Chapter 152
Chapter 152
They also brought back the deer that had rolled to the bottom of the slope.
The one that chased Jiang Yunsui was brown. The one Ji Si found was white.
The white deer’s antler had broken too, though it had snapped in the middle.
Several people gathered around and professionally examined the tracks and the bodies.
Jiang Yunsui squeezed into their midst, her eyes hazy with confusion.
Huh? She could not really follow any of this.
At last, Song Jin patted her small shoulder.
“Congratulations. Your conscience doesn’t have to hurt anymore. The white deer must have been the original guardian of the Snow Lotus, but the deer that chased you discovered it. The two fought over the flower, and the white deer lost.
“Once their fight ended, the brown deer came back and found you taking the spoils of its labor. It was already seeing red after the fight, so of course it chased you.
“Its antler came off so easily because the fight had already left it hanging by a thread. Still, you’re really something. You managed to find a Snow Lotus hidden in that godforsaken corner.”
Holding the Snow Lotus, Jiang Yunsui gave an enlightened “Oh.”
“So it was a robber.”
“Hahaha… That’s right. Come on, let’s head back.”
Chef Pang hoisted both deer carcasses onto his shoulders.
“Let’s bury the white one here. We did take the treasure it guarded, after all.”
No one objected.
As for the brown deer, naturally it would end up on their dinner plates.
Ji Yan’an had not come to search for Jiang Yunsui. His body could never have withstood such a long run.
Only as they left did they realize that the yaks had not gone anywhere.
When they saw Jiang Yunsui, one of them even mooed at her.
Little Mushroom greeted them cheerfully.
“Ji Yan’an, look what I brought back!”
Cradling the Snow Lotus, Jiang Yunsui bounced over to him.
“Look, look! It’s a Snow Lotus. Isn’t it pretty?”
“And there’s venison, too! Let me tell you, I was so unlucky…”
Her little mouth chattered on without pause.
Ji Yan’an held the Golden Eagle Egg. By now, he was used to Jiang Yunsui’s bizarre adventures.
“As long as you’re all right.”
“Shen Qingzhu, can Ji Yan’an eat this?”
Ji Yan’an’s arms paused around the egg. A trace of tenderness entered his clear gaze as it settled on the little girl.
“Do you know how precious that is?”
Jiang Yunsui blinked. “But I don’t need it.”
“I only picked it because it was pretty. In a couple of days it won’t be fresh anymore, and then it won’t be pretty.”
The Snow Lotus’s medicinal properties were of no use to her. She was already a perfectly healthy healing-type Little Mushroom, after all.
Shen Qingzhu smiled. “We’ll certainly have a use for it.”
“The Young Master does need it, but for a flower this large, half will be enough. I can use the other half to make you a skin-nourishing balm. It will be safe for a child.”
“Okay! But I’m already the prettiest. My skin is white and soft and feels so nice. No wonder all of you always want to pinch my cheeks.”
She spoke with boundless vanity, cupping her little face and patting it as she did.
When Ji Yan’an looked her way, Jiang Yunsui patted his hand reassuringly.
“Don’t worry. You’re the second prettiest person in the whole world. Don’t feel inferior.”
Ji Yan’an was rendered speechless.
“I don’t need your reassurance!”
Jiang Yunsui planted her hands on her hips, every inch a tiny tyrant. “I don’t care whether you need it. If I say you are, then you are!”
Ji Yan’an pinched a certain noisy little mouth shut.
Everyone else was dying of laughter, but no one dared laugh aloud.
Nanshu was smothering his chuckles when someone jabbed him in the waist. He lost control and burst out laughing.
Ji Yan’an looked over blandly. “Nanshu, go dress the deer.”
Nanshu panicked. “No, Young Master, just now I wasn’t…”
Ji Yan’an had no interest in explanations.
Nanshu’s face collapsed. He suddenly lunged for Nanmo beside him.
“You black-hearted little snake! You act all quiet every day, but you’re always setting me up. Nanmo, you scoundrel!”
Nanmo dodged him with ease.
That evening, they ate venison seared on an iron plate.
The yaks that had followed them grazed on their own not far away, occasionally raising their heads to scan the surroundings warily.
Once she had eaten and drunk her fill, Jiang Yunsui wiped her mouth and rubbed her round little belly.
“I’m so full.”
The moon had already risen. Little Mushroom found a spot and sat cross-legged.
“Ji Yan’an, Ji Yan’an, give me the Golden Eagle Egg.”
She cradled the egg in her crossed legs and began to cultivate.
“Don’t those storybooks say cultivation requires some kind of mental art and chant?” Ji Yan’an asked. “Do you have one?”
Jiang Yunsui shook her head blankly. “Huh? No.”
“I just sit like this and close my eyes, and then I can sense the stars and moon.”
Song Jin raised a brow. “I knew it. You really are a little spirit.”
A little spirit absorbing moonlight.
Jiang Yunsui huffed and concentrated on cultivating. She did not even feel cold when she cultivated.
Ji Yan’an, still bundled in thick layers, sat down beside her. Although he could see nothing with the naked eye, Jiang Yunsui’s cultivation made his body feel considerably better.
Thump, thump, thump…
Something was approaching.
Nanshu spread his arms like a mother hen protecting her chicks and blocked Ji Yan’an.
“What do you want? Don’t come any closer! We have plenty of experts here!”
“Quiet,” Ji Yan’an said. “Stand down.”
“But Young Master, they won’t hurt Little Yunsui. You, on the other hand…”
“It is fine.”
The approaching yaks certainly made an imposing sight, but Ji Yan’an saw no malice in their eyes. If anything, they were remarkably docile, just like domesticated cattle.
The yaks did not harm anyone. They merely surrounded Jiang Yunsui and found places nearby to lie down. The three calves settled closest to her.
The herd leader was rather smug. It had known that the small two-legged creature had more tasty things than the few she had fed them.
When it was time to sleep, Nanshu carefully picked his way among the resting yaks.
A swishing tail suddenly caught him across the shin. With a yelp, he pitched forward onto another yak.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to.”
The yak was in a good mood and paid him no mind.
Nanshu sighed in relief, then carried some sheepskin and dried grass over to Ji Yan’an.
“Young Master, are you cold? There aren’t any caves here, so we’ll have to sleep in the open. At least it isn’t raining.”
Ji Yan’an shook his head. “I’m fine.”
He was leaning against a white yak. It was quite warm, and with the herd surrounding him, the night was not nearly as cold as he had expected.
“I’ll spread a layer of dry grass under the hide.”
After all that work, Nanshu looked away for one moment and turned back to find the white yak eating the grass.
“Great Ancestor Yak, you can’t eat that! Eat the fresh grass beside you!”
The white yak gave him a lazy look. It was right there. Why shouldn’t it have a bite?
When the others saw that Ji Yan’an was fine leaning against a yak, they tentatively found yaks of their own to rest against.
The enormous creatures really did ignore them. Their coats were wonderfully warm, too. They smelled a little, but that was better than freezing to death.
Nanshu sighed. “Nothing but hardship since we came out here. The Young Master never suffered like this before. My poor Young Master…”
Ji Yan’an kept his eyes closed. “Shut up. I’m not dead yet.”
Nanshu promptly closed his mouth. At last, all was quiet.