LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 24: Sick
Ah! Rain! There’s still salt there ne! He still hadn’t had the chance to take them back. When he thought of the salt pit, Shu Jintian tossed the wet dream matter to the back of his mind.
“Hanyu, there’s a lot of salt over at that salt pit. I want to bring some back.”
Shu Hanyu took Shu Jintian’s jacket and draped them over Shu Jintian’s shoulders.
“What’s salt? Is it to eat? I’ll go catch it for you, you just stay at home and rest well.”
Shu Jintian was delighted, and urgently said, “It’s not to eat- ah, it is to eat. It’s the pit you found me in yesterday, the salt. White and fine sand texture. Can you bring some back for me?”
Shu Hanyu’s gaze immediately became strange. “Tiantian wants to eat sand?”
Shu Jintian’s lips quirked and he said, dumbfounded, “That’s not sand, it’s salt!”
“Okay. Does Tiantian want anything else to eat? I’ll bring them back as well.”
“Anything is fine, I’m not hungry yet. Oh right, there were some sweet potato skins. Do you know anywhere that has sweet potatoes?” Shu Jintian softly leaned against Shu Hanyu’s body.
When Shu Hanyu heard the female always talk about the other beastmen’s leftover food, he was a little unhappy. However, the female was too thin and he rarely asked for food to eat, so Shu Hanyu just agreed with a frown.
Shu Jintian described the sweet potato’s appearance to Shu Hanyu, then made it clear that he had to bring back more salt. Otherwise, it would be a waste. However, how should he pack away the salt ne? Shu Jintian looked around the cavern, and his eyes brightened when he saw the large seashell.
“Hanyu, you bring along the seashell to store the salt ba. The more the better. Remember not to pack away sand ah.”
Shu Hanyu agreed with furrowed brows, then before exiting the cavern, warned Shu Jintian that he couldn’t go out.
Where would Shu Jintian have the energy to run around? Right now, he was unbearably exhausted and dizzy as hell; he couldn’t even open his eyes. He could even ignore the swollen pain in his butt.
After Shu Hanyu left, Shu Jintian started feeling sleepy again. Curling up on the grass pile, he fell asleep in a daze very quickly.
Shu Hanyu reached the place where he found Shu Jintian and first took a seashell-full of salt, then followed the scent in the air to find the open fire Shu Jintian mentioned. Extending his tongue to distinguish all the food remains, he then entered the forest to look for it.
He couldn’t sniff out what the sweet potato Shu Jintian mentioned was, but he knew those plants’ vines and leaves on the floor. Shu Hanyu didn’t know which kind it was and decided to find a bit of everything to bring back. There shouldn’t be a problem with something that has been eaten before.
Shu Hanyu searched relying on his inherited memory and soon found all the plants. Because Shu Jintian told him that the sweet potato appeared to be like a type of fruit, Shu Hanyu paid special attention to whether there were any fruits when he searched.
When Shu Hanyu returned to the cavern, he saw the female lying motionless in a corner. Startled, he rapidly walked over to him. He finally relaxed when he found the female’s breath.
“Tiantian, wake up. I brought back all the things you wanted to eat.”
Shu Hanyu nudged Shu Jintian. Touching his hand, he found that it was still just as hot.
“Mn~” Shu Jintian squinted his eyes and groaned, considering it as a reply. Then he remained curled up and asleep. How tired; he couldn’t even open his eyes.
Although Shu Jintian woke up once in the morning, Shu Hanyu was still very worried. After all, the female had slept for so long, so it was too unusual for him to still be sleepy now.
Shu Hanyu dragged over the Rock Shellfish, pushing Shu Jintian as he said, “Tiantian, I brought back the salt you wanted, hurry up and wake up to eat ba!”
When Shu Jintian heard ‘salt’, he finally gained some vigour and exerted a great deal of effort to open his eyes.
After sleeping so much, Shu Jintian’s eyesight was a little fuzzy, possibly because his eyes were swollen. Shu Jintian rubbed his eyes.
“Really? Let me see.” Shu Jintian blankly opened his eyes and looked around. The cave’s lighting wasn’t that good; on top of that, it was a cloudy day and his eyes were also swollen. He practically couldn’t see anything. The only thing he could see were rough silhouettes.
“Tiantian…” Shu Hanyu waved his hand in Shu Jintian’s face.
Shu Jintian caught the hand waving about before his eyes, rather speechless.
The gleaming white salt was still rather obvious in the dusky cavern. Shu Jintian adapted to the light in the cave and then saw a patch of white beside Shu Hanyu, then used his hand to poke at it.
When Shu Hanyu saw that Shu Jintian’s eyes were fine, he sighed in relief. He showed the small, sweet potatoes to Shu Jintian like presenting a treasure.
“There’s also the sweet potatoes you want. See if this is the one?”
“Sweet potatoes! You really did find it.” Shu Jintian was very pleasantly surprised and smiled at Shu Hanyu. Originally, he didn’t have much hope either, but never imagined that Shu Hanyu’s efficiency was so great; he found it just after one time.
“Huh? Isn’t this garlic shoot? And what are these little spheres?” Even if Shu Jintian was listless from sickness, he was still stirred up now. He picked up a small thing with kernels strung together to see what it was. Shu Jintian placed it under his nose and took a sniff, then thought of mala hotpot. It seemed to be Sichuan pepper!
Shu Hanyu was unusually happy, fortunately, everything he found was right.
“Tiantian hurry up and eat ba, you’ve already gone hungry for so long. I also hunted a small prey. Though it’s small, it’s still enough for one person to eat.”
Shu Jintian didn’t really feel like moving, but looking at all the available ingredients, he was also eager to give it a try.
Shu Jintian softly responded, then forced himself up and left the cavern with Shu Hanyu’s help.
After exiting the cave, Shu Jintian saw a pile of messy sea mushrooms and a few little Lian Fishes cushioned by a large seaweed. Because it had been left for too long, the sea mushrooms and sea algae had become dried; the fishes had already dried thoroughly, and were covered in tiny maggots. It looked very disgusting.
This was the food Shu Hanyu had gathered for him yesterday ba, and now they were all wasted. It made him busy for nothing. Shu Jintian suddenly felt a little sorry for Shu Hanyu.
Shu Hanyu followed Shu Jintian’s gaze to look at the pile of things, and kicked it into the water. Because he had been worried about the female, he had entirely forgotten to dispose of this pile of rotten food.
Shu Jintian had eaten his fill of roasted meat a few days ago, and now wanted to boil soup. However, because the seashell was filled with salt, he begrudgingly still had to roast the meat to eat.
This Maochu Beast’s fur was lush and soft, and felt quite comfy. Moreover, its build was just the size of a kitty and not a single part of the meat could be cut. And so, Shu Jintian skinned it and skewered it entirely to roast. Of course, he sprinkled a bit of garlic powder, Sichuan pepper, and salt on the exterior. He didn’t know how much should be put, so aside from salt, the others were layered on thickly.
The beast’s fur was quite soft and Shu Jintian wasn’t willing to throw it away, so he hung it over a bush at the side to air-dry.
The sweet potato wasn’t let off either. Shu Jintian buried a small sweet potato in the bonfire, roasting the Maochu Beast and the sweet potato at the same time.
It took a long time to fully roast the entire beast. By the time the meat was completely cooked, Shu Jintian began to doze off again, and nearly scorched it. The roasted meat with seasoning smelled very fragrant, the colour was a golden yellow, the outer skin crispy. The quality of the meat was fat and tender, and was filled with grease after being roasted. The golden yellow grease dripped into the fire and made sizzling noises.
Even without much of an appetite, Shu Jintian couldn’t help but start to salivate. He took off the roasted meat and brought it to his nose to take a deep inhale of the fragrance. He nearly got scalded on the nose by the steam coming from the roasted meat.
“Smells so good~ So it turns out that those delicious barbecues are roasted this way. Tsk! I can be considered a self-taught genius ah!”
Shu Jintian blew the roasted meat and picked a side to take a nibble. A salty, crispy and numbing heat filled his mouth. The meat quality was seven parts lean and three parts fats, and was very tasty.
Unfortunately, because of the dryness and bitter taste in his mouth, Shu Jintian clearly felt that it was delicious, but couldn’t quite chew or swallow it.
At first, he didn’t plan on eating and just curiously roasted it to try. Now that it was already roasted, Shu Jintian wasn’t willing to waste it either, and ate it in small bites.
“Does Tiantian not like it?” Shu Hanyu waited for Shu Jintian to extinguish the fire before he approached Shu Jintian, carrying him a little further away.
“Like! It’s very tasty ne. Try it?” Shu Jintian offered the roasted meat to Shu Hanyu’s mouth, but Shu Hanyu immediately avoided it and shook his head, refusing to eat.
In the end, Shu Jintian was terribly greedy. Even though he didn’t feel like eating, he still slowly nibbled off more than half the roasted meat. After being here for so long, this was still his most delicious meal.
After eating the roasted meat, Shu Jintian’s stomach was a little unbearably stuffed, so he wrapped up the remainder of the meat in a leaf. Then, he took out the sweet potato in the fire ashes. The sweet potatoes were a little scorched, but it smelled delicious. Shu Jintian also wrapped it up with a leaf and put it together with the roast meat.
“Is it enough to eat so little? Eat some more ba.” Shu Hanyu touched the female’s stomach which was as flat as always, and spoke in a gentle tone.
“No thanks, I can’t eat anymore. Right now, I really want to sleep.” Shu Jintian bonelessly leaned against Shu Hanyu’s body and spoke with half-lidded eyes. His stomach’s queasiness only alleviated slightly when he relaxed his body and leaned against Shu Hanyu.
Shu Hanyu held the female tight, his head buried by his shoulders and said with a muffled voice, “Tiantian sleep ba.”
During dusk, Shu Jintian unhurriedly woke up, his mind still dazed. The outside of the hole brought the gurgling sound of rain and there was a sudden flash of strong light, followed by the sound of a thunderclap that resonated through the clouds. Shu Jintian was frightened that it was a gunshot, but later subconsciously realised that it was thunder.
The heavy rain came down in bucketloads, large droplets pounding against the floor and the crashing sounds resonating through the forest. This cavern entrance’s terrain was comparatively higher, and so no water entered. It was just the soil below that was still too damp and the dried grass which were even more moist; it was very uncomfortable to sleep in.
Shu Jintian sleepily shifted, wanting to sit up. And moved the Shu Hanyu who was wrapped around him who was relaxing with his eyes closed.
Shu Hanyu opened his eyes, and seeing that the female had woken up, he turned into a human form and crawled over to Shu Jintian’s side, and said with delight, “You’re awake?”
Shu Jintian let out a stifled sound of assent. His headache was awful. His stomach was also unbearably stuffed, and he really wanted to vomit.
Shu Hanyu helped Shu Jintian up and held him in his embrace. “Is Tiantian a little better?”
“I feel very unwell; I want to drink water.” Shu Jintian powerlessly leaned against Shu Hanyu’s chest, speaking weakly and without strength.
Shu Hanyu released Shu Jintian when he heard that. “I’ll bring water for you.”
With that, he left the cave despite Shu Jintian’s sounds of objection.
“Ai! It’s still raining outside ne!” Shu Jintian was slightly taken aback. It seemed that the big snake was very worried about him.
Shu Hanyu soon returned with wet footsteps, his long, dark green hair soaked with rainwater. It was curled up slightly, and the rainwater twisted and dripped down from the slightly curled hair.