And so, the four of them went hunting together again.
But during the hunt, who knew what got into the three of them—they insisted on competing over who could catch the most prey. And so, when Mu Shu and Xie Chen saw the four of them dragging back who knew how much prey, their mouths fell open.
“I don’t know when we’ll ever finish eating all this.” Mu Shu muttered, eyes wide.
As expected—men are only at their handsomest in front of a rival in love.
Mu Shu watched the few men skillfully skinning and roasting the meat and couldn’t help thinking this.
After the meal, Yan Yu’an brought the three little ones, secretly competing with each other, to learn how to smelt iron.
“Wow.” Yan Yu’an couldn’t help letting out a small exclamation. He looked at this simple furnace built up from clay and immediately understood the principle behind it. “You’re amazing.”
Mu Shu raised an eyebrow proudly. “Of course. This furnace has exhaust vents I made from pottery clay.” As he spoke, he took out a wicker basket woven from rattan. “Let’s go. I’ll take you to gather clay, and we’ll build another furnace.”
Yan Yu’an nodded and followed behind Mu Shu.
After they finished gathering the clay, Yan Yu’an copied Mu Shu’s method and piled the clay up ring by ring.
“Just like a toilet.” Mu Shu said quietly. He pointed at one of the tubs built up from clay. “Later we can make something like a bellows here, and then add some charcoal mixed with thin mud into it.”
Yan Yu’an nodded. After covering it with the pottery clay used for exhaust, this device was more or less complete.
Smelting iron might take a very long time, but Yan Yu’an didn’t mind. He tossed the wood into the furnace, and after it burned into charcoal, he crushed it and mixed it with thin mud, rolling it into little balls.
“It needs a very high temperature.” Mu Shu said, tossing the little balls into the furnace one by one. “So you have to add charcoal constantly.”
Yan Yu’an nodded in understanding. “But smelting iron this way takes a very long time.”
“Right!” Mu Shu was a little helpless. He shrugged, a bit of charcoal ash smudged on his fair face. “But there’s no other way. Since we can’t find iron ore, this is the only method we can use.”
Yan Yu’an was helpless too, but he knew it was the truth. Iron ore was precious to them, but they really didn’t know where to find any.
Mu Shu let out an “oh.” He took Yan Yu’an’s hand. “I’ve been here almost two years. At first I wanted to find iron ore too, but really…” He sounded a little helpless. “This charcoal fire still needs to burn for a while. I’ve prepared a little gift for you.”
“A little gift?” Yan Yu’an looked at him in confusion, seeming a little puzzled.
Mu Shu nodded. He smiled and nodded, then led Yan Yu’an into the house, where he handed him a cup fired from pottery clay.
“Hm?” Yan Yu’an didn’t understand. The next second, Mu Shu poured a bowl of purple-red liquid into the cup.
Instantly, the strong aroma made Yan Yu’an a little dizzy. “Th-this is wine?”
The strong wine aroma made Yan Yu’an feel like he was about to get drunk. He couldn’t help putting the cup to his nose and taking a deep breath. “So fragrant.”
“Of course!” Mu Shu rocked his head from side to side. “This wine took me a lot of time to make. Impressive, right?”
Yan Yu’an nodded. He took a tiny sip—the entry was a very strong fruity flavor, followed by a faint wine aroma. It didn’t seem very strong.
He couldn’t help drinking another cup. “Really tasty.”
Mu Shu couldn’t help pouring himself a cup too, and drank along with Yan Yu’an. “Xie Chen usually won’t let me drink this!” He said huffily, hands on his hips.
Yan Yu’an squinted. “Wh-why?”
The next second, he was slumped over the wooden table, the cup in his hand knocked over, the purple-red liquid slowly flowing down his fair hand.
“I don’t know!” Mu Shu waved his hand discontentedly. Though he was even shorter than Yan Yu’an, who knew where he found the strength—he stepped forward and helped the slumped Yan Yu’an up. “Continue!” As he spoke, he poured more wine into Yan Yu’an’s cup.
Yan Yu’an downed it in one go.
…
When Ning Bingque found Yan Yu’an, he was already dead drunk, and beside him was the equally drunk Mu Shu.
“What happened?” Ning Bingque immediately came in and helped Yan Yu’an up. He caught the fragrance on Yan Yu’an’s body.
Yan Yu’an waved at him and said with a big tongue: “N-nothing, nothing, hic…”
Mu Shu barely propped himself up. He tilted his head and looked carefully at Ning Bingque, then said: “Not Xie Chen.” The next second, his legs went weak and he immediately slumped back onto the table.
Ning Bingque immediately felt something was off. He pressed Yan Yu’an back into the chair, then hurried out to call Xie Chen.
Xie Ji and Shen Yuanzhou were outside looking for suitable clay at the moment, so they missed all of this.
Ning Bingque naturally wouldn’t tell them about this either. He found Xie Chen first and told him what had happened.
“He snuck wine again?” Xie Chen’s expression was a little ugly. “And brought Yan Yu’an to drink with him?”
Ning Bingque didn’t know what wine was, but he guessed it was that purple-red liquid in Yan Yu’an’s cup.
Xie Chen immediately returned home with Ning Bingque. Seeing the dead-drunk Mu Shu, he was thoroughly displeased.
“You can have Yan Yu’an. I’ll take Mu Shu back first.” He paused and shot Ning Bingque a glance. “You’re not going to tell them?”
Ning Bingque gave a cold huff and nodded slightly.
“Alright. This wine is strong, but there’s no big problem—he’ll be fine once he wakes up.” As Xie Chen spoke, he scooped Mu Shu up in one motion.
“Let’s go.” Xie Chen’s tone was very low. He patted Mu Shu’s buttocks and slung him over his shoulder. “I’m going to punish you properly.” He said this in a lowered voice.
Ning Bingque watched them leave in silence. He reached out and took hold of Yan Yu’an. “How are you feeling?”
There was some purple-red wine on Yan Yu’an’s fair skin, looking a little bewitching. Ning Bingque couldn’t help swallowing.
Yan Yu’an squinted, as if trying to make out who he was. After a long while he gave a silly grin, then pointed at Ning Bingque and said, word by word: “I know you—Ning, Bing, Que!”
“Mm.”
Ning Bingque had never seen Yan Yu’an like this. For a moment he found it novel and couldn’t help softening his voice.
Hearing his answer, Yan Yu’an immediately relaxed. He pressed tightly against Ning Bingque, his long black hair covering his pretty eyes.
“I’ll take you back to the room.” Ning Bingque’s voice suddenly turned very gentle, making Yan Yu’an a little happy. He leaned against Ning Bingque and nuzzled his head against his chest muscles.
Ning Bingque’s steps paused, his eyes deepening. He felt a certain place growing swollen and painful. Without showing anything on his face, he helped Yan Yu’an into the room.
“Mmm… be gentle.” Mu Shu’s voice reached his ears, and Ning Bingque’s breathing instantly caught. Then he heard a certain indescribable smacking sound.
I’m going to die…
Beside him, Yan Yu’an was still muttering something ceaselessly, but Ning Bingque couldn’t take in a single word. For the first time, he felt that his skill of being able to hear the faintest sounds was too damn useless.
“You—rest a bit first.” Ning Bingque pressed Yan Yu’an onto the bed. A little flustered, he wanted to go out, but unexpectedly his wrist was suddenly grabbed by Yan Yu’an.
“Don’t go!” Yan Yu’an said with a big tongue, his words a little unclear.
He squinted and leaned close to Ning Bingque. “Don’t go!” As he spoke, he obediently nuzzled against him again. “You guys—you’re not allowed to fight.”
Ning Bingque hadn’t caught a word of what he was saying at all. He was thinking: they’re both men, so why are Yan Yu’an’s hands so tender, so soft?
The next second, Yan Yu’an’s head fell onto Ning Bingque’s shoulder, his soft lips brushing across his cheek. Ning Bingque froze at once.
A fire suddenly flared up in his heart. He couldn’t help thinking wickedly—if Xie Ji or Shen Yuanzhou were here, what would they do?
Yan Yu’an leaned obediently against his shoulder, his soft black hair sweeping across his cheek, making it a little ticklish.
As if possessed, Ning Bingque couldn’t help tilting Yan Yu’an’s face up and examining it carefully.
“Just like a little girl.” He couldn’t help muttering, but the gaze that fell on Yan Yu’an’s face was exceptionally gentle.
Yan Yu’an had his eyes tightly shut at the moment. He felt a fire inside him with nowhere to vent. He shifted slightly—but unexpectedly, the hand holding his face pressed harder, leaving him unable to move.
The next second, something hot and soft pressed against his lips. Yan Yu’an wanted to know what it was, so he stuck out his tongue to investigate.
But unexpectedly, that thing took the opportunity to enter his mouth, slippery like a water snake.
“Mmm…” He couldn’t help gasping, but unexpectedly this earned him even rougher treatment.
Ning Bingque felt like he was going crazy. He didn’t know why, but seeing that rosy mouth of Yan Yu’an’s, he couldn’t help kissing it.
Yan Yu’an was drunk, but he himself wasn’t. The sound of men’s panting reached Ning Bingque’s ears again, and he felt that place of his pressing against Yan Yu’an’s thigh.
Hearing Yan Yu’an’s uncomfortable moans, he only felt more excited. He pressed Yan Yu’an down onto the bed…
…
Ning Bingque looked at Yan Yu’an lying on the bed, and his heart went cold.
What had he done!
He wiped his face carelessly, draped the animal hide over Yan Yu’an, then strode out.
“Is An’an resting?”
When Ning Bingque walked out, he happened to run into Xie Ji, who had just returned. His steps paused, and a trace of panic flashed across his face.
He gave a casual nod, gave an “mm,” then unhesitatingly strode away.
Xie Ji was a little baffled, but he didn’t think much of it. He just happily carried the clay he’d gathered to the furnace.
Outside the house, he secretly peeked through the door crack at Yan Yu’an, who was sleeping soundly, then tiptoed away.
An’an’s so cute, he thought. His face was all pink from sleeping.
Ning Bingque hurried to a small stream. The icy stream water barely brought his body temperature down a little. He couldn’t help slapping his own head.
Look at the fine thing you’ve done!
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