Bird Nest Harvester

Fangsu remained using her merchant alias to continue travelling, however, Xiulan and Sung Chong were the only ones who knew her real identity. Xiulan came running from behind, "Fangsu, where are you heading?" Setting up her small herd with all her luggage but she was able to leave.

As she fastened the saddle on Tian, leaping on the saddle as she stared at the middle mountain ranges, "Heading to the mountain ranges to eat some delicacies" The thought of delicious food caused rumbles in her stomach. Both of the girls laughed at the sudden interruption of Fangsu's stomach.

Xiulan laughed at the gluttonous nature of Fangsu, "How about travelling with us for a bit?" Beaming a smile that shone brightly, "It would be safer because you know numbers?" Xiulan scratched her head, embarrassed trying to make an excuse to stay with Fangsu even if it was just a little bit longer.

Fangsu smirked at the shy Xiulan, "What are you going to be lonely without me?" Leading her herd to the mercenary group before introducing herself as her alias and the entire group began moving to the middle mountain ranges. Fangsu was atop Tian to search for any interesting plants that she could find within the mountain ranges, "Ling Zhi! Black Wood Ear Fungus! Snow Fungus! This forest is a botanist literal dream treasure trove," Fangsu rummaged through the heavy undergrowth of the forest digging all the precious plants but leaving some to allow for the play to regrow.

The mercenary group decided to set camp in a somewhat safe location to rest up and fuel themselves with some food. Fangsu set up her own camp and began prepping for a snack; soaking her freshly harvested snow fungus and peach gum in a bowl of water. While waiting she began to deseed the jujube. Summoning out some dried logans and peeling the skins of the hard shell with the back of her knife.

Xiulan came over to Fangsu, "What are you making?" Handing over some meat dishes and Chinese yams that were leftover from the distributed resources.

Fangsu coyly tilted her head, "Something to make you more beautiful," Teasing the flustered girl which caused a round of cheers from other mercenaries thinking that Fangsu was flirting with Xiulan. Continuing with her cooking, Fangsu took the yams and began peeling the skin and slicing them into manageable pieces. After the snow fungus had finished soaking the water and were very plump from the water. She began cutting the smiley fungus in smaller pieces. After finishing all the prep work, Fangsu summoned out a clay pot and poured all the ingredients into the clay pot, filling it up with water and adding some rock sugar.

At first, the pot was cooked at high heat before letting it simmer for 20 minutes. Fangsu extinguished the fire, covering the pot for another 20 minutes to bring out the gelatine from the snow fungus and thicken the soup. The sweet scent wafted through the air and all the mercenaries gulped at the sight of the glistening soup with the sweet jujube, chewy peach gums and snow fungus and filling yams. Fangsu scooped a bowl of the soup, "One beautifying soup for one beautiful lady," Handing the sweet bowl of soup to Xiulan with a smirk.

Fangsu began serving bowls of soup for everyone to eat since it had health benefits but also was quite suitable for summery weather as everyone was sweating like dogs. As Fangsu was happily drinking her soup with Xiulan, another mercenary group came stumbling into the Black-Winged Leopard's temporary camp and it was the notorious Horned Viper Mercenary group who wasn't very welcomed by the Black-Winged Leopard. Sun Chong gently nudged both Xiulan and Fangsu to a more isolated part of the camp to avoid the radar of the members of the Horned Vipers, "What's going on?" Fangsu had just finished off her soup and was about to clean up but Sun Ching had taken her away from the camp.

Xiulan skulkingly obeyed Sun Chong's silent orders to remain out of the sights of the Horned Vipers, "It's because the Horned Vipers have a vicious and perverted appetite for young females," She paused before looking around the camp before approaching Fangsu's ear, "And especially young-looking boys," Fangsu's appearance fit both those requirements which sent shiver down her spine as disgust filled her gut.

Xiulan and Fangsu stuck with each other avoiding the path of the Horned Vipers as much as possible as they continued travelling through the mountain ranges. Xiulan and Fangsu had to separate from each other since their destinations were at completely different locations. Unfortunately, for Fangsu the Horner Viper was also going the same direction as her so she tried to maintain some distance but sadly they surrounded her.

As they surrounded the mercenaries stared down at Fangsu, fantasising about their sexual urges on Fangsu, "Little Boy, aren't you scared to be here all by yourself?" One of them spoke out, "How about coming with us and maybe having a couple of drinks?" As he tried to wrap his arm around the young boy's shoulders. Fangsu swerved away from the mercenary's arm as she hastened Tian to speed up to the entrance of the village.

As Fangsu began unpacked all her luggage from the horses she was yet again surrounded by the Horned Viper Mercenaries, "What's with the hurry?" They all jeered at Fangsu and surrounded her like mosquitoes hoping for fresh blood, "We don't bite," One of them looped their arms around Fangsu's shoulder.

Fangsu's face tightened at the annoying mercenaries as she grabbed at the mercenary's arm who had their arm around her shoulder, "Sorry, but I hate being touched by filth," She snarky replied flicked the mercenary's arm away like dirt, "It just me but I'm just germaphobic," Using a clean handkerchief to wipe the area that was touched before she dropped it to the ground.

Fangsu's bouncy footsteps skipped to the inn to get away from the mercenaries who gritted their teeth in anger at the young boy. But, one individual with a lanky physique with a ghastly pale complexion with terrifying face smirked, "Boys, we have our target," A description along with a drawing of a young person with ash grey hair with a short physique was something that many did not have but it made it easier to narrow down their search.

The lanky man was perplexed that two clients had requested for the death of this one person but in particular, one client had requested for the target to be alive and delivered to a specific location. Both the requests were willing to pay a huge sum, "Boss, which one task will we be taking?" An underling crouched at the feet of the lanky man.

One paper fell to the ground, "Of course, the one that pays the most," The request for the capturing of Fangsu had the highest pay but the majority of the members that were placed under him were the worst of the worst, only caring about satisfying their lower half.

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Fangsu had rented out a room for a couple of days before going to hire a gatherer to retrieve some bird nests and wild honey. A receptionist of the gatherer location sighed heavily, "Young man, wild honey we can get for you but bird nest is dangerous to get since the nests are on the uppermost parts of ravines and the swiftlets that inhabit them will definitely kill gatherers," She ordered an employee to look for a honey gatherer, "Sorry but almost no one does that job anymore it's basically a dead job," Fangsu paid the receptionist to fee for hiring the honey gatherer but she sulked at the missed opportunities of being the taste of birds nest.

A young boy approached Fangsu, "Are you the one that was requesting for a bird's nest?" Fangsu nodded as she tilted her head to the side helplessly. Her ash grey hair carelessly draped across her mask until wild honey gatherer approached her with the jar of honey that she had requested for, "I am willing to get you some if you are willing to pay the price," Fangsu swiftly grabbed the young boy's hands, nearly dropped the jar.

Fangsu jittery jumped up and down, "I'm willing!" Any food gourmets would be willing to pay a hefty price to have bird nests in their possession. Fangsu pulled out a shimmery silver banknote, "Is this enough? But, I'm looking for a quality bird nest," Handing over the shimmery silver note which was worth 10, 000 gold. Many people did not possess such wealth and seemingly most people in their lifetime would never dream to have so much money especially someone who was so young as the ash grey hair person.

The boy was stunned by the massive amount of money, "Are you crazy?!" Shoving the money back towards the ash grey hair person, hiding it from the sight of greedy individuals, "This amount of money is unnecessary," The boy quickly dragged the person to a more isolated area.

Fangsu confusingly tilted her head, "Usually, people would be happy to take this amount of money," Despite the astronomical amount of money being given Fangsu make sure the boy take the money, "I'm asking a lot since you are endangering your life to satisfy my food endeavour." Her words made sense to the boy who hesitantly accepted the payment before hearing himself up to the ravines.

Fangsu followed the boy just in case he needed medical treatment on the spot which the boy didn't reprimand the client for following him. They soon entered a dimly lit ravine where the rocky walls towered over the two. The sounds of numerous swiftlets chirping echoing throughout the ravine and it was hard to locate where the swiftlet nests were located just be hearing. The boy led the way through the rocky pathway occasionally pointing out dangerous holes that could snap a person's ankles if they were not careful.

Fangsu made sure to remember those dangerous holes while she continued following behind the boy. They soon entered an area that was filled with swiftlet that flew in and out of a hole of the ravine into the wilderness to scavenge for food. The endless chirping of the swiftlets echoed through the ravine, amplifying the sound which caused an ache in Fangsu's sensitive ears. The boy got a rope, a foldable ladder and a harvester basket for collecting. As the boy began setting the equipment to begin harvesting Fangsu grabbed his arm, "Are you sure you want to do this?" She was incredibly concerned about a young boy risking his life to get a birds nest from a frightening height.

The boy continued to climb the ladder, slowly reaching to the walls where the bird nests were attached to. As he searched for viable nests to harvest, none of the swiftlets had attacked him, the swiftlet even led the boy to abandoned empty nests. He began quickly harvesting a few nests before climbing back down the ladder. Fangsu was amazed that the swiftlets were quite fond of the boy, "How come the swiftlets don't attack you?" Fangsu helped the boy down to his feet and packed his equipment.

The boy adjusted his bag straps on his shoulders before exiting the ravine, "My whole family deals with swiftlets so I know how some tricks," His footsteps paused in his before gulping, "But, since my father has passed and my mother is unable to work because she is ill, the responsibility is left on my shoulders to support the family," He continued walking through the dimly lit ravine with equipment in hand.

Fangsu stopped at the middle of the rocky pathway, "I'm sorry for your loss," She rushed you to the boy, rubbing his messy hair, "Since your mother is sick, can I check up on her?"Even though Fangsu wasn't a doctor she knew enough basic knowledge of the human body and illnesses.

The boy sucked in a breath, shocked. Dropping his equipment, "You are a Doctor?" Death gripping the client's soft thin hands, "Please help my mother," The boy's body crumbled to the floor as tears streamed down his cheeks.

Fangsu's heartstrings pulled around the boy's unfortunate circumstances, "I'm no doctor but I do know some medical knowledge," While one hand was occupied by the boy's hand the other she placed on his shoulder, "Let me check on her condition," Fangsu brought the boy to his feet so they could exit the ravine.