“What should we do now?”
Standing by the stream, Li Ziqi and Lu Zhiruo looked at the dying loach and felt conflicted.
Due to the hardship she had been through since young, Ying Baiwu didn’t mind such things. Therefore, she left them be, picked up the fish spears, and continued catching fish.
“Give it some treatment then let it go?”
Lu Zhiruo suggested. She didn’t have the heart of a saint. The only reason why she had bought the loach was because she couldn’t bear to see its pitiful plight when it had been tormented by that guy.
In the papaya girl’s opinion, killing fish and chicken was not a problem. After all, humans had to eat as well. But couldn’t they just deal the killing blow immediately?
That guy from earlier had been venting his unhappiness onto this loach.
If it was Sun Mo, he’d at most detest Luo Zhang’s behavior. If this happened in America (1), Luo Zhang might have the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals knocking on his door.
If this was in China [2] and the video of Luo Zhang tormenting the loach was posted online, he’d definitely be criticized.
Of course, the problem wouldn’t be too serious. However, if the loach was changed to a dog or a cat, then it’d be over for Luo Zhang. In less than three days, people would dig out his details and he might even receive death threats.
With there being more people, there would be different perspectives and frictions.
Li Ziqi and Lu Zhiruo were young girls who were gentle, kind-hearted, and compassionate. This was something worth recognition for. It was better than being cold-blooded.
“We can do that!”
Li Ziqi was thinking that they had spent one spirit stone to buy this loach. If they were to kill it for its meat, it’d be too foolish. Therefore, it was better to just do the good deed all the way.
Students all prepared emergency medical supplies for their trip to the Darkness Continent. Hence, Lu Zhiruo took out some hemostasis powder and poured it on the loach’s body.
Squeak!
The loach cried out agonizingly, its body twisting intensely.
“Don’t move. This medicine is good for you!”
Lu Zhiruo consoled it.
The loach seemed to be able to understand her words and stopped moving.
“Huh?”
Li Ziqi was surprised. This creature was so intelligent!
“Do we need to bandage it?”
The papaya girl asked. “If it’s in the water, it’d be useless even if we were to bandage it.”
Li Ziqi analyzed.
“Oh, then we’ll leave it then!”
After Lu Zhiruo had ascertained that the loach’s body was completely covered with the hemostasis powder, she used her finger to poke its head. “Alright, you can leave now. Remember, head to the stream leading to the depth of the mountains. You won’t get caught there.”
“Squeak squeak!”
The loach rubbed its head against Lu Zhiruo’s finger, crying out very loudly. “En en!”
Lu Zhiruo nodded then looked toward Li Ziqi. “Eldest Martial Sister, it’s saying that it doesn’t want to leave!” “This is just your guess, right?”
The little sunny egg was speechless.
“Although it’s just my guess, the meaning should be right.”
Lu Zhiruo was very confident about this. When she was young, she didn’t have any playmates and would spend her time talking to plants and bugs every day. Although they couldn’t talk, Lu Zhiruo could grasp the gist of what they were thinking.
“You can make the decision then!”
After saying that, Li Ziqi picked up a fish spear and entered the stream again. She wanted to catch a fish for Teacher personally.
Lu Zhiruo squatted by the shores, stroking the loach’s small head. This creature’s eyes looked very spirited.
“Ziqi, we have enough!”
Ying Baiwu went up the shores and tossed a few small fish in front of Lu Zhiruo. “Mince them up and feed them to it!”
The three girls packed up their catch and returned to the campsite.
Other than the Central Province Academy, there were three other schools’ new student groups at the thousand feet waterfall. Therefore, Jin Mujie told everyone to move in groups and avoid going around by themselves.
Campfires were set up. There was the scent of meat, porridge, as well as spices.
“Teacher, try the fish that I roasted!” Li Ziqi and the other two came back and saw that some students had roasted meat at the fastest speed possible, trying to curry up to Sun Mo.
“No need. We’ll take care of Teacher’s three meals.”
Li Ziqi immediately ran over, acting like a female beast who was protecting her territory.
(Hmph, feeding Teacher is my job. No one shall interfere.)
“No need, we have fish as well!”
Ying Baiwu and Lu Zhiruo shared the same thoughts, firmly insisting on the right to feed their teacher.
“It’d at least be an hour by the time you guys are done cooking. Is Teacher Sun Mo going to be left hungry during this time? It’s better to eat our fish first.”
The students didn’t back off. They mustn’t miss this opportunity to leave a good impression with Teacher Sun.
Li Ziqi continued to reject, but it was useless. Moreover, the number of enemies continued to increase. Another two groups of students came to offer their food.
Other than roast fish, there was also porridge, roasted mushrooms, and fried bird eggs. Yi Jiamin looked at the plain buns in his hand and then at the pile of food in front of Sun Mo. A strong sense of envy and hatred instantly surged in his heart.
(We’re both teachers, so why is it that you’re so outstanding?)
Of course, there was also no lack of food in front of Jin Mujie and Pei Yuanli. However, their great teacher statuses were too prestigious, and ordinary students would feel extremely great pressure in front of them. They wouldn’t dare to offer their food recklessly.
“I appreciate your kind intentions. You guys should quickly go back and have your meal. I’ll be fine with baked sesame seeds-coated cakes.”
Sun Mo swung the baked sesame seeds-coated cakes in his hand then looked toward a tall guy. “Hu Ming, you mustn’t eat that fried egg. It’s poisonous!”
“Huh?”
Hu Ming was stunned and subconsciously looked at the fried egg in his wooden bowl.
“The vegetable that you added in the egg is fishtea grass, right? This is poisonous and can’t be eaten!”
Sun Mo explained.
The Central Province Academy’s group, except for the small groups led by Sun Mo, Zhang Lan, Gao Ben, and Gu Xiuxun, had at most ten people in each group. They took action together, no matter if it was in eating or moving around.
Hearing Sun Mo’s words, the students who were eating the fried egg instantly frowned and spat out the egg in their mouth. “Uhh!”
Hu Ming opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to retort. After all, he was the one who prepared the ingredients for this dish. If anything were to happen, he’d have to take responsibility. Therefore, he needed to clear things up. However, given Sun Mo’s status, he didn’t dare to retort. This made him feel extremely conflicted.
Yi Jiamin didn’t have the same considerations. He had long since wanted to shame Sun Mo but never had the chance to do so. Hearing Sun Mo’s words now, he immediately stood up gleefully.
“Teacher Sun, you’re actually saying that fishtea grass is poisonous? Which fool told you that?”
Yi Jiamin pretended to be stunned but was actually elated inside. (You are the one who got this upon yourself. You don’t know, yet you want to act cool. Haven’t you made yourself into a fool now?).
However, as he had suffered in Sun Mo’s hands previously, Yi Jiamin learned his lesson and didn’t direct the accusation straight at Sun Mo. Instead, he said that the person who had told Sun Mo this information was a fool.
The expressions of some of the teachers immediately changed. Some were gloating, some took a neutral stance, and some were worried for Sun Mo’s reputation.
“Teacher Sun, there’s no problem if the fishtea grass is taken in smaller quantities.” Gu Xiuxun quickly reminded him. She didn’t dare to say that the fishtea grass wasn’t poisonous but chose to say ‘taken in smaller quantities’. This would give the students the wrong impression that the fishtea grass was poisonous when taken in large quantities.
“Teacher Gu, do you really not know, or are you just pretending not to? Even if one ate only fishtea grass for the entire meal, they wouldn’t die!”
Yi Jiamin sneered and then looked toward Sun Mo. “Unless Teacher Sun’s physique is different from us!”
“If I said it’s poisonous, it means it’s poisonous!”
Sun Mo insisted.
The students didn’t know who to believe. However, they soon saw the big-boobed Lu Zhiruo secretly tugging Sun Mo’s sleeves.
“Teacher, fishtea grass is fine.”
The papaya girl reminded him.
The papaya girl’s voice wasn’t loud, but given the teachers’ sense of hearing, they were able to hear her very clearly. Therefore, Yi Jiamin felt even prouder. (Look, even your personal disciple knows that there’s no problem with the fishtea grass.)
“We don’t need the fried egg, so you can take it back. Tantai, Xuanyuan Po, what are you guys standing there for? Quickly get to cooking!”
Li Ziqi clapped her hands together and called out, giving a series of commands and wanting to move away from this topic.
As a girl who possessed photographic memory, Li Ziqi had read through all the books about the Darkness Continent.
Books on common herbs and plants were those that she had to place additional emphasis on memorizing. Therefore, Li Ziqi knew that the fishtea grass wasn’t poisonous.
“This Li Ziqi is really considerate!”
The teachers felt a little envious when they saw Li Ziqi trying to help Sun Mo out of the predicament.
There was no way that Yi Jiamin would let go of this chance. He continued to say, “Teacher Sun, the fishtea grass is a common plant seen in the Darkness Continent. They are usually found near ponds and streams. Although they aren’t considered medicinal herbs, they don’t taste bad and can be eaten as a side dish.”
“If you want to eat it, then go ahead!”
Sun Mo shrugged.
“Hehe, you’re really stubborn and refuse to admit your mistake. Teacher Zhou, you’re a doctor. Can you tell Teacher Sun that this fishtea grass isn’t poisonous?”.
Yi Jiamin looked toward Zhou Shanyi.
Zhou Shanyi averted his gaze, feeling displeased. (Why do you have to bring me into your fight?) As a chill teacher, he didn’t wish to get implicated.
“Teacher Zhou, why aren’t you saying anything? Or do you not know as well?”
Zhang Qianlin spoke up.
This line pushed Zhou Shanyi off the edges of the cliff. There was no other way out as he wanted his face as well. He couldn’t possibly let the students doubt his professional knowledge and thus explained, “The fishtea grass isn’t poisonous.”
“Teacher Sun, did you hear that?”
Yi Jiamin sneered, “In the future, if it’s something you don’t know, you can learn. But can you please not give the wrong guidance to the students? You’ll mislead them by doing so.”
The students looked toward Sun Mo. They didn’t say anything, but they did feel a little disappointed in their hearts. As youngsters, they revered the strong and liked people who were perfect and flawless. However, Teacher Sun’s earlier behavior had caused his value to drop.
“It’s not that the fishtea grass isn’t poisonous but that its toxicity is too weak. Given cultivators’ physique, there’d generally not be too great of a reaction. Therefore, they have been neglected.”
Sun Mo explained. There was detailed information about 1,400 plants from the Darkness Continent in his brain, out of which, 500 were at the grandmaster grade.
What did that mean?
This meant that it was as if Sun Mo had personally planted these plants over 10,000 times. He had a complete understanding of handling the seeds, planting them, seeing them germinate, and eventually blossoming. He also knew in great detail how each of their parts could be used.
In gaming terms, it meant that Sun Mo knew of the concrete attributes that each of them had at every point of their growth phase.
Coincidentally, the fishtea grass was within these 500 species.
“You’re still being stubborn?”
Yi Jiamin sneered. “Pretending to know when you don’t! It’s really a disgrace!”
[1] For the raws, the author used a nickname/ indirect reference to the country.
[2] For the raws, the author used a wordplay on the country’s name. Reference is taken from the webcomic (Year Hare Affair).
