Chapter 124: Daily Life of the Couple

The whole afternoon, Zhang Fan and Fei Er were responsible for handling and organizing the medicinal herbs in the infirmary. Ba Ke Er, Mo De and the other males, even the clan chief, went outside the tribe to catch injured small animals.

Although Zhang Fan and the others were very conscientious, among the small animals rescued yesterday, some were still too seriously injured to be treated successfully, and they could never open their eyes again.

Seeing this, Zhang Fan and Fei Er could not bear it any longer, so they had Wei Er and Di Er handle it, together with those small animals that were already at death's door.

Of course, these two disposals are different: the former refers to those who have already breathed their last, so Wei Er and Di Er dug a hole and buried them; the latter, although already at death's door, still had a last breath, and they buried them like that, and Wei Er and Di Er were also reluctant to do so.

That so-called 'disposal' was merely cleaning their wounds again and applying new medicine, then isolating them, letting each one live in a separate cage rather than continuing to stay in the communal dormitory.

Zhang Fan also couldn't help admiring Wei Er and Di Er's approach! Indeed, a healer's parental heart means even when facing those small animals with only a last breath left, they can refrain from abandoning or giving up on them! It's truly moving!

Not long after, the Beastmen who had gone out to catch small animals returned, this time bringing back several dozen more. Seeing that everyone outside was already overwhelmed, Zhang Fan quickly put down what he was holding and pulled Fei Er along to help Wei Er and Di Er.

And the Beastmen were not idle either; after putting down the small animals, they all went out of the tribe again, but this time not to look for small animals, but to look for soybeans! They still hadn't had enough of the tofu pudding they ate at noon!

However, the soybeans that Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er had brought back were already scarce, and after eating them at noon, they were even fewer. Everyone also felt embarrassed to freely consume Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er's food, so they summoned Ba Ke Er and went out of the tribe together to look for more.

Seeing this, the females, although already busy to the point of not touching the ground, also did not speak up to stop them. After all, including Zhang Fan, everyone had this idea. Moreover, Zhang Fan was also pondering in his heart whether to make some dried tofu, tofu skin, or tofu puffs and the like.

Fei Er saw Zhang Fan standing there dazed, not knowing what he was thinking, and out of curiosity walked over, bumped his shoulder, and brought Zhang Fan back to his senses.

"Hey! Fan Fan! What are you thinking about? You're so absorbed!" After asking, Fei Er rolled his eyes, put on a playful smile, and said, "Come on, come on! Tell me too!"

Zhang Fan looked at Fei Er's expectant face, didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm, and said with a focused expression that hinted at a smile: "I'm thinking about what delicious things can be made from tofu! But I'm afraid the soybeans we have now are too few, really not enough!"

Zhang Fan thought, telling Fei Er would be fine, for he is a big foodie! Moreover, he is sometimes someone who, in order to have something tasty, lacks patience. I estimate that after hearing my words, he will go back and have Mo De take him out to look for soybeans.

Indeed, Fei Er's first reaction upon hearing Zhang Fan's words was: "Ah! Not enough! Then let's see how much they can bring back today; if it's still not enough, tomorrow I'll go out with Mo De to look for more! Delicacies like this hold the highest status in my life and in my heart!"

Zhang Fan listened, gave himself a "yeah" gesture, but on the surface gave no hint of anything.

The whole afternoon, although Zhang Fan and Fei Er were merely following behind Wei Er and Di Er's brothers, handing them tools, they occasionally got to actually operate things themselves once or twice.

Thus, after having dealt with all the small animals, a busy and fulfilling afternoon passed just like that. Meanwhile, the males had already returned with several large sacks of soybeans, only this time what they brought back differed from what Zhang Fan and the others had brought.

Back then, Zhang Fan and the others, for the sake of convenience, had brought back the soybean stalks as well; this time, however, the Beastmen thought the stalks took up too much space, so they did not bring them back, merely pinching off the pods from the stalks and directly putting the pods into sacks to bring back.

While Zhang Fan and the others were treating the small animals, the Beastmen had already seized the moment to shell the soybeans, wash them clean, and soak them. After Zhang Fan and the others had settled the animals, the Beastmen then began preparing dinner.

Tonight's dinner was the grilled meat that the Beastmen excel at. The seasonings were all made by Zhang Fan himself at noon, and even the barbecue sauce was taken home by Ba Ke Er, who also happened to bring along the tomato sauce that Zhang Fan loves.

Although grilled meat is delicious, eating too much of it inevitably feels greasy; originally nobody thought so, but because of Zhang Fan's arrival, they changed their minds, and after finishing grilled meat each day they inevitably have to drink a cup of floral tea or eat some greens to relieve the greasiness.

This time, after eating the grilled meat, everyone, as usual, had a cup of fragrant floral tea. After the meal, nobody rushed home; instead they sat down to chat.

Only when the sun was about to set did everyone reluctantly part ways, each carrying their own spoils back home.

Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er, the couple, returned home and began busily using the remaining evening light to strip the soybean pods they had brought back yesterday from the stalks. Fortunately, there weren't many pods left, and their speed wasn't slow either, so they managed to finish everything before night fell.

Thus, the couple who had been busy all day quickly tidied up, washed up, and went to sleep. Tomorrow would be another brand‑new day.

Early the next morning, before the sky had lightened, Zhang Fan got up before Ba Ke Er, dressed and washed up, then began busily putting the prepared soybean pods into a winnowing basket and carrying them to the courtyard to dry, because the soybean pods were still raw and not easy to shell.

Zhang Fan knew that as long as the soybean pods were dried, they would be easy to shell; then all that would be needed is to strike them with a stick, and the soybeans would pop out on their own.

Ba Ke Er woke up, twitched his nose, and only caught a faint whiff of Zhang Fan's scent; instantly he opened his eyes, hastily put on his clothes and got up. He thought to himself: "Oh no! What time is it now? Fan Fan is already up! Am I going to be late for my guard duty today?"

However, when he stepped out of the gate and looked, outside it was still not light; the whole sky remained the dark blue it had been when he fell asleep. Only under such a night sky did a slender figure move about, taking advantage of the quiet night.

Ba Ke Er immediately spotted Zhang Fan, walked over, and gently embraced Zhang Fan's slightly thin shoulders. Softly whispering near his ear, he said: "Fan Fan, it's still early! The sky hasn't even brightened—how did you get up? Are you unable to sleep?"

Zhang Fan gently shook his head, turned his head to Ba Ke Er and said: "It's not that I can't sleep; I just went to bed too early last night, so I woke up early today. But it's already almost dawn, so I got up to do some work. I'm afraid that once it's light I'll have to go to Uncle Wei Er's place and won't have time to deal with these soybean pods."

Ba Ke Er neither agreed nor disagreed with Zhang Fan's statement; he simply took the winnowing basket from Zhang Fan's hand, found a spot in the courtyard where the sun would hit easily, placed it there, then walked back to Zhang Fan, took his hand, and together they went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

At that moment, Zhang Fan suddenly realized, as if waking from a dream, that today was Ba Ke Er's day to guard the tribe's gate. He lifted his wrist and saw that it was already 6:20 a. m., while the reporting time was 6:30!

Ba Ke Er was about to be late! Upon thinking this, Zhang Fan didn't rush to make breakfast either; he simply took a few hot meat patties and a pot of warm ginger soup from the jade thumb ring and handed them to Ba Ke Er.

"Ba Ke Er, it's all my fault—I forgot you were on duty today and haven't even cooked breakfast. All I can do is let you suffer through a meal of meat patties." Zhang Fan said, his voice growing softer; if Ba Ke Er didn't have beast‑like hearing, one would hardly hear what he was saying.

Ba Ke Er looked at Zhang Fan's embarrassed face, gave a low chuckle, took the meat patties and ginger soup Zhang Fan handed him, and with his other hand rubbed Zhang Fan's head, speaking gently:

"Fan Fan, it's not your fault—I myself almost forgot this too; if I hadn't woken up and not seen you, I wouldn't have remembered that I'm on guard duty today. Moreover, your meat patties are delicious, I really like them and don't feel put out. On the contrary, I feel bad for you, getting up so early. All right, I'm off now—go back and get some sleep! Good~"

Having said that, Ba Ke Er lowered his head and lightly kissed Zhang Fan's lips. Then he went to the courtyard, directly shifted into beast form, and flew toward the tribe's gate.

Zhang Fan stood outside the door, lifted his head to watch the figure soaring in the sky where a glimmer of dawn had just appeared, a smile on his face and peace in his heart. Only when Ba Ke Er's figure disappeared into that patch of sky did Zhang Fan slowly turn his head and go back inside.

Since it was still relatively early, Zhang Fan didn't plan to make breakfast; instead he went back to the room, took Ba Ke Er's and his own old clothes, and began mending them. But for some reason, as he sewed, his eyelids grew heavier and his body unconsciously slumped onto the bed.

When the sky finally grew bright, Zhang Fan dazedly woke up. He rubbed his head, only then realizing he had actually fallen asleep without noticing. He sat up, yawned, put on his clothes and shoes, tidied the old clothes, and went to the kitchen to get busy.

After breakfast, Zhang Fan took the tools needed to make dried tofu: cheesecloth, a wooden rack, a smooth wooden board, and smooth wooden strips. Having prepared these, he did not put them into the jade thumb ring, but packed them into a large cloth bag, placed the bag in his back basket, and set off alone toward the clan chief's house.

On the way, passing by Di Er's and Fei Er's homes, he met up with them and they went together, just as usual.