Chapter 120 - 107: Taking Taichiro Up the Mountain

Chapter 120: Chapter 107: Taking Taichiro Up the Mountain

"Huh?"

Huai Yu was a little puzzled. She let go, allowing the locust branch in her hand to snap back into the air, before jogging over. "What’s wrong?"

She saw Taichiro sprawled out on the ground again, all six legs working furiously. It had been scratching and digging at the soil and rocks for quite a while, finally managing to scrape the surface layer of dirt.

Huai Yu understood. It seemed Ke Taichiro’s claws couldn’t dig out the plant roots it wanted. She couldn’t help but laugh, amused for quite some time before finally taking out her shovel.

"What do you want? I’ll help you."

Ke Taichiro quickly scurried to the side, bending its antennae as if pointing at the patch of wild grass in front of it.

"This is..." Huai Yu pulled one up to inspect it. "It’s dwarf lilyturf! You really seem to love medicinal herbs. There’s a huge patch right here."

She used the shovel to pry away the jagged rocks on top, then quickly pulled out a large handful, the root systems still perfectly intact. But that wasn’t all. Ke Taichiro crawled a bit further to the side, where a large clump of celery-leaved buttercup was pinned under a rock closer to the stream.

Ke Taichiro had seemingly rolled several of these into balls yesterday. Did it want more today?

Huai Yu didn’t ask further. Instead, she took her shovel and deftly overturned the rocks and soil just as before. There was an incredible amount of celery-leaved buttercup here—digging it all out formed a veritable little mound!

Ke Taichiro rapidly fluttered its wings as it circled the pile, visibly overjoyed.

A sense of satisfaction welled up within Huai Yu as well. She pointed ahead. "There are a dozen or so Solomons over there. Want them?"

Ke Taichiro was already eagerly scurrying over. It was truly strange. Though it couldn’t speak, one could plainly see its gleeful excitement just from looking at its scurrying back.

Huai Yu felt her own spirits lift. She adjusted her multi-purpose shovel and carefully dug out the dozen or so Solomons. Then she marveled, "No one comes up this mountain, so the medicinal herbs have grown so big..."

There were still a few smaller ones left, but the ones before her were more than enough to make Ke Taichiro ecstatic, so she decided to stop digging. Looking at the three differently-sized piles of herbs before her, she gently touched Ke Taichiro’s antennae.

"Are you happy now?"

Taichiro fluttered its wings, then, without even lifting its head, grabbed a Solomon and stuffed it into its mouth.

"There’s still dirt on—never mind." Huai Yu set her shovel down again. "You’re Ke Taichiro, a little dirt shouldn’t be a problem. Have fun playing."

She glanced at her basket, which was only a quarter full of locust flowers, and resumed pulling down the tree branches.

...

With Ke Taichiro keeping her company today, Huai Yu didn’t feel bored at all, even while doing the monotonous, repetitive work of picking locust flowers. In the past, whenever she went up the mountain, she would forage a little here and a little there. But today, she dutifully circled these few massive black locust trees until her basket was packed full and thoroughly compressed down.

Now, however, not a single petal more could fit inside the basket. If Ke Taichiro didn’t want to walk on its own later, it might even have to be put into a plastic bag and hung around her neck for the trip back down the mountain.

She finally stopped her work. "Ke Taichiro, are you done rolling them?"

In the quiet forest, the sound of two distinct wing flutters, FLAP FLAP, rang out. Huai Yu went over to look and saw that, to her surprise, three piles of differently colored Klang Balls had been stacked up not far in front of Ke Taichiro.

The pile of gleaming golden balls rested exactly where the Solomons had been, numbering only a dozen or so. Where the celery-leaved buttercups had been, there was the same large pile of vibrantly colorful balls. There was also a sizable pile of off-white balls... Was that the dwarf lilyturf?

Meanwhile, Ke Taichiro was still holding half a Solomon in its two front claws, chewing ceaselessly, with a layer of glittering golden crumbs already piling up in front of it.

"Wow!" Huai Yu squatted down in front of the layer of powder, resisting the urge to pinch a bit to examine it closer. "It really looks like gold. But there’s no rush," she said, checking her watch. "It’s only 11 o’clock. I’ll wait for you."

Ke Taichiro flapped its wings, its mouth still moving constantly.

Huai Yu wandered off, making her way to the edge of the pond. Logically speaking, it would be safest to collect it tomorrow morning. But as she looked at the crystal-clear pool, and then at the fish trap where something seemed to be thrashing about, she hesitated for only a moment before quickly grabbing the rope pinned beneath a rock and hauling the trap up.

Inside, unmistakably, was another large black fish, its tail slapping wildly, going SLAP SLAP SLAP.

She turned her head to look at the Klang Balls of various colors, and then at her heavily packed basket. Right now, there was only one thought in her mind:

"Sanqing Mountain truly is my home!"