Second Trimester

On the night of the last day of the Fire Festival, what happened next also opened Su Ce’s eyes.  Not to mention anything else, the target gallbladder that all the males—including Rui Ensi, a female who seemed to have a loophole in the system—handed over just now was stirred up by the patriarch Sata and several other leaders with thick and long wooden sticks then broken up in several large vats containing them.

 Forget it, although Su Ce didn’t understand, he just watched with some interest, thinking that this was just a kind of ritual… However, although this seemed to be a kind of ritual, the aftermath was not so pleasant.

 At least it makes him less happy.

 It turned out that just when Su Ce thought he and Tan Tu could go home, many females swarmed up, took out many bamboo tubes, and started working in front of the big tank.

 Su Ce was puzzled. He looked up at Tan Tu and asked, “What…are they doing?”

 Tan Tu slapped his forehead, “Ah, I almost forgot.”

 Because Su Ce was pregnant, Tan Tu was so focused on taking care of Su Ce that he completely forgot about an important part before the end of the hunting day.

  Sharing.

 What is hunted on the hunting day is the gallbladder of the prey that represents the achievements of the males. They are broken into pieces, distributed equally, and then returned to every male and female participating in the day’s activities. This is the meaning of sharing.

 The so-called sharing is not just about sharing this tube of bile, but also about sharing courage and survival resources, showing the unity of the orcs – at least within each tribe, swearing that no matter how difficult the environment is, they will all work together to survive.

 In other words, when there are enough survival resources, people in the tribe will exchange animal bones or other items for what they need.  When the survival resources are not enough, each family will hand over their income to the tribe, and the tribe leader will distribute it.

 Distributed to each family to ensure the continuation of the tribe.

 Therefore, the male hunts for the gallbladder, the clan leader distributes it, and the female comes forward to receive it… This is the epitome of the survival of people in the tribe when disasters and famines strike.

 Su Ce watched for a while and listened to Tan Tu talk about it intermittently, and probably understood this.

 However, although he respects the rules of the tribe, this does not prevent him from being in a bad mood.

 It’s not because of anything else…it’s just that the smell is too pungent.

 Especially since his body is in a sensitive period, his reaction to this smell will be even stronger.

 He felt a little nauseous.

 But he can’t forget his responsibility.

 Tan Tu had already borrowed a bamboo tube from the female next to him, and carefully protected Su Ce as he walked forward.

Su Ce held his breath and scooped up half a tube of mixed bile from the large vat with a wooden spoon.

 Then he buried his head in Tan Tu’s arms and breathed deeply…

 It’s really… too pungent.

 Tan Tu quickly took it from Su Ce, touched his forehead, and found a little sweat, so he hurriedly wiped it off with the back of his hand, and asked a little anxiously, “Ah Ce, Ah Ce, are you feeling unwell?”

 Su Ce’s face turned a little pale and he shook his head, “…I’m okay.”

 Everyone is here, and they are really not suitable for doing anything special.

 What’s more, he’s not that delicate… He can hold on.

 Next, the males must drink the bile to complete the ritual.

 Of course Tan Tu did so, and did it very smoothly – obviously, he had done it many times.  According to the rules, he had to leave a small mouthful for the female, his partner Ah Ce.

 In normal times, males tend to give food and water to females first based on the principle of protecting females. However, in times of disaster, the protection of cubs is the most important. Food is given to cubs first… and then most of it is given to males.  In order to allow the male to have more physical strength to fight and hunt for supplies outside, the female can only occupy a small part to save her life… and even if it is really lacking, it will be given up.

 This is also a cruel law of nature. When you cannot survive, you must give priority to preserving combat power and offspring—the seeds of reproduction. When supplies are sufficient, you must prioritize preserving females who can give birth to offspring to make the tribe stronger.

 With this arrangement, every member of the tribe has nothing to be dissatisfied with.

 Su Ce is no exception.

 But the most important thing now is that Su Ce also has to drink bile.

 He is also a member of the tribe… isn’t he?

 But with bile that smells so foul and the color is disgusting, Su Ce, who has been adapting well since coming here during the civilized period, finally changed his color.

 Is this thing… clean…

 Tan Tu already knew Su Ce relatively well, and now that he saw him staring at the bamboo tube in his hand with a slight frown, he naturally understood it all at once.

 If it wasn’t necessary, he didn’t want to force him to do it. However, many people were watching now, and he had to…

Tan Tu also understood that Su Ce would drink it after a while of mental construction.  However, he couldn’t bear to see his Ah Ce in such trouble.

 So I had to ask him to help.

 So Tan Tu lifted the bamboo tube, poured the remaining bile into his mouth and held it, then held Su Ce’s face and fed it to him little by little.  Then he rolled up Su Ce’s tongue, pulled it into his mouth and sucked it, allowing Su Ce to swallow the bile safely… and then licking away the bitter taste inside.

 This is not an ambiguous kiss, but more of a sense of harmony.

 Su Ce closed his eyes and felt that all the bitterness was replaced by the familiar smell of Tan Tu, and all the previous nausea and discomfort dissipated…

 Tan Tu really knew him.

 After only a few months, Tan Tu was able to deduce his thoughts from his expression and behavioral habits… Tan Tu was not the kind of extremely smart male with extremely high emotional intelligence.  Su Ce knew that Tan Tu could understand him so well because his eyes never left.

 That’s why Su Ce could so quickly abandon the fear of men from earth about pregnancy and childbirth.

 Not only to adapt for survival, but also because of Tan Tu.

 The big guy who was a little stupid gave him a warmth he had never experienced before.

 In a life where Su Ce has been constantly alternating between “always losing” and “never having”, there is one more thing that he cherishes extremely.

 His home, Tan Tu… and their children’s home.

 After the hunting day, the Fire Dance Festival was almost over. Several team leaders left with members of their tribes. Fortunately, although their performance was very good this time, the unmarried females of the Tiger tribe because of the existence of Rui Ensi, were not seduced by any male… This is the only thing about Rui Ensi that is not so hateful to all the Tiger tribe males,  its the fact that Rui Ensi successfully chased Ka Mai also made them love and hate him.

What I love is that Rui Ensi basically belongs to the married family, but what I hate is that… all the male charms combined are not as good as Rui Ensi, and he will take root in the Tiger tribe from now on——

 It’s such an indescribably complicated feeling…

 Of course, Rui Ensi has to go back to the Mayan tribe first. He is a famous warrior in that tribe, and some things have to be explained and concluded before he can return to the Tiger tribe and marry Ka Mai.

 So, when parting, apart from the tearful waving of many females, Rui Ensi himself even said goodbye to Ka Mai, as if he wished he didn’t want to leave at all.  And Ka Mai, with a gentle smile, agreed to Rui Ensi’ request that during this period, except for medical treatment, he will never have any close communication with any male or even female…

 After seeing off the guests, the Tiger tribe returned to peace.

 As for Su Ce, in the following days, his body gradually underwent many changes…

 In the first thirty days, Su Ce could hardly eat anything. No matter whether it was meat or vegetarian, light or greasy, as long as he smelled it, he would puke it out the next moment. Tan Tu was so anxious that he asked Ka Mai to get a lot of herbs, but they were of no use. Later, he had to get some fruits for Su Ce, so that he could barely eat them. But despite this, Su Ce still lost weight at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his taste became very strange. He could only swallow very, very sweet fruit juice, and he couldn’t bear the slightest sourness…

 After going through this for a while, in the second thirty days, Su Ce’s adverse reactions gradually became better, but his appetite suddenly became very large, and he had to eat a lot almost every day. Tan Tu was so anxious that he scratched his hair, jumped up and down, and searched everywhere for what kind of things the females who had given birth to cubs could make to make Su Ce happy. This made all the females in the village make fun of him when they saw him, and even the males loved teasing him. Every time they went hunting, the first thing said to him when they saw him was “Tan Tu, what did you give your Ah Ce to eat today?”

 On the third thirty days, Su Ce’s belly swelled as if he was blowing air. Tan Tu was so frightened that he became even more cautious towards Su Ce, surrounding him and not daring to touch him.  At the same time, Su Ce’s appetite returned to normal, but his taste changed again. He began to like to eat a very sour fruit. It was only as big as a little finger and was dry and crunchy. But just a little bit could make an orc’s whole face wrinkle up from the sourness… But when Su Ce ate it till his face turned rosy, and the aura around him became happy.

 After three months of this, Tan Tu was extremely busy, and his silly smiles at Su Ce… and Su Ce’s belly became even more unbearable…

 Time passed quickly. On a sunny morning, Su Ce was taken out by Tan Tu to bask in the sun.

 He sat in the courtyard on a large chair specially made by Tan Tu and padded with many soft animal skins, with a soft blanket covering his legs.  Su Ce gently pressed his hand on his stomach, but tilted his head slightly to one side, leaning against the back of the chair and closing his eyes to take a nap.

 The sky is very nice, the breeze blowing makes people feel warm, and the sleepiness gradually got stronger…

 However, at this time, a familiar voice came over with some hesitation.

 “Ah Ce…is it you, Ah Ce?!”

 This voice brought back memories buried deep in Su Ce’s heart. He shuddered and opened his eyes.