Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 128
Chapter 128
“Chen Qi, Chen Qi.” Aze gently patted Chen Qi’s forehead, softly calling out to the person who was sound asleep on the fire kang. Since the stove was connected to the fire kang, Aze was worried that the heat might wake Chen Qi. He didn’t dare to cook on the stove and ended up sweating after spending half the day standing in front of the fire in the hot weather.
Aze sniffed the smell on himself, frowned, and then ran to the washroom to quickly rinse off. He changed into clean clothes before coming out.
Ajing had already cleared everything off the desk. The dishes he had prepared were neatly arranged on the table, and now he was setting out the bowls and chopsticks.
The little wolf pup had already jumped onto the specially made chair that Aze had crafted for it. It sat upright, its eyes fixed on Ajing’s movements, patiently waiting. Its human-like behavior made it seem more like a person than a beast, leading Chen Qi to constantly wonder if the pup’s intelligence was due to being a giant wolf-god cub.
Seeing that Chen Qi was still not awake, Aze sighed slightly. He reached out and pinched Chen Qi’s cheek, softly urging, “Get up and eat something before going back to sleep.”
Chen Qi, who was deep in sleep, seemed to sense someone disturbing him. He impatiently swatted away the other person’s hand, frowned, and then turned over to continue sleeping soundly.
Aze, feeling helpless, had to give up on the idea of waking Chen Qi up by force. Seeing how exhausted Chen Qi was made his heart ache a little. He walked back to the table and told Ajing, “If you’re hungry, go ahead and eat first.” Seeing Chen Qi like this, he figured it was best to let him eat after he woke up.
Aze found several clean pottery bowls and set aside a portion of each dish for Chen Qi. Only then did he call Ajing to eat.
Ajing first put a piece of antelope-dragon meat in the little wolf cub’s pottery dish, and then ate while taking care of the little wolf cub. En, Aze’s cooking skills were indeed better than his own.
In the middle of the night, Chen Qi was awakened by hunger. The dim light of the oil lamp illuminated the hall. As soon as he sat up, Aze, who had been sleeping beside him, almost immediately opened his eyes upon sensing the movement. There was no trace of grogginess in his gaze. “You’re awake? Are you hungry? I’ll go heat up some food for you,” Aze said as he got up.
Chen Qi’s mind was still a bit foggy, and his gaze, unfocused, drifted over Aze. He seemed to hear the question and nodded absentmindedly. Aze chuckled softly, reached up to tuck Chen Qi’s slightly long hair behind his ear, and said, “It’ll be ready soon.”
Aze first went to the storage room and took out a laiche fruit. The previous batch of laiche fruits had all been turned into sugar, so the ones he had now were from the past few days when they had been in the forest. He took a small handful of rice flour, mixed it with water, kneaded it into a dough, and then tore it into small pieces. He gently rolled them into small balls and placed them into the laiche fruit that had already been boiled.
The laiche fruit itself was already sweet. Aze then added a couple of slices of wild ginger and stirred it. Seeing the pretty little balls floating on top, he took the laiche fruit off the fire. He then heated up the dishes he had set aside earlier, and soon a variety of visually appealing, fragrant, and delicious foods appeared on the table.
Seeing Chen Qi still sitting on the bed in a daze, Aze found it a bit amusing. He walked over, looked into Chen Qi’s eyes, and asked, “Still not fully awake? Not hungry anymore?”
“Hungry,” Chen Qi snapped out of his daze, his tone carrying a hint of playfulness. “I’m so hungry I don’t even have the strength to get out of bed.”
“Then, I will carry you over.”
“Great,” Chen Qi responded naturally, extending his hand toward Aze.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Aze bent down slightly, and Chen Qi suddenly leaped onto his back. The unexpected force caught Aze off guard, causing him to stumble a bit. Fortunately, he quickly regained his balance and steadied Chen Qi with a firm grip.
Chen Qi buried his head deeply into the crook of Aze’s neck. Only after inhaling the familiar scent did he feel at ease.
Seeing Chen Qi’s behavior, Aze hesitantly asked, “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”
“En,” Chen Qi responded in a muffled voice.
Aze slowly carried Chen Qi over to the table but didn’t rush to put him down. Instead, he cautiously asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Chen Qi instinctively shook his head.
“Then, how about eating something first?” Aze said, slightly disappointed but still speaking gently. Having known Chen Qi for so long, it was the first time he had seen Chen Qi so emotionally unsettled by a dream.
Perhaps it was Aze’s gentle tone or the persuasive quality of his voice, but Chen Qi, who had been unable to shake off the heart-wrenching feeling since waking up, finally lifted his head. He looked at Aze’s strong profile and asked after a long moment, “Aze, will you always be by my side?”
“Of course.”
Chen Qi thought for a moment and decided to tell Aze about the nightmare. “I dreamed that I went back to my hometown,” he began. “You weren’t there. I searched for a long time and finally found you, but you didn’t recognize me and just walked away. No matter how much I called your name, you ignored me.” He continued, “Later on, I was exhausted and returned to my little rented apartment, living out my life in a daze. Even long after my death, no one discovered me. I was just there, watching myself slowly decay.”
Chen Qi knew it was just a dream, so he didn’t react excessively when he woke up. However, the thoughts from the dream lingered, leaving him unable to fully recover for a long time.
Since arriving in this world, Chen Qi had never dreamed, and he rarely even thought about people from his previous world. After all, they had drifted apart even when he was only separated from them by a city. Now that he was separated by an entire world, what connection did those people have with him? Their lives would no longer include him, and his life would no longer be influenced by them.
Chen Qi took a deep breath to calm his thoughts and shake off the troubling emotions. He nimbly jumped down from Aze’s back and patted his stomach, which had rumbled just in time. “What did you cook? It smells so good,” Chen Qi said, picking up a piece of antelope-dragon meat and taking a few bites. He praised, “Aze, your cooking skills keep getting better.”
Aze quietly observed the now calm Chen Qi. With a serious expression, he stepped closer, cradled Chen Qi’s head in his hands to bring him to eye level, and looked deeply into his eyes. The reflection in his intense gaze was filled with a resolute light, completely occupied by Chen Qi’s image.
Chen Qi was momentarily scorched by Aze’s intense gaze and instinctively wanted to pull away, but Aze’s strong grip left him no chance to escape. Aze slightly parted his lips, his warm breath brushing against Chen Qi’s face, causing a slight tickle. “I will never ignore you,” he said softly. “As long as you need me, I will be there. Whenever you call my name, I will respond. No matter when, no matter where, I will always be by your side.”
Chen Qi felt a long-suspended worry finally settle, as if it had been gently cradled in someone’s hands. He picked up a piece of meat and put it into Aze’s mouth, a broad smile spreading across his lips. “En,” he murmured contentedly.
The little wolf cub, who had planned to get up in the middle of the night, reached the door and saw Chen Qi and Aze sitting at the table. Chen Qi would take a bite of food and then feed Aze a bite, occasionally even retrieving the food Aze had just eaten with his own mouth. Aze, sitting beside him, looked both helpless and indulgent, allowing Chen Qi to playfully tease him.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The little wolf cub was so stiff with shock at the scene that it didn’t react immediately. Before it could, Aze cast an unkind glance in its direction, startling the pup into quickly darting back to the room. It burrowed into Ajing’s arms, waking him from his deep sleep.
“What’s wrong?” Ajing gently stroked the little wolf cub’s fur. Comforted, the little wolf cub snuggled even closer.
As a result, the next morning, Ajing looked at the large, damp patch on his chest and then at the little wolf cub, which was gazing up at him with an apologetic expression. In the end, he bundled both himself and the little wolf cub together and tossed themselves into the washroom.
It’s just a bit of urine. Little Wolf is still young. Can’t be angry with it. Even Ayao had several accidents on Ka Luo before. Little Wolf is doing well for its first accident. While Ajing was trying to find excuses to exonerate the little wolf cub, his actions did not soften at all. Even the more sensitive spots were cleaned thoroughly, resulting in the poor little wolf cub howling in distress. To anyone unfamiliar with the situation, it might have sounded like someone was mistreating an animal.
Today, Aze didn’t need to go hunting. Instead, he was assigned to guard duty on the city wall.
Today, the hunting team consisted of those who had stayed in the tribe yesterday. Since Azhang was the chief and it was the first time for both the Salt-Water and Flame-Hill Tribes to enter the forest, he was concerned and decided to accompany them as well.
Early in the morning, Ayan came to Chen Qi’s home, eagerly asking if there was anything he could help with. Chen Qi observed his expression with curiosity but didn’t say much. Since the help was offered, he was happy to make use of it.
Chen Qi took out the stone mill from before, handed the soaked soybeans to Ayan, and demonstrated how to grind them.
Watching the beans slowly turn into a milky-white paste, Ayan was quite amazed. “What are you making with this?” he asked.
“Tofu,” Chen Qi explained. He had managed to get some gypsum and had burned a small piece of it in the past few days. He had been eager to make tofu, as the gypsum would help the soy milk to coagulate, allowing him to enjoy some sweet, silky tofu pudding. Chen Qi patted Ayan’s shoulder with an expectant smile, as if envisioning the delicious, smooth tofu already on his face. “So, I’m leaving the task of grinding the soybeans to you. This step is very important.”
Looking at the small plate of soaked soybeans, Aan nodded solemnly.
This batch of soybeans was also collected by Chen Qi on his way to the Salt-Water Tribe, and there weren’t many. He set aside a small bag as seeds. With a large area of barren land now available for planting potatoes and sweet potatoes, Chen Qi decided to use the two plots he had originally planned for potatoes and sweet potatoes. One plot to be planted with soybeans, and the other with mung beans.
Yesterday, a small portion was also planted in the barren land. If these plants are not used as staple foods but rather for making tofu or mung bean soup occasionally, they would be sufficient to last through the winter.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Ayan worked diligently at the stone mill, but because it was quite small, the soy milk produced was not very smooth. Chen Qi had him grind the beans a second time. Only after that was he satisfied and poured the soy milk into a large pottery dish tray to cook.
Ayan followed closely behind Chen Qi, carefully noting each step in the process: cooking the tofu, filtering it, handling the resulting bean curd residue, and finally adding gypsum. He planned to try making tofu himself next time.
Chen Qi added sugar to the small plate of soy milk he had set aside earlier and served a small bowl to Ayan for a taste.
Ayan took the bowl, drank it in two sips, and licked the soy milk from the corner of his lips. He remarked, “It’s not as good as the laiche fruit.”
“……”
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Sorry for the long pause. Stuff in life got ahead of me. Thank you for reading.
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.
