Chapter 30: People Who Love Swimming With Head Buried
In the morning, before Yun Ce got up, E Ji, who had been snoring against his back for half the night last night, had already gotten up.
When Yun Ce finished washing up and went out, he saw that E Ji had already brought over a horse—oh, a goat, and a cart. The cart was loaded with E Ji’s few possessions, mainly the meat Yun Ce cured last night and a piece of cured meat. She hadn’t touched the rest, leaving it all in Hekou Village.
E Ji was crying like a new bride, crying two wails at whoever she saw first. Her crying was only in her throat, with not a trace of moisture in her eyes. Despite pressing her mouth corners down hard, they still curved upward sharply.
The beautiful fishing net tassel hung down from her slim waist, creating no bulge at the buttocks position, just draping smoothly downward. Only those long legs, trained from frequent tree-climbing, were somewhat noteworthy; the rest really wasn’t worth mentioning.
She was treating herself like a new bride.
Yun Ce didn’t correct anything, nor was there any need to explain or correct. This girl had unswervingly chosen him in the moment of crisis; he had no need to let this little girl lose at the starting line.
Compared to E Ji’s fake sadness, Zhao Jin was the one truly sad. He stood in the distance propped on two benches, sorrowfully watching Yun Ce.
Last night, he had steeled his resolve and lit the grass upwind of the wildman camp. Watching the wildmen flee in the wildfire, ultimately swallowed one by one by the blaze—that was an extremely cruel scene. He hoped Yun Ce would understand that he had only carried it out because Yun Ce said so.
He also hoped Yun Ce would, for the sake of his obedience, stay in Hekou Village.
Unfortunately, he had met someone with a very hard heart—casual upon arrival, resolute upon departure.
1 Yun Ce smilingly emerged from the wooden house. Seeing that E Ji had prepared everything, he sat on the shaft of the sheep cart, called out to E Ji, and waited for her to agilely jump onto the other side of the shaft before pulling the reins. The goat or horse pulling the cart slowly moved the vehicle forward.
1 In no time, Hekou Village’s sadness was left behind. This was merely a starting point, not a place to linger.
1 Changing a place, even a village, required investing time. Yun Ce felt he couldn’t get any training in the information-isolated Hekou Village, nor could he write a good social investigation report.
1 If one day he fully understood and mastered this society’s rules, discovering loopholes or flaws, he might stop to spend time changing some place. But absolutely not now.
1 This cart, unknown whether horse carriage or sheep cart, slowly traveled along the ancient road in the wasteland.
1 The ancient road was very long, encroached upon by tall grass, leaving only a narrow middle strip gray-white from the road, winding from underfoot to the horizon.
1 The tall grass on both sides swayed in the wind, softly brushing against the wheels, only to be flattened by them, forming a new rut.
1 “Mountains can’t block clouds, trees can’t block wind.”
1 “Even immortals can’t block one person missing another.”
1 “Straw sticks on the door, wind blows them open.”
2 “You can’t guess my feelings.”
2 This was the first time Yun Ce sang a folk tune from his hometown in front of people, his voice melodious and pleasant. E Ji didn’t understand, but she had a look of complete intoxication.
2 “I want to hear it again. 99%”
2 “Sure, I’ll sing it for you again.”
2 “A goat comes walking along, a girl comes bathing along…”
2 The ancient yet passionate folk song, placed on this wasteland, still seemed too advanced. E Ji didn’t understand the lyrics, but the song’s sorrowful melody seduced her into turning back repeatedly to look.
2 After they had traveled two hours, Hekou Village disappeared from the horizon. It was crude and low to begin with; as long as one pulled back their view, it seemed insignificant.
2 “Where are we going?”
2 “To the end of the road.”
2 “Where is the end of the road?”
3 “Don’t know, we’ll know when we get there.”
3 “Okay.”
3 No one knew where the road ended; they just drove the sheep cart onward.
3 The wasteland was vast, the grass deep. This deep grass still didn’t hide the two-legged herbivores foraging on the wasteland. The herbivores’ heads seemed small compared to their bodies, rapidly swelling from the neck down. The swollen body connected to thick thighs into a rounded whole; the calves below the thighs had little meat, just tendons, bones, and rough hide.
3 Yun Ce had some knowledge of biology. He thought these herbivores originally lived in the sky. For some reason, their double wings had degenerated into saber-like meat wings, and now they foraged on the ground.
3 His certainty that this animal was related to birds came entirely from finding two seven-to-eight-jin eggs in the grass.
3 The cart-pulling goat wasn’t afraid of these herbivores, so neither were Yun Ce and E Ji. The herbivores foraged alongside them for a while before being chased off by a four-legged beast with a huge head, long teeth, and sturdy build.
3 This beast, very much like a skinned lion, was insatiably greedy. While chasing the two-legged herbivores, it also eyed the gradually departing Yun Ce. Its not-too-smart appearance left Yun Ce utterly uninterested.
3 The sheep cart reached a fork: one road left, one right. Yun Ce tossed a tree branch to decide left or right; it landed pointing backward.
3 That was no fun, so Yun Ce tossed again, and it landed backward again. E Ji thought her luck better and volunteered to toss the branch.
4 Then, they took the left road.
4 E Ji’s luck was indeed better than Yun Ce’s. Less than an hour later, they encountered a person—a messenger riding a goat with a flag, racing past the sheep cart like lightning, ignoring E Ji’s smile.
4 This person also carried a huge bundle on his back, seemingly made of animal hide for waterproofing, with a thick bamboo tube at his waist bouncing up and down—not for water.
4 Asking E Ji, she knew nothing. Yun Ce figured this guy must be some kind of messenger.
4 Another hour passed, and the sun began tilting west. Ahead appeared two streams flowing a hundred or so steps downward to converge into a small river. The stream water was clear, with some silver-white small fish darting swiftly inside.
4 E Ji took off her shoes and stepped from the shallows onto the small delta formed where the streams met the small river, with fine sand on it. She lay spread-eagled on it the moment she arrived.
4 Yun Ce went onto the delta, scooped some water with his hand to taste. The stream water was fresh and sweet. Because the right stream had too many small fish, he chose the left stream as drinking water.
4 He gathered three stones to build a makeshift stove by the stream, found a flat stone slice, and planned to make a few thin pancakes with Yi Tree starch, then stir-fry some wild vegetables with cured meat to wrap and eat.
4 Selecting a stone slice for pancakes and stir-frying was a skill. Those skilled picked slices that wouldn’t explode over fire; the unskilled would see it explode midway.
4 The wasteland’s small-leaf wild vegetables tasted better than Yi Tree starch, especially stir-fried with a plant similar to garlic in flavor, and meat added at the end—it was especially good.
5 Ever since following Yun Ce, E Ji always had a good appetite, and this time was no exception. She watched as Yun Ce mixed starch with water into batter, scooped a spoonful with a wooden scoop, poured it onto the fat-coated stone slab. The batter quickly became a round, thin flatbread. When bubbles and yellow spots appeared on one side, Yun Ce flipped it, and in three or two moves, had a stack of flatbreads.
5 The two shared a flatbread, finding it naturally fragrant with vegetation aroma. With a bit of salt, it was already delicious.
5 Yun Ce raised the large egg he’d found and smashed it hard against a stone—no damage to the eggshell, but the stone broke. Examining the egg, he smashed it hard on a sharp stone spike, finally making a hole. Shaking it vigorously, clear egg liquid slowly flowed out.
5 The egg liquid hit the oil-coated slab and rapidly solidified and puffed up. In the end, Yun Ce saw no egg yolk appear. Shaking it, something inside seemed stuck because the hole was too small.
5 Enlarging the hole, a pigeon-sized embryo fell out. Yun Ce, not from Nanjing and not fond of eating live beads, casually discarded the embryo.
5 An inch-thick, basin-sized egg pancake, plus flatbreads and veggie wraps, was enough for two.
5 This meal tasted great. After finishing the egg pancakes, flatbreads, and wraps, E Ji wanted to nap there, but Yun Ce pulled her up to quickly wade the stream, put a bit on the grazing goat, and the sheep cart sped away from this beautiful place.
5 Just after their sheep cart left, a corpse came bumping along the right stream.
5 “That guy was just riding a goat moments ago—how’d he die?”
5 “Nonsense, he’s swimming in the stream.”
6 “Swimming face-down without breathing?”
6 “That’s how he swims…”
6 Riding in a horse carriage has one big drawback: smelling the livestock’s farts. The shaft is closest to the livestock’s buttocks, and while pulling, livestock not only fart but sometimes shit.
6 E Ji’s big livestock had apparently eaten something bad, farting loudly nonstop and spraying green liquid from its rear.
6 Knowing Yun Ce couldn’t stand it, E Ji had him lie on the rear cart bed.
6 The sky’s clouds were white like cotton fluff, piled and hanging above. Some birds joyfully darted in and out of the clouds, tirelessly.
6 Such scenery was nice to watch briefly, but too long and it lulled one to sleep.
6 As for that guy who liked face-down frog swimming in the stream, Yun Ce had already forgotten him. A lone person sprinting across the wasteland—nothing was surprising.
6 “Mountains can’t block clouds, trees can’t block wind, even immortals can’t block one person missing another. Straw sticks on the door, wind blows them open—how can’t you guess my feelings?”
6 E Ji had great talent for languages and music. After learning it a few times from Yun Ce, she sang it with winding, melodious turns full of young girl tone.
