She married a dying prince and she won three babies.

"You have practiced the archery that your grandfather taught you for two or three years. Today's lunch is now up to you. Let's see who can shoot the most water birds. We will roast the bird meat for lunch." The old prince was in high spirits.

There were birds of varying sizes flying across the sky, the largest of which was almost as big as a duck.

"Okay. Watch my grandson shoot some of the biggest birds for you." Shangguan Changyu immediately became interested.

But they had no bows and arrows.

But the soldiers who followed did bring it.

The two brothers each asked for a soldier's quiver and bow.

He disappeared in a flash.

Yu Yuanzheng asked Zhuiyun and Zhuyue to follow and keep an eye on it.

It’s definitely not enough for two children alone.

A few of the soldiers and guards who followed him were also sent out.

"Your Majesty, there is a stream ahead where we can take a rest," suggested Grandma Ye.

The two mothers-in-law led them for another mile or so.

Sure enough, there was a stream with clear bottom.

After walking for a whole morning, everyone was thirsty.

Those who didn’t bring water bottles just squatted by the stream and scooped some water with their hands to drink.

There was no pollution here. Yu Yuanzheng was in a good mood and squatted by the stream to scoop up some clean water to drink.

As soon as the water entered his mouth, Yu Yuanzheng felt that it tasted a bit strange.

She took two more sips and felt that the taste was a little different from the water they brought with them.

When they came to the island, they drank water made from tea they brought with them, and never drank the raw water on the island directly.

"Grandma Ye, do you feel anything unusual when drinking this water?" Yu Yuanzheng stood up and asked.

"This place is quite far from where we live, so we don't come here to get water. We dug a well and we drink the water from it."

Yu Yuanzheng squatted down again and scooped up two more handfuls of water to drink.

That strange feeling is still there.

"Husband, drink some water from the stream and see if there is any difference between it and the water we usually drink in Wei." Yu Yuanzheng asked Shangguan Ziqi to try it as well.

If he feels the same as she does, then it means that this water is really different from ordinary water.

Shangguan Ziqi also took a few sips like Yu Yuanzheng.

"It's definitely different. I can always feel a pungent taste in the water, but it's very mild. If you're used to drinking it for a long time, you generally won't notice it. But we've never drunk this kind of water before, so we can taste it right away."

Yu Yuanzheng was confirmed that she was not the only one who felt this way.

She asked the other people who drank the water again, and they all came to the same conclusion.

The water has a really pungent taste.

But no one could tell what was inside.

"Grandma Ye, after we have lunch, please take us through a few more streams. I want to try whether all the water on the island tastes like this."

"Okay. There are plenty of streams like this on the island."

Not long after, the bird hunters returned.

"Mother, I shot three big birds." Shangguan Changrui ran first and brought the birds he hunted to Yu Yuanzheng for praise like presenting a treasure.

Then Shangguan Changyu also brought four over.

"Mother, I have one more than my second brother. This one has beautiful feathers. I can make two shuttlecocks for my sister to kick."

"It's really beautiful." Shangguan Yajing took the bird from him and looked at it over and over again.

Yu Yuanzheng didn't recognize any of these birds.

But they all have one thing in common: a very long mouth, which is very suitable for catching fish from the water and eating them.

"Leave it all to your father, let him take care of it, then apply the seasonings we brought, marinate it for a while, and then you can grill it." Yu Yuanzheng touched the heads of both children to show his praise.

Everyone worked together, and each soldier who went to the woods to collect firewood came back with a large armful.

When the smoke rises, the fragrance wafts with it.

Grandma Ye and Grandma Cui were so greedy that they were drooling.

They had never smelled such a sweet fragrance in their lives.

They lived on this island and did hunt some birds to eat, but like boiled chicken, they only tasted salty.

Once cooked, one to two birds per person is enough to fill you up.

After a short rest, we continued walking.

The two mothers-in-law led them to find five streams.

Each one flows down from a different mountain.

Yu Yuanzheng drank a few sips of water from each stream herself, and asked everyone to drink and then tell her how it tasted.

As a result, the water in each stream had a faint pungent smell. Some soldiers with a more sensitive sense of taste could even distinguish the slight difference in taste between each stream, with some having a strong and some a weak pungent smell.

Yu Yuanzheng couldn't tell the difference; they all tasted the same to her.

Seeing that it was getting late, they had to turn back.

Return to where the villagers live.

Yu Yuanzheng went to the jar and scooped some water that the villagers had drawn from the well to drink.

This time she tasted it.

It still has that pungent smell, but it's much weaker than the one in the creek.

This shows that well water is much better than stream water.

What on earth is in the water?

Yu Yuanzheng thought about it all the way but couldn't come up with an answer.

She wondered if it was because the villagers on the island drank this kind of water for a long time that it was difficult for their women to give birth to boys.

If this is true, then there is only one possibility: there is acid in the water.

There is a medical saying that if you eat acidic food, you are more likely to have a girl, while if you eat alkaline food, you are more likely to have a boy.

However, there is no specific data on how big the effect is. It is just said that the probability is higher, but not 100%.

But if it accumulates generation after generation, then it is very likely.

What exactly is acidic substance?

It would be better if you could find it.

In the evening, she told Shangguan Ziqi her guess.

But Shangguan Ziqi had never studied chemistry. He listened but didn't understand.

"Madam, we haven't even covered half of the island today. Let's try walking in a different direction tomorrow. Maybe we can find some clues."

"Hmm. I don't know what the emperor's attitude is. These islanders are also citizens of the Great Wei in principle. If we don't help them, it's very likely that in a few decades, there will really be no one left here."

"We'll look again tomorrow. If we can find the problem, we can help solve it, and this problem will be easy to solve.

If the problem can't be solved, the entire island will have to be relocated. But the island is so big, it would be a shame if there were no people.

The emperor meant to include this place in the territory of Wei.

If the people of Wei were not here, it might be occupied by another country in the future."

"makes sense."

The next day, everyone had dinner.

Start exploring again.

This time, the direction was changed.

When climbing over a mountain, Yu Yuanzheng saw a relatively high mountain in the distance.

From a distance, the top of the mountain is bare, and green plants only appear from halfway up the mountain.

"Grandma Ye, what's going on with that mountain? Why are there no trees on the top of the mountain?" Yu Yuanzheng asked curiously.

"Nothing has grown on that mountain since I was born. I heard from my ancestors that there's a large lake on the mountain. The water is also very clear, but strangely, there are no fish.

Even birds wouldn't drink the water in it. Over time, our ancestors said it was a dead lake and warned us that no one was allowed to go to that mountain.

Later, the villagers remembered the words of their ancestors and never climbed that mountain again.

When Grandma Ye talked about this mountain, there was a hint of fear on her face, as if there was a devil on the mountain.