translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

After giving the priest the beehive that still contained a lot of honeycomb and some honey, Xiong Ye went to skin and clean the alligator. The alligator's skin, head, and claws had very little meat, so he gave them to the children as usual.

Then, Zhou Ji watched as the children hacked apart the alligator skin with stone knives and prepared to eat it.

Alligator skin that could be used to make bags should be very useful for staving off hunger…?

They had gone out today and brought many things back but had forgotten to chop firewood. Xiong Ye went to the collective fire in the valley and roasted the alligator whole.

Zhou Ji had been reluctant to come into contact with people from the tribe before and seldom remained in the valley. Now, however, he was much better… He sat by Xiong Ye's side and used his spiritual powers to observe the people around him.

This was the busiest time in the valley.

Babies that had been born last year who still couldn't walk nestled in their mother's arms to breast-fed. Two men were confessing to Xiong Bai, and someone else was bragging about their hunting experience today. Others were talking about s.h.i.+ Li.

"s.h.i.+ Li beat his mother and younger brother yesterday!"

"Why would he suddenly hit them?"

"I don't know. They probably had a row."

“His mother and brother aren't very likeable."

"s.h.i.+ Li isn't very popular now either."

"I used to think that s.h.i.+ Li was impressive, but after thinking about it, Xiong Ye is still much better."

"Xiong Ye was always amazing."

"I haven't seen s.h.i.+ Li at all today…"

s.h.i.+ Li hadn't left his cave at all that day, and n.o.body had seen him. On the other hand, Xiong Qi who had barely left his cave these past few days had come out, his body a little crooked as he arrived by Xiong Ye's side, "Xiong Ye, thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?" Xiong Ye was puzzled as he looked at Xiong Qi.

"I'm very glad that you beat s.h.i.+ Li." Xiong Qi said.

Xiong Qi said so, but his face didn't look happy at all. Instead, it looked like it was full of suppressed pain. Xiong Ye noticed this and asked rather worriedly, “Are you not feeling well?”

"In the future, I might… not be able to hunt." Xiong Qi gritted his teeth and felt an unspeakable loss. He had once been one of the strongest warriors in the tribe, but in the future… He might soon become a member of the collective cave.

Xiong Ye was shocked and hurriedly asked, “What's wrong with you?”

Zhou Ji immediately inspected Xiong Qi's body with his spiritual strength.

“My injury is a little serious; I don't know if I'll be able to recover from it." Xiong Qi endured the pain from his wounds. He really regretted it now--he shouldn't have fought with s.h.i.+ Li while he was injured. Not only had he lost, his injuries had worsened.

Xiong Qi's injury was indeed a little serious--his bones were broken and were now crooked.

A minor injury like this was nothing during modern times. They just needed to put the bones back into place and it would be fine, but during this era, there was probably n.o.body who knew how to set bones.

The doctor in the tribe, the kindly Grandpa Priest, only knew how to perform some shallow healing.

Since that was the case, Xiong Qi would be done for if his bones healed crooked--there were people in the tribe whose bones had broken and regrown crooked. They had turned into cripples who could no longer partic.i.p.ate in the hunts and could only join the gathering team.

If it had been before, Zhou Ji wouldn't have concerned himself over this kind of thing.

He didn't like to manage other people's affairs after experiencing the apocalypse. Previously, he had helped the gathering team by increasing their harvest when they went out to collect things as a way of paying them back for living in the tribe.

Now, however…

There were very few powerful fighters in this tribe and losing a warrior like this would have a great impact on the tribe and on Xiong Ye--Xiong Ye would have to work harder during the hunts in the future in order to support this large tribe of people.

Zhou Ji said, "Xiong Ye, didn't you learn the art of healing from the priest? Why don't you give Xiong Qi a look?"

"Alright." Xiong Ye immediately replied.

Xiong Qi was also willing to let Xiong Ye take a look. He was now already in a state where he urgently needed treatment, “I already looked for the priest, hiss… The priest said that I need to slowly recover on my own, but these past few days… Hiss… I've been in too much pain to sleep."

Xiong Qi's broken bone was near his hip. He laid down on his side on the ground so that Xiong Ye could take a look at his wound.

His fur was thick and regardless of whether it had been when he had been slapped by the dinosaur's tail or when he had been attacked by s.h.i.+ Li, the external injuries hadn't been serious at all. It was impossible to know whether or not he had broken bones just from looking at the surface.

Xiong Ye wanted to use his hands to probe the area, but Zhou Ji said, "Xiong Ye, don't we have some healing herbs? Go and bring some of them here." It was better for Xiong Ye not to touch such an area.

"Good." Xiong Ye nodded, then went back to get the herbs.

After driving away Xiong Ye who had been about to touch someone else's rear, Zhou Ji patted Xiong Qi's waist, "The herbs that Xiong Ye picked are very effective. You'll definitely get better after you use them."

His movements as he patted Xiong Qi were very natural and didn't arouse suspicion at all, but only Zhou Ji knew that he had used his spiritual powers to setXiong Qi's bones back into place.

Xiong Qi heard Zhou Ji's words and felt a glimmer of hope. He didn't know if it was due to this that he felt that the area around his injury was no longer as painful. At this time, Xiong Ye came back with some herbs in hand.

They had picked some herbs on the way back, and they had all been put together. There were herbs for reducing bleeding, calming herbs, and even some that contained quite a lot of energy and were good for the body.

Zhou Ji intended to save the last type for Xiong Qi and wouldn't give it to Xiong Qi. He first gave Xiong Qi some calming herbs, "Chew these."

He was asking him to eat this gra.s.s raw? Xiong Qi was a little puzzled but still obediently chewed and ate it. After swallowing it, he could taste a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, and it was especially uncomfortable.

Xiong Ye looked at Xiong Qi sympathetically. Zhou Ji would also give him this kind of gra.s.s to eat, but he would cook it for him first. Now, Xiong Qi actually had to eat it raw… How pitiful!

"You can chew these and then put them on your wound yourself." Zhou Ji handed Xiong Qi a few herbs that could treat his injuries.

"Oh…" Xiong Qi accepted it and obediently did as he was told.

"You'll be fine after you go back and sleep." Zhou Ji instructed. Beastmen were extremely resilient. Although Xiong Qi had broken some bones, he should be alright after a few days of good rest.

Unless he purposely made it difficult for himself and went off to fight again.

Xiong Ye didn't understand what had happened and naturally wasn't as optimistic as Zhou Ji, but he still comforted Xiong Qi, "Don't worry. You'll definitely be alright."

Xiong Qi didn't know that Xiong Ye was merely comforting him. He felt that his injuries no longer hurt so much and suddenly felt very grateful towards Xiong Ye.

In fact, he hadn't liked Xiong Ye very much before. Xiong Ye was very powerful, and it gave him a sense of crisis.

But at this moment, he felt that he'd been really wrong.

Xiong Ye was truly a good person. He had been so kind to him even knowing that he was injured and might lose his fighting power. He had even gave him some of his precious herbs.

He had to make sure to repay Xiong Ye later on!

With that in mind, Xiong Qi obediently headed back to his cave to sleep. When he walked back towards his cave, his body was no longer as crooked as it had been before.

Xiong Ye didn't notice this as he grabbed his hair and looked towards Zhou Ji, "Zhou Ji, let's eat meat."

"I don't want to." Zhou Ji replied.

"Alligator meat is tasty. Really!" Xiong Ye promised repeatedly as he ate a large mouthful of it to show Zhou Ji.

Zhou Ji saw that he was enjoying it so much and also became interested in giving it a try. After tasting it, he found it acceptable and ate a little more.

Xiong Ye was delighted when he saw this.

People who saw this scene couldn't help but be a little jealous--Zhou Ji's life was so good!

How come n.o.body gave them food to eat or tried to persuade them to eat even if they didn't want to?

Some people were so red-eyed with jealousy that they jumped up and said to Xiong Ye, "Xiong Ye, I've always liked you, and I'm willing to become mates with you…"

"I already have a mate." Xiong Ye replied. He recognized the person in front of him as someone who used to chase after the women of the tribe!

"I'm more powerful than Zhou Ji and am definitely better suited for you." The man spoke again.

"I like Zhou Ji." Xiong Ye said, then looked towards Zhou Ji, "Zhou Ji, you are the best in my eyes."

Zhou Ji burst out laughing.

Xiong Ye saw him laughing and couldn't help but praise him, "You're really very good. The food you make is delicious, and you're so good-looking." He didn't know what else to praise about him and could only praise his looks!

Zhou Ji: "……" Fine then, he hadn't thought that Xiong Ye would care about his looks.

The two of them returned to their cave after finis.h.i.+ng off the alligator meat.

Xiong Ye did as Zhou Ji had asked and cut off a portion of the large chunk of wood, then began to carve out a bucket from the wood with a stone knife.

This type of wood was very hard and using a stone knife on it wasn't easy. He turned into his bear form and used his paws to claw at it… But the effect wasn't great.

Zhou Ji laughed and then went to 'sleep' first, casually making use of his spiritual powers to give Xiong Ye a little help.

Xiong Ye saw that Zhou Ji had gone to sleep and reduced the force behind his actions, but for some reason, the effectiveness of his carving went up.

He must have been too impatient in the beginning. It seemed like this wood simply needed to be carved out slowly.

Carving out a bucket wasn't difficult. Xiong Ye finished carving out the bucket after an hour or so, then went to the valley to wash it clean and bring back a bucket of fresh water before going to sleep.

Seeing that he'd gone to sleep, Zhou Ji once again began to draw the energy from the surroundings into Xiong Ye's body.

Xiong Ye had done a lot of work today and gone to sleep late. If Zhou Ji didn't do this, Xiong Ye might be low on energy tomorrow.

The next day, Xiong Ye woke up and was as energetic as ever.

He felt that he was in particularly high spirits and had a lot of energy lately… Having a family and someone taking care of him really made a difference!

Even just considering food alone--he never used to eat in the mornings, but now? Zhou Ji had actually used the bird eggs to make honeycomb scrambled eggs for him to eat!

It was really too fragrant and far too delicious! However, Zhou Ji didn't like honeycomb and justate the eggs on their own.

After Xiong Ye was satiated, he left the cave to meet up with everyone in the valley--today was another collective hunting day.

There weren't many people in the valley yet when Xiong Ye went down. He was working on loosening his body when he heard Xiong Qi's voice, "Xiong Ye!"

Xiong Ye turned his head and saw Xiong Qi coming towards him in excitement. He opened his arms to give him a hug, and his eyes were red as he said, "Xiong Ye, thank you…"

Xiong Ye dodged away without a second thought.

Juurensha: XY, forcing his hubby to be social and help the tribe.

xiin: XY gets his first crazyfan~