Chapter 90: Salt Water

Not long after the cellar began to be used, the Heaven Lion Tribe welcomed this year's second great rice harvest! This time, all the tribe's people—adult males, females, elders, and young ones—joined in.

Zhang Fan observed the night sky and the rice's maturity in the fields for several days, then set a date and began harvesting his own rice the next day. Of course he didn't forget to greet the chief and the elders. Almost as soon as the time was fixed, he had Ba Ke Er go notify the tribe. When Ba Ke Er told the chief about the harvest, the chief, regardless of how dark it was now and without considering whether everyone had already slept, immediately transformed into beast form and flew into the sky, using beast language to issue the harvest notification to the tribe.

Ba Ke Er saw that the chief had already notified the tribe, so he didn't linger; he directly transformed into beast form, spread his wings, and flew toward his own home. Along the way Ba Ke Er heard beast roars coming from all directions in the tribe; he knew this was the tribe responding in beast language to the chief, indicating they had understood and were also thanking Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er.

After Ba Ke Er left, Zhang Fan didn't go back inside to rest; he continued sitting in the courtyard, staring at the star-filled night sky in a daze. He began to miss his life on Earth. How many months has it been since he inexplicably crossed over to the Beastmen Planet? He's lost count. This Beastmen Planet is utterly different from Earth in how its months, days, and seasons are calculated!

Earth! Before I even got here, I hadn't seen such a clear night sky for many years; I only recall seeing a similar sky when I was a child in the orphanage. A huge moon like a white jade plate and countless stars filling the sky.

But Earth is Earth, a planet with several billion people; whether in seemingly tranquil rural areas or bustling cities, there are countless individuals, and with many people come all kinds of conflicts. Yet the Beastmen Planet where Zhang Fan now resides truly seems to have just begun; its people are simple and kind, very friendly toward their fellow tribesmen. Although they may not always solve their food and clothing needs, they do not resort to plundering because of that; instead they work harder to do what they can for their families, their children, and their tribe.

It must be said, Zhang Fan was indeed moved by the tribe's people. This love‑deprived child treats everyone who is kind to him with the utmost sincerity.

When Ba Ke Er hurried back, he saw that Zhang Fan had actually been standing in the courtyard gazing at the sky all along. Seeing Zhang Fan waiting for him, Ba Ke Er felt warm inside, curled his lips, gradually widened his mouth, and laughed in beast form.

Zhang Fan heard the familiar laughter not far away in the sky, turned his head, and sure enough, it was his foolish lion returning. Still laughing in the sky, he thought, 'Why is it suddenly raining up there?' Then he realized it was that guy's saliva. Zhang Fan reached up to wipe the nonexistent saliva from his face, fought the urge to roll his eyes, twitched the corner of his mouth, and asked:

"Ba Ke Er, you're back but you didn't make a sound, didn't come down—what are you laughing about up there?"

"Hehe, Fan Fan, I just saw you sitting in the courtyard waiting for me, and I got happy—hehe, that happiness made me laugh, and I couldn't stop laughing—hehe, Fan Fan, don't be mad! I'll come down right away."

Having said that, Ba Ke Er slowly descended beside Zhang Fan, immediately shifted into beast form, quickly grabbed the towel hanging in the courtyard, walked to the water vat, scooped water with a ladle, washed his hands clean, returned to Zhang Fan's side, and began wiping Zhang Fan's face. Obviously he had noticed Zhang Fan's earlier gesture of wiping his face.

Zhang Fan naturally also felt Ba Ke Er's gaze lingering on his face just now, but he didn't bring it up at the time; now it's fine—there's no need to remind Ba Ke Er, since he already knows he made a mistake.

"Hehe, Fan Fan, don't be angry! I didn't mean to drip saliva on your face; I just happened to fly behind you, and when I laughed the saliva came out on its own. Blame it on how beautiful the night is, how extraordinarily good‑looking people look in the moonlight, which made me unable to restrain myself."

Listening to Ba Ke Er's words, Zhang Fan could barely hold himself together! If he didn't know that his Ba Ke Er was a native, he would almost suspect that Ba Ke Er, too, was a transmigrator like himself.

"Good heavens! Ba Ke Er, where did you learn that line? It's just one set after another!"

Ba Ke Er, hearing Zhang Fan's doubtful tone, felt embarrassed, scratched the back of his head, and began to explain: "Um, Fan Fan, don't be angry! I heard this from the priest's uncle's partner a couple of days ago. He said he saw it on a piece of sheepskin scroll belonging to his priest uncle. Of course he couldn't read it, because it's written in witch script; he said he only found out after asking the priest uncle. Supposedly the things recorded on that sheepskin scroll are all known to Qin Dong's father."

After hearing Ba Ke Er say that, Zhang Fan's interest rose again. He had previously thought the former Divine Envoy Qin Dong was just a rough guy who only knew how to make pottery and build houses, but it turned out Qin Dong was actually a cultured person—and not just cultured, but also naturally flirtatious.

Wanting to learn more about Qin Dong from Ba Ke Er, Zhang Fan asked a few more questions, but no matter how he asked, Ba Ke Er kept a straight face and said he didn't know. For a moment Zhang Fan couldn't tell whether Ba Ke Er truly didn't know or was pretending. Seeing that he wouldn't get an answer, Zhang Fan simply waved his hand and told Ba Ke Er to come back to the room and sleep together.

Early the next morning, since they had already greeted the tribe's people, Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er, as a couple, after breakfast went out to harvest rice and encountered many tribesmen hurrying about. Seeing the two approach, the tribesmen didn't stop but simply nodded at them and went on their way.

Zhang Fan had no complaints about that, after all it's the busy farming season; everyone is busy harvesting their own rice. If they're late and rain comes, the season's yield will be ruined. Thinking of that, Zhang Fan hurriedly quickened his pace with Ba Ke Er, pushing the cart toward his own paddy field.

When Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er arrived at the paddy field, they realized they were comparatively late—even the usually lazy Nuoya had arrived earlier than them. Of course, Fei Er and his wife, as well as Lei Ya and his wife, had already arrived. So Ba Ke Er and Zhang Fan hurriedly took off their shoes, rolled up their pant legs, stepped into the field, and began working.

Like other beastmen families, Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er as a couple divided the work: the male handled cutting the rice in front, the female took care of gathering the cut rice behind and loading it onto the cart. They worked steadily all morning; even lunch was just the pancakes they had fried that morning. Naturally, other beastmen families in the tribe dealt with lunch the same way.

In the afternoon, after eating a simple lunch, Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er pushed the cart back home to thresh the rice. Once Ba Ke Er had finished threshing all the rice, they pushed the cart back to the field to continue harvesting. Meanwhile, Zhang Fan, starting when Ba Ke Er began threshing, used the midday sun to dry the rice.

Zhang Fan spread all the rice out in the courtyard with a wooden rake to dry, then went back to the kitchen to boil a pot of water. After waiting for the water to cool, he added an appropriate amount of salt, stirred it evenly, and poured the brine into a water bag. Leaving the kitchen, he turned the rice in the courtyard over, took the water bag, and headed out toward the paddy field.

As soon as Zhang Fan reached his own paddy field, he saw Ba Ke Er cutting rice at high speed. Seeing the cart at the field's edge nearly full, Zhang Fan couldn't help but frown: 'This dumb lion, doesn't he know fatigue? Why push himself so hard?' Thinking about it, he actually felt a pang of sympathy for him.

"Ba Ke Er, stop being busy, quickly stop and come over for a drink and a rest."

Ba Ke Er saw Zhang Fan approaching with something, immediately stopped, sprinted over, climbed onto the bank, and said to Zhang Fan:

"Fan Fan, why are you out again? Hurry back home—this sun is huge, don't get sunburned!"

Zhang Fan saw Ba Ke Er coming over, quickly handed him the water bag, and said:

"Come, have a drink first! Anyway we're not in a rush these days—don't wear out your bodies. Besides, I've checked the astrology; there won't be rain these days, so we don't have to worry about not finishing the harvest in time."

Ba Ke Er heard Zhang Fan say that, wasn't in a hurry to harvest rice anymore, took the water bag Zhang Fan handed him, sat down on the ground, opened the bag, and began drinking. After a sip, Ba Ke Er felt the difference.

"Fan Fan, why is this water salty? Though the taste is light, you can still detect a hint of salt."

"It's because you've sweated a lot! Sweat is the body's salt—if you lose a lot, you should of course replenish the salt!" Having said that, Zhang Fan smiled at Ba Ke Er.

Seeing Zhang Fan smile, Ba Ke Er's heart melted; even if Zhang Fan told him to drink poison, he would do it without hesitation. Unfortunately, Zhang Fan wouldn't do that, so Ba Ke Er quickly took the water bag and drank a few more mouthfuls. Zhang Fan stayed there just to let Ba Ke Er rest a bit longer; he knew that once he left, Ba Ke Er would surely go back to work in the field, so he simply sat down as well, waiting until Ba Ke Er had rested enough before pushing the cart back.

After returning, Zhang Fan unloaded the rice, then pushed the cart back to the field's edge—sure enough, as expected. Ba Ke Er was again working frantically; Zhang Fan couldn't stop him, so he temporarily let him be, waited until the cart was unloaded, then hurried back home to begin threshing the rice that had just been brought back.

In the evening, the tribe's people had finished a day's work and were all heading home in pairs with their nearby neighbors. Ba Ke Er was no exception—he was returning together with Lei Ya and his group. Before Ba Ke Er even came back, Zhang Fan had already prepared dinner; when Ba Ke Er arrived home, put down his farming tools, washed himself clean, they began to eat.

After dinner, the two went together to the courtyard to tidy up the rice and straw in the lingering glow of the sunset. Once everything was cleaned up, they took a bath and went to bed early.