Chapter 50
“Oh my heavens, so tired, so tired. My legs have gone soft.”
The dust-covered beastman collapsed on the ground. The two back baskets of plump, reddish-black tree tomatoes were not carried back to the camp. Instead, he had taken a detour and carried them to the meadow, placing them neatly in front of Hua Shi’an.
He hadn’t tasted it last time. With the fragrant and alluring tree tomatoes in front of him, Yan Zhile’s mouth was watering. He quietly reached into the back basket, casually glancing at Yan Qiuyu. “I’ve picked, picked so many fruits. Can I have one?”
After running in the mountains for three whole days, Yan Qiuyu was truly tired. He wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his face in his arms, panting heavily.
Yan Zhile’s words perked him up again. He looked up and sneered sarcastically, “Yo, you’ve suddenly become so sensible after a few days? You’re even being polite now?”
Yan Zhile didn’t respond, just glared at him fiercely.
His hand was already in the back basket, but he hadn’t taken a fruit yet. Seeing this, Yan Qiuyu stopped teasing him and shrugged. “If you want to eat, then eat. With so many fruits, are you afraid of eating them? It’s just that this thing is so sour. What’s so good about it?”
“That’s hilarious. If it’s not good, why did you guys go and pick it?” Yan Zhile retorted, grabbing a few tree tomatoes and distributing them to the sub-beastmen.
Yan Qiuyu: “Do you think I wanted to go? It wasn’t… forget it, forget it.”
He swallowed the unfinished words. Yan Qiuyu looked at the smoky stone kiln nearby and asked with interest, “Is this the smoked meat the Lord Priest mentioned before? Is all our meat in there? What’s burning in there? Why is there so much smoke, and it’s still drifting out.”
Hong Yinglan took a bite of a tree tomato and pointed casually. “There, it’s those cypress branches. The Lord Priest said that cypress branches have their own fragrance, and the smoked meat will be very, very fragrant.”
“How long has it been smoking? Until when?” Yan Qiuyu asked again.
He who eats another’s food is bound to be polite. Chang Yueyue chimed in, “It’s been smoking since this morning, all the way until evening. After the fire goes out, we’ll let it sit in the residual heat overnight.”
Yan Qiuyu raised an eyebrow in surprise. “That long? Will the meat really not be burnt?”
“Smoked meat, smoked meat, the key is the smoking. This smoking is done with smoke, and there’s basically no open flame.” Yan Zhile ate the sweet and sour tree tomato and explained with a straight face. He then turned to look at Hua Shi’an and grinned. “I’m not wrong, am I, Lord Priest?”
One look and he could tell something was wrong. The Lord Priest was silent, his head bowed, his lips slightly pursed, the coir rope in his hands intertwined, and he was knitting a new coir shirt with a bamboo needle.
He hadn’t eaten the tree tomato that was handed to him, and he didn’t participate in the others’ conversation. Yan Zhile felt more and more that something was wrong. It seemed that since the beastmen had returned, he hadn’t said a single word?
The others also realized something, looked at each other, and fell silent at the same time.
Wasn’t he happy to see the big oaf come back just now? Who provoked him? Yan Zhile was bewildered and was about to ask when Chief Mu’s shout came from the camp.
“Gathering team, you’ve had enough rest. Get ready to go!”
Business was important. Hong Yinglan and Chang Yueyue stood up one after another and carried the bamboo frame with the fixed sheepskin towards the camp. Yan Zhile hesitated for a moment, dawdled for a while, and then also got up to leave.
But he hadn’t gone far before he turned back, as if he had suddenly figured something out. He walked straight to Yan Qiuyu and patted his shoulder. “The animal skin has been tanned. Aren’t you going to take a look?”
He had hit him quite hard. Yan Qiuyu was about to curse, but hearing this, he quickly retracted his teeth and stood up on all fours. “Where, where? In the camp? Let’s go, let’s go.”
“Ju Ming, let’s go, together.”
“Okay.”
A large group of people left, leaving only Hua Shi’an and a beastman guarding the stone kiln and adding firewood to the fire on the grass. Oh right, and opposite Hua Shi’an was a weary-faced, almost invisible Mo Huaishan.
“Big oaf, Mo Huaishan, aren’t you going?”
Seeing that Mo Huaishan had no intention of getting up, the other beastman was eager to try.
The called Mo Huaishan was slightly taken aback. It took him a long time to come to his senses. He lowered his head and stammered, “I, I…”
He should go, but he seemed not to want to.
The beastman saw an opportunity, stood up, and ran towards the camp, waving to Mo Huaishan as he ran. “You watch the fire for a while. I’ll go and take a look first.”
He had already run far. Only then did Mo Huaishan react and let out a soft “oh,” moving to sit in front of the stone kiln.
Changing his position brought him a little closer to Hua Shi’an. Mo Huaishan picked up a cypress branch and stared at the smoky stone kiln in front of him, but his attention was entirely on Hua Shi’an.
He made a thousand movements a second, occasionally glancing to the side, occasionally breaking a cypress branch, deliberately making a sound, as if to attract Hua Shi’an’s attention.
But no matter how he fussed, Hua Shi’an paid no attention to the outside world, not even lifting his head from beginning to end.
Not knowing what he had done wrong, the beastman’s brow furrowed slightly, and he was at a loss.
He gave up his little tricks and stared at Hua Shi’an without blinking. He suddenly took a deep breath, and two trembling syllables escaped his lips, “Shi’an…”
He had thought the sub-beastman would not easily pay attention to him, but the next second, Hua Shi’an acted as if nothing had happened, nonchalantly, “Hmm?”
One word was enough. The gloom over Mo Huaishan’s head was swept away, and his dull eyes instantly lit up. “You, you’re willing to talk to me? You’re not unhappy, are you?”
For the past half a month, he had been either running in the mountains or on the road, eating in the wind and sleeping in the dew. The beastman had visibly lost weight. His cheeks were slightly sunken, and his facial features were more defined, like a sharp sword about to be polished, its edge revealed.
He had changed a little, but his temperament hadn’t changed at all. Looking at the beastman he hadn’t seen in days, Hua Shi’an put down the bamboo needle he had just started and sighed silently. “I’m not talking to you? It’s clearly you who’s not talking to me.”
“Huh?” Mo Huaishan was bewildered, blinking blankly. “How could I not talk to you? I, I spoke to you.”
Hua Shi’an was so angry he laughed. “And before that ‘Shi’an’? What did you say to me? Why didn’t I hear it?”
Sometimes, you really have to say it. They were getting more and more natural with each other in private, but as soon as they were in front of others, they would start to keep their distance and pretend not to know each other. They had been busy recently, and they rarely had the chance to meet, let alone be alone, so they hadn’t spoken much at all.
“I, I…” Mo Huaishan started to stammer again when he was nervous, but he tried his best to defend himself, “They were talking just now. I, I didn’t want to interrupt.”
Hua Shi’an snorted lightly. “You didn’t even have time to say hello?”
Knowing he was in the wrong, Mo Huaishan lowered his eyes.
People grow. He was no longer the dull-headed clueless beastman he used to be. Not wanting the sub-beastman to be unhappy, he held a cypress branch and came to Hua Shi’an’s side, waving it left and right like he was teasing a cat, scratching his hand. “I, I was wrong, Shi’an. Don’t be unhappy. I’ll definitely talk to you first next time, no, no matter what they say.”
He was easy to coax. A single cypress branch made Hua Shi’an laugh.
But he didn’t joke with Mo Huaishan. Hua Shi’an grabbed the cypress branch and held it gently in his palm, his expression turning serious again. “This time you went to the mountains with Yan Qiuyu to pick tree tomatoes. You only told the chief, not me at all. I woke up and you were gone. To be honest, I was very unhappy.”
The sub-beastman held one end of the branch, and Mo Huaishan held the other. For some reason, it felt like they were holding hands. Mo Huaishan’s heart skipped half a beat, his hand trembling slightly. With a courage that came from who knows where, he held the branch tightly and confessed to Hua Shi’an:
“You said you liked the taste of tree tomatoes, so I wanted to pick some more for you. The chief originally didn’t let me go. I pestered him for a long time before he agreed. This is actually the first time I’ve acted on my own thoughts. Shi’an, I, I wanted to give you a surprise.”
For the inarticulate beastman to have squeezed out so many words at once was not easy!
Hua Shi’an met his gaze from across the distance, a joyful curve on his lips, his stiff tone gradually softening. “Silly, if you don’t tell me, the chief will. How can you keep something like this from me? I know you meant well, but don’t let a surprise turn into a scare. I’ll be worried.”
“Look, look,” Hua Shi’an pointed to the slightly bruised area under his own eyes and complained in a low voice, “Such heavy dark circles. I haven’t slept well these past few days.”
Actually, it was from staying up late to knit the coir shirt, but also because of the beastman in front of him.
“Is…” Mo Huaishan’s eyes were astonishingly bright. “Worried about me, me?”
Hua Shi’an shook the cypress branch and said very frankly, “Yes. Who else? Should I be worried about Yan Qiuyu?”
“No, I don’t want you to.” Mo Huaishan said without thinking, his ear tips turning a faint red.
“I really like the tree tomatoes. Thank you, Huaishan. But you’re not allowed to hide things from me in the future. We, we’ll discuss things.” His body temperature inexplicably rose. Hua Shi’an touched his cheek. Hiss, it was a little hot.
He couldn’t continue this topic. Hua Shi’an let go of the branch, picked up the coir shirt he had just finished knitting, and handed it to Mo Huaishan. “Your beast form is different from the tribe members. I don’t know if you want to change back to your beast form for the winter. Don’t hesitate. If you want to change, then change. If you don’t, then put on the clothes. It will be a little warmer.”
“For me?” Mo Huaishan’s breath hitched. He stared at the coir shirt without blinking, his pupils and the hand holding the clothes trembling slightly.
Hua Shi’an laughed at him. “You’re asking the obvious. I knitted it based on my estimation of your size. Try it on and see if it fits.”
“I, I can’t take it. You wear it, Shi’an. You don’t even have any clothes yet.” Mo Huaishan was about to stuff the coir shirt into Hua Shi’an’s hands and quickly added, “It’s different now. I have my own tree hollow. I can change back to my beast form for the winter.”
Hua Shi’an: “Why don’t you unfold it and see? How can I wear something so big?”
Hearing this, Mo Huaishan unfolded the folded coir shirt. As Hua Shi’an had said, the coir shirt with shoulder straps was very large. Hua Shi’an’s small frame would be drafty in it.
Knowing that he was worried about him not having clothes, Hua Shi’an waved the bamboo needle in front of his eyes, using both hard and soft tactics. “I’ve already started knitting. I’ll have one to wear in a couple of days. You should hurry up and try it on. I went through a lot of trouble to knit it. Don’t disappoint me.”
The faint red on his ear tips had moved to his eyes. Mo Huaishan turned his face away and, as if he had obtained a priceless treasure, clutched the coir shirt tightly in his palm. “I’m dirty. I’ll try it on after a bath.”
As long as he was willing to accept it, it was fine. Hua Shi’an grunted softly.
“Oh right.” Mo Huaishan suddenly thought of something, put down the coir shirt, and stood up, walking quickly towards the back basket with the tree tomatoes.
The back basket had been marked. He accurately found his own back basket, grabbed the back strap with both hands, and without any warning, tipped the back basket over.
Amidst Hua Shi’an’s surprised cry, Mo Huaishan poured all the tree tomatoes from the back basket onto the ground, and more than ten large, complete, and smooth-walled clam shells were revealed.
He picked up the clam shells and stacked them together, presenting them to Hua Shi’an like a treasure, his eyes smiling, his gaze exceptionally gentle. “I didn’t have a chance to go down to the river when I was with the hunting team on the mountain. I finally had the chance this time. For you, Shi’an. You said you wanted them.”
How long ago was that? The person himself had almost forgotten. A casual remark had been remembered for so long. His heart was wrapped in a warm current. Hua Shi’an reached out, but his hand passed over the stack of clam shells and instead, he grabbed the beastman’s wrist.
“If you don’t want to change back to your beast form, do you want to spend the winter together?”
