Chapter 38: CH 38

Two big hide bundles filled with salt stones were piled up by Chen Qi’s feet and Ashu said, “Here are all the leftover salt stones our tribe didn’t end up trading. If you need them, you can have them all.”

Chen Qi looked surprised, “So much?” Naturally, Chen Qi wouldn’t refuse having more salt stones, but what baffled him was how this mound of salt stones were what the Salt-Water Tribe had not managed to exchange.

“These were all intended to be traded for flint. My brother is teaching our tribespeople how to drill into wood to start a fire. Our tribe is grateful to you and told me to give these to you. This many salt stones would be able to last you for many, many years then? Will you be coming for future gatherings?” Ashu looked at Chen Qi hopefully.

There were at least three or four hundred salt stones in the four large bundles. Even if Chen Qi intended to cure all the prey from hunts going forward, they would still be sufficient to last him the next two or three years. “What will happen in the future is still uncertain, but if there is a need to, I’d likely come back .”

Ashu was a little disappointed. He was quite fond of this male who seemed to know a lot. If only he were a member of our tribe. “We plan to head back to our tribe tomorrow.” The Salt-Water Tribe was very far away from here. This year, they would go home ahead of schedule. If they were fast enough, they should be able to be back at the tribe before winter.

Although the Lion-Wolf Tribe’s square was very large, Chen Qi’s method of drilling into wood to start a fire still caused a great sensation. In a short while, almost all the beastmen who came to the gathering knew there was a way to start a fire without flint.

Even though Aze did not speak much, he patiently demonstrated the process to the newly gathered people, over and over again. When the pile of firewood they’d collected started to dwindle down to a certain extent, some people even started bringing over firewood from their own homes. Those who did not understand would ask Aze, repeatedly, and only when they managed to make a fire by this method would they excitedly withdraw from the crowd of onlookers to make room for newcomers.

Chen Qi, who was talking to Ashu, noticed the man called Ai Li standing outside of the crowd, looking at the surrounded Aze with a gloomy face. Chen Qi narrowed his eyes slightly, but continued, “Be careful on your way back. Not too long ago, I encountered a hyena-drake on the plains. I don’t know if that hyena-drake is still wandering around the plains.” Chen Qi warned.

Crossing  to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP)  is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.

“You saw a hyena-drake on the plains?” Ashu was taken aback, but before he could ask for more details, Chen Qi had already turned and walked towards the middle of the crowd that was still watching the demonstrations on how to drill into wood to start a fire.

Aze had been demonstrating for several hours. Despite having hands that were rough and thick due to long-term hunting, they were still rubbed red. Chen Qi asked Aze to stop and let the others from the Rock-Mountain Tribe take his place to give the demonstrations. Those who hadn’t learned the technique also dragged away those who had already learned it to give demonstrations. Aze was then free to get some rest.

Chen Qi thought that the man would come and say something, but when he saw Aze being pulled away by Chen Qi, he just glanced mockingly, turned around and left.

From a bamboo tube, Chen Qi poured a little water to wash Aze’s red hands. Fortunately, there was no broken skin. Albeit it was he that had asked Aze to demonstrate to them, he could not help but lightly chastised, “Don’t you know how to take breaks? Who would be as foolish as you, immersing yourself in the task for so long?”

Aze thought Chen Qi was angry at him and lowered his head to admit his wrongdoing, “I’m sorry.”

Chen Qi amusedly gave the other man a pat on the head, “I’m not blaming you. Besides, even if you’re reckless, the one who’ll be the tired is you yourself.”

“Did you deliberately let me demonstrate to them?”

“En, why? Are you angry?”

Aze shook his head. It was the first time he had been surrounded by so many people wanting to ask him for advice. He felt a little unaccustomed to it, but deep down he was also very happy.

Chen Qi brought over some roast meat that had been kept warm by the fire and handed it to Aze. “You’re probably hungry. Eat a little something first.”

Aze accepted it and took a bite of roast meat off the skewer. He hadn’t felt anything earlier since he had been busy, but now his stomach was reacting to the smell of the roast meat. After travelling the whole day, followed by hours of drilling into the wood to start fires, he was really hungry at the moment.

After chewing for a while, Aze raised his head as if he thought of something and asked, “Chen Qi, have you eaten?”

Chen Qi handed the meat broth to the other man. “We have all eaten already, and these were all set aside for you.”

Aze accepted the still-steaming meat broth. Perhaps it had been stewed for a longer period of time, it tasted much better than the broth he usually drank. After a mouthful, even his heart felt warm.

The sky had long turned dark and the square was filled by the glows from large and small fires. Chen Qi looked at the man opposite him who was earnestly eating roast meat and had to ask, “Aze, who was the man who came to see you today?”

Aze’s hands stopped moving. “That man, his name is Ai Li. He was the person I rescued from the Loya Forest. I heard that his tribe used to live in the forest and was later destroyed by hyena-drakes.”

Crossing  to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP)  is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.

“Oh, then you must be considered his savior?” The man’s behavior did not resemble how one would treat their lifesaver though.

Afraid that Chen Qi would misunderstand, Aze hurriedly explained, “I have no relationship with him. After bringing him back to the tribe, we hardly had any contact.”

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“If he’d asked to live with you like I did, would you have agreed?”

Aze looked at Chen Qi in silence. If Ai Li had asked to live with him when he’d brought him back to the tribe, would he have agreed? Probably not. He still remembered the resentful look in Ai Li’s eyes when saw the smoothness of his right wrist. Compared to the looks from the tribespeople who simply ignored his existence, it was even more awful. It was like he was the culprit who’d destroyed his tribe.

Seeing Aze keeping silent, Chen Qi felt a little uncomfortable in his heart. He poked at the red-hot charcoal in the fire with a wooden stick. “Aze, let’s go home early tomorrow morning.”

“Okay.” Home, he liked this word.

Naturally, Chen Qi wasn’t going to let Aze carry all of the four big bags of salt stones back by himself. He also planned to take some time to look for other edible things along the way. Chen Qi was already fed up with having only salt and wild ginger as seasonings. If he could find another perilla on the way home, Chen Qi would be happy for several days.

The rest of the Rock-Mountain Tribe would stay for another day. Azhang had brought Ale along this time in hopes that the young female could find a mate during this gathering. Naturally, he had to leave some time for him.

The animal skins and pottery they’d brought had all been replaced with salt stones, so their luggage for the trip home was naturally much less. The two females in the tribe who’d learned how to drill into wood to start a fire were very grateful to Chen Qi, and when they saw that Chen Qi had obtained so many salt stones, they enthusiastically offered to help bring them back for him. Of course, Chen Qi wouldn’t refuse, knowing the females’ great strength. Chen Qi also sewed two super-large hide backpacks overnight and loaded them up with salt stones. Chen Qi handed the two salt stones laden backpacks to the Rock-Mountain Tribe females. He and Aze planned to carry two empty backpacks and set off in search of food.

The beast people in the square were excited all night by the matter of drilling into wood to start a fire. It was not until dawn that they gradually dispersed.

Early the next day, Chen Qi cooked some roast meat and filled the bamboo tube with boiled water. Then, after he and Aze hurriedly finished breakfast, they bade farewell to Azhang and left the tribe when there were few people around.

Because he was going to be looking for things in the grass, Chen Qi came down from Aze’s back after leaving the perimeter of the Lion-Wolf Tribe.

The sun had just climbed up from the horizon. It was quiet all around, and dew still hung off the withered grass leaves. Chen Qi took off his fur clothing and replaced it with his shirt. He rolled the removed clothing up and tied it to his waist. He had his dragon-horn knife in hand, and his expression said he was raring to go. With his chin raised slightly, he said to the man beside him, “Let’s go.”

Crossing  to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP)  is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.

Aze nodded, “Okay.” He was also looking forward to what new food Chen Qi could find. It would be great if they’d find some sweet potatoes. He would very much like to eat roasted sweet potatoes made by Chen Qi.

Chen Qi searched carefully and did not intend to leave any patch of grass unchecked. Aze had to split his attention to also keep an eye out on the surrounding situation in the wilderness, and he was naturally not as fast.

Before he left the Lion-Wolf Tribe, Axu had originally planned to go over to see Chen Qi and say goodbye, but he didn’t expect the other party to leave even earlier than himself. He felt a little annoyed that he didn’t get up earlier.

Ashu had sharp eyes. Shortly after leaving the Lion-Wolf Tribe, he caught sight of two beastmen figures moving about strangely not far away. He reached out a hand and pulled at Axu who was in front of him. “Brother, doesn’t that look like Chen Qi?”

Axu looked in the direction Ashu had indicated and found that it really was Chen Qi. The two brothers notified their tribe’s leading female and planned to go over to say goodbye to Chen Qi.

Chen Qi was handing Aze a thistle. They had been searching for almost an hour, but all they found were two thistles. The excitement Chen Qi had originally felt had been blown away.

Aze saw Chen Qi’s gloomy expression and comforted him, “The plains are not suitable for many plants. Next time I’ll take you to the outer edges of the forest. There are many different kinds of plants there.”

“Isn’t the forest very dangerous? If I go, I’d just be a burden.” Just imagining the ferocity of the dragons was enough to deter Chen Qi. He was very self-aware of his lousy capacity for combat. He didn’t want to become food for something else before he could find food.

“Before winter comes, the dragons will not come out to the periphery. We will only look around the outer edges of the forest. If we don’t go in too deep, it will not be dangerous. The males of the tribes also go to the outskirts of the forest to pick wild fruits in the summer.”

Chen Qi’s eyes lit up, “Then let’s go to the forest and have a look after the roof is finished.”

“Okay.”

“Chen Qi.” Ashu waved while calling out Chen Qi’s name and soon the brothers reached the two of them.

Chen Qi looked at them curiously. “What are you two doing here?”

“We were on our way back to our tribe and noticed you from a distance so we wanted to come over and say goodbye.” Axu explained and then continued saying, “I went over to where your tribe settled this morning to find you. I didn’t expect you to leave so early.”

Chen Qi had good impressions of the two brothers. After all, they had given him a lot of salt stones. “You both have come at the right time.”

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