Chapter 24 Mushroom Soup

 　　“Now that we’ve found food, let’s make soup! You guys go find some firewood!” “Okay,” Youyun nodded, then left with Yongyu and Weiyi. Seeing them leave, Yinglin said to Xi’er, “Since they’ve gone to find firewood, let’s prepare the tools! We can start cooking when they get back.” Yinglin tried to soften her tone, but Xi’er ignored her. She thought of herself as an empress and arrogantly said, “How could I do such a thing!” After saying this, she found a place to sit down. Yinglin already disliked her way of doing things, and she had also heard about what Xi’er had done to Bingtong when she first arrived, making her even more disgusted with her. Since she didn’t want to do it, so be it. Yinglin didn’t have to stay with her, so she went to prepare the tools by herself. Actually, Bingtong had wanted to help her prepare the tools from the beginning, but how could Yinglin let her do such a thing? Sigh! Bingtong shook her head helplessly.

　　A short while later, Youyun and the others returned, each carrying some firewood. They slowly walked to Yinglin, placed the firewood on the ground, and dusted themselves off. "You guys go wait here! I'll be done soon," Yinglin said with concern. "Is what you made edible?" Yongyu teased deliberately. "Hmph! You'll have to eat it even if it's not, I'm going to poison you today!" Yinglin said fiercely. Youyun was amused by her cute appearance, and then he stopped the two from arguing, saying to Weiyi and the others, "Since Ying'er has said so, let's sit and wait for a while!" Then the group found a place to sit down.
　　Yinglin piled up the firewood, and then used the most primitive method—rubbing sticks together to start a fire—and the fire was lit. Then, she found a pot from somewhere, poured some water into it, and placed it on the firewood. (Darling: You found so many! Sakura: Of course! Don't you know who I am? Darling: Narcissistic Sakura: What did you say? Darling: How terrifying! Then she slunk away.) Afterwards, Sakura found another stone and put it in. Just as she did, she heard Xi'er say, "Can you even eat it if you put such a dirty stone in the pot?" Her tone was filled with disgust. "Of course you can eat it! If you're so capable, then don't eat it!" Sakura said calmly. Ha! She doesn't even have a shred of common sense.
　　After a while, the fragrant mushroom soup was ready. Everyone tasted it. 'Hmm, it tastes good.' They were all eating, except for Bing Tong and Xi'er. Bing Tong couldn't eat those kinds of things, and Xi'er was disgusted by them, but seeing how much they enjoyed it, she couldn't resist trying some. However, thinking of Sakura, she couldn't eat anymore.
　　Seeing how much they were enjoying their meal, Yinglin smiled and went into the tent. After a while, she came out carrying a box. Everyone looked up. "Ying'er, what's that?" Yongyu asked curiously. Yinglin replied, "No comment." Yinglin slowly walked to Bingtong and carefully opened the box. Everyone watched, curious about what was inside. Inside the box was a bowl covered with a lid to prevent spillage. Yinglin carefully took out the bowl, opened the lid, and everyone saw that it contained some soup. Yinglin picked up a spoon from the side and handed it to Bingtong, saying, "Bing'er, it's still warm! Eat up!"