Chapter 1283: Gathering Hickory Nuts

Carrying Daigua the monkey, listening to the bears' roars, and looking at the cheeky grinning wolf opposite her, Xia Qing smiled too.

Had Broken-Waist Wolf brought her to the place with green-light hickory nuts? It had.

Xia Qing took the hanging storage bag out of her backpack, showed Broken-Waist Wolf how to hang it, then stuffed it into a packaging bag and hung it around its neck. "Broken-Waist, our deal's done."

Whether it could get the hickory nuts depended on its own ability. Xia Qing asked in a gentle voice the dirty-clothed little monkey Daigua, "Daigua, is your backpack filled with hickory nuts?"

"Ee!"

Daigua used its little black paw to skillfully open the bulging backpack, pulled out a hickory nut with a dried outer husk, and handed it to Xia Qing.

"Daigua found green-light food, Daigua's amazing, truly a clever evolved monkey." Xia Qing straightened its little hat and little jacket for it, then dug out an egg from the backpack. "Daigua, give me three more hickory nuts and I'll give you an egg to eat, okay?"

"Ei!" Compared to the hard-shelled hickory nuts, little Daigua liked drinking eggs more.

It dug out three more hickory nuts, exchanged one egg with Xia Qing, then carefully held it and hopped down the valley, running to its good friend Greedy Little Bear's side, skillfully cracked a slit in the egg and started slurping the egg liquid.

The egg's fragrance quickly spread through the valley, drawing the attention of the three giant bears that had been staring at Xia Qing.

"Crack."

A sound from the hillside drew the three giant bears' attention back to Xia Qing, who was cracking hickory nuts.

Not bad, the hickory nuts in this valley had thin shells and thick flesh just like the ones at the wolf den entrance!

Xia Qing squeezed out the walnut juice and tested it with the Qi element detector—Qi element content 2.7‰, 0.2 points higher than the one at the wolf den entrance, 1.4 points higher than the one broken off during the wolf-snake-bear battle last October, but still premium green-light hickory nuts. Not bad, not bad!

Xia Qing nimbly peeled off the shell, took off her protective mask, and put the still fairly moist hickory nut into her mouth.

Taking off the protective mask was admittedly a bit dangerous, but according to Broken-Waist Wolf's view, her taking off the mask and revealing her whole face would make the evolved-forest animals feel she was braver.

Xia Qing was a brave middleman trader.

Xiong Wang stared at the black fur and white face revealed by the human on the hillside, then looked at the white-faced snub-nosed monkey beside its cub that was eating the fragrant egg, grabbed a shelled hickory nut and stuffed it in its mouth, crunching it with a crack-crack sound.

"Smack!"

The mother bear beside Xiong Wang roared, slapped several hickory nuts to pieces, making Xia Qing's flesh ache. This spendthrift—gone in one slap were over a hundred points!

Xia Qing nimbly peeled another hickory nut, tested the quality, then happily ate it, and took out a small bag of honey from her backpack, twisting off the cap.

The honey's fragrance was carried by the mountain wind into the valley. Xiong Wang eating shelled hickory nuts, Fierce Mother Bear picking up broken walnut pieces to eat, Greedy Little Bear chewing eggshells, and Daigua the little monkey licking its fingers—all four gazes focused at once on the honey in Xia Qing's hand.

Broken-Waist Wolf looked at one then the other, thoughtful.

Xia Qing immediately pulled a small handful of freeze-dried treats from her pocket and stuffed them into Broken-Waist Wolf's mouth, telling it to think less so it wouldn't ruin her business.

"Ee!"

Daigua, who hadn't eaten honey in nearly half a month, ran to Xia Qing with shining eyes, staring at the honey.

Xia Qing screwed the cap back on and asked gently, "Does Daigua want to eat honey?"

"Ee!"

Xia Qing handed it a medium-sized packaging bag. "Daigua, fill a bag of hickory nuts for me and I'll trade you this bag of honey, okay?"

"Ah!" Daigua grabbed the bag, dashed down the valley, and started picking up hickory nuts.

Xiong Wang watched for a few seconds, then continued crunching hickory nuts. Greedy Little Bear stared at the honey in Xia Qing's hand, itching to act, but only settled down after Fierce Mother Giant Bear roared at it.

Broken-Waist Wolf lay on the hillside eating freeze-dried treats, watching the little monkey in the valley.

Little Daigua quickly picked up a bag of hickory nuts, dragged it to Xia Qing to exchange for a small bag of honey, then hopped over to Greedy Little Bear, twisted off the cap and squeezed some out, the monkey and bear licking it together.

100 grams of honey was quickly squeezed out, and Daigua very skillfully tore open the bag and started licking.

After Greedy Little Bear licked the honey off its paws, its pair of black eyeballs rolled around a few times, and it raised a big paw to slap the branch of the hickory tree.

"Bang!"

The shaken hickory nuts rained down on the ground with a clatter. Greedy Little Bear looked at Xia Qing and slapped the hickory tree again.

Xia Qing took out another small bag of honey and a medium-sized packaging bag from her backpack, gestured and asked, "Little Bear Brother, will you trade hickory nuts for my honey?"

"Ee!"

The little monkey immediately ran up, grabbed the bag and went to pick up hickory nuts. Little Bear stared at Xia Qing for a few seconds, then followed along to pick them up too.

Seeing Xiong Wang and Fierce Mother Bear watching while eating without stopping Little Bear and Daigua, Xia Qing felt much more at ease, and happier too.

100 grams of honey for over 20 jin of hickory nuts—this deal was really... too good a bargain!

Broken-Waist Wolf finished the freeze-dried treats, then pulled out its phone from the side pocket of its protective suit and started fiddling with it. This should be the border area between the wolf pack and Xiong Qun; the walnuts and pine nuts in the valley weren't the wolf pack's food, so neither side was tense.

One bear and one monkey quickly filled a bag of hickory nuts, which the little monkey dragged to Xia Qing to exchange for a small bag of green-light honey. Then came the third bag, the fourth bag.

When Xia Qing took out the fifth bag of honey, Xiong Wang let out a low growl, and Daigua didn't dare move.

Xia Qing also knew when to quit while she was ahead. "Thanks, Bear Brother, for letting Little Bear Brother and Daigua trade green-light hickory nuts with me for honey. Daigua, you and Little Bear go carry over that crystal pillar we traded the phone for, we're heading back to the territory."

Daigua chattered a few sounds, sat on Greedy Little Bear's shoulder, and went along with it.

Xia Qing stuffed the four medium bags of hickory nuts she'd harvested into a large packaging bag, tied it tight, secured it, then sat beside Broken-Waist Wolf watching it take photos with its phone.

Xia Qing didn't know what colors the multicolored evolved forest and blue sky with white clouds appeared in Broken-Waist Wolf's eyes, but it liked them very much, taking photo after photo.

After shooting, it would delete the ones with birds or bears.

Xia Qing was also inspired, took out her phone and snapped a few photos—hers were of Broken-Waist Wolf taking pictures and the two giant bears in the valley.

Ten-some minutes later, Little Bear came back carrying the rattan tied around the crystal pillar. In the sunlight, that colorless transparent crystal pillar sparkled, immediately drawing Broken-Waist Wolf's attention.

The two giant bears saw the crystal pillar Little Bear had brought and showed no reaction—clearly the thing was no different from any other stone in their eyes. Xia Qing still held her breath. Because crystal had very high hardness but also great brittleness, if Little Bear ran any faster, that crystal pillar might have broken.

Fortunately Little Bear was fairly steady. When it crossed the valley and started climbing the hillside dragging the crystal pillar, Xia Qing didn't dare go up to meet it, but obediently put away her phone and waited on the hillside.

After Little Bear released the rattan, she carefully went over and dragged the crystal pillar up. "Thanks, Little Bear Brother, this egg is for you to eat. Daigua, we're heading back to the territory."

Xia Qing finished speaking, hoisted the crystal pillar, carried a large bag of hickory nuts across her back, and began retreating. She wasn't familiar with the giant bears and didn't dare turn her back to them.

Seeing Xia Qing about to leave, that Fierce Mother Bear opened its huge mouth and let out a roar.

"Roar————"

Broken-Waist Wolf blocked in front of Xia Qing and roared at the mother bear, "Aoo—woo—"

Xia Qing didn't know what this bear wanted to do. Seeing Xiong Wang show no reaction, she_ roared at Fierce Mother Bear along with Broken-Waist Wolf. Little Daigua was so scared it tightly hugged Xia Qing's neck and didn't dare move.

The lead wolf reached the scene in just ten seconds, standing on high ground and locking eyes with Xiong Wang. Handsome Giant Wolf and Broken-Leg Wolf, along with Black Wolf, also rushed over, each taking their position. Broken-Leg Wolf joined in the howl.

Xia Qing gulped down two big mouthfuls of water, then raised her voice to answer the challenge!