"Guests have arrived," Zhu Yanyi pointed across the clearing.
The so-called guests were actually monkeys. Indeed, the trees were covered with them, curiously eyeing Zhu Yanyi and her companions.
Zhu Yanyi gnawed on an apple, crunching loudly. She held the fruit up toward a monkey that looked like the leader. "Mine."
The monkey leader looked displeased, pointing at itself, implying the apple belonged to it.
Zhu Yanyi shook her head. "Mine." She continued, "I am very kind. Life is hard for you. Go away quickly. If you stay, you might fall asleep here. That would be bad."
The monkey leader shook its head again, pointing at the apple and then at itself, demanding it.
Zhu Yanyi sighed. "You poor monkeys. It’s not easy for you. I don’t want to rob you, but you insist I do."
She waved her hand slightly. A sweet fragrance drifted through the air. The monkeys swayed as if drunk, then one by one, they fell asleep.
"Alright, let’s go be bandits," Zhu Yanyi clapped her hands. She turned around and realized that, except for her, Luo Gang and the others had also fallen asleep.
She shrugged, took out a small bottle, and waved it under their noses. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you to hold your breath."
Luo Gang rubbed his temples. "Miss, could you warn us next time before using drugs?"
"I was thinking about monkey wine, so I forgot to remind you," Zhu Yanyi said with a grin.
"Monkey wine?" Li Yang stood up from the side. "Miss, where is the monkey wine?"
"Wow, all these monkeys are asleep," Zhou Feng said, his eyes wide at the sight of the sleeping primates.
Zhu Yanyi nodded. "They will wake up in about five hours. But I have scattered medicine around them, so no other animals will come to attack them." She smiled. "Come, I’ll take you to get the monkey wine, and then we’ll leave."
"There really is monkey wine?" Li Yang asked eagerly.
"Yes, let’s go. I’ll lead the way." Zhu Yanyi confirmed their destination and led them forward.
The monkeys’ dwelling was not far, only about two kilometers away. There was a very large cave there. Zhu Yanyi walked in without hesitation.
Seeing her confidence, the others knew there was no danger.
Following Zhu Yanyi inside, they saw a small pool of golden liquid emitting a strong, intoxicating aroma. It was monkey wine.
Zhu Yanyi dipped a finger in, tasted a drop, and nodded slightly. "It’s aged well. At least fifty years old." She turned to the others. "Use your water bottles. Fill them as much as you can."
"Monkey wine," everyone said, pouring out their water to fill their bottles with the precious liquid.
With Zhu Yanyi around, they didn’t worry about finding water later.
When everyone had filled their bottles, Zhu Yanyi said, "That’s enough. We should leave. You go first. I need to clear the scent here."
Monkeys held grudges. If they discovered their wine was stolen, they would follow and harass the group.
Although they had encountered the rare monkey wine, their containers were limited. Still, they were satisfied with this lucky find. As they left, Zhu Yanyi watched their backs, then waved her hand. Two-thirds of the remaining monkey wine vanished into her Ruyi Space.
She left one-third behind. If she took it all, the monkeys would definitely seek revenge.
Zhu Yanyi was the last to exit the cave. Seeing everyone’s happy expressions, she said, "Let’s keep moving. Staying here too long is risky. Even though I cleared the scent, it’s better to be safe."
Zhou Feng and the others had no objections. Their main goal wasn’t the monkey wine anyway.
As they left the cave, Zhu Yanyi observed the trees to determine their direction and headed toward their target.
"Miss, will you attack the Holy Son when you see him?" Pei Tiandu asked.
Zhu Yanyi replied calmly, "Not yet. We should let the Holy Son and Yin Mei fight first. Then we can act. We shouldn’t steal someone else’s job."
The "someone else" referred to Yin Mei.
If Zhu Yanyi helped defeat the Holy Son, it would give Yin Mei an excuse. Zhu Yanyi wouldn’t be foolish enough to let others benefit from her efforts. She wanted to be the one who reaped the rewards.
"Is it okay if we travel in a straight line? We’ll catch up to the Holy Son soon," Luo Gang said casually.
Zhu Yanyi paused, looked at Luo Gang, and nodded slightly. "Brother Luo reminded me. Let’s go gather herbs first."
(⊙o⊙)… So that’s how it works.
Zhu Yanyi wasn’t worried. She came here for two reasons: to eliminate Yin Mei and the Holy Son, and to gather herbs.
The herbs in this area were rare, especially wild ginseng, which had high medicinal value. Although Zhu Yanyi already had plenty of ginseng, she came to gather other herbs. Of course, if she found aged ginseng, she wouldn’t miss the chance to dig it up as a gift.
Her luck was indeed good. She dug up seven or eight roots of wild ginseng. Instead of keeping them, she distributed one root to each person present.
Zhou Feng looked at the wild ginseng in his hand and laughed. "If the Boss finds out I took sister-in-law’s ginseng, he’ll definitely punish me to wash all the brothers’ socks for three months."
"I think I’ll get the same punishment," Chen Guodong said, smiling as he looked at his ginseng.
However, Zhu Yanyi’s gesture gave them a new impression of their little sister-in-law.
"Why would she punish you? I gave this to you," Zhu Yanyi said calmly. "She won’t punish you."
"The Boss doesn’t allow us to take things from others," Zhou Feng explained.
"I’m not 'others.' I’m your sister-in-law. Don’t worry. Just take it. Your Boss won’t punish you." Zhu Yanyi was confident about this.
Luo Gang laughed from the side. "Actually, if you took things from strangers, Master Yan would punish you. But since you took things from Miss Zhu, rest assured, Master Yan will absolutely not punish you."
"Really?" Zhou Feng didn’t quite believe it.
"Don’t doubt it," Luo Gang said. "How about this? If Master Yan punishes you for the wild ginseng, I’ll help you wash the socks."
"You said it," Zhou Feng said immediately.