The three mbers of the Qin family had been gone for quite a long ti this trip, not returning until the afternoon, but everyone was already familiar with them. Since the Qin family mbers were skilled hunters, everyone assud they went hunting and didn’t think much of it because of their prolonged absence.
Third Grandpa saw that everyone had been hiding in the cave for most of the day without hearing any disturbances outside, so he felt it was safe. He led a few of the n out of the cave in search of food and water nearby.
Third Grandma stayed behind to clean up the cave again with the won from a few families.
They planned to stay here tonight, and with the weather turning cold, they needed to lay several layers of dry grass in the cave to sleep on to prevent getting sick from the cold.
Luo Wu, Gu Jin’an, and Tian Erqiang were wandering near the cave to prevent other refugees from finding the place.
Gu Dexing, Gu Qingliang, and Gu Qingtian, who were about the sa age as them, had been terribly frightened by the incident that night and hadn’t recovered for several days, refusing to leave the cave.
After quietly complaining about their lack of courage, Luo Huiniang turned to Gu Jinli and said, "Xiao Yu, let’s look for sothing to eat nearby."
Gu Jinli nodded: "Okay."
She wanted to find so dicinal herbs in the mountains. The weather was getting colder, and everyone’s health was poor after fleeing for so long; they were prone to sickness. They needed to dig up so dicinal herbs to prevent colds, in case of ergency.
Luo Huiniang glanced at Gu Yui sitting in a pile of dead grass and invited her, "Sister i, are you coming?"
Gu Yui shook her head with a look of disdain: "No."
She was the granddaughter of the village chief, different from the other girls in Gu Family Village. Digging up grass roots with a broken tile shard in the ground or climbing trees to pick leaves—she would not do such rough work.
Luo Huiniang curled her lips in disdain. She really looked down on Gu Yui’s pretension. There was no more Gu Family Village, and she still thought she was the village chief’s granddaughter?
Aunt Tian heard their conversation and quickly urged Luo Huiniang, "Hui Niang, take Xiao Hua with you."
Her family had neither grain nor water, and they had been eating from Third Grandpa’s family, Luo Family, and Dashan’s family for the past few days, feeling indebted. If Xiao Hua went with Hui Niang and Xiao Yu to look for food and they found so, it would not only alleviate everyone’s burden but also allow her family to save so.
"Xiao Hua, go quickly." Aunt Tian stuffed a grass basket into Tian Xiaohua’s hands and pushed her towards Luo Huiniang, smiling, "Hui Niang, Xiao Yu, please look after Xiao Hua for ."
"Don’t worry, Aunt Tian. Xiao Hua will be fine with us," Luo Huiniang, who quite liked Tian Xiaohua, didn’t mind bringing her along. After assuring Aunt Tian, she took Tian Xiaohua with her and followed Gu Jinli out of the cave.
Outside the cave was a swath of withered hartwort grass, and beyond the hartwort, there were bare trees that had shed all their leaves. Walking forward for about ten ters, there was a small slope.
Luo Wu, Gu Jin’an, and Tian Erqiang were hiding in the grass at the bottom of the slope, looking out into the distance to make sure no one discovered this place and went to signal others.
Instead of heading down the slope, Gu Jinli and her companions went up to higher ground. They wandered around the mountain looking for both food and dicinal herbs.
But the dicinal herbs in the mountains were hard to find. Gu Jinli used a wooden stick to push aside layers of rotting leaves and searched inch by inch. It took her nearly half an hour to find a few dried-up siler plants among the rotten leaves and grass.
Gu Jinli was delighted and quickly squatted down. She used a dagger to dig around the dry soil and dug up the siler plants, roots and all.
Siler was one of the most common dicinal herbs for treating colds. Though there were only a few plants, it was better than nothing.
Luo Huiniang, puzzled, asked, "Xiao Yu, what kind of grass are you digging up? Can you eat it when it’s withered like this?"
Tian Xiaohua glanced over at Gu Jinli, said nothing, and continued to dig up roots.
Gu Jinli explained, "This is a dicinal herb that can treat colds. We’ll dig it up and keep it in case we catch a cold, then we’ll have dicine to treat it."
"This withered grass is a dicinal herb? Is it from that dical book you read? Then you dig," Luo Huiniang knew that Gu Jinli had a dical book that she often read. Over ti, Xiao Yu had told them about looking for dicinal herbs, so Luo Huiniang wasn’t surprised when she heard this, finding it completely logical.
Gu Jinli smiled and responded, digging out a few siler plants and using a nearby withered vine to tie them up.
"Ah, a snake!" Tian Xiaohua suddenly scread, fell to the ground in shock, staring at a green snake with flower patterns hiding in the grass.
The snake had a sharp head shaped like a triangle, with a particularly thin body below the head and a fat body below that point—it was an iron head snake with deadly venom. Right now, it was standing up, hissing at Tian Xiaohua.
Luo Huiniang was closest to Tian Xiaohua. Seeing the venomous snake, she hurriedly grabbed Tian Xiaohua, pulling her over to keep her further away from the poisonous snake and avoid getting bitten.
But as soon as Tian Xiaohua moved, the venomous snake shot towards her, and just as it was about to bite Tian Xiaohua, a dagger flew in from the right with great speed and force, nailing the venomous snake directly in the grass.
Gu Jinli ran over excitedly, taking out a bamboo tube two fingers wide, staring at the still wriggling venomous snake, and after a mont, seized the opportunity to grab the snake’s head, pry open the snake’s mouth, and tapped the fangs against the edge of the bamboo tube, squeezing all the venom into it.
Tian Xiaohua shuddered at the sight, wondering how Sister Xiao Yu could be so bold as to dare catch a snake.
Luo Huiniang was also scared and after coming back to her senses, asked Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, what are you doing? That’s the snake’s venom, isn’t it?"
Gu Jinli nodded, "Yes, it’s venom. The dical texts say that this is good stuff."
Looking at Gu Jinli, Luo Huiniang had a face full of indescribable feelings. She felt that ever since Xiao Yu read that dical book, she had beco a bit... odd.
She hesitated for a mont but still advised Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, snake venom is not a thing to play with, it can be dangerous, quickly throw away that venom and the venomous snake."
Throw it away?
What a joke.
That’s at.
After extracting the venom, Gu Jinli promptly decapitated the snake with one cut and kept the rest of the body, binding it together with siler.
"Let’s go." Gu Jinli beckoned them both to continue searching for food.
Luo Huiniang and Tian Xiaohua paused for a mont before catching up with Gu Jinli, and soon they ran into three mbers of the Qin family.
The Qin family trio was erging from a dense forest and seed surprised to see them, with Qin Er Lang even glancing back into the forest as if worried about sothing.
"It’s you? Out looking for food again?" Elder Qin reacted the fastest, already greeting them cheerily with a smile.
Gu Jinli greeted him with a smile as well, "Grandpa Qin."
But inwardly she complained, what kind of fate is this? Why did they always run into the Qin family trio whenever there was sothing going on?
Luo Huiniang, less apprehensive, asked Elder Qin, "Grandpa Qin, what were you doing in the woods? Did you find anything to eat?"
Qin Er Lang’s face sank noticeably upon hearing Luo Huiniang’s question, and he coldly responded, "Searching for food in there, found nothing."
He added another sentence, "There’s nothing to eat in this forest, you should not go in."
Protesting too much betrays one’s guilt.
Gu Jinli knew there must be sothing in the forest but had no intention of courting trouble, so she said, "Then we won’t go in, we’ll move on ahead."
Qin Er Lang looked unconvinced, and signaled Qin San Lang with his eyes.
Qin San Lang appeared concerned they might discover sothing and reluctantly said, "Miss Xiao Yu, we’ve already searched this area, found nothing to eat. It’s getting late, let’s go back together."
While speaking, he took the initiative to take the siler from Gu Jinli’s hand and his expression flickered slightly when he saw the headless venomous snake.
Elder Qin also said, "It’s not safe for you three young ladies to be out here, let’s go back together."
With all of them insisting, Gu Jinli and the others had no choice but to follow them back.
As they were about to arrive at the cave, Qin San Lang called out to Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, this snake has not been dealt with properly yet, co with to handle the snake first."
The statent ca out of the blue - it was just a dead snake, and there was no need for Gu Jinli to go with him to deal with it.
Gu Jinli looked at Qin San Lang and eventually nodded, "Okay."
The two headed to a boulder not far from the cave.
After ensuring there was nobody nearby, Gu Jinli said, "Brother Qin, you wanted to talk to about sothing, right? Speak."
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