Chapter 37 An Unexpected Gain in the Bamboo Forest (Part 1)
For the next period of time, Zuo Shan would take Xiao Bao and Mao Li for a morning run every day before dawn, with their goal being the bamboo forest.
There are very few edible wild vegetables to be found along the way, but the bamboo forest can provide Xiao Bao with a hearty meal.
With Zuo Shan watching over him, Xiao Bao wouldn't be allowed to eat those high-radiation bamboo leaves indiscriminately. Only bamboo leaves that she detected as having moderate radiation would be allowed to be chewed.
This guy is also very picky about food. Given the right conditions, he only eats tender bamboo leaves. Zuo Shan felt sorry for the older edible bamboo leaves, so he took them home to dry and store them.
Although bamboo leaves cannot be eaten directly, they can be used to make tea, which tastes very good. The fragrance of bamboo leaves is refreshing and has the effects of clearing heat, promoting body fluid production, diuresis, and treating mouth ulcers.
Bamboo leaf seaweed can be soaked in alcohol, which has the effects of promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, dispelling wind and heat, and can also relieve arthritis and cervical spondylosis.
Adding a little bit to candies and cookies will enhance their flavor.
In short, bamboo leaves are a treasure.
The people of District 50 were puzzled to see Zuo Shan bringing back a bag of bamboo leaves every day she went out. When they asked her about it, she smiled and said that the mercenaries liked to use these to make tea. She had received their help and had no other way to repay them, so she used this as her way of thanking them.
There are no secrets in District 50. The day Jia Yiming brought Jiang Sha over to help her make furniture, some people with ulterior motives imagined that the mercenary had taken a liking to her and probably slept with her many times before he helped her make furniture.
The reason she went to such lengths to collect bamboo leaves to make tea for the mercenaries was so that she could maintain their relationship for as long as possible.
Among the young women in District 50, only a very small number with some beauty marry mercenaries. Most become their mistresses, and when they grow old and lose their looks, they simply marry some old bachelor scavenging in District 50.
After all, mercenaries have a fixed allowance and a share of the profits when they go out on missions. Even if they squeeze a little out of themselves, it can help a girl get through the extremely cold weather.
The scavengers in District 50 have always laughed at poverty but not at prostitution. They not only do not despise such behavior, but also feel a little envious, and hate that they are not young or pretty enough.
During this time, Zuo Shan's lower abdomen had begun to protrude slightly, and her pregnancy could no longer be concealed, further confirming the suspicion that she had been sleeping with the mercenary.
However, while there are many mercenaries who sleep among the scavengers in District 50, very few are truly willing to take responsibility and marry them, especially now that she is pregnant. It would be extremely difficult for an ordinary mercenary to raise a child and a woman.
Judging from her appearance, that man most likely won't marry her. At most, he might give her some compensation during her pregnancy. Once the child is born, she'll only be able to survive on the five thousand silver coins that the official reward provides.
Even with the reward of five thousand silver coins, no one was willing to marry her. The men in District 50 weren't afraid of being cuckolded, but mainly couldn't afford to raise a child, especially one that wasn't their own flesh and blood.
Zuo Shan didn't care at all about the gossip behind her back; in fact, she was happy for them to think that way, because that way, no one would notice that she had actually made a considerable fortune.
Fifty thousand silver coins would be enough to make any resident of District 50 take the risk, and she didn't want to lose her life because of it.
Speaking of this, she was very grateful to Minister Wen, who reportedly established a strict confidentiality system after he became the minister of the exchange hall in District 50.
For example, employees in the exchange hall are not allowed to disclose the profits of customers' exchanges to anyone, and those who discover new species, like her, are subject to strict confidentiality regarding their information.
When the mercenary group accepted the mission to protect the agricultural expert, they all signed confidentiality agreements, which is why she has been able to live peacefully until now.
**
As dawn broke, Zuo Shan had already led the panting Xiao Bao to the bamboo forest.
She has trained her body to the point where it is now 80% as strong as it was in her previous life. Now, even if she runs dozens of kilometers, she can still manage to keep going, though it will be tiring.
In comparison, Xiao Bao was not as good as her. During this period, she brought it over every day to gnaw on the tender bamboo leaves with moderate radiation, and its little body became much stronger.
Come to think of it, the big baby is, after all, an animal, and a new mom. She doesn't know much about raising babies, and she can't tell the radiation level of the bamboo leaves. The baby mostly ate highly radioactive bamboo leaves. Under these circumstances, the fact that it didn't die is entirely due to the strong constitution of the mutated animal.
Now that Xiaobao is with Zuo Shan, she takes great care in selecting its food and takes it out to exercise every day. How could it not be strong and healthy?
Having finally reached the familiar bamboo forest, Xiao Bao was overjoyed and quickly climbed onto a newly sprouted bamboo stalk.
This bamboo is about seven or eight meters tall, almost the same height as a normal bamboo in her original world.
Xiao Bao quickly climbed to the top and excitedly waved his chubby panda paws at her, signaling her to climb up too.
Zuo Shan shook her head, both amused and exasperated. This bamboo was less than the thickness of a bowl; how could it possibly support the weight of an adult like her?
Seeing that she refused to go up, Xiao Bao lost interest in playing and quickly plucked off more than a dozen leaves from the top of the bamboo, making whimpering noises to indicate that she should check them.
During this time, Xiao Bao has gotten used to having to inspect each bamboo leaf, and he can only gnaw on it if she gives him permission.
These bamboo leaves are relatively small compared to the leaves on other mature bamboo, but Zuo Shan knew that Xiao Bao loved to nibble on tender bamboo leaves, so he didn't mind and opened the testing knife to start the test.
"Beep! Low-radiation edible bamboo leaves, picking recommended!" The sound coming from the probe made Zuo Shan so excited that he almost jumped up.
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