The Infrastructure’s Guide Chapter 9

With a dazed expression, Zhong Yang followed him outside the cave.

Meng Sheng went to confront the large tree trunk that had been brought down by thunder. He wanted to split the wood with an ax, but Zhong Yang was there, so he had to borrow his stone tool.

The tree was hacked into bits of wood with the power of breath, but despite it, the stone tool was dull. It took him twice as long as his daily firewood chopping.

Zhong Yang only had one tool to lend to Meng Sheng, there for all he could do was stand back and watch. Crossing his arms, he sat back on a haystack and sniffed the other male’s breath.

"Your breath is quite strong, Meng Sheng! Why didn't you get in touch with everyone sooner? Everyone thought you were a weak male!”

"I'm low-key."

"So you don't want the tribe to worship you? You could be elected as the new chief!”

Meng Sheng hesitated for a moment. He wasn't sure whether Zhong Yang was testing him or asking casually, but whatever was the reason, his thoughts were the same.

So he responded frankly. “Never thought about it. I like to be free. Being chief is too troublesome.”

Zhong Yang jumped up; it was the first time he heard a male say that he didn't want to be a chief, let alone one with a strong breath.

Meng Sheng had the courage to leap on Ewing's back and kill it. His skill must be no less than Zhong Yang's own. He was perplexed as to why he was so powerful and yet didn’t compete for the chief's position. That was the pinnacle of glory!

Meng Sheng cut the wood, planned a piece of land next to the cave, which was considered a hidden location, traced a large circle, and stapled the wood into the ground next to it.

He returned his gaze to Zhong Yang, a large man who was motionless, and said: "Eh! What are you still thinking about, come and lend a hand."

Zhong Yang was still perplexed when he heard his voice come close.

Meng Sheng smiled and said, "Zhong Yang, don't worry, I’m really not interested in the position of the chief. Even though my breath is stronger that average, I’m been lazy for a long time. I’m not suitable. Only someone like you should be a chief. You have a strong sense of responsibility and are always concerned about the tribe’s members.” He was worried that he wouldn’t believe it even after this, so he added nonsense. “If you really want to squeeze an answer from me, what I want, I might think about being a priest.”

"Not at all!" Hearing him say that made Zhong Yang feel a tiny bit ashamed.

He had the impression that Meng Sheng had already read his mind. Yesterday he described his hunt for the beast to father. Dad was worried that Meng Sheng would become his rival.

Meng Sheng saved him, and he was a nice guy, not as aggressive as the Tang brothers or as hypocritical as Kong Jia.

Father always chastised him for being honest, but the benefit of being honest was that he could perceive a person's character by intuition.

He didn't want to come to investigate Meng Sheng's tone, but he had no choice due to his father's insistence.

"Don't think too much about it. Believe it or not, what I said is true."

"I understand, don't mention it… You were talking about the chicken ring," Zhong Yang said, not wanting to linger on this embarrassing subject any longer.

Meng Sheng lifted his brows and remained silent.

The chicken coop was simple in design. It demarcated a place for the pheasants to move. The two strong men promptly put the wood on the ground. Meng Sheng employed weeds as well, due to the pheasants' ability to fly, he made a roof out of hay.

The coop's door was the most troublesome part: making it both tight and easy to open. After completing the chicken coop, he placed the eggs in the coop first, followed by the pheasant.

The two males stood there watching as the pheasant bounced up and down inside the pen before finally settling on the eggs.

“When the little ones hatch and grow, there will be both meat and eggs.”

Zhong Yang retorted. “That’s far away. Amway, eggs are slippery and taste nasty.”

“Of course, when eaten raw eggs taste nasty. I'll treat you next time and show you how they taste cooked.”

“Yeah sure, next time I'll grab more and give them to you. Anyway, the coop was simple to build and you can house more chickens.”

Meng Sheng made no remark on Zhong Yang's lack of interest in raising livestock himself. He was a rough man and it was too troublesome to change his perspective to long-term vision.

“Fine. You catch, I’ll raise.

Although, the chicken coop was rough and the timber was uneven, it was fortunately reliable.

Meng Sheng clapped his hands. He had completed the unscheduled task for the day, and it was time to get back to what he had planned — chiseling a stone pot.

Zhong Yang saw him beginning to work on the stone and inquired: "Isn't there one in your cave already? What’s this for?”

“For Aunt Luo."

Zhong Yang immediately chipped back. “You like Qiu Juan!”

Meng Sheng squinted and slapped Zhong Yang on the side. "What are you thinking about!"

"Aren't you wary of trouble? If you didn't like him, why would you do anything so strenuous as this? Well, in both appearance and ability, a sub-female like Qiu Juan is very appealing to males. I’m not surprised you like him.” Zhong Yang patted his forehead as he spoke, and he immediately felt as if he recalled something. “Right! By the way, my father told me that Qiu Juan wishes to break up with Kong Jia. So it's all thanks to you!”

"..." Meng Sheng: "Apart from hunting, you’re also good at gossip.”

Zhong Yang scratched his chin. “If not, why will there be gossip? Qiu Juan had a thing with Kong Jia. I recall that many males were going to pursue Qiu Juan shortly after he became an adult, but before they even took the first step, he was already with Kong Jia. Regardless if they were compatible or not, I never felt optimistic about Kong Jia. This person always seems fake to me. I'm not sure how he tricked Qiu Juan into his hands so quickly. He had his breath on him before the ceremony of lifelong partner. Qiu Juan had grown up for how long? How did he do it?”

Meng Sheng's brows trembled. "How long had Qiu Juan been an adult?"

"Don't you know?" Meng Sheng's words yet again perplexed Zhong Yang. “How do you not know when Qiu Juan becomes an adult if you like him? It was few months ago in spring. Poe's flowers bloomed wonderfully that day.”

Meng Sheng simply calculated as right now the summer season transitions to autumn. It appeared to happen immediately after he became an adult, leaving hardy any time for courtship.

He checked the guide secretly. The females in the Yanlin tribe were adults at fifteen years old, the sub-females were at sixteen, and the males were at seventeen.

Which means that Qiu Juan was only a little more than sixteen years old. In Meng Sheng old wold, he would still be considered as an adolescent boy. In this context, in this world, the golden ages of twenty-seven and eighty-eight had been positioned as an old man.

He coughed lightly and then inquired. "How does the male leave a breath on the sub-female that won't easily dissipate?"

He knew that if the male didn't hold his breath, he could easily leave it on the sub-female, but this breath wouldn't last long and would soon vanish. When he interacted with Qiu Juan, he could detect a dull flower fragrance, which was very different from sub-females own refreshing feeling. He felt baffled until he smelled the same scent on Kong Jia's body. That's when he realized it was the so-called male conquest breath.

In response to his question, Zhong Yang showed a disgusting and unkind expression. “Are you truly ignorant or joking?”

"What do you think?" Meng Sheng cocked his brow.

"What else could it be besides close contact?"

"How close?"

"Meng Sheng! You are simply too indecent, despite your honest appearance!”

As Meng Sheng heard this, his heart sunk. Now he no longer had a face to look at the answer. His mood abruptly plummeted. He couldn't decide whether to smack Kong Jia for being a beast or chastise Qiu Juan for being a naive lamb.

“Like this, Kong Jia scent on Qiu Juan won’t fade.” Zhong Yang patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly. “I advise that you avoid hooking up with Qiu Juan and just let it go.”

"Go away! Why can’t I hook up with him?”

"Your face was so terrible when I just said ‘close contact’.”

‘If you see a nice-looking cabbage being eaten by a dead pig, how fine will your face be than?’

Meng Sheng snorted and sent a warning to Zhong Yang. "Just talk about it in front of me, but don't go around claiming I like Qiu Juan. Don’t sully others reputation.”

"Don't worry, I won't say something stupid. But it’s good you thinks so.”

"Go away!”

Zhong Yang smiled and said. "Then I'll go back first, and I'll take you berry picking another day."

Meng Sheng sat on the rock after seeing the person leave.

When he thought of the sub-female, he wanted to irritably grab his head and shake. "Why were you so stupid? Look, how sad you are now!"

He had no idea how long he had been sitting like this, so he returned to the cave and pulled out his tools. All of his annoyances were vented on the stone. Unfortunately, the stone was smaller than the sum of his graveness, and it was completed before he got his fill. Nonetheless, his heart was still lighter.

After the final polishing and leveling, he exhaled to pick up the pot with one hand to leave the cave, but as he looked up, he saw Qiu Juan standing outside.

He stood not far away, almost as he had stood at the entrance to his cave the day before. Meng Sheng didn't know how long he'd been waiting. When chiseling the pot, he hadn't noticed him.

"What brings you here?"

When he saw the sub-female staring at his hand that held the pot, he promptly put the pot on the ground.

Qiu Juan retracted his gaze and walked over. "Mother asked me to bring you some wild vegetables."

Meng Sheng observed that the washed vegetables from before were half more of what Aunt Luo had previously given.

"Thank you." He took them.

He didn't know what to say for a moment, gazing at the sub-female in front of him.

‘Would it be better encourage him to break up or persuade him to reconcile?’

Cons for encouragement, Qiu Juan’s current situation was bad, what should he do if he couldn’t find a good partner?

Cons for persuasion, Kong Jia was too cheap of a beast.

After much deliberation, he opted not to say anything and resumed his usual habit of conversing with Qiu Juan.

"Thank Aunt Luo for me."

Qiu Juan faintly felt that Meng Sheng attitude had changed from before, which made him uncomfortable. He was aware that he had lost his temper the day before, thus today he specifically took over his mother’s task of bringing veggies, so he could apologize.

"I'm really sorry for yesterday."

Meng Sheng was irritated by his abrupt apology and asked, "Why did you suddenly say that?"

"Yesterday..."

“Will I still be male if I was upset over that?” He glanced at Qiu Juan's hands and feet. "Are you okay?"

When Qiu Juan heard this, he sighed a sigh of relief and almost blurted out: ‘It’s fine.’ Before his brain woke up and told him to swallow these words.

For as long as he could recall, he and his mother had only relied on each other. His mother was a frail sub-female. He had learned to hunt at a young age and shared his mother's survival pressure.

He'd been hurt while hunting over the years, and no matter how bad the injury was, he was carrying it alone. His mother was elderly and ill. He doesn't want him to be concerned. He eventually couldn't say anything more. He'd become used to reminding everyone that he was fine.

But he pondered it for a long time last night. Whether it was a serious or minor injury, Meng Sheng was often the first to inquire about his condition. He did so for his sake and yet he responded perfunctory as if it was air.

"It's better than yesterday." He attempted to change.

Although he was not used to it, he raised his hand to allow Meng Sheng take a look.

Meng Sheng noted that his hand injury was less severe than his foot injury. After cleaning, only torn skin was visible.

"What about the foot?"

"It's a bit slow to heal, but it gradually scabs."

Meng Sheng was relieved and pointed to the stone pot on the ground.

“This is what Aunt Luo told me to make, and it's done. Later, I'll bring it over”

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