Ancient Eden - Chapter 109
~End of chapter 108
When she was done laying the net, she realized that Xiao Hei, who had been following her around, had disappeared. Thinking that it had most likely slipped away to play on its own again like the night before, and that it would naturally come back later, she didn’t think much of it. But just as she was about to leave, she heard a faint whimpering sound coming from in front of her, sounding as if it was in some pain, so she hurriedly looked for it.
Mu Qing walked along the mountain wall to a far corner, where she saw that Xiao Hei was actually trapped under a large bunch of thistles. She was unsure how naughty he had to have been to dive right into it, but now that it wanted to come out, it was hooked by the sharp thistles, which was why he was anxiously whimpering.
Seeing Mu Qing coming, Xiao Hei whimpered with even more rhythm, and his black eyes were pleadingly looking at her.
Chapter 109
(34.4)
Mu Qing was both amused and angry. She hurriedly broke a branch and brought it over, to lift the thistles that were pressing down on Xiao Hei’s back. Xiao Hei got out of the predicament, by sliding out like a drill, and then rubbed his body against her feet.
When Mu Qing squatted down, she saw that there were a few thorns of thistles stuck on Xiao Hei’s back, and its black fur had been scraped, leaving some scratches. Feeling some pity for it, she hurriedly grasped the thorns on its back with her hand and carefully pulled them out.
Xiao Hei suddenly leaped, jumping onto her knees, before all of a sudden sticking out its tongue and licking Mu Qing’s face.
Mu Qing was caught off guard, being licked by its cool, wet tongue, and even though half of her face was covered in saliva, feeling itchy and slippery, she couldn’t help but giggle.
She suddenly stopped laughing.
She tasted a hint of saltiness on her lips.
Although the salty flavor was faint, but the taste buds on her tongue which had only been tasting bland for two months, were still sensitive enough to catch it.
She couldn’t help but stick out her tongue and lick her lips once again.
Mu Qing felt her heartbeat suddenly speed up a bit.
She immediately grabbed Xiao Hei’s head and stretched out her index finger to wipe its still wet mouth before putting her finger on the tip of her tongue.
She wasn’t mistaken. It was the flavor of salt.
Mu Qing suddenly stood up, and Xiao Hei fell to the ground and rolled a few times. Thinking that its mistress was playing with it, Xiao Hei made a scene, trying hard to stand up with its hind legs to push her leg, but it pounced in the air.
For Mu Qing was already walking towards the bunch of thistles where Xiao Hei was trapped just now.
She laid down on the ground, reached out and carefully probed into the thistle field. Stirring the ground, she took a small piece of mud, and brought it to her mouth to taste it with the tip of her tongue.
It was the familiar flavor that she had not tasted for so long.
She almost had the urge to jump at that moment.
She had unexpectedly found salt.
On her second day in her new home.
This perhaps could be seen as a good omen, a sign that she and Li Mang would definitely be able to live here smoothly in the future.
She suddenly grasped Xiao Hei, who was still whirling around her, and stroked its head with force, and then got up, almost flying to the cave to get Li Mang’s stone axe.
She cut off and got rid of the bunch of thistles and then continuously dug downward into the hard and rocky mud.
She noticed a small grayish frosty substance attached to the surface of some of the rocks below, and if she didn’t look closely, she would have thought those were just grains of sand.
She twirled one between her fingers and put it on the tip of her tongue.
The crystal was quickly dissolved by her saliva, and a salty, bitter flavor spread on her tongue.
Underneath this large field of thistles behind the cliff, there was a high probability that it was a small salt bed. What she just tasted was probably a rock salt. That salt bed had been slowly formed millions of years ago from the evaporation of salty water in the ground of the closed valley.
Mu Qing didn’t need to know that much, she knew it was salt. That was enough.
She used her own knife to scrape the layer of frosty substance from the surface of the rocks and gathered it in the coconut shell she had brought with her.
Slowly, she filled half of the shell with the frosty substance.
That frosty substance was now still mixed with a lot of impurities, so it was grayish in color.
She needed to purify the salt.
She searched for a while at the foot of the cliff and found a thin slab of stone, that was slightly hollow in the center due to the weathering.
Mu Qing hurried back to the cave, picked a larger coconut shell and filled it with some water, dissolved the frosty salt into it and stirred it, making a salty brine.
She dipped her finger into it, and then put her finger in her mouth to taste it. It was so salty it tasted bitter.
But it was the most wonderful taste she could savor.
Translator : Laura
Other novels : His One Love & After Being Kidnapped by the Crown Prince & Unaware that My Legitimate Sister is My Husband
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