Chapter 329: Daily Life on the Farm 1

The next day, three patrolmen arrived. They toured the farm, and it was obvious they were very pleased with the assignment. They even started telling the others how to work and demanded that Taylor Vance and his group give up the largest log cabin.

Taylor Vance didn’t agree. Instead, he brought them directly to Evelyn Ford and relayed the patrolmen’s demands.

"You’re the farm owner? So young... and a woman."

The three patrolmen were all men around thirty-five years old. Although they had been assigned by the higher-ups, they weren’t actual soldiers—just refugees who had been recruited.

"Farm Owner, you need to arrange housing for us, and quickly. We need it fully equipped—it has to have a bathroom and a kitchen. It’d be best to install a toilet inside, since it’s too cold to go outside. I did a check; all the houses have fireplaces, which is good. Will someone be delivering water and firewood for us? We’re very busy. You need to make sure these little things are taken care of."

Evelyn Ford just smiled and said nothing.

"You have a lot of people on this farm. Assign one to do our laundry, cooking, and cleaning. A young woman would be best. Oh, and I saw you’re raising plenty of livestock. Go ahead and slaughter a sheep for us tonight. They look fat; it should be delicious."

Carrying guns, they said and did as they pleased, completely unrestrained. Furthermore, since their positions were assigned by the higher-ups, they were even more brazen, believing no one would dare to defy official authority.

"How about I build you a villa? Should I also hire two chefs? And while I’m at it, get you a car, a driver, a maid, a bodyguard, and an assistant?"

One of the patrolmen’s face lit up. "Excellent! The farm owner certainly is thorough. We can skip the assistant and bodyguard, though. We’re here to work, so there’s no need to be so high-profile. This place of yours is nice. You can even see the sun in the morning, and it isn’t exceptionally cold. Oh, and prepare some new clothes and shoes for us."

Evelyn Ford stood up. "Of course. Any other requests? Feel free to ask."

"The farm owner is so generous. It would be great if we could have a radio... and some tapes."

Evelyn Ford pulled a gun from her pocket. "Anything else?"

The three patrolmen’s faces fell. Just as they reached for their guns, Evelyn beat them to the draw, shooting each of them in the arm. The shots were non-lethal.

"Agh! You bitch, you dare to shoot us? We were sent by the military! How dare you oppose the authorities? You’re asking to die!"

Evelyn Ford tossed their guns onto the table, walked up to the patrolman who had cursed at her, and kicked him squarely in the stomach.

"Any other requests? Should I throw in a movie theater?"

The patrolmen were scared witless. "No, no, that’s not necessary! Don’t shoot! We can talk this over! We were wrong, we’ll leave the farm right now! We don’t want anything!"

"The military sent you here to work, and you’re already trying to sneak away? That’s quite irresponsible of you." Evelyn pressed the gun to a patrolman’s temple.

"How’s the farm?"

"It’s, it’s good. Very good."

"Want to move in?"

The three patrolmen shuddered and quickly shook their heads. "No, we’ll leave right away."

"Where will you go?"

They were sweating buckets from the pain but didn’t dare make a sound—not with a gun pointed at their heads.

"We’ll go to Fairgate and find a place to stay ourselves."

"See? It would have been better if you’d been like this from the start. Why did you have to learn the rules the hard way? I hope we can all get along from now on. I’m actually a very reasonable person."

With that, Evelyn unloaded their guns and handed the empty weapons back to them.

Evelyn turned to Taylor Vance. "Mr. Vance, bandage these gentlemen’s wounds. Then have Quincy and Miles Vaughn escort them to Fairgate. Make sure to announce that these three men are here to maintain public order in Fairgate, and that everyone should cooperate fully."

As she spoke, Evelyn pulled a small bottle from her pocket, shook out three green pills, and forced them into the men’s mouths.

"COUGH, COUGH! What did you give us?" one of the patrolmen choked out, staring at Evelyn in horror.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I studied medicine. What I just gave you is a simple poison. It won’t kill you right away, but you’d best not get agitated. If you do, you’ll get debilitating stomach cramps. It’ll be a fate worse than death."

With that, Evelyn took Ronan Kendrick by the hand and walked away.

The three patrolmen tried to spit the pills out, but they dissolved the moment they touched saliva and had already slid down their throats.

"Get back here! Give us the antidote, you venomous witch! May you die a horrible death!"

Taylor Vance kicked the patrolman who was cursing Evelyn. "Behave yourself," he growled. "My knife doesn’t have eyes."

The patrolman was terrified. "What do you think you’re doing? She didn’t tell you to kill us!"

Taylor Vance snorted. "Getting the bullets out."

The patrolman began to curse furiously, but at that exact moment, a sharp, twisting pain shot through his abdomen. Soon, all three of them were writhing on the ground in agony.

"Antidote! Give us the antidote!"

...

When the three patrolmen were led away, their initial swagger was long gone. As Yunnis Denton and Joelle Finch passed by, they saw the men’s limbs trembling and their eyes unfocused, as if they had endured immense torture.

"Miss Ford is amazing."

Yunnis Denton nodded. "I really thought she was going to make us give up the cabin. I never imagined she’d deal with them like this."

Meanwhile, Quincy and Miles Vaughn brought the patrolmen to Fairgate and announced their identity to the refugees there. The moment the refugees heard the men had been sent by the military, they swarmed them and started demanding food.

The patrolmen raised their empty guns, staring in terror at the swarming refugees. "Back off! We’re patrolmen, and we have guns! Get back if you don’t want to die!"

Quincy and Miles Vaughn watched the three put on a brave front, then dusted off their hands and headed straight back to the farm.

"Evelyn, it’s done."

Evelyn was chopping firewood when they arrived. Taylor Vance had just told her that he’d finished removing the bullets from the men’s arms.

Quincy and Miles Vaughn ran back and began to vividly recount what had just happened.

"The second the refugees heard they were military men, they jumped them and went through their pockets. All their luggage was snatched up and divided. Do you think they’ll report us? What if the military comes after us?"

A smirk played on Evelyn’s lips. "They don’t have the guts to report it. I gave them something that induces severe stomach cramps. Right now, they probably think they’ve been poisoned and are on death’s door."

Quincy clicked his tongue. "You’re so cunning."

"Thanks for the compliment. Now, Quincy, aren’t you supposed to be working?"

Quincy wailed, "I can’t even stop to chat for a minute?"

"Please take your job seriously. It’s working hours. Have you fed the livestock yet?"

Quincy quickly ran off.

That afternoon, Evelyn took out the egg incubator. She planned to hatch some chicken and duck eggs.

’I’ll start by trying to incubate fifty of each.’ Evelyn wasn’t sure if the eggs she’d gotten from Tarr City would hatch successfully.

The soil in the greenhouse had thawed. Yunnis Denton came over to tell Evelyn that she had finished mixing the wood ash into it.

Evelyn gave her some vegetable seeds and told her to take Joelle Finch and Wendy to plant them.

The incubator could hatch chicks in just ten days, so Evelyn decided to prepare the chicken coop first.