Chapter 198
Chapter 198
Jiang Yunsui scratched her head, completely bewildered.
What was wrong?
Ji Yan’an had taken medicinal baths before. Why did he look so miserable this time?
Song Jin and the others needed to tell Ji Yan’an about Wushan Cavern. Jiang Yunsui found the discussion boring, so she ran off to watch the young women of the Miao stockade prepare medicine.
“Huh? Are you boiling medicine?”
Jiang Yunsui poked her head over a pot, then stared with round eyes and recoiled.
The young woman tending it nodded without concern. “Yes.”
“Ji Yan’an has to bathe in all of this?”
She nodded again. “Yes. We showed it to your Young Master beforehand.”
Jiang Yunsui drew a quiet breath.
No wonder. No wonder Ji Yan’an’s expression had turned so awful when he heard it was time for a bath.
In that one glance, Jiang Yunsui had seen the unseeing corpses of all kinds of insects and snakes floating inside.
There were bones too.
And ugh… it smelled terrible.
Jiang Yunsui no longer wanted to remain there. She pinched her nose and ran to see the young golden eagle, Milk Tea.
Little Mushroom now felt terribly sorry for Ji Yan’an.
What suffering.
Milk Tea had been well cared for, but it currently looked remarkably ugly.
The once-fluffy ball had begun shedding its down. Large patches had already fallen out.
How was this any different from a person going bald?
Patchy baldness, no less!
New feathers had emerged from the bare places, but they were stiff flight feathers, nothing like soft, fluffy down.
They had not finished growing either. The feathers were sparse, leaving flesh clearly visible in some places.
Jiang Yunsui had been gone for nearly three months, but Milk Tea was not distant with her. The bird even rubbed affectionately against her hand.
Then, while she was not paying attention, Milk Tea plucked the little snake from her sleeve, tilted its head back, and swallowed half of Little Pink.
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes flew wide.
“You can’t eat her! You can’t eat this!”
“Spit her out! Hurry! She isn’t your lunch!”
Jiang Yunsui grabbed Little Pink’s tail and fought to pull the snake from the eagle’s beak.
After a tremendous commotion, she finally extracted Little Pink.
The pink snake was furious. She arched her neck and hissed at Milk Tea, plainly tempted to rush over and bite the bird in revenge.
Since hatching, Little Pink had always been lazy and preferred hiding quietly out of sight.
This was the first time she had become so angry.
Of course she was furious. She had nearly become a snack!
Jiang Yunsui hurriedly wiped Milk Tea’s saliva from Little Pink.
“Don’t be angry. Don’t be angry. Milk Tea didn’t know. I’ll hit Milk Tea for you.”
She gave the eagle a light pat on the head.
“Milk Tea, she isn’t food. Her name is Little Pink, and she’s your little sister.”
By order of arrival, Little Pink truly was the younger sibling.
The young golden eagle gazed innocently at Jiang Yunsui.
“All right, all right. I’ll leave Qianqian and Houhou here with you. Play together.”
Before leaving, Jiang Yunsui gathered the shed down from the nest.
She remembered that this kind of down could be made into clothing.
There was far too little, so once they returned, she would find several ducks and geese and collect enough to make clothes for Ji Yan’an. Then he would not have to wrap himself like a wild bear in winter.
She truly was a wonderful maid, always planning for her master.
The little girl carried Little Pink by the body and skipped away to find food.
Gluttonous Little Mushroom was especially skilled at finding food.
Before she even reached the kitchen, Jiang Yunsui caught a delicious aroma.
Her mouth began to water.
She hurried into the kitchen.
“What are you making? It smells so good!”
The cooks saw a child in a little Miao outfit, with a fair face and large, bright eyes.
She was beautiful and adorable from head to toe.
Faced with such a lovely child, the adults could not help smiling gently.
“Hungry? Have a little first. We caught these last night.”
Jiang Yunsui accepted the food, and her smile froze.
“Huh?”
Th-this was food?
Was this not an insect?
The cook understood her expression and laughed.
“It’s a cicada nymph. It may be an insect, but it tastes wonderful.”
“Besides, it’s already dead. What is there to fear? These insects eat plants, so they’re perfectly clean.”
Jiang Yunsui thought it over.
That was true. Those insects ate plants, and mushrooms were plants too.
Now that she was eating insects, did this count as revenge?
It definitely was not because the food smelled delicious.
Closing her eyes, Jiang Yunsui tossed it into her mouth.
Crunch.
The fragrant fried cicada nymph was crisp at the first bite. It tasted like chicken and had none of the disgusting texture she feared.
Her eyes instantly lit up.
“Tasty, isn’t it?”
Jiang Yunsui nodded rapidly.
After the first bite carried her past the mental barrier, she ate the rest with great enthusiasm.
Then she noticed fried grasshoppers as well and blinked.
Should she try one?
In the end, Jiang Yunsui carried a small bowl filled with delicious fried cicada nymphs, grasshoppers, and other insects. She ran excitedly to share them with Ji Yan’an and Song Jin’s group.
She was a Little Mushroom who loved sharing.
By the time she arrived, however, Ji Yan’an had already gone for his medicinal bath.
“Ah… Ji Yan’an won’t get any.”
She sounded quite disappointed.
Nanmo glanced into her bowl from behind his sword, then closed his eyes.
“The Young Master wouldn’t eat those.”
Nanshu and Nanmo had seen these insects during their stay but had never eaten them.
If they refused, Ji Yan’an certainly would.
“Nanmo, crouch down a little.”
Not only did Nanmo refuse to crouch, he raised his head even higher.
Every one of the little girl’s schemes was written on her face. She was far too easy to read, and he would not be fooled.
Jiang Yunsui pouted.
“Fine. Don’t eat any. You don’t know how to appreciate good food.”
Little Mushroom stamped one foot and immediately went to find someone else.
Ji Si was much more obedient. When she told him to crouch, he crouched.
Then she stuffed a cicada nymph into his mouth.
Ji Si chewed in silence.
It did taste good. He had no mental barrier against it either. During training and missions, he had eaten anything available.
Shen Qingzhu glanced over. “Oh, cicada nymphs. Give me some.”
He truly had grown up here.
The two huddled together and whispered. Finally, they found Song Jin and stuffed several fried grasshoppers into his mouth.
Song Jin stared at them in speechless realization.
So that was why Shen Qingzhu had suddenly spoken to him with a gentleness that raised gooseflesh.
People were always exceptionally patient when plotting mischief.