Chapter 34
The next day, Hua Shi’an was woken up by the cold. He groggily opened his eyes. The sky outside the cave was just beginning to lighten, but the two furballs sleeping beside him were gone.
The residual warmth on the coir sheets had dissipated, so they must have been gone for a while. The back baskets by the entrance, and the things inside them, were all untouched. Clearly, they had run out empty-handed.
Pushing aside the coir sheet that someone had covered him with, Hua Shi’an quickly changed back to his human form and got up from the bed. He was extremely thirsty. He walked to the entrance, picked up a bamboo tube, and took a large gulp of water before hurriedly squeezing out of the rock cave.
The mountain air was exceptionally fresh. As soon as he stepped out of the rock cave, a cool breeze blew in his face. Fatigue and sleepiness dissipated together, his breathing became much smoother, and he felt refreshed and invigorated.
After letting the wind clear his head for a while, Hua Shi’an started climbing up the mountain, treading on the gravel. But he had only taken a few steps when a messy sound of footsteps came from above. The people he was looking for had returned on their own.
He didn’t know how long they had been out. The two beastmen were drenched in sweat, as if they had just taken a bath in the river at the foot of the mountain. Yan Qiuyu’s skin was fair, so the sweat wasn’t obvious. But Mo Huaishan’s wheat-colored skin was shiny and glistening, as if it had been coated with a layer of honey.
“Lord Priest!”
Seeing Hua Shi’an climbing up the mountain, Yan Qiuyu quickened his pace and hurried forward.
As if presenting a treasure, he didn’t even catch his breath before anxiously spreading his hands in front of Hua Shi’an. “Lord Priest, do you recognize this? I got it from a rock. What’s it called? Is it edible?”
A few wrinkled, blackish-brown leaves, looking like they had rotted and then dried, lay on the beastman’s palm. Although they looked a bit strange, they were indeed a type of plant, an edible one.
To avoid making a mistake, Hua Shi’an picked one up and examined it carefully. Only after confirming it did he enlighten the beastman, “They grow in large patches on the rocks, right? It’s called rock ear. It’s edible, tastes good, and is nutritious. It’s just that its growing environment is rather harsh, so it’s not easy to pick.”
“Wow, that’s great!” Yan Qiuyu was so happy he almost jumped up. He pointed to the top of the mountain and said excitedly, “Lord Priest, there are large patches of them all over the rock wall over there. Let’s go and pick some when we leave later!”
When we leave? Later?
Hua Shi’an read between the lines. Just as he was about to ask, Mo Huaishan also came over and handed him a long, thin object, as thick as a child’s forearm. “What about this, Shi’an? Is, is it edible?”
The treasure presented by the beastman was long and thin, looking a bit like a mountain cucumber. It seemed to have been dried by the sun. Its skin was light brown, and it was light to hold, with no excess moisture.
Tearing open the skin, which was crispier than a potato chip, a sponge-like, grayish-yellow pulp came into view. Hua Shi’an raised an eyebrow in surprise, a flicker of joy in his eyes. “Loofah, it’s called a loofah. Uh, this stage of loofah is not edible. The inside—”
“Haha,” Yan Zhile let out a gloating laugh. “I told you so. The one you picked is obviously not edible.”
“You’re celebrating too early.” Hua Shi’an was amused by his competitiveness and pointed at the loofah. “It’s not edible now, but it is edible when it’s young and not yet fully ripe. It can be stewed or stir-fried, and it tastes very good.”
“And old loofahs are also very useful. See this loofah sponge? It can be used to wash stone pots and bamboo tubes, which is more convenient and cleaner than washing by hand.”
Hua Shi’an tore open the loofah sponge again and pointed to the flat, black seeds inside. “See, you can also get seeds from old loofahs. If we take the seeds back and plant them in the tribe, we’ll be able to eat loofahs next year.”
The desire to win had overcome the desire for food. Finding more food was clearly a good thing, but Yan Qiuyu was not happy at all, his face long and sullen.
The smile would not disappear. The corners of Mo Huaishan’s mouth were almost reaching his ears as he grinned foolishly. “Is loofah really that useful? I, I just picked it because it looked strange.”
The more food, the better, of course. Hua Shi’an liked both rock ear and loofah.
But…
Hua Shi’an handed the loofah back to Mo Huaishan, gestured to the two beastmen with his chin, and the smile in his eyes gradually faded. “You two didn’t sleep, didn’t even say a word, and got up so early just to go up the mountain to find food? Whose idea was it?”
He had been a little unhappy and didn’t want to talk, but seeing Hua Shi’an’s gradually cooling face, Yan Zhile immediately straightened his back and put on a smiling face. “I-It was my idea. We slept, Lord Priest. We just woke up a little early. We didn’t say anything because we didn’t want to wake you. You were sleeping so soundly.”
“You can’t do this next time. I woke up and didn’t see anyone. Wasn’t I worried? When you’re out and about, you can’t be like you are in the tribe. You have to tell me where you’re going. If you don’t come back, where am I supposed to look for you?”
His tone was a bit heavy, but Hua Shi’an wasn’t angry. He just had to make the point clear.
The beastmen nodded like chickens pecking at rice, in unison, “It won’t happen again.”
After making his point, it was time to get down to business. Hua Shi’an turned his gaze to Yan Qiuyu. “You just said you’d pick some rock ear when we leave later? Why are we leaving later?”
“Oh, right!”
Almost forgetting the main business, Yan Zhile slapped his forehead and hurriedly said to Hua Shi’an, “It’s like this, Lord Priest. We woke up early today and couldn’t go back to sleep, so we thought we’d go to the cliff over there first to look for the hive you mentioned.”
“We changed back to our beast forms and searched the entire cliff face of this mountain. We only saw the rock ear and the loofah that the big oaf picked. We didn’t see the large, yellow hive hanging on the cliff that you mentioned. I guess there isn’t one on this mountain. We’ll go to another mountain to look later.”
You searched the entire cliff face and you call that waking up early? You didn’t sleep at all, did you?
No wonder he was drenched in sweat. Hua Shi’an helplessly rubbed his temples and sighed softly. “You two are very enthusiastic about your work, but you should have at least asked me before you started.”
“The hive hanging on the rock wall was just an initial guess. After we found the rock cave last night, there was another possibility. Since there are rock caves on this mountain, the bees are very likely to build their nests in them. Did you notice when you were looking? The rock crevices on the cliff with larger openings, or the rock caves with narrower entrances.”
The two beastmen looked at each other and shook their heads in unison.
“Well, a waste of effort.” Hua Shi’an shrugged and turned to walk towards the rock cave. “Let’s go. Let’s go back and rest for a while, have something to eat, and then go down to look.”
…
After eating and drinking their fill and resting for a short while, by the time Hua Shi’an and the two beastmen climbed up the mountain again with their back baskets, the sky above was already bright.
It was another sunny day. The sun had risen early from the other side of the mountain, and the brilliant rays of the morning sun had dyed the dark blue sky red, and then draped a crimson new coat over the rolling mountains.
Although the rocky mountain was steep, the top was relatively flat and easy to walk on. After treading on the gravel and climbing over the rocks, Hua Shi’an and the beastmen soon reached the other side of the mountaintop—the precipitous and steep cliff facing the direction they had come from.
The cliff was almost vertical. Standing on the edge and looking down, Hua Shi’an’s legs couldn’t help but feel weak. For a moment, he really wanted to back down. But looking at the furballs who had taken off their back baskets and eagerly changed back to their beast forms, he couldn’t bring himself to retreat.
He had brought a roll of coir rope that he hadn’t used before. Hua Shi’an specially took it out from his back basket. He had wanted to tie one to each of them as a safety rope, but as soon as the two furballs saw the coir rope, they guessed his intention and waved their paws and shook their heads.
They refused to be tied, no matter what. Hua Shi’an had no choice but to repeatedly remind them to be careful, and then watched as the two furballs, one black and one gray, resolutely walked down the cliff.
His heart instantly jumped into his throat. Watching the furballs shuttle across the cliff face, Hua Shi’an’s breathing became rapid, and his palms began to sweat. But soon, after watching from the edge of the cliff for a while, he realized that his worry was completely unnecessary.
As if it naturally belonged to this rugged cliff, the grayish-yellow furball was extremely agile. Rocks that ordinary animals couldn’t stand on were like flat ground to it. The furry figure leaped and jumped, swift and nimble, moving freely.
The black furball was no less impressive. Its large, thick paws supported its body and controlled its balance. Although not as agile as the rock squirrel, every step it took was particularly steady and firm, and its speed was also very fast, which made Hua Shi’an feel particularly at ease.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Squirrels had strong forelimbs and sharp claws. They could easily climb vertical trees, so a rocky mountain with a certain slope was naturally not a problem.
His heart settled back into his stomach, and Hua Shi’an’s desire to explore was stirred again.
Chipmunks were agile and good at climbing trees. He also really wanted to go down and investigate. But he could feel that he hadn’t fully mastered his beast form yet. To be on the safe side, it was better not to cause trouble for the beastmen.
He untied the coir rope and put on his back basket. Hua Shi’an took out a bag of pine nuts and sat on the mountaintop, cracking them one by one. The sun above gradually became hotter, and the pile of pine nut shells at his feet grew larger and larger. Finally, when he had cracked the ninety-eighth one, an urgent shout came from below the cliff.
“Shi’an, Shi’an!”
The beastman’s loud voice echoed in the valley. Hua Shi’an casually threw down the half-cracked pine nut and quickly moved to the edge of the cliff.
To the lower right, in the middle of the cliff, Mo Huaishan, who had changed back to his human form, stood on a protruding rock, looking up at the mountaintop. His face was filled with unconcealed excitement, and his right hand was held high in the air, holding a brownish-red object and shaking it vigorously.
“Shi’an, look, is this it?”
The brownish-red object was the size of a palm, like a burnt waffle. The small, exquisite hexagonal cells were tightly packed together, one after another, densely packed.
It was undoubtedly a honeycomb.
