Early in the morning, Lu Xuan couldn’t stomach the greasy roasted rabbit meat, especially roasted rabbit without any seasoning at all. After forcing down a few bites, he found himself longing especially for millet porridge. Even bread with chili dip would have been fine.
The herbs had already been pounded into a paste. Lu Xuan nodded inwardly with satisfaction.
He said to Tian Xuan: “Clean the wounds, and I’ll apply the medicine for you.”
Tian Xuan stood up and ripped off the animal hide around his waist in one motion.
Lu Xuan’s eyes widened. What the, please be a bit more modest!
Wait, why are you pulling off your hide skirt?
Lu Xuan: “What are you doing?”
Tian Xuan: “Going into the water to clean the wounds.”
Lu Xuan gave him a look: “Put the hide back on. Your leg can’t go in the water. Just simply wipe off the old herbal juice from the wounds.”
Tian Xuan was silent for a moment, then sat down by the river and began wiping his body bit by bit with a piece of animal hide.
“Lu Xuan.”
“What?”
“I can’t reach my back. Can you help me?”
“Sure.”
Just part of the job. Lu Xuan took the small piece of hide from Tian Xuan and wiped off the dried herbal juice from his back.
Then he applied the fresh herbal paste. Looking at the small stream before him, he asked: “Is this river safe? Are the fish inside very ferocious?”
Tian Xuan: “No big fish. What do you want to do?”
Lu Xuan shot to his feet and immediately took off his animal hide tunic, his eyebrows filled with delight.
The original owner wore a long-sleeved animal hide tunic down to his knees and a pair of hide pants. Compared to other beastmen, who only wrapped a piece of hide around their vital parts, this was considered luxurious. Even Xiong Yuan only wrapped an extra piece around his upper body.
But since he couldn’t transform into his beast form, this set of hide clothing was essential for keeping warm. He had to take good care of it.
“Take a bath, and while I’m at it, wash my hide clothes. The weather is so nice, they’ll dry quickly.”
The words had barely left his mouth when he was already in the water.
Seeing him like this, the three cubs immediately ran on their little paws and jumped into the river.
Lu Xuan was startled: “What are you doing down here? Get back up, don’t catch a cold.”
He remembered that three- or four-month-old kittens shouldn’t bathe in cold water.
But the three little ones were already swimming around in the shallows, looking utterly content.
Lu Xuan: Fine. They’re beastmen.
Over there, the fishing cat cub dove under the water. When he resurfaced, he had a small fish as long as a finger in his mouth.
Delighted, he swam over to Lu Xuan, his two eyes sparkling, making excited sounds from his throat.
Lu Xuan smiled and reached out his hand. The fishing cat cub immediately placed the fish in his palm, then looked at Lu Xuan with those adorably dazed eyes.
Lu Xuan patted his head and praised him: “Good job. So impressive.”
Pleased with the praise, the fishing cat cub swam several happy laps around Lu Xuan. The other two cubs had already gone ashore, but the fishing cat cub lay motionless on the water plants.
Lu Xuan hung his hide clothes on a makeshift clothes rack, walked to the riverbank, and lifted the fishing cat cub out.
“Wuu wuu…” No, no, I want to soak a little longer.
Lu Xuan didn’t indulge him. As he dried the cub’s fur, he thought: even as a beastman, the fishing cat’s natural love for wetlands and water couldn’t be changed.
At the same time, his understanding of beastmen became a little clearer.
“Lu Xuan, you’re so white.”
Xiong Yue and Xiong Yan had returned from gathering, each carrying a soft basket woven from vines.
Xiong Yue marveled: “Why are you so white?”
Among all these wheatish-skinned people, Lu Xuan’s skin glowed white under the sunlight.
He pointed to the hide clothes hanging out to dry: “From covering up.”
Xiong Yue didn’t understand: “What?”
Lu Xuan: “I mean, I wear hide clothes that block the sunlight from reaching my skin, so I look relatively pale.”
Xiong Yue thought for a moment, then asked: “Then why is it that when sunlight shines on the fanged rabbit, its fur is still so white?”
Uh, that question was beyond the scope of his knowledge.
Lu Xuan: “Because I’m a tabby cat.”
Xiong Yue: “Isn’t a tabby cat’s beast form fur patterned?”
Lu Xuan pushed aside the gathering basket and asked: “What did you collect?”
Xiong Yue immediately showed off his treasures: “We gathered wild fruit, and also the herbs that Tian Xuan needs. Come see if we collected the right ones.”
Lu Xuan examined each one and said: “They’re all correct. You have a really good memory.”
Xiong Yue smiled so hard his eyes curved into crescents. He took out a green leaf bundle from his basket.
“These are wild fruits I picked. They’re small, but very sweet. Try some. If you like them, you can have them all.”
Lu Xuan said in surprise: “Blueberries?”
Xiong Yue marveled: “So your tribe calls them blueberries? That name sounds so pretty.”
Lu Xuan: …
Tian Xuan, still sitting by the water, couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. Xiong Qi glanced at him and asked in confusion: “What are you laughing at?”
Tian Xuan flattened his lips and shot him a sideway glance: “I wasn’t laughing.”
When the sun was directly overhead, Xiong Xuan and Xiong Yan returned from hunting. One carried a small deer on his shoulder, the other held several fanged rabbits in his hand.
Xiong Xuan went straight back to the hide shelter to be with Xiong Yuan. Xiong Qi and Xiong Yan processed the prey, while Lu Xuan took Xiong Yue to handle the herbs.
After the prey was cleaned, the injured Tian Xuan sat by the fire roasting the whole deer.
Xiong Qi and Xiong Yan worked the hides by the water. Xiong Yue began making meat soup.
Lu Xuan watched the two beastmen handling the whole rabbit furs and suddenly understood the meaning behind Tian Xuan’s earlier words: “Rabbit fur is soft and can be used to keep warm.”
In other words, he was complaining that Lu Xuan had wasted the rabbit fur.
Lu Xuan secretly shot the black bear a dirty look. Would it kill you to speak directly? Why go in such a roundabout way?
For a bear, he had way too many schemes.
After the deer was roasted, Tian Xuan took the bone knife and sliced off the most tender parts of the deer meat. He only stopped after filling half a basin.
Just then, Xiong Xuan came out of the hide shelter with half a basin of meat, also carrying a pot of wild vegetable and meat soup back inside.
He came out again shortly after and ate with the others, the remaining roasted deer meat, six roasted rabbits, and another pot of wild vegetable and meat soup.
Judging by their unsatisfied expressions, Lu Xuan knew they hadn’t had enough to eat.
He himself had only drunk two bowls of wild vegetable and meat soup, and he was already stuffed to the throat.
It wasn’t that his appetite was small, it was that the wooden bowls were too big, even larger than soup bowls.
He asked Xiong Yue: “Are you full?”
Xiong Yue nodded: “Yes. Aren’t you?”
Lu Xuan quickly shook his head: “No, I’m too full.”
Fortunately, Xiong Yue was there to keep him company, otherwise, he would have felt that his appetite didn’t fit in.
Xiong Yue smiled: “Beastmen naturally eat more than sub-beastmen.”
It was a matter of innate physical structure. Lu Xuan understood.
Three days later, aside from the serious injuries on Tian Xuan’s shoulder and leg, the wounds on other parts of his body had already scabbed over and were nearly healed. Lu Xuan marveled at how strong beastmen’s recovery ability was.
There were more wild fruits gathered than they could eat, so Lu Xuan learned from Xiong Yue how to dry them into dried fruit. The three cubs played not far away. Thanks to the good food, their bellies had rounded out with a layer of fat, and their fur had become even finer and smoother.
Lu Xuan sighed: “It’s really good to be a cub. Carefree and happy.”
“But cubs die easily.”
Xiong Yue didn’t understand. Without beastmen to protect them, cubs had a hard time surviving.
Wouldn’t it be better to grow up? Then you could gather and hunt on your own. Sub-beastmen couldn’t catch large prey, but they could barely manage small ones.
Lu Xuan: “…Um, you’re right.”
One was about living. The other was about surviving.
“Lu Xuan!”
Xiong Yan’s piercing cry came from afar.
Both of them were startled. The three cubs instantly ran to Lu Xuan’s side, fear on their faces.
Tian Xuan came out of the hide shelter leaning on a wooden stick, his eyes heavy.
“I’ll go take a look.”
Lu Xuan’s brow furrowed: “But your leg…”
Tian Xuan said in a deep voice: “I’m fine.”
Xiong Yue stopped him: “I’ll go. I run fast.”
Just then, Xiong Yuan came out of the hide shelter. His face carried unease and resolve: “None of you go. I’ll go.”
This was the first time in three days since giving birth that he had left the hide shelter.
“Lu Xuan, save Xiong Qi, quick.”
Xiong Yan, in beast form, appeared before everyone carrying the unconscious Xiong Qi, who was in human form.
Lu Xuan was startled and immediately rushed over.
“What happened to him?”
Xiong Yan transformed into human form and laid Xiong Qi on the ground. He said anxiously: “Lu Xuan, you have to save him.”
A bloody, mangled wound ran from Xiong Qi’s thigh all the way down to his knee. Dark blood kept flowing from the wound. In just a few breaths, it seemed the soil on the ground had been soaked through with blood.
Lu Xuan’s expression changed. He turned to Xiong Yue and said: “Bring your bone needle. Make sure it has thread. Hurry.”
Having said that, he gathered all the hemostatic herbs that had been laid out to dry, and had Xiong Yan and Tian Xuan pound them into a paste. The juice couldn’t go to waste either.
Xiong Yuan then said: “Lu Xuan, what can I do?”
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Lu Xuan’s mouth: “You go back into the hide shelter and take care of the little bear cubs. Leave this to me. This wound looks scary, but it’s actually not serious.”
The truth was, if the bleeding wasn’t stopped soon, Xiong Qi would die from blood loss.
“I brought it. I brought the bone needle.”
Xiong Yue’s hands trembled as he handed the threaded bone needle to Lu Xuan. He didn’t know why Lu Xuan needed it, but he would give it to him anyway. As long as it could save Xiong Qi, he would give anything.
Lu Xuan took the bone needle. There was no anesthetic, so he would just have to sew it raw.
He took a deep breath: “Xiong Yan, come hold him down.”
From the top of the thigh all the way down to the knee, Lu Xuan’s expression was serious, his nerves taut.
He had to add more thread once in the middle. It was fortunate that Xiong Yue was so dexterous and skilled, otherwise, they might have had to twist the thread on the spot.
Xiong Qi’s upper body was pinned down by Xiong Yan, and his legs were held down by Tian Xuan. Stitch after stitch, it wasn’t just Xiong Qi trembling—Lu Xuan wanted to tremble himself.
The three cubs had long been sent into the hide shelter by Xiong Yuan and were not allowed to come out.
Xiong Yue crouched to the side, tears falling as he pounded the herbs. How was this any different from sewing an animal hide skirt? And that was Xiong Qi’s flesh!
When he sewed hides, even accidentally pricking his finger with the bone needle hurt so much he wanted to cry.
Seeing Xiong Qi’s unconscious body trembling, it was clear how much pain he was in.
Lu Xuan’s shoulder-length hair was soaked with sweat, strands sticking to his scalp and neck.
Fine beads of sweat gathered on his forehead. When one drop was about to roll into his eye, Tian Xuan couldn’t help but reach out and wipe it away.
Once it happened, it happened twice, then three times.
When the final stitch fell into place, Lu Xuan let out a small sigh of relief. He applied all the pounded herbal paste to Xiong Qi’s wound.
Only when the bleeding truly stopped did the weight lift from Lu Xuan’s heart.
Xiong Yue wiped away his tears and asked worriedly: “Is that enough? Xiong Qi won’t die, right?”
Lu Xuan reassured him: “Don’t worry, he won’t die. Carry him into the hide shelter.”
Xiong Qi’s wound was too long, and the bleeding had just stopped, so they couldn’t make any sudden large movements. The four of them worked together to carefully move him into the hide shelter.
Xiong Yue said he would stay to take care of him, so Lu Xuan told him: “He might develop a fever. When that happens, just give him the medicine.”
Stepping out of the hide shelter, Lu Xuan smiled at Tian Xuan and said: “Thank you.”
He didn’t expect that one day he would need an assistant to wipe his sweat.
Tian Xuan was silent for a moment, then lowered his gaze and said: “You don’t need to say thank you.”
Xiong Yuan walked over at this moment and asked Xiong Yan softly: “Where is Xiong Xuan?”