Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 25 Dragon Skin Gloves
The monkey seemed to be struggling.

Jiang Mingzhe was worried that it would be discovered if it stayed on the wall for too long, so he became a little anxious and muttered to himself, "Come down quickly! Freedom is precious, but centipedes are even more valuable. If you follow me, you'll eat bananas every day!"

Azi turned her head sharply to look at Jiang Mingzhe, her big eyes filled with amazement.

"Big Ginger, are all the people from Qufu this talented? You've actually written another poem! I think this one is even better than the one you wrote for me! I don't need anyone to explain it; I can understand it myself!"

Then a hint of cunning flashed in his eyes: "Um, since we're such good friends, how about you give me this poem?"

Jiang Mingzhe didn't quite understand, but he nodded anyway: "Why not? If you like it, it's yours."

"great!"

Ah Zi's big eyes instantly turned into crescent moons as she smiled at the monkey, saying each word clearly, "Freedom is precious, but centipedes are even more valuable. From now on, follow me, and you'll eat bananas every day!"

Jiang Mingzhe suddenly realized that what she meant by "giving it to her" was that she wanted the copyright, so that by changing just one word, it would become her own work.

Azi read it aloud once, then turned to Jiang Mingzhe and asked, "Big Ginger, is the banana I mentioned in this poem the fragrant banana from southern Xinjiang?"

Jiang Mingzhe was truly stumped by the question and vaguely replied, "Um, more or less."

Azi nodded, swallowed hard, and said, "When Master came back from the Southern Frontier last time, he said these fragrant bananas are incredibly sweet, with yellow peels and white flesh. I want to eat my fill sometime when I have the chance."

After clearing his throat, he recited it again with great expression, not forgetting to explain to the monkey, "The bananas are the fragrant bananas from your hometown. If you come with us, we'll definitely take you back to your hometown to eat your fill."

Whether the monkey couldn't resist the temptation of food or was truly moved by Azi's poetic talent, it suddenly used all four limbs to walk a few steps along the wall. The wall there was pitted and uneven, which were the marks left by Azi practicing her hidden weapons.

Then the monkey turned around, used the large and small holes in the wall to slowly climb down, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly moved to a spot two or three meters in front of Azi.

"It really came! It understood the poem we wrote for it!"

Azi was so happy she wanted to jump for joy, but she held back for fear of scaring the monkey. Her face was beaming with joy. Jiang Mingzhe was certain that if she had a tail, it would be wagging incredibly fast right now.
Based on his experience feeding cats, Jiang Mingzhe slowly squatted down and instructed Azi to squat down as well: "Squat down, hand over the centipede, and then call its name."

Azi squatted down as instructed, looking at Jiang Mingzhe with difficulty: "It doesn't have a name. Master just calls it Poison Monkey, which I don't think sounds good at all."

Jiang Mingzhe laughed and said, "Then you can give it a name."

"That's right!" Azi's expression brightened, and she immediately began to think hard. The monkey, seeing that the person hadn't given him a centipede for a long time, became anxious and covered his head with his hands, squealing loudly.

The red centipede, which had been wriggling vigorously, trembled and suddenly went limp, hanging on Azi's hand like a noodle.

"I've got it!" Azi's eyes lit up and she said with a grin, "From now on, we'll call it Little Ginger. After all, you're nominally its owner, you're Big Ginger, so it's naturally Little Ginger!"

"Little Ginger?" Jiang Mingzhe looked at the monkey's white and yellow fur and felt that it suited him quite well.

Ah Zi had already started calling out. She held out her hand and whispered, "Little Ginger, Little Ginger, come and eat the centipede."

Jiang Mingzhe whispered a reminder: "Senior sister, don't forget that its fur is poisonous. Think carefully about how to catch it."

Azi nodded and continued to call out to Xiaoshengjiang.

The monkey seemed to sense that the two meant no harm. It slowly crawled forward, reached Azi's side, glanced at Azi, grabbed the centipede's head, and ran away.

It was slow-moving, and even when it ran, it lacked any sense of speed. Azi figured she could catch up in two steps, so she didn't move. The monkey ran a few meters away, then turned around and saw that Azi and Jiang Mingzhe weren't chasing it. Only then did it stop, relieved, and bit the centipede's head.

With just one bite, he bit off the entire centipede's head and chewed it with bulging cheeks.

Jiang Mingzhe found it very interesting.

Although the centipede's head is not big, it depends on what you compare it to. Given the size of this slow loris, the way it took a bite out of the centipede's head, especially the moment it opened its mouth to bite down, was almost like the famous scene of "three bites of a pig".

After chewing away for a while, the slow loris finally managed to eat the head. It then picked up the centipede and continued to gnaw on it, eating half of it before finally being satisfied. It wrapped the remaining half around its waist, but couldn't tie it into a knot, so it had to hold it tightly with its little paws, making it look even more silly and cute.

Ah Zi laughed so hard she almost fell over: "No wonder it's called Little Ginger. You use a snake as your belt, and it uses a centipede as its belt. You two are a match made in heaven."

After saying that, he beckoned: "Little ginger, come here. Once you've eaten our food, you'll be one of our monkeys. In a couple of days, once your master has mastered some martial arts, we'll take you to the mountains to catch lots and lots of scorpions and centipedes to eat."

Perhaps the monkey had grown tired of its irregular eating habits, or perhaps it remembered the carefree days when it was kept by Ding Chunqiu, or perhaps it realized it couldn't find its way home after escaping. In any case, when Azi beckoned, it hesitated for a moment, but actually slowly walked over.

"Here he comes, little ginger is really here!" Azi squatted on the ground, shaking with joy like a dancing doll that was fully charged with electricity. She then quickly pulled out two black gloves from her purse, put one on her right hand, and tossed the other to Jiang Mingzhe.

"Quickly, quick, these are gloves made of dragon skin. No poisonous insects can bite through them, and they're waterproof. You can touch them once you put them on."

Dragon skin? Jiang Mingzhe was filled with awe and quickly took the glove. He noticed that the surface of the glove was covered with tiny particles, each one hard to the touch. Upon closer inspection, he couldn't help but smile.

Jiang Mingzhe once bought a Bulgari bag as a thank you to a female customer who helped him sign the order. The saleswoman specifically explained the material of the bag to him, saying that it was not exactly the same as this glove, but there was no difference between them.

It's actually the skin of a stingray, scientifically known as the red stingray, also called the yellow stingray. This fish has an oval patch of skin on its back, densely covered with round, bead-like protrusions formed by mineral deposits. It's fine and hard, and in terms of wear resistance, it's like having a cheat code compared to any other leather.

Moreover, these particles increase friction, making it much easier to catch those slippery, poisonous insects.

As for waterproofing, it's not a given that fish skin is waterproof.

Jiang Mingzhe didn't say much. He put on the gloves and felt that the lining was made of silk, which was extremely comfortable to the touch. He thought that stingray skin didn't have such a fine texture. It must be eel skin, which is known as "sea silk".

Ah Zi was already impatient: "Big ginger, hurry up, hold the little ginger and let me touch it."

Jiang Mingzhe picked up the slow loris as instructed. The monkey was quite obedient, lying quietly on his palm and letting Azi stroke it. It seemed to find it comfortable, and soon fell asleep, unaware that the centipede belt had fallen off.

By this time, the sky was already completely dark. After petting the monkey enough, Azi stood up and stretched: "Come on, let's go to your house and see how to settle Little Ginger. I'll get some more food for you to feed it slowly."

Jiang Mingzhe carried Xiao Shengjiang and followed Azi into the house. Azi lit a candle, rummaged through the chests and cabinets, and soon collected seven or eight centipedes and more than ten scorpions. She put them in an empty jar, then found a basket. She pushed open the courtyard gate, peeked to see if anyone was there, and then, like a thief, slipped out. With a wave of her little hand, she quickly ran towards the first floor of Building B.

Upon arriving at Jiang Mingzhe's house, Azi went straight to the second floor and, without hesitation, collected Jiang Mingzhe's clothes that he had changed out of, saying matter-of-factly, "These have your sweat smell on them. If Little Jiang sleeps here from now on, it will naturally become closer to you."

After saying that, Jiang Mingzhe spread the clothes on the ground, gently placed the small ginger on it, and put the half centipede next to it. Azi covered the basket and put the jar containing the poison on the basket before she breathed a sigh of relief.

He grinned foolishly at Jiang Mingzhe and said, "Big Ginger, don't forget to feed Little Ginger these next few days, and don't neglect your training. In a few days, when Master goes into seclusion, we'll take Little Ginger to catch the most dangerous poisonous insects!"

Jiang Mingzhe nodded and took the opportunity to ask, "Senior Sister, speaking of practicing martial arts, there's something I don't understand, and I'd like to ask you for guidance."

(End of this chapter)