Chapter 251
Chapter 251
With an egg in hand, they at least had some hope.
Afterward, Jiang Yunsui made a little pouch for it just as she had when incubating Milk Tea, then hung the egg in front of her chest.
They did not leave immediately, because the scales of the fish beneath the waterfall proved unexpectedly useful.
Once washed clean, stripped of their smell, and dried in the sun, the scales shrank slightly but became even harder.
They overlapped and tied several scales together into a piece the size of a palm. When struck with daggers, the blades slid away and left only faint scratches behind.
Most importantly, the material was thin and light-perfect for making armor.
Naturally, the King Serpent’s scales were superior, but there had only been one King Serpent. The limited armor made from its scales could not be given to everyone.
These fish scales could be considered a lesser version of King Serpent scales, which still made them exceptionally valuable.
And so, everyone spent the next stretch of time catching fish.
The flesh was delicious, and both people and animals ate it. The scales were cleaned and laid out to dry.
Every day, Shen Qingzhu and the others asked Jiang Yunsui about the egg.
“Its life force is a teeny-tiny bit stronger today than it was before.”
Its recovery was slow, but there was still good news: it had not died!
For everyone, that meant hope remained.
By the time they had stayed in the valley for a while, they had collected a large sack of armored fish scales.
“Armored fish” was the name they had given the species based on the peculiar quality of its scales.
“What a pity this place is so far from the outside world. Otherwise, we could try raising these fish.”
Then there was the tea.
They had managed to roast the leaves they picked, albeit with a simplified process. The tea itself was truly exceptional. Even after roasting, the leaves remained a lush green. When steeped, they unfurled in the water, their color as beautiful as jade.
Most importantly, the tea tasted wonderful. Even someone who disliked tea would surely fall in love with its flavor.
Jiang Yunsui broke several branches from the tea trees, planning to take them back and see whether cuttings could survive.
Besides all that, the greatest thing she found in the valley was something entirely unexpected.
Corn.
That was right. There was corn in the valley!
There was not much-only a few stalks growing in scattered locations-but they were thriving.
The one thing each location had in common was that Jiang Yunsui found plenty of bird droppings wherever the corn grew.
After Shen Qingzhu and the others discussed it, they concluded that birds must have eaten the kernels elsewhere and carried them into the valley.
At the moment, Shen Qingzhu and the others did not yet know that corn could be eaten as a staple grain. They only saw that Jiang Yunsui liked it, so they broke off the ears and packed them for her.
There were seven ears in total.
Jiang Yunsui was delighted. She had never imagined they would gain so many things from this journey.
Before leaving, she visited the tiger family to say goodbye and left them a pile of Beauty Mushrooms.
“I don’t know when we’ll meet again. You all have to take good care of yourselves.”
Perhaps they would never have the chance to meet again. This place was simply too far away.
Finally, she went to say goodbye to the wolf pack.
To her surprise, her Youyou had actually charmed a beautiful white wolf into coming with him!
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes widened.
Looking carefully, she realized it was the very white wolf Youyou had anxiously leaped into the river to rescue.
Jiang Yunsui pinched his ear. “No wonder you were so worried! You went and found yourself a wife!”
Even with his ear pinched, Youyou grinned foolishly.
Jiang Yunsui’s expression abruptly changed into a delighted grin.
“Good job!”
The white wolf had a somewhat aloof personality. Aside from Jiang Yunsui, Zuozuo, and Youyou, she kept everyone else at a distance.
Yet she was willing to leave the place where she had always lived and follow Youyou away.
Jiang Yunsui stroked the white wolf affectionately, worrying like an old mother despite her tender age.
“Don’t worry. If Youyou ever treats you badly, tell me. I’ll beat him up!”
When they finally left the valley, Jiang Yunsui could not resist looking back.
She truly liked the place.
Its environment was wonderful. It was beautiful, filled with extraordinary sights, and home to countless intelligent animals. If she were not worried about Ji Yan’an, she would have wanted to live there.
Of course, Jiang Yunsui still could not bear to give up all the delicious food outside.
Everyone was far more relaxed on the return journey. They had obtained so many wonderful things that smiles adorned every face.
At last, they reached Wuhe Stockade.
The stockade was bustling with activity.
Before leaving to search for the Phoenix-Mimic Bird, both Shen Qingzhu and Jiang Yunsui had written letters and sent them back by carrier pigeon.
The slip of paper a pigeon could carry was tiny, and Jiang Yunsui’s handwriting was still large. All she had written was “I’m safe,” with a smiling face drawn underneath.
Shen Qingzhu’s letter had arranged for a merchant caravan to come.
Naturally, it had brought goods difficult to obtain in Guizhou: sweet-potato vermicelli, grain, porcelain, cloth, needles, thread, and the like.
The purpose was to trade with the people of the stockade. The goods could also offset part of the silver owed for the medicinal herbs the stockade had sold them.
Guizhou was mountainous and ill suited to growing grain, so most people lived by hunting.
The vermicelli and grain brought by the caravan kept well. The mountain people also liked the cloth and books.
Wuhe Stockade was not the only place that needed these things. The other nearby stockades needed them too.
Shen Qingzhu had already instructed that the goods were primarily meant to be exchanged for medicinal herbs, so people in the surrounding villages and stockades had begun gathering herbs as well.
Over the past few days, Wuhe Stockade had simply opened a trading market. The merchants were not the only ones doing business; other people also set out surplus goods from their homes to trade or sell.
Unexpectedly, the market had become quite lively.
Naturally, the merchant caravan remained the most popular attraction.
“You’re back!”
The disguised members of the caravan and the people of Wuhe Stockade were delighted to see Shen Qingzhu’s party.
“A wolf! There’s a wolf!”
Someone spotted the white wolf and cried out in alarm.
The white wolf was not accustomed to so many people either.
Shen Qingzhu said, “Don’t be afraid. This wolf won’t hurt anyone.”
Then he had Zuozuo and Youyou take the white wolf into the forest. They would return when it was time to depart.
When the headman of Wuhe Stockade heard that they had brought back a Phoenix-Mimic Bird egg, he hurried over.
By then, Jiang Yunsui and the others had returned to the house arranged for them earlier.
The moment the headman arrived, he asked, “Did you really find a Phoenix-Mimic Bird?”
Shen Qingzhu smiled. “The Phoenix-Mimic Bird was already dead. We only found an egg, and we don’t know whether it can hatch.”
He told the headman that the bird had been dead for a long time and explained how they had found the egg.
He deliberately withheld the fact that a trace of life still remained inside it.
Whenever they had asked Jiang Yunsui about the egg, they had also sent the hunter away first.
The headman’s gaze fell upon the egg in Jiang Yunsui’s arms.
“To think the Phoenix-Mimic Birds are truly gone.”
“After so much time, I fear this egg will be very difficult to hatch.”
Shen Qingzhu sighed. “Exactly. But the child likes it, so we’ll let her carry it for a while. If it never hatches, we’ll have no choice but to throw it away.”
After chatting with the headman for a while and seeing him off, Shen Qingzhu began making arrangements for their departure.