All three grown men hung their heads, not daring to look at Yan Yu’an, who stood before them nearly half a head shorter than they were.
He wasn’t very big, but when he got angry he really did look quite intimidating.
Yan Yu’an pursed his lips. He glanced at the three with their heads lowered, then stepped forward and took Xie Ji’s hand. “Let’s go. Don’t bother with them.”
Xie Ji’s eyes lit up. He glanced at the other two with schadenfreude, then unhesitatingly followed Yan Yu’an.
Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque looked at each other, each seeing contempt in the other’s eyes.
“An’an.” Xie Ji pressed close to Yan Yu’an. His skin was very hot, and holding his hand, Yan Yu’an quickly worked up sweat.
Xie Ji turned his hand over and took Yan Yu’an’s. The fair white skin formed a sharp contrast with Xie Ji’s, and Yan Yu’an also noticed Xie Ji’s hands were much bigger than his.
Only when the other two were out of sight did Xie Ji relax a little. He looked at Yan Yu’an somewhat bashfully, then pressed his lips together. “I have a gift for you.”
Yan Yu’an froze. He was very angry, but this matter had nothing to do with Xie Ji, so he rarely revealed a smile.
“What gift?” he asked.
Xie Ji produced from who knew where a long chain, and at the very bottom of the chain hung a stone that glinted with light.
Yan Yu’an took the necklace in surprise. He gently rubbed the glowing stone, and when he saw something carved on it in characters he didn’t recognize, he couldn’t help his eyes going wide. “What’s this?”
Xie Ji scratched the back of his head embarrassedly and revealed a shy smile. “It’s your name carved on it.” His face reddened—but luckily his skin was dark, so you couldn’t tell his face was red beyond words.
Yan Yu’an looked carefully at this glowing stone, the smile on his face growing stronger and stronger.
These characters should be the writing of this era—not like the writing used in the apocalypse.
“Do you like it?” Though Yan Yu’an clearly looked like he liked it, Xie Ji still couldn’t help asking cautiously.
Yan Yu’an put the necklace around his neck and broke into a smile. “Mm! I love it!”
Previously he’d thought Shen Yuanzhou was much less trouble than Xie Ji and Ning Bingque—but now it seemed the least troublesome one should be Xie Ji.
Xie Ji was satisfied. He’d gone to great effort to find this fluorite by the river. At night, this stone would even give off a pretty glow.
And this stone was rarely found in ordinary places, so it was very popular in their tribe.
Besides—he touched his hand, which he’d accidentally cut with a stone knife—a little injury was worth it.
Yan Yu’an happily toyed with the stone. He committed the characters carved on it to memory. Though the carving was crooked and messy, he still memorized how to write the three characters “Yan Yu’an.”
“Your hand’s hurt?” Yan Yu’an suddenly noticed Xie Ji’s right hand, which he was trying to hide. He couldn’t help narrowing his eyes and forcefully pulled his hand over.
Xie Ji lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes hiding the smile in them.
He nodded uncomfortably, wanting to pull his hand back.
Yan Yu’an glared at him, and he obediently stopped moving again.
Yan Yu’an carefully examined both his hands—luckily, there was only a small cut on the right hand.
“Good thing it’s nothing serious.” Yan Yu’an let out a breath of relief. The next second, his hand was grasped back by Xie Ji.
Xie Ji’s hand had a thin layer of calluses. Yan Yu’an, suddenly held by him, couldn’t help being a little surprised.
Then Xie Ji’s rough fingers gently rubbed the back of Yan Yu’an’s hand, and Yan Yu’an couldn’t help trembling slightly.
“You…” Yan Yu’an wanted to pull his hand back from Xie Ji’s, but the moment he moved, Xie Ji’s pitiful gaze turned on him.
Yan Yu’an’s hand went stiff. Then he lowered his head and saw the necklace hanging at his chest, so he could only let him hold it.
And so, he was led back to Mu Shu’s house. Mu Shu was adding charcoal to the furnace at the moment.
Seeing Yan Yu’an return, he raised an eyebrow. When he saw the two’s tightly clasped hands, his mouth fell open and he revealed a look of understanding.
Yan Yu’an: “…” Why did it feel like something was off?
He glanced at Xie Ji, saw no expression on his face, and assumed he was overthinking it. So he pointed at Mu Shu, signaling that he wanted to go over and take a look.
Xie Ji nodded and released Yan Yu’an’s hand.
Yan Yu’an’s palm was still a little damp, but it wasn’t a big problem. He hurried over to Mu Shu’s side and copied his motions, adding charcoal to the furnace.
“Let it burn another day, and tomorrow we should get an iron pillar.” Mu Shu stood up and patted the charcoal ash off his hands.
Yan Yu’an’s eyes lit up and he nodded.
He turned his head, wanting to look for Xie Ji’s figure, but Xie Ji seemed to have already gone inside and was saying something to Xie Chen. However, he did see Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque walking back.
Yan Yu’an pressed his lips together. He wanted to turn his head and pretend he hadn’t seen them, but he failed.
Shen Yuanzhou’s eyesight was very good. He spotted from afar that Yan Yu’an was looking at them, so he immediately put on a look of behaving well—which only made the chattering Ning Bingque beside him seem inconsiderate.
Seeing Shen Yuanzhou look cold, yet with a trace of grievance on his face that only Yan Yu’an could understand, his heart softened at once.
“Shen Yuanzhou.” He strode over to the two of them. Seeing their stiffened bodies, he couldn’t help sighing, and then called Ning Bingque’s name too.
Ning Bingque pursed his lips and instantly put on a very pitiful look. He spread out his wings and shook them, and large clumps of feathers fell straight to the ground.
Yan Yu’an couldn’t help his eyes going wide. “You—that’s way too many falling off.” Ning Bingque’s feathers were very pretty, and with so many feathers gone, his wings looked smaller now.
“Am I very ugly?” His tone sounded very downcast.
Yan Yu’an froze and hurriedly shook his head. Ning Bingque wasn’t ugly at all—you could even say he was the most handsome of the three.
But right now he looked utterly pitiful.
Shen Yuanzhou, having witnessed all of it: “…” Ning Bingque really was the craftiest bird.
Shen Yuanzhou thought for a moment, then said: “I’m injured.” His tone was a little cold, but Yan Yu’an still heard the grievance in it.
Seeing Yan Yu’an’s gaze shift onto him, he wanted to copy Ning Bingque and act pitiful—but no matter what he did, he still looked as cold as ever.
Yan Yu’an sighed. “Don’t fight, you two.” He knew the three of them had long been unable to stand each other. Though he hadn’t stopped them before, that had all been on the premise of small squabbles.
Mu Shu had told him—this time it wasn’t a small squabble at all. They’d even shifted into their true forms.
Yan Yu’an sighed. He didn’t demand they become good friends, but they couldn’t fight like this either.
Shen Yuanzhou glanced at Ning Bingque, saw that Ning Bingque was looking at him too, and immediately understood. “We won’t fight anymore.” His tone was very cold, but toward Yan Yu’an there was an indescribable gentleness.
Ning Bingque nodded slightly too. He suddenly noticed the chain around Yan Yu’an’s neck and immediately understood it was a gift from Xie Ji.
He secretly pursed his lips, but on the surface he looked even more remorseful. “I know I was wrong.” His voice was very soft—if you didn’t listen carefully, you couldn’t even hear it.
But for Yan Yu’an it was enough. He sighed, took one of them by each hand, and comforted them like little children. “You’re all my good friends.”
I don’t want to be your good friend. Ning Bingque nodded slightly, but inside he didn’t like the term “friend.”
“You’re my Snake Queen.” Shen Yuanzhou corrected him.
Yan Yu’an was helpless, but he knew he couldn’t correct this form of address for now, so he simply said nothing.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Xie Ji and Xie Chen were talking.
“What exactly happened?” Xie Ji rubbed his brow irritably. His tail swished behind him, signaling his irritable mood.
Xie Chen, by contrast, leisurely took a sip of water. His furry ears twitched, and even the tail behind him lifted.
Noticing this, Xie Ji raised an eyebrow and gave a helpless bitter laugh. “What are you so smug about?”
Xie Chen gave a huff. “You’ve got quite a few rivals in love.”
“Rivals in love?” Xie Ji gave a light laugh. “An’an accepted the fluorite.” He looked extremely pleased with himself.
Xie Chen knew about fluorite—when he was very small, he’d seen his mother wear it.
He clicked his tongue and looked at Xie Ji uncomprehendingly. “Does he know about fluorite?”
A trace of panic flashed across Xie Ji’s face, but he quickly steadied himself and bluffed: “He knows, right…” he muttered, as if confirming something. “He stayed in the lion tribe—he definitely knows!” As if to confirm something for himself, Xie Ji said this on his own.
Xie Chen: “…” Alright, now he knew that Yan Yu’an didn’t know what fluorite meant in their lion tribe.
But seeing Xie Ji’s face full of joy, he couldn’t bear to burst his bubble. He could only sigh softly.
At this moment, seeing Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque more or less reconciled, Yan Yu’an felt slightly relieved.
By now Mu Shu was no longer by the furnace. The furnace Yan Yu’an had built still needed fire to be added to bake it harder.
Taking advantage of this time, Yan Yu’an planned to go out for a walk and see whether there was anything else on this small island.
He didn’t go far. There were many plants on this island that Yan Yu’an had never seen before. He looked around, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
So many apples! His eyes were bright. He hurriedly ran back into the house, grabbed Mu Shu and a wicker basket, and ran back this way.
“How did you end up here?” Mu Shu ran until he was panting. When he looked up, he saw a tree full of apples.
Mu Shu’s eyes flew wide open. “Holy shit!” He couldn’t help letting out a cry of surprise.
Perhaps because he hadn’t heard that word in so long, Yan Yu’an couldn’t help feeling even happier.
“How is there an apple tree here?” Mu Shu couldn’t believe it. He’d come down this path who knew how many times—how had an apple tree suddenly appeared?
Yan Yu’an was puzzled too and frowned—but after a moment, his brows smoothed out. “I know. It was Shen Yuanzhou.” He paused, stood on tiptoe, picked an apple, and tossed it into the wicker basket. “His ability is controlling plants. Just now, when he was fighting Ning Bingque, he probably moved this apple tree here.”
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