The journey there had been hard, but going back was much more convenient.
On the way back, Yan Yu’an even stopped to see Mu Shu and the others, and invited them to come visit their place when they had time.
In less than half a month, the four of them had returned to their former home.
“I want to go to the lion tribe first and take a look.” Yan Yu’an thought for a moment and said to Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque.
He wanted to go see his cotton seedlings. As if thinking of something, he suddenly said to Shen Yuanzhou: “The silkworms at your place have definitely all turned into moths and flown away.” Thinking of this, he felt a little regretful.
Fortunately, the silkworm cycle wasn’t long—he could continue with it once he got there.
“Then what about me?” Ning Bingque suddenly asked. He lowered his head, his face full of worry. “After you go back, will you still want me? Do you want to come home with me and take a look?”
His voice carried a hint of pleading.
Yan Yu’an couldn’t help freezing for a moment, then nodded without hesitation. He’d never once thought of abandoning Ning Bingque.
“Of course I want you, idiot.” He pressed his lips together and smiled faintly.
In the end, Ning Bingque and Shen Yuanzhou each went back to their own homes—after all, they had to tidy up their nests properly to welcome their treasure.
Xie Ji, on the other hand, didn’t have this worry. As the chief of the lion tribe, naturally someone came to clean his room every day.
“Let’s go. We’re going home.” Xie Ji took Yan Yu’an’s hand. “They all miss you a lot. Last time I went back, they even asked about you.”
He smiled, as if thinking of something. “They even thought you’d been swallowed by that stinky snake.”
Hearing this, Yan Yu’an couldn’t help finding it a little funny too. In some ways, he really had been swallowed by Shen Yuanzhou.
They walked along the path, and when Yan Yu’an saw those familiar sights, his heart couldn’t help trembling.
“Do you remember this place?” Seeing Yan Yu’an’s surprise, Xie Ji couldn’t help smiling. “This is the place where I first picked you up.”
Of course Yan Yu’an remembered. The scenery here was about the same as when he’d first woken up, except the vegetation was denser.
“I remember.” Yan Yu’an said quietly. He couldn’t help sighing. “I didn’t expect it’s only been a year. I thought…”
So much had happened this past year that he couldn’t help wondering whether time was even passing.
He and Xie Ji walked hand in hand along this familiar road, and Xie Ji told him: “Back then, I picked you up to have you deal with those two fellows. Thinking about it now, I might as well have locked you up back then—that way you’d belong to me alone.”
His tone sounded a little dejected, and even his ears drooped.
“Would you have?” Yan Yu’an asked quietly. If Xie Ji had really done that back then, they definitely wouldn’t be like this now.
Xie Ji froze for two seconds, seemingly not having expected him to suddenly say this. He thought for a moment and shook his head. “You’re free.”
You’re free. Xie Ji understood the pain of not having freedom, so he was willing to bear the pain himself and let his precious An’an be happy every day.
He knew it wasn’t just him—Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque definitely thought the same way. That was why the three of them had signed a gentleman’s agreement behind Yan Yu’an’s back.
Though they’d all more or less violated the agreement’s terms, that was a minor problem.
“Actually, back then I wanted to take you away not just because you were a mutant.” Xie Ji tilted his head and leaned in to lick Yan Yu’an again. The tiny barbs made him couldn’t help grinning.
Yan Yu’an looked at him with a smile. “Then what else?”
“Maybe because you’re pretty. I was bewitched by your beauty.”
Xie Ji said flippantly.
“I thought you were going to say love at first sight.”
“Hmph, I’m not that cheesy…”
Yan Yu’an was a head shorter than Xie Ji. Standing beside him, he still had to look up to see his face.
The sun was setting in the west, and Xie Ji couldn’t help taking Yan Yu’an’s hand, heading home along the direction of the setting sun.
The scattered afterglow stretched their shadows long. From afar, it looked like two people leaning on each other, walking toward the light and toward their victory.
…
By the time they returned to the tribe, the sun hadn’t fully set.
None of the tribe members had gone inside yet. When a child spotted them, he started shouting loudly, and the others couldn’t help setting down the work in their hands and gathering at the tribe entrance without meaning to.
“Xie Ji!” The child looked at the two of them tearfully. Yan Yu’an felt this child looked a little familiar.
“He’s the one who almost got bitten by Shen Yuanzhou.”
Xie Ji explained quietly to him.
Yan Yu’an remembered now. He looked in some shock at this boy, who was already a head taller than himself, and couldn’t help wondering whether he’d eaten too little meat and that was why he’d grown so slowly.
The boy waved at him in greeting, and Yan Yu’an noticed he was already wearing a roughly made piece of clothing.
His eyes couldn’t help lighting up.
The two brothers, Lu Xi and Lu Hai, stood at the very front, and Yan Yu’an noticed Lu Xi at a glance.
He broke free of Xie Ji’s hand and jogged up to him.
“You—you’re still here!” Lu Xi’s voice was a little choked. Last year he hadn’t protected the lioness well, and after returning he’d blamed himself for a long time—then he’d sworn to carry forward what the lioness had left behind.
So he’d tended the cotton with great care, until half a year ago when the chief suddenly returned carrying a trace of Yan Yu’an’s scent—only then did he know their lioness was fine.
“Look!” Lu Xi held out his hand, wanting Yan Yu’an to touch the cotton of his clothes. “I’ve already made this thing. You—it’s really too good that you’ve come back.”
Lu Xi’s face was even paler than when Yan Yu’an had first seen him, and his body even thinner and smaller.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Yan Yu’an comforted him quietly—which, on the contrary, left Xie Ji, who’d been following behind him, completely ignored.
Xie Ji glared at Lu Xi discontentedly. Though Lu Xi didn’t see it, Lu Hai—who’d been watching the two of them all along—did.
Lu Hai very cleverly found an excuse to pull Lu Xi away.
For some reason, Yan Yu’an felt a little gratified.
They declined the others’ kindness and returned to Xie Ji’s home.
His home was exactly the same as when he’d left. Even that little room he’d used to grind needles and make clothes was completely unchanged—every needle and thread frozen at the moment before he’d left.
It had been almost a year now…
He’d originally thought time passed very slowly. But when he saw the tribe’s residents, when he saw that child now taller than himself, when he saw they’d already put on new clothes—only then did he suddenly feel that time had actually passed very quickly.
“Where’s that little old lady?” Yan Yu’an thought of the little old lady he’d gone to ask about the silkworms back then.
Xie Ji paused, then said quietly: “Half a year ago, when I came back, she had just passed away.”
…
Yan Yu’an fell silent. He couldn’t quite believe it—she’d clearly been very healthy when he’d seen her.
“Because at that time, it had already started getting cold here, but the cotton hadn’t fully grown yet.”
Xie Ji explained quietly to him. The tribe’s temperatures always dropped quickly. Though they had fire, there was always no avoiding some people dying from the cold.
Yan Yu’an lowered his head and said nothing. Xie Ji didn’t know what he was thinking, but he could sense the youth before him was very dejected. “Don’t be sad. If not for you, more people in the tribe would have frozen to death.”
Hearing this, Yan Yu’an only nodded. There was no expression on his face—no joy or sorrow to be seen.
Back when he’d first transmigrated here, he’d been full of fervor, wanting to change the conditions here—but in the end, he’d only achieved a tiny, insignificant result.
“I think I want to go to Shen Yuanzhou’s place.”
He didn’t know how much time had passed before he suddenly raised his head and looked at Xie Ji seriously. “Shen Yuanzhou has silkworms there. Compared to cotton, their growth cycle is shorter.”
Though the tribe had already started planting cotton on a large scale, it was still far from enough.
He wanted everyone here to have a comfortable, warm home in winter. He wanted everyone to be able to pass the bitter cold winter safely and warmly.
Xie Ji blinked. He didn’t understand why Yan Yu’an had suddenly become so full of fighting spirit. In his heart, though winter was a hard season to get through, he’d more or less gotten used to it.
But he still nodded and agreed to Yan Yu’an’s request. “Tomorrow I’ll take you over, okay?” He paused and explained, “It’s a little late now.”
Yan Yu’an nodded. “The day after tomorrow, then. Send me off the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow I want to tell everyone how to smelt iron. And besides, I won’t stay at his place long—I still have to come back and make quilts from the silk.”
Ah—so that’s how it was.
Xie Ji felt secretly delighted. If that was the case, then wouldn’t An’an be staying at his place for a long time?
But apart from today, Yan Yu’an never did the things he wanted to do with him at any other time.
There was no other reason—every day Yan Yu’an was busy teaching the others to smelt and forge iron, raising silkworms, and clearing wasteland.
Every day he’d go to sleep very late, and basically the moment he touched the bed he’d fall asleep, making it difficult for Xie Ji to do anything he wanted.
This kind of life continued for over half a year. But just when he thought Yan Yu’an could finally spend some time with him, those two fellows came knocking again.
“You’ve been hogging him for so long! I want to take him back!”
Those were Ning Bingque’s exact words.
…
The first thing Yan Yu’an did every day when he opened his eyes was guess who would come today to take him to their home.
Counting on his fingers, if he hadn’t miscalculated, today should be Shen Yuanzhou’s turn.
And so the days passed amid their daily bickering. Before this winter arrived, everyone in the lion tribe had put on warm clothes—though the workmanship was rather rough, it was enough to use.
Yan Yu’an even went door to door to build them little stoves, so they could warm themselves by the fire on cold days.
Because they’d learned to smelt iron, their farming ability had improved markedly. And with Yan Yu’an also teaching them how to make dried meat, this winter became the first one where they neither froze nor went cold.
It also became the first winter where no one died from cold or hunger.
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