Negotiation Done; Yun Che’s Strange Feeling

"Of course, we are part of the Southwest Base after all. When are you setting out to recruit hands to expand the base?"

Yun Che reckoned that they must have agreed since they all said so. He didn't bother to ask any more, and went straight to the next topic.

"We still have a lot of people outside collecting supplies. It may take a few days to gather all the manpower and material resources available. The convening of the superfunction possessors also needs to be arranged. What about right after your wedding?"

Mo Wenyang said in a deep voice after pondering for a while. Since it had been decided, there was no reason to delay.

"Well, sounds okay to me. Then, the superfunction possessors will need more of your attention, Mo."

Wang Wei threw the hot potato to Mo Wenyang while nodding in agreement, and Wei Kan and Wan Guoqiang also expressed their approval. Mo Wenyang showed no reaction but silently called Wang an old fox. "Of course, I am the Chairman of the Superfunction Association, am I not? But we need to pay the superfunction possessors if we ask for help from them, right? Why don't we just settle about the remuneration too?"

Cunning though the old fox was, the little fox was by no mean inferior. Apparently Mo Wenyang was only willing to be a middleman, and the final result would still be borne by the three armies and the government together.

"Well, it's really a little tricky. If we offer food, we are all in short supply. The army of 100,000 need feeding every single day, and extra points doesn't seem to be attractive enough. How about crystal nuclei? In moderate amount, of course. This is all for the base, after all, they should also pitch in."

Wei Kan acted like he was in a dilemma and gave such a long prologue, but in the end he only came up with crystal nuclei. How many superfuction squads were short of crystal nuclei? Even if they were, it was the high-level ones that they lacked. The question was, could they give them high-level crystal nuclei? Probably not even enough among themselves.

"Crystal nuclei? General Wei, really?"

Mo Wenyang sneered. Did he really think that the superfunction possessors were fools?

Wei Kan went scarlet with embarrassment by Mo's flat question. But there were at least 100,000 superfunction possessors in the base; he grudged giving away such a large amount of food. The longer the doomsday lasted, the more food they would need. The army was indeed hoarding a lot of food, but it was never too much when they had so many mouths to feed. The daily consumption was nothing small.

Wang Wei and Wan Guoqiang actually thought similarly with him, maybe even Mo Wenyang. They had their difficulties, not really being stingy.

"I have an idea. Care to listen?"

After being silent for a while, Yun Che raised his eyebrows and looked at them. When he saw their eyes were all gathered upon him, he continued, "Well, I think you might as well issue an announcement that the base will move to the city area after it is cleared, and then explain to them clearly that all the areas behind the city will be opened up for farming, and at the same time tell them there are ways to grow things in the land. If they don't believe it, send them to Chaoyang and Peak to check on the dozens of acres of land there, which I think would be very convincing. With more land, everyone will get their own portion. You only have to promise them two things. One is that superfunction squads and members will be given priority in the distribution, and the other is that the greenhouse transformation will be the responsibility of the three armies and the government, and they don't need to do it themselves. They can sow and plant things as soon as get the land. In this way, you don't have to pay them any food, and they will do it willingly. Isn't it a win-win solution?"

"This is a nice idea. There are plenty of bamboos in the Southwest, and plastic films are not hard to collect. As for other things like sprinklers, not a problem as well. If the base is expanded to the Lingjiang River, we can include the power station inside the base, using underground pipes, and we don't need to be so tight with everything as we are now. In general, not too much pain, great gain."

Mo Wenyang nodded in agreement right after Yun Che finished speaking. Although he loved to complain about Yun Che, he had to admit that Yun Che really got some good ideas, and did give him a lot of help. What a wonderful cousin-in-law. But he was still… the home-guarding beast, no change of that until the end of the universe.

"Well, I think it's feasible too, so that's it then?"

Wei Kan agreed as he looked at Wang Wei and Wan Guoqiang, and everyone at the meeting showed an expression of approval. That was indeed a win-win solution.

"Okay, that's it. Wan, the announcement and publicity works are yours. Our military will be recruiting hands these days. Let's roll up our sleeves after the wedding."

Wang Wei looked at his commissar and his cousin who both nodded, and he decisively made his final say.

"No problem, we will try our best to cooperate with your work."

At last Wan Guoqiang also expressed his stance. And then he turned to Xing Feng and Yun Che, and said, smiling, "I heard that the two of you brought a lot of seafood back from the coastal area. Seafood dishes must be indispensable for the wedding, I reckon? I'm planning to bring my family to take a hearty meal."

"Ha, ha… I may not be sure about other things, but seafood is definitely enough. You know, all the creatures in the sea have mutated. They are so big that a single crab can feed a grown man. And what's most valuable about it is that the mutated sea creatures are still edible for even ordinary people, and there will be no side effects even if you eat too much. I've really got a lot back from there. My sister said we would definitely prepare enough delicacies for everyone, be it seafood, fish, poultry or meat."

Now that they were done talking business, Yun Che also took pleasure in joking with them. They didn't have much of other food, but seafood, fish, poultry and meat were plenty.

"Even fish? Then I have to bring my wife and kid."

"Ha, ha…"

Once Wang Guoan finished speaking, the conference room burst into roar of laughter. In fact, if the three armies and the government hadn't had to compete with each other, and always discussed with each other, joking and laughing like this, how could the base not be stable? However, people were selfish; everyone wanted to be the boss, yet no one could swallow anyone up. Why must they be competing in everything?

It was almost noon when Yun Che and Xing Feng got back to Chaoyang Community. There were only Shuiyu and Kong's mom in the house. They told them that Yun Yao, Wang Suhua and Lu's mom had gone to the tailor's; Chen went to check his precious land and look after the wheat in the greenhouse again; and Leng Yehan and Yun Cheng went for a walk. Yun Che saw that Kong's mom was having a hard time helping Shuiyu wash vegetables sitting in a wheelchair, so he send them out of the kitchen and asked Xing Feng to be the chef of their lunch. There were not many people anyway, and it seemed that he hadn't eaten the food Xing cooked for a long time.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot the time when I got busy. So I see the lunch is ready, thank you so much, Xing."

Yun Yao and the other looked a little embarrassed when they came back to see a large table full of dishes, because that was supposed to be their job.

"It's okay, I want to cook something for Che anyway."

Xing Feng, who was wearing an apron, said to Yun Yao and the others as he brought out the last dish, vegetable and meatball soup, while his eyes on Yun Che, who was lazily leaning against the table. He had no choice now that Che said he missed his food.

"Ha, ha… Xing is really nice to Che."

Seeing them flirting, Yun Yao put on a bright smile on her face and stopped standing on ceremony. What could be more happier than seeing his brother being happy?

"You can say that, Xing is really a good man. If I was twenty years younger, I might fall in love with you."

"Suhua, what are you talking about? Be careful that Zhan comes back and settles with you."

"Ha, ha…"

The female elders also joined the joking. Xing Feng put the soup bowl on the table, took off the heat-insulating gloves and ran his hand through Yun Che's already long hair. "Trim it later, and don't shave you head again just to save the trouble."

He personally liked the touch of his bald head, but they were going to have a wedding in two days. A bald groom just didn't seem right. He might as well trim it slightly.

"Nothing wrong with a bald head, I really like it."

Ruffling his hair, Yun Che smiled mischievously. He never cared much about appearance.

"You little devil, go wash your hands and get ready for lunch."

Xing Feng said as he took off his apron after helplessly rubbing Yun's nose in a doting manner.

"Yes, sir!"

Yun Che saluted him slantingly, and went straight into the kitchen. After lunch, Leng Yehan and Yun Cheng entered the Space; Xing Feng and Gu Mingxuan went to the research institute after talking business for a while; Yun Yao and the others went out; and Yun Che, who was idle and bored, also went into the Space to practice. When he came out, it was almost four o'clock. Yun Yao and the others had already returned ahead of time and were busy in the kitchen, because they didn't want to be late again, while Zhou Zeyu and gang all sat in the living room chatting.

"Back so early today?"

Yun Che found a place to sit down, took out a red fruit and took a big bite. If he had to say there was anything different about his body, it would be that he had grown an increasing appetite for fruits in the past two months. Just like Yun Cheng, he took in a lot of energy every day.

"Well, we haven't gone too far, and the official announcement has been issued. They actually agreed to such a big thing, and even took action so soon. I am really curious. How did you talk them into it anyway?"

Zhou Zeyu sat down beside him and put his arm around his shoulders. Lu Haixuan and the others also looked at him curiously, but Yun Che just shrugged casually, "Nothing special. Just analyzed the pros and cons with them. They are selfish, but as long as it is for the good of the base, they will not blindly oppose it."

He was telling the truth this time, but…

"C'mon, cut it out. As easy as that? Them?"

It was a pity that Zhou Zeyu wouldn't believe him when he was telling the truth, leaving Yun Che feeling helpless. For the first time, he couldn't help but reflect on it: Was he that untrustworthy because he had fooled people too much?

"Hum…I bet you promised them something, didn't you?"

Ye Xingchen had been born and raised in the Ye family of the capital after all. Even if he had been away from that environment for more than ten years, he still knew their style very well.

"Yep, the problem of planting. After Wan'an District is cleared, the base will be moved to the city. The current base and planting area will be connected and all used for farming."

"Move to the city?"

Hearing this, all of them couldn't help frowning. They never thought about moving. After a while, Lu Haixuan said solemnly, "We too?"

"Do you think it is possible? I told them that I would help solve the planting problem, but Section C must be allocated to us, and they agreed."

Yun Che, who was leaning on the sofa, glanced look sideways at him, and slowly told the final result. He had a hard time building his home, and the Chaoyang Community is getting better and better now. How could he move out so easily?

"That's more like it."

They finally nodded in satisfaction. None of them wanted to move. As the saying goes, east or west, home is the best. No matter how good the city was, only Chaoyang Community was their real home.

"Are you all back?"

While they were talking, Xing Feng walked in from outside, but instead of sitting beside Yun Che as usual, he stood aside and said a bit solemnly, "There is something wrong with one of the squads. Go and check it with me?"

"Ah?"

Yun Che, who was eating the fruit, raised his head feeling strange. He almost suspected that the person standing in front of him was not Xing Feng. Normally, Xing Feng would never bother him with things of the small squads. Besides, he had always stubbornly thought that he was pregnant, and resolutely refused to let him out on quests, so how could he ask him to go out of the base with him?

"Okay, it's still a while before dark anyway."

Thinking that something serious might really have happened, Yun Che put aside his strange feeling and stood up, stretching.

"Shall we go with you?"

Zhou Zeyu and the others also got up, and their thoughts were similar to Yun Che's, thinking something really went wrong.

"What for? Beating tigers? Xing and I can handle it."

Before Xing Feng said anything, Yun Che cast them a dirty look. Xing Feng smiled and held his hand, "Che and I are enough to handle it."

Looking down at Xing Feng's hand holding his, Yun Che felt that something was wrong, and frowned slightly. As if noticing the swing, Xing Feng lowered his head and smiled gently and said, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, let's go."

Shaking his head to shake off the uncomfortable feeling, Yun Che forced a smile. Then he pulled his hand away from Xing's, and turned and walked out first. Because he had his back to Xing Feng, he didn't see the evil flashing through his eyes.

"I guess they just don't want us to be the third wheel, do they?"

Seeing the two leaving in tandem, Zhou Zeyu rolled his eyes and joked. The others couldn't help but laugh. Before long, some of them were chatting, some were playing games, and others engaged themselves in online chatting.