Chapter 38: Beauty and the Ugly Woman

Baifeng, who had thought he would spend his life alone, never expected to see a woman who fit his aesthetic; although she would not be considered particularly beautiful in later ages, in this era, Baifeng felt she was like a celestial being.

Looking at her appearance, she likely did not receive good treatment in her tribe; after all, being so thin and having such a small face, one could tell at a glance she could not grow to have strength, and in the eyes of everyone in the tribe, she was a ten-out-of-ten ugly person.

Baifeng suppressed his racing heart; no need to panic, after all, no one would fight him for that ugly woman, right?

Baifeng was just about to walk over to ask the price; anyway, his group already had so many old women, so specifically going to ask to buy that one ugly woman was not too strange.

Just as he was about to speak, a dark, peeling hand reached past Baifeng and pointed at the ugly woman: "I will trade two pieces of salt for her."

Baifeng turned his head in surprise and saw a savage with matted hair, his whole body covered in grime like armor, and a body odor like a biological weapon.

Under Baifeng's training, the Baifeng Tribe, while not that clean, at least did not have a strong stench, and Baifeng washed his hair and bathed diligently; although he was tanned dark, his body was clean, and in terms of temperament, he was not comparable to savages from other tribes.

Baifeng did not know why such a savage would come to buy that ugly woman; in this era, there shouldn't be any savages with distorted aesthetics yet, right?

It couldn't be like those flashy rich second generations of later ages, specifically snatching away someone's love and then staging a scene of acting tough and slapping faces, right?

There must be a reason, and everything could be negotiated; Baifeng asked as kindly as possible: "What are you buying that ugly woman for?"

Baifeng ate well, and his previous host was tall to begin with, so the current Baifeng was considered a proper strong man in any tribe; he certainly could not compare to those with good innate conditions like Xiong or Chi.

Coupled with the fact that the tribe brought many people and had sufficient supplies, Baifeng now looked more like that aggressive rich second generation.

That person glanced at Baifeng's group and lacked confidence: "Our tribe collected too little food this year and needs to perform a sacrifice to ask the gods to bless us with more food, but we cannot afford a beauty and can only afford that woman."

The crouching ugly woman heard she was to be traded for sacrifice and trembled even more violently; her Tribal Chief also felt two pieces of salt was not a loss, and after checking the quality, he prepared to hand the woman over.

Since the other tribe wanted to use a person for sacrifice, Baifeng could not stop them, nor could he stop them, but perhaps in this lifetime, he would never encounter another woman like her who fit Baifeng's aesthetics.

This era was barbaric, but Baifeng could not go and snatch her; their transaction did not drag on at all and was completed quickly; in the eyes of that woman's Tribal Chief, the price of two pieces of salt was very appropriate.

Baifeng had no choice but to say to that dirty savage: "I will give you two Salted Fish; you give me this woman, and go trade for a prettier woman for your god."

The savage stood stunned on the spot; he felt what Baifeng said was very strange and unreasonable, fearing Baifeng was tricking him, yet he could not find anything wrong with it.

Seeing him hesitate, Baifeng struck while the iron was hot: "Our tribe pays the most attention to gods, and we use the best for sacrifices; your tribe is almost out of food, and you are still using such an ugly woman—aren't you afraid the gods will blame you and bring down punishment?"

If this could not bluff him, Baifeng could not really go and snatch her halfway; to put his tribesmen in danger for an ugly woman, his position as Tribal Chief would likely be hard to maintain; Baifeng was so nervous his fingernails were digging into his flesh.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Baifeng's words, the savage actually trembled violently, as if thinking of something terrifying, and hurriedly said to Baifeng: "Okay, okay, okay, no problem, she is yours, but you must give me the Salted Fish first; I am afraid you will trick me."

Baifeng did not say a word and took two Salted Fish from his own goods to hand over; the tribesman carrying the Salted Fish was very resistant, and he almost cried when Baifeng took the Salted Fish away, never having seen such a spendthrift Tribal Chief.

The savage got the Salted Fish and licked a mouthful; the salt was so abundant it was bitter, but he could not bear to spit out that mouthful of salty saliva; after putting it away, the woman who was thin and ugly in their eyes belonged to Baifeng.

Baifeng lifted the woman's chin to look and felt she should not be called a woman, but a girl, only about fourteen or fifteen years old; her features were immature, and she was not tall, probably about 1.5 meters, malnourished, thin, and small.

Her figure was undeveloped, and she did not even have anything to cover herself with, only wearing a skirt made of some unknown long Grass that fell apart when the wind blew; fortunately, she was too ugly for anyone to want to look, and their gazes were all attracted to the sturdy women who were basically wearing nothing.

Baifeng considerately wrapped her in animal skin; if they were in the tribe, Baifeng would let her wash clean and dress up beautifully to save his own aesthetics; as for immediately procreating, Baifeng felt doing those things to a child was no different from a savage, and he could not get past that hurdle in his psychological morals.

The girl accepted her fate as she was handled by Baifeng; she had heard it all—the previous tribe traded her to be sent for sacrifice, and this tribe did not want to use such an ugly woman for sacrifice and might use her for something even more terrifying; in any case, they would not let her live.

"What is your name?" Baifeng asked, brushing aside her hair that covered her eyes like withered grass.

She did not speak, only trembled more violently.

"Our tribe will not send you to be sacrificed, nor will we kill you; we will only let you eat until you are plump and white to be someone's wife."

Once these words were out, a glimmer of spirit appeared in the girl's eyes, but the tribesmen all made strange sounds, expressing their resistance; the group had already exchanged for forty young and relatively good-looking women, and their own tribe had hundreds of women—which one was not better than this ugly woman?

Perhaps in their eyes, this ugly woman was the same as a two-hundred-pound person in the eyes of people in later ages—only chosen when there was no other choice; if there were better options, they would definitely stay far away and leave her to someone who truly liked her.

Baifeng hummed; you bumpkins, what do you know? You want her, but I wouldn't give her to you.

The girl ultimately did not say a word, and Baifeng was not in a hurry; waiting until they returned to the tribe to live a few good days and her mindset changed would be enough; for now, he just kept the wooden and dull her by his side as he continued to wander around the gathering.

Until nightfall, he did not see any other good things; many tribes further away had not yet arrived; Baifeng and his group left Shazhou and chose a high ground on the shore to set up camp; everyone else in other tribes slept together, but only the people of the Baifeng Tribe had to take turns keeping watch—he really had no sense of security.

However, Baifeng did not need to specifically arrange who would keep watch; after all, a group of men who could go into heat at any time did not want to sleep after having many women.

Baifeng did not stop them either; anyway, the children born in the end would all be children of his own tribe, it was just that he did not know who the father was.

In the wilderness, no one cared about Baifeng's feelings; the commotion continued until late at night, annoying Baifeng; there were enough women, and no one had designs on that ugly woman, so she slept beside Baifeng.

Brother Baifeng was now majestic, but whenever he thought of the various diseases he had seen in the Hospital, he kept muttering in his mouth: "Self-respect and self-love, self-respect and self-love, self-respect and self-love..."