Chapter 32: Injured Brown Bear
"Boss? How are you feeling? Are you feeling better?"
The sky was turning pale, and the rising sun tore through the long, dark night.
The skinny monkey curled up against a tree stump. Because he had eaten relatively few mushrooms, his poisoning symptoms were relatively mild, so he stayed with the chief officer all night. When he saw him finally open his eyes, he excitedly rushed over and said, "This is the medicine Miss Qin gave you. She said you should drink some more to warm your stomach."
"What's going on?"
The chief officer narrowed his eyes, looked at the officers lying around him, and held the scabbard of his sword vigilantly.
Skinny Monkey recounted what happened last night in vivid detail. The chief officer clenched his fists and looked at Qin Xiangnuan with emotion. He didn't expect that she would repay evil with kindness to such an extent. He leaned his body weight on Skinny Monkey and walked towards Qin Xiangnuan.
"Miss Third is a man of loyalty and righteousness. If you need us in the future, we are willing to... serve you..."
The chief officer raised his hands and tried to bow, but Qin Xiangnuan quickly stopped him with his hand, interrupting the rest of his words, "Sir, you're welcome."
"We'll still be together in the future, just stop being suspicious of each other and being wary of each other."
"The rest is what I should do. I've learned some medical skills, and my father taught me never to stand by and watch someone die. Don't eat that kind of mushroom anymore. The more colorful it is, the more poisonous it is. It's like making a lot of beautiful promises, you know."
Qin Xiangnuan stopped there and didn't pursue the matter further.
The chief officer nodded, then suddenly thought of something and said in a hoarse voice, "My name is Xu Jian. From now on, Miss San can just call me by my name."
"I heard from Skinny Monkey that they used up all the water sources yesterday to rescue us. What should we do now?"
Xu Jian no longer acted like an official, and the group of people behind him looked at Qin Xiangnuan with eyes full of respect and obedience.
Qin Xiangnuan found it a little difficult to adapt, but she didn't expect that it would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. It could be considered a good thing.
"Regarding the water source, I saw a mud pit in front of us yesterday, with a layer of water floating on top."
"I think it should be rainwater that has accumulated over the years. If we use a good cotton cloth and filter it a few times, the water should be drinkable." Qin Xiangnuan proposed the only solution at the moment, "It's a pity that we can't use the cloth we have on us."
When the general was exiled, the best silks were confiscated and taken away by the government.
The few pieces of clothing he had on him were all linen clothes, the material barely enough to keep out the cold, nothing more.
Madam Qin does have two cloaks that can keep out the cold, but they are of no use now...
"We'll take care of this!"
Xu Jian immediately tore off his clothes, called others, and walked towards the mud puddle.
Qin Xiangnuan narrowed her eyes as she looked at the several empty bamboo tubes beside Qin Feng. The water from the mud puddle could be drunk after filtering and distillation, but the current conditions definitely weren't ideal. Even if Xu Jian could reach their limit, there would still be microorganisms and bacteria in it.
She didn't dare to take the risk, it was just a deception.
After Xu Jian poured the water into the bamboo tube, she secretly replaced it with mineral water from the space to alleviate the predicament.
"Big sister, what are you thinking about?"
When Qin Xiangnuan stared blankly ahead, Beibei ran to her side, tugged at her little finger, tilted her head back, blew on her chubby cheeks and asked, "Beibei wants to eat candy, but my mother told me to be sensible and not to look for you."
"Beibei, please take care of your teeth. If you eat too much candy, your teeth will fall out and you'll become an old lady."
Qin Xiangnuan held Beibei in her arms and secretly pointed in the direction of Old Madam Qin, "Look, great-grandmother's teeth are not good, they always hurt." She said so, but put her hand in her arms, took out a marshmallow, tore open the package, pinched it with two fingers and fed it to Beibei.
The soft marshmallow melted in the mouth, the syrup and juice inside filled the mouth, and the sweet baby shook his head.
"Tell Big Sister secretly, these past few days, Grandmother told Mother that you've changed a lot and that she wants to hand over the family to you in the future." Beibei didn't understand what she meant and could only repeat it verbatim. Qin Xiangnuan was stunned, not expecting Old Madam Qin to make such a decision.
Beibei smacked his lips and licked his fingers, seeming to be unsatisfied.
"Miss Qin! Look what we brought back?" Skinny Monkey's voice pulled Qin Xiangnuan back from her thoughts. They ran back happily, and a few people at the back were carrying something heavy with great effort. "This is enough to keep us fed for a long time!"
Qin Xiangnuan patted Beibei's butt and told her to go play with her grandmother. She stood up and walked towards them to check what was going on.
You don’t know until you see it, and you’ll be shocked when you see it.
Xu Jian and Shou Hou'er, along with their men, unexpectedly brought back a brown bear as tall as a man. Both legs had been bitten by wild beasts, leaving it unable to walk. The bear was barely alive, its eyes wide open, growling sporadically, but too weak to struggle free. It frantically clawed at the wooden sticks and roared, its crescent-shaped white hair on its chest forming a curly pattern. It looked like it was middle-aged.
"Where did you find it?"
Qin Xiangnuan wanted to get closer, but Qin Feng was afraid that she would be in danger, so he quickly raised his hand to stop her and blocked her with a dagger.
Xu Jian nodded, motioning for everyone to put the brown bear down, and explained softly, "We went to the mud pit you mentioned. We heard the beast's howl not far away. We thought we'd have a fight, but we didn't expect to see it... We figured it must have lost a fight and couldn't move, so it had to seek a nearby water source and ran into us."
"We have lost all our rations. With this, we won't have to worry anymore."
"Even if we have to stay in Savage Valley for another seven or eight days, we'll be able to eat our fill every day." Xu Jian pointed at the skinny monkey. "He used to be a hunter in the mountains. He knows how to clean the meat of wild animals. He can get the fur and internal organs clean. All you have to do is wait and eat."
Xu Jian waved his hand, signaling Skinny Monkey to take action.
The skinny monkey pulled out the sharp blade, pointed it at the brown bear's carotid artery, and was about to stab it in the next second.
"roar--"
The brown bear seemed to know that its life would end at this moment. Tears flowed from its two black eyes and it whimpered silently. It turned its head and looked towards the deep mountains of Savage Valley. Its limbs were too weak to struggle anymore.
"Wait." Qin Xiangnuan looked at it and stopped Shou Hou'er's movements. She walked over and looked at the brown bear's body. She understood and guessed something. She stopped Xu Jian and asked, "When you brought her back, did you see any... cave-like places around her? Or anything else that looked strange?"
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