Chapter 106 - Storytelling

Ch106 – Storytelling

The first snowfall that winter was particularly heavy. The snowflakes that fell down one after another soon accumulated on the trees and on the ground.

The broad leaved trees had already lost their leaves, and stood there tall and bare, but some trees that had relatively smaller leaves still had some left that could barely support the snow.

However, they would probably be a lot more ‘bare’ after this round of snow.

Zhou Ji very much enjoyed this kind of winter scene, but Xiong Ye wasn’t willing to let him stand outside and watch for too long, “It’s snowing so much, and the weather is so cold. Let’s stay at home and not go out, lest we get frozen.”

Xiong Ye was truly worried about Zhou Ji. Seeing that Zhou Ji hadn’t reacted, he continued, “You might not know, but a few winters ago, there was a child in the tribe that was too hungry and had run outside to look for food. As a result, they spent too much time walking around on the snowy ground, and their feet became frostbitten. After he came back to the tribe and thawed out by the fire, his two feet practically fell off his legs… He died soon after.”

After Xiong Ye finished speaking, both fear and sadness appeared on his face.

“Such a thing won’t happen again.” Zhou Ji hugged Xiong Ye.

Xiong Ye wasn’t very old and hadn’t reached adulthood a few years ago. The person he spoke of… Might have been a companion of around the same age. As for their feet being frozen off… It was easy for fingers and toes and so on to suffer from frostbite, and if it wasn’t dealt with properly, it was possible for the affected parts to fall off.

“That’s true!” Xiong Ye soon cheered up, “Nobody will go hungry in the future. A lot of people can be kept alive on earth eggs and barley alone, and we’ll have even more of those things next year.”

Zhou Ji nodded.

Tribes couldn’t grow and expand just by hunting and gathering. On the other hand, if they were able to start planting and farming… they could feed many more people.

Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye went back to their bedroom together.

Taking into consideration Xiong Ye’s animal form, their bedroom had been built to be quite large. It was five meters long and five meters wide, and other than the bed, there was also a large pit inside the bedroom.

Zhou Ji had laid out some animal hides by the pit and lit a fire inside. The room soon warmed up from the fire.

The walls were made of very, very thick mud, and the windows were sealed up, so the only light in the room was provided by the fire that had been lit… The room warmed up very quickly.

Zhou Ji had requested to be given all the seeds. What he had told others was that leaving the seeds with him would make it more convenient to plant them next year, but in reality… He had taken half of the seeds and made roasted pumpkin seeds––they didn’t need that many seeds to plant pumpkins with, anyway.

He had first heated up the pot with nothing else inside, then poured the pumpkin seeds inside and stir-fried them for a while before adding a little bit of dissolved salt water and roasting them again. With that, the mildly salty pumpkin seeds were ready to eat.

Unfortunately, there was too little of it.

“What is this?” Xiong Ye asked.

“Pumpkin seeds. Give it a try.” Zhou Ji said.

Xiong Ye grabbed a few pumpkin seeds and tossed them into his mouth directly. He chewed, then ate them, “They’re very tasty.”

Zhou Ji laughed lightly, “Have more if you like them.”

After saying so, he picked up a few and slowly started to crack them open.

Xiong Ye saw that Zhou Ji was peeling the shells for such a little snack and found it a little funny.

The shell that contained the pumpkin seeds wasn’t that hard and didn’t need to be peeled at all! However, it was probably tastier after peeling.

Seeing Zhou Ji eating the pumpkin seeds so slowly, Xiong Ye no longer picked up any more pumpkin seeds to eat. There was only a small amount of seeds, and he could finish them all in a few bites. He also didn’t find them particularly delicious, so he might as well not eat them and leave them for Zhou Ji to eat.

However, the peeling of the pumpkin seeds actually reminded Xiong Ye of something else he could do–-he went to find a big bucket of barley and the appropriate tools, then started to hull the barley.

After their new home was built, Zhou Ji had planted a lot of barley in the yard. This barley had been set out to dry and stored away a long time ago, but they hadn’t had time to remove the shells, and he just happened to be free right now.

Zhou Ji quietly ate his pumpkin seeds while Xiong Ye struck the barley gently to remove the shells. The two of them enjoyed a rare period of leisure time while lounging around the fire.

“This house is really nice. Before, it would feel cold and icy in the cave even if a fire was lit.” Xiong Ye said. He had always lived in caves before. At the time, he would still feel cold even if he layered many animal hides beneath his body, but it was different in this house.

The dirt under their feet had been pounded flat and baked dry by fire. Now that there was a fire lit inside… At the moment, sitting next to the fire, the dirt under his body felt warm and cozy, making him want to lie down on the spot.

“You can have the people of the tribe build more houses next year, and have everyone live in houses.” Zhou Ji suggested. Although that valley was safe, the living conditions there were definitely not comparable to living in the mud houses.

“I think so too!” Xiong Ye told Zhou Ji about his many thoughts for the future, and also began to share his experiences with the various things he had encountered during past winters.

“Before, during winter, I had no salt, and the meat I had to eat slowly went rank as I left it there for longer and longer. Later on, I made a pile of snow outside to freeze the meat, but it somehow ended up being stolen…”

“I’ve gone to catch fish in winter. I made a hole in the ice, and those fish would stick their heads out. I would catch one every time they came out! I can go and catch you one in a few days!”

“After winter is just over, a lot of very tasty tender grass will grow when the snow melts.”

……

Zhou Ji patted Xiong Ye on the head. Xiong Ye was talking about genuine grass that was certainly not tasty. He had probably found it tasty because he had been way too hungry.

“Stop touching my head…” Xiong Ye said. When he opened his mouth to speak, he found it stuffed with something. He chewed it and only then discovered that it was the peeled pumpkin seeds.

Zhou Ji had been shelling pumpkin seeds the entire time and had created a small pile of them. As a result, they had all been given to him to eat!

Xiong Ye: “Forget it, touch it if you want.” It was probably because Zhou Ji didn’t have an animal form, so he really liked his fur. And touching his head… should be because his head was the only place with fur on it after he turned human?

Xiong Ye felt that he could tolerate his mate’s little hobby.

In recent days, Xiong Ye had been very busy. Now that he was suddenly free, he started feeling that there was nothing to do. After the barley had been hulled, Xiong Ye said, “Now that I’m full and warm and cozy, I don’t want to hibernate at all, but I also don’t want to go out, and there’s nothing to do.”

“There are things to do.” Zhou Ji said. “You can learn to recognize words.”

Xiong Ye: “……”

Zhou Ji continued, “If you can learn twenty words today, I’ll tell you a story.”

Xiong Ye was instantly full of energy, “Alright!” Zhou Ji had told him stories before when he was teaching him how to fight. Those stories had been very interesting to listen to, and he really wanted to hear more.

“In that case, start learning. When you’re done, I’ll tell you the story of Xiong Da and Xiong Er.” Zhou Ji said. While he taught Xiong Ye, he also recalled a certain cartoon series where the main character had been a bear and took advantage of the time to begin making up a story.

It certainly wasn’t possible for him to speak about the cartoon directly, so the story he told about Xiong Da and Xiong Er going out on adventures eventually turned into a story with Beast Kings. Xiong Ye would definitely enjoy a story like that.

Xiong Ye was focused on wanting to hear the story and excitedly began to learn. At the same time, inside the priest’s cave, the big and tall Xiong He was sitting opposite the thin priest, his face full of despair.

It was winter. A strong man like him who had lots of food saved up should clearly be inside his own cave, hugging his own woman to sleep. Why did he have to be here facing the priest’s wrinkled old face trying to memorize things?

Xiong He couldn’t help but speak up about it, “Priest, I have no way to communicate with the Beast God. I feel that I’m not suited to be a priest.” He had never sensed the existence of the Beast God before at all!

The priest was very calm, “That’s alright. I’m just like you and can’t communicate with the Beast God either.”

Xiong He: “……”

While Xiong He was busy being depressed, Xiong Ye had already finished learning twenty words and was lying down comfortably next to Zhou Ji as he started to listen to Zhou Ji’s story.

Xiong Da and Xiong Er were too amazing! He wanted to learn from them!