The sudden situation allowed Yang Guang to wrap his arms around the lady.
Wu Xiaolian realized that she was embarrassing herself and quickly pulled away from the young man.
She could feel her cheeks burning, to the point where she was afraid to look at Yang Guang as he would notice how red her face was. To hide that, she quickly knelt and continued to place a few dried branches into the wood-fire oven.
Yang Guang's heart was racing as well. All that he could think of was the soft feeling that he felt a moment ago.
However, knowing that Wu Xiaolian must've been embarrassed, he quickly said, "I'll head into town to give the fungus to Mr. Chen after lunch. It's better to keep it with him than leave it here."
"Okay. Be careful on your way there." Wu Xiaolian nodded and brushed the hair away from her face. "Oh, right! I'll go into the mountain with you tomorrow."
"Huh? Why?" Yang Guang was surprised by that.
"This is still my problem. I can't solely rely on you to solve it. I have to do something as well," Wu Xiaolian said.
"Don't sweat it. We are family after all. You don't have to worry about it." Yang Guang smiled. "If you follow me into the mountain, who's going to take care of Yaya?"
"She'll be fine after being fed. I can ask Mrs. Wang to take care of her for a while," Wu Xiaolian replied.
Seeing how determined she was to join him in the mountain, Yang Guang had no choice but to agree.
After lunch, Yang Guang went to Xishan Town, which was located three miles away, to give the red bracket fungus to Chen Jianguo. He then returned before dinnertime with an extra $5,000 in his pocket.
Nothing happened for the rest of the night. As soon as the sun rose the next morning, two people could be seen entering the mountain.
Rumors of Yang Guang finding an old red bracket fungus that sold for more than $4,000 had spread throughout the village. When people saw him and his sister-in-law leave for the mountain again, they began to talk about them.
Most believed that Yang Guang was just lucky the day before and that he wouldn't have such great luck all the time. To these people, they were just waiting for him to return empty-handed so that they could laugh at him.
Even Wu Xiaolian was not confident that he would be able to find anything. As they traveled, she kept praying to God that she could be as lucky as the young man was the day before and that she could find another bracket fungus or something worth as much. If she did, then all the problems would be instantly solved.
They walked side by side as they searched throughout the mountain. Yang Guang wanted to return as fast as they could so that Yaya would not miss her mother. The thought of his niece crying pained him a lot.
That was why he was completely focused on their search, looking at places where expensive herbs would grow.
Just as he was wondering where else he could look, he noticed a few huge trees not far from them. The trees were tall and had so many leaves that they looked like clouds.
Yang Guang recalled from the Method of Divine Farmer that there could be herbs growing under the shadow of such trees and quickly moved toward them.
When he got close, he noticed that many thin yellow branches were wrapped around the huge tree trunks.
"What are these?" Wu Xiaolian asked, following Yang Guang to the trees.
Yang Guang turned around to look at her excitedly and explained, "These are Tianma! I never thought we would find these here!"
Wild Tianma was extremely rare, and it was almost impossible to buy them in the market. Since not many knew much about Tianma, they always ignored them when they hunted in the forest.
However, since Yang Guang had gained knowledge from the Method of Divine Farmer, he could recognize the Tianma instantly.
As grown Tianma could sell for a few hundred dollars per pound, wild ones would be much more valuable. Excited, Yang Guang quickly ran toward his new treasures.
However, his footsteps had woken something in the grass. Just as he got to the trunk, he heard a scream from behind. When he turned around, the first thing he saw was Wu Xiaolian's pale face.
"Xiaolian? What's wrong?"
"A-a snake bit me..." Wu Xiaolian said while trembling.
Yang Guang gasped and quickly returned to Wu Xiaolian's side. He noticed that her leg was bleeding and had stained her pants red.
He quickly looked around and spotted the snake that bit his sister-in-law. It was a poisonous snake known as the tiger keelback.
Yang Guang raised his hatchet and swiftly beheaded the snake before turning back to the lady. "Xiaolian, hurry and take your pants off. That was a poisonous snake!"
"What?" Wu Xiaolian gasped and hesitated for a moment before unbuckling her belt.
She took her long pants off, revealing her underwear and long pale legs underneath.
Since Yang Guang had never seen her in such a state before, he couldn't help but widen his eyes.
Yet the thought of the poison flowing inside her brought him back to his senses. He forced himself to look away and focus on her wound.
There were two tiny holes on her right thigh and dark-red blood was flowing out of them. "Xiaolian, lie down on the grass! I have to suck the poison out of you or it's going to be dangerous."
As time was of the essence, Yang Guang didn't care if it was indecent for him to suggest such a thing. Seeing that Wu Xiaolian was still hesitating, he pushed her down on the grass.
Wu Xiaolian bit her lips as her heart raced. She was both nervous and embarrassed at the same time. She was completely dazed by the sudden situation.
As for Yang Guang, he lowered his head and sucked on the two tiny holes.
"Ah!" Wu Xiaolian shrieked and quickly covered her reddened face with her hands.
After spitting out poisoned blood a few times, Yang Guang could see that the wound wasn't bleeding any longer. He then tore the bottom part of his shirt and wrapped it around her thigh.
Throughout the ordeal, his fingers brushed against her soft thigh from time to time. The feeling was so new to him that his throat was starting to turn dry.
As Wu Xiaolian was lying sideways on the grass, he could see her round bottom and soft thighs. The sight of that made him feel like his heart was about to explode.
Their surrounding was completely silent except for the sound of the young man wrapping a cloth around the lady's thigh. After he was done with that, he let out a sigh of relief. "Xiaolian. It's done. You'll be fine now."
Wu Xiaolian nodded and sat up while trying to cover her underwear with her shirt. She lowered her head to hide her embarrassed face and said, "I'm sorry. I should've been more careful..."
"No. Don't blame yourself. I should've paid more attention to our surroundings." Yang Guang smiled. "Why don't you sit here and have a rest first. I'll go dig up some Tianma. Those should be enough to earn us the rest of the money."
He then turned and ran back to the huge trees to start digging for Tianma.
Wu Xiaolian quickly recovered from the embarrassment and could see Yang Guang digging up things that looked like potatoes. "Are those the Tianma you were talking about?"
"Yes. If we dry them, we could sell them for more than $400 per pound!" Yang Guang exclaimed.
"That much?" Wu Xiaolian's eyes widened.
"Right? I didn't even know we could find Tianma in our mountain!" Yang Guang nodded. "We should plant some in our farm as well. We can get rich with these!"
"Oh my god!" Wu Xiaolian got excited as well. "That's amazing!"
"I know! It won't be long before you and Yaya can have a better life!" Yang Guang smiled.