Chapter 11: The Panda Ear Massage and the Ginseng Brat

Lin Mo tilted her head and gave the bamboo shoot on her head a hard tug. It wouldn’t budge, but she did manage to pull off a single bamboo leaf.

The leaf detached from the stalk and transformed in her hand into a piece the size of her palm—several times larger than a normal bamboo leaf. It was emerald green, glistening as if dripping with moisture, and emitted a refreshing, heart-cleansing fragrance.

Before she could marvel at it, Lin Mo quickly spread her fair palm and offered the leaf to Mo Jin. “Here, take this. Don’t be mad anymore,” she said coaxingly.

Her tone was like someone trying to bribe a kitten: Be good, don’t be grumpy, here’s a little dried fish for you~

Mo Jin glanced indifferently at the bamboo leaf before shifting her gaze back to Lin Mo’s face.

In Lin Mo’s eyes, that expression was automatically translated as: Not enough? You want more?

Lin Mo reached up and plucked two more leaves. The little bamboo, originally only a finger high, was stripped until it was just a bare stalk with two lonely leaves remaining.

‘I knew this little bamboo would try to win my sympathy again,’ Mo Jin thought.

Lin Mo pressed the leaves against Mo Jin’s lips. Mo Jin’s nose twitched; the leaves carried a faint, intoxicating scent. A hazy mist soon clouded her eyes, and she slowly lowered her head.

Lin Mo felt a warm, moist touch against her palm, and her heart softened instantly. Her eyes widened as she watched the fluffy panda head nuzzle into her hand. It felt like a feather was lightly stroking her, sending ripples through her soul.

Possessed by some divine impulse, she raised her other hand and touched the panda’s small ears. She rubbed them gently, and seeing that the panda was still busy eating the leaves, she gave them a few more squeezes.

This was pure bliss! Those fluffy, soft little ears felt incredible to the touch!

The panda lifted its head. Its black pupils, like a night sky sprinkled with stars, stared directly at Lin Mo. Lin Mo reached out both hands and cupped the panda’s face, her fingers sinking into the soft white fur. It was squishy and meaty. She couldn’t resist giving it another good rub.

Just as Lin Mo was drowning in the satisfaction of petting a panda, she didn’t realize the panda had transformed back into human form.

The mist in Mo Jin’s eyes cleared, and she felt two warm hands on her face. Her brow furrowed slightly as she looked coldly at Lin Mo.

Lin Mo’s hands froze. Sensing something was wrong, she slowly looked up and saw her hands cupping Mo Jin’s face.

‘What happened? A second ago it was a cute panda, and now it’s an iceberg again.’

Lin Mo’s heart nearly leaped out of her throat. Her hands snapped back as if they had touched a hot iron. She pressed them to her own cheeks, which felt hot enough to melt her palms. Her heart was beating too fast to count.

She lowered her head, searching the ground for a hole she could crawl into and never come out of again.

Suddenly, a pair of slightly cool hands began to stroke her face, tracing every inch gently, as if handling a rare treasure. Lin Mo’s face was tilted up by those hands; she kept her eyes lowered, not daring to look at Mo Jin.

Her mind was a mess. ‘Is she going to bite me? Is she checking to see if my meat is fresh and tender?’

A puff of warm air hit her ear, followed by a cool, lazy voice: “Does it feel good?”

Aren’t you the one touching me right now? Is the next question going to be how I taste?

Lin Mo was terrified. She lowered her head and stammered, “It… it’s not bad?”

“What’s ‘not bad’ about it?”

I don’t know what’s good about my own face!

Lin Mo twisted her hands behind her back and added haltingly, “White, soft… comfortable.”

She racked her brain and could only come up with those words.

The tips of Mo Jin’s fair ears turned slightly red. She gave a light cough and her gaze flickered. No one had ever described her head as “white, soft, and comfortable.” In her memories, she was always dusty and grey, and little spirits would throw stones at her.

The little bamboo was only saying those things to get forgiveness for the buttons. But since the bamboo was trying so hard to comfort her, Mo Jin decided she could be less angry—provided her buttons were sewn back on. She liked her clothes to be neat.

Lin Mo, seeing Mo Jin lost in thought, leaned against the tree and slid down to the ground, rubbing her weak legs. She took her torch and reached out to support herself to make a run for it, only to touch something soft.

Startled, she looked down. Beside the tree stood a plump, white little baby.

The baby wore a red bellyband and was only as high as her calf. It had a small topknot and looked as though it had just been woken from a dream; its eyes were swimming with tears. It rubbed its eyes, looked around, realized it wasn’t home, and burst into a loud wail.

Lin Mo reached out to pick it up, but the baby suddenly bit down on her fingertip.

“Ow! Let go!”

Lin Mo winced. Her finger felt like it had been bitten through. She shook her hand vigorously, but the baby just swung back and forth like a pendulum, refusing to let go.

Hearing the cry, Mo Jin used her spiritual energy to bind the baby and hoist it into the mid-air.

Lin Mo looked at her bleeding finger and then at the baby, who was now blinking wide, innocent eyes as if it hadn’t just bit someone. She gritted her teeth. She had every reason to believe this brat did it on purpose.

Cuteness was useless; a rude child needed a lesson. Just as Lin Mo reached for the baby’s red bellyband to give it a spanking, Mo Jin stopped her.

“The Ginseng Boy is now your contracted spiritual plant,” Mo Jin said calmly.

Lin Mo turned her head away, huffing, “One bite and it’s a contract? Why? I don’t agree!”

Her protest was ignored. A flurry of emerald light particles swirled between her and the baby. The baby floated up to her eye level, and a green bamboo leaf mark appeared on its forehead.

Realizing it was being disliked, the Ginseng Boy dropped to the ground, hugged its knees, and squatted beside Lin Mo, looking very pathetic.

“You can’t change it now,” Mo Jin said heartlessly. “He won’t leave; he’ll follow you forever unless you eat him. A Ginseng Boy is a natural treasure—expert in earth-tunneling, master of planting, and a collector of qi-rich flora. Eating him extends your life; keeping him increases your luck.”

If it weren’t for the benefit to Lin Mo, Mo Jin wouldn’t have stopped her.

Lin Mo felt like her worldview was collapsing. It wasn’t that she had contracted a ginseng; it was that she had been “collected” by a ginseng! She was a thousand-year-old bamboo, full of pure qi. Of course the brat picked her. She couldn’t eat it either—who knew what would happen if she ate a baby?

She sighed and squatted by the tree next to the Ginseng Boy, entering a state of self-isolation.

“Ginseng?” Little She Qiu popped its head out from somewhere. “Great! Grandfather Chief is saved!”

Lin Mo remembered the mission. But this baby was so big; the Chief would probably die of an overdose if he ate the whole thing. She remembered that ginseng rootlets were also highly nutritious. Maybe the baby needed a haircut.

Sensing a scheme, the Ginseng Boy tried to dive into the earth. Lin Mo was faster, grabbing its bellyband and lifting it up. She put on a villainous face. “Where do you think you’re going? I’m going to eat you today!”

The baby’s lip trembled. Seeing it about to cry, Lin Mo snapped, “If you cry, I’ll eat you right now!”

The baby sniffed and held its breath, covering its mouth with its tiny hands, tears streaming down silently. Lin Mo’s heart wavered, but she stayed firm.

Seeing her unmoved, the baby reached into its bellyband and pulled out a plant glowing with $qi$, offering it to Lin Mo with both hands.

Is he trying to ransom himself?

Lin Mo took the plant without hesitation. “Death can be avoided, but punishment is mandatory!”

The baby pouted and pulled out another plant. Its two favorite treasures were gone. Lin Mo took that one too, feeling like a heartless capitalist.

“I might let you go,” she said, her voice softening slightly. “Just give me two of your ‘hairs’ and you won’t be eaten.”

Lin Mo looked satisfied with the two thick ginseng rootlets. she handed them to She Qiu to take home for the Chief’s soup.

The Ginseng Boy immediately latched onto Lin Mo’s leg.

She dragged the “leg attachment” back toward the cabin but eventually couldn’t take it anymore. She pulled out the two stolen plants. “Look, I’ll give this back if you let go of my leg, okay?”

The baby didn’t take the plant. It just clung tighter.

Mo Jin flicked her hand, knocking the baby off. “You can stay within half a mile of the cabin,” she said coldly, “but do not enter it.”

Terrified, the Ginseng Boy dived into the soil and sprouted right next to the cabin’s fence as a green plant.

Lin Mo breathed a sigh of relief. As she reached the door, she saw a paper crane with a red parcel circling around.

“Oh, my express delivery is here!”