Zhang Beixing spoke. His appetite was extraordinary; what an ordinary person ate in a day was merely a single meal for him. Therefore, the ten days' worth of food he mentioned was basically equivalent to a normal person's monthly supply.

Such a large quantity of supplies could indeed be transported up the mountain by him alone, but it was too much trouble. So, he recalled the small pickup truck Zheng Jituo had driven when he came to pick him up earlier.

"My uncle's pickup is at home. How about I drive it over now? Once you have your goods, we can go straight up the mountain. I'd also like to see what kind of environment you live in," Zheng Jituo offered.

"Sure, go get it now then. I'll get started on the shopping," Zhang Beixing agreed.

After speaking, the two split up. Zheng Jituo went to get the pickup from his uncle. Zhang Beixing, on the other hand, strolled around the marketplace with his hands clasped behind his back, like an old man.

Before long, his hands were filled with various ingredients. These ingredients consisted mostly of air-dried or cured meats. It wasn't that Zhang Beixing particularly liked them; he simply had no other choice. He was on the mountain, where there were no refrigeration facilities. If he bought fresh meat at this time of year, it wouldn't last two days before spoiling. Consequently, preserved goods, which were durable and easy to store, became Zhang Beixing's top choice.

Just as Zhang Beixing was about to buy some vegetables, his peripheral vision caught a stall set up by a Tujia vendor. He was immediately attracted to it because the stall sold very special items. They were neither fruits nor vegetables but rather all sorts of bizarre and colorful herbs! Outside of traditional Chinese medicine shops, Zhang Beixing had never seen such items sold at a street stall.

So he went over to take a look. He quickly realized that, aside from a ginseng that he recognized, he didn't know any of the other herbs. His eyes landed on a pink, phallus-shaped mushroom on the stall.

Zhang Beixing asked curiously, pointing with his hand, "Boss, what's this?"

Hearing him, the Tujia stallholder, who was leisurely fanning himself, glanced at it and introduced, "You have a good eye, customer. This is the freshly picked 'King Wen's Pen,' Sheath Snake Mushroom, with effects of stopping bleeding and promoting tissue regeneration, tonifying the kidney, and reinforcing yang. Would you like to buy some? There's a big sale now, only 5,000 yuan per jin!"

What? 5,000 yuan? Are you robbing me? As soon as the Tujia stallholder announced the price, Zhang Beixing inwardly exclaimed in shock. He was initially intrigued by its kidney-tonifying and yang-reinforcing effects—no, wait, it was actually its ability to stop bleeding and promote tissue regeneration that made him somewhat eager—but that eagerness was instantly quashed by the price.

Zhang Beixing silently took out his phone and glanced at his balance. He found that after his spending over the past few days, his savings had already plummeted below 100,000 yuan. This money was the bonus he had saved up from his time as a training camp sparring partner and from capturing human traffickers. Although it was enough for him to spend, this herb cost a staggering 5,000 yuan per jin!

What kind of kidney-tonifying herb could be so damn expensive? he fumed internally. With that kind of money, he could roll up Epimedium to smoke or treat Kidney Fortifying Pills like candy.

"I'll pass!" Zhang Beixing said without hesitation. Then he stood up and went to buy vegetables elsewhere.

After some meticulous selection, Zhang Beixing put all the ingredients he bought onto Zheng Jituo's truck and headed up the mountain. However, because the mountain road was rugged and the place Zhang Beixing chose was quite remote, this caused the pickup—a vehicle so worn down that even Zheng Jituo might have called it 'senior'—to break down halfway. It was unexpected, yet perfectly understandable.

Fortunately, the remaining distance wasn't too great, so the two of them simply carried the purchased food and headed towards Zhang Beixing's camp, one following the other.

Twenty minutes later, Zheng Jituo was panting as he sat under a tree. He looked as if he'd just been fished out of water, completely drenched in sweat. Zhang Beixing handed him a cup of cooled boiled water, and Zheng Jituo drank it all in one gulp.

After resting for a moment, he surveyed Zhang Beixing's living area and exclaimed, "Not bad, Lao Zhang, you chose a good spot; the environment is pretty nice."

"You bet," Zhang Beixing replied. "It took me half a day of searching to find this spot. The environment had to be top-notch." He walked to the side, began unpacking their supplies, and then asked Zheng Jituo, "Jituo, why don't you come and stay for a couple of days?"

"No need, really," Zheng Jituo said, waving his hand. "I didn't bring anything with me this time. If I stayed, would I have to share a blanket with you? I'll wait until our classmates come camping next week. I'll bring my things then and stay for a couple of days."

Zhang Beixing looked surprised. "Oh? They're coming camping next week? So soon?"

"Don't you know?" Zheng Jituo said. "Everyone in the group chat has already discussed it. We just haven't set a specific time yet, but it's definitely next week. By the way, when Sister Qi heard you came here, she said she wants to come along too. Lao Zhang, tell me the truth, between you and Sister Qi, is there something...?"

"Cut the crap!" Zhang Beixing interjected. "We get along well, sure, but up till now, we haven't even gotten to first base. Don't go making wild assumptions!"

"Hehe, I get it! I get it!" Zheng Jituo chuckled. "So you haven't reached first base, but you're still in the game, right? Power through, Lao Zhang! After you win Sister Qi over, remember to have Sister Qi set up a mixer with our dorm, mainly to introduce me to someone. I can't believe I'm still a damn virgin!"

"What's that now? You don't like your little nephew's teacher anymore?" Zhang Beixing teased.

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