Chapter 329: What Did Tuan Tuan Eat?

An anxious woman's voice came from the other side of the flower sea.

A young woman in an indigo robe hurried over.

She was about twenty, her hair braided into many thin plaits tied with a colored rope at the back of her head, her expression tense.

"Come out quickly! You mustn't touch this flower!"

The woman waved at Tuan Tuan, then looked at the few people arriving, "You quickly call the child out, this flower is now poisonous!"

Tuan Tuan had already plucked the large flower and was holding it up, looking at it.

She blinked, lowered her head to sniff the flower's core: "It smells sweet? How could it be poisonous?"

The woman stamped her foot anxiously: "It's true! The mares of our tribe eat this flowering grass and then vomit and convulse!"

Xiao Ningxun stepped forward: "Miss, there's no need to be anxious."

He turned to Tuan Tuan, "Tuan Tuan, come out first."

Tuan Tuan glanced at the golden flower in her hand, then at the anxious woman's face, pursed her little mouth, and slowly shuffled out of the flower sea.

She clutched the flower tightly, showing no intention of letting go.

Xiao Er followed out, looking at his own miss with a doting expression: "Miss, give it to me."

Tuan Tuan shook her head, gripping it even tighter.

The woman exhaled: "You are just passing through? Quickly take the child and leave this place."

Xiao Ningxun asked: "Miss, why did you just say the flower is now poisonous? Was it not poisonous before?"

The woman sighed: "This grass is called Pregnant‑horse grass; it is a good medicine that assists mares in giving birth. It only grows in this area, so it has become the Wudai tribe's lifeline."

"Pregnant‑horse grass has no fixed blooming season and rarely flowers. Yet this year, for some reason, it all blossomed into these strange flowers."

She spoke, her eyes slightly reddened: "Since it flowered, the leaves have lost their medicinal properties and become poisonous! Mares that eat it can no longer give birth; instead they vomit and convulse!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a chaotic clatter of hooves came from afar, growing louder.

The woman's complexion changed: "They're coming again!"

Everyone turned their heads and saw more than ten riders on swift horses galloping toward them.

Leading them was a burly man in his early forties, wearing a dark‑brown chief's robe, broad‑faced with a thick beard, his expression arrogant, looking down from his horse at the young woman.

On the backs of the horses behind him were all young men, each with a horse‑blade at the waist, laughing boisterously and acting without restraint.

"Su Rina!" the leading man reined his horse to a halt, his voice booming, "Where is your Sa Ren tribal chief? Hiding and not daring to see me?"

Su Rina straightened her spine: "Chief Ba Yan, what business do you have to see our tribal chief?"

Ba Yan sneered, brandishing his whip toward the dazzling flower sea: "The three‑day deadline has arrived! Don't you remember?"

A round‑faced youth laughed and replied: "Father, even if you gave them thirty days it wouldn't help!"

"Look at these flowers, how beautiful they are! Doesn't it look like a wedding gift for them?"

All those young men burst into raucous laughter.

Su Rina's face turned deathly pale, her lips clenched.

Ba Yan glanced at Xiao Ningxun's party, a smirk at the corner of his mouth: "You even invited outsiders? Central Plains people know nothing about steppe matters. Stop dreaming!"

Xiao Ran frowned, and Xiao Er pulled Tuan Tuan behind himself.

The women of the Wudai tribe, startled by their commotion, came over one after another.

Ba Yan's voice rose higher: "Women belong in the tent, nursing children and serving men!"

"Your women's tribe shouldn't exist at all! Look, even Immortal Heaven can't stand it!"

"Pregnant‑horse grass only blooms once every several years, and this year it blossomed! This is the will of Immortal Heaven!"

He lifted his whip, pointing at a middle‑aged woman: "Sa Ren tribal chief! The last time I came, I promised you three days to devise a solution for your livelihood. How is it now?"

"This grass is useless now; what will you trade for grain and salt? What will you use to survive winter? Just wait to starve and freeze!"

"Better to disband early, come with me to my tribe, and I can find you a husband to bear children and continue the lineage. That's a woman's proper role!"

"You!" Su Rina trembled with anger.

Sa Ren's face showed anger, but seeing their numbers and horse‑blades at their waists, he held his tongue.

The group of young men behind Ba Yan grew even more brazen.

"Exactly! Women aren't staying home to bear children, so what's the point of a women's tribe!"

"These flowers are your retribution!"

"Marry early, it's better; why must you stubbornly cling here!"

"Marry into my family! I guarantee you'll eat well and never go hungry!"

"Several of my brothers are waiting for women to give them children!"

Vulgar curses mixed with raucous laughter, splashing like dirty water.

The Wudai tribe women huddled together, some wiping tears, some clenching fists, yet no one could refute.

Pregnant‑horse grass has bloomed; the tribe's livelihood is indeed on the brink of collapse.

What happened to the woman?

I am still the Jiziu of the Nüzi Jian!

Only a villain would bully a girl!

So annoying! It's deafening!

Tuan Tuan turned and crouched at the edge of the flower sea, back turned to the noisy adults.

She lowered her head, watching the flower in her hand, fiddling with the soil at the stem.

Huh, what's this? It looks like a ball!

She stuck out a little finger, dug up the root of a Pregnant‑horse grass, and with a pull, yanked the whole thing out.

She poked the knobby root ball; it was so hard! She brought it close to her tiny nose and sniffed.

A faint, clear bitter taste seeped out from inside.

How does it look so much like the herb that Divine Doctor Grandfather plants?

Xiao Er silently stared at her: "Miss, what's wrong?"

Tuan Tuan stripped the soil off the root ball, peeled off a piece of the outer skin, revealing the moist brown flesh inside.

Then she stuck out her tongue and licked it.

Xiao Er was startled pale: "Miss! You can't eat that!"

The others hurriedly turned back: "What did Tuan Tuan eat?"

Peh! Peh! Peh!

Tuan Tuan's whole little face twisted into a knot, tears burst out in an instant, and her tiny hands frantically fanned her mouth: "Bitter! So bitter! Even more bitter than medicine!"

Xiao Ningxun hurriedly crouched down and looked at her: "Tuan Tuan! Does something hurt?"

Su Rina, who was closest to her, turned her head when she heard the voice.

"Little sister, you!" Su Rina stared at her tear‑filled eyes, then saw the root ball in her hand and was stunned.

No, how did the root of Pregnant Horse Herb become like this? It used to be fine and thin!

Tuan Tuan sniffed, lifted the root ball: "Sister, this root is so bitter, so bitter."

"All medicine is bitter, right?"

Su Rina suddenly crouched down, peeled open a plant's root, pulled it out, and it was also spherical!

She broke off a small piece of the root ball and put it in her own mouth.

It's really bitter! This taste…

"Chief!" she shouted, standing up abruptly, "The roots! All are inside the root!"

"You come quickly and take a look!"

Sa Ren hurried over, took the root ball from Su Rina's hand, broke off a piece and put it in his mouth.

His eyes instantly lit up.

It's the taste of Pregnant Horse Herb!

Stronger than before!

She slowly walked up to Bayan Chieftain's horse: "Bayan Chieftain, who says our herb is useless?"