The Ruan brothers said, “Your Majesty, perhaps it’s best if you keep it for yourself.”
Seeing Almer’s eager face, practically wishing to get rid of it, they couldn’t help but feel a bit suspicious.
Almer looked disappointed; he couldn’t give it away just yet.
With Edelweiss found, their mission was complete, so they prepared to head back to the main planet. But before leaving, they needed to retrieve the corpse of the giant snake.
The S-class Ice Serpent’s scales and bones are prime materials for crafting various weapons. Its blood can be used for potions, and its meat is highly nutritious; those with large appetites can be satisfied with just a small amount of high-grade beast meat.
“Let’s check the cave. High-level beasts often hoard valuable items in their dens.”
Ruan Fengsi took out a light and, upon entering the cave, found a treasure trove of rare items, including several precious mutated fruits.
“Look, there’s a Star-Tempering Fruit here.”
The Star-Tempering Fruit is known to enhance Jingshen and is constantly in high demand in the market.
“What a large snakeskin.”
A strikingly silver-white snakeskin lay in the cave, catching everyone’s attention. This was also top-tier material.
“What’s that in the center?”
“It looks like… an egg?”
In the center of the cave lay a quiet, white egg, about the size of an ostrich egg.
Ruan Qingran remarked, “Looks like this is why the Ice Serpent came all the way here from the lake.”
Ruan Xinglan’s tone was indifferent. “So, it was guarding its egg. No wonder it was so aggressive. Too bad it’s dead now. We don’t know how long this snake egg has been here. Let’s take it back—it could still be valuable.”
Ruan Fengsi clicked his tongue. “Just hope there isn’t a developed snake inside, or it won’t be edible.”
Curious, Ruan Shu pressed a paw against the egg. It was solid.
If her brothers hadn’t told her it was a snake egg, Ruan Shu would have thought it was a jade stone—it looked so beautiful.
“Like it? Then it’s yours.”
Seeing her curiosity, Ruan Fengsi imitated Almer’s gesture when he gifted the Night Pearl.
Ruan Shu: ………
I was just curious and touched it, that’s all!
Besides, the snake egg was so big that she couldn’t even carry it properly.
In the end, Ruan Shu stowed the snake egg in her spatial bracelet, watching as her brothers thoroughly looted every usable item in the cave before they left with a swagger.
As they left the snowy plains, Ruan Shu was carried in turns by her brothers, only getting a chance to walk on her own during breaks, where she would play in the snow with Pink Maiden and the others.
Especially during their afternoon camp breaks, when the Edelweiss plants were let out, Ruan Shu would build snowmen with them. She found herself getting quite hooked on it, rolling the snowballs perfectly round. When she couldn’t lift the second layer herself, Edelweiss or Little Vine would lend her a hand.
“All done!”
After placing pebbles and branches for the snowman’s eyes and arms, Ruan Shu clapped the snow from her gloves, her face alight with joy. She took a small breath, scooped up Pink Maiden, and carefully placed her atop the snowman’s head.
“A mushroom hat!”
Pink Maiden cooperatively stayed in place, and the Edelweiss balls floated over, also looking pleased. Ruan Shu felt warmth bloom in her heart.
This wasn’t her first snowman; in fact, in her past life, it had snowed once when she was nine years old. It was rare, and she had been the only one home for the New Year.
That night, Ruan Shu had watched the snow from the window. The next day, she went to the courtyard, which was blanketed in a thin layer of snow, and built a small snowman. Unfortunately, snow didn’t last long in the south, and by the next day, her snowman had started to melt away.
This snowman, however, would likely stay here for a long, long time.
Thinking of this, she took a pearl from her spatial bracelet and embedded it in the snowman’s nose.
This snowman was built with her friends.
A gentle rumbling sound came from the ground. Ruan Shu turned and saw her eldest brother pushing an enormous snowball toward her snowman.
Ruan Fengsi stopped the giant snowball next to her small snowman, looking at the little sticky rice dumpling staring at him blankly from the snow. He tilted his chin slightly.
“What are you standing around for? Come help.”
Ruan Shu’s blue eyes lit up, pure joy sparkling in their depths. Dressed in her fluffy tiger suit, she trotted awkwardly over and stopped in front of her big brother.
“Isn’t it a bit far? Should we push it closer to the little snowman?” she suggested, pointing to the gap between the giant snowball and her small snowman.
“Alright.”
Ruan Shu took a look and, seeing that the large snowball wouldn’t crush her little snowman even with another roll, nodded in agreement.
“Come here. Stand in front of me, and we’ll push it together.”
Her eyes sparkled as she walked over, positioning herself in front of her big brother and placing her small hands on the enormous snowball.
“I’m ready, Brother!”
The little one was seriously committed.
“Push.”
With Ruan Fengsi’s signal, the two of them—one large, one small—rolled the snowball forward a little, then paused to smooth and shape it into a more rounded form. After that, they placed a slightly smaller snowball on top, creating a massive snowman that was even taller than her big brother!
The enormous snowman stood next to the little one she’d built, creating a surprisingly harmonious scene.
After finishing this giant snowman, for some reason, her second brother, Qingran, and even Almer joined in, each building their own towering snowman around the small one in the center. By the time they were ready to leave, four huge snowmen stood silently in the snowy landscape, encircling the tiny snowman as if protecting a precious treasure.
As they departed, Ruan Shu cast several lingering glances back at the snowmen.
A month later, they had indeed found the Edelweiss and brought it back successfully.
When the starship from Snowfall Planet finally arrived at the main planet, Ruan Shu could hardly wait to see her father. She had missed him so much during the long trip.
As she imagined reuniting with both her father and grandfather, she never expected that the moment she got off the ship, she would see a familiar figure.
“Daddy!”
Her sweet, soft voice rose in excitement.
Standing tall and straight in the crowd, even in casual clothes, her father’s demeanor was still as cold and dignified as ever, exuding an air of commanding authority that set him apart.
Ruan Shu spotted him right away.
She let go of her eldest brother’s hand, her short legs carrying her swiftly forward as she threw herself into her father’s embrace.
“Daddy, I missed you so much.”
The little ball of fluff was scooped up into his arms, her soft voice speaking honestly as her chubby cheeks pressed against his handsome face, rubbing affectionately.
The little one, always affectionate and clingy, had been away from home for a month and was now overwhelmingly happy to be reunited with her father.