Once Mu Yang rejoined the team, they wasted no time getting into the important bits.
"Cao Guniang and Wang Gongzi, for your own safety, refrain from going anywhere unaccompanied from now on as the red stones mission will start tomorrow. For now, all of us will need to discuss how to solve the food issue." Liu CongHai naturally took the lead and no one was against it.
The two red-robed individuals nodded their heads in agreement and gave a worried look. Suddenly it felt like they were a protected species being protected by all the Gold people, it truly is a strange feeling.
"We need to scout the area first to see what is near us and where to start hunting for food." Mu Yang added.
"I have already done that." Yan LiDe joined the conversation as he awkwardly avoids looking at his teammates. He felt guilty for his behaviour on the first day and had decided to make up with the team by providing the information he has.
"The nearest cabins to ours are Teams 20, 21 and 22. There is a river south of our cabin, around 20minutes from our cabin on foot. I think we should be able to catch some fish there." His voice faded to a soft murmur.
"Let's all go towards the river today to get some food as well as explore the area just in case of an emergency." Liu CongHai gave out his instructions and the team nodded their heads in agreement before heading towards the river.
It was close to noon and the sun was up high.
The route to the river from the main hall is quite far since they were not walking from their cabin. Cao Ying is just a silver person with no spiritual powers, furthermore, she is not used to walking long distances under the hot sun and she started to walk very slowly, her legs felt weak and she fell behind from the group.
Liu CongHai was walking in front so he was not able to see what was going on behind. Yan LiDe was flying on his sword and giving directions to Liu CongHai. Wang ZeLi occasionally stopped to gather herbs and plants they saw on the way there and Mu Yang stayed close to him to guard him.
Although it was not an official responsibility, Ye Chen still kept an eye on Cao Ying and noticed that she seemed to be having difficulty keeping up with the group's pace.
"Cao Guniang, you look exhausted, shall I let the group know to take a break?" Ye Chen walked beside the red-robed female while asking her.
"Ahhh…. It's alright, I am already giving so much trouble, I don't want to trouble or burden the team anymore. I don't want silver people to look weak in people's eyes." She struggled to speak properly as she struggled to breathe in between panting.
"Can we take a break?" Ye Chen raised his voice so that everyone on the team could hear him.
"Everything alright?" Mu Yang asked curiously.
Cao Ying was shocked and became a little nervous as she didn't expect Ye Chen to give her away. She stared angrily at those amber eyes.
"I'm tired, I did not sleep well last night." Ye Chen answered earnestly and looked at the direction of Liu CongHai, waiting for a response from their chosen leader.
"Let's take a rest! Don't push yourself too hard! We will rest whenever anyone needs." Liu CongHai, the natural-born leader announced with his loud voice and told Yan LiDe, who was still on his sword, to scout somewhere suitable for a short rest.
Embarrassed at her own wrong judgement, Cao Ying's face flushed red and her eyes lowered towards the ground. Yan LiDe soon found a clean spot just a few minutes away and the group headed towards it.
At their resting spot, some sat down and took out some water to replenish themselves from the hot weather. Ye Chen did not bring any water with him so he just found a random tree to lean against it. His eyes were closed as he wanted to cool himself down using meditation, but he soon heard gentle footsteps walking towards him.
As he opened his eyes, a ladies water bottle was shoved right in front of his sight.
"??" Ye Chen blinked in confusion.
"Thank you for what happened earlier, please take a drink and replenish" Cao Ying's voice was soft and gentle, scratching at any man's heart.
Ye Chen was reaching out to hold onto the water bottle when Mu Yang suddenly appeared out of nowhere and used his fan to politely push the water bottle away.
"Aiya Ye-Di, you left your water bottle with me, don't go stealing other people's water ah, it will make Cao Guniang very inconvenient." He shoved a water bottle towards Ye Chen's chest and rubbed Ye Chen's head.
"Cao Guniang, apologies for his thoughtlessness. We still have a long road ahead and it wouldn't be nice if our family's Ye Chen keeps on taking your precious water. It is best to save them yourself. Cao Guniang is truly a woman of kindness and a buddha heart, I am glad to be your acquaintance." Mu Yang smiled gently at Cao Ying.
"I am flattered by what you said Mu Gongzi...Cao Ying is not as noble as you said, I just saw Ye Gongzi looking thirsty so I wanted to share my water with him, we are teammates after all. It is right that we help each other." Cao Ying smiled back in exchange for the flattery, forgetting her main purpose of wanting to share her drink with Ye Chen.
After Cao Ying turned and walked away from the Mu and Ye cousins, Mu Yang's gentle face collapsed into an annoyed look.
"People give you drinks, you accept. People talk sweetly to you, you trust them. Next time people ask you to die, you go and die also?" Mu Yang used his fan and smacked Ye Chen on the forehead.
"Ow ow ow, I know my mistakes already! I forgot about it and didn't think too much of it ah…Why do you have to hit so hard Yang-Xiong? ?" Ye Chen rubbed his forehead with an apologetic look.
"You call this hard? If I let Ah-Lian know about this, you think you can still stand here and talk back to me?" Mu Yang rolled his eyes and gave one more hard smack to Ye Chen's forehead.
"!!!...."
Amidst all the commotion, the remaining members of the team were just resting and although they were unable to hear what the cousins were saying, they could see the physical interaction with each other. To them, it was strangely adorable and heartwarming.
Cao Ying found somewhere near Wang ZeLi and sat beside him before apologizing and admitting that she was the one who wanted the rest.
"Actually, we can all tell... and it's alright, the view is nice anyway." Wang ZeLi said as he looked in the direction of the two bickering youths.