Chapter 40 - Chapter 40: Chapter 35 Escape from Predicament i (2/2)

Qin Niu gathered all the termites, strode out, and headed in the direction of the large camphor tree.

After this ordeal, he had developed a psychological shadow towards large trees.

The despair trapped beneath the Ancient Banyan Tree was something he could never forget in his lifetime.

Leading the ant colony directly back to their Ant Nest on the camphor tree, they eagerly crawled into the nest.

It seemed that, like humans, they all loved their home.

“I’ll come see you again tomorrow!” he called out.

Qin Niu looked reluctantly at the termite colony before hurriedly leaving with his basket on his back.

After descending the mountain, he came to his family’s poor field.

The corn was thriving vigorously, and the early-planted ones had essentially blossomed with female flowers bearing fruit.

Corn has two types of flowers, the male flowers that look like wheat spikes at the top, and the female flowers, which are the corn cobs located at the mid-section. They require cross-pollination, otherwise, the female flowers will produce fruit that are empty cobs without any corn kernels.

He planned to plant those few seedlings he had dug up from beneath the Ancient Banyan Tree in the field.

But when he took them out for a look, he was stunned.

All of them had wilted and turned yellow, as if they had been dead for many days, nothing like freshly dug seedlings at all.

Qin Niu felt a chill down his spine, it was too sinister.

They had only been dug up a short while ago, so how could they wither so quickly upon leaving the range of the banyan tree’s influence?

The weeds and small seedlings under the Ancient Banyan Tree, could it be that they had formed a symbiotic relationship with it? It was indeed a possibility.

He examined them closely for a moment but could discern nothing.

Although they were already dead, he still planted them in the ground. He would come back to check on them tomorrow morning.

By this time, the moon was bright and the stars sparse, signaling that it was night.

Being able to escape alive from under that Ancient Banyan Tree was truly a stroke of luck.

As Qin Niu walked past Wang Furen’s house with his basket, Wang Wanyan’s pretty face appeared from the window on the second floor.

“All Niu, pancakes, catch!”

She called out to Qin Niu in a low voice.

She was definitely afraid of being heard by Wang Furen.

A bamboo basket tied with a rope was lowered from the second floor.

“Thank you!”

Qin Niu looked up and saw her sincere eyes. He ultimately took out the pancakes wrapped in paper from the basket. There were four of them, still warm.

“Don’t be polite now! You need to be careful when you go into the mountains, you hear?”

Her concern for Qin Niu was always so genuine.

“Alright!”

Qin Niu nodded in agreement.

“You look much better than before, now you have the…”

“Cough!”

The cough of Wang Furen came from inside the house.

Wang Furen was intent on his daughter marrying a noble son and ascending to great heights like a phoenix, keeping a tight watch over her, worried that Qin Niu would whisk her away with just a few words.

Startled, Wang Wanyan quickly withdrew her head, sticking out her tongue at Qin Niu, then waved at him.

Qin Niu took the pancakes she had given him and went back to his house.

Although the pancakes were delicious, he now had bear meat, and his family was not in dire need of food.

But the kindness she had shown was worth more than gold.

Upon entering, Qin Niu noticed that the ‘trap’ outside his house had been triggered. But when he saw the ‘grasshopper’ stuck in the keyhole, he smiled with relief.

Er Dan had been here.

The ‘grasshopper’ was woven out of blades of grass.

It was a unique secret signal from Er Dan.

If it weren’t for being trapped by the Ancient Banyan Tree, he would have been able to return home that morning. Instead, he had been stuck under the tree all day long.

After unlocking and pushing open the door, just as he stepped inside, he heard footsteps from behind.

“Brother All Niu!”

Er Dan greeted him with a beaming face and a sly grin.

“Ran into a bit of trouble in the mountains, came back late. Come in!”

Qin Niu invited him inside.

“Seeing it getting dark and you hadn’t come down from the mountain yet, 1 even thought about asking my dad to take some people up to look for you! But then 1 saw you return, so I was relieved,” Er Dan spoke with a hint of concern showing on his face.

“I know it’s not easy for Brother All Niu to live alone, but the mountains are too dangerous.. Better come down earlier next time!”