Yang Ruxin washed her face, chewed on two mint leaves, and left before the other children even woke up. In reality, she didn’t have to bring any food since there was plenty in her space, but to avoid raising Erni’s suspicions, she grabbed an egg and two pastries before stepping out.
Summer was the season when various animals in the mountains reproduced, but it was also a time of frequent human activity. Although Yang Ruxin wasn’t a hunter, she knew there would be nothing near the foothills because all the wild vegetables and firewood had been picked clean long ago. Therefore, if she wanted to find anything, she would have to venture further in.
In fact, even if she wasn’t hunting, she still needed to go deep into the mountains to check on Dabai and Xiaobai—after all, Dabai had risked its life last night to bring her a housewarming gift.
Dabai and Xiaobai were the names she had started calling the mother tiger and her cub last night.
People say tigers are ferocious and malevolent, but compared to Yang Anshi, they were nothing.
The saying goes that courage follows from mastery of an art. Without her space’s cheating magic, Yang Ruxin might have hesitated to enter the mountains, but now she was fearless. If real danger arose, she could simply hide in her space and everything would be fine—especially considering she had Dabai, the Mountain King, as her protector.
She headed in the direction of Dragon Horn Peak as always.
It was a path Yang Ruxin had traveled before; it was here she had witnessed the fight between Dabai and a bear. She still had two bears in her space that she had yet to deal with. Luckily, the space could keep them fresh, so there was no rush.
However, bears are fearsome creatures, and not even ordinary hunters dare to face them. If she, a young girl, suddenly showed up with a Black Bear, it would surely arouse the villagers’ suspicions. So, she had to be extremely cautious, but how could she legitimately turn a Black Bear into silver?
As Yang Ruxin walked deeper into the wilderness, she pondered a satisfactory solution, but by the end, she had to put it aside for the moment. Sigh, it’s distressing to be poor and have no way to make money, but to have the means to earn yet be unable to use it is even more frustrating.
Still, despite the worries, life must go on.
At this moment, Yang Ruxin wandered around for quite some time but couldn’t find the cave Dabai had shown her before.
"I wonder where the mother and child went," Yang Ruxin sighed. "I’ll have to find an opportunity to thank them later. For now, let’s start looking for something to eat..." She couldn’t go back empty-handed, after all.
Although there were no small animals to be found nearby, there were still many edible things, such as a large patch of mushrooms. She picked them and tossed them straight into her space. It didn’t take long to nearly clear out the whole area. Then she got up and continued moving deeper into the mountain, leaving behind the mushrooms she couldn’t recognize. Not knowing whether they were poisonous or not, she didn’t dare to pick them rashly.
Feeling she had collected enough, Yang Ruxin decided it was time to head back. Originally carrying a stick to scare away serpents, she inadvertently startled a pheasant.
"What a pleasant surprise," Yang Ruxin murmured under her breath, the thought of pheasant stewed with mushrooms making her mouth water.
But as appetizing as the thought was, in reality, the pheasant flew high and fast. With no experience in catching wild fowl, Yang Ruxin chased after it, huffing and puffing to the point of exhaustion, but in the end, failed to catch up and could only watch helplessly as the colorful bird disappeared into the underbrush.