Chapter 96 Hunter's Camp
Looking at the leeches on her wrist, Qin Suisui frowned. She wasn't afraid, but they were just too disgusting!
Jia Zhenzhen, who had been nervously squatting to the side watching Qin Suisui dig, burst into laughter upon seeing this. Then, she quickly poured half a spoonful of salt from the bamboo tube onto Qin Suisui's wrist, and the leech quickly curled up and fell off, twisting into a red thread on the decaying leaves.
Seeing the amazement on Qin Suisui and Zanzan's faces, Jia Zhenzhen became proud: "I learned this trick from my dad. When I used to train with them in the wild, we often encountered leeches."
Qin Suisui nodded, then felt something was off and turned to look at her: "Wait a minute, since you used to go out for wilderness training with them all the time, you should be used to it. Why are you so cowardly in the wild forest?"
As the two gradually became acquainted, they realized they were about the same age and had similar personalities, making conversation much easier.
Jia Zhenzhen's face turned red with anger, and she finally blurted out, "That's because they've never been to the Wilderness Forest before! This is the Wilderness Forest! Even the locals don't dare to come here!"
Qin Suisui laughed heartily, and the two joked around for a while before deciding to rest for a bit before setting off again.
In this wild forest, one cannot sleep peacefully; one can only close one's eyes and rest for a while.
Qin Suisui was thinking about the medicinal herbs she had just picked when she suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck. Looking up, she saw a gibbon perched on a treetop, baring its teeth and throwing fruit pits at her.
Jia Zhenzhen was also awakened by the noise. When she saw the gibbon, she jumped up and waved her fist: "You stinky monkey, get out of here! Stop causing trouble!"
It was the first time Qin Suisui had ever seen a gibbon, and she was very surprised.
Suddenly, Zanzan spoke up: "Mommy, Aunt Zhenzhen, this big monkey said we should hurry up and leave, there's a snake coming!"
Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen both looked at Zanzan with some doubt: "You can understand what it's saying?"
Zan Zan's expression was one of genuine confusion: "You don't understand?"
Qin Suisui didn't say anything, assuming it was just a child's joke.
Remembering how she had won over the big black and yellow gibbons and the bees with the fruit from her spatial storage when she was in Changbai Mountain, Qin Suisui thought for a moment, then took out a banana from her spatial storage and tossed it to the gibbon under the cover of her cloth bag.
The gibbon caught it, then held it to its nose and sniffed it. A look of ecstasy immediately appeared on its face. Halfway through its ecstasy, it suddenly looked back alertly, bared its teeth, and let out a short whistle.
Zan Zan cried out anxiously, "Mommy, Aunt Zhen Zhen! Let's go! The big monkey is warning us! The snake is coming soon!"
The urgency on his face seemed genuine. Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen didn't bother to figure out how Zanzan understood the gibbon's words, but most of the snakes in the forest were poisonous, and it would be disastrous if Qin Suisui's insect repellent sachet didn't work.
So he quickly slung his basket over his shoulder and ran after the gibbon.
Sure enough, less than two minutes after they left, a shimmering snake crawled out from between the aerial roots of a banyan tree not far away. The midday sun split the shadows of the tree and shone on its scales, which reflected an eerie blue light.
Following the gibbons away from the danger zone, the people on the ground were panting heavily, while the gibbons in the trees leisurely ate bananas. After taking a bite, their eyes lit up, staring at the banana in their hands in disbelief. They took another bite, their disbelief deepening. After finishing the banana in a few smacking noises, they turned their expectant gaze to Qin Suisui, making a few indistinct "oohs" as they ate it.
Then Zan Zan translated: "Mom, the big monkey asked, 'Are there any more bananas? It wants to eat more.'"
Now they believed that Zan Zan could really understand what the gibbons were saying.
Jia Zhenzhen, unaware of the bananas' origin, assumed Qin Suisui had bought them. She immediately jumped up, pointed at the gibbon, and yelled, "Hey! You stinky monkey! You're in the forest every day, you must have eaten plenty of bananas, right? How dare you covet other people's bananas! They're not cheap to buy outside!"
Qin Suisui suddenly thought of something, grabbed Jia Zhenzhen, took out another banana from her backpack, and waved it at the gibbon: "I'll give you the banana, can you take us to find the Torreya grandis?"
The gibbon tilted its head and looked at Qin Suisui, babbling a few words. Qin Suisui quickly looked at Zanzan: "Zanzan, what did it say?"
Zan Zan scratched his head: "It asked what a Torreya grandis is?"
Qin Suisui then asked, "What about the red-shelled pine? The rough pine is also called the red-shelled pine."
Zan Zan continued translating: "It said there are many pine trees in the forest, but it doesn't know which one we are looking for."
Qin Suisui thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you know where there is a V-shaped canyon?" As she spoke, she made a V-shape with her hand.
This time, the gibbon scratched its head and thought about it seriously for a while, then stretched out its four hairy fingers.
Zan Zan dutifully translated: "The big monkey said there are four canyons of this shape."
Qin Suisui's vision went black. There were four of them! The information from that stall owner at the black market was unreliable!
But since they were already there, they still had to go see them. Qin Suisui paid the gibbon with a banana and asked it to guide them to the gibbons one by one.
The first canyon was only about forty minutes away from their current location. Qin Suisui felt the terrain gradually decreasing, and soon they arrived at a large canyon.
Upon arriving here, the stifling heat of the forest seemed to dissipate considerably. The scorching sunlight outside pierced through the layers of tree canopy, filtering through into dappled golden light that fell upon the damp rocks. Deep within the canyon, vines coiled like giant pythons around ancient trees, while ferns unfurled their feathery leaves in the shadows.
The cool stream leaped down from the mountain cliffs, its tinkling sound echoing through the crevices of the rocks. Having traveled a long way, the group was drenched in sweat, hot and sticky. Jia Zhenzhen happily rushed forward, scooping up handfuls of water and splashing it on her face: "Wow, the stream in this canyon is so refreshing! It feels so good!"
Seeing that the gibbon didn't stop her, Qin Suisui followed to the stream to wash her hands and face. Along the way, led by the gibbon, they avoided many dangers and even collected a lot of good medicinal herbs. Of course, this was only because she secretly gave the gibbon a space banana behind Jia Zhenzhen's back, which gave the gibbon "full of motivation".
The stream water was very cool, and it quickly soothed the heat from their bodies.
After resting for a while, the group began searching for traces of the coarse torreya.
The vast canyon was rich in resources. The group searched for a long time but did not find any Torreya grandis. Instead, they found a lot of Antiaris toxicaria and Amomum villosum, as well as other precious medicinal herbs such as Paris polyphylla, Spatholobus suberectus, and Alpinia oxyphylla. Qin Suisui transplanted many of them into her space whenever she could find a place to put them. You can never have too many medicines. When they come in handy, you might not even have enough.
In just one afternoon, Zan Zan had become quite familiar with the gibbons. While Qin Sui Sui and the other person were gathering herbs, the gibbons led the little guy to collect a lot of wild lychees, wild longans, myrtle, egg fruit, and other fruits, and the little guy's little basket was almost full.
They couldn't find any Torreya grandis in this canyon, so they had to clear a path to the next one. They found nothing in the second and third canyons either, but their baskets were brimming with more and more medicinal herbs. If Qin Suisui hadn't secretly brought many into her spatial storage, the baskets would have been full long ago.
As it grew darker, they had no choice but to find a place to rest, led by the gibbon.
Qin Suisui discovered that there were clearly fireproof stone rings, tree stumps that had been cut down by humans, and old pottery shards that were almost buried in the soil. If she was not mistaken, this should be the site of the former Li ethnic hunting camp.
Qin Suisui had previously read about the Li ethnic minority near the tropical rainforest of Qiongtan Island when she read travelogues. The Li people often went into the rainforest to gather herbs and hunt. Most importantly, the Li people's medical skills were mysterious and profound, which intrigued her. However, it was said that the Li people's medical skills were not passed down through books; they had their own language, and everything was passed down orally from generation to generation. Nowadays, there are very few inheritors left, which is truly a pity.
The gibbon glanced at the baskets on their backs, a look of disdain on its face, then jumped down from the tree and rummaged through the grass and trees, quickly finding a pottery jar with a chipped top and handing it to Qin Suisui.
Seeing Qin Suisui in a daze, he impatiently nudged the pottery jar closer to her.
At this moment, Qin Suisui began to believe that monkeys might really be the ancestors of humankind. Otherwise, why would they be so intelligent? Perhaps they had seen the Li people or herbalists cooking in earthenware pots before, so when they saw that the monkeys didn't have any cooking utensils, they took out the earthenware pots and gave them to the monkeys, fearing that the monkeys would starve to death.
Upon seeing the pottery jar, Jia Zhenzhen's eyes lit up. She pulled out a small slingshot from her backpack and excitedly exclaimed, "Sui Sui, Zan Zan, I'm going to hunt a pheasant!"
Qin Suisui was a little worried: "It's getting dark now, let's just make some mushroom soup and have a drink." They had just walked through several canyons, where the soil was moist and the mushrooms were growing like crazy. They had picked a lot of termite mushrooms, milk mushrooms, and red mushrooms. If they had known there were large earthenware jars here, they would have picked more. Fortunately, Qin Suisui had put a lot of them into her spatial storage.
Jia Zhenzhen waved her hand: "Don't worry, I'm an old hand at hunting in the wild! Besides, I just saw a pheasant fly by, right over there, very close." Then she ran off in a flash.
Helpless, Qin Suisui secretly went into her space to wash the pottery jar and mushrooms, took out some salt, and found some firewood to start a fire.
Not long after, Jia Zhenzhen returned, carrying a pheasant that had already been processed and cleaned. Qin Suisui took out the dagger and easily cut the pheasant into pieces, cutting the bones as easily as cutting tofu. She couldn't help but marvel once again at how amazing the knife was.
The three of them finished a whole pot of pheasant and mushroom soup with the steamed buns that Qin Suisui had brought.
Jia Zhenzhen was still savoring the taste: "These natural wild mushrooms taste so good. I'll pick a lot more before I leave tomorrow to take back to my mom. She'll definitely love them!"
As evening fell, Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen took turns keeping watch. Jia Zhenzhen kept watch for the first half of the night, while Qin Suisui kept watch for the second half. This campsite was the former site of a Li ethnic hunters' camp, and it was indeed relatively safe. They passed the first half of the night peacefully.
When it was Qin Suisui's turn to keep watch, the gibbon that had disappeared somewhere returned, its sly eyes fixed on Qin Suisui, holding a string of wild longans that Qin Suisui had praised as delicious during the day, and looking at Qin Suisui in a flattering manner.
Qin Suisui chuckled. Since Jia Zhenzhen and Zanzan were both asleep and she wasn't afraid of being discovered, she simply took out a dozen bananas from her spatial storage and handed them to them.
The gibbon happily scurried down from the tree, squatted down next to Qin Suisui, and started eating, even knowing to throw the banana peel a little further away.
With this big guy by her side, the long night wasn't so hard to get through, and Qin Suisui wasn't scared anymore. The two of them started gesturing and talking in a nonsensical way.
Around 2 a.m., when people are most sleepy, Qin Suisui couldn't help but yawn. Before she could finish yawning, she suddenly heard a strange "click, click" sound coming from deeper in the forest, like someone knocking on a bamboo tube.
Qin Suisui was taken aback. Apart from the fire in their area, the rest of the forest was pitch black, and the sound was coming from that dark place.
She turned to look at the gibbon beside her and realized that this usually cheerful giant now had a look of terror on its face...
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