Chapter 288 - 8: My Name Is Lord
The winter sun emitted a feeble warmth, shining over the borders of Fengdan County at the Xuan Beast Ridge.
The snow had been falling for a full half-month, finally ceasing today. A thick layer of snow covered the ground, and looking down towards the ridge, one could see a thoroughly frozen Ice Lake.
By the lake grew rows of Arrow Bamboo Forest. With winter’s arrival, the bamboo’s leaves had all fallen, leaving behind only the bare and leafless stalks. By this time, the stalks had frozen into Ice Crystals, casting colorful halos under the sun’s rays.
"Squeak--" On the tranquil snowy ground, four crooked lines of footprints appeared. A little boy wearing a tattered felt hat, carrying a basket, followed behind a hunched-backed old man.
The old man looked to be around seventy or eighty years of age, wearing a thin winter coat so worn that the cotton filling was visible, with his dark bluish flesh peeking out from beneath. He circled around the bamboo forest, his murky old eyes brightened, pointing to the outskirts of the forest.
"There are winter bamboo shoots, Erwang, come help grandpa dig them up," The little boy’s face was also frozen blue and purple, with two frozen icicles of snot hanging from his nose.
Upon hearing that grandpa found winter bamboo shoots, Erwang hastily took out a hoe from the basket, and the grandfather and grandson duo began to dig ardently around the bamboo forest.
The winter soil was nearly as hard as ice, and the grandfather and grandson hadn’t had a full meal in a good while; they worked slowly, and it took almost an hour to dig up a bamboo shoot as thick as an arm.
In such extreme cold, the bamboo shoot had frozen into a dark brown color, and looked no different from a piece of deadwood.
Yet, both the grandfather and grandson’s eyes simultaneously filled with joy.
After uncovering the bamboo shoot, the old man swiftly peeled off the skin. Taking out a kitchen knife, with force, he split the hard frozen bamboo shoot into two halves.
A plump bamboo stick insect hibernating within the hollow bamboo shoot—Erwang, who hadn’t tasted meat in three to four months, couldn’t help but snuffle, but the cold air that rushed into his nostrils made him shiver uncontrollably.