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The giant wolf glanced back, gently nudged Jian Mo with its muzzle, and whispered, "It's alright, he's holding on tight. If he's about to slip, I'll feel it and bring him back. Let him sleep."
The Pallas's cat then stopped talking and led the way, bypassing the giant wolf.
When they ran up the mountain, the sun had already risen, and the gentle sunlight shone on the vegetables, revealing their condition clearly.
Three vegetable plots were sprayed with pesticide. The leaves in one plot were turning yellow, which was probably due to the pesticide. Fortunately, they didn't spray too much, so the damage was minimal.
The vegetables in the other two plots looked normal, except that there were more dead insects in one plot and fewer dead insects in the other.
After yawning and examining the pesticide carefully, Jian Mo said, "We definitely can't use a pesticide that can kill vegetables along with the fruit, and we can't use pesticides that aren't very effective at killing insects either. It seems that we only have this one left. Let's think about it and see if we can improve the formula."
Qi Ming agreed, "I think it's a good idea."
Jian Mo: "Let's go find more medicinal herbs today, and try again this afternoon, making several different kinds of medicinal solutions."
No one had any objections.
Creating a prescription independently is quite difficult; modifying an existing prescription makes things much easier.
Jian Mo tried several prescriptions that night, and finally decided on one based on the results the next day.
Jian Mo said to Qi Ming and the others, "You can use this prescription for now. I'll go back and think about it some more, and see if I can come up with a better one."
Qi Ming nodded. "Then it's up to you. As for compensation, we'll send you a batch of seedlings and seeds, and you'll get one-tenth of this year's vegetables."
Jian Mo: "Okay. I'll bring some of the herbs I collected these past two days back to the tribe, and we can try to concoct a few more prescriptions."
Qi Ming readily agreed, "Go ahead and take them. Would you like to gather some medicinal herbs while you're at it?"
Jian Mo: "Not for now. We don't plant much in autumn and winter, and these herbs are enough. We'll come back to gather herbs when it's time to plant more things."
Qi Ming: "That works too. Anyway, you have Jiujiu and Ying'ao, so it'll be convenient for you to come to our tribe."
Jian Mo smiled and said, "Yes, we'll come again if we need anything. If you need fertilizer, you can also exchange it with our tribe; we have quite a lot of fertilizer."
Qi Ming: "Then it's settled."
Jian Mo and the others wanted to go back, and the fat birds offered to take them.
"We don't have anything else to do anyway, so we'll help you carry some things."
"It's been a while since we visited your tribe. We'd like to go and hang out with Ban Ming and the others."
"Jian Mo, please let us go. We have wings, so flying won't be difficult for us."
Jian Mo looked at the chubby birds and didn't have any objections, but reminded them, "You've come all this way, it's not easy, you can exchange some things and do some business along the way."
Wan Zheng readily agreed, "We happen to have some supplies stockpiled in the tribe, from cloth to metal to seasonings, we'll just carry those supplies."
Jian Mo: "Just keep it in mind."
Wan Zheng nodded and discussed with Jian Mo and the others, "Then we won't camp out in the wild on the road. We can stay at the Tianning Tribe tonight, and when we get to your place, we'll go to the Mengshui Tribe to exchange some things first, and then go to the Riverside Tribe to find you."
The Tianning Tribe has absorbed many pottery-making techniques and patterns this year, and the pottery they produce is becoming increasingly exquisite. It would be a good idea to exchange some pottery with them.
Jian Mo agreed, "No problem. Tomorrow morning we need to go to the Snow Foot Tribe to catch fish first, and then fly to the Tianning Tribe to meet up on the way, so we don't have to take a detour to meet up."
Wan Zheng somewhat surprised. "Why do we have to go catch fish? We can help you catch them."
Jian Mo smiled and said, "Ordinary fish won't do; we want to catch the big fish in the Snow Water Lake. You don't need to do anything; we'll just catch a few to take back as souvenirs. If it's convenient for you, could you help us carry some supplies? We'll just carry the fish ourselves."
Wan Zheng: "Alright, see you in our Tianning Tribe."
After several days away from home, Jiujiu and Ying'ao were both excited to know they were going back.
When Jian Mo and Wu Jiong directed them toward the wild lake of the Snow Foot Tribe, Jiujiu became even more excited, flapping its wings vigorously, clearly still remembering the fish in the lake.
Jiujiu rarely flies that fast. Jian Mo wrapped her coat tighter around herself, gripped the reins, and shouted, "Jiujiu, slow down! Save your energy for catching fish in the lake later!"
Jiujiu: "Chirp--"
Jiujiu flew very fast, and Ying'ao followed suit. When they arrived at the wild lake, it was still early.
Jian Mo had been tense and gripping the reins tightly the whole way, and by now her body was warmed up. Standing by the lake, she sighed, "Alright, no need for any warm-up, let's just go into the lake and catch fish."
Wu Jiong walked over and ruffled his hair. "The fish are a bit fierce on the shore, so be careful they don't bite you."
Jian Mo thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I won't cause you any trouble."
Wu Jiong instructed Jiujiu and Ying'ao: "Jiujiu, you go into the water from this side, Ying'ao, you go into the water from that side. Try to drive the fish over here. I'll wait here to catch them. Don't worry about the small fish, we'll just catch the big ones."
Jiujiu's eyes lit up, it panted heavily with its tongue lolling out, then took a running start and flew off, heading straight for the fish in the direction Wu Jiong pointed.
As soon as it landed on the lake, it began to dive underwater.
Its experience diving near the Xingchu Tribe gave it a lot of experience. It descended very smoothly and chased the fish away easily. After a few breaths, water was splashing everywhere, and it was clear that it was fighting with the fish.
In comparison, Ying'ao is less adept at chasing fish—after all, when Ying'ao tries to chase fish, they just run away desperately, unlike Jiujiu, which fights fiercely and evenly.
Wu Jiong transformed into a giant wolf and waited patiently for his prey to come to him.
When the Jiujiu and the school of fish swam over, he immediately went to meet them and began to catch them.