Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 232: An Unusual Little Companion

After autumn, the day-night temperature difference is significant, and the mountain forest at six in the morning is not only foggy but also dewy.

Not long after starting the hike, Yi Chichi’s pant legs got wet, and her clothes were half soaked following behind Uncle Yaozi.

The agile and nimble Da Li was even worse off, with its fur completely soaked.

Then, it refused to walk on its own, swiftly dashing into Uncle Yaozi’s medicine basket.

"Get down."

Uncle Yaozi, wielding a machete to clear the path, shook his shoulder slightly, trying to dislodge it, but the harsh reality brought not just deep disappointment but also a slap from Da Li.

Yi Chichi watched in disbelief as Da Li stood up on its hind legs from the medicine basket, raised its paw, and slapped Uncle Yaozi on the back of the head.

The resounding slap left Yi Chichi stunned and Uncle Yaozi fuming.

"Walk on your own."

He dropped the machete, took off the medicine basket, and pulled out Da Li, throwing it on the ground, determined not to let it take advantage of him.

Da Li meowed defiantly, and Uncle Yaozi angrily retorted, "You can meow all you want, walk on your own."

He abandoned the medicine basket altogether and forged ahead with the machete.

Yi Chichi sighed, picked up the medicine basket, and said to Da Li, whose pupils were enlarged with an expression of disbelief at such cruel indifference, "Da Li, keep up."

Da Li, apparently accepting reality, flicked its tail and walked closely by her leg.

Its mouth, however, did not stop for a moment, meowing and caterwauling nonstop.

It wasn’t until they reached the first spot for medicinal herbs and began digging them up that Da Li stopped meowing and started hunting.

Then, the forest scene transformed into Yi Chichi and Uncle Yaozi diligently crouching on either side, digging herbs, while Da Li dashed around the forest catching pheasants, flying dragons, squirrels, and various other small animals.

The hunting results... were quite disappointing.

Out of ten attempts, it returned empty-handed nine times, only once catching a prey, which was an inedible devil squirrel.

Uncle Yaozi grabbed it away and set it free, making Da Li curse in frustration.

"If you’re so capable, catch a few more flying dragons."

Yi Chichi brightened up; flying dragons were actually delicious, unforgettable after just one taste.

"Da Li, our lunch depends on you!"

The highly anticipated Da Li meowed, turned around, and disappeared into the lush shrubbery.

The two, focused on gathering herbs, initially paid no mind, only realizing Da Li had been gone for quite some time when they had to change locations.

Uncle Yaozi became instantly anxious, calling out for Da Li in a panic.

Yi Chichi listened carefully for any sound, waited a long while but heard no familiar cat calls, cautiously saying, "Uncle, Da Li might have wandered a bit far and didn’t hear us."

"...How long has it been gone?"

"About an hour."

This area has plenty of herbs; some can be dug up, some are too small to harvest and should be left to grow.

Therefore, during the picking process, they chose selectively.

Additionally, some herbs could be directly picked while others needed to be dug with roots, which took considerable time.

Uncle Yaozi muttered, "Been an hour."

Just then, he worriedly blurted, "It hasn’t run into danger, has it?!"

"It won’t."

Yi Chichi was confident in Da Li, "Uncle, don’t worry. Da Li often disappears for ten days, half a month, and always returns safely. This time will be no exception."

Uncle Yaozi remained silent for a while, called again, but still got no response, finally picking up the medicine basket helplessly, "Let’s head to another place and let Da Li find us on its own."

"All right."

So the two moved to a different area.

Da Li didn’t return until about three in the afternoon when Yi Chichi and they were preparing to descend the mountain.

It didn’t return alone but brought a little friend back.

The little friend was unique; it was a musk deer.

"Meow meow meow..."

Upon seeing the two, it strutted over with tail held high, manner elegant, posture commanding.

Yi Chichi was dumbfounded to see a smug expression on its furry face.

The musk deer trailed closely behind, unfazed upon seeing people, with big clear eyes full of curiosity.

As the big and little pair approached, the two were petrified on the spot.

Until—

"En?"

Da Li rubbed against Uncle Yaozi’s leg, emitting a voice full of confusion.

As if questioning why he wasn’t speaking.

Uncle Yaozi dumbly glanced at it, then at the musk deer, finally returning his gaze to it, "Is this your catch?"

Da Li didn’t understand, its large round eyes fixed on him.

Uncle Yaozi pointed at the musk deer, "I mean it."

This time, Da Li understood, and it walked over to the musk deer, rubbed against its left hind leg; the musk deer, seemingly obeying some command, approached Yi Chichi and rubbed against her.

The sudden act made Yi Chichi turn mechanically to ask Uncle Yaozi, "Why is it rubbing against me?"

He had no clue.

Neither could he understand cat language nor the musk deer’s language, who knows what’s on their minds.

But that didn’t matter; what mattered was—

"Heh heh."

He grinned, pulling out a rope from the medicine basket, then smoothly looped it around the musk deer’s neck, "Let’s take it home."

The musk deer, with the rope around its neck, resisted, started struggling, and Uncle Yaozi hurriedly said, "Chichi, quickly feed it some of your sauce."

"Oh oh oh."

The musk deer’s struggle was quite vigorous; worried that people and musk deer might get hurt, Yi Chichi quickly took out sauce from the medicine basket, picked some lichen, dipped it in the sauce, and fed it to the deer’s mouth.

Smelling the food, the musk deer ceased struggling, opened its mouth and began eating.

Da Li silently approached Yi Chichi’s medicine basket, extending a furry paw to rummage through her food bag.

Then, it pulled out a piece of dried squid.

This was brought specially by Wen’s mother knowing Yi Chichi was heading to the mountains today, also packed some dried shrimp; the squid wasn’t very popular as Yi Chichi didn’t particularly enjoy it and Uncle Yaozi shunned its strong fishy smell, so it was left untouched.

Now Da Li could have it cheaply.

Hearing the rustle, Yi Chichi turned to see; finding it munching contentedly on the squid, she returned attention to feeding the musk deer.

Feeding for a while, she began to worry, "Uncle, not much sauce is left."

"Leave some to lure it along."

"Will it fall for it?"

"Try, if not, we’ll carry it home."

Uncle Yaozi was determined to take the musk deer home, and indeed, this musk deer didn’t require carrying. Nor did it need luring it with sauce, it simply followed along when Da Li walked with them.

As for the rope around its neck, who knows if it got accustomed to it or was simply ignoring it.

Periodically it would approach Yi Chichi, asking her for food.

So on the way back, they continually harvested moss, lichen, berries and other such items to feed it.

There was no choice but to feed it, otherwise it would cluck amuse.

Right before reaching the bottom, Yi Chichi remembered something, "Uncle, we didn’t check the pine cones in the pine forest."

"We saw them."

"??? When?"