The Infrastructure’s Guide ☆ 18

Meng Sheng had no idea that the male's breath had such an impact on the sub-females. Someone who was fine just this morning was suddenly unable to stand. Had he known it beforehand, he would have skipped the fancy breath attack and simply punched Tang Yu in the teeth.

Now, one hand had to carry a bunch of prey while the other held a soft sub-female.

He stepped forward, resigned, and one of the rabbits slipped out. He scooped it up and continued on his way, only to discover that another of the small game had fallen. After several more times his temper was almost worn out.

After laying the sub-female on the ground and retrieving yet another prey that had fallen on the ground, he crouched beside him and gently shook his shoulder. "Qiu Juan, Qiu Juan, Qiu Juan? Wake up."

Seeing a lack of reaction, he softly stated, "If you stay unconscious, I'll have to carry you back home on my back, alright?"

A hand suddenly grasped his wrist. He chuckled, knowing that even if Qiu Juan couldn't walk, this youngster would be like this. Meng Sheng snatched all of his prey with his left arm, yanked him up with his right hand, and hoisted him on his shoulder.

As they walked, the locals in the area only saw a silhouette passing by, and by the time they wanted to get a better look, they had already left.

He had planned to leave him off outside the cave to avoid any misunderstandings with Aunt Luo, but Lou actually was not in the cave.

The weather was nice today, so Luo went out to forage for wild veggies. He just happened to run into them on his way home.

"Qiu Juan!" When Luo saw his son being holstered on someone's shoulder, he dropped the vegetables and ran over to him, asking, "Meng Sheng, what's going on here?"

Meng Sheng felt a headache coming on and laid down Qiu Juan, who was now fully unconscious.

Luo caressed his son's pale face and threw a hesitant gaze at Meng Sheng. "What's wrong with Tiger, Meng Sheng, did you......?"

"Don't get any ideas, Auntie Luo; I didn't do anything to him!" He hurriedly recounted the events of the day.

He stared at Meng Sheng in bewilderment, unable to believe that a male would be unaware that his breath would affect a sub-female.

Meng Sheng could tell Luo didn't believe him, yet he couldn't blame him: "Otherwise, you can ask Qiu Juan when he wakes up. But first, I'll take him inside the cave."

"No, I'll return him." Luo hastily drew his son to his side. Since he wasn't sure what had transpired, he remained polite to Meng Sheng: "Anyway, thank you for today."

Meng Sheng understood Luo didn't want him to go near Qiu Juan right now, so he handed him the little dead critters. "These are Qiu Juani's game, and now that I've brought him back, I'll leave."

After witnessing the male leave, Luo carefully brought his son back to the cave. Inside, he gently wiped Qiu Juan’s face with hot water from the stone pot, and it wasn't until he repeatedly checked that there was nothing unusual about his son's body did his heart ease a bit.

After returning from collecting all the left behind game and vegetables, he sat down and sighed while he gazed at his son, who had not yet awoken.

The child was sometimes too small-minded and sometimes too big-hearted to easily trust others, but once he did, he was vulnerable.

Qiu Juan awoke later that evening.

He opened his eyes and instantly covered them with his hands, hissing; even when he was injured, he seldom cried out in agony, but this was the first time he had been affected by a powerful male's breath, and it was too unpleasant.

When Luo heard movement, he rushed to sons side. "Tiger, you're finally awake, you frightened mama to death!"

"Mother, I'm fine," Qiu Juan shuddered as he sat up quickly.

"Can you tell me what happened to you?"

He did.

His son's account matched Meng Sheng's, thus Luo was convinced that the male had not lied.

However, he maintained a solemn expression and grumbled to Qiu Juan, "Why weren't you more careful? Do you know how you got back?”

"Didn't Meng Sheng send me?" He inquired cautiously since he had heard Meng Sheng remark that he wanted to hold him when he was disoriented, and even being woozy, he instinctively resisted.

"And you're aware that he brought you back? He's a male! What if his heart wasn't in the right place and he did something to you on the way!" It irritated Luo. [TN: original here was the typical Chinese Idiom: hate iron for not becoming steel, but, dear Author, you are writing a stone age novel, Aunt Luo shouldn’t know what is iron let alone steel.]

He'd spent most of his time with Qiu Juan, and the few times his son had been in danger, Meng Sheng had always defended him. Lua had been protective at first, but after everything he'd gone through, he didn't think Meng Sheng would mess up.

"Mother, you don't know what Meng Sheng is like, he wouldn't do that."

"How long have you known him? Have you forgotten how Kong Jia used to be so quickly?"

When Qiu Juan heard this name, he fell silent.

Taking advantage of the silence, Luo inquired, "Tiger, answer your mother honestly, do you like Meng Sheng?"

His eyes widened in disbelief before he rose from the ground. "Mother! I was only out hunting with him."

"Tiger, Meng Sheng is a male who is capable and does not show off, he also treats others well. It's only natural that you might like him," Luo remarked calmly. "Whatever you feel, please tell your mother so that I may act accordingly."

Qiu Juan frowned, still unsure of what he was feeling. When Kong Jia declared he liked him and was willing to care for his mother alongside him, he quickly eliminated the rest of his suitors and stayed with Kong Jia as an adult, without even contemplating if he liked this male.

Perhaps his feelings for Kong Jia were always ones of admiration, if not envy, for a male with great power and without the pressure to survive.

Because Luo had been hurt by Qiu Juan's father, he had never taught his son what it felt like to like someone. He had always kept his feelings to himself, but the fact that he had spoken up today was a wake-up call for Qiu Juan.

Even though he didn't know what it felt like to like someone and didn't know whether he liked Meng Sheng or not, he knew he couldn't like this male!

Meng Sheng's power was something he had seen many times, and a sub-femme like himself was not worthy of him. He had enjoyed himself far too much these days.

"I understand what you mean, Mother; I'll be careful not to get too close to him in the future." Having stated so, he felt suddenly despondent, as if his energy had sapped.

"I'm still not feeling well, I'll go and rest."

Looking at his son, Luo realized that he had probably hit a sore spot with his words. He was a terrible mother who couldn’t give his son nothing more than sadness.

It had been a long time since Qiu had been happy, yet today he was just as sad as he had been. Maybe he and Meng Sheng were simply friends, and if the child was happy with him, why did Mother have to say something that would separate them: "Tiger."

"Mother, I'm fine, don't worry, I'm really just a little light-headed."

As Qiu Juan laid down and closed his eyes, Luo merely remained there and watched his child. He opened his mouth but said nothing in the end.

The following day, Meng Sheng broke his usual habit of sleeping in and woke up early to check on Qui Juan. When he went there, however, only Luo came out.

"Thank you, Meng Sheng, for bringing Tiger back yesterday."

He became concerned when he didn't see the sub-female: "How is Qiu Juan? Is he feeling better?"

"Tiger is strong," Luo said with a smile, "he was fine yesterday and went out hunting early this morning."

Meng Sheng frowned, "He went out hunting?"

Luo gave a nod.

Meng Sheng's heart was a little uncomfortable as this boy was too white-eyed wolf. He didn't need to partner up with him now that he owned a bow.: "It's great that he's alright, then I'll go back first."

As he was leaving, Luo gave him some wild veggies and two hares.

"Qiu Juan asked that I give it to you."

Meng Sheng didn't refuse.

He reasoned that because the two caves were now acquainted, they didn't need to be so polite to one other over a small prey.

For several days, he went to meet Qiu Juan every day, but never saw him. Luo usually stated that he had gone hunting early in the morning. There was no worry on Luo's face, therefore there should be no problems with Qiu Juan. That meant Luo may have deliberately kept him away from Qiu Juan.

As a solution, he decided to go early in the morning when it was still dark outside and hide in the bushes outside Qiu Juan's cave to observe whether the sub-female had truly gone out so early.

He squatted in the bushes for a while, but it wasn't until it was light outside that Qiu Juan, who he hadn't seen him in a few days, came out with a bamboo cane and crouched on the ground to water the orchids he'd picked for him on the cliff.

After a short while, Luo came out to call him to eat. “You always take care of them so early.”

"I'm afraid if I do it after I get back from the hunt, they'll already be dry from the sun."

"It's not as if I can't water it while you're gone."

"Mother has no idea how to care for orchids."

Meng Sheng felt relieved to observe a cordial dialogue between mother and son. He was happy to see how much care he had taken with the orchid he had given him. It was a nice break from the anguish of being kept out these days.

Luo shook his head helplessly before frowning: "Are you sure you're not going hunting with Meng Sheng? He comes here every day."

"No," Qiu said as he stood up after sprinkling the remainder of the water over the orchids.

"But he came every day, we can' t keep sending people away like this."

"A couple of days later, if he doesn't meet me, he won't come anymore."

"Tiger…"

"He can't hunt, Mother." The sub-female stated before returning inside.

"What?" Luo exclaimed, rushing in after him.

These words fell on the ears of the male in the bushes and his soul shook.

Meng Sheng's face sank, so... The reason the young sub-female didn't want to meet him was because he was useless?

Back in the cave.

“Meng Sheng and Zhong Yang can venture into Beast Forest to hunt big game, however I am too weak to go there. If he comes with me, I'll drag him down by taking him to the regular hunting grounds. It's a waste of his time to help me catch small prey. He can't hunt with me!” Qiu Juan sat cross-legged beside the stone pot and explained to Luo.

Luo sighed, "The beast forest is dangerous, and it is true that only brave and capable males go hunting there.…"

The male who couldn't hear the dialogue in the cave had a frigid expression on his face. He moved gingerly out of the bushes and returned to his cave, where he sat for a long time on the stone bed, his forehead wrinkled. The more he thought about it, the angrier he felt.

He got to his feet and kicked the wood beside him. His rage had nowhere else to go within the cave, so he pulled out his machete and made his way to the beast forest.

The Beast Forest didn't see many visitors.

Gripping his machete firmly, he marches grimly through the cold, damp mossy forest and into the solitude of the woods, where a quarter-hour later there was a roar of a beasts and beyond that, only one male's breath.

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