novelraw Chapter 335: Farm Daily Life 7
Chapter 335: Farm Daily Life 7
Quincy had specially prepared a new outfit for the trip to Tarr City, but everyone just laughed at him for days.
"Quincy, is this your first time going to the city?"
"It’s full of refugees out there. If you go out dressed that nicely, you’ll be the first one they rob."
"Dressing up like that to go out, Quincy. You got a date or something?"
Wyatt Vaughn shot Quincy a glare, and he immediately tried to defend himself. "I was just worried they wouldn’t let us into the city if I dressed in rags. Besides, we’re going to trade for supplies—it’s serious business. Why does everything sound so indecent coming from you guys?"
"That’s because you’re never serious. No wonder we’d think that."
Quincy was exasperated. "Why don’t you pick on Ronan Kendrick? With him just standing there, do I even need to bother dressing up? He steals the whole show, okay?"
"Ronan Kendrick is a serious person. He’s nothing like you."
Quincy was practically fuming.
Half a month later, the winter wheat began to form ears, and it was time for Ronan Kendrick and Quincy to set out. They would take the argali sheep they hadn’t managed to trade last time, which could be placed directly in the truck bed.
Evelyn Ford told Ronan Kendrick to trade for a pair of piglets if he found any in Tarr City.
This was the first time they would be apart since getting together. Evelyn Ford trusted Ronan’s abilities, so she wasn’t too worried. Still, with him gone, her spirits fell.
The weapons were in her dimensional space, which Ronan could also access. The truck hadn’t been modified and still had the Holloway family’s license plates, but Evelyn was certain Kevin Holloway wouldn’t have the guts to take it back. She reminded Ronan that if he had time, he should pay the Holloways a visit and beat up the few people they’d missed last time.
Namely, Kevin Holloway’s brothers. Evelyn was quite disappointed they hadn’t run into them last time.
After Ronan Kendrick and Quincy left, Evelyn’s life on the farm remained as busy as ever.
The number of refugees coming to Fairgate continued to increase until its population reached a saturation point. The trees on the surrounding mountains had been stripped bare.
The farm temporarily suspended its channel for trading supplies. As the saying goes: a handful of rice is a kindness, but a sackful breeds resentment.
If they continued to trade supplies with the Fairgate refugees unconditionally, it would only feed their sense of entitlement.
Evelyn Ford set a new rule: families from Fairgate could only come to trade for supplies once a month. Many refugees had already started raising their own chickens and ducks, but others were still resorting to petty theft, lazy and averse to honest work.
Encouraging such behavior would do the farm no good.
The farm was no longer short on firewood, having already stockpiled a three-year supply. Evelyn had Officer Graham start cultivating mushrooms, while Miles Vaughn took over Quincy’s job of chopping branches to stockpile as fodder.
Everyone had a feeling that even though the sun shone every day, the Little Ice Age would likely continue for a long time. It was precisely at times like these that they needed to prepare for a long-term struggle against the extreme cold.
Ronan Kendrick and Quincy’s trip to Tarr City took a full ten days this time, and their haul was even bigger than the last.
Evelyn even wondered if Ronan had snuck into Tarr Base and raided the whole place.
At first, Evelyn didn’t notice the extra things in her dimensional space. By the time she realized something was wrong, the space was piled high like a mountain. There were all sorts of supplies, from daily necessities like food and clothing to farm tools, home appliances, medicinal herbs, gasoline, diesel, and even cement, gray bricks, and roof tiles.
When the two of them returned, Evelyn asked and learned that Ronan had kidnapped the Holloway brothers and extorted all these supplies from them.
The supplies they brought back in the truck were also substantial. The entire cargo bed was full, containing not only goods but also two pairs of piglets and two wolf dogs.
When Quincy hopped out of the truck, he was carrying a radio and wearing a brand-new padded jacket.
"I’m rolling with Ronan from now on." Quincy was practically floating as he walked.
Ronan didn’t even spare him a glance, walking straight toward Evelyn.
"Sorry, I’m back late." Before he left, he had confidently promised to be back in about six days, but the trip had been unexpectedly dragged out to ten.
Evelyn wanted nothing more than to hug him tightly. For the past ten days, she had been thinking of Ronan every moment.
"I’m just glad you’re back safe."
The others had already climbed eagerly onto the truck to inspect the supplies. Seeing the cargo bed filled to the brim, everyone was stunned.
"They got all this for three sheep?"
Quincy just snickered off to the side, inwardly scorning them. ’What a bunch of country bumpkins who’ve never seen the world.’
’Would Ronan really trade for supplies fair and square? His destructive capabilities are even greater than Evelyn’s. He just robs his way through every place he visits. He’s practically the Devil himself. But Ronan had said they were only robbing the Holloway family—people who had fled the safe zone with a stash of supplies—so I don’t have much of a guilty conscience. I even helped out quite a bit. These short ten days have been more exciting than my previous thirty-plus years of life. I never imagined being a bandit could be so exhilarating.’
"Is Quincy shell-shocked or something? He’s been grinning like an idiot ever since he got back."
A flicker of disdain crossed Ronan’s eyes. "He’s too loud."
The others unloaded the supplies and moved them to the storeroom. Staring at the sacks of coarse flour, everyone was too excited for words.
Moreover, Ronan had also brought back several bags of clothes and shoes. Chet Lawrence and the others received thick quilts, and Aunt Crane was even moved to tears.
The people currently working on the farm were all diligent, with no opportunists or shirkers among them. Evelyn’s policy was that as long as someone was of good character and worked hard, she would guarantee them a stable life at the farm.
But she didn’t plan on hiring any more people. Once the numbers grew too large, management would become difficult. As long as they had enough people to keep the farm running, it was enough.
The number of refugees in Fairgate had now swelled to three hundred. Evelyn had Paul Pence and his group move onto the farm. The eight of them built a new wooden cabin to live in together. With their previous building experience and more people to help, they got it done in just three days.
The wolf dogs, a male and a female, had been brought back by Ronan to guard the farm. They were incredibly ferocious.
Taylor Vance was already planning the location for the pigpen. Although the two pairs of small white pigs were still young, he had to make the pen large enough to account for future breeding.
Evelyn was very curious about what had happened on Ronan’s trip to Tarr City. After a few seconds of silence, Ronan told her that he had discovered two "failures" at Tarr Base.
He hadn’t wanted to get involved, but then several desiccated corpses appeared in Tarr City, and he discovered these two failures were also sucking human blood. To eliminate all the failures, Ronan went to the base.
That was why he had been delayed for several days.
"All the failures are dead," Ronan said, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"You did well," Evelyn said, hugging him and comforting him softly.
"Afterward, we went back to the Holloway residence. The family’s old patriarch had already had a stroke and Kevin Holloway had moved out, so I just tied up his brothers and took some things from them."
Evelyn had to suppress a laugh. ’Some things?’ she thought. ’He probably plundered every last thing those Holloway brothers owned.’
"Are they still alive?"
Ronan raised an eyebrow. "You said I couldn’t kill them."
"So obedient, are we? By the way, when you went to the base, was Quincy with you?"
Ronan shook his head. "I was going to hypnotize him, but he said he wanted to trade for supplies, so I gave him the argali sheep and let him do his own thing. When I found him two days later, he had already traded the sheep and gotten himself a new outfit from head to toe."