The morning of the first day of winter was no different from the last Moonless Day; There was no transition between night and day and it turned from darkness to dawn in an instant.

Night on a Moonless Day was dark and nothing could be seen at all. Chen Qi lost interest and went back to his room in a daze to sleep after midnight. There was no fire keng in the room and he was awakened by the cold the next morning even though he had on two layers of fur blankets. Chen Qi shivered and got up. Aze was already cooking some rice paste.

Chen Qi went to the storage room and retrieved a short string of cured meat. He diced the cured meat and added them into the rice paste to make a meat porridge. The little wolf cub excitedly circled Aze all morning. Aze opened and poured half a milk fruit for its breakfast. Yesterday’s harvest included a whole backpack full of milk fruits, which was enough to feed the little wolf cub for a long time.

Chen Qi’s lips curled upwards as he opened two milk fruits and poured them into a pottery bowl to warm them up before taking some hot water from the nearby pottery jar to wash up. When Chen Qi came back out, the little wolf cub had already finished its breakfast and was sprawled out in front of the pottery bowl filled with milk fruit, its big eyes staring at the steaming liquid inside.

“Chen Qi, the little cub has already eaten. Feeding him some more will upset its stomach.” Aze thought that Chen Qi had prepared the milk fruit in the pottery bowl for the little wolf cub, so he reminded him.

“Who said it was for this little brat?” Chen Qi reached out his hand and flicked the little wolf cub in the head. The little wolf cub rolled twice on the ground, away from the pottery bowl.

Chen Qi picked up the pottery bowl, and the fragrance of milk rushed at him. He took a sip. The smooth and light tasting milk tasted much better than the boxed milk he used to drink. Chen Qi handed the bowl to Aze. “You should try it. The milk fruit tastes quite good.”

Aze was a little surprised. It was his first time seeing a beastman that was of age drinking a cub’s milk fruit. However, he didn’t refuse Chen Qi’s kindness and took a sip from the pottery bowl. The taste was sweet, and Aze couldn’t say if he liked the milky fragrance, but he didn’t hate it either. The little wolf pup was not happy anymore. It thought Chen Qi was preparing food for itself, but he unexpectedly drank it for himself. Crying out with two awoo’s, it jumped into Aze’s arms, its pair of eyes filled with tears, looking very pitiful.

Aze glanced at the pottery bowl in his hand, then at the little wolf cub in his arms. He was a little tangled over whether to feed the little wolf cub a little bit more. Chen Qi took back the pottery bowl and very quickly drank up the rest of the milk fruit. He licked his lips with satisfaction and cheekily grinned at the little wolf cub. The little wolf pup stared at Chen Qi with a shocked expression, then it wriggled its tiny butt out of Aze’s arms and hopped off, running back to his little nest with a few frustrated snorts. He dove into the hide blanket and ignored the two men.

Aze looked at Chen Qi, who was robbing the little cub with amusement, and handed the cooked meat porridge to him. After breakfast, Chen Qi felt that his whole person was warm from the inside out. Chen Qi planned to go outside to have a look at the scene of the first day of winter.

As soon as the thick hide door curtain was lifted, a blast of cold wind poured into the room and the sight that greeted Chen Qi’s eyes was the same as that first day he’d come into this world.

The withered, yellowed weeds were almost all bent over by the foot of snow. Apart from the fig tree, which remained as green as ever, all the other plants on the plains seemed to have withered overnight. The leaves of the nearby acacia tree had fallen away, and only white snow covered the branches. Chen Qi couldn’t imagine how much snow must have fallen last night.