Chapter 43: Waiting for You to Sleep Together

  "I think Mo Yi'er is right, actually the things you men do, I can also do." Sang Zhen puffed out her ample chest and said with great confidence. Now that Mo Yi'er was by their side, they women could pick and gather food on their own, no longer needing to rely on men for survival, so their spines were straightened a lot too.

  "Alright, let Sang Zhen come! Jiao Meng you're tired, just walk on the side and hold the torch to light the way!" Chu Huo agreed to this, because he found that Jiao Meng's hands were already slightly trembling. During the day, he had gone hunting with the men all day, and in the evening, he had been taking care of Xi Fen Ni, now he came to lift the tree, it seemed that he was exhausted!

  "Alright!" Even if he was still unwilling, and didn't want to let the woman help him, Huī Mǎng still chose to listen to the leader's words, and went to pick up the extinguished torch, lighting it on top of Mò Yì ér's torch.

  "When everyone lifts the big tree and walks, they need to shout slogans, so that the strength will be evenly distributed. Everyone shouts 1, 2, 1, 2, when shouting 1, step out with the left foot, which is this side, we call it left. When shouting 2, step out with the right foot, which is the side where I hold the torch." Mo Yi'er said while gesturing to everyone, repeating several times until all understood and remembered.

  Sang Zhen was slightly shorter than the other men, so Mo Yi'er arranged for her to be in the second-to-last position. Everyone coordinated with each other, and it wasn't a problem. "Alright, everyone listen to my command, prepare to lift..." The twelve people used their strength together, and the tree trunk was once again hoisted onto their shoulders. "One-two, one-two, one-two..." Mo Yi'er shouted along the way, this time it really was much better than before, and they finally arrived smoothly at the open space in front of the cave.

  This tree is much larger than the one just now, and everyone was shocked again. Even the people who had just lifted the big tree couldn't see clearly in the dark. There were several bonfires in front of the cave, and only now could they see the entire tree clearly.

  Chu Yan looked at the results of today's work, a smile hanging on his face. "Everyone has worked hard, these few trees are used to store water. At that time, women won't have to run back and forth to the edge of the water pool all day, and men can also carry water bottles with them when hunting, and there will be water to drink when ambushing."

  "Great!" With that, both men and women were delighted. Everyone gathered around the big tree chattering for a long time before going to sleep, today's good news was too much, everyone's topic of conversation revolved around newborn Xiao Hei and the big tree.

  Mo Yi'er sat by the bonfire, watching the tribespeople with a warm smile. Everyone seemed like one big family, despite not being related by blood, but even more so than blood relatives! Her gaze drifted and landed on Chu Yan and Fan Ge beside her. Fan Ge's face was filled with smiles, also very happy. But looking at Chu Yan, huh? Why did he have a furrowed brow, looking very pained?

  "Chu Yu, what's wrong?"

  Chu Yan shook his head: "Nothing."

  "Are you sure there's nothing?" Mo Yi'er didn't believe it, and Chu Yan's furrowed brow didn't relax even when he spoke. Mo Yi'er thought, could it be that he got hurt while digging or lifting the tree? Muscle strain? Waist sprain? Or ankle sprain? As she thought about this, Mo Yi'er carefully examined Chu Yan up and down, but really, there was nothing special, except... why did his foot on the ground look so awkward? "Let me see your foot!"

  "It's fine, I'm good! It's late, I'll go to sleep first." As he spoke, Chu Yan stood up and walked towards his usual sleeping position with an extremely strange expression.

  Mo Yi was very worried about Chu Yan, she got up and chased after him, directly squatting down to grab Chu Yan's thigh.

  This posture shocked Chu Yan greatly, and even the people around him who could see it were puzzled, staring at Mo Yi'er with wide eyes.

  Mo Yi'er didn't care about all that and said with an exceptionally firm gaze: "Let me see your feet!"

  This tone of command, in the tribe, no one dared to be like this to the leader. Everyone was extremely surprised, except for a few tribesmen who followed Chu Yan and Mo Yier to the Haimu tribe, they had already gotten used to the way the two interacted with each other on the road, so they were not surprised at all.

  "You're really helpless!" Chu Yan couldn't help but laugh, until he couldn't hide it anymore and had to sit down, letting Mo Yier examine his foot. When she saw the large red swelling on his right foot, Mo Yier suddenly remembered that he had kicked down three trees today, and she couldn't help but blame herself for not noticing his injury earlier.

  "Chu Yu, you're injured! Why didn't you say so? It's too serious!"

  "It's nothing serious, just sleep it off!" Men always think injuries are no big deal, a little pain and discomfort will pass in a few days.

  "Nonsense, sleep can't heal injuries!" Mo Yier's heart was slightly aching, and even she herself didn't notice that her heart had gradually become fond of the man who was always silently good to her. After her harsh rebuke, Mo Yier felt very weak again. She found Kasa, as Kasa and several elderly people in the tribe were the most knowledgeable, and wondered if they had any way to treat Chu Yu's foot injury.

  Kasa listened and thought for a moment, then rummaged through the grass heap protruding from the cave and pulled out several stalks of dry grass. It seemed to be some kind of Chinese medicine. He said: "Chew on this and apply it to Chu Yan's feet."

  "Okay, thank you!" Mo Yier hastily grabbed the herbs and thanked him. However, she didn't directly put them in her mouth to chew on, but instead used a clay pot with water to start boiling them. After about half an hour of boiling, the water had turned dark brown, and the clay pot emitted a strong herbal aroma. Mo Yier took the clay pot off the fire, let it cool down for a bit, then used her hands to apply the herbal water to Chu Xiang's red and swollen feet.

  Chu Hu had been tired for a day and was already drowsy. Mo Yi'er's massage, although painful, felt very comfortable, and soon he fell asleep. Mo Yi'er's hands didn't stop moving, hoping that Chu Hu's feet would recover quickly, wishing that this unknown herbal medicine would be effective.

  Her hands were sore from kneading, Mo Yi'er scooped out the cooked medicinal herb dregs and applied them to Chu Yan's feet, wrapping them with silk fabric woven from silkworm threads. Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.

  "Mo Yu'er, aren't you tired? Go wash your hands and have a drink of water." Fang Ge had been sitting beside Mo Yu'er the whole time, watching her every move without blinking an eye, as if he was enchanted. It wasn't until Mo Yu'er stopped that he got up to get her water to wash her hands and quench her thirst.

  "Thank you! Why aren't you sleeping yet?" Mo Yier had just focused all her energy on Chu Yan's feet, so she didn't notice Fan Ge.

  "I'll wait for you to sleep together!" Chu Yan smiled, his white teeth looking very good.

  This explanation made Mo Yuer somewhat embarrassed. Are we sleeping together? How could you say it so ambiguously, as if there's something between us?