Chapter 145
Chapter 145
“This feather is beautiful.”
Song Jin held the feather up, looked it over, and nodded, clearly rather fond of it. If there were a few more, it would be even better-they could make a feather fan out of them.
“So what, did they catch you to use as food?”
Jiang Yunsui put on a mysterious, profound little expression. “No. They treated me like their baby.”
The people who had come looking for her choked at once.
Then, a moment later, they all burst out laughing.
“All right, let’s go. Time to head back, or Young Master and the others will start worrying.”
Jiang Yunsui was carried out of the cave. On the way back, she showed not the slightest lingering fear from having fallen into a cave. If anything, she was a little excited, chattering nonstop.
“Those two golden eagles were huge! They even caught a snake this thick. I almost got stuffed with snake meat.”
“There’s a big tree outside the cave, and beyond that is a really pretty canyon.”
“I even saw goats growing out of the cliff! They’re amazing. They just sprint along those steep cliffs like they’re flying.”
As she spoke, Song Jin’s face turned thoughtful.
“So outside that cave, there’s a completely different world?”
Jiang Yunsui nodded.
When they returned to camp, Jiang Yunsui immediately cried piteously that she was hungry.
“Ji Yan’an, I’m so miserable. I was just walking along with Zuozuo Youyou and still managed to fall into a cave. That cave was super high, and I’m so short I couldn’t climb out.”
Song Jin gave a soft scoff. “Who knew this little thing had two faces?”
Ji Yan’an wiped the dirty ash from her face.
“Weren’t you practicing qinggong?”
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes instantly drifted away, her whole face screaming guilty conscience.
Practicing qinggong meant hardship and exhaustion, and it had to be built up day after day. Even after learning it, she would still have to use it often to keep from getting rusty.
For one lazy Little Mushroom, that was far too bitter a life.
Little Mushroom did not want to suffer. She had thought it through too: why fly by herself when it was so much easier to have someone else casually carry her along, right?
She gave Ji Yan’an a silly little grin.
“Hah. Dumb and lazy.”
He flicked her on the forehead. Playing dumb had failed.
Jiang Yunsui pouted, grabbed his sleeve, and began to tug it back and forth.
“Ji Yan’an, I’m hungry. I’m so pitiful.”
If playing dumb did not work, then she would play pitiful.
Little Mushroom had plenty of tricks.
Ji Yan’an said, “Go eat by yourself. Your chicken-and-mushroom stew is being made for you.”
At that, the Little Mushroom who had been pitiful one second ago was beaming the next, bouncing off happily to find Fat Chef.
The speed of her face-changing was truly something to behold.
“Young Master…” Song Jin moved closer and told Ji Yan’an everything Jiang Yunsui had said on the road, along with his own guesses.
Ji Yan’an fell into thought. “If that cave truly leads outside, perhaps we can use it to escape this place.”
The problem was the golden eagles at the cave entrance. If they were really as Jiang Yunsui described, they would likely be difficult to deal with.
“According to the information Ji Yi and the others gathered, the Quanrong Tribe probably can’t sit still any longer. The chieftain’s daughter, Aguduo, is gathering the men of the tribe. I’m afraid they’re going to conduct a full search of this forest.”
What had happened before could at most be called minor skirmishes.
“We can’t stay here. We have to leave as soon as possible.”
Before, they had been thinking about how to notify the outside world and call for rescue. But now, with Jiang Yunsui’s fall, she had tumbled them straight onto another path.
There was danger, but perhaps their chances of survival were greater.
“Go call everyone over.”
And so, when Jiang Yunsui came back to the cave holding a bowl bigger than her own face, filled to the brim with chicken-and-mushroom stew and soaked rice, everyone had already gathered together.
Ji Yan’an began to speak.
“This time, Ji Yi went to the Quanrong Tribe to gather information…”
“Slurp.”
She took a sip of soup. Delicious.
Smacking her lips, Little Mushroom set down the bowl. With her tiny mouth gleaming with oil, she suddenly realized everyone was looking at her.
She sneakily lifted the bowl to hide her little face, leaving only her big, dark eyes peering out at them.
What?
She had only taken a sip of soup. She had not been loud, right? She had not disturbed anyone, had she?
No, she had not been loud. But the aroma was far too rich.
Right now, the entire cave was filled with the smell of chicken stewed with mushrooms.
Who brought a whole basin of food to a meeting?
Ji Yan’an continued, “The cave Jiang Yunsui fell into…”
Hearing her own name, Little Mushroom immediately perked up her little head.
Mm-hmm? Mm-hmm? Was this about her too?
Oh, so they wanted to use that cave to escape.
Huh? They had to figure out how to deal with those two big golden eagles?!
When she heard them discussing arrows and poison…
Little Mushroom weakly raised her small arm.
“Um, can we… can we not hurt them?”
Her fair little face scrunched up.
Although the two golden eagles had caught her, they had not harmed her. They had even given her meat to eat-though she had not eaten it-and helped keep her warm.
Besides, animals with special bloodlines were rare. If those two golden eagles died because of her, Jiang Yunsui would also be burdened with that karma.
Kindhearted little spirits who did not kill lightly or wantonly cared a great deal about karma.
Song Jin sat cross-legged on the ground, his chin propped on one hand.
“If we don’t kill them, how do we get through safely?”
The others were also considering that question.
They did respect Jiang Yunsui’s opinion.
If possible, it would be best to pass through that cave safely without alerting the golden eagles.
Shen Qingzhu took out a small bottle. “Perhaps this will work.”
“Inside is powder ground from Sleepy Mushroom.”
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes lit up.
Right, Sleepy Mushroom.
It could make people fall asleep, and there would be no aftereffects.
“But how do we get them to eat it?”
“I-I-I… I’ll do it.”
Little Mushroom volunteered.
But everyone thought it was somewhat dangerous.
After all, that place was right by the cliff.
One wrong move, and she might fall off.
Little Mushroom argued with perfect logic. “If I go near them, they won’t hurt me.”
“If you go near them, they won’t eat it, and they’ll start fighting.”
If they wanted to leave the cave without harming the golden eagle pair and get them to eat the sleep powder, she was the only choice.
They did not have much time left.
At the same time, over at the Quanrong Tribe, the men of the tribe had also taken up weapons and were advancing toward the forest under Aguduo’s lead.
“Father, you had Eldest Sister take three hundred young men of the tribe and twenty good hounds, all to find those few pretty boys from the Central Plains? Are you mad?”
The chieftain glanced at his son.
“The position of chieftain will belong to your sister in the future anyway. She is only mobilizing three hundred young men. It is not as if she is sending them to their deaths. Are you saying my three hundred young men still can’t do anything to them? Besides, they have provoked me time and again. I absolutely cannot let them get away with it.”
At those words, a vicious gleam flashed through his son’s downcast eyes.
That damned old man. He really was going to hand the chieftain’s position to that woman!
In the woods, Ji Yi and the others received the news and quickly ran back to camp.
“Aguduo has already set out with roughly three hundred people, along with twenty wolfhounds.”
Ji Yan’an tightened his grip on Jiang Yunsui’s little hand, which was serving as his hand warmer.
Little Mushroom hissed. “Gentler, gentler! You’re hurting me!”
She glared at Ji Yan’an with outrageous audacity and even muttered without the slightest respect for seniority,
“You’re sick, but you’re still this strong.”
Ji Yan’an said, “Notify everyone. We leave tonight.”