Chapter 20: Cooperating with her, "I've made eye contact with him many times"...
"Okay," Qiao Xi replied.
They continued south along the path through the jungle, and when they passed a field, Qiao Xi looked at the snow-covered land and stopped.
Seeing that she wasn't leaving, Morax asked, "What's wrong?"
“Morax,” Qiao Xi said, carefully crouching down.
"Um?"
Qiao Xi's braids were a little messy, and Morax was curious about how such fishbone-shaped braids were made.
Qiao Xi reached out from under her cloak and gently brushed away the snow from the edge of the field. The snow was pushed aside to reveal slightly dry soil. The soil was soft and gradually became moist after being exposed to the air. Green wheat seedlings were growing on the soil.
She looked up at Morax and said, "You said before that next year would be a bumper harvest season."
Morax nodded: "A timely snowfall promises a bumper harvest."
Qiao Xi gently touched the bright green tips of the wheat sprouts with her finger. There were four sprouts in total. She had learned about apical dominance in her biology textbook before, but it was definitely not applicable at this time.
She gathered the snow back up, and the snow on her fingers began to melt into water. The heat from the melting made her fingertips red. She asked Morax, "Around summer, will it be ready for harvest?"
"Yes, the winter wheat flowers and fills its grains in late spring, and then the busy summer season begins in mid-summer."
Qiao Xi knew what Morax was talking about. She didn't know which year's geography textbook mentioned that in early June, the busy season of summer meant harvesting wheat, followed by threshing, drying, and so on.
When I first arrived, the wheat south of Tianheng Mountain had already been harvested. At that time, large and small stacks of straw rolled across the golden ridges.
The heat stored up in these firewood stacks would burst forth from the stove on a certain morning, a thin mist would rise, and the red sun would dye the sea of clouds. When Qiao Xi sat by the window reciting her lessons or practicing calligraphy, she could smell the faint aroma of cooking smoke in the air.
At that time, Morax was still fighting outside. Sometimes she would go down the mountain with her masters to help, and the farmer grandmother would give her some chestnuts and candy as a thank you.
Now, this field, once harvested, has entered its next cycle, carrying the hopes for the coming year.
After being away for five months, Morax stood by her side again. He knew the growth patterns of crops, the contract with the people, and where the snow would cover the mushrooms.
Qiao Xi stood up and suddenly said to Morax, "Thank you."
Morax looked at her and smiled gently, as if he already knew the meaning behind her words without needing to say anything.
Qiao Xi carried a basket on her back, which was full of strawberries that she couldn't tell whether they were sweet or sour.
Morax led her to a pine forest.
In the evergreen pine forest, there was the scent of fallen leaves that had been buried in the snow for a long time and were being turned over again. Qiao Xi held a bamboo pole, poking and turning things over carefully.
Morax watched Qiao Xi searching for mushrooms with great interest. He knew where matsutake mushrooms were and where they weren't, but he didn't intend to tell Qiao Xi directly right now.
He watched for a while, until Qiao Xi had found nothing, then pointed to a spot under a pine tree and said to her.
"Try this."
The location of his finger was so clear that Qiao Xi stopped poking it with the pole. She put the bamboo pole aside, squatted down, and started digging with her hands.
As the snow receded, a plump matsutake mushroom poked its head out. Qiao Xi was delighted. She looked up at Morax, then looked down to dig. Overly excited, she lost control of the angle of the bamboo basket on her back, and strawberries rolled out one by one, hitting Qiao Xi's head and falling onto the snow.
Qiao Xi covered the back of her head and looked back in confusion. As she turned around, some more strawberries fell out of the basket and hit her on the head again.
Qiao Xi stared at the strawberry that suddenly appeared on the ground. Before she could react, she felt her collar tighten, followed by the feeling of her body being pulled upwards. She involuntarily stood up, and Morax grabbed the hood of her cloak and turned her around.
Their eyes met, and Qiao Xi blinked, then suddenly realized, "So it was my strawberry."
Morax looked at her, a hint of helplessness in his eyes, and said, "Yes."
Qiao Xi smiled sheepishly. She had been too greedy while picking strawberries, but even though she had picked a whole basket, there were still many strawberries left in the field.
Qiao Xi raised her hand to show Morax the matsutake mushrooms she had picked.
The movement of raising his hand was so sudden that he almost punched Morax in the face.
Morax couldn't help but take a few steps back. When had he ever been so unprepared that he was almost ambushed by a little girl with no magical powers?
Qiao Xi: "Look!"
Morax frowned: "Very good."
Qiao Xi smiled, staring intently at Morax without saying a word, making Morax feel unusually uncomfortable.
He took a step forward, bent down, and asked Qiao Xi, "Is there anything else?"
Qiao Xi's big eyes flashed with doubt: "My basket is full."
She pointed to the basket behind Morax.
"It's your turn to carry it."
Morax suddenly had the idea to tease her, and deliberately said, "I won't carry it."
Qiao Xi: "Eh?"
Morax took the basket down and stuffed it into Qiao Xi's arms.
Qiao Xi quickly understood, and she hugged the basket with a smile.
She had an exceptionally good attitude and an exceptionally good personality. She accepted it calmly, naturally stuffing the mushrooms into the basket, preparing to carry one on her back and hold one in front of her chest.
Just as she was about to leave, she felt a subtle tug from behind. Turning around, she saw Morax gently pressing his finger on the basket of strawberries she was holding. Then, his shoulder relaxed, and Morax took the basket full of strawberries from her.
The strawberries were much heavier than the mushrooms, and Qiao Xi felt a sense of relief as she left the full basket.
Morax naturally slung the basket over his back, looked at Qiao Xi, and raised his eyebrows slightly.
Qiao Xi just smiled and said, "You're such a nice person."
Morax pressed a corner of his lips to his lips and nodded.
A rustling sound came from the pine tree above. Qiao Xi looked up and saw a fluffy squirrel hanging on a branch, watching them.
Qiao Xi asked in confusion, "Morax, they're not afraid of you."
Morax followed Qiao Xi's gaze and looked at the squirrel. He then looked down at Qiao Xi and asked, "Why do you say that?"
Qiao Xi looked away and explained to Morax, "Because when I came here before, both the squirrels and the little sparrows avoided me. Now that you're here, they're not afraid of you, and they're not even afraid of me."
Morax looked at Qiao Xi, and her statement, "She's not even afraid of me anymore," really didn't make him understand the sequence of events.
He picked up a strawberry and held it out to the squirrel in the tree. The squirrel saw this and scurried down the branch, snatched the strawberry from Morax's hand with a few "squeaks," and then scurried back up the tree.
As Qiao Xi watched Morax and the squirrel interact, she inexplicably thought of princesses in fairy tales.
She couldn't help but let out a small "wow".
Morax looked at her in confusion: "Wow?"
Qiao Xi shook her head with a smile.
Morax said helplessly, "Let's go."
With that, he took a step forward.
Qiao Xi jogged to catch up, and when she was almost up to Morax, she looked back and saw that the squirrel had led several others to jump down from the tree and pick up the strawberries she had just dropped, stuffing them into their mouths until their faces were round and bulging.
Qiao Xi smiled knowingly.
"Morax, you're amazing!"
"It's good that you know."
*
Under Morax's guidance, Qiao Xi's matsutake mushroom digging went very smoothly. Before long, her bamboo basket was full of mushrooms. Qiao Xi wiped her forehead and said, "A great harvest!"
The mud on her hands smeared onto her face.
Morax looked at the dirty spot on her face and reminded her, "Your face is dirty."
Upon hearing this, Qiao Xi wiped her face with her hand, only to get even more mud on it. She sincerely asked Morax, "And now?"
"......"
"Never mind, I'll go back and wash up."
Qiao Xi nodded obediently.
By then, the sky had cleared, and the twilight, with sunlight falling into the sea of clouds, scattered golden sunset clouds on the snow, making it sparkle.
Qiao Xi followed Morax up the mountain path, panting heavily. The wind was cold after the snow, and she couldn't help but cough a few times, realizing that she had really gained weight.
Morax turned to look at her: "Are you alright?"
Qiao Xi didn't want to leave Morax with the impression that she was physically weak, after all, she was a cultivator. She waved her hand and said, "Very good, I couldn't be better. This mountain road is nothing."
Morax saw through her intentions but didn't say anything. He nodded leisurely, but gradually slowed down his pace until Qiao Xi could keep up with him.
He rarely matched other people's pace, but now, looking at this child, he couldn't help but slow down a bit.
As they passed the Thousand Rocks military camp, Qiao Xi suddenly stopped and said to Morax, "I'll go call Jinlan."
Morax nodded and said, "I'll wait for you here."
Qiao Xi smiled, then carried the basket and ran towards the Qianyan Army's camp.
At the camp of the 99th detachment of the Qianyan Army, Jinlan, who was on leave, squatted in front of a small pot, anxiously simmering strawberry jam, adding milk and sugar from time to time.
He sighed. The glance he exchanged with the Emperor today had left him feeling somewhat drained, and to make matters worse, he bumped into a group of immortals on his way down the mountain.
Although I have seen immortals before, I am still a little scared.
As a logistics soldier, he had hardly experienced war. Protecting the village here was his greatest responsibility, but today he actually dared to have wild thoughts in front of the emperor.
"Jinlan!" Qiao Xi's appearance startled him so much that he almost overturned the pot.
"Qiao Xi?"
"It smells so good! What are you cooking?" Qiao Xi ran over with mushrooms on her back, and couldn't help but swallow as she looked at the milk and strawberry jam in the pot.
Jinlan served her a small bowl of hot food and handed her a sweet wheat cake, saying, "Eat up."
Qiao Xi took it with a smile. She tore off a small piece of the biscuit, dipped it in jam, and asked as she ate, "Why did you leave early?"
Jinlan sighed when she mentioned this: "Because I saw the Emperor with you, and I even made eye contact with him, I was a little worried."
Qiao Xi tilted her head and thought of Morax, comforting Jin Lan: "What's the big deal? I've made eye contact with him so many times, and nothing's happened."
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