Arc 6: Chapter 3
Triceratops were formidable medium-sized dinosaurs, with dangerous and powerful horns on their heads and over 26 feet long. The one the tribe hunted weighed around seven to eight tons.
Under normal circumstances, their tribe didn’t have the ability to hunt such large dinosaurs. But the hunting team happened to encounter one while hunting, and the chief decided to test Lin Yuan’s sedative. To their surprise, it worked.
Seeing the chief hand over a large chunk of fat to Lin Yuan, an unaware beastman asked: “Chief, why are you giving Yuan so much fat?”
The chief distributed meat with a large smile on his face. With so much triceratops meat, how could he not be happy? He laughed loudly and said: “I used the sedative Yuan gave me to catch this triceratops. We owe this big boy to him.”
The beastman looked at Yuan in surprise. Female beastman were shorter than males, it was hard to believe that such a small and thin female had such skills.
Lin Yuan didn’t notice the gaze, and even if he had, he wouldn’t have cared. He only had the big chunk of triceratops meat in his mind.
With so much meat, he should be able to refine a lot of oil.
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Lin Yuan’s cave was relatively new, as it was dug right before he came of age, and it was located in a rather remote spot.
But regardless of how far away he was, some keen-nosed beatmen could still smell an irresistible fragrance when he started rendering dinosaur fat.
“What is that smell? Why does it smell so good?”
“It smells too good, where exactly is it coming from?”
In their tribe, boiling meat was very rare because stone pots were slow to heat up, which wasted firewood.
The meat Lin Yuan got weighed over thirty pounds. To render the fat into oil, he had to cut it into small pieces and constantly stir it while boiling.
After working for almost a day’s time, he finally rendered all of the fat into oil. He even produced a lot of crispy oil residues.
Lin Yuan put a little piece of oil residue in his mouth and felt that life was really difficult. Finally, he had some food that was edible. Lin Yuan divided the crispy bits into several portions, planning to give some to the priest and the chief.
The priest held a very high status in the tribe. In the eyes of all beastmen, the priest was the spokesperson of the Beast God. It was beneficial to Lin Yuan to maintain a good relationship with the priest.
As for the chief, he was the leader of the tribe, sending him something wouldn't hurt.
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The priest was an old beastman with gray hair, but his body was still strong and healthy. He took a bite of the crispy dinosaur fat and found it very delicious: “Yuan, this oil residue is delicious, how was it made?”
Lin Yuan explained the method to render oil and added with a smile: “Grandpa Priest, if you render it yourself, you can add a little salt when you start to boil it and it will taste even better.”
“Is that so? I’ll try it tomorrow.” The priest looked forward to it. If it tasted even better than now, then it must be mind-blowingly delicious.
Lin Yuan chatted idly with the priest for a while, and then asked naturally: “Grandpa Priest, is there a way to get rid of a slave’s slave status?”
Lin Yuan really hoped that Yue could live a peaceful life in the tribe as an ordinary beastman.
The priest assumed Lin Yuan was just asking out of curiosity, and replied while chewing: “Yes. During the Beast God Festival, if the tribe’s priest goes to the Beast God Temple and asks the High Priest to hold a redemption ritual for the slave, then the slave’s status can be changed.”
Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up: “What are the details for the redemption ritual?”
The priest explained: “During the ritual, the slave must kneel in the Beast God Temple for a full day and night. On the next day, the High Priest will use holy water to cleanse the sins left by the demons and wash away the slave mark. Once that’s done, the slave will become an ordinary beastman.”
So the priest’s help was needed, Lin Yuan thought. He stared at the priest for a moment, and knew that things couldn’t be rushed. For now, the most important step was to get his husband out of Yan’s hands.
After leaving the priest’s cave, Lin Yuan brought a portion of crispy fat to the chief.
As expected, that evening during dinner time, Yan approached Lin Yuan with Yue following right behind and handed a piece of meat to Lin Yuan.
Yan said directly: “I want to trade this meat for a bowl of crispy fat.”
Lin Yuan had calculated that the chief would definitely share some crispy fat with Yan, seeing how the chief was particularly fond of Yan. Luckily, Yan seemed to like it a lot.
Lin Yuan blinked innocently. His golden eyes were illuminated by the orange fire, and dazzled more brightly than gems, like a clear lake’s surface shining under the sun. He pretended to think a bit, and then said softly: “Yan, I can exchange with you, but I want something else. I’m planning to go deep into the forest, but it’s not safe for me to go alone. Lend me your slave for a few days, and I’ll give you more crispy fat, how about it?”
How about it? Yan thought Lin Yuan was a little dumb. Such delicious crispy fat, and Lin Yuan only wanted to borrow this slave for a few days.
“Okay, I agree!” Afraid the Lin Yuan might change his mind, Yan nodded immediately.
Lin Yuan’s eyes curved slightly. His white cat ears flicked playfully, and his tone was light: “Then wait here for a moment. Let your slave come with me to get it.”
Yan didn’t think anything was wrong with this and nodded again.
Lin Yuan and Yue walked out of sight. As soon as they entered his cave, Lin Yuan pounced into the man’s arms, wrapping his arms around the other’s neck and rubbing his face against it.
“Did you miss me?” Lin Yuan’s voice carried a hint of nasal softness, like a kitten asking to be spoiled.
Yue was caught off guard and he froze for a moment. Then he raised his arms uncontrollably and hugged Lin Yuan even closer, deeper into his embrace.
His voice was hard to hear, as if he was embarrassed: “...Yes.”
He thought about the little female every night.
The last rays of the setting sun could only faintly light up the cave. Lin Yuan gazed up at the man’s handsome and sharp features and lifted a hand to brush away the stray hair on Yue’s forehead and spoke softly: “I missed you too. Tomorrow I’ll be going out with the gathering team, but the day after tomorrow, we can go to the forest together.”
Yue was already indescribably happy when he heard that he would spend the next few days with Lin Yuan. Finally, he would be able to spend time with the little female during the day.
“En, go together.” Yue repeated lowly.
Lin Yuan wanted to cuddle with his husband for a little longer, but Yan was still waiting out there.
“Alright, it’s settled then.” Lin Yuan tightly hugged Yue’s neck and rubbed against the man’s chin a few times before letting go.
The soft hair that brushed past Yue’s skin tickled him gently and stirred something deep inside. He stared at Lin Yuan, his eyes slowly roaming over his body, from his slender neck down to his waist and further down.
In his eyes, Lin Yuan was too small and too thin. But below the little female’s waist, the skirt still curved slightly, not loose at all. Yue swallowed, his fingers clenched unconsciously and his body began to heat up.
Lin Yuan stuffed a portion of crispy fat into Yue’s hands and covered it tightly like a small animal protecting its food: “Yue, eat quickly. We’ll go out after you finish.”
Yue knew this was something very tasty, otherwise, Yan wouldn’t have wanted to trade meat for it. But Yue felt a little restless and irritated. As a male beastman, it was frustrating enough that he couldn’t go out and hunt to provide for his little female, and he still had to rely on his little female for food.
Still, he could never muster up any anger when facing Lin Yuan: “I… I can’t keep eating your food.”
Lin Yuan leaned closer, puzzled: “Why not? Why can’t you eat my food?”
Yue stared at the little female’s soft, fair face and his eyelids drooped slightly. He murmured: “I’m a male beastman. I should be the one hunting and providing for you.”
Lin Yuan looked at the dejected man in front of him and tiptoed and gently ruffled the other’s hair. He rubbed against Yue’s cheek, as if comforting a lonely beast: “It’s okay. You’ll be able to hunt and raise me later. For now, I’ll take care of you.”
His voice was tender and sweet and a little spoiled: “Promise me, Yue. Let me take care of you, let me be good to you, okay?”
Yue gazed at the little female’s eager eyes. Those golden eyes were bright and wet, making him want to lick them.
Faced with such a cute and soft request, Yue couldn’t refuse at all. His slightly cool, scarred palm gently caressed the warm cheek of the little female.
Yue felt as if his hand seemed to carry some dark and terrible stickiness. He didn’t want to let go, he wanted to stay attached to his little female forever.
【Di! Congrats, host, the villain’s blackening value has decreased to 38%.】
Yue ate the bowl of crispy fat and thought that it was definitely the most delicious food he had ever eaten in his life.
The moment he took a bite of the crispy fat, all of his troubles disappeared.
It was really too delicious. If only he could eat this every day.
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Two days later, Yue came to Lin Yuan’s cave early in the morning.
Since he was going out with his little female today, he had woken up before the sun rose and went to the stream to wash himself thoroughly. His hair was still damp.
Lin Yuan was already awake and cooking soup. He melted some oil, stir-fried some leftover meat, and then added water to boil it and finally tossed in some wild vegetables.
There was no salt so the soup was still tasteless, but it warmed the stomach and was also healthier.
Lin Yuan drank half a bowl, and then rested his chin on his hand, spacing out as he watched Yue eat. He thought about the upcoming tribal gathering of different tribes and planned to find something to trade for salt.
The two of them, warm and energized, left the cave and entered the forest. Lin Yuan made sure no other tribe members were around and then reached out and held Yue’s hand, smiling sweetly as his dimples deepened into crescents.
Yue tensed up and rapidly scanned the surroundings. He let out a breath and asked: “What if someone sees us?”
Although he said this, his body acted honestly. His grip on Lin Yuan’s hand tightened, and the tips of his ears turned red.
Lin Yuan observed Yue’s reaction and squinted slightly in amusement. His tail swayed happily: “They won’t. If I hear anyone, I’ll let go.”
Yue lowered his eyes, like Lin Yuan filled up his entire world: “...Okay.”
With Yue around, Lin Yuan added many things to his cave, especially firewood.
After some thought, Lin Yuan decided to try making fruit jam. If the end product came out well, he would try to trade it for salt.
He took out the sugarcane plants he found before and asked Yue to squeeze out their juice. After, he boiled and stirred the juice in a pot.
Lin Yuan didn’t know the exact steps to refine sugar, so he had to guess. He stopped boiling when the mixture became too thick to stir and then moved the pot outside to cool and dry under the sun.
He didn’t have much sugarcane plants in the first place, so he only ended up with a small amount of sugar. He combined it with red tree fruits and made two bowls of jam.
Though it was far from real jam, compared to the rest of the food in this world, it was an unparalleled delicacy.
Lin Yuan was confident he could use this jam to trade Yan for Yue, but Lin Yuan had other plans. He wanted to make the most out of this jam by trading it at the tribal gathering.
As usual, the Creek Forest Tribe sent twenty strong, young males and a few females to the gathering. Yan was also among the group, he would never miss a gathering.
The group traveled for five days before arriving at the gathering.
Their tribe had its designated spot. After setting up the tribe’s goods, Lin Yuan informed the group’s leader that he was going to trade by himself.
The leader assigned a strong beastman to accompany him and allowed him to go.
Lin Yuan didn’t reject this arrangement. It was normal for females to walk around with at least one male escort among a gathering full of strange beastmen. Before he walked away, he glanced at Yue. Yue was standing behind Yan, but his eyes never left the little female’s figure.
Lin Yuan glanced left and right to make sure no one was watching, and then stuck out his tongue mischievously.
The gathering was set up like a street market. Lin Yuan wandered around curiously, looking at a variety of unfamiliar goods, and soon found the salt traders.
Salt was a scarce resource, and many people had congregated around. The salt was stored in long bamboo tubes, each weighing about two pounds.
Lin Yuan took out a small bamboo tube from his basket and said to the salt trader: “This is the fruit jam I made. I’d like to trade it for four tubes of salt.”
The salt trader glanced at the small bamboo tube and wondered how much it could even hold. It looked barely enough for one bit, and this female wanted four tubes of salt, was he crazy?
Even so, he took over the tube and opened it. The moment he opened it, an incredibly sweet aroma drifted out. The salt trader was stunned: “Why does this jam smell so good?”
Lin Yuan smiled and took out a thin, clean chopstick and dipped it into the jam and offered the salt trader a taste: “Try it.”
The salt trader eagerly licked off the jam. It tasted sweet, tangy, and refreshing. Delicious!
Seeing the small tube, he started to bargain: “It’s so little. Give me two portions and I’ll give you four tubes of salt.”
Lin Yuan said calmly: “Then never mind.” He turned around and was about to leave.
The salt trader had never seen anyone act like this before and called out in a rush: “Hey, hey! Little female, wait! I’ll trade! I’ll trade!”
Lin Yuan had divided the jam he made into ten small bamboo tubes, and managed to trade for many things at the market, including four bags of barley and rice.
Lin Yuan’s tail swayed happily from left to right as he returned with a big load.
Once he returned to the Creek Forest Tribe, while everyone else was roasting meat for dinner, Lin Yuan started a fire and heated up his stone pot.
Once the pot was hot, he scooped in a generous spoonful of oil. As the oil melted, its fragrance spread. Some surrounding beastman glanced in his direction, but didn’t pay any further attention.
Next, Lin Yuan tossed in scallion-ginger grass and stir-fried until the aroma became even richer. When he added in dried chili peppers and Chinese peppercorns, the scent seemed to float into every crevice of the valley.
“Who’s cooking? Why does it smell so good?”
“Oh my Beast God, what is this smell?”
Some beastman couldn’t stand the smell of chili and sneezed.
After a bit of stirring, Lin Yuan poured in the already simmered bone broth into the pot. Once the soup boiled, he added salt and a bit of sugarcane juice.
That was all he could do for the soup. Next, Lin Yuan dropped meat and vegetables into the pot.
The leafy greens cooked quickly. Lin Yuan stuffed a big bite into his mouth, and his eyes turned red and teary in an instant. Wuuuwuuu, although it was nowhere near as good as modern hotpot, it was 100,000 times better than anything he had eaten in this world so far.
The beastmen couldn’t help but stare at Lin Yuan eating so happily. For some reason, the roasted meat in their hands didn’t seem as appetizing anymore.
The priest walked over and asked curiously: “Yuan, what are you eating.”
Lin Yuan replied brightly: “Grandpa Priest, this is hotpot.”
“Hotpot?” The priest had never heat of this word before.
Lin Yuan explained: “You put raw vegetables and meat into the soup and eat while you cook.”
The priest felt his saliva was flowing just from smelling the fragrance. He couldn’t help but swallow. But as the tribe’s priest, he was a little embarrassed to ask a young female for his food.
He stared at the soup greedily and thought impatiently, why hasn’t Yuan invited me to try this hotpot?
Lin Yuan pretended to be clueless. He had to wait, because this hotpot was going to be traded for his husband.
After waiting for a while, the priest reluctantly walked away. Shortly after, Yan came over and said: “Yuan, I’ll trade meat for what you’re eating.”
Lin Yuan’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and his expression was obedient and soft: “I don’t need meat. Making hotpot is really troublesome, and I spent a lot of time gathering these ingredients in the forest. No matter how much meat you offer, I won’t trade.”
Yan was a little unhappy. Lin Yuan actually refused him. But the hotpot smelled really good and its taste must be even better, so it wasn't surprising that Yuan was unwilling.
Yan grabbed his hair in frustration while frowning: “If you don’t want meat, then what do you want?”
Lin Yuan looked at Yue and then looked back at Yan. He sighed with a helpless expression: “I don’t want anything specific, but I’ve been going to the forest to find food and I get scared when I’m alone. What about…”
As if he thought of something, Lin Yuan’s gaze landed on Yue: “Give me your slave, and I’ll make hotpot for you twice. What do you think? I only have enough ingredients for two meals. If you don’t agree, then forget it.”
Yan didn’t expect Lin Yuan to want his own slave. Back when he bought this slave, he spent quite a bit of dried meat. Trading him for two hotpot meals, it wasn’t that heartbreaking, but…
A slave was just a slave, if he’s traded away, he’s traded away. If he dies, then he dies. What really bothered him was the dried meat he spent.
But this hotpot smelled too good.
Yan didn’t think for long before agreeing: “Deal. You can have the slave, and you have to make me hotpot twice. I want yours now, give me this pot, and make me another one tomorrow night.”
Lin Yuan didn’t mind. He poured the remaining broth into Yan’s stone pot.
Yan followed Lin Yuan’s instructions: wait for the water, add sliced meat, wait for the meat to cook, and then eat. The moment he took the first bite, he felt as if stars had exploded on his tongue. It was sooo good! How could something as delicious as hotpot exist?!
Lin Yuan had only eaten a little earlier and wasn’t full. He decided to make another portion, this time, he would let his husband try it too.
Once the broth was ready, Lin Yuan added a lot of vegetables and meat. Since Yue was his now, he didn’t hesitate to serve Yue a bowl of meat first.
Yue hesitated. They sat out in the open, and he was still resistant in his heart to have other beastmen see him take the little female’s food.
Lin Yuan said softly: “You’re mine now. I’m your master, so you have to listen to me. Eat it, eat a lot. From now on, you have to work hard for me, got it?”
His words seemed fierce, but to Yue, they were really cute. He wanted to hold the little female in his arms and bully him thoroughly.
Yue took the stone bowl, and Lin Yuan gave him a pair of chopsticks he made and taught him how to use them.
Soon, you could see the bottom of the bowl. Lin Yuan quickly gave Yue another serving.
The surrounding beastmen glanced over enviously. They had never eaten such fragrant food, but a slave actually ate it before them.
That evening, except for Lin Yuan, Yue, and Yan, nobody else enjoyed their meal. The aroma of hotpot lingered in the air, who would still be in the mood to eat dry barbeque?
After dinner, Lin Yuan naturally led Yue back to his cave.
One beastman asked bluntly: “Yuan, you’re a female. How can you let a male slave sleep in your cave?”
Yue had been waiting for a long time to finally follow the little female. He was originally very happy and even his cold, dark eyes brightened up. But upon hearing those words, a stronger darkness covered his eyes.
Lin Yuan didn’t get angry, and replied calmly: “He’s mine. What I do with him is my business.”
He looked up at the man beside him with a gentle eyes: “Let’s go, Yue.”
Yue silently followed Lin Yuan. No one noticed his eyes were full of thick desire, a hunger and lust that couldn’t be sated.
Back in the cave, Lin Yuan didn’t hold back and jumped onto Yue: “Yue! You’re mine now, are you happy?”
Yue instinctively supported the lively little female, his large hands gripping the smaller female with strength. He said hoarsely: “...En, happy.”
Lin Yuan rubbed against Yue excitedly, but soon noticed Yue’s slightly heavy breathing. He blinked and whispered: “Yue…” Lin Yuan climbed off him with a red face and pulled him to sit on the mat of animal hides.
His fair cheeks were stained with an alluring blush: “You… do you want to do something? You can do it. There’s only the two of us here, and you’re not my slave, you’re my… mate.”
Yue had been restraining himself up until now. Hearing these words, the shackles holding back the beast broke. He picked up the soft and tender little female and his hands groped under the little female’s skirt.