Chapter 274: Guoshan Peak

Crouching in the carrying basket, Yun Jiao looked all around. Her eyesight was sharp, and she immediately spotted a patch of pig-feed grass they could cut.

"Over there, Little Aunt, over there! I see mushrooms, too!"

The environment here, especially in the mountain forest, was perfect for growing mushrooms.

Wang Mei headed in the direction she pointed and, sure enough, there they were.

So, she set the little girl down and started gathering the pig-feed grass.

Yun Xiaowu and the other older children joined in.

Wang Mei didn’t let the two little ones, Yun Jiao and Yun Xiaojiu, handle sickles, so they could only watch from the side.

"Sister, come here."

Yun Xiaojiu called Yun Jiao over. He pulled up some thin grass vines and, measuring it against Yun Jiao’s head, fashioned a floral crown.

While he was making the crown, Yun Jiao ran off to pick her favorite little wildflowers.

Yellow ones, white ones, purple ones, red ones.

She stuck them all over the crown until it was full. It was so pretty.

Yun Jiao nodded with satisfaction, then lowered her head for Brother Nine to place it on. She cupped her chubby little cheeks preeningly and asked if it was pretty.

Yun Xiaojiu, giving her all the validation she wanted, nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Pretty, so pretty! No one’s prettier than Jiaojiao."

"And Brother Nine is the most handsome boy Jiaojiao has ever seen."

She was completely sincere in her praise.

’After all, her Brother Nine was bound to be handsome. He’d inherited all the best traits from their parents. He was just a tiny, tiny bit less good-looking than her.’

"I’ll make a flower-crown hat for you, too, Brother."

And so, the two little ones got busy again.

Before long, a small flower-crown hat appeared on Yun Xiaojiu’s head as well.

Then, the two little ones made pretty flower-crown hats for their other brothers and even for their Little Aunt. A family ought to be a complete set, after all.

With nothing left to do, Yun Jiao cupped her chin in her hands and spaced out for a bit.

"Brother, let’s go find mushrooms."

It was so boring just watching Little Aunt and their brothers gather pig-feed grass.

Yun Xiaojiu happily agreed.

Then the brother and sister, hand in hand, told Wang Mei where they were going and went off to find mushrooms.

"Here, here! There’s a huge one here!"

Yun Jiao poked at the dirt with a small twig, her eyes sparkling.

"Brother Nine, is this a termite mushroom?"

It had a white stem and a grayish-white cap, and most importantly, it had a fragrant aroma.

"Yep, this kind is delicious."

Termite mushrooms might not look tall above ground, but a large part of them is still buried in the soil.

"It’s so deep."

Yun Jiao dug along the white stem, her little face scrunching up with effort.

After she finally got it out, she measured it against her own little arm.

"Wow... it’s as long as my arm!"

Yun Xiaojiu’s eyes lit up, too. "Let’s find more."

Yun Jiao had a sharp nose. Termite mushrooms have a unique fragrance, and once she memorized the scent, she quickly found more.

And her luck was excellent; she found clusters of them growing right next to each other on a dirt bank.

Some of the caps had already split open, while others were just poking their little heads out.

The two of them spared none, big or small.

Mushroom picking is an addictive activity. By the time Wang Mei came looking for them with the other children, she found a considerable pile of termite mushrooms they had dug up.

"You dug up this many?!"

She was astonished. This had to be almost half a basketful, enough for three or four meals.

"There are more over there."

Yun Jiao’s nose twitched slightly as she pointed in a certain direction.

It was already inside the cornfield.

Termite mushrooms were delicious, and they weren’t cheap to sell, either.

"Let’s go, Little Aunt will help you dig."

Setting aside the basket already heaped with pig-feed grass, Wang Mei rolled up her sleeves and enthusiastically joined the children in digging for termite mushrooms.

With Yun Jiao’s cheat-like nose on their side, they quickly found a lot more.

"Ugh... it stinks."

A sudden rotten stench wafted over, almost making Yun Jiao, who was sniffing the air for scents, pass out.

"What is that?"

Pinching her nose, the ever-curious Yun Jiao hesitated for a few seconds before she couldn’t resist going over to look.

And then she discovered a large, dead snake.

Its body was already rotting and infested with maggots.

"Such a big snake, how did it die?"

Wang Mei, Yun Xiaowu, and the others came over. The snake’s body was as thick as a child’s arm.

It probably wasn’t killed by a person. After all, if someone found a snake this big and managed to kill it, their first instinct would be to take it home to eat, not let it rot.

"Go, go, go, the smell is too pungent."

Yun Jiao pinched her nose with one hand and pointed to a nearby tree with the other.

"Little Aunt, what a huge snakeskin."

Wang Mei looked over and saw that it was true. Such a large snakeskin must have been shed by the dead snake.

"I’ll go take a look."

Yun Xiaowu eagerly raised his hand. "I’ll go, I’ll go! I’m great at climbing trees."

Snakeskin was also an ingredient in traditional medicine. That skin looked large and complete, and Yun Jiao wanted to bring it back for her master.

’What a waste of that big snake,’ she thought. ’The gallbladder would have been even better.’

As Yun Jiao watched her Fifth Brother climb the tree from below, her sharp ears suddenly picked up a RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE, like something slithering across the ground.

Wang Mei and her brothers didn’t hear a thing.

She snapped her head toward the source of the sound.

From the tree, Yun Xiaowu’s terrified voice cried out.

"Jiaojiao, there’s a huge snake! It’s a Guoshan Peak! Run!"

Almost at the exact moment Yun Xiaowu’s voice fell, a black Guoshan Peak, reared up taller than a person and as thick as a man’s arm, appeared in everyone’s line of sight.

Terror filled Wang Mei’s eyes. Her first instinct was to grab Yun Jiao and yell for the others to run.

Yun Jiao darted away like a slippery loach, evading her Little Aunt’s grasp. In the instant she crouched, she picked up a rock and hurled it at the snake.

A Guoshan Peak is a king cobra, the largest venomous snake. It will relentlessly pursue its prey, is very fast, and holds a grudge.

It dodged Yun Jiao’s rock, but in doing so, it locked onto her.

It bared its fangs, reared its body up, and lunged at Yun Jiao.

"Jiaojiao!"

Several worried voices cried out, but Yun Jiao just grabbed the king cobra by its neck and slammed it onto the ground.

The king cobra was stunned. It reacted quickly, coiling its body around Yun Jiao.

Snakes are incredibly strong, especially when constricting prey. A child as small as Yun Jiao could have her bones crushed by a snake this large.

However, in tangling with Yun Jiao, this king cobra had truly picked the wrong opponent.

As Yun Jiao grew older, her skills and strength grew with her.

After grabbing the king cobra’s neck and smashing it on the ground two or three times, while it was still dazed and disoriented, Yun Jiao followed up with a few hard backhand slaps. Then, she pinned its head with one hand and used the other to pry off the coiling, constricting body from around herself.

The snake was so big that prying it off took a bit of time.

Wang Mei rushed over with her sickle, intending to strike the snake’s head.

"Little Aunt, stand back."

Wang Mei’s limbs were weak with fear. Hearing this, she obediently scrambled away. ’It looks like this snake is no match for Jiaojiao,’ she thought. ’I’d better not get in the way and cause trouble.’

Yun Jiao swiftly grabbed the king cobra’s tail and initiated her own version of the Invincible Wind and Fire Wheel.

The king cobra spun at high speed above Yun Jiao’s head, moving so fast it was just a blur.

On the other side, Wang Mei, Yun Xiaowu, and the others, who had been tense just moments before, now stood with their mouths hanging open, the very picture of dumbfounded astonishment.