Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 079 part1
Chapter 79 part1
Ajing nodded his head, “Chen Qi said that we would need several people to play it together, so hurry up and come.”
Although Ake appeared to be asleep, he was actually awake. When he heard Ajing’s words, he opened his eyes slightly and let out a big yawn then said to Ka Luo, “Leave Ayao to me. You can go and play.”
Ka Luo leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Then you can sleep with him a little while longer.”
Ake nodded and moved Ayao to his side. Only then did he close his eyes and fall asleep again.
After Ajing conveyed the news, he couldn’t wait to head back first. Ali tidied up his things simply before going over with Ka Luo.
When they arrived at Chen Qi’s home, they found that Azhang, who had just returned from changing posts with Aze, was actually helping Chen Qi move the table.
“You’re all here. Move the box of potatoes and put them away on the other side.” Azhang pointed to the big wooden box beside the desk and said to the new arrivals.
Chen Qi and Azhang worked together to move the desk used for learning to the corner. His living room was relatively large and was high enough. After removing the surrounding things, a large space was left. Chen Qi measured the distance and confirmed that the size was enough to accommodate the swing of the rope before he clapped his hands with satisfaction.
Seeing the few people arrive, Chen Qi explained to them how to play jump rope. It was inconvenient for Ali to use his legs and feet, so Chen Qi taught him how to jump on one foot.
After the verbal explanation, it was time to start the demonstration. Ali and Ka Luo each held one end of the rope. Chen Qi had them swing in one direction at the same time. After the frequency of the rope swinging stabilized, Chen Qi bowed slightly and jumped into the middle.
En. You can’t expect a person who hadn’t played jump rope with others in nearly 20 years to become a rope skipping expert all at once. Chen Qi jumped back and forth a few times before he tripped the rope, stopping it. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he coughed lightly and pretended to be nonchalant. “Do you get it? Just like I just did, as long as you don’t get caught by the rope, you can keep on jumping. Once you trip, you will have to let the next person take a turn.”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Azhang, who had been listening carefully to the explanations close by, was a little eager now. Like Ali, he couldn’t play Gobang well. However, this so-called jump rope was simply a tailor-made exercise for the females, who had excellent athletic ability and quick reflexes. Having heard Chen Qi explain that letting the rope catch them would result in a change of players, he immediately stepped forward, “Chen Qi, let me give it a try.”
Chen Qi nodded and stepped aside. “Sure, you can give it a try first. I’ll explain more later if you don’t understand.”
The two men on the ends continued to swing the rope at the same time. Azhang fixed his eyes tightly on the trajectory of the rope. When the rope touched the ground and flung back, he jumped into the center.
Azhang was relatively tall and needed to bend down to avoid being caught up on the rope. His body jumped up and down flexibly according to the rope’s swinging frequency and was much better than Chen Qi.
Chen Qi was accustomed to seeing children or petite girls playing jump rope together. Now, seeing several tall, grown-up men huddled in the corner of the room with faces of excitement playing jump rope… No matter how he looked at it, Chen Qi felt that this image was really indescribably strange and abnormal.
Azhang jumped about 50 or 60 times before he was caught by the rope. Ka Luo, who had been one of the coolies swinging the rope, couldn’t bear it any longer. Seeing Azhang finally stop, Ka Luo hurriedly slipped the rope into Azhang’s hand, “It’s my turn next.”
“When will it be my turn?” Ajing, who was about to come forward to have a turn when Ka Luo snatched it away, raised his head towards Chen Qi beside him as if asking for help.
Seeing the anxiety in Ajing’s eyes, Chen Qi was a little amused. “When Ka Luo is done, it’ll be your turn next.” Ajing was too short, so Chen Qi did not let him participate in the rope swinging, but it wasn’t an issue to let him jump rope.
When Ajing heard this, he glared angrily at Ka Luo, to which Ka Luo returned a smug look.
Chen Qi stared speechlessly at Ka Luo, who was triumphantly jumping into the rope. This guy was a father now. Was it really necessary to argue with a child?
There was undoubtedly a very valid reason why Ka Luo’s physical condition was better than Chen Qi’s. His flexible movements versus his clumsiness in playing Gobang were like two completely different people. The rope was not being swung very fast. Chen Qi estimated roughly in his heart that Ka Luo had been jumping for at least 20 minutes in this first attempt of his, and he was not showing any signs of stopping at all. He didn’t know where he got this strength from. Even Ali, who was swinging the rope, was beginning to feel his hands get sore.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“Why haven’t you finished jumping yet?” Ajing was dissatisfied. Even Azhang hadn’t jumped that long. How could Ka Luo, who would lose 50 rounds of Gobang to him, be this powerful?
Ka Luo jumped a few more times, felt he was about done, and stopped abruptly. The long session of exercise made him gasp for breath.
Chen Qi took the rope from Ali, who had already started rubbing his wrists because his hands were sore. “Let me swing it. You can have a rest first.”
Ali nodded and handed the rope to Chen Qi, then sat down on the futon by the fire and watched the few of them play. Ka Luo poured a bowl of warm bone soup, drank it all in a single go, with big gulps. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and said to the nearby Ali, “Uncle Ali, this jump rope is fun. It’s much more fun than that Gobang.”
Ali smiled. Wasn’t it because he couldn’t win in Gobang that he thought the jump rope was more fun? Of course, Ali did not reveal Ka Luo’s small thoughts.
Chen Qi beckoned to Ajing. “Ajing, it’s your turn.”
Ajing ran over happily. The rope began to swing. Ajing followed Azhang’s prior example and bent over slightly. After the swinging frequency stabilized, he jumped in.
Ajing’s body was too small. The jump rope Chen Qi made was more suitable for adults to play with. When Ajing jumped in, he felt that he had to jump each jump with great difficulty in order to avoid the rope. Seeing the thick rope that would almost swing into Ajing with each turn, Chen Qi was a bit jumpy. Just as he was about to tell Azhang to stop, he heard a crisp “pop”. Chen Qi quickly looked over and found that Ajing had twisted his body in the last jump and the rope swung directly onto his little face, and a bright red trace appeared on it.
Chen Qi hurriedly threw away the rope and walked over. He crouched down to look at the wound on Ajing’s face. The rope was so thick that the marks covered almost half of his face. Chen Qi anxiously asked, “Ajing, how are you? Does it hurt?”
Ajing’s eyes had already filled with tears for a long time, but when he heard Chen Qi’s question, he still pursed his lips and shook his head. “It doesn’t hurt.”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Chen Qi touched his little head with some heartache and said to others, “We’ll play till here today.”
Females often got injured while hunting. Now he was just slapped by a rope. After the initial pain, Ajing had long treated it as an unimportant matter. Azhang and the others heard Ajing say that he was fine and didn’t take it too seriously. When they were Ajing’s age, they would have long since learned to hunt food for themselves, and even more serious injuries would be bound with animal hides and be healed in less than two days. Now Ajing was just slapped by a rope. Although the lash marks looked very red and bright, for a female with strong self-healing abilities, it was almost the same as being bitten twice by a bug. It may not even take a day for the bruise to fade.
Since Chen Qi said they would stop playing, everyone packed up everything. Ali poured a plate of warm water to clean the bruise Ajing’s face. Chen Qi mashed a handful of willow leaves to relieve inflammation and pain. Thistle was useless for bloodless wounds, so Chen Qi applied mashed willow leaves and then bandaged him up.
Ultimately, his injury was on his face. If he had to wrap a bandage on his face, he would have to wrap it around his whole head. By the time he was done, Chen Qi had practically turned Ajing into a little mummy. His appearance was quite comical.
“I’m really fine. The injury is no longer painful. I’ll be all better after a good night’s sleep.” Though Ajing was very resistant to his new look, he still wouldn’t have said anything even if he was uncomfortable. But seeing Ka Luo standing nearby laughing until he bowled over… How could he let it be?
“No, it can’t be removed until you are well. If it ends up leaving a scar and ruining your face, you’ll be the one crying.”
Ajing pursed his lips and stopped talking. He ran to the heated kang bed to find the little wolf cub for comfort.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Sorry for slowness. Happy upcoming holidays to everyone.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomNight73
Proofreader: Yume
Editor stepping into the realm of MTL translating, starting with CLWP. Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
