Qiao Suluo nodded, her face pale. She was especially afraid of this kind of thing. In her past life, whenever she went into the wild to forage for fresh ingredients, she would buy some realgar to sprinkle on herself, precisely because she was afraid of encountering this sort of creature. She let out a mental WHIMPER. It was absolutely terrifying.
This was the first time Bai Qianluo had seen her like this. "Have you forgotten that Chu Moyuan is a Snake Beastman, Wife?"
Hearing this, Qiao Suluo snapped her eyes open. Only when she saw that the snake was no longer in Bai Qianluo’s hand did she heave a sigh of relief, her body going limp. However, she knew her current weight. Being supported by Bai Qianluo right now, she worried that she might accidentally crush him and cause him to fall over. She quickly steadied her nerves and stood firm on her own.
"Ahaha, I haven’t forgotten Chu Moyuan. It’s just that he usually stays in his human form, so I tend to overlook what his true form looks like. Snakes and Beastmen are different, anyway."
She had actually completely forgotten Chu Moyuan’s true form. What should she do if she suddenly didn’t want to redeem him? If he turned into a snake, she would be too terrified to sleep. The original owner of this body had grown up on the Beast World Continent. Raised in such an environment, she naturally wasn’t afraid of snakes, as there were many Snake Beastmen around. But she had grown up in the modern world—she was terrified of them. Since she couldn’t let Bai Qianluo notice anything amiss, she came up with a lame excuse to explain it away.
Seeing her stand steady, Bai Qianluo retracted his arm. His voice was ethereal and serene as he said, "Is that so?"
Listening to his tone, Qiao Suluo felt like he didn’t quite believe her. She decided not to care whether he believed her or not, quickly changing the subject instead. "Thank you for just now. Let’s continue digging up the Konjac."
Just as she finished speaking, Qiao Suluo turned her head, only to realize that Bai Qianluo had already dug up a massive pile of Konjac without her noticing. It was double the amount she had dug. Wasn’t he disabled, sickly, and suffering from an eye disease? How could he work faster than her? Furthermore, he had clearly been digging Konjac off to the side just a moment ago. How did he rush over so quickly? Could it be that his abilities hadn’t been completely crippled?
Bai Qianluo asked softly, "Is Wife truly alright?"
Although he had an eye condition, the light in the mountain forest wasn’t too harsh. Moreover, at such a close distance, he could clearly see her complexion and felt she was in no state to continue digging Konjac.
"I’m fine. I was just startled earlier, but I’m okay now." With that, Qiao Suluo crouched down to resume digging up the Konjac. However, her nerves remained taut, and she cast frequent glances around her surroundings.
Bai Qianluo didn’t say anything more and went back to digging Konjac as well.
Qiao Suluo stealthily shuffled closer to him to dig, reasoning that it would be safer this way.
Bai Qianluo noticed her little movements. He paused in his digging and sighed inwardly. She was clearly still afraid. In the past, she had abused Chu Moyuan’s true form without a second thought, showing not a single trace of fear.
Seeing that there was quite a lot of Konjac—more than their two woven baskets could hold—Qiao Suluo used her mind to open the Space Mall panel and directly sold over three hundred catties of Konjac. The Space Mall bought Konjac at a rate of one point per catty. Since Konjac grew so large, with a single one weighing several catties, their fresh harvest was enough to exchange for many points.
With these points, she could buy more seasonings from the Space Mall. She had bought five catties of rice for the house; she could use her points to buy a little more from the Space Mall and mix it in. She could do the same with fine flour, soybeans, and other staples. Bai Qianluo and Que Hongjin wouldn’t notice a thing. She also needed to buy some lactone to coagulate tofu.
The pile of Konjac on the ground suddenly shrank by quite a bit. Qiao Suluo thought it was fortunate that Bai Qianluo had poor eyesight and probably wouldn’t notice the change. Little did she know, Bai Qianluo did notice something. His movements paused for a second, but he didn’t look up at her. He simply went back to digging Konjac as if nothing had happened. His wife had secrets she didn’t want him to discover, so he would just pretend he didn’t know anything.
Once both baskets were full, Qiao Suluo checked the sky and said, "Alright, let’s head home for now."
"Okay."
The two of them strapped the baskets to their backs and began the trek back. Worried about Bai Qianluo’s poor vision, Qiao Suluo kept checking on him as they walked.
Just then, a sudden gust of wind swept through the mountain forest, sending Bai Qianluo’s clothes and hair fluttering. It enhanced his ethereal, aloof aura, making him look like an exiled immortal in the mountains, ready to ascend into the heavens at any moment.
Suddenly, Qiao Suluo saw something land in his hair. Her eyes lit up. "Don’t move for a second."
Although Bai Qianluo didn’t know what she was up to, he stopped in his tracks and stood still. Qiao Suluo stepped forward, standing on her tiptoes to pluck a single petal from his hair. She examined it closely and grew excited.
"It’s actually a peach blossom petal! That means there are peach trees around here."
Peach blossoms could be combined with glutinous rice to make Peach Blossom Brew. She could take the Peach Blossom Brew to the county town to sell, or just drink it herself. It had a rich aroma and a sweet flavor—the female beasts would surely love it. Qiao Suluo was thrilled. She looked at Bai Qianluo with immense satisfaction.
"Thanks to you, I’ve discovered peach blossoms." She mused that bringing him up the mountain was the right decision after all. She had spent so long digging Konjac here yesterday, walking all around without seeing a single petal.
"Peaches only ripen in the summer and autumn," Bai Qianluo noted.
Qiao Suluo replied, "I know! I’m just looking for the petals. They can be used to make all sorts of food. Come on, let’s try to find them."
Qiao Suluo began wandering around the area on her own, with Bai Qianluo trailing slowly behind her. "I wonder where they are?"
Bai Qianluo seemed to sniff the air lightly before speaking. "They should be over by the valley ahead."
Following his directions, Qiao Suluo headed toward the valley and sure enough, she spotted a vast grove of peach trees in full bloom, heavily laden with petals. As the wind blew, it carried a faint, refreshing fragrance that cleared the mind and lifted the spirits.
"Bai Qianluo, you’re amazing! Let’s come up the mountain together from now on." She wondered if he was a human lucky charm; if so, she definitely needed to bring him along. They might just discover more good things.
"Okay."
Not only did Qiao Suluo discover peach blossoms here, but she also found hawthorn trees and numerous walnut trees. Once autumn arrived, she could come back to harvest the hawthorns and walnuts. However, as she stepped closer to inspect them, she noticed that the ground beneath the walnut trees was littered with last year’s fallen walnuts. There were so many of them, completely untouched. After sitting through an entire winter, the outer husks had split open.
Once she made malt sugar, she could roast the walnut kernels with the malt sugar to make walnut candies and sell them as snacks.
At the thought of this, Qiao Suluo’s brows lifted, and the corners of her lips curled into a beautiful arc. A bright, sweet smile graced her face, and her eyes sparkled with joy.
"Bai Qianluo, with these things, I’ll be able to redeem everyone earlier than expected." Perhaps her mission could be completed early as well. Overcome with excitement as she spoke, Qiao Suluo gently tugged on Bai Qianluo’s sleeve and swung it back and forth, wanting to share her immense joy.
Bai Qianluo looked down at his sleeve. Sensing her buoyant mood, he gave a soft hum of agreement. "Mhm."
He appeared calm, but the extremely faint curve of his lips suggested a barely perceptible smile. It was as though a thin rivulet had melted through the cold, silent winter snow, or a warm ray of spring sunlight had peeked through a crack in a glacier, gently thawing away his cold aloofness.
Naturally, Qiao Suluo didn’t notice his subtle change in expression. After sharing her excitement, she let go of his sleeve and crouched down to quickly gather the walnuts. Bai Qianluo’s long, jade-like fingers twitched slightly. Steadying his mind, he reached up and began plucking peach blossom petals.