translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

It took Xiong He a lot of time to portion out the meat. Since there was a lot of meat to go around, the things that the gathering team had collected weren't given out that day and were instead boiled together in a large pot for everyone to eat as they liked.

At this time, the head of the gathering team found an opportunity to talk to Xiong He and said, "Chief, Zhou Ji didn't work very seriously when he was in the gathering team in the past, and today, he simply refused to come with us to go gathering. Since he's like this, he shouldn't get a portion of the food at all."

Those who were unwilling to contribute to the tribe would be shunned by the entire tribe! When that happened, perhaps even Xiong Ye would lose interest in Zhou Ji!

The head of the gathering team wanted to see Zhou Ji get in trouble.

However…

Xiong He replied, "I didn't give Zhou Ji any food today in the first place. In the past, Zhou Ji often wouldn't come over to get the meat he was allocated either, but today he directly told me he didn't want any."

The head of the gathering team: "……" How could that be?

Xiong He continued, "Xiong Ye has spoken to me about Zhou Ji. Zhou Ji hasn't awakened an animal form, is slow at doing things, and his body isn't that good. In the future, if he wants to go gathering, then let him go. If he doesn't want to, then let him be… In any case, he has Xiong Ye to take care of him."

"Chief, how could that be acceptable? There are rules in this tribe!" The head of the gathering team was dissatisfied.

"Why not? It has always been like this. Previously, when Zhou Ji was stupid and foolish and stayed in his cave all day long, hadn't it also been like that? Only, Zhou Ji's mother took care of him before, and now it's Xiong Ye taking care of him." Xiong He added, "There's no harm in that."

In fact, it wasn't just Zhou Ji. There were many people in the tribe who couldn't work but still took food. Compared to them, Zhou Ji was already a lot better!

The head of the gathering team: This really made others envious!

Xiong Ye had indeed brought up this matter with Xiong He because Zhou Ji had said he couldn't partic.i.p.ate too much in the gathering tasks and didn't want to spend the day following the team.

In fact, Xiong Ye disapproved of this kind of thing. He always felt that regardless of who it was, they should still try to support themselves. Otherwise, they would simply be too useless.

However, in Zhou Ji's case, he also felt that Zhou Ji was so pale and delicate that it wasn't very good to have him work too hard.

Zhou Ji ate very little and didn't like to eat dinosaur meat. The bits and pieces that Xiong He allocated to the people in the gathering team were always left untouched by him. Since that was the case, it didn't matter if Zhou Ji didn't take meat from the tribe… It also wouldn't make any difference if he didn't go out with the gathering team.

In any case, he was there to take care of Zhou Ji.

Taking care of Zhou Ji was really easy. In the past, s.h.i.+ Li had said that he was strong and didn't need his help, but in fact, the amount of meat he had given to s.h.i.+ Li to eat was much, much more than what he gave to Zhou Ji now.

With that in mind, Xiong Ye simply went and notified Xiong He about this matter.

However, despite the fact that he had done all this, Xiong Ye still emphasized to Zhou Ji, "Zhou Ji, you have to learn how to deal with others. Too many accidents can happen in this world. If something happens to me one day…" In fact, Zhou Ji was capable of gathering. He was just afraid that Zhou Ji would have a bad relations.h.i.+p with the people in the tribe…

"Nothing will happen to you." Zhou Ji said firmly. It didn't really matter if Xiong Ye went hunting in the surrounding areas, but if he took on dangerous tasks like going to trade for salt, he would definitely go with him.

Additionally, he would think of ways to improve Xiong Ye's strength.

When Xiong Ye heard Zhou Ji's words, he puffed out his chest proudly--Zhou Ji believed in him this much. He certainly couldn't let Zhou Ji down!

After the meat was divided up, the majority of the tribe stayed in the valley to roast their meat while Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye returned to their cave.

Xiong Ye had gone hunting that day, and Zhou Ji was too lazy to go and collect firewood, so the two of them still didn't have any firewood. Fortunately, the children of the tribe had picked up a lot of it for them, so they no longer lacked firewood.

When they arrived back at the cave, they lit a fire at the entrance. Zhou Ji began to make fish soup for himself, and Xiong Ye began to roast meat.

Roasting things in the cave was actually very inconvenient. Even if the fire was lit on the platform by the cave entrance, a bit of the smoke would still slither into the cave. Sometimes, when a gust of wind blew by, the entire cave would end up choked with smoke.

Previously, Zhou Ji hadn't bothered to deal with it because he had his spiritual powers and wasn't affected by it. Now, he began thinking about expanding the platform and fixing up the cave.

Also, the food that they ate was too monotonous. Zhou Ji felt that they could get some other things to eat. For example, they could try and make some sauces, pickle some vegetables, or things like that.

There were many varieties of pickled vegetables. Not only were they delicious on their own, they could also be used to add flavor to boiled or steamed meat.

Unfortunately, all of these things required salt, and the tribe just happened to be lacking in salt.

Originally, Zhou Ji hadn't wanted to concern himself over these things at all. Now, he discovered that there were actually a lot of things he needed to worry about.

However, there was no other way. If he wanted to live well and live comfortably, he couldn't be totally indifferent to everything…

The man-eating fish was really very tasty, but all of them had been boiled every single time, and other than salt, there were no other seasonings, so it started to taste very commonplace as he ate more of it.

Zhou Ji began to miss chili peppers. It was too bad that he hadn't managed to find any near the tribe.

It was still early after they finished dinner, so Zhou Ji listened as Xiong Ye recounted his adventures from the day.

Xiong Ye enthusiastically spoke a lot. After finis.h.i.+ng his account of what had happened, he asked Zhou Ji, "What about you? What did you do today?"

“I found some edible plants around the tribe." Zhou Ji said, then took out a plant and gave it to Xiong Ye, "Try it."

Xiong Ye felt rather helpless as he ate some; Zhou Ji really liked to feed him gra.s.s!

He really didn't like the taste of gra.s.s, but this was a token of Zhou Ji's care, and he might as well eat it.

After Xiong Ye chomped on some gra.s.s, Zhou Ji sent him to bed.

The plant he had given to Xiong Ye contained energy. He wanted Xiong Ye to sleep early, so that he could help Xiong Ye sort through that energy.

The two of them closed the door to their cave and went to sleep. Xiong Ye fell asleep quickly, and when Zhou Ji saw that he was sleeping, he got up and began to help Xiong Ye absorb the energy into his body.

As he sorted and guided… Zhou Ji began to develop some ideas on how to get Xiong Ye to absorb this energy on his own.

He didn't want to wreck this world's food chain--If all beastmen became incredibly powerful, this planet's ecology might be destroyed.

But it wouldn't be a big deal if he just made Xiong Ye strong.

Zhou Ji simply helped Xiong Ye sort out and absorb the energy, then laid down in his own bed and prepared to go to sleep.

However, he was startled awake as soon as he managed to dip into sleep--Someone had come to the entrance of the cave where he and Xiong Ye lived.

Zhou Ji's eyebrows immediately drew together into a frown.

He was unaccustomed to having people around him, and the sudden appearance of a person nearby made him very unhappy.

He spread out his spiritual power, then discovered that the person standing there was s.h.i.+ Li. s.h.i.+ Li hesitated for a moment at the entrance to the cave, then abruptly began to knock on the door. "Xiong Ye!"

s.h.i.+ Li's voice wasn't very loud, but Xiong Ye hadn't eaten any calming herbs, and Zhou Ji hadn't deliberately made use of his spiritual powers to soothe him… He woke up immediately. "Who is it?"

“It's me.” s.h.i.+ Li said.

Xiong Ye frowned and got up. He was disgruntled as he opened the door and looked at s.h.i.+ Li, "What did you come here for?" It was already late at night. What had s.h.i.+ Li come for? He was going to wake Zhou Ji up with this noise!

"Xiong Ye, I'm sorry." s.h.i.+ Li said.

Xiong Ye was very impatient with him, "What are you telling me this for?"

"Xiong Ye, I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have gone back on my word, and I shouldn't have gotten together with Lang Yin… In fact, the person I've always liked was you. I only like you…" s.h.i.+ Li's expression was full of repentance.

Perhaps Xiong Ye would have felt a little moved if s.h.i.+ Li had spoken words like these a few days earlier, but now… "It's alright. I forgive you." There was nothing between him and s.h.i.+ Li now. He had already let it go.

"Xiong Ye, I know that you still have me in your heart. Are you willing to get back together with me again?" s.h.i.+ Li looked at Xiong Ye excitedly.

"No. I'm going to become mates with Zhou Ji." Xiong Ye said.

"Zhou Ji is so weak. Are you sure you want to become mates with him?" s.h.i.+ Li said, "Xiong Ye, I'm the only one who would suit you best. We've been together for so long!"

"Keep your voice down…" Xiong Ye was unhappy now.

s.h.i.+ Li didn't lower his voice at all. "Xiong Ye, as long as you're with me, you will obtain the most supreme glory in the future. You definitely won't regret it!" As he spoke, he tried to reach out and embrace Xiong Ye to give him a kiss.

This was something they had often done in his memories.

However, during this time period… They had never been intimate before. Let alone, at this moment, Xiong Ye was really disgusted with s.h.i.+ Li.

Xiong Ye was caught by surprise and instinctively pushed him away hard in rejection.

The energy in his body had not yet been fully absorbed, and during this push, he unknowingly made use of the excess energy. He actually threw s.h.i.+ Li backwards so abruptly that he fell off the narrow platform outside his cave door.

Xiong Ye was shocked.

Zhou Ji, who was very angry and had just been about to use his spiritual powers to teach s.h.i.+ Li a lesson: "……"

He heard a 'thump' sound. s.h.i.+ Li had probably taken quite a fall, right?

Juurensha: s.h.i.+ Li, it's too late, even if you feel bad! Xiong Ye has found someone who really likes him and only him!

xiin: heheheheheee he fellll (and ZJ's jealousy is showing)~

also, for any artists here… CG has just launched our first ever fanart contest. You can read the rules and . Please do join in! The prize will be a 1 month nitro subscription~