Chapter 202 - Nefarious people
Translated by Lesyt Team
Edited by Ilesyt
When Yan Zhi went out, Jiao Wu sat in the corner and gnawed on the roasted meat. No one knew what he was thinking, he was pretty much absent-minded.
Shao Xuan looked at the house. He thought Yan Zhi and some others worked on the boat every day. He put his hand into his animal skin bag and saw that there was still a bag of herbs. There were only a few of the herbs remaining that he had brought from his tribe. That was because he had gotten injured when he killed the people of the Wan Shi tribe. He had found some herbs in the old haunt and had put them in his animal skin pocket.
He went over to kick the absent-minded Jiao Wu, who was still sitting on the ground. He passed him the herbs wrapped in leaves and said, “Boil them.”
Jiao Wu smelt the herb bag, looked happy, and said, “Herbs! Usually we don’t have much time to go out to find herbs... We don’t dare to go out. We have to wait for our wounds to heal, but sometimes Mu Qian brings some herbs for us.”
On the hands and faces of Yan Zhi and Jiao Wu, there were some scars of all sizes. Some scars seemed to have been left a long time ago, while others seemed to be left recently. In the woods, they cut trees, carried logs, chopped the logs, and did other heavy work. They often got injured, although they were seldom seriously injured, they got many minor injuries.
When the herbs were almost cooked, Yan Zhi and Yan Zhuo came over with a woman called “Zhen”. She was Yan Zhuo’s wife and also a descendant of the Flaming Horns tribe. She had came to the Longboat tribe two years ago. After spending two years getting along with Zhen, Yan Zhi and his brothers finally accepted her. Yan Zhuo married Zhen, and the couple lived next to Yan Zhi and his brother.
Yan Zhi and his brothers all added “Yan” or “Jiao” in their name, so Zhen later also added “Yan” in her name. Now her name was “Yan Zhen”.
The couple coming with Yan Zhi looked excited. Yan Zhi had told them everything about Shao Xuan, they also knew Shao Xuan wanted to take them away together. They had been cheated and suffered a bad experience, but this time they met a real totem warrior.
“Take some medicine.” Shao Xuan poured the boiled herbs into four wooden bowls.
They didn’t ask any more. After saying “Thanks”, the four directly picked up a bowl and drank it directly, even though it was hot.
Drinking a bowl of medicine made Yan Zhi feel less tired after having worked for a whole day. Outside it was very cold, but the warm medicine flowed through his upper body and he felt very comfortable.
While they were talking, Mu Qian came over again in a hurry.
“What’s up?” Yan Zhi wiped the snow on Mu Qian’s head, pulled her animal skin hat and asked.
“The shaman said that in two days it will snow more heavily than it did last year. He told everyone to make preparations, all of you should take precautions.” Originally, Mu Qian planned to bring two old animal skin coats to them, but her brother stopped her. She could only go out to look for them secretly when her brother and her father were busy.
“Ah, it will snow more heavily than it did last year?” Jiao Wu asked with surprise.
“Yes, prepare more things for the winter. I... cannot help.” Mu Qian said, and snuffled. Her nose turned red.
“Did your brother scold you again?” Yan Zhi asked.
Mu Qian lowered her head and kept silent.
Shao Xuan thought this girl was really good. In such a cold day, she came here twice to help Yan Zhi. He should let Yan Zhi bring her back to tribe. The Shaman certainly would not reject such a kind girl. Right now, Yan Zhi looked sad, because after all, he was still a wanderer as he had not awakened his totem power yet.
Thinking of something, Shao Xuan winked at Yan Zhi.
“Wait.” Yan Zhi said to Mu Qian, and then went away with Shao Xuan.
“You can give this to her.” Shao Xuan slipped a piece of jade to Yan Zhi. This piece of jade was taken by Shao Xuan from the robbers. Even in the cold winter, this piece of jade felt warm.
“You…”
“Go,” said Shao Xuan, “we are from the same tribe, we are a family. Besides, I will need your help in the future.”
“Thank... thank you!”
Yan Zhi would remember his kindness and would repay Shao Xuan in the future. Although he had sent some gifts to Mu Qian, those were very common small objects.
No longer looking at the two, Shao Xuan went into house to give a few pieces of jade of poor quality, shells and some small pieces of water moon stones to Jiao Wu and Yan Zhuo, “These things may be exchanged for thick animal skins and food... But we don’t need too much food. Animal skins can keep us warm. If possible, bring some wood back to reinforce this house. The weather is bad, so we have to stay here for a few days, then we will leave.”
Jade and water moon stones were quite eye-catching.
After Shao Xuan finished talking to Yan Zhuo and Jiao Wu, Yan Zhi came back.
Shao Xuan looked out of the door and saw Mu Qian going back to the Longboat tribe.
“Didn’t you walk her home?” Shao Xuan was puzzled. He found Yan Zhi cared much about her, so he wandered why he didn’t walk her home.
“Walk her home, why?” Not only Yan Zhi, but also Jiao Wu and Yan Zhuo felt puzzled.
Shao Xuan was silent.
“If I send her home, she will get into trouble.” Yan Zhi whispered.
Shao Xuan thought about it. The members of the Longboat tribe could do what the wanderers couldn’t do. No matter how bad the relationship between the people of the Longboat tribe, that was internal conflict and others couldn’t get involved in it, and shouldn’t get involved in it.
Like those who didn’t have awakened totem power and weren’t supported by any powerful people, they were bullied in the tribe. They were beaten and scolded, but most people in the tribe turned their backs on them. But if these people were bullied by others not of the tribe, the men of the Longboat tribe would absolutely intervene, because that would be provoking the entire tribe.
So, even if a person had a low status in the tribe, few people in the wanderer area would dare to bully him.
That was why it was safer for Mu Qian to go home alone.
“Don’t worry. When we come back to the Flaming Horns tribe, no one will dare to badmouth you.” Shao Xuan patted Yan Zhi on the shoulder to comfort him.
“I’ll go out first and tell the others that it will snow.” Yan Zhuo asked Jiao Wu to leave with me.
Yan Zhi intended to go ask someone to trade for some wood.
Yan Zhen went to pack the things in her house.
The two brothers’ house was not too small, so Shao Xuan planned to stay here. There were many things he needed to discuss with them, so he didn’t want to go back and forth.
Before staying there, Shao Xuan had to tell Yang Sui about it, who stayed in the boat.
Out of the door, Shao Xuan paid attention to the surrounding houses.
At least, the Flaming Horns tribesmen were good at building houses. These houses must be built to withstand rain, strong wind in winter, and heavy snow. In contrast, the other houses in the wanderer area were vulnerable. Shao Xuan thought that after he came back, he would help them reinforce their houses.
When he got back to the boat, Yang Sui wasn’t asleep, but vigilant. Seeing Shao Xuan, Yang Sui felt relieved.
“What’s wrong?” Asked Shao Xuan.
Yang Sui was paying attention to the sounds in the surrounding areas as he told Shao Xuan in a low voice, “The ones from that traveling team are nefarious people.”
“That’s fine, I’m going to stay somewhere else.”
“Where can you stay? You found your people?!” Yang Sui asked.
Yang Sui saw Shao Xuan nod and packed his things at once. He drank the remaining hot soup in the pot, wiped his mouth, and said, “I will leave with you... Is there any more space for me there?”
“If not, I can sleep on the ground.”
When Shao Xuan and Yang Sui left the boat, they saw several people walking to where many boats were moored. Shao Xuan remembered that they were the people of the traveling team who stayed in the boat in front of them.
These people were walking to the boat, talking and laughing. After glancing at the clothes of Shao Xuan and Yang Sui, they continued to laugh and walked past them.
Walking past these people, Shao Xuan smelt the strong smell of blood. Although these people weren’t stained with blood, Shao Xuan could smell it.
They had just killed some people.
“Hurry up!” Yang Sui pulled Shao Xuan and whispered to ask him to leave quickly.