Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains

The Lion-Wolf Tribe’s annual gathering was actually equivalent to a grand assembly of blind dates. Young beastmen without partners gathered by the large bonfire in the tribal square every night of the gathering, having their barbecue dinner while taking the opportunity to find their other half.

In order not to set himself apart from the ordinary beastmen, Chen Qi changed into hide clothes before departing from Aze’s place. He really was not used to wearing a fur skirt though, so he made himself a pair of wide shorts that looked like a skirt from afar.

Since they first settled down in the place, Ale had gone off and disappeared. The other two females also took their goods elsewhere during the day to look for supplies to trade. Chen Qi didn’t intend to join in on the fun by the big bonfire. Instead, he made a small fire where they were going to be resting. He helped roast half a warthog while cutting open a laiche fruit to put on the fire and make some meat broth.

When Azhang came back, he looked very worried. He took off his backpack and set it on the ground. Then he sat down by the fire and tore off a piece of wartpork and took a big bite. He said to Chen Qi with a sad look, “We may not be able to trade for flint this year.”

Since the departure of the unknown mystery man, Aze had kept his head down and neither spoke nor looked at Chen Qi. Chen Qi was not very concerned about the history behind the two of them, but he was afraid that Aze would let whatever troubling thoughts fester within him and that it would cause issues. To distract him, Chen Qi sent Aze to sort out the animal skins that were going to be traded into smaller portions, intending to find people interested in trading for them with salt stones after dinner. Hearing Azhang’s words, Chen Qi raised his head in astonishment, “Why?”

“Just now I had gone to look for people from the Flame-Hill Tribe but I couldn’t find them. I heard from others that  the Flame-Hill Tribe has not yet arrived.”

“Flame-Hill Tribe? Are they the only ones with flint?”

Azhang nodded. “Of the nearby tribes, they are the only tribe with flint.  The other tribes are also waiting for the Flame-Hill Tribe.” However, the population of their Rock-Mountain Tribe was relatively small. Azhang had to rush back to the tribe the day after tomorrow at the latest in order to continue their preparations for winter. There was no time to wait here for the arrival of the Flame-Hill Tribe.

Chen Qi was about to say something when he was interrupted by a distant shout.

“I found you!” Ashu carried his new hide backpack and dashed towards Chen Qi. As soon as he reached him, he was impatient to take out three fist-sized salt stones from his backpack and handed them to Chen Qi. “Here you are.”

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 was stunned. He looked with puzzlement at the big man, whose face was flushed perhaps because he ran too fast. “Why are you giving this to me?”

“Your backpack is very useful. This is the salt stone to trade you for the backpack.”

“You want to trade for another backpack?” Chen Qi asked, uncertainly.

“No, no.” Ashu hurriedly waved his hands and explained, “The quantity of the half octopus I traded with you was too small. This is to make up for the value of the trade. I cannot take advantage of you.”

Chen Qi looked at the other with amusement. If this happened in modern times, he was afraid he’d have to rush home to hide his laughter about this person who would feel that the other party was at a disadvantage and had to make up for it. “No, in my opinion, trading one backpack for your half octopus was worth it. And you also gave me some beautiful shells.”

“That won’t work.” At Chen Qi’s refusal, Ashu was a little anxious. If he took this male’s backpack, he would be beaten to death by his brother. “We brought a lot of salt stones. We originally planned to use them to trade for flint, but this year the Flame-Hill Tribe can’t come. Anyway, we also need to trade for animal skins. I am just giving you the amount in accordance with what we’ve traded with others.”

“The Flame-Hill Tribe can’t come? Why?” Azhang interjected.

“Don’t you know? Today, my brother went out to hunt with the Lion-Wolf Tribe’s hunting party. He heard that the beastmen from the Flame-Hill Tribe were attacked by hyena-drakes on their way here, and winter is approaching soon. So they can’t make it here this year. We plan to trade away all our salt stones and return to our tribe. If we are quick enough, we can return to the tribe before winter.”

“It isn’t winter yet. How could hyena-drakes be on the plains?” Azhang’s face darkened. It was not a good thing to hear news of the hyena-drakes at this time.

Ashu shoved the salt stones into Chen Qi’s arms and shrugged at Azhang’s question. “I don’t know either.”

Chen Qi still wanted to refuse when he saw that Ashu was turning around to leave. After thinking for a moment, he hurriedly asked, “Do you want to trade salt stones for animal skins? We have a lot of animal skins and hide backpacks. If that works, you can trade with us.”

Crossing  to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP)  is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.

Ashu stopped in his tracks, “Really? My brother was super envious about the backpack I got. I’ll go back and tell them. We’ll bring the salt stones over to trade them with you right now.” He energetically announced and immediately ran towards the other side of the square.

Chen Qi looked helplessly at Ashu’s retreating figure. He went back to the fire and filled the only pottery bowl he’d brought with a little bit of the laiche fruit meat broth. He went over to Aze, who had finished sorting out the animal skins and was sitting in a daze, and handed the pottery bowl to him. “You’re probably tired since you were carrying so many things while running the whole journey here. Drink some soup to pad your stomach.”

Aze returned to his senses and looked at Chen Qi with steady eyes, but he did not take the offered pottery bowl. Chen Qi patiently held the pottery bowl and waited for the other’s response. After a long time, Aze turned slightly away and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”

Chen Qi sighed and stuffed the pottery bowl into the other’s hand. He crouched down in front of Aze and looked straight into his eyes. He said earnestly, “Aze, I don’t know how important the pregnancy patterns are to you. I only know that without you I would have died on the plains when the first snow started. Without you, I would have no place to live, no food, no house to build. Without you, I wouldn’t be standing here now. And all of those have nothing to do with whether you have a pregnancy pattern or not. To me, Aze is Aze. Even without a pregnancy pattern, you are still the Aze I know.”

Aze’s ear twitched and he turned his head away slightly to avoid Chen Qi’s burning gaze. “But I was abandoned by the beast god. My dad* died soon after I was born. Later the tribe was destroyed by the hyena-drakes. Father took me with him to the new tribe. He took me to live in his new mate’s house. When Ka Luo was born, his dad almost didn’t survive. That a female would be in danger during childbirth was something that had never happened before. It must be because I came. Not long later, Father left too. Ka Luo’s father left as well, and then the tribe was gone.” He had not told Chen Qi about these things until now. He was always afraid that Chen Qi would leave him if he told Chen Qi about this part of himself. But now he just wanted to let it all out and tell him everything. He didn’t want Chen Qi to hear these things about him from others.

*Dad = birth parent. The female. The manly one. Father = non-birth parent. The male. The tinier, weaker one.

“Did you choose to live alone in the wilderness in order not to implicate the tribe because you think you’d bring disasters to the tribe?”

Aze pursed his lips and did not speak.

Chen Qi turned to Azhang, who was sitting by the fire, happily tearing up the wartpork, and asked loudly, “Azhang, before Aze came to the tribe, did the tribe encounter any hyena-drake attacks?

Azhang looked over suspiciously. He had been busy eating and didn’t pay any attention to what the two of them were talking about, “Hyena-drake attacks? Yes, Ali’s foot was bitten by a hyena-drake.” Azhang seemed to be reminded of something because of this question, and the tough contours of his face became softer. “I almost got eaten by hyena-drakes because of that incident.”

Almost got eaten yet showing such a happy expression? Chen Qi’s face had a few black lines, but he didn’t have time to explore Azhang’s strange emotions right now. He faced Aze again. “Did you hear that? Even when you weren’t there, the hyena-drakes attacked the tribe.”

Aze’s lips moved and he was about to refute when Chen Qi raised his hand and interrupted him, “Aze, what are you afraid of? Why do you want me to live with you?”

What am I afraid of? Aze stared dazedly at Chen Qi, whose eyes were full of worry. Right, what was he afraid of? Afraid that returning to live in the tribe would bring disaster to the tribe? Afraid that if he lived with Ka Luo, that Ka Luo would leave first like his parents? But why does he want Chen Qi to stay by his side? If he was considering Chen Qi’s own sake, shouldn’t he have just thrown him directly into the tribe and turned to leave? Why did he have to so actively help him build a house? Was it because Chen Qi was the first male willing to approach him even though he knows he didn’t have a pregnancy pattern?

Crossing  to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP)  is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.

“Here we are. It’s right here.” Ashu reappeared as quickly as he had left. He waved and greeted Chen Qi, then said, “I brought the salt stones.”

Chen Qi patted Aze’s shoulder comfortingly then walked over to the side and picked up two hide backpacks as well as bundles of animal skins for Ashu’s trade.

Behind Ashu was a tall female, half a head taller than Aze, with short, fluffy dark brown hair. His eyes turned out to be a rare azure color, and he was carrying a huge, bulging hide bundle behind him.

Ashu then remembered that he hadn’t asked for Chen Qi’s name yet, and hurriedly grabbed the arm of the tall man beside him. “My name is Ashu. This is my elder brother Axu. We are from the Salt-Water* Tribe. I still don’t know your name.” After saying all that, he scratched his cheek sheepishly.

*洛水luò shuǐ . Literally Luo + Water. Apparently the char Luo is in many ‘names’ and doesn’t have its own meaning. its the same Luo as Ka Luo. its also in LUOs Angeles , MoLUOcco, FLUOyd, LUOpez, Monte CarLUO. So since it had no meaning, changed to a tribe name that was applicable to the tribe

Chen Qi smiled. “My name is Chen Qi and I’m with the Rock-Mountain Tribe.”

Axu nodded at Chen Qi and then greeted Azhang, who was not far away. He recognized Azhang. Every year, Azhang would bring hide clothing and potteryware to trade for his tribe’s salt stones. Axu set down the enormous hide bundle that he was carrying and said in a deep and magnetic voice. “These are all the salt stones I brought to the gathering. See if it’s enough to trade for your animal skins.”

Chen Qi looked at it. There were probably more than a hundred salt stones in it. If they traded for all of them, it would also save him from having to look for others to trade with. He turned and beckoned to Aze, motioning for him to bring all the skins they’d brought.

Ashu also put the hide bundle he was carrying in front of Chen Qi. His bundle was a little smaller, but at first glance, there were also about a dozen salt stones in it. “I also have some salt stones here, and I’ll trade them with you too.”