Ch11 – Gifting Meat

Xiong Ye also joined the group of people who were all waiting for their share of meat.

The Pentaceratops meat had already been rinsed clean and chopped into pieces. Everyone had cooperated together to hunt the Pentaceratops, and there wasn’t a great difference between those who had contributed more or those who had done less, so the amount of meat that the people from the hunting team received was basically the same.

However, Xiong He had carefully watched everything that went on during the hunt, and so, he gave those who had worked harder a better piece of meat. For example, when it was Xiong Ye’s turn, he gave him quite a large piece of liver.

Everyone was happy, and they celebrated as though it was a festival day because they had all been given a lot of meat today!

Pentaceratops weighed over five tons, and after removing the bones and skin, there was still at least three thousand kilograms of meat that could be distributed. Their tribe had a total of over four hundred people, several dozen of whom had gone out to trade for salt. Only a hundred or so people had participated in the hunt…

As a member of the hunting team, Xiong Ye received about twenty kilograms of meat, and the other hunters also received about the same amount. Even the elderly and children in the tribe were given five kilograms of meat each.

Not to mention that there was still bone soup to drink!

There were several large stone pots in the tribe that were used to boil soup. These stone pots were the tribe’s treasures, and they cherished them greatly. Although according to the words of the previous priest, there were better pots made of clay in other places, the people of the Big Bear Tribe had always believed that their own pots were the best.

Stone pots were better than clay pots, right?

At the moment, the bones had been boiled in the pots along with some of the viscera that had a stronger flavor and was unpopular with the people of the tribe–Beastmen liked to eat the liver and heart as well as the fat from their prey’s belly, but didn’t like to eat intestines and the like. Even so, nobody would let it go to waste.

Other than a variety of leftover ingredients, the bone soup also had some wild vegetables tossed in and while it tasted a little strange, it was still a rare feast for the people of the tribe.

The elderly and weak people of the tribe saved up their meat and happily went to drink the soup and eat wild vegetables.

Xiong Ye didn’t go over to drink the soup. He went to roast his meat in silence instead.

They had caught a big one today, and everyone was particularly happy, but he felt that he was a little out of sync with it all.

He hadn’t spent the entire winter hibernating; he had just slept a lot more than usual, and during that winter period, in the times when he was caught in that liminal space between sleep and awareness, he had constantly mused about what his future life would be like.

He imagined the life that he would have once he and Shi Li lived together–after he became mates with Shi Li, he would no longer be alone when he returned home. He could go hunting with Shi Li, and they would eat and sleep together every day.

He had thought that it would be so wonderful, but now…

Xiong Ye tore off a chunk from the meat he was roasting and stuffed it into his mouth.

His animal form was relatively big, and his appetite was also quite sizable–he ate at least two to three kilograms of meat every day and would usually eat around five kilograms. When there was enough food around, he could easily eat even ten kilograms or more.

After he ate last night, he had been wrapped up in the hunt and hadn’t eaten anything all day. Now, as he was roasting his meat and eating at the same time, he had finished ten kilograms of meat before he knew it.

His stomach was very full, but he didn’t feel as happy as he used to after filling his belly.

Xiong Ye stared at the remaining half of the meat in his hand for a moment, then looked in the direction of Shi Li’s cave–Shi Li hadn’t come out to get his portion of the meat again.

When Xiong Ye glanced over, he didn’t see Shi Li, but he did see Zhou Ji. Zhou Ji lived next to Shi Li, and at the moment, he was sitting on a rock on the platform that led to the entrance of his cave, looking in his direction.

Seeing that Zhou Ji was all alone, watching the entire tribe from the outside like a misfit, Xiong Ye suddenly felt that he and Zhou Ji were a bit similar.

“Zhou Ji didn’t come to get his meat again, and he didn’t come to drink any soup.” One of the people beside Xiong Ye who had been responsible for helping Xiong He distribute the meat looked at Zhou Ji and suddenly spoke up.

“He didn’t come to pick up his meat again?” Xiong Ye was a little surprised.

“He’s only picked up his share of the meat a couple times, but he’ll usually go and take some of the things that the gathering team brings back.” That person continued, “I made it a point to ask him about it, but he didn’t say anything.”

“He’s not afraid that he’ll almost starve to death again like last time?” Xiong Ye’s brow furrowed as he frowned.

“He’s so dumb. Perhaps he doesn’t understand anything.” The person who had distributed the meat said, “However, he probably won’t starve to death. He hasn’t awakened an animal form, and he doesn’t do any work, so he definitely doesn’t need to eat as much as everyone else.”

The current Zhou Ji didn’t seem to be dumb…

Xiong Ye felt that this wasn’t acceptable, then hesitated. He also felt like he was being a bit nosy.

He couldn’t even manage his own affairs well. How could he constantly look out for Zhou Ji? Zhou Ji ultimately needed to learn how to live on his own.

With that in mind, Xiong Ye shifted his gaze away and noticed Lang Yin, who was currently sitting with several other women and eating meat.

Xiong Ye couldn’t verbalize what he was feeling. While everyone else was still eating meat and drinking soup, he took up his roasted meat with him and prepared to leave. After taking a few steps, he went back and found Xiong He to get Zhou Ji’s share of meat.

Xiong He already knew about Lang Yin and Shi Li, and his expression was a little awkward when he looked at Xiong Ye, “Xiong Ye, Lang Yin and Shi Li…”

“It’s nothing.” Xiong Ye smiled at Xiong He. He held no grudge against Lang Yin. After all, Shi Li had to have agreed since Lang Yin didn’t have any way of forcing Shi Li to acquiesce.

It was just that even though he had a smile on his face, he was really upset inside.

Xiong He wasn’t that sensitive and didn’t discover Xiong Ye’s abnormality, but he had already begun to have reservations about Shi Li.

Over the years, Xiong Ye had helped Shi Li a lot, and Xiong He had seen it all. Even if he was a little reluctant to see the two of them become mates, it was only because Shi Li wouldn’t be able to give Xiong Ye any children. And yet, now… it was Shi Li who was unwilling!

Who gave Shi Li the right to be unwilling?!

However, although he had some opinions on Shi Li, he couldn’t deny that Shi Li was a very powerful warrior, and their tribe needed strong warriors like him, so he had no choice but to bear with it.

As for the matter of his own daughter getting together with Shi Li… Xiong He planned to talk to his daughter, and make sure that she wouldn’t give her portion of meat to Shi Li or Shi Li’s family.

Xiong Ye took Zhou Ji’s meat with him and went to find Zhou Ji, “This is your share of the meat.”

Zhou Ji: “…” He didn’t want it.

It wasn’t that Zhou Ji was a complete vegetarian. In fact, when he had just come to this word, he had tried dinosaur meat out of curiosity.

And then he discovered that… It really wasn’t delicious at all.

In the world he had lived in before, humans had domesticated sheep tens of thousands of years ago. Mutton still had traces of a gamey flavor, and certain people couldn’t get used to eating it unless they added all kinds of herbs when cooking it, but that kind of gamey taste wasn’t a big deal–In truth, most hunted meat had a similar gamey flavor, and people generally ate it as a specialty.

The flavor of game on Earth was already like that; how could the dinosaur meat in this place be any better in comparison? This kind of behemoth’s meat was both tough and tasteless!

Not to mention, the cooking techniques here were horrible. No, it should be said that cooking techniques didn’t exist here at all!

Even the salt had a bitter taste to it!

Of course, the most important thing was that he still preferred to eat fruit and vegetables.

However, Xiong Ye had good intentions, so Zhou Ji ultimately accepted the meat, intending to take it back and cure it–his current body’s mother had left some salt behind that could be used to preserve food.

“Why didn’t you go to collect your meat?” Xiong Ye asked. Had Zhou Ji been bullied and therefore didn’t dare to go get his share, or did he just not know that he had to go get it? Had his life been very tough after he had lost his mother?

Zhou Ji was thinking about what to say when the entrance to the cave next door opened, and Shi Li came out.

Xiong Ye stopped paying attention to Zhou Ji and turned his head towards Shi Li. He had thought that Shi Li would say something to him, but Shi Li only gave him a glance and walked away in another direction without saying a word.

It was already dark, but Xiong Ye had good eyesight and could see that Shi Li had entered Lang Yin’s cave.

Xiong Ye took a deep breath and couldn’t concern himself with Zhou Ji anymore as he turned to go back to his own cave–He was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to control his own expression.

Sad, heart-broken, angry, dissatisfied… All kinds of emotions filled Xiong Ye’s heart, and he even had the impulse to rush out and have a fight with Shi Li.

If Shi Li hadn’t agreed right at the start, he wouldn’t be so upset, but Shi Li had said yes.

In recent months, he had been so happy because Shi Li had promised to mate with him. He did everything with Shi Li in mind and gave him so much meat, but then, Shi Li suddenly changed his mind when their mating ceremony was just around the corner.

It was fine if he was just regretting it, but Shi Li actually got together with someone else less than a day later.

Xiong Ye admitted that he was really upset. It was precisely because of this that he also decided: since Shi Li wanted to be with Lang Yin, then it was completely over between them.

If Shi Li hadn’t agreed to be with him at the start, they could have still remained friends even if they didn’t become mates. But now that things were like this, they couldn’t even remain friends.

As for mates… Xiong Ye wanted a mate, but in light of Shi Li’s unexpected actions, he dudenly didn’t know if he should look for another mate.

Xiong Ye sat there in his cave, alone. After a while, he started to feel a little cold and transformed into his animal form.

The huge brown bear hugged his legs with his arms, and he sat motionless in the cave for a long time. Suddenly, someone knocked on his door.

Xiong Ye immediately turned back into his human form and went to open the door.

Zhou Ji was standing outside.

He was a little disappointed, but he was mostly confused.

“For you.” Zhou Ji gave Xiong Ye a piece of roasted meat.

This was the portion of meat that Xiong Ye had given him before, which he had just cooked.

He had originally intended to cure this piece of meat because even if he didn’t eat it, he could still give it to someone else to eat in the future. But considering Xiong Ye’s current appearance…

He didn’t care much about the others in the tribe, but Xiong Ye had been the first person he’d met after he transmigrated into this world, and he had also saved him. He was very grateful to Xiong Ye, and now that Xiong Ye was so heartbroken… Zhou Ji had decided to roast the meat Xiong Ye had given him, then sent it over to Xiong Ye as a way of comforting him.

“You want to give me the meat?” Xiong Ye looked at that piece of meat that was somehow roasted in a very fragrant way and was rather puzzled.

“You’re very sad, so it’s for you.” Zhou Ji’s words were concise. He wasn’t good at comforting people, and he didn’t have full command of the language here yet.

Xiong Ye heard Zhou Ji say that he was ‘very sad’ and sucked in a deep breath, feeling a prickling at his eyes.

He was indeed very sad, but Shi Li didn’t care, and the rest of the tribe didn’t realize. In the end, only Zhou Ji, who didn’t have anything to do with him had come over to comfort him…

“Thank you, but you should eat it yourself.” Xiong Ye didn’t accept it.

“I’ve eaten already.” Zhou Ji said, then set down the meat and went outside to begin his climb back down–This bear was naked again…

Xiong Ye saw that Zhou Ji was slowly making his way down and ultimately decided not to follow.

He sat there for a while, then began to eat the meat the Zhou Ji had given him.

This was the first time someone had given him meat.

Shi Li had to support his mother and younger brother, and didn’t care about this kind of thing, so he had never given him anything. At most, Shi Li would leave Xiong Ye the tastier parts when they ate together, but it was always food that they had hunted together.

Inexplicably, Xiong Ye’s mood became much better.

Zhou Ji didn’t know anything about Xiong Ye’s thoughts. He went back to his own cave and went to bed early.

But it turned out that when he woke up, his cave was no longer his.

xiin: ahhhh Xiong Ye you’re so cutteeeee!! and Zhou Ji signing himself up as a potential mate without even realizing it haha

apricot: oh no, Zhou Ji is homeless now :'(

Juurensha: Awwwwww, I’m so happy Zhou Ji at least comforted the poor heartbroken teddy bear when he was down.

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