Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Discussion

“Shen Rong, peel an ice fruit,” Changxia reminded him.

There were only a few ice fruits left—she’d save two for Granny Suye and Baiqing, and the rest… she might as well let the chief and elders have a taste.

That way, when she wanted to trade with the bird tribe for ice crystal grass in the future, it would go more smoothly.

She was sure that once the chief and elders tasted the red maple sap with ice fruit, they’d fall in love with its cool, sweet flavor.

“Ice fruit? Little Changxia, where did you get ice fruit?” Pukang asked in surprise.

Elder Yami squinted kindly at Changxia and explained, “Aside from the witch, where else could ice fruit come from? Those stingy birds, they’d charge a whole beast hide for a ball of string. Would they really trade ice fruit?”

“You’re right, Elder Yami. The ice fruit was a gift from the witch, brought back from the Qinghai Plateau. I was thinking, if I get the chance, I’ll try to trade with the bird tribe for ice crystal grass,” Changxia said confidently.

Hearing this, everyone gave Changxia a thumbs up.

Daring to trade with the bird tribe for ice crystal grass—that took courage.

“Little Changxia, are you serious?” Dalai asked, holding his bowl. He had just taken a sip of red maple sap and nearly choked when he heard Changxia say she wanted to trade with the bird tribe for ice crystal grass, almost spitting out his drink.

The bird tribe was famous for being stingy, arrogant, and narcissistic.

When it came to being tight-fisted, they were even worse than the fish tribe.

They controlled the Qinghai Plateau and had rare things like blue cloth and ice crystal grass. Compared to the beast tribe, who only had hides and wild fruits, it was no contest.

Fortunately, the beast tribe has shamans holding down the fort.

Plus, with the deterrence of warriors like Pukang,

That’s the only reason the beast tribe’s home, the Twilight Forest, hasn’t been invaded by the bird or fish tribes.

“Icefruit can chill red maple sap, but icecrystal grass works even better. The rainy season in the Twilight Forest is hot and humid—if we could grow icecrystal grass in our cave dwellings, that would be ideal.” Changxia said seriously, “At the same time, icecrystal grass can slow down the spoilage of meat and keep food fresh.”

Whether icefruit tastes good or not doesn’t matter much to Changxia.

But the preservation ability of icecrystal grass is something she really covets.

“Changxia, you have to work hard to trade for some icecrystal grass from the bird tribe!” Yami smiled.

She exchanged a glance with Elder Pukang and Elder Dalai, thinking to herself: If it really doesn’t work, they’d just send Pukang to the Qinghai Plateau.

The look in Changxia’s eyes when she mentioned icecrystal grass was just too beautiful—

It left Elder Yami and the others amazed.

Just as Chenrong said, who could bear to let someone like Changxia be disappointed?

“Mm! Don’t worry, Elder Yami, I’ll do my best,” Changxia nodded.

The bird tribe is stingy simply because they haven’t come across anything that truly moves them.

Beautiful clothes, unique jewelry, or irresistible delicacies—

Whatever it is, Changxia is determined to try.

After all, the Normandy Grand Market isn’t until next year—she has plenty of time to prepare something to impress the bird tribe.

“Wow!” Nan Feng squinted her eyes, her face full of delight.

Cool, slightly sweet, with a hint of caramel—

It was a flavor Nan Feng had never experienced before.

One sip slid from her mouth to her throat, then to her stomach.

In an instant,

Nan Feng felt as if her whole body was wrapped in a sweet, comforting aura. It was wonderful.

Muqin said, “This really does taste like honey water.”

“It’s a different kind of sweetness from honey water. I love it,” Yami said happily.

Elder Pukang slapped the table and laughed, “Changxia, bring out another bucket!”

This time Elder Dalai didn’t say anything,

But looked at Changxia with anticipation, cleared his throat, and asked, “Changxia, is there any more?”

“There are three buckets left,” Chenrong said.

They’d collected five buckets of red maple sap at Redleaf Ridge. He and Changxia had already drunk about half a bucket. Now, with Gen and the elders here, they’d shared out another bucket and a half.

“Hurry, give me a bucket!” Pukang said excitedly.

Elder Yami held her forehead and said coldly, “Pukang, shut up.”

That fool only knows how to eat, and once he starts, he can’t stop. Right now, he’s probably forgotten why they even came.

“Chenrong, how much red maple sap can you harvest from Redleaf Ridge?”

“Changxia counted the red maple trees at Redleaf Ridge—there are about 5,000. Of those, 108 are over a thousand years old, and more than 3,000 are over five hundred years old. Changxia estimates that the older the tree, the more sap it yields, and vice versa. But to know exactly how much sap we can collect, we’ll have to do the harvesting ourselves.”

After Chenrong finished, Changxia added, “Elder Yami, I’ve calculated that the best time to harvest red maple sap each year is from early March to the end of April. The rainy season is coming, so these next few days might be our last chance this year.”

“We can’t harvest at other times?” Muqin asked nervously.

Nan Feng was still lost in the delicious taste of the red maple sap and hadn’t paid attention to the conversation at all.

“No, we can’t,” Changxia shook her head.

Actually, it’s already a bit late in the season to harvest.

But since the red maple trees at Redleaf Ridge have never been tapped before,

Changxia thinks they can still collect a batch before the rainy season arrives.

Gen looked up at Changxia and asked, “Changxia, what’s your plan?”

“I want to go to Redleaf Ridge with Chenrong tonight and try to collect as much red maple sap as possible before the rainy season starts. But we need wooden buckets to collect the sap, and I’ve run out of wood. Cutting more trees will take time, so I’d like to trade with the tribe for some wood to make buckets,” Changxia said thoughtfully, sharing her idea.

Hearing this, Gen tapped Changxia lightly on the head twice.

“Changxia, what do you take the tribe—and us—for?” Gen said angrily.

Elder Yami and the others didn’t stop him.

Clearly, Changxia’s suggestion to trade for wood to make buckets had upset them.

“Changxia, the tribe never stands on ceremony with you. But you’re being all formal with us? You deserve a scolding!” Nan Feng stood up and gave Changxia’s face a vigorous rub.

“Ow!” Changxia’s face was squished out of shape. She explained, “I just thought the tribe was busy building kilns and might not have enough wood.”

“If there’s not enough wood, then stop building kilns,” Yami said domineeringly.

Elder Pukang grinned, while Elder Dalai didn’t smile, his expression a little odd.

Clearly, they all supported Yami.

“Elder Yami, please don’t! We still need to build the cave dwellings. I just need wooden buckets to collect the red maple sap. We have to drill holes in the trees and fix the buckets to the trunks. Clay jars are too fragile for this,” Changxia explained.

She was really afraid that Elder Yami would just order the tribe to stop building kilns altogether.

It seemed Changxia had underestimated how much the beast tribe wanted sugar.

Chenrong narrowed his eyes. He had a different thought from Changxia.

The Heluo tribe’s eagerness to collect red maple sap wasn’t just about satisfying their appetites.

There had to be a deeper reason.

Earlier, they’d mentioned that the bird tribe had blue cloth, icecrystal grass, and thread.

The fish tribe had pearls, coral, and tourmaline.

But the beast tribe, aside from animal hides, only had wild vegetables and fruits. Those were nice, but not really valuable for trade.

But things like rice noodles and sugar—

Either one could change the beast tribe’s awkward situation.

“Gen, have some of the tribe make wooden buckets this afternoon,” Yami said. “Tonight, send a hunting party to go with Changxia and Chenrong to Redleaf Ridge to collect red maple sap.”