Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains

The next day, Chen Qi woke up and found that he had been sleeping on the mattress he had laid out for Aze, while Aze was squatting by the fire cooking the rice paste following the same process he’d used yesterday. Chen Qi, having just woken up, was a little confused and it took him a moment to recall the current situation. Then, he was shocked awake and rushed over to Aze, asking him anxiously, “Aze, are you alright? Will your wounds reopen if you move around like this?”

Aze, who was about to say good morning to Chen Qi, was startled. “I’m fine. I’m all right already.”

Chen Qi frowned. Although the wound was showing signs of healing last night, how could it suddenly be all right after just one night? “Let me see your wound.”

“En.” Aze turned to face his back towards Chen Qi and let him unwrap the bandages on his body.

Chen Qi cleaned off the crushed plantain herbs that had been covering the wound all night. He found that the wound had mended significantly during the night and showed no signs of reopening. He applied fresh plantain herbs again before rewrapping the bandage, then had Aze put on the hide clothes that had served as a mattress for the last two nights.

After confirming that Aze really was alright, the two of them hurriedly finished eating the rice paste and quickly prepared to leave since there was nothing that they really needed to tidy up in the cave. Chen Qi put out the fire and pocketed the rest of the plantain herbs in his coat. Yesterday he’d harvested all the plantain herbs he could find nearby. These needed to be stored for the next round of reapplication.

Aze originally wanted to carry Chen Qi, but Chen Qi naturally refused. How could he, who was not hurt or sick, let a wounded person carry him? Aze couldn’t get him to change his mind and was a little disappointed.

When they left the cave, they passed by the pool of water that they’d fallen into. Thinking of the hide backpack that sank under the water, Chen Qi stopped and while he took off his coat, he told Aze, “Wait for me here. I’ll go and get the backpack back.”

Aze was stunned into a daze by Chen Qi’s sudden undressing, and was just about to prevent him from entering the water but Chen Qi had already dived headfirst into the water. Aze had never seen a beastman who could swim and he had seen a beastman who’d fallen into the Chishui River and drowned. But he also remembered how Chen Qi had pulled them both to the shore when they fell into the water that time. So although he felt distressed about Chen Qi suddenly entering the water, he did not rush in to pull him out.

The pool of water was not deep. Chen Qi soon found the hide backpack on the bottom of the pool. The backpack that had soaked in water for two days had become very heavy. Chen Qi opened the backpack, and all the fruits he’d stuffed inside had swollen up. Chen Qi grabbed the bottom of the hide backpack and, with some force, turned the backpack upside down, letting the wild fruits inside fall into the mud at the bottom of the pool. The originally clear water became murky instantly and Chen Qi swam to the surface with the empty backpack.

“Are you all right?” Aze put the coat back onto Chen Qi anxiously.

Chen Qi shook the empty backpack and said regretfully, “I’m fine. It’s just that all the things we’d picked up before were wasted.”

“In a couple of days, I’ll come back to get them again.”

Chen Qi gave him a light knock on the head. “What are you talking about? You are still injured. You are not allowed to come here until you are better.”

A twinkle appeared in Aze’s eyes, “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

On the way out, Chen Qi once again felt the strength of the beastmen. It was not easy to walk in the primeval forest. Chen Qi had to use the dragon-horn knife to clear the way and it didn’t take long before he was exhausted, yet Aze seemed unaffected.

“Chen Qi, why don’t we take a rest? I’m tired.” Aze suggested out loud, seeing Chen Qi’s forehead that was covered in sweat and his heavy panting.

“Oh, okay.” Chen Qi stopped and supported himself against a tree trunk.

With an aching heart, Aze took a few steps forward to support Chen Qi to sit down on the ground and reached out a hand to take the once-again bulging backpack. Because he’d had to throw out everything that they’d painstakingly gathered earlier, anything edible that they came across was collected and stuffed into the backpack and the empty backpack was quickly filled up again. Aze’s injury was on his back. His physical strength was better than Chen Qi’s and he was going to help Chen Qi carry the backpack but Chen Qi insisted on carrying it himself, which was why this situation was happening now.

“Chen Qi, why don’t I take the backpack?” Aze took an apple out of the backpack, handing it to Chen Qi and asked hesitantly.

Chen Qi looked at Aze’s slightly furrowed eyebrows and uneasy expression. He sighed, “Okay.” He also knew that his scum stamina only dragged them down. Originally, he was considering that Aze was still injured and although it was not obvious on the surface how serious his injury was, Chen Qi didn’t want to increase the other man’s burden. He didn’t expect that he couldn’t even handle this much. Chen Qi took a big bite of the red apple in his hand and stopped talking.

At noon, they ate wild fruits to appease their hunger and after resting, they went on their way. When they were chased by the locust dragon, they had been a little distracted and had not cared about which direction they were headed, so they’d ended up a bit of a distance away from the periphery of the forest. For the rest of the way, Chen Qi was only gathering milk fruits and was no longer collecting any other wild fruits when he unexpectedly came across two chili pepper plants.

In the afternoon, they arrived at the edge of the forest. Chen Qi’s tensed nerves, for fear of encountering the locust dragon again, finally relaxed. “Ake is here.” Aze turned towards Chen Qi and said. Aze had been responsible for clearing the path for the latter part of the journey, with Chen Qi constantly telling him not to move too much to avoid tearing open the wound.

Chen Qi looked in the direction Aze pointed towards. He saw the two figures getting closer and closer, until they soon appeared right in front of them. It was Azhang and Ake.

As soon as Azhang arrived, he raised his voice and scolded, “What are you two doing running off into the forest for several days? Don’t you know winter is coming?”

Aze was about to answer when Chen Qi replied first and said, “We encountered a locust dragon.”

“So what if you encountered a locust dragon? The locust dragon is not a carnivorous predator, how could it eat you?” Two days’ worth of fear from the lack of response from these two since they’d entered the forest had turned into anger after confirming that they were all right at the moment, and even towards Chen Qi, Azhang still sternly interrogated.

“It was an angry female locust dragon.” Aze stepped forward in front of Chen Qi and explained to the two men who’d rushed over.

“An angry female locust dragon?” Azhang’s anger turned to surprise and then he took on a solemn expression. He and Ake looked at each other, “A female locust dragon getting angry should mean that someone had hurt its cubs. There have been too many unexpected incidents in the forest and plains this year. Don’t take Chen Qi into the forest by yourself for the next few days.”

“En, I understand. I hadn’t encountered such a thing before. It was my negligence.”

“It’s not your fault. After all, this kind of thing had never happened in the outskirts of the forest before winter. When you go back, tell the males not to enter the forest for the next few days. We will also need to reconsider the plans for hunting hydrochoerus dragons in the winter.” Azhang looked at Ake. Ka Luo was the only young male in the tribe. These words were directly telling Ake not to take Ka Luo into the forest for the time being.

“Let’s go back. Ka Luo and Ali found that you hadn’t returned yesterday and were worried all day.” Azhang said and turned to leave when Aze called out to him, causing him to stop in his steps.

“Uncle Azhang, my back was wounded by the locust dragon. Can you help me carry Chen Qi back?” In his current condition, Chen Qi naturally was unwilling to let him carry him back, but at Chen Qi’s pace, it was likely that they would not make it home until tomorrow.

Azhang looked at Aze in astonishment. He didn’t look too seriously injured. How could he let another female carry Chen Qi back? Meanwhile, Ake approached Aze and asked anxiously, “Is it a serious injury?”

Aze shook his head. “It’s mostly healed up after a day of rest.”

Ake knew that as long as the female did not lose too much blood, their life would not be endangered.

So Azhang carried Chen Qi while Ake took Aze’s backpack, and they returned to Chen Qi’s newly-built home by evening. Ali and Ka Luo were waiting outside the door, inwardly relieved when they saw them returning. The little wolf cub in Ka Luo’s arms also began to make little snorting sounds and struggled to climb out.

“Brother, didn’t you say you were going to pick up the giant wolf-god cub yesterday morning? Why are you just now returning?” Ka Luo complained and stuffed the restless little wolf cub back into Aze’s arms.

Aze carefully held the little wolf cub. As soon as the little wolf cub was placed in Aze’s arms, it calmed down. It stretched out its small, pink tongue and licked Aze’s fingers, then raised its head and snorted twice, before nestling in Aze’s arms to sleep. “We ran into something unexpected and it delayed us for a little while.”

Ka Luo wasn’t really trying to scold his big brother. After confirming that they were all right, he planned to return to the tribe.

“Chen Qi, I recently made some more fabrics and brought them for you. You can use them first.” Ali looked at Chen Qi’s originally nice looking coat with a little pity. It had become tattered after a trip to the forest. As expected, cloth was not as durable as animal hides.

“Thank you.” Chen Qi had previously said that making quilts would require a large amount of cloth but he didn’t expect that Ali would still spare some time to help him weave cloths when he was so busy.

“The two of you look so haggard after a trip to the forest. Go and rest early once you get home. Winter is coming. Don’t get sick at this time.” Ali cautioned them, concerned.

Both of them responded. Ali told them a few more words before heading back to the tribe with the others.

As soon as Chen Qi entered the room, he collapsed on top of the fire keng and refused to move. Aze also set down the little wolf cub on the fire keng, then turned to start a fire.

Chen Qi lightly flicked his finger at the little wolf cub’s head, causing it to roll around on the fire keng. It got up and bared its teeth to bite Chen Qi’s fingers. Unfortunately, its baby teeth had not yet grown out. Besides a few innocuous tooth marks, it had no effect on Chen Qi.

Chen Qi looked at Aze squatting in front of the fire and murmured, “I feel like I’m eating soft rice*.”

*吃软饭 chī ruǎn fàn – literally, eat soft rice. Figuratively: to live off a woman, a kept men, a worthless idler who sponges off a woman

“What?” Hearing what Chen Qi said, Aze raised his head, full of questions.

“It’s nothing.” Chen Qi covered his face and inwardly slapped himself a few times at that sudden shameful thought. Then he let out a few groans and got up to help with the fire.

Aze smiled helplessly, pulled out the lighter that he’d been carrying on him, and lit the fire.