Hearing the sound, An Moxue quickened her pace.

She approached and saw a nest of more than ten duck eggs. She said, "There are many duck eggs in spring, but relatively fewer this season. You're very lucky! You came up with a nest of duck eggs right away. However, with your loud voice, any prey nearby will be scared away." As she spoke, she picked up each duck egg, held it close to her ear, and shook it before putting it away.

Ai Guo covered his mouth, looked around, and asked cautiously yet curiously, "What are you doing?"

An Moxue said, "Let's check if there are any hatching eggs. If there are, we won't pick them up; we'll keep them to lay eggs."

"Amazing!" Ai Guo gave a thumbs-up in praise.

An Moxue smiled, examined each duck egg one by one, and said to Ai Guo, "They're all good eggs, unhatched. Shall we separate, or stay together?"

Looking at the vast valley, Ai Guo said, "Let's split up and see who finds the most in the end. I'll go over there, which side do you go over?"

An Moxue smiled and said, "Then I'll go over there." An Moxue pointed to the upper reaches of the river.

And so, the two parted ways.

Once An Moxue was out of Ai Guo's sight, it became much easier for her to pack up her things. There were palm-sized crucian carp, thumb-thick loaches, snails, and catfish. The meadow was full of good stuff, and the wild vegetables were fresh, tender, and tall. Occasionally, she would also see pheasants and wild ducks. She didn't specifically look for anything; she just went with the flow, collecting whatever she came across. Before she knew it, she had collected a lot, but she stored it all in her spatial storage.

Not long after, animals were seen drinking water in the shallow water near the riverbank.

She glanced at her watch, then stood up and walked in one direction. A group of deer, completely unaware of the approaching danger, were leisurely drinking water.

An Moxue looked around but didn't see Ai Guo. Then she quickly approached the deer herd. She reached out and a deer disappeared. She reached out again and another deer disappeared. In the blink of an eye, more than half of the deer herd was gone.

She left silently, and the fawns, unaware of her presence, continued drinking water, not even noticing that their companion was gone.

An Moxue moved on to her next target. She saw five roe deer not far away, and one of them looked up, saw her, glanced at her, and then lowered its head to continue drinking water.

An Moxue looked at the silly roe deer and couldn't bear to take them away, but her kindness only lasted for three seconds before she took them all away.

She was extremely satisfied with today's results and quickened her pace to head downstream.

Before long, they saw Ai Guo busy in a shallow puddle.

An Moxue approached and asked, "What are you doing?"

Ai Guo didn't even look up and said, "This blackfish is too cunning. I chased it here, but I couldn't get it up here no matter what I did."

An Moxue looked towards the puddle and saw a large fish looming in and out of sight, slippery and hard to catch, but Ai Guo just couldn't catch it.

She suppressed a laugh and asked, "Do you need any help?"

Ai Guo waved his hand and said, "I don't believe I can't catch it today!"

Then, An Moxue found a clean grassy mound and sat down, leisurely watching Ai Guo busy himself in the water.

After a while, Ai Guo, holding a large fish, excitedly shouted to An Moxue, "Moxue! I caught it! Quick! Get some straw rope to string it up!"

An Moxue casually cut a rope with her sickle, threaded it through the blackfish's gills, and joked, "This fish is really big. You should go back and hold this fish again, then I'll take a picture of you and show it off to Ai Dang and the others."

Ai Guo said very seriously, "We should have brought our cameras. If we took pictures of this beautiful scenery, they would all be so envious and want to come here."

"Come on, it's on me, no big deal." With that, the blackfish was already tied up.

As Ai Guo spoke, they had already reached the shore. "Mo Xue, what did you find?"

“There are many. See for yourself.” An Moxue took the basket from behind her.

Ai Guo saw pheasants and ducks with their legs tied, a silly roe deer, some fish he couldn't identify, and some wild vegetables.

Ai Guo exclaimed, "So many?"

"Okay, let's rest for a bit, get ready, and then we'll set off. I'll take you to see my Gale and Lightning. But let's make this clear first: don't be surprised or afraid when you see a pack of wolves, and definitely don't scream. If you upset the wolves, I can't save you." The last sentence sounded like a blatant threat.

Ai Guo tidied up his things and said, "Look, I caught two pheasants, and I also saw a flock of sheep, but by the time I got there, they had all run away, and I didn't catch any. But, how about this fish? It must weigh six or seven pounds, right? I looked in this river, and there are really a lot of fish. If we had the right tools, we could catch a lot, but it would be a hassle to transport them out. Anyway, we've had a pretty good day."

After resting for a while, An Moxue handed Ai Guo two wild fruits she had picked, and the two ate them as they continued on their way.

Along the way, An Moxue broke the legs of any pheasants and rabbits she saw, to prevent them from dying in the heat and spoiling when she got home.

She was used to wandering through such mountains and forests, but Ai Guo was not. He had never been into such deep mountains and forests before, even when he was in Beijing. When he went to the countryside, he went to islands. This was the first time in his life that he had seen such big mountains and climbed such a long mountain road.

Seeing that An Moxue had walked quite a distance but was still the same as usual, he said with some envy, "Moxue, you're amazing! I think if you hadn't waited for me, you could have walked even faster."

An Moxue pointed to a patch of green plants on the hillside and said to Ai Guo, "Take a break and have some water. There's a small patch of gentian over there. I'll dig some up, and then we can continue on our way."

"Okay." Ai Guo, panting heavily, sat down on a dead tree. He was covered in sweat from the exertion, while Mo Xue remained refreshed. He envied her while also despising himself. How could a man be inferior to a woman? How degrading!

He drank water and rested while watching An Moxue dig for medicinal herbs.

"Mo Xue, you've dug up so many kinds of medicinal herbs along the way. Can you even carry any more home?"

An Moxue shook the dirt off a gentian plant and said, "It's alright. If there are too many, we'll have Gale and Lightning deliver them to the two of us. We can take any more back."

After An Moxue finished digging up the herbs, the two continued on their way. After crossing another mountain, An Moxue stood on the mountaintop, stopped, put her finger to her lips, and whistled a series of whistles that carried far away.

Before long, the howls of wolves could be heard. An Moxue said happily, "Gale and Lightning are nearby. Ai Guo, let's go!"

Ai Guo immediately sensed An Moxue's heightened enthusiasm, and his speed increased significantly.

Every now and then, she would whistle once or twice, then use the direction of the wolf's howl to determine her direction and continue on her way.

Finally, amidst Ai Guo's exclamation, two robust adult wolves approached An Moxue.