After searching left and right, she found a few broken wooden boxes half-buried in sand in a corner. Without much hope, Xiao Nanhui pried open a few of the boxes with the tip of her gun, peered inside, and was stunned.
A box full of real gold and silver.
She swallowed, and the first person she thought of was Yao Yi. If he were here, he might even laugh until the cave collapsed.
Although gold and silver are truly good things in this world, they cannot be eaten or drunk at the moment. I am afraid they are not even as good as a piece of juicy cabbage.
She was unwilling to give up, so she marked this place and walked to another connected place.
At each cave, she opened a chest and examined it. The contents were all similar: gold, silver, jewelry, and rare antiques. Cave after cave, like the insatiable stomach of Governor Sun, were crammed with treasures of all sizes. Those items gleamed in the yellow sand, indirectly accusing their owner of years of misdeeds.
After walking through about a dozen caves, she felt quite tired. In a small hall at the end, she found some broken pottery jars. This place might be a temporary storage area for food. It was small and there were only a few items in total.
She opened a few relatively intact ones with great anticipation, but found only stale millet and Hu cakes inside. She grabbed a few grains and put them in her mouth to taste them. Feeling there was a risk of poisoning, she reached for the Hu cakes, but those cakes turned to ashes on the spot after just one touch.
This is all due to Suyan's climate. In the dry and cold winter, no food can be preserved in the air for more than a month.
This is the case even for dry food, not to mention perishable foods like meat.
She found some dried fruits in the last jar, which looked edible, so she stopped picking and poured them all into the cloth bag. She picked up some wooden sticks that were originally used to make tools as firewood, and before leaving, she picked up a jar of fruit wine from the corner, and left reluctantly.
It was pitch black all around. She lit a torch and groped her way back, only to find that the man was sitting in the dark, almost in the same position as she had left him, without having moved an inch.
"You're back."
He stood up and stepped aside. Xiao Nanhui then saw that the rubble on the ground had been arranged in a regular pattern. He had imitated her earlier example and built a fire pit.
She was quite surprised and curious. She took a closer look and praised sincerely, "Your Majesty's craftsmanship is quite good."
He turned his back slowly, his expression very calm: "Not bad."
She didn't look at him again, and quickly started a fire. She took out the things she had picked up from the cloth bag one by one, with a bit of pride on her face.
"This bunch of grapes is from Tongcheng. I tasted them that day and they were delicious. Even though they've become raisins now, they should still taste good. And this honey cucumber. Although the outer flesh can't be eaten, the core inside can be roasted and eaten, similar to chestnuts. And this..."
She reported her battle results incessantly, and the man watched quietly in the firelight, without a trace of impatience.
Taking out the last item, she concluded, "That old, immortal Governor Sun is a scoundrel who only takes in and never gives out. He's hoarded so much gold and silver, yet he gives us so little without even a bite of a whole cake. It's truly infuriating. But even though these aren't anything particularly good, they're still good enough to eat for a day or two. These are sweet and will give you strength."
"Xiao Qing is very capable."
She was expressing her feelings and felt a little uncomfortable with the sudden praise. Thinking about how she had also praised the other person before, the atmosphere between them suddenly made her feel a little uncomfortable. Her face turned red and she quickly interrupted, "The water tank is all dry. I only found this."
She put the wine jar on her waist on the ground and spread the wool felt blanket she had found on the ground.
The man glanced at the wine jar and asked calmly, "Is it wine?"
Xiao Nanhui nodded, took the silver cup he had brought with him, poured two cups, and pushed one to him.
The man looked at the clear purple-red liquid in the silver cup and said without moving, "I don't drink."
She paused, somewhat puzzled. "Your Majesty, do you dislike drinking or cannot drink? Right now, there is really nothing that can quench your thirst except wine."
He didn't answer immediately, as if he was thinking carefully about this simple question. Finally, he replied, "I can't drink it. At least not now."
Well, you've been acting weird for a while now.
Under normal circumstances, she might have asked a thorough question, but now she really didn't have the energy to speak.
Xiao Nanhui sighed, poured the other person's cup into his own and drank it all.
The fruit wine, which has been evaporated by the dry air of Suyan for several months, is sour and astringent, with a strange aroma. It does not taste refreshing, but instead has an oily feeling on the mouth.
"Not tasty?"
She shook her head: "It doesn't taste good."
It's far inferior to the Yunyexian that Yao Yi has.
When she thought of Yao Yi and Yun Yexian, she couldn't help but think of Quecheng, the Marquis' Mansion, and Xiao Zhun.
Sighing, she filled her glass again.
However, you can’t judge a wine by its appearance. This fruit wine doesn’t taste very good and has a bit of a heady aftertaste.
After a few drinks, she started to feel a little tipsy. She sat cross-legged with her chin in her hand, looking at the mottled and peeling murals on the surrounding rock walls. She felt that those vague and broken figures seemed to come alive against the backdrop of the campfire.
"Your Majesty, look at the painting on the wall."
Su Wei didn't look at her, then looked around.
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