A Chest of Books, a Chest of Brushes, Ink, Paper, and Inkstones

Liu Sanlang scratched his head and said, "Oh dear! We've been afraid of ghosts since we were kids. Shall we start digging?"

Zhou Wanwan was also stumped. "Three Purities Mountain is too big, I wonder where these bandits hid the things."

Many of these were bandits; they must have encountered some misfortune and then hid these treasures, which was quite normal in ancient times.

The hiding place must be very secluded. Zhou Wanwan sighed, "It won't be easy to find it!"

After all, the address on this parchment scroll is only a rough one.

Zhou Wanwan sighed as she looked at the barren mountaintop. She picked up the white jade pendant and felt a warm sensation all over her body, and her mind became clearer.

Then they heard a voice from the nearby tree. "Hey! What are these people doing here so late at night?"

"Such a young child, is he still breastfeeding?"

Zhou Wanwan complained to Zhou Qingyan in a low voice:

"Alas! I'm afraid we won't find that treasure today. I wonder where that bandit hid it back then."

Three Purities Mountain is so vast, there's simply no way to find it...

Then they heard the trees scoff, "Without our help, finding what those bandits left behind is nothing but a pipe dream."

"Of course! Who would have thought all of these things were buried here with me!"

I've always been curious about what was inside that box.

"I got curious when that bunch of bandits hid these two boxes here."

"You do not say?"

Zhou Wanwan slowly walked to the tree:

"So you've been hiding all those bandits' things here? Weren't you curious?"

"Let's dig it up and see what's inside."

Suddenly, all the big trees fell silent. Zhou Wanwan looked at them and said, "Hey! Why aren't you saying anything? Don't you like it?"

The particularly thick tree coughed and said, "Girl, can you understand us?"

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said, "I can hear you! I want to take these treasures with me."

The big tree shook itself and said:

"It's really interesting that someone can hear us."

"Little girl, you can have this treasure, but could you help us?"

Zhou Wanwan looked at them and said, "How can I help you?"

The big tree shook itself again and said, "Could you let us have some water? I've been feeling thirsty lately..."

Zhou Wanwan took out her watering can and poured all the water over it. The tree made a "glug-glug" sound, "Thank you, little girl, but I feel like it's not enough to drink."

Zhou Wanwan poured all their water on it, and only then was it satisfied.

"Young lady, you're so kind. Actually, there's a mountain spring not far from here. I heard about it from someone else."

If you're willing to fetch some water for us, I'm willing to pay you something.

Zhou Wanwan looked up at him curiously and asked, "Uncle Tree, what kind of reward can you offer?"

The big tree shook its head and said:

"We've been in this forest for hundreds of years, and I know everything that's happened here."

I also know of a place where there is a treasure.

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said, "Deal."

Following the guidance of the big tree, Zhou Wanwan actually found a mountain spring. Fortunately, many of the medicinal herbs near the spring had not been eaten by the locusts.

Zhou Wanwan was overjoyed:

"Let's quickly collect all these medicinal herbs; they're quite useful."

Surprisingly, the medicinal herbs here weren't eaten by the locusts. It's probably because there's so much mint here. Look, there's so much mint here.

Besides mint, there's also honeysuckle, dandelion, selfheal, wild chrysanthemum, and creeping sedum...

Zhou Wanwan gathered them all back and brought two Manman buckets of spring water for the trees; the spring water was very sweet.

There were more than a dozen trees here. Liu Sanlang walked back and forth three times, saying, "Hey! Wanwan, why are you watering these trees for no reason?"

Zhou Wanwan smiled slightly and said, "I just love watering them."

Then she turned to the big trees and whispered, "Can I speak now?"

A tree said, "It's right under my tree hole. Walk this way, a few steps forward, and dig right here! It's very shallow; you can dig it out in one go."

Zhou Wanwan had just started digging when she unearthed a tattered cloth bag, which looked very old.

Zhou Wanwan opened the bag and found 600 coins and one tael of silver inside.

Zhou Wanwan packed everything into her bag and said, "Thank you! A drought is coming soon, so please prepare carefully."

The big tree looked at Zhou Wanwan and said, "Drought? Little girl, where did you get this information? As far as I know, droughts are quite rare."

Zhou Wanwan smiled and said, "You gave me so much money, that's why I told you this. Just let me know next time you need water."

The yew tree looked at her and said, "Young friend, thank you very much. Next time you come to Three Purities Mountain, please bring us some water, and we'll let you know some news."

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said, "Okay, I understand."

These trees are really going all out to survive.

Zhou Wanwan wanted to say a few more words, but suddenly found that the signal was cut off.

She looked at the piece of mutton-fat jade with a helpless expression, shook her head, and said, "It seems it can't be used anymore."

These jade stones are very useful to Zhou Wanwan, as they allow her to communicate with the tree.

Some of those big trees are over a hundred years old, so they are naturally very knowledgeable.

Zhou Qingyan suddenly called out, "Wanwan, we found it! Come and take a look!"

Zhou Wanwan rushed over and, sure enough, saw two mahogany boxes. She exclaimed excitedly:

Could this place be entirely filled with gold and silver treasures?

"Won't we be rich? Hahahaha..."

She was ecstatic; with those two chests of gold and silver treasures, she would have no more worries.

When I opened it, I was completely dumbfounded...

The first box was filled with books, and the second box was filled with writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

In the past, she would have been overjoyed, but now it's a year of famine, what use are these writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones?

These bandits are really interesting.

Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qinghe, and Zhou Qingchen were overjoyed. Zhou Qingyan laughed, "These are all paper! A ream of paper is very expensive!"

"Books! These are all books! Wow! We'll have so many books to read from now on, and we'll never be bored again," Zhou Qinghe said with a smile.

Zhou Qingchen, standing nearby, said, "With over 20 calligraphy brushes in total, we won't need to write on the sand table anymore."

Zhou Wanwan let out a loud "Aww!" and exclaimed, "What's the use of books? It would be better if they were all silver!"