Chapter 655: then translation of title

After wandering in the mountains for an hour, I didn't even see a trace of game; this is clearly wrong.

This isn't a strange world; there are no unknown things interfering.

Chen Wuji could only think in the direction of the war.

"Perhaps it's possible; animals also have the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, so let's go deeper." Xu Zengyi proposed.

"Go!" Chen Wuji said in a deep voice, "Today I must get a bite of this wild game into my mouth. I originally wanted to give the soldiers an extra meal, but this mess almost left even our few without an extra meal."

Xu Zengyi laughed and said, "If we want to give the whole army an extra meal, even if the lord returns fully loaded today, it probably wouldn't be enough; perhaps the lord needs to wander in these mountains for a couple of months."

"Just making a soup would be fine, yet you expect me, by my own strength, to feed all forty thousand soldiers meat to their fill? The time you gave is too short; a month or two I definitely can't manage, half a year would be about right." Chen Wuji said, laughing helplessly.

As for hunting, he does have some experience; he still has a rough idea of how many catties and taels.

Just like the chicken-leg mushrooms he prepared a few days ago, getting some game to make a soup for the troops would be nice enough; any more, he simply doesn't have the ability.

Chen Wuyi and two clan Personal Guards led the way, and the group headed into the deep mountains.

They walked on for about another hour.

Still they got nothing.

The game in these mountains seems to have all moved away in unison.

"I hear water ahead; let's drink, rest a bit, and head back!" Chen Wuji said helplessly, "I didn't check the almanac before going out today, and the game won't give me face—so be it."

Returning empty-handed is helpless, but what can you do when you haven't even seen a trace of game?

This has nothing to do with Chen Wuji's hunting skill at all.

If he sees no game, even if his hunting ability is superb, he has no room to display it.

"How strange—we've seen plenty of animal droppings along the way, yet we can't spot a single game animal." Xu Zengyi muttered oddly.

"It must be because of the war." Chen Wuji said.

"Tang Yu's fire almost lit up the night sky; the animals seeing the fire would surely be frightened. Besides, that night there was human shouting and horse neighing, such a huge commotion that the mountain's animals were probably all startled."

"Forget it, no need to worry about this; returning empty-handed is fine. Let's drink some mountain spring water, rest a bit, and return to camp to eat dry rations."

The group followed the direction of the water sound.

Parting the layers of dense forest, before their eyes appeared a clear pool.

The spring water is cool and clear, transparent to the bottom, allowing one to clearly see the fish swimming below.

Above, a small stream flows gently down, forming a little waterfall above the pool.

The stream flows neither hurried nor agitated, slow and leisurely; the fish inside are quite at ease, completely ignoring the few curious onlookers above, continuing whatever they should be doing.

Seeing this, Chen Wuji laughed outright, "Indeed, mountains upon mountains, waters upon waters, doubt there's a way out; willows dark, flowers bright appear before us—but it's so tranquil here that I feel embarrassed to start drawing water."

"Does the lord want to eat fish? The fish here are quite plump." Xu Zengyi laughed.

Chen Wuji nodded, "I'm a bit inclined."

"With the flow from the upstream creek, even if we drain this pool dry, it should return to its original state within a day." Xu Zengyi said.

Chen Wuji chuckled, "Sir, you've given me a good reason—let's not stand around, draw the water; tonight we'll have grilled fish and fish soup!"

Although Chen Wuji doesn't really recognize this fish.

But generally, fish he doesn't recognize are definitely tasty.

After all, most edible things he's already eaten; what he hasn't eaten are basically things with documents on their heads.

Given the water quality here, plus not recognizing this label, the flavor is bound to be good.

Chen Wuyi led people to cut some bamboo from one side of the mountain; after poking open the middle septum, a primitive water pipe was born. Then they lit a fire, roasting the whole bunch of bamboo to roughly match the curvature of the pool's edge—thus the materials for drawing water were ready.

Actually, there's an even simpler method: dig a hole beneath the pool, and the water will surely gush out.

Afterward, plugging it gives the same effect.

But Chen Wuji, who shows no mercy when striking at enemies, unexpectedly felt compassion repeatedly facing this tranquil spot. He worried that digging a hole beneath the pool would damage it, so he used the most primitive method of drawing water.

One end of the roasted bamboo is inserted into the water; blowing hard on the other end makes the water flow out.

Chen Wuji placed seven or eight bamboo tubes at the pool's edge in one breath to speed up the water flow.

After that came a long wait.

The meticulous Xu Zengyi made several bamboo cups, filled them with spring water, heated them by the fire, then wandered through the forest, plucking a bunch of flowers and grasses, which he sorted and placed into the bamboo cups.

"Sir, what refined taste! Let me see what these are." Chen Wuji curiously leaned in to look, "Chrysanthemum Tea—great stuff, clears heat and brightens the eyes. Hey, there's even osmanthus, how fragrant! Go, two brothers, pluck more of this; we'll bring it back later."

"Here!"

Chen Wuji lay beside it, continuing to look, "What is this? Oh, it's southern ginseng, and… this is Solomon's seal and horny goat weed? Sir, this couldn't be what you prepared for yourself, could it? Do you need this?"

"It's for you!" Xu Zengyi said with a resentful face, "My lord, I actually had not a few female confidantes back then, but my official career met with repeated setbacks, and I fell into grave illness, which severed those old ties."

"Sir, your career is now soaring, your body growing stronger each day—almost as sturdy as a calf—do you not intend to renew those old ties? To abandon them would be rather ungrateful, sir." Chen Wuji laughed.

Xu Zengyi: ……

"Now that I'm following the army on campaign, I don't have the time to fuss with these."

He suddenly regretted deeply seeing these two fine things, and he casually plucked them for Chen Wuji.

Had he known that Chen Wuji would blurt out these things—horny goat weed and Solomon's seal—he would not have glanced at them at all; who could have thought his good intention would turn into a dagger stuck in his own body?

"Sir, when one is unwilling, a heap of reasons appears; when willing, no reason is needed at all." Chen Wuji said with a smiling mouth, his voice soft, "Or perhaps you simply have no female confidantes at all?"

Xu Zengyi grew angry, his lungs nearly bursting from the rage.

"We'll get in touch after we go back!" he said, fuming.

He must win this breath of his—who does he look down on?

Back then he was also a famous handsome youth for miles around; in the year he passed the provincial exam as a scholar, the matchmakers who came to propose nearly wore down his doorstep, disturbing him so much he couldn't focus on his studies and even had to move house.

He lacking female confidantes? What a joke!