Chapter 53: Collective Pairing Ceremony

The rainy season was delayed by one month, then finally passed. This year's rainy season lasted a total of six months, not overly delayed, which could be considered fortunate. However, after the priest divined, they said: "This year's harvest season will be one month shorter than usual, and the cold season is also expected to be delayed." After hearing this news, once the rainy season passed, the tribes stationed near the Heaven Lion Tribe all moved elsewhere to find suitable places to live.

In the last month of the rainy season, i. e., the sixth month, the newly taken-in females from other tribes in the Heaven Lion Tribe also completed the pairing ceremony with the single beastmen of the Heaven Lion Tribe, becoming members of the Heaven Lion Tribe.

Because the rainy season had not yet ended and was still raining, the pairing ceremony was changed from an outdoor bonfire party to being held in the tribe's council hall, somewhat like an ordinary rural wedding on Earth but not quite. Although the pairings were all grooms, with no brides, and it was still a collective wedding, it was nevertheless lively.

Although the females undergoing the pairing ceremony were those discarded by their original tribes, the Heaven Lion Tribe's chief Fei Ji still invited the chiefs and priests of those females' original tribes to attend as observers, but those people did not come out of shame.

Zhang Fan, Fei Er, and Nuoya also went to the wedding venue to help a lot. Because it was a collective wedding feast, there was a lot of food to process; besides the ingredients provided by the male beastmen undergoing the pairing, there was also much supplied by the tribe, so all the tribe's members came to help, with the females handling cooking and the male beastmen responsible for transporting the food and tables and chairs.

After everyone prepared in a bustling manner, the pairing ceremony finally began.

All the new females formed a line on the right, the males a line on the left, and in the drumming they walked toward the same place—the podium. The priest on the podium, smiling, watched the newcomers walk toward him step by step.

After all the newcomers were on stage, the priest had them stand in pairs, then began handing each person a piece of pure black stone. After the stones were distributed, the priest returned to the front of the stage, facing the newcomers, and began chanting the sacrificial words and blessings.

Zhang Fan noticed that, as the priest chanted the blessings, the pure black stones held in the newcomers' hands slowly revealed golden patterns. Zhang Fan felt his eyes were hardly enough, seeing that each stone's pattern was different. Suddenly he thought of when he and Ba Ke Er underwent the pairing ceremony; because he had been too nervous, he had not noticed these.

Ba Ke Er saw Zhang Fan staring at the newcomers on stage, felt a bit jealous, and said somewhat aggrievedly:

"Fan Fan, why do you keep staring at the newcomers on stage? You're not looking at me. Are they better-looking than me?"

Zhang Fan noticed Ba Ke Er's tone and felt somewhat helpless.

"Ba Ke Er, have you noticed? The patterns on their stones are all different."

Ba Ke Er's good mood returned immediately after hearing Zhang Fan's question.

"Fan Fan, so you were looking at the affinity stones? Everyone's affinity is different, so of course the patterns on the stones representing affinity differ."

After hearing Ba Ke Er's explanation, Zhang Fan resolved that when he returned home he would definitely take out the two stones at his house to see what was different.

While Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er were chatting, the pairing ceremony had already ended. Next came the revelry time!

The tribe members began singing and dancing to the drumbeats. Fei Er saw Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er still sitting stiffly at the table chatting, couldn't help running over and pulling Zhang Fan up to dance together.

Gradually night fell, and the paired tribe members, seeing the newcomer pairs disappear one by one, all showed expressions of understanding.

After the merriment, the tribe members went back to rest; Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er did as well.

The night passed without incident.