Qin Ziheng’s brows knit again. He knew how much force he’d used.
That blow just now, a melon would have been smashed to pulp on the spot, yet this bird had actually managed to fly off?
Something wasn’t right!!!
Where had a bird come from?
Qin Ziheng looked around. Beneath and around him was flattened brown wild grass, farther off, everything was lush green, overhead were dense branches. That tree, it would probably take three people to encircle it, and its leaves were bizarre too, the veins running through them actually red.
Having grown up in the village since childhood, he knew most plants and trees, but he’d never seen a tree like this.
Where were there still mountains with trees this big? If there were, they’d have made the headlines long ago.
And besides, the mountains these days were mostly planted with cultivated trees, wild trees were rare.
Their village was just so, what people grew was either China fir or pine. Where had a tree like this come from?
Most crucial of all: hadn’t he been in a car accident? How could he have fallen down here?
For a moment Qin Ziheng couldn’t make head or tail of it. He found his clothes half-damp, as though he’d been caught in a heavy rain, his head heavy and muddled, his whole body sore and aching.
The ground beneath him was flat and moist. He figured it might have rained while he was unconscious, he’d lain here who-knew-how-long in wet clothes, and now they were half-dry, so a fever wasn’t so strange.
Bracing against the tree trunk beside him, he struggled to his feet and looked around. Everything nearby was unfamiliar. This was not Wande Village!
His fingers inadvertently brushed a hollow, smooth and slick. Qin Ziheng instinctively turned to look, and then his pupils contracted sharply, his breath catching at once. He staggered back several steps, staring in disbelief at the claw marks on the trunk.
The marks were rather jagged, as if scored by sharp claws. When the village’s mongrels pawed at the wooden gates, the scratches looked just like this.
The one difference was that each of these gouges was some five or six centimeters wide.
From that, one could well imagine how enormous those claws must be, nearly the size of an excavator’s.
If it had been only that, Qin Ziheng wouldn’t have been so stunned. What made him lose his composure was that the marks were fairly fresh, the tree sap on them not yet fully dried.
Qin Ziheng surveyed his surroundings and immediately wanted to run. Why was this grass flattened to the ground, and in a circular shape? Why was the exposed ground so flat and smooth? Because this was likely some animal’s lair.
Every animal, whatever kind, had a fierce sense of territory. Qin Ziheng bolted at once into the woods.
He paid no mind to direction, what mattered now was getting away from here first.
He wanted to head for the foot of the mountain, but he hadn’t run long before his head was pounding fit to burst, his temples throbbing wave after wave. His glasses had fallen off somewhere, he hadn’t seen them earlier. He was only slightly nearsighted, but now, probably because of the fever, everything within his field of vision was a blur.
Forcing himself onward a while longer, he could bear it no more. Bracing against a trunk, he gasped for breath, and the air he exhaled seemed to come out steaming hot, what he saw had even begun to double faintly.
The grass not far off parted to either side, probably the trace of a wild beast passing through.
Instinct told him these mountains were very dangerous, he had to get away at once.
Qin Ziheng found a wooden stick to lean on and, footsteps unsteady, made his way down the mountain step by step, that line from the misty rain, the one he’d heard as he closed his eyes, echoing over and over in his mind.
“…As long as Bao Wa’er is happy and well, Grandpa is glad.”
He had to be well.
He couldn’t fall here.
Absolutely not!
But the woods were simply too vast, the branches overhead all but blotting out the sky, only a faint scatter of light falling to the ground through the gaps.
In the mountains it was hard to tell the directions apart, Qin Ziheng could only head for the foot of the mountain by feel.
He hadn’t gone far when, probably startled by his appearance, something suddenly darted out from beside the path.
The thing was nearly the size of a twenty-six-inch suitcase. Qin Ziheng halted.
The thing, seeing perhaps that he hadn’t given chase and catching no scent of danger off him, actually stopped after leaping a good distance away and turned to look back at him.
Red eyes, gray fur, two long ears.
It was a rabbit.
Qin Ziheng stared at the suitcase-sized rabbit a while, unable to gather his wits, his thundering heartbeat all but ringing in his ears. He sensed dimly that things were in a very bad way.
The rabbit looked back at him for no more than two seconds, then hopped into the grass and vanished in an instant.
Qin Ziheng’s brows drew tight. He exhaled hard twice and made to keep heading downhill, when suddenly the grass to his left rustled again, a very loud sound, far louder than the noise the rabbit had made.
Qin Ziheng immediately backed two steps to lean against a tree, raising his stick, holding his breath as he watched the grass not far off.
Whatever was coming had to be a big fellow, the sound was loud, and the grass thrashed violently.
Out here in the wild mountains it couldn’t possibly be a person. And the grass was only about one meter forty tall, if it were a person, he couldn’t fail to see them. The thing had to be moving on all fours, that was why it made such a commotion low in the grass.
Maybe a wild boar.
These days, a large wild beast in the mountains could only be a wild boar.
He had no strength, he couldn’t run.
Qin Ziheng’s eyes narrowed slightly, his whole figure instantly giving off a dangerous, sharp air.
Just as the thing was about to break out of the grass, he softened his footsteps and, stick raised, slowly walked over, planning to strike first the moment the thing showed its head, get in one blow ahead of the beast [1]meaning: strike first to gain the upper hand jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2954294_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2954294_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
At last he saw a black spot!
Qin Ziheng put all his strength into it and brought the stick down hard toward the thing.
Mao Xiaoshu had just poked his big black head out of the grass when he saw a stick coming at him, whistling through the air, and was so frightened his eyes flew wide open. He collapsed onto his backside and let out a yelp.
Not a wild boar, it was a person!!
At the last hair’s breadth, with the stick only a finger’s width from the other’s head, Qin Ziheng hastily stayed his hand [2]meaning: a split second from disaster jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2954294_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2954294_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
Mao Xiaoshu was so scared the tears spilled out. Seeing the other lower the stick, he didn’t even wait to see which beast this was before bursting into tears.
“You hit people, you hit people. Xiaoshu didn’t eat your meat-meat, didn’t take your fruit, and you hit people, that’s not right. When I get back I’m going to tell the chief you hit people.”
Qin Ziheng let out a heavy breath, his taut nerves loosening with it, and sank to his knees, drained, across from Mao Xiaoshu, whose face and hands were covered in bits of grass.
Mao Xiaoshu was still wailing away, so loud it made Qin Ziheng’s head throb worse, yet he couldn’t lose his temper, and even had to apologize. “I’m sorry… Did I scare you? I didn’t mean to just now.”
His voice was dry and hoarse, but still gentle, like a warm spring breeze that made one nearly tipsy.
Mao Xiaoshu’s ghastly howling cut off abruptly. He followed the sound and looked up, and saw the most beautiful beast he had seen in his whole life.
Qin Ziheng’s fever was rather high, his cheeks flushed a faint red, his half-dry hair a little messy yet looking uncommonly soft, three shirt buttons still undone, his exquisite collarbones bared at the collar.
This was not a beast of the tribe.
Who was he?
For a moment Mao Xiaoshu even forgot to be afraid. He swiped the back of his hand roughly across his eyes and just stared fixedly at Qin Ziheng.
This was clearly a bit rude, but Qin Ziheng didn’t mind. The other’s eyes were very pure, dark and black, and probably because he’d just cried, still a little watery, looking utterly harmless. And whatever was going on with his hair, all in a mess, yet as if deliberately permed, blown out as though it had exploded, it looked quite comical.
Besides, he’d been in the wrong first. And what’s more, faced with a thing like this, an ordinary person might be frightened to tears, but a boy of sixteen or seventeen never would, they’d have jumped up and cursed, furious, “Screw you.”
This person…
Qin Ziheng managed, “I really am sorry just now, for scaring you. Can you tell me where this is? I think I’ve come down with a fever and want to get to a hospital. Do you know where a hospital is?”
What was a hospital?
Mao Xiaoshu had never heard of it, and he didn’t understand what “fever” meant either.
He shook his head.
Qin Ziheng felt his body heavy as a thousand catties, and thick-skinned, he asked, “Then could I trouble you to help me down the mountain?”
This Mao Xiaoshu understood. He nodded hurriedly, and the moment he stood up from the ground, he went to take Qin Ziheng’s hand.
He hadn’t noticed before, but now, seeing the clothes the other wore, Qin Ziheng’s brows knit again.
If he wasn’t mistaken, that looked like rabbit hide!
Rabbit hide on the market these days was all processed, no one would wear this kind of barely-processed hide straight on their body.
Mao Xiaoshu helped Qin Ziheng down the mountain. He could feel that Qin Ziheng was burning hot all over, the air he breathed out hot too.
He grew a little worried. “Have you caught the hot-hot sickness?” When his own father had caught the hot-hot sickness, he’d been like this too, scorching all over.
Qin Ziheng forced the corner of his mouth up. “Mm.”
This person was even handsome when he smiled!
Mao Xiaoshu’s cheeks went red, so nervous his steps nearly stumbled. Abruptly he let go of Qin Ziheng, and before Qin Ziheng could say anything, crouched in front of him and said, “The hot-hot sickness is really miserable. I, I’ll carry you back. Grandpa Rabbit in the tribe has bitter medicine, I’ll take you to have some, and once you do you’ll be better.”
Qin Ziheng paused.
Mao Xiaoshu looked to be only about one meter seventy-three, and to Qin Ziheng he seemed thin and small, like a little potato, how could he possibly carry him?
Just now, from helping him walk that little while, Qin Ziheng had clearly felt the other’s breathing turn a bit ragged, even just supporting him had tired him out, how could he carry him?
He shook his head and said no need.
Mao Xiaoshu let out a disappointed “oh,” stood up, and helped him along again.
They’d gone barely two hundred meters. The mountain path was truly hard going, and Qin Ziheng really couldn’t hold out any longer, his legs had no strength at all, the breath he drew seemed to shoot straight into his throat, and his head spun so badly he wanted to vomit.
Mao Xiaoshu saw how hard he was panting, clearly so weak he could barely walk, yet still afraid of leaning too heavily on him, trying his best not to lean into him at all. This beast was really so kind.
He plucked up his courage and once more crouched down in front of Qin Ziheng, turning his head and tipping his face up slightly to look at him. In those round, guileless eyes, unsullied by the world, showed a flicker of hope and unease.
Twisting his fingers anxiously, he said in a small voice, “I… I’ll carry you.”
This time Qin Ziheng couldn’t refuse again.
Seeing that he didn’t object, Mao Xiaoshu broke into a smile at once, brilliant, like a stray child who’d suddenly found a piece of candy.
He was very strong, and even though Qin Ziheng stood nearly one meter ninety, he carried him steadily all the same.
Qin Ziheng really was miserable. Mao Xiaoshu carried him a little while, and hearing him say nothing, worked up his courage again to ask what Qin Ziheng had been doing in the woods, had he come to pick wild fruit?
It was silent all around. Mao Xiaoshu’s ears twitched, apart from the birdcalls and his own footsteps, he heard nothing more.
This beast hadn’t answered him.
Mao Xiaoshu turned his head to look, the other had already fallen asleep against his shoulder, his scorching breath spilling over Mao Xiaoshu’s neck. It tickled a little, but it smelled sweet.
Just now, while he’d been searching for bird eggs, he’d smelled this sweet scent. He’d thought it was wild fruit and followed it here.
Turned out it wasn’t wild fruit.
It was this beast.
This beast really smelled sweet!
There was some incense on Qin Ziheng’s clothes, a faint floral scent, not too strong, but Mao Xiaoshu was a demi-beast, and though a demi-beast’s sense of smell couldn’t match a male beast’s, it was still keener than an ordinary person’s.
He met no beasts entering the tribe. It was high noon now, the sun blazing hot, everyone was hiding in the stone caves, the hunting party was off hunting, the gathering party busy outside the tribe, so no one noticed that Mao Xiaoshu had carried a person back.
Mao Xiaoshu carried Qin Ziheng back to his stone cave and laid him on the stone bed. Seeing him look so miserable, brows knit the whole time, he hurried off into the tribe again.
He had to find Grandpa Rabbit. Grandpa Rabbit could cure the hot-hot sickness.
Grandpa Rabbit was the tribe’s only beast-healer. On any given day he was either out on the path gathering herbs, or on the path to tend some sick beast of the tribe.
The Beast World lived by hunting, and injuries were commonplace. Every time the male beasts went out, they carried their lives on their belts [3]meaning: risking their necks jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2954294_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2954294_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. Grandpa Rabbit was first-rate at dressing wounds with herbs, and treating fevers took a bit of skill too.
When he saw Mao Xiaoshu come running, drenched in sweat, Grandpa Rabbit got a fright, thinking something had happened to him. But without a word Mao Xiaoshu came into the cave and grabbed him, saying urgently, face tight, that someone needed saving.
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