Xie Ji had taken a silent loss and glared viciously at him. Shen Yuanzhou wasn’t angered either—his gaze landed on Ning Bingque.
Ning Bingque gave a faint smile, but a ruthless light flashed through his eyes.
Shen Yuanzhou unceremoniously stared back at him. Undercurrents surged between the two.
Xie Ji frowned. His gaze circled over the two of them, then he gave a cold laugh. “What, is there something I don’t know?”
“No.”
Ning Bingque answered without hesitation—after all, the more people who knew, the more of a threat it was to him.
Xie Ji raised an eyebrow and looked at Shen Yuanzhou. Seeing Shen Yuanzhou nod, he said nothing more, turned, and wiped the thin sweat from Yan Yu’an’s forehead.
These two really took him for an idiot—fighting each other in the morning, and ending up like this by night.
Xie Ji gave a cold huff and jumped onto the bed in one motion, pressing close to Yan Yu’an. “You two just keep looking at each other over there. I’m going to sleep with An’an.”
Rarely, both Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque wore a trace of sympathy for Xie Ji on their faces, and they simply stopped caring about Xie Ji sleeping beside Yan Yu’an.
The night passed. Yan Yu’an’s eyelashes trembled slightly. He barely opened his eyes, and after seeing Xie Ji beside him, he let out a breath of relief—but unexpectedly, when he turned his head, he saw Shen Yuanzhou sleeping beside him.
Whoosh—Yan Yu’an’s face went red.
He remembered everything that had happened last night clearly: the man’s face in the moonlight, that lingering kiss, and finally the two of them helping each other—he remembered it all.
Yan Yu’an sucked in a breath of cold air. He tiptoed out of bed, not wanting to wake the sleeping Shen Yuanzhou.
But no matter how quiet he was, how could Xie Ji and the other two not know?
Xie Ji was the first to open his eyes. “An’an, where are you going?” His voice still carried a trace of post-sleep hoarseness, and Yan Yu’an’s heart suddenly softened.
Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque had woken up too. Ning Bingque was currently in eagle form—smaller than usual when fighting—and he flew onto Yan Yu’an’s shoulder.
Yan Yu’an was startled and nearly lost his footing.
Shen Yuanzhou gave a soft huff, and Yan Yu’an couldn’t help his gaze shifting onto him, his face turning even redder. “I—I’m going out first to see if the iron’s done smelting.” As he spoke, he ran out with a whoosh, Ning Bingque in tow.
“What’s An’an embarrassed about?” Xie Ji squinted at Shen Yuanzhou. He always felt this stupid snake was a little strange.
But since Yan Yu’an had run out with Ning Bingque, Xie Ji couldn’t be bothered with Shen Yuanzhou and hurried out after him.
Left in the room, Shen Yuanzhou couldn’t help laughing softly. His Snake Queen really was adorable.
Thinking of Yan Yu’an, red all the way to the base of his neck, Shen Yuanzhou’s mood improved greatly. He stood up and walked out the door.
“Why are you running so fast?”
At this moment Ning Bingque was still standing on Yan Yu’an’s shoulder. Because Yan Yu’an had run so fast, Ning Bingque had nearly fallen off.
Yan Yu’an ran to the furnace and saw that Mu Shu and the others hadn’t gotten up yet, and gradually relaxed.
Ning Bingque shifted back into human form. The tall man half-embraced him, and from a distance they looked like they were hugging.
Ning Bingque reached out to wipe his sweat. Instinctively Yan Yu’an wanted to step back, but Ning Bingque’s large hand refused to let him.
Ning Bingque wore a gentle smile. “You ran so fast, your forehead’s covered in sweat.” He paused, then continued, “Is the wound on your leg better?”
Yan Yu’an was startled and swallowed. “How do you know?”
Ning Bingque looked at those wide cat eyes and couldn’t help messing up his hair. “Are you an idiot? You’re limping when you walk from the pain—and you thought we wouldn’t know?”
Though the wound on the inner side of Yan Yu’an’s thigh had been caused by Ning Bingque himself, he wouldn’t admit it—after all, Yan Yu’an would get angry.
Yan Yu’an slapped his head in vexation. No wonder Shen Yuanzhou had suddenly come to apply medicine for him last night… and last night he’d been so spineless as to…
Watching him like this, Ning Bingque smiled slightly in his heart. He knew what had happened last night.
To Xie Ji, a shared wife in the lion tribe was a very common thing, so even though Xie Ji deeply hated him and Shen Yuanzhou, he still hadn’t done anything to them.
But to Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque, whether in the snake clan or the eagle clan, a partner could only ever be one person for life. So in the end, whoever Yan Yu’an chose would depend on each of their own abilities.
“Probably an allergy.”
Yan Yu’an scratched his head and said a little embarrassedly, “Or maybe this animal hide is too rough. But it’s nothing serious.”
“An’an!” The moment his words fell, Xie Ji came jogging over. Seeing Ning Bingque’s half-embracing, half-holding posture, the smile on his face froze, and then he glared viciously at him—even the tail behind him was swishing every which way.
Yan Yu’an hurriedly stepped back out of Ning Bingque’s side. As long as it wasn’t Shen Yuanzhou, it was fine.
After what happened last night, he didn’t even dare face Shen Yuanzhou—mainly because he himself had been the one to…
Thinking this, he sighed somewhat helplessly. Could it be that he really… felt something for Shen Yuanzhou?
The moment this thought appeared, he hurriedly shook his head to deny it.
How could that be! Men helping each other out was a perfectly ordinary thing! He comforted himself in his heart.
“The fire’s out. I’ll go see how the iron smelting turned out.”
Yan Yu’an hurriedly changed the subject. He crouched by the furnace, picked out several clay balls that had been burned to slag, and cracked them open—sure enough, he found a few tiny iron beads inside.
Yan Yu’an froze, then hurriedly brushed away the dust beside them and cupped the iron bead in both hands.
It was clearly such a tiny bead, yet Yan Yu’an felt it weighed a thousand catties. His hands trembled slightly, and a bit of moisture welled up in his pretty eyes.
“It worked.” He said quietly. “It worked.”
Shen Yuanzhou arrived late. At a glance he saw Yan Yu’an crouched on the ground with the word “excitement” written all over his face, and his heart stirred slightly.
“It worked?” His voice carried a hint of laughter. Ning Bingque and Xie Ji immediately caught on and leaned in to examine the bead carefully.
Yan Yu’an nodded at once. Then he thought of something and hurriedly dug open the other clay balls.
Each clay ball had two or three tiny iron beads inside. Yan Yu’an carefully gathered the iron beads.
Seeing this, Shen Yuanzhou handed him the small box he’d made earlier.
Yan Yu’an took the small box and gave him a smile.
In an instant, Shen Yuanzhou felt something strike his heart.
Seeing Yan Yu’an’s gaze fixed on Shen Yuanzhou, Xie Ji felt a twinge of sourness in his heart.
He wedged himself between the two of them, forcibly breaking what he assumed was a tender, affectionate moment.
“What use are these iron beads?” Ning Bingque asked, a little puzzled.
Though Mu Shu’s house had many iron-made tools, he always felt the little knife Yan Yu’an called it wasn’t as sharp as their teeth, and the axe he called it wasn’t as strong as their own strength.
Yan Yu’an smiled and shook his head. He knew that perhaps to Xie Ji, Shen Yuanzhou, and Ning Bingque, iron was useless—but to him, iron could create endless wealth.
Ning Bingque knew what iron meant to Yan Yu’an; after all, they’d all seen his obsession with iron these past few days.
“You all saw it.” Mu Shu stretched and yawned.
Seeing the iron beads in Yan Yu’an’s box, his eyes lit up. “You smelt this many this time.” As he spoke, he jogged back into the house and brought out a small mold.
“A gift for you.” Mu Shu smiled sweetly.
Yan Yu’an took the mold and looked—it was shaped like an axe and a small knife.
He and Mu Shu exchanged a glance and smiled knowingly.
Seeing Yan Yu’an happy made Xie Ji happy too, but he hadn’t forgotten the important matter. “Since the iron’s smelted, when do we set off?”
Mu Shu froze, then understood they were leaving.
Yan Yu’an exchanged a glance with the other two. “We’ll leave this afternoon. You…” He pressed his lips together, a little hesitant. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to Xie Chen?”
Xie Ji lowered his eyes and nodded, then went with Mu Shu to find Xie Chen.
The brothers said who knew what, and when they came out again, there was already a hint of a smile on Xie Ji’s face.
After lunch, Yan Yu’an and his group formally said goodbye to Mu Shu and Xie Chen.
“You have to come find me and play!” Mu Shu said, waving at Yan Yu’an. He’d rarely met someone he hit it off with so well, and now that he was leaving just like that, he couldn’t help feeling a little unhappy.
Yan Yu’an curved his lips. Mu Shu noticed the pendant around his neck and understood something. He gave a shallow smile and said meaningfully to Yan Yu’an: “Your happy life isn’t far off.”
Yan Yu’an: “???” What did that mean?
“Let’s go, An’an!” Xie Chen had stuffed a lot of things into Xie Ji’s hands. At this moment Xie Ji had a big bundle on his back, and even Ning Bingque and Shen Yuanzhou were carrying quite a few things.
Yan Yu’an nodded at him, then said goodbye to Mu Shu and Xie Chen. “Once we find God-Slaying Grass, I’ll come back to see you.”
Mu Shu nodded.
The afternoon sunlight was just right. Mu Shu and Xie Chen saw the four of them off to the seaside. Even with a thousand reluctance, they could only part here.
Just as when they’d come, they left riding on Ning Bingque.
“I’m afraid of heights…” Yan Yu’an clutched Ning Bingque’s neck, not daring to look down.
Xie Ji felt both heartache and amusement, and could only keep stroking Yan Yu’an’s back.
He didn’t know how much time had passed before Ning Bingque finally said: “This should be the small island Xie Chen and the others mentioned.” He paused, his tone full of longing. “God-Slaying Grass should be here.”
Yan Yu’an forced himself to perk up and glanced up to look, then hurriedly clutched Ning Bingque’s neck again.
Finally, Ning Bingque stopped. Yan Yu’an hurriedly got down from his back and ran to the side to throw up. Shen Yuanzhou immediately handed the water to Yan Yu’an.
Yan Yu’an rinsed his mouth and felt a little better, wiping away the tears that had seeped from the corners of his eyes.
“God-Slaying Grass really isn’t easy to find.” He pursed his lips.
Though Xie Ji and the others didn’t speak, not one of them disagreed with what he said.
Only after Yan Yu’an recovered did he seriously observe this new small island.
This island was different from the one Xie Chen and the others were on. Here the trees and vegetation were pitifully few—there were cliffs and steep crags everywhere.
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