Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 114
Chapter 114
Achu gathered up the rest of the jars, and in just one night, astonishingly, each jar contained an octopus. This went to show that there were indeed a lot of octopus in this area.
Unfortunately, large octopus like the one from yesterday were not commonly found. Perhaps it was also because of the size of the jars that the octopus they caught were roughly the same size as Chen Qi had expected.
After the jars were cleared of octopus, Achu placed the jars back into the water again as before, and planned to come back in the evening to see if they could catch more.
In order to thank Chen Qi for providing this simple method of octopus catching, Achu called over five or six fellow tribe members to help Chen Qi refine salt stones and help with the mussels drying.
Achu dipped his finger into the refined salt, which now resembled a sand-like texture. He tasted it and found that it no longer had the bitter taste to it. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “I never thought you would know so much.” This young male had only been here for two days. He not only taught them a new type of food, but he also showed them a simple method for catching octopus. If he could stay in their tribe for an extended period, Achu felt that their tribe would undergo a significant transformation in no time.
It was a pity that he wasn’t from their own tribe. Achu couldn’t help but glare at Axu, wishing that his eldest son could somehow snare this promising young man into their tribe.
Hearing Achu’s praise, Chen Qi smiled but did not respond further.
Refining salt stones was a time-consuming task, and Chen Qi could not stay here for too long after all. In order to speed up the process, Achu instructed the tribespeople to take the salt stones home and bring them back after refining them.
Seeing Achu and the others working tirelessly for his sake, Chen Qi felt a little guilty. “Right now, the mussels on the beach are at their fattest. You can also harvest some and sun-dry them to use as winter food or to trade with other tribes during the tribal gatherings,” Chen Qi suggested.
With the topic of tribal gatherings coming up, Achu thought for a moment and then whispered a few words to Axu. Axu nodded, and Achu straightened up, scanning the group of people from Qi Ze City, finally setting his gaze on Ahxu. It was evident that the leader of the group from Qi Ze City was this middle-aged female called Ahxu. If Achu wanted to bring up matters concerning inter-tribal affairs, he could only speak with Ahxu. Although he actually wanted to talk to Chen Qi, it was clear that Chen Qi wasn’t in charge of such matters.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“Regarding the tribal gathering during the first snowfall, this year we’d like to visit Qi Ze City. Will that be alright?” Of course, Achu would need to discuss the specifics with the other members of the tribe later.
Ahxu hesitated for a moment, placing the mussel shells that had been stripped of their meat aside. “Aren’t you going to the Lion-Wolf Tribe’s gathering?” The Lion-Wolf Tribe was the tribe with the largest number of people in the vicinity, and every year, the smaller tribes in the area would gather there to exchange resources and information. If the Salt-Water Tribe didn’t attend this year’s Lion-Wolf Tribe gathering, they would not only miss out on potential resources but also important information about events that had occurred on the plains this year. This information was crucial for planning how to defend against the hyena-drake attacks in the upcoming winter.
Achu chuckled indifferently. How could the resources exchanged with other tribes be comparable to what they could get in Qi Ze City? Just looking at the surprises Qi Ze City had brought to their tribe in the past two days was equivalent to several Lion-Wolf Tribe gathering’s worth. As for the issue of hyena-drakes, which tribe lived closer to the forest than Qi Ze City?
Seemingly concerned that Ahxu might not agree, Achu quickly added, “We have many young males in our tribe who can join us to visit Qi Ze City for the gathering.”
Chen Qi understood the implication in those words – it was essentially going to be a tribal match matching event.
The Salt-Water Tribe was a rare place with more males than females. Perhaps it was because the Salt-Water Tribe provided a stable source of food, and the rocky mountain range served as a natural defensive barrier. In this environment, the survival rate of males was quite high. Except for those who were born with congenital weaknesses and couldn’t withstand a few winters, most males could survive to adulthood.
The Salt-Water Tribe didn’t have a large population, and over generations, the tribe’s members were somewhat interrelated to some extent. Because of this, when beastmen of the Salt-Water Tribe sought mates, they had to look to other tribes. Some females who were attached to their tribe and reluctant to leave would simply have to remain mateless.
Axu, for this same reason, had also not found a suitable mate. Otherwise, with his abilities, he could have easily become a skilled hunter in any tribe.
In Qi Ze City, there were only a few adult males; besides Chen Qi, there was only Ka Luo. So Achu’s current proposal made him seriously consider it. Beside him, Ale’s eyes sparkled as he stared at Ahxu, afraid that he might refuse and wishing he could accept on his behalf.
When it came to matters of inter-tribal relations, Ahxu didn’t immediately give his consent. He glanced at Chen Qi in an inquiring manner, and Chen Qi nudged Aze, who was sitting next to him. Without even lifting his head, Aze methodically opened the shells of the cooked mussels to extract the meat and said lightly, “Before coming to the Salt-Water Tribe, the chief of the tribe had already delegated the decision-making authority to you.” In other words, they would all follow Ahxu’s lead and had no objections.
Ahxu’s eyebrows twitched, and he shot Aze a discreet glare.
Axu also added, “Even if the people of your tribe decide to mate with the males from our tribe, if they are not willing, we will not force them to come to the Salt-Water Tribe.”
Ahxu looked at him with surprise, pondered for a moment, and finally nodded. “Alright then, we weren’t planning to go to the Lion-Wolf Tribe’s gathering this year anyway either. If you can come, we would certainly welcome it.”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Achu smiled and patted Axu on the shoulder before getting up and heading out to inform the others of the news and discuss the details of the upcoming gathering.
The Salt-Water Tribe’s enthusiastic approach left the members of the Qi Ze City group somewhat stunned. Summer was barely halfway through, was there any need to be this anxious, right?
Although Chen Qi had a desire to make dried mussels and refine salt stones, he didn’t personally take charge of instructing the Salt-Water Tribe members on how to do them. Instead, he delegated this task to Ahxu and Ale. Ahxu and Ale had learned quite a bit in Qi Ze City before, and along the way, they had gained knowledge about various things from Chen Qi as well. Teaching all of this to the tribe members was not something that could be accomplished overnight.
Meanwhile Ale, who was the most skilled swimmer, was dragged by Ashu to the Salt-Water Lake to continue teaching them how to swim. In less than a day, he had already gotten along with all the young females of the Salt-Water Tribe. Ale’s fish-like swimming skills in the water left the Salt-Water Tribe females in awe, earning him a lot of admiring glances.
The task of turning over the drying mussels was handed over to Achu’s partner, Lu Se, who was assisted by two other males. Chen Qi, who was suddenly idle, planned to go walk around in the vicinity with Aze.
After checking his painting supplies, Chen Qi and Aze left Axu’s cave.
The two of them didn’t head up the rocky mountain, but instead walked along the shore of the Salt-Water Lake in the opposite direction of where they had gathered salt stones earlier. Since they didn’t have a specific destination, Chen Qi didn’t feel the need to rush. He held Aze’s hand as they leisurely strolled by the lake, enjoying a sense of having a vacation by the seaside.
A slightly salty breeze wafted over from the surface of the water, dispelling the heat around them. Aze was wearing a moss-green camouflage shirt with a woven straw hat on his head. His pants legs were rolled up slightly and he left a neat row of footprints in the golden sand behind him.
Chen Qi tilted his head slightly, looking at the unconventional straw hat, and reached out to pinch Aze’s slightly sun-kissed skin. “Next time, I should make you a more stylish hat.”
“This hat already looks very nice.”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“How does it look nice?” Chen Qi retorted. “It’s not even that effective. Look at you, your face is still tanned.” He pinched Aze’s face again. En, it feels really good.
Aze just smiled, as long as Chen Qi made it, he’d find it good-looking.
Aze’s skin wasn’t actually dark; it had a healthy and attractive wheatish tone. On the other hand, Chen Qi had indeed tanned quite a bit over the summer days. Due to his habit of wearing long sleeves, the skin that was exposed when he took off his shirt had a striking contrast with the covered areas. Fortunately, he wasn’t a girl, so he didn’t need to pay too much attention to these things. However, he couldn’t help feeling a bit annoyed every time he noticed it. How do the beastmen get such even tans? He wished he had such a skill too.
Even though the Salt-Water Lake was not a sea, perhaps because the water was salty, the creatures that grew or lived here weren’t much different from those in the sea. Chen Qi could see all kinds of shellfish and corals washed ashore by the water. Certain crabs, seemingly confident in their hard shells and having been untouched by beastmen looking for food, roamed the beach without a care. Unfortunately, today they encountered Chen Qi, who knew how to turn them into delicious food.
Ever since Chen Qi had a close call when trying to catch a crab and almost got pinched, Aze didn’t dare let him act on his own. With just a glance from Chen Qi, he took the initiative to grab the oblivious giant crab that was passing by them. With a slight exertion of his fingers, he easily snapped off both dangerous pincers.
“The crabs here are so big.” Chen Qi looked at the giant crab that was almost the size of his entire face, and he couldn’t help but salivate at the thought of how much meat there might be inside.
The two of them found some branches nearby to start a fire. Aze had brought his backpack with him, and inside he had a portable pottery bowl. He added some water to the bowl, placed the whole crab inside, and boiled it. The crab just barely fit inside the ceramic bowl. As soon as the crab turned a beautiful shade of red, Chen Qi couldn’t wait to peel off the shell and start eating.
Although they had eaten lunch not long ago, the two of them still managed to consume two giant crabs, with the majority going into Aze’s stomach. Chen Qi, nonetheless, felt very satisfied. He patted his slightly distended stomach, “If I had known, I wouldn’t have eaten before coming out.” Chen Qi helped extinguish the fire and expressed his regret.
“If you like them, we’ll come back and catch some more later.” Aze said indulgently as he took out a bamboo tube filled with water to help Chen Qi clean his hands.
“That sounds good.”
For the beastmen who only knew how to hunt large prey, the beach may have just been a dispensable place with a lot of sand. But for Chen Qi, it was simply a treasure trove. Chen Qi not only found crabs but also many conches. As they were about to leave the beach, they even encountered a massive sea turtle, standing at over a meter tall, with massive limbs as thick as Chen Qi’s thighs.
Chen Qi tugged on Aze’s sleeve in surprise. “Aze, is that a sea turtle?”
Aze had never seen a sea turtle before, but he had encountered tortoises before. He felt that the two didn’t look much different in terms of their appearance, so he nodded uncertainly.
Afraid of startling the sea turtle, Chen Qi excitedly pulled Aze to hide behind a nearby pile of rocks. His eyes gleamed as he watched the sea turtle. The turtle had dug a massive burrow behind it and was currently lying on the beach with its neck stretched out and its mouth slightly open. Its eyes were fixed on the water not far away, and a single tear trickled down from the corner of its eye.
“I never thought sea turtles would actually shed tears when laying eggs.” Chen Qi commented with great interest as he watched.
“Is it because it hurts?” Aze asked softly after a moment of silence.
Chen Qi thought for a moment and then shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because their tear glands are highly developed.” He wasn’t well-versed in this aspect.
Aze didn’t say anything further. He simply ran his fingers unconsciously over the scar on his right wrist, which was no longer very prominent.
The sea turtle’s egg-laying process was slow. When Chen Qi and Aze arrived, it had just laid the first egg. After observing for a while, Chen Qi made a mark nearby and then quietly led Aze to leave from behind. They planned to explore the surrounding area and return to check on it later.
Chen Qi wondered if sea turtle eggs were edible. It had been a long time since he had eaten eggs. He licked his lips in contemplation.
Words from the Translation Crew
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Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomNight73
Proofreader: Yume
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