Si Jiuyue exhaled, the breath turning instantly into white mist that vanished into the snowy ground.
The snow was deep enough in places to snap a wooden stick, so she had no choice but to swap hers for a mountaineering ice axe. Foraging for mushrooms in a frozen, snow-covered landscape could be summed up in one word: "Cold!"
After working for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Si Jiuyue had collected four or five pounds of gray-brown tricholoma. By the time she finished clearing the snow off the mushrooms, her hands were frozen stiff. Finding a large rock, she laid out a thick quilt and sat down to rest. She pulled out her water skin and took a deep gulp of pearl milk tea; cradling the warm container, her frozen, reddened hands slowly began to thaw.
Chapter 200