The Infrastructure’s Guide ☆ 17
Updated: Oct 24, 2021
Meng Sheng examined his clothes before crumpling them into a ball and tossing them onto the stone bed. He didn't want to tease the boy. He was really willing to offer it to him. Ah, forget it: just run, run away.
He inadvertently shook his head, found a clean piece of animal skin, and then went out after replacing the soaked one.
Qiu Juan chopped up the bacon with a piece of stone and tossed it to the pheasant. As Meng Sheng went outside, he saw him teasing the little birds with food.
"You actually fed to chickens the bacon that I had smoked for a long time."
Qiu Juan didn't even raise his head to look at him. His mind was filled with an image of a wet male. His ears were red.
"This meat was the only one I saw. What makes it so special?"
"It’s nothing. It just tastes different." Meng Sheng said, rubbing his wet hair. "Let's go, let's go hunting."
Qiu Juan wiped his oily hands and picked up his prey.
"Where to go hunting today?" he asked, pulling out the arrow that had been lodged in the birds and returning them to the quiver.
"Let's go where you usually hunt."
Last time, the forest was too dangerous. He decided to capture some prey and raise it. His breath strength might keep him safe, but the same couldn’t be said about the sub-female. He wasn't going to take Qiu Juan there again.
Qiu Juan nodded and guided him in a different direction.
They traveled alongside each other without saying anything. The sunshine filtered through the trees and landed on Meng Sheng's shoulders. He wet hair sticking to his back to make the whole person look attractive.
Today's atmosphere seemed a little ambiguous. After giving it some thought, Qiu Juan realized that three people were hunting together the last time, so he didn't think there was something there, but today they were two people alone. Except for the previous hunts with Kong Jia, he had never hunted alone with a male.
Meng Sheng didn't speak, his thoughts were lost in silence.
"What are you thinking about?" Meng Sheng caught ‘the blind man’ when the sub-female who was following was about to run into a tree.
Qiu Juan took a step back, somewhat embarrassed, and asked. "It's nothing, just, why did you come back so soon?"
Meng Sheng suddenly hugged himself, showing his teeth, saying, "because someone peeped when I took a bath!"
Qiu Juan was stunned for a second and wanted to blurt out: who could be so obscene, but then he noticed the male exaggerated facial expressions and realized he was kidding...
"Who’s so boring?”
"Even though you don't believe, in summary, the next time, don't take a bath in the river, wash in the cave. I only suffered a little when someone peeked at me. It's different for you. Any scumbag male could want to make you his partner in this manner. You’ll be unhappy.”
Qiu Juan sneered, and he drew an arrow. "If someone dares to peek at me taking a bath, I will shoot him blind!"
As soon as the voice died, the arrow left the string and flew. Qiu Juan skipped over, passed through the brush, and pulled out the arrow, which had a gray hare embedded at the end.
The sub-female held the hare and raised his eyebrows at the male.
Meng Sheng lowered his head and softly chuckled: "You were so powerful. Next time, sit by as I take a bath and keep an eye on me. If she takes another peek at me, you could blind her.
Qiu Juan gave him a look. "Don't always make fun of me. Don't you know how to shoot arrows?"
Meng Sheng borrowed a bow and arrow from the sub-female and fired it at a moving wild deer to demonstrate his poor archery skills. He, of course, missed.
"Can’t shoot."
"You did it on purpose!"
“Do you think I would deliberately let a prey go?”
The two argued over the matter for a while, while along the way passing several tribes members. They reached an area where vegetation was thriving, but the trees were sparse. It was an excellent location for hunting small games. Since there were no huge beasts, the tribe's inhabitants would often come here.
The two already had a couple of gains in the morning. The main reason was that Qiu Juan had struck everything that moved. He now carried three hares in his left hand and a long-tusk pig in his right. While the prey was small, his hands were full and many tribe members walking could acknowledge the good hunt.
On a sunny day like this, he followed the sub-female's buttocks and helped him carry the prey. He enjoyed the view of seductively-looking Qiu Juan heroically shooting birds.
When Qiu Juan returned with a badger, the arrow quiver on his waist was empty.
Qiu Juan saw Meng Sheng lying on a large rock, squinting his eyes while basking in the sun, with all the prey on by his heels. His hair was now dry after a morning of hiking.
He stepped slowly over, carrying the badger. Meng Sheng had been aiding him in collecting the prey all morning, ensuring that no one took away his harvest. The male was good-natured and didn’t complain about the wasted time in which he didn’t get to hunt. Qiu Juan realized this and blamed himself for getting carried away and letting the male be bored.
He couldn't tell the male's mood right now, so he had to sprint over apologetically.
Meng Sheng opened his eyes when he heard the movement and asked, "What did you hunt this time?”
"It's just a badger." Qiu Juan stated, leaving the prey on the ground. "It's so small, I can only hunt these little things.”
"How can you utter these vexing words? You’re already much better than some males."
Qiu Juan's face was a little flustered as the words meant more to him than they should.
“I’m sorry. Because of me, you didn’t catch anything all morning. I’ll give you the bow and arrow, so you can go hunt.”
Meng Sheng's slight drowsiness from the sun vanished in an instant. "What's the matter with you? It’s your bow. Don't give it to others casually."
"I know. But don’t you want to go hunting?”
“What is the point of hunting so much prey? In my cave, I still have food. Besides, there is so much food in storage, and I can’t eat it all before its spoils.”
"You’re a male. If you can't eat, you can share your meat with the weak and increase your reputation. And you promised to bring the food at the next food dividing? It’s in few days.”
Qiu Juan passed the bow once more. He wanted to draw two arrows for him, but there were no arrows when he reached his waist. The arrows he made were either broken or lost. He blushed as he smiled at Meng Sheng.
“I can’t shoot the sly prey down. Let's go back if you don't want to hunt."
Meng Sheng was a bit perplexed. Wasn’t the sub-female just now happy hunting? What happened to make it go wrong so suddenly? Why was the boy bothered that the male didn’t hunt?
Before his thoughts could be observed, he heard a harsh voice say, "Get out of the way, the wild boar is going berserk!"
Half-person-high vegetation started to tremble as a violent force charged through it.
Meng Sheng quickly rolled away behind a stone. He grabbed the sub-female in front of him and drew him into his embrace.
Before anyone could react, he kicked the moving grass nearby.
"Go away!"
With red eyes and two long, angled fangs, the wild boar charged backward, digging deep pits behind it with its sturdy hind legs. The angry animal was followed by a strong young man.
The wild boar was running rampant, knocked over everything in its way.
Meng Sheng drew out the machete that had been idle all morning and dashed up to it. He let out his breath as he jumped on the stone to deflect most of the wild boar's brute force. With the force of the breath, he repelled the wild boar by two steps. With a backhand, he slashed at the gap with a machete. The wild boar whimpered and struggled a couple times before falling right on the grass, pressing out a clearing.
Qiu Juan sank down on the grass, watching the fierce wild boar be slaughtered by Meng Sheng's hand.
For a moment he could only hear his heart thumping. For a long time, it wouldn’t come down.
"Are you all right?" Meng Sheng put the machete back on his back and pulled up the
sub-female from the ground.
As soon as he asked, another said, "Are you all right!" sounded from the young man who had chased the wild boar.
"Qiu Juan? Meng Sheng?" As soon as the male saw the person clearly, he sneered. "What are you two doing in this grass?"
Qiu Juan stepped away from Meng Sheng subconsciously. When Meng Sheng turned around, he discovered that the person was Tang Tong's brother Tang Yu.
Since the newcomer was rude and impolite, Meng Sheng was likewise rude and impolite. “What does it matter to you? Are you blind and can’t see?”
Tang Yu glanced at Meng Sheng. Since food distribution, he found this male unpleasant. Now that they met, he emitted his breath with an intimidating aura and said in a disdainful tone. “I just know that my prey ran here and I came to get it.”
Meng Sheng felt suffocation pushing inside. The vivid sensation of bleeding from the nose and mouth. Dizziness and reflex to dry heave.
Meng Sheng didn’t hesitate and retaliated with the same ruthlessness. He was not a soft persimmon that people could pinch as they wished. Facing the opponent's breath, he flooded the surroundings with his own.
Meng Sheng's breath smelled like plants and trees. At first, it was difficult to detect. Tang Yu assumes that the figure in front of him, who the chief described as a powerful male, was insignificant. Zhong Yang simply granted some sweetness to the male who had been ignored by the tribesmen.
Just as he was about to laugh proudly, he suddenly realized, he couldn’t because of the breath surrounding him from all directions. Whisps of grass and wood penetrated his breath and wrapped about his neck, squeezing. A fishy odor with the taste of copper emanated from his throat. He narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth, swallowing mouthful of blood, before stepping back a distance.
Meng Sheng drew back his breath and squinted his eyes. Where’s the powerful male running rampant in the tribe? It seems that he’s all bark and no bite.
"Meng Sheng, I should tell you, you are shameless, seducing a sub-female with a partner! Kong Jia will be livid when he finds out.” Tang Yu's face was contorted as he was stunned.
While he didn’t like mentioning other males, especially Kong Jia, at this moment, he could only mention him to save a little face.
He did not expect that the inconspicuous male was truly strong.
“What good is he? He has no right to poke his nose into my affairs."
The two strong male breaths had an impact on Qiu Juan. His eyes had gone dark and he could hardly see anything. However, he had always been sensitive to the name Kong Jia, and he was scared Meng Sheng would say something. He toughed on the male’s hand, motioning hum not to say more.
Meng Sheng sensed that Qiu Juan wasn't fine, so he stopped talking nonsense with Tang Yu, only adding. “If you have so much spare time to advise, you can spend it watching over your sister.”
He picked up the animal that Qiu Juan had hunted today and walked him back while supporting the sub-female.
Tang Yu, with an angry and blackened face, misinterpreted Meng Sheng's words and cursed at Meng Sheng's tall back: "Meng Sheng, you don't know the depth! If you dare to harass my sister, I’ll never let you go!”
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