After finishing her meal, Xiao An used the spring water she had collected to wash the dishes and clean the cooking utensils. Then she put the iron pot inside the bamboo house.
If she left it outside, it might disappear while she was away. Poverty could cause many people to lose their conscience, and Xiao An didn’t dare test human nature.
After putting the pot away and locking the door, she carried a small basket into the mountains. Inside the basket was the original owner’s small vegetable-digging knife, whose tip had already broken off.
Since Zhu Cui had found kudzu root in the mountains, Xiao An decided to try her luck as well.
Even if she couldn’t find any kudzu, the two recent rains meant there should be mushrooms and wild vegetables to collect.
Given her current circumstances, anything edible was worth bringing home. That was the foundation of survival.
Xiao An knew martial arts, possessed tremendous strength, and had her spatial dimension. So she wasn’t afraid of going deep into the mountains alone.
The forest became increasingly dense, and the path grew harder to navigate. Without her martial arts skills, there were many places she wouldn’t have been able to pass through at all.
Gradually, there wasn’t a single person in sight. Apart from the calls of birds, she could hear nothing but the sounds of the forest.
There were far more wild vegetables and mushrooms deep in the forest than near the village.
After about an hour, Xiao An’s basket was full.
She wiped the sweat from her face and placed the basket on the ground. With a wave of her hand, she took out the electric saw from her space.
She wanted to cut down a tree and store it in her space so she could make a dining table.
There were tall, straight trees all around her. Xiao An chose a thick, sturdy one, knowing that a tree like this would provide good boards.
She switched on the electric saw and began cutting.
For a moment, she felt a little like Bald Qiang from the cartoon Boonie Bears.
Of course, Bald Qiang secretly cut down trees. Here, however, it was ancient times. There were countless trees in the mountains, and nobody cared if she cut one down. It wasn’t illegal.
Suddenly—
Crash!
A huge snake, about as thick as an adult’s calf, was startled by the sound of the electric saw and fell from the tree.
Xiao An screamed in fright, nearly dropping the saw.
She quickly backed away until her body hit another tree, finally bringing her retreat to a stop.
The giant snake was more than three meters long.
Despite falling from such a great height, it appeared completely unharmed.
It didn’t flee.
It wasn’t even afraid of Xiao An.
Instead, it raised its head and repeatedly flicked its tongue at her.
Xiao An breathed heavily. Her face was covered in sweat, and her heart pounded like a giant drum at a folk festival.
The snake remained locked in a standoff with her.
It showed no intention of leaving and kept flicking its tongue, looking as though it might attack at any moment.
Xiao An decided to leave.
If she couldn’t afford to provoke it, she could certainly avoid it.
Her fear of such creatures was instinctive.
But as she slowly backed away, she suddenly remembered something she’d once read in a storybook.
The book said that if a snake wasn’t afraid of people and dared to confront them instead of fleeing—and even appeared ready to attack—there was usually something valuable nearby that it was guarding.
Something valuable?
What could possibly be here?
Xiao An’s heart stirred slightly.
She took a step forward and waved the electric saw at the snake, hoping to scare it away.
The snake stretched its raised head forward and then quickly pulled it back.
Its movements were incredibly fast, as though it were preparing to duel her.
Xiao An immediately backed away again.
She wasn’t a beautiful, proud snake eagle with long legs. She certainly wasn’t about to fight a giant snake head-on.
No.
If the snake wrapped itself around her, she might not only be strangled to death—she could be frightened to death first.
Whatever valuable thing was nearby, she didn’t want it anymore.
Whoosh!
A willow-leaf-shaped throwing knife suddenly flew out from deep within the forest.
It pierced the snake’s body at its vital point just behind the head, pinning it to the ground.
Before Xiao An could react, another throwing knife flew through the air and pinned the snake’s tail to the ground before it could coil itself up.
The speed was so astonishing that Xiao An stood there dumbfounded.
She looked toward the direction from which the knives had come.
A man walked out from behind a tree.
He appeared to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old.
He was tall and wore simple blue clothes with tight cuffs. His hair was tied up on top of his head and secured with a wooden hairpin. A bamboo hat hung behind his back.
He had thin lips and bright, star-like eyes, with a handsome appearance reminiscent of the legendary Pan An.
His clothes were simple, yet there was something imposing and dignified about him.
The man’s smile was faint, and his voice was warm and clear.
“My apologies, miss. I hope I haven’t frightened you.”
Xiao An remained cautious.
“You’re too polite, sir.”
The man looked at her gently.
“How did a young girl like you dare come this far into the mountains?”
His gaze fell on the basket beside her.
“Were you gathering wild vegetables?”
Xiao An nodded.
“I live at the foot of the mountain. I came up to gather vegetables and somehow wandered this far.
“Thank you for your timely help, sir.”
She wanted to retrieve her basket, but she was still wary of the giant snake that was writhing on the ground.
The man immediately understood.
He picked up the basket and casually pushed it toward her.
The basket flew through the air and landed precisely in front of Xiao An.
His skill was practically identical to the heroic martial artists she had seen in television dramas.
Xiao An picked up the basket and put it on her back. She discreetly slipped the small electric saw inside.
It was an object from the modern world.
If anyone noticed it, it could cause unnecessary trouble.
Xiao An didn’t want to stay there any longer.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Miss, wait.”
The man pointed toward the giant snake.
“This beast weighs more than ten kilograms. Its meat should be quite delicious. You can take it home and make snake soup.”
“No, no, no, no!”
Xiao An waved her hands frantically.
“I don’t want it. You should take it home and make snake soup yourself.”
The man smiled.
“I’ll be away from home for several days, so I can’t carry it with me.
“I know you’re afraid of snakes. I’ll cut off its head for you. Then you can put the body in your basket and take it home.”
With that, he drew the long sword from his back.
With one swift motion, he severed the snake’s head.
Xiao An stared at the snake’s separated head and body and felt even more disgusted.
She shook her head.
“Thank you for your kindness, but even if it’s dead, I’m still afraid of it. I don’t want it.”
The man didn’t insist.
He retrieved the two willow-leaf throwing knives from the snake, wiped them clean with leaves, and gave Xiao An a slight bow.
“I have somewhere to be. Farewell.”
He turned and walked away.
Xiao An had been extremely wary of this stranger, but once she saw him disappear into the forest, she relaxed.
She decided to search the surrounding area to see whether there really was something valuable nearby.
After searching for quite some time, she finally found something.
In a patch of grass, she discovered three ginseng plants.
One was large, while the other two were smaller. They weren’t very far apart.
“Sure enough, there really was something good!”
Xiao An was overjoyed.
She laughed happily and took out her vegetable-digging knife.
Very carefully, she dug out all three ginseng plants and placed them inside her space.
Afraid of encountering someone else, she continued carrying her basket.
Fortunately, she had plenty of strength and didn’t feel tired at all.
She then began making her way home.
The sun was setting.
Crows were returning to their nests, and the mountain forest soon became dark.
More than an hour later, Xiao An finally arrived home.
The sun had already disappeared, and night had fallen.
She wasn’t hungry.
After securing the bamboo house door, she entered her space.
She had many books there, so she found one about ginseng and carefully compared the pictures and descriptions with the three plants she had dug up.
The largest one appeared to be more than a hundred years old.
The two smaller ones were at least thirty years old.
Xiao An was thrilled.
She was as happy as a student checking their examination results after the college entrance exam and discovering that they had scored extremely well.
A century-old wild ginseng was something she would keep for herself.
As for the two thirty-year-old plants, she planned to take one to the county town and sell it the next day.
She had wanted to plant vegetables in the half-mu of land inside her space, but the original owner’s family hadn’t left behind a single vegetable seed.
Originally, Xiao An had planned to wait until she earned money from selling melons before buying vegetable seeds.
Now everything had worked out.
After selling the ginseng, she could buy seeds and plant the land.
She could also buy some rice and flour.
Xiao An became curious about the saying that snakes guarded valuable treasures.
Did snakes really guard ginseng because they wanted to eat it?
That didn’t seem likely.
She flipped through several more books.
Finally, she understood.
The idea that snakes “guarded” ginseng was actually the result of their preferred habitats overlapping.
Ginseng preferred cool, moist environments, and snakes also liked such places, so the two were often found in the same area.
Furthermore, when ginseng berries turned red, they attracted mice and birds. Snakes would wait nearby for those animals, which led people to believe that the snakes were “protecting” the ginseng.
In reality, it was simply a coincidence of their natural habitats.
After figuring everything out, Xiao An smiled.
Tomorrow, she would go to the county town and sell the ginseng.