Xue Qianyu wanted to help Gu Nian, but Gu Nian wouldn't let him, saying she could manage on her own.

So Xue Qianyu sat quietly to one side, took out the dagger Gu Nian had given him, took some fruit from the basket, and then found a plate.

Then he started peeling the fruit.

After Gu Nian finished grilling a large plate of meat, she turned around to look and asked, "?"

She carried the plate up to Xue Qianyu and said, "When did you learn how to plate food? Your melon carving is quite good! Tsk tsk tsk, General Xue, you are truly multi-talented!"

Xue Qianyu calmly replied, "I saw you work on this a couple of years ago, and I practiced it when I had some free time."

Gu Nian sat down next to Xue Qianyu and handed him some skewers: "General Xue, I hereby declare that you have officially caught my eye. Your intelligence is worthy of me."

Xue Qianyu laughed: "Really? If I had known that carving a fruit platter would catch your eye, I would have done it two years ago!"

Meng Meng couldn't help but interject, "Xue Xiao Er, you wouldn't have been allowed to do this a couple of years ago. I still remember how you wasted A Yuan's fruit at A Yuan's house. A Yuan, Little Mouse, don't you think so? How many pieces of fruit did the three of us eat back then!"

Lu Zheng: "Isn't that right? Sometimes just one spoonful is enough to taste three different fruits!"

Huo Junhao: "That's right, that's right. Sister Nian Nian, don't believe Second Brother. He's good at making people laugh with a straight face!"

Xue Qianyu: You rascals! I've got it. Don't let the three of you fall into my hands.

Gu Nian laughed heartily. It seems that the time they spent in Sanchakou Village laid a deep foundation of friendship for these four people!

Gu Xin, Gu Si, and Huo Yanyu ate with great relish. The three girls were at the age of rapid growth and had been exercising regularly, so they had a large appetite.

People like Huo Yanyu, who used to eat at most two bowls of rice, now eat four bowls and can't live without meat.

"Where shall we go tomorrow?" Lu Zheng fed Gu Xin a piece of fruit and then asked everyone.

"Whatever!" Gu Xin said while chewing on fruit.

"Mhm." Gu Si nodded in agreement.

Huo Yanyu ate silently.

Huo Junhao grilled a pheasant wing, handed it to Gu Si, and then went to get something else to grill. As he turned it, he said, "Didn't Brother Meng say that heading north from Linshan is an area that Peng's army has never been to? Let's go that way! We've brought all sorts of insect repellent and detoxifying herbs from Grandma Xiao."

Gu Xin, having just swallowed some fruit, continued, "Prodigy Huo, that's what you don't understand. Wherever poisonous creatures grow, there are herbs that can counteract them. Everything in the world has its counterpart. Southern Xinjiang isn't as poisonous as we imagine."

After saying that, Lu Zheng fed her a piece of meat.

Gu Nian chimed in, "That's right. When I went to Southern Xinjiang before, it felt the same as other parts of our Great Zhou. Who can guarantee that there aren't poisonous creatures in the deep mountains of other places? It's just that the terrain and climate of Southern Xinjiang are suitable for the growth of poisonous creatures, and the people of Southern Xinjiang used to specialize in raising poisonous creatures."

Huo Yanyu, now that she had a free moment to speak and no one was feeding her, said, "In my opinion, the reason why no people live near the mountains in Kunzhou is because they heard a rumor from who-knows-where, and this rumor was probably spread by the people of the Southern Frontier. They want to occupy this uninhabited land, but unfortunately, they don't know that even if no one comes to live here, our Great Zhou will not let them occupy it so easily."