Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 125
Chapter 125
Because of his young age, Ajing usually helped with chores or tended to the garden plots. Besides that, he only had to teach the tribe’s people a writing lesson for about an hour each day, leaving him with plenty of free time. During Chen Qi’s absence, Ajing not only reviewed and practiced his writing daily but also took up drawing as a new hobby.
Perhaps because of his youth, Ajing’s thoughts and perceptions were more flexible than those of the adult beastmen, making him a quick learner. Combined with his intelligence and diligence, Ajing had become the most knowledgeable person in Qi Ze City. Unfortunately, there were no shortcuts in drawing; even with great talent, he had to practice each stroke patiently and slowly.
Looking at his somewhat messy drawing and comparing it to Chen Qi’s sketch that effortlessly captured the grandeur of the Dosa River with just a few strokes, Ajing bit his pen in frustration. He picked up a bone knife and trimmed the wick, brightening the dim light. After adjusting the colors and laying out a new sheet of paper, he started drawing again.
The little wolf pup twitched its ears and looked up at Ajing. Finding a comfortable position, it snuggled against the stone wall, which was cool to the touch in the hot weather. The pup squinted its eyes in contentment, glanced once more at Ajing, and then slowly closed its eyes, drifting off to sleep.
The next morning, when Chen Qi pushed open the door feeling refreshed, he saw a lively little wolf pup and a somewhat tired-looking Ajing.
Chen Qi was startled and quickly took Ajing’s small hand, asking worriedly, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” He reached out to touch Ajing’s forehead, comparing it to his own temperature, but found no signs of fever.
Ajing shook his head. “I didn’t draw well.”
“What?” Chen Qi looked confused.
Ajing ran back to his room and brought out the drawings he had spent the entire night working on, more than a dozen in total. Chen Qi was taken aback and began to look through them one by one.
“It is obviously the same color, but the drawings still come out different,” Ajing said, frowning in confusion. No matter how many times he tried to draw the picture last night, his drawings always turned out different than Chen Qi’s. This morning, he even noticed discrepancies in the colors, which made him even more frustrated.
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 chuckled softly and ruffled Ajing’s hair. “The light from the oil lamp is yellowish and dim. You’ve already done very well to have drawn this well under those conditions. Don’t draw at night anymore; what if you hurt your eyesight? I don’t know how to make glasses.” The thought of Ajing growing up and needing to wear thick glasses while hunting made Chen Qi smile.
“Drawing takes time and patience; you can’t rush it. Make sure to get plenty of sleep, okay? Otherwise, you won’t grow tall,” Chen Qi advised gently.
Ajing was startled, and nodded vigorously in agreement. He didn’t want to remain a small sprout forever. Azhang told him that he could only learn to hunt when he grew up. Learning to hunt meant he could provide food for himself and Little Wolf. He was a female and he couldn’t rely on Chen Qi to take care of him forever.
For breakfast, Ajing astonishingly ate five milk fruits.
Aze must have been truly exhausted, as he slept until noon, which was quite rare for him. Chen Qi didn’t wake him, instead keeping his breakfast warm near the cooling embers of the fire. After eating, Chen Qi followed Ajing out to the school.
The writing class was scheduled in the morning before the females began their work. Having been away for more than two months, Chen Qi needed to check on the progress of the others’ learning.
The beastmen of the Flame-Hill Tribe and the Salt-Water Tribe were quite interested in attending the so-called classes. Early in the morning, they followed the hosts they were staying with to the school to wait. The classroom was spacious enough, with about thirty desks, just enough for each person in Qi Ze City to have one without feeling cramped. However, with nearly twenty additional people coming in, the space became insufficient. Chen Qi had them go home and bring some mats, which they placed in the aisles between the desks. This way, everyone could just about fit.
Checking on everyone’s progress took quite a bit of time. Since there were still many tasks to be done in the tribe, Chen Qi dismissed the class after finishing the checks, allowing everyone to return to their work.
Seeing that the beastmen from the other tribes were interested, Chen Qi also taught them how to write their own names. After all, the names of the females were only one character, it wouldn’t take long. Even so, after chatting and teaching each of them, it was almost noon time.
When Chen Qi returned home, Aze was not there, only a note left on the table. Ayan, who had followed Chen Qi home, was puzzled to find Aze missing since he had promised to join Ayan in picking grapes in the forest.
“Aze is not here? Should we still go to the forest today?”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“He’s already gone ahead.”
Ayan looked surprised. “Gone ahead? How do you know?” He had been with Chen Qi the entire morning and hadn’t seen Aze come looking for him.
Chen Qi held up the note in his hand. “He left me a message.”
Ayan took the note from Chen Qi, his surprise apparent on his face. Indeed, it contained characters similar to those Chen Qi had taught them earlier. Unfortunately, Ayan could barely recognize his own name, and to him, the rest of the characters seemed like a foreign script.
Ayan was impressed by how a few characters could convey information so effectively. Looking up at Chen Qi, he felt that this trip had been worthwhile. Perhaps, compared to the Salt-Water Tribe, Qi Ze City might be a better fit for them.
Seeing that Aze wasn’t around, Ayan didn’t stay long. After saying goodbye to Chen Qi, he left. After the class, Azhang took the people from the Salt-Water Tribe and the Flame-Hill Tribe on a tour of their tribe. At this time, he happened to arrive just as Azhang and the others were climbing the city walls.
At noon, Chen Qi made a large pot of mung bean porridge and cooked a few pancakes. He and Ajing had a quick lunch together, as the hot weather had dampened their appetites.
In the afternoon, Chen Qi and Ali went to take stock of the luggage piled up at the school. They were particularly astonished to see Chen Qi manage to create a large plate of ice using just a few stones in the sweltering heat.
“It’s a pity that there isn’t enough saltpeter to supply everyone in the tribe. I plan to save it to make gunpowder or medicine, so next time we won’t have to worry even if the hyena-drakes come again.” Although Chen Qi intended to ask the Salt-Water Tribe to bring more saltpeter next time, the tribe was too far away. This batch of saltpeter would need to last until next winter, and Chen Qi wasn’t willing to bear the high cost of transporting it just to make a few blocks of ice.
After some thought, Ali said, “Next time when Azhang and the others go hunting, let them look around the forest for sulfur. There are many mountains in the forest, so perhaps they might find what you need on one of them.” If the gunpowder and medicine was as powerful as Chen Qi described, it would indeed make their small tribe safer to have it.
“Will searching in the forest be dangerous?” Chen Qi expressed his concern.
Ali shook his head, “There are quite a few mountains outside the forest. Although they are currently hunting within a fixed range, the available game has become scarce recently. Azhang is planning to expand the hunting area a bit, so it would be a good opportunity to look for that thing called sulfur.”
Chen Qi nodded. “As long as it’s not dangerous, then go ahead and look for it.”
Ali made note of this and planned to discuss it with Azhang that evening. He opened another hide backpack beside him and actually found it filled with some kind of fluffy white material. Surprised, he pulled out a piece and asked, “What is this?”
“This is cotton. It can be used to make clothes, quilts, and even woven into fabric,” Chen Qi explained.
“Woven into fabric?” Ali looked at the small handful of cotton in his hand. “How can you weave something like this? It doesn’t even have any threads.”
Chen Qi looked at the bag of cotton with a headache. He really didn’t know how to turn this into cotton thread and could only plan to research it slowly when he had time in the future.
He took out a small bag of cotton seeds from another backpack. “Although I don’t know how to turn this cotton into fabric right now, making cotton clothes or quilts with it would still be quite effective for insulation in winter.” At least it would be much better than the coarse leather tanning techniques they had.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“Later, after we harvest the crops at home, I plan to plant some cotton. However, the land in the yard is really too limited. There are still quite a few vacant spaces in the tribe, so I plan to clear some of those areas and plant some crops with shorter growth cycles. This way, we should be able to harvest another batch before winter.”
After the previous planting experience, Ali had gained a certain understanding of crop growth. Growing crops in their own yard was much more convenient than aimlessly searching on the plains. The amount of harvest was also quite substantial. Even if they couldn’t hunt enough food in the forest this summer, they probably wouldn’t have to go hungry this winter.
Chen Qi explained the dried seafood to Ali, and after everything was sorted out, he put the nitrate away. Chen Qi then took the portion of food and seeds that belonged to him and Aze back home, while he left the rest for Ali to distribute to the other people in Qi Ze City.
Chen Qi busied about and it was only in the evening that Chen Qi finally had time to start handling the mature crops in the yard. The crops had grown very well; even though they were mature, none of the leaves had turned yellow. He wondered if this was a characteristic of plant growth in this world
Ajing, who was studying in the house, saw Chen Qi go out with a hoe and a bamboo sieve and followed him out at once. Chen Qi first harvested the bright red chili peppers that had grown abundantly. Although there were only about a dozen chili plants, their high yield meant that after picking them all, they piled up into a small heap on the bamboo sieve.
Chen Qi spread the chili peppers out on the bamboo sieve to dry. He wasn’t a fan of spicy food; the reason he grew chili peppers was to prepare for winter. Even though he wasn’t fond of spice, a bit of chili could help ward off the cold during the harsh winter months.
After picking the chili peppers, Chen Qi went on to dig up the potatoes and sweet potatoes. The two plots yielded five or six bags of produce. Normally, outside, he would only find one or two plants at a time, at most a dozen or so. Seeing so much this time, Ajing couldn’t help but swallow, “Chen Qi, can we make fries and sweet potato chips again this time?”
Since Chen Qi left, he hadn’t had these two types of food for a long time. Occasionally, Ka Luo would get a craving and make some, but because the ingredients were scarce, he could only get a small amount each time, and half of that had to be given to the little wolf cub, so it was never enough.
Seeing the harvest, Chen Qi was also very happy. “Of course, tomorrow we’ll make a batch of snacks.” It wasn’t just Ajing. Even he himself hadn’t had them for a long time and he was feeling a bit of a craving.
Ajing cheered and couldn’t help but spin around while holding the little wolf cub, which frightened it so much that it clung tightly to his hand with its front paws and whined in displeasure.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: I want some snacks too.
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.
Ayo i caught up 😭
Ajing is SO cute