Chapter 23

The next day, Aman’s brother didn’t come, and Zhuo Yan let out a heavy sigh of relief. As soon as Xiao Xian saw him, he began chattering about how useful the broom was. Only then did Aman remember the important matter, saying it was cleaned very well and that his father liked it a lot, but it was just too short.

Zhuo Yan looked up at Aman, feeling a pang of sadness. “The broom yesterday was made according to my height.” He was still a minor, seventeen years old, and about 1.75 meters tall.

In the tribe, adult sub-beastmen were all over 1.8 meters tall.

Aman was 1.85 meters, Shitou was even taller at 1.88 meters, and Qiao Jie was about the same height as Aman. It seemed like the smallest, Xiao Xian, was a bit taller than him?

???

Zhuo Yan took a closer look, and Xiao Xian really was taller than him.

Last year, he remembered Xiao Xian being about the same height as him, but now he was taller!

What a shock.

“So the broom was indeed made according to height. Zhuo Yan, since the broom you gave me yesterday, I’ll return it to you. My house isn’t suitable for it,” Aman said.

Xiao Xian also said, “It’s not suitable for my house either.”

“Alright, alright, your family is full of tall people, and then there’s our family—” Zhuo Yan glanced at A-Yin, then looked down at his own feet, and couldn’t help but swear to himself that he would eat well, eat more meat, and grow taller.

By next year, he and A-Yin would also be tall!

By then, A-Yin would be taller than all of you when he stands up! Zhuo Yan didn’t have much hope for himself; back when he crossed over, he was twenty-eight years old and ended up being 1.86 meters tall.

Today, everyone started making broom handles according to their height. By noon, Aman returned home and brought back the short broom they made yesterday. Zhuo Yan: …

“There’s also meat. Let’s have barbecue today,” Aman said, bringing the meat.

“Wait for me, I’m going back home with A-Yin for a moment.”

Zhuo Yan took the broom and a bucket of water and headed home to get meat, not wanting to rely on Aman’s. Aman was still saying they should eat together, but Zhuo Yan and A-Yin had already walked far away.

When Zhuo Yan returned again, there were high stones piled on both sides of the campfire by the riverbank. Shitou and Aman had found a stone slab to place on top, while Xiao Xian and Qiao were in charge of the barbecue. Zhuo Yan brought a large chunk of bear meat and two fish.

“So much?” Aman was surprised.

Zhuo Yan replied, “I noticed the weather seems to be getting hotter day by day, and we can’t keep the food for long; it’ll go to waste otherwise.” The main reason was that they had been eating just one meal a day for a while. Today, Zhuo Yan noticed Xiao Xian had grown taller, while A-Yin still looked thin.

“Let’s make up for it.

While eating meat, Aman noticed that Zhuo Yan was very good to A-Yin, constantly serving him meat. However, A-Yin was not to be outdone, nudging Zhuo Yan with his nose to let him eat first…

So, reluctantly, Aman said, “Zhuo Yan, I won’t talk nonsense anymore. I wish you and A-Yin happiness.”

“Cough cough cough cough cough—” Zhuo Yan choked on his saliva.

Aman said, “I know you’re very happy; just be careful while eating.”

Zhuo Yan: … Big silly man!

A-Yin quietly wrapped his tail around his brother. Everyone looked very relaxed, as if they had resolved a significant issue—his little partner, everyone was satisfied with his choice; he was no longer a love-struck fool battling the whole world for love, which was basically the same thing.

After interpreting the expressions of those around him, Zhuo Yan fell silent and finally changed the subject to pull the atmosphere back to a serious note.

“Qiao Jie, I see the weather getting clearer day by day, and the soil is softening a bit. We can start preparing for planting potatoes, as I mentioned before.”

Xiao Xian curiously asked, “Zhuo Yan Ge, what does planting potatoes mean? I know what potatoes are; you call mud beans potatoes.”

“Is it because the mud beans aren’t enough, and we need to dig more? You forgot that we dug most of them before the snow season. Even if there are some left now, they’ve probably rotted. Zhuo Yan, those can’t be eaten,” Aman said, thinking Zhuo Yan didn’t have enough food. “Don’t you have any more dudu fruit at home?”

Shitou nodded, “My family still has dudu fruit.”

This meant that if Zhuo Yan didn’t have enough to eat, he could give him some.

Zhuo Yan quickly shook his head, saying it was enough. “I want to plant some mud beans and see if I can harvest them. I’ll plant them in the field down the hillside at my house and give it a try.”

“Plant?” Shitou became curious.

Aman still couldn’t understand it. Not just Aman, Qiao had been remembering this matter as well, but she also couldn’t figure out what Zhuo Yan meant by “planting.” However, she trusted Zhuo Yan and was willing to try it with him.

“It’s like this: look at this grass; it grows all year round. But in this area by the river, if I want to use the grass, I can collect the grass seeds and scatter them elsewhere—”

“The grass patch is already very close to your house; where else do you want to scatter them?”

“What are grass seeds?”

“Is scattering grass seeds the same as planting?”

Zhuo Yan: … they’re all curious little kids, even A-Yin was very curious.

“Just follow my lead, and I’ll show everyone what farming is all about.” Time to awaken the farming bloodline.

Xiao Xian mumbled that Zhuo Yan was saying strange things again. As soon as he finished speaking, he thought of something and happily said, “Every time Zhuo Yan Ge says something strange, something useful comes out of it. The water bucket and the wooden door at my house are both very useful.”

So everyone became excited about farming.

During the barbecue by the river this time, they discussed what to do tomorrow, and everyone brought their family’s potatoes. Zhuo Yan said, “It’s best if they’re sprouted; sprouted means the surface of the mud beans has sprouts. If they haven’t sprouted, that’s fine too.”

The brooms were finished that day, and they became quite proficient at it quickly. Before it got dark, the group said their goodbyes while still talking about planting potatoes the next day.

Early the next morning, Aman and Xiao Xian were chatting cheerfully as they carried their baskets down the slope.

Zhuo Yan brought his own potatoes and a basket. The group gathered around; Zhuo Yan first picked some grass stalks to fill the basket. The others followed his lead, and Qiao even asked, “Don’t we need to roast the grass stalks?”

“No need; a humid environment is necessary for cultivating potato sprouts.”

He then tossed the potatoes inside and laid a thin layer of grass stalks on top.

“All done,” Zhuo Yan said.

Aman and Xiao Xian eagerly asked, “Is this really all there is to it?” “Zhuo Yan Ge, is this how you plant potatoes?”

Qiao shook her head, remembering that Zhuo Yan had said they needed soil.

“This is just the first step. Once the potatoes sprout, it will take three to ten days. During this time, we can loosen the soil.” There was no need to water them just yet.

Actually, cultivating potato seedlings was quite simple. The others were intrigued by Zhuo Yan’s earlier talk of farming, thinking it must be complicated—similar to making a door—but it turned out to be just this?

“I brought food for the whole day, so what should we do now?” Xiao Xian was a bit confused.

Zhuo Yan said, “Let’s find a spot in the tribe that no one likes to go to, somewhere suitable for planting. Then we can go back and loosen the soil. After that, there’s not much else to do. I also want to set some traps to catch a few rabbits or chickens.”

There wasn’t much bear meat left at home.

The area in front of his house was quite suitable, but he wanted to see if Qiao and the others wanted to find another place. As soon as he mentioned it, Qiao and Shitou both shook their heads. Qiao said, “We don’t know how to farm, so let’s plant by your place first. Once we learn, we can look for another spot.”

“Right,” Shitou nodded.

Aman added, “It’s not far. It’s perfect since we come to play with you every day.”

Alright!

For the next few days, everyone was weeding and loosening the soil. The soil here was very good, so there was a lot of grass. They hardly needed to tend to it; any seeds that fell could grow. Zhuo Yan also discovered many wild vegetables that looked suspiciously familiar.

Let’s gather them all!

The other sub-beastmen in the tribe watched as Qiao and the others, along with that troublesome beastman and the white-haired kid, turned over the soil every day. Someone curiously asked Xiao Xian about it, and after hearing the answer, they were baffled.

“They said they want to plant potatoes.”

“What’s a potato?”

The sub-beastmen all shook their heads, not understanding. Someone commented, “Qiao has gotten closer to Zhuo Yan, and she’s becoming silly. She shouldn’t play with Zhuo Yan anymore.”

“Yeah, they go digging in the soil every day, picking up some grass.”

“However, no one expected that Zhuo Yan would survive this snow season.”

The others nodded, all thinking Zhuo Yan would die. Chun didn’t say anything; she just felt a bit angry seeing Qiao and the others following that troublesome beastman from a distance.

“Chun, why isn’t Qiao playing with you now?” someone asked. They used to often see Chun and Qiao together gathering and working.

“She likes playing with idiots,” Chun said before picking up her basket and heading back.

A few sub-beastmen looked at each other, not understanding why Chun was angry. Someone reminded them, repeating that before last snow season, Zhuo Yan had flirted with Chun’s partner, A-Shu, and Qiao had helped Zhuo Yan, which likely led to a rift between Chun and Qiao.

“Why doesn’t Qiao help Chun? They were clearly on good terms.”

“Who knows?”

Someone then mentioned, “Chun took A-Shu to find Zhuo Yan, and Zhuo Yan was so scared that he claimed he didn’t know they were together. But since Chun was unhappy, A-Shu threatened Zhuo Yan and said he would hit him. Zhuo Yan got so frightened that he fell and hit his head on a rock, bleeding. Qiao couldn’t stand by and helped Zhuo Yan, which made Chun even more upset…”

“So that’s how it is.”

After everyone understood the situation, some said Zhuo Yan was cowardly, while others said A-Shu, as a beastman, shouldn’t bully a sub-beastman. Some argued that A-Shu didn’t actually bully him, just scared him. Regardless, in the end, some still thought it was unwise for Qiao to have a falling out with Chun over this.

“…Zhuo Yan is so weak, and he’s always followed by that white-haired kid. If Qiao plays with Zhuo Yan, she might even have to feed him.”

“Let’s just keep our distance from Zhuo Yan.”

“Though that was the case, the weather became hotter day by day. Zhuo Yan and the others had pulled up all the wild grass, and the soil was loosened and scattered. Every day, some sub-beastmen would team up to wash and work by the river, often curious and wandering an extra ten meters to see what Zhuo Yan and the others were doing.

The weather was indeed getting hot.

Zhuo Yan was glad that the bear meat at home had been eaten clean before this, and there were still about ten fish in the cave. These days, every meal consisted of stewed fish or grilled fish. After a whole winter, it seemed like his stomach was finally full in these past few days, sometimes even too full.

It was simply too happy.

“A few days ago, it still felt like spring, but these past few days at noon, it’s really hot.” He felt like it was around twenty-five or twenty-six degrees during noon, while mornings and evenings were still a bit cool.

A-Yin was eating the last grilled fish from home, which his brother had deboned for him. At this moment, he seemed a little downcast; he didn’t like the hot weather. When it got hot, his brother wouldn’t hold him to sleep at night.

There were sounds outside the cave; Qiao and the others had arrived.

“What are you guys eating so early?” Aman asked curiously.

Zhuo Yan replied, “It’s the last one. I’ve been saving my supplies, and I didn’t expect the climate to change so quickly. I’ll finish it soon; you guys go check on the potatoes first.”

Little Xian was already impatient. He was waiting for the next step in planting. At that moment, he opened the vine basket, and the group moved to a well-lit spot outside the cave. Qiao carefully removed the grass stalks on top and took out a potato to examine it closely.”

“Shitou and Aman leaned in closer, and in the sunlight, they finally understood what Zhuo Yan meant by ‘sprouts.’ Little Xian exclaimed, ‘There are so many sprouts!’

Zhuo Yan had already stopped eating; he was nearly full from the fish. At that moment, he appeared behind them and saw the potato in Qiao’s hand. Great! There was enough water here to support the plants.

‘We can move on to the next step: cut them into pieces and dip them in wood ash before planting,’ he said.

Actually, leaving the cut pieces for two days would work too, but dipping them in wood ash was a quicker and more convenient method.

Upon hearing about planting, Little Xian was the most excited, his fluffy ears perked up. ‘That’s wonderful! Recently, many sub-beastmen in the tribe have been asking me what we’ve been doing. I told them we’re planting potatoes, but they didn’t understand. I couldn’t explain it well, and they looked at me like I was an idiot.'”

“Zhuo Yan is definitely not an idiot,” Shitou said.

Aman replied, “Of course not; Zhuo Yan is quite clever.”

Zhuo Yan: Hehe, thank you for the compliment.