Chapter 23 - Proposal (1/2)

Chapter 23 Proposal

This toad was really very big. Its two hind legs were as thick as a child’s arm… Zhou Ji looked at it curiously, “This thing is called a devil frog?”

“Yeah, it’s very delicious.” Xiong Ye said. Devil frogs were indeed especially tasty, and Shi Li liked them a lot, so he had always given Shi Li the devil frogs he had caught to eat.

But now, he was definitely going to give them all to Zhou Ji!

Zhou Ji couldn’t hunt. Although he went out every day, he could only gather up some plants. Even so, Zhou Ji never forgot about him and would always leave the best food for him.

“Oh.” Zhou Ji looked at the devil frog again. Frog meat was very tender. It should be the same for this thing, right?

“I’ll go and clean it, and then we can cook it.” Xiong Ye was very excited.

Zhou Ji naturally had no objections. He nodded.

Xiong Ye happily went off to kill the devil frog and peel off its skin.

Although he had said that it was for Zhou Ji to eat, he knew that Zhou Ji would certainly leave some for him.

Xiong Ye had already gone off to get started, so Zhou Ji grabbed the fruits and vegetables he had gathered today and headed towards Xiong Ye’s cave.

Xiong Ye saw what he was doing and called out, “Zhou Ji, leave those things below. I’ll bring them up for you later.”

Zhou Ji laughed and really put his things down.

Shi Li found the interaction between Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji a little unpleasant to watch.

Xiong Ye had always been like this, but the person who he had treated this way had always been him. When did it become Zhou Ji?

Zhou Ji had no ability at all. Why was Xiong Ye so good to him?

“Zhou Ji’s luck is really good.”

“He’s gotten a lot fatter after living with Xiong Ye!”

“Zhou Ji is so good looking. Will Xiong Ye get together with him?”

……

Some people in the tribe looked curiously at Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye.

Xiong Ye liked men, and as for Zhou Ji, although his strength was weak, he was attractive!

And it was only after he had started living together with Xiong Ye that they discovered that Zhou Ji was actually so good-looking!

In the tribe, men who had poor strength were generally unable to find partners. However, if they were good-looking, then it was another matter. There were some women who didn’t care about their man’s strength and only liked those who were good-looking.

“Zhou Ji doesn’t have Xiong Ye’s scent on his body. Don’t talk nonsense!” Shi Li said.

“Niu Er has been there recently. Perhaps it’ll happen later on.” One of the youths from the tribe chuckled.

Shi Li inexplicably felt rage blooming in his heart and headed towards Xiong Ye without conscious thought.

Xiong Ye had already peeled off the devil frog’s skin, cut off its head and claws, and dug out its intestines, giving those things to the children waiting nearby, “I used poisonous herbs to kill this frog, so you guys must cook it first before eating it.”

“Got it. Thank you, Brother Xiong Ye!” The children were smiling as they thanked him before taking the frog parts away to cook.

Xiong Ye washed the devil frog in his hands carefully.

“Xiong Ye!” Shi Li called out to Xiong Ye, “Xiong Ye, are you going to let Zhou Ji continue living with you?”

“What about it?” Xiong Ye was puzzled.

“Zhou Ji can’t do anything and is living in your place and eating your food. Don’t you feel that there’s a problem with that?” Shi Li asked, “Or are you just trying to make me jealous and angry?”

Shi Li didn’t believe that Xiong Ye would like Zhou Ji. Although Zhou Ji was pretty good-looking, Xiong Ye wasn’t the type of person who liked people based solely on looks.

However, it was possible that Xiong Ye was doing this on purpose so that Shi Li would grow jealous.

He knew how much Xiong Ye liked him.

“What does Zhou Ji have to do with you?” Xiong Ye looked at Shi Li in displeasure and felt that something was wrong with Shi Li-Why would he want to make Shi Li jealous and angry? They had broken off things between them a long time ago!

As for Zhou Ji, it wasn’t that Zhou Ji was unable to do anything. Although he was very weak, he knew a lot of things, and… Compared to Shi Li, Zhou Ji really hadn’t eaten much of anything.

Xiong Ye didn’t want to talk to Shi Li any further, so he turned to go back to his cave.

Niu Er had already moved out. Xiong Ye helped him move out this morning and had given him a piece of meat when he left.

Niu Er didn’t refuse it and only said that he would return it to him later.

Only Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye remained in the cave now, and Xiong Ye suddenly felt that it was really nice this way.

Zhou Ji, who had arrived back at the cave first, had already lit a fire and had begun to boil some water. Seeing that Xiong Ye had come up, Zhou Ji picked up several fruits and handed them to Xiong Ye, “They’re sweet.”

This kind of fruit was usually a very sour fruit that Xiong Ye used to eat in order to fill his belly. He didn’t like sour things and really didn’t like to eat this fruit, but the ones that Zhou Ji picked for him were always very sweet.

Zhou Ji must have spent a lot of effort to pick so many sweet fruits.

Xiong Ye had that in mind as he accepted the fruit Zhou Ji handed him and stuffed it into his mouth.

As expected, it was very sweet! It was his favorite flavor!

Zhou Ji saw that Xiong Ye was eating the fruit and brought out some vegetables, planning to cook them in the pot.

Xiong Ye should eat some fruits and vegetables every day.

In fact, he should also eat a bit of staple food… There were staple plants around the tribe that people from the gathering team would tend to, but it wasn’t the season for these plants to be harvested.

Zhou Ji felt a little helpless when he thought of this.

After the water boiled, Zhou Ji put the cleaned devil frog into the water and added some of the salt that he had processed himself.

The salt brought back by the salt team had contained a lot of impurities, resulting in a slightly bitter taste, but after adding some water to dissolve it, then boiling the salt water and repeating the process several times, he could create a relatively purer salt. This was what he had been using to cook with recently.

“We should cut back on salt…” Xiong Ye started, then felt a little irritated halfway through his words.

Zhou Ji was using the salt that his mother had left for him. How come he had said ‘we’?

“There will be more in the future.” Zhou Ji said. Since they had been able to trade for salt before, they would certainly be able to in the future.

While cooking the devil frog, Zhou Ji didn’t add any other seasonings other than salt. Even so, the cooked devil frog was very fresh and flavorful.

Zhou Ji took a frog leg for himself and left the rest for Xiong Ye, but he had only just taken a bite when Xiong Ye, who was now skilled in using chopsticks, placed the other big frog leg into his bowl. “You should eat more so that you’ll have strength.”

The tastiest, fleshiest parts of the devil frog were its two hind legs, and they were now both his… Zhou Ji glanced at Xiong Ye, then bowed his head to eat the meat.

He had initially begun to interact with Xiong Ye with the intention of repaying a debt of gratitude, but now that Xiong Ye was acting like this, it made him feel that… this gratitude couldn’t actually be repaid.