Chapter 683: Chapter 683: Compensation

Evelyn shook her head. She really couldn’t remember. ’Could I have made some outrageous promise to Ronan without even realizing it?’

Evelyn twiddled her thumbs. "Come on, give me a hint. If you don’t, I’m really leaving."

"Ronan, I’m going. I’ll sleep in the living room."

When he didn’t react, Evelyn coughed. "I’m really going now."

She had just unlocked the door when Ronan came up behind her. His movements weren’t gentle, but they weren’t rough either as he simply hauled her back inside. Evelyn looked at him and smiled. She knew he would give in.

"You promised me before you went to the mall. You said you’d make it up to me when you got back tonight."

Evelyn’s brow twitched. ’Did I say that?’

She wracked her brain. It seemed she really had.

"I remember now! My memory’s been a little fuzzy lately. It’s all this heat’s fault."

Evelyn put on a playful grin. "So, what did you have in mind for ’making it up to me’? A shoulder massage? A back rub? Or should I fetch you tea and water?"

"First, how about a performance?"

Evelyn nodded. "You got it. What would you like to see?"

Ronan said with a straight face, "Go do a somersault for me."

Evelyn was speechless. She wasn’t the Monkey King.

Ronan looked at her, a smile in his eyes. "I’m just kidding."

They had work the next day, and Evelyn was a firm believer in "early to bed, early to rise." After teasing him for a little while longer, she lay down to sleep.

The next morning, Liam Sterling went to the base’s main building to talk to Rhys Chase about the water pipes and grass seeds. The base didn’t need pipes, but they desperately needed grass seeds to improve the environment. Rhys was deeply grateful for Evelyn’s timely help—a true blessing in their time of need. He made a slew of promises, and when Liam returned, the tricycle was piled high with all sorts of supplies. Rhys knew they weren’t short on anything, but he insisted Liam take it all back with him anyway.

Evelyn planned to give the base ten tons of grass seeds and three tons of tree seeds. The tree seeds included pine, fir, chinquapin, chestnut, tea, and maple. ’In another ten years,’ she believed, ’the entire Tass Desert, including Eldoria and the grasslands, will be a lush, sprawling forest.’

Thirteen tons of seeds couldn’t be moved from the small courtyard without attracting suspicion. So that night, Evelyn and Ronan went to the warehouse, dropped off the seeds, and then took a detour to the shore of the freshwater lake. The Four Seasons Green they had scattered by the lake had already grown taller than Evelyn. The air by the water was humid, perfect for plant growth. Finding a spot to sit, Evelyn took a handful of willow cuttings and bamboo shoots from her pocket dimension and casually stuck them into the soil.

Willows and bamboo are both very easy to grow. The weather was lovely that night. Evelyn casually wiped the dirt from her hands and sat on a bench, gazing at the shimmering surface of the lake.

People died at the base every day. The cemetery thirty kilometers away was a dense forest of tombstones.

At night, there were still people patrolling and taking walks outside; the base was relatively safe. After feeling the breeze for a while, Evelyn grew drowsy. She’d worked all day and then come out to deliver seeds at night. Even a person made of iron couldn’t keep that up.

Ronan didn’t understand why Evelyn was planting willows and bamboo. On the way back, she explained.

"When we were sitting on that bench, the base cemetery was across the lake. In Corinth, there’s a custom during the Qingming Festival—when you visit the graves of the dead, you bring willow branches and place them on the tombstones. I heard there are already over ten thousand graves in the cemetery. I hope that by next year, when people go to pay their respects, they can break off some willow branches to bring with them. As for the bamboo... I just think it would be a shame not to have bamboo by the lake. That’s all there is to it."

"You’ve really developed a farmer’s instinct. You see a patch of empty land and just have to plant something." He meant it as a compliment, and Evelyn thought he had a point.

"What’s wrong with farming? It’s honest work."

"When I was a kid, I used to dream that when I got old, I’d buy a piece of land in some remote town, build a little house, and plant a few acres of fruit trees or crops. I wouldn’t have to worry about food, and I’d be far away from the city pollution."

Ronan glanced at her. "Marriage wasn’t part of that future plan."

Evelyn grinned. "I’d never thought about it before I met you."

The corners of Ronan’s lips curled up. "Mm. That’s good."

「The days passed, unhurried.」 But the temperature outside climbed higher and higher. The green grass on the plains wilted, and the base started using helicopters to ferry water for irrigation, trying to prevent the crops from scorching to death.

The rice in the pocket dimension had been planted, so everyone’s focus shifted to harvesting the wheat. Quincy and Wyatt were still busy with their clothing shop. Now that its reputation was spreading, more and more people were coming in for custom orders.

Every few days, someone sent by Rhys would drop off more supplies at their courtyard. By mid-June of the lunar calendar, the temperature in Eldoria reached its peak.

Evelyn picked up the thermometer and glanced at the reading. She went to the kitchen, filled a basin with cold water, and splashed it onto the courtyard. A SIZZLE echoed as the water hit the ground. The surface temperature was so high that the water evaporated almost instantly.

Quincy came out of the clothing shop fanning himself. He was wearing a tank top, already soaked through with sweat. Evelyn had told him to install an electric fan—it wouldn’t use much power, after all—but Quincy had refused, thinking it was unnecessary.

Seeing him looking so miserable from the heat, Evelyn couldn’t help but gloat.

"There’s a watermelon chilling in a basin in the kitchen. I told you to install a fan, but nooo. Serves you right if you melt."

All the bedrooms had electric fans. They were effective, but spending too much time in the direct breeze could cause headaches and dizziness.

Evelyn had suggested they live in her pocket dimension for a while, but the others weren’t willing.

"It’s just a little heat. We can handle it. Don’t worry about us. Liam said you’re harvesting the wheat now. Are you managing okay?"

Evelyn snorted. "And if we weren’t? Were you two planning to close up shop and come help?"

"Of course we would."

Evelyn waved her hand dismissively. "Forget it. You’re not cut out for farm work anyway. We’ve started threshing the wheat. I figure we’ll be completely done in about another week."

"That fast?"

"I’m a proper farmer now, you know. With me on the team, we’re unstoppable."

As soon as Evelyn finished, Quincy clutched his stomach, howling with laughter.

"Oh, Evelyn, Evelyn. You’re so full of yourself."

"I’m serious, though. The temperature outside is too high. You should close the shop and hide out in the pocket dimension for a couple of months. Zoe and Annie will be on break from school soon, and kids are prone to heatstroke. This kind of heat can cause severe heat-related illnesses. Wendy is pretty stubborn; she’d never agree to quit her job. We should add a sunshade canopy to her tricycle and just make sure she has plenty of medicine to prevent heatstroke."

Every day, Wendy came home with reports from outside, like how many more people had died of heatstroke at the hospital.

Seeing Evelyn’s serious expression, Quincy realized this was no simple matter and immediately agreed.

"As soon as Zoe and Annie are on break, we’ll move back into the dimension. I won’t take any new orders for the next few days. Once I finish the ones I have, I’ll take everyone on a shopping spree at the mall."

"Sounds good."

Evelyn still left them plenty of sunscreen, sun-protective clothing, and Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid. Just yesterday, the old man next door had collapsed from heatstroke and never woke up. Evelyn looked up at the white-hot sun, her brow furrowed in concern.

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