr. Qi’s reason for making Qi Xiang stay here seems different from what we first thought. From the sounds of it... it has something to do with Shen Yue?’

’Could it be that Dr. Qi plans to go behind that person’s back and use his daughter to establish a connection with the military?’

’Going about it in such a roundabout way... It’s not impossible.’

This intelligence was clearly valuable, but for now, Zhou Jing had no intention of revealing it to *that* person.

’She had to look out for herself, didn’t she?’

Only after Qi Xiang was long gone did Zhou Jing belatedly realize that Qi Xiang had just dumped her work on her.

Hmph. ’Just as expected of a spoiled rich girl. She leaves whenever she feels like it.’

She glanced down at the documents in her arms, a cold, sarcastic glint flashing in her eyes behind her glasses.

’I hear the two professors put Qi Xiang’s name first on the list of assistants for the Dry Rice Seed No. 1 research report. I wonder how the others are going to react when that news gets out?’

’I truly... can’t wait to see it.’

Looking down on Qi Xiang, Zhou Jing wasted no time in "accidentally" leaking the news to the other lab assistants.

She wanted to stir up some trouble for Qi Xiang and have the others isolate her. Then, with a little maneuvering on her part... surely Miss Qi wouldn’t refuse her friendly overtures then, right?

However, she had no idea that her every move was being watched by Yang Chi.

After learning from Yang Chi that Zhou Jing had made her move, Qi Xiang went to the experimental fields the next day, dressed to look exceptionally pitiful and wronged.

Then Zhou Jing discovered that it wasn’t just her lab colleagues—even the woman who served food in the cafeteria was giving her strange looks.

Zhou Jing was speechless. ’Damn it. That bitch is playing the white lotus and making me look like the villain!’

’Look at her, acting all innocent and demure... It’s so infuriating.’

’And yet, *that* person kept pushing her to befriend this bitch.’

Zhou Jing took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

However, when she saw Qi Xiang looking at her in front of everyone—eyes red-rimmed, an aggrieved expression on her face as if she wanted to speak but couldn’t—only to turn away and shoot her a triumphant, provocative eyebrow-raise...

...Zhou Jing suddenly felt this mission was far too difficult. She couldn’t do it!