At five o'clock, Su Yan wrote a note to leave the house and left it on the dining table before going out with Jiang Jingxing.
The basket contained ten mooncakes, nine catties of braised pork, and forty zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), all of which Jiang Jingxing carried on his back.
It was almost six o'clock when the two of them arrived at Lijiapin by oxcart. Su Yan took Jiang Jingxing up the mountain via a shortcut.
Jiang Jingxing asked, "Why don't you let others know you went up the mountain?"
Su Yan's leg wasn't fully healed yet, so she came up the mountain with crutches today. She looked down at the path and replied, "I'm worried that someone might be following me. There were some people who didn't listen to advice and went into the mountains before, and ended up with a broken leg. They want to blame me. Besides, if people find out that I'm with Wei Wu, they might spread some crazy rumors. I don't want to cause myself so much trouble."
"Weiwu? Is that the tiger's name?"
"Yes, that's the name I gave it."
"Then why aren't you worried that I'll tell everyone about this?" Jiang Jingxing asked deliberately.
Su Yan rolled her eyes at him and said speechlessly, "If you tell anyone, it won't affect me much. I can just go into the mountains to find it myself. But the places where the medicinal herbs you want grow are too dangerous. I definitely won't risk going alone, so you'll be the one who suffers. Besides, you're my brother's good comrade-in-arms, you wouldn't betray me, right?"
She didn't know whether she believed in Jiang Jingxing's military uniform or in his brotherhood with his older brother.
Anyway, her sixth sense told her that this man was trustworthy.
Jiang Jingxing couldn't help but smile as he listened to her confident words.
Because Su Yan's foot wasn't fully healed, it took her almost an hour to walk to the cave where Wei Wu was, and it was already dawn when they finally arrived.
Before Su Yan could even speak after climbing the slope, a shadow rushed towards her from afar, moving with lightning speed.
Unsurprisingly, she was tackled to the ground.
"roar--!"
Wei Wu tackled her to the ground, sticking out his tongue and frantically licking her cheeks, making whimpering sounds as if he were extremely aggrieved.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Su Yan couldn't take it anymore, pushed away its tiger face and screamed in despair, "Can you go rinse your mouth first? Ugh—!"
After making a ruckus for more than ten minutes, Su Yan returned from washing her face in the river and sat down next to the cave, looking utterly dejected.
The culprit, on the contrary, wagged its tail and ate the zongzi with gusto, occasionally glancing at Jiang Jingxing with its tiger-like eyes.
Jiang Jingxing took out some floral water from his pocket, sprayed some in front of her, and asked, "Feeling better?"
Su Yan let out a breath and gave a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Do I look like I'm going to get better?"
She was extremely depressed.
"It's probably because it hasn't seen you in so long that it was so excited."
Jiang Jingxing just heard Weiwu whimper; animals only make such sounds when they are wronged.
Su Yan felt a little guilty after hearing this.
She hadn't been here for many days, no wonder she was so agitated.
After pausing for a moment, she picked up a twig, walked over to Weiwu, squatted down, and drew the shapes of the six medicinal herbs.
After finishing the drawing, she poked the majestic tiger head and said, "Look carefully, you have to find it, or I won't bring you any more treats."
"Roar~!" You annoying two-legged creature, don't you even realize how long it's been since you last came? Have you forgotten about the tiger? And you dare to be aggressive towards the tiger? The tiger won't stand for it!
He let out a loud shout, feeling extremely aggrieved.
Su Yan coughed lightly, immediately changing her tone, and coaxed, "Okay, it was my fault, don't be angry. But I've moved to the city now, so I definitely won't be able to come see you as often in the future. But I won't forget you. Whenever I go back to Lijiaping, I will definitely come up the mountain to see you and bring you delicious food. You have to take good care of yourself and make sure that I can see you every time I go up the mountain, okay?"
With so many large and ferocious beasts on the mountain, she was actually quite afraid that Weiwu might one day be outnumbered and get into trouble.
She wanted to keep it with her, but the circumstances didn't allow it.
If Weiwu were to appear in town, it would surely be arrested; she doesn't have the ability to protect it right now.
Mighty: "Awoo~!" Tiger understands, don't be so sad.
It nuzzled Su Yan affectionately with its head.
"Alright, eat up, then we'll get back to work." Su Yan patted his tiger head.
Weiwu has a huge appetite; even if you bring it forty or fifty pounds of food, it can finish it all in one go.
Seeing that the two communicated without any difficulty, Jiang Jingxing couldn't help but ask, "Su Yan, you can speak animal language?"
Su Yan nodded calmly, "I learned a little because I was interested. It's actually quite simple. Besides, I was under a lot of pressure in my senior year of high school. Studying was boring, and there was a lot of trouble at home. If I didn't find some hobbies, I would have been bored to death."
Jiang Jingxing: "..." This reason left me with no room for doubt.
"You're pretty amazing," he said, half-believing.
An 18-year-old girl is like she's defying the heavens.
Every now and then, I can give him a surprise.
"As long as you study hard, you can learn anything," Su Yan said without changing her expression. "If you're interested, I can teach you when I have the chance."
As soon as he finished speaking, Weiwu, who had already finished eating, tilted his head and stared at the two of them for a few seconds before turning around and leading the way.
The six medicinal herbs were not hard to find; there was no need to go deep into the mountains. The place Wei Wu led them to was the cliff edge where Su Yan first found ginseng.
Su Yan quickly found three of them and then asked Jiang Jingxing to pick as many as he wanted.
She then followed Weiwu to find the rest.
Jiang Jingxing was a little worried about them, and would look up at them every now and then while picking.
On the way here, we encountered many large animals and venomous snakes, but those animals seemed to be very afraid of Weiwu and would run far away when they saw it.
After wandering around for several minutes, Su Yan finally found the remaining three types.
"Jiang Jingxing, the rest are here. I've marked them. Come over here and pick them later. I'm going to look for something else," she said loudly.
The forest was very quiet, so the two were about 20 meters apart, and Jiang Jingxing could hear her words clearly.
He raised his head and said, "Received."
Su Yan looked away and glanced to the side. Wei Wu, who had been standing behind her, was nowhere to be seen.
She didn't call it, but went elsewhere to find the medicinal herbs needed to make the medicinal cuisine.
Now that she lives in town, it's not so convenient for her to come back. Today she's going to pick all the medicinal herbs she needs for making braised food, enough to last her until she comes back for winter break.
She reached out to pick the herbs, but a thought flashed through her mind and she suddenly stopped.
—If she could grow these frequently used medicinal herbs at home, wouldn't she no longer need to go into the mountains to collect them?
Her joy lasted less than three seconds before she deflated like a punctured balloon.
The key issue is that these medicinal herbs all grow in dark and damp soil environments, and she might not be able to grow them successfully if she takes them home.
After much deliberation, she simply gave up on thinking about it.
How will you know if it will grow if you don't try?
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