After Being Stranded in the Wilderness, I Became the Bride of the Giant Tribe - 21

 

| GB | Sleep with Me | 21

It rained during the night, the sound of raindrops pattering softly. The rain didn’t stop until just before dawn.

After this rain, the weather turned completely cold.

Early the next morning, the sky was overcast and gloomy. The grass and trees looked withered, and the surrounding mountains and fields were shrouded in a layer of cold mist, utterly desolate.

The wind blowing head-on was so icy that Yu Bai couldn’t help shivering.

Just as he was about to sneeze, he felt a sudden tightness on his shoulder. Huo Duo'er, hunched over, scooped him up and carried him back inside the house.

Yu Bai rubbed his face and said, “So cold.”

The hug and release happened so quickly that he didn’t notice anything unusual. He simply felt that Huo Duo'er was being thoughtful and kind, worried that he might catch a chill from the wind.

The bitter wind kept Yu Bai confined to the courtyard, while Huo Duo'er went alone to the back to dig a clay kiln.

The wolf pelts, which had been tanned a few days earlier, still weren’t fully dried. Yu Bai struggled to lift the thick, heavy pelts and hung them on the rack to air out. The wind was strong, so letting the pelts get blown around for a bit would help them dry faster.

As he was carefully straightening the pelts to lay them flat, he suddenly noticed a head popping up outside the stone wall.

A’Li and a few young orcs had gone to the river to fetch water. On their way past the small house, they hopped up and down near the wall.

He saw Yu Bai moving firewood into the house in the courtyard and curiously asked, “Bai, what’s that giant doing over there?”

A’Li kept bouncing up and down, looking a bit silly. Yu Bai couldn’t help but chuckle. Braving the wind, he went over to open the door.

He covered the tip of his nose, which had turned red from the cold wind. His voice was muffled in his palm, sounding soft and buzzing.

“He’s digging a clay kiln. A clay kiln makes it easier to store food, it can help extend the storage time and keep things fresh.”

Yu Bai explained how to build a clay kiln to A’Li, but sneezed several times in the process. Even though he was wrapped in several layers of animal hides, he was still too thin to withstand the wind, looking as if he might topple over at any moment.

A’Li watched nervously and urged, “The wind out here’s too strong. Your body can’t handle it, go inside and take shelter quickly.”

Yu Bai gave a slight nod. A’Li was about to say more when he suddenly felt a cold gaze land on his back. Huo Duo'er, who had been digging behind the house, had returned.

Not daring to linger, A’Li grabbed the two jars of water and darted away like the wind.

Yu Bai stood at the doorway, the wind tossing his hair back and forth.

With a gentle curve to his eyes and brows, he asked, “All done digging?”

It wasn’t done yet, Huo Duo'er had just come back to check in on him.

Ever since he overheard A’Li talking about wanting to form a bond with Yu Bai, it had left him feeling uneasy.

Even though Yu Bai hadn’t agreed to anything, Huo Duo'er still wanted to keep an eye on the little sub-female. He didn’t want other orcs to get ahead of him.

Yu Bai scratched at his messy hair. “Then you go on and keep working. I’ll go inside and tidy up a bit.”

With the weather this cold, all of Yu Bai’s activities were limited to the courtyard. He tugged at his robe, and just as he took a step, his foot caught on the hem and he stumbled.

Quick as lightning, Huo Duo'er reached out and caught him, scooping him up in his arms and carrying him back into the house.

His tall, broad frame blocked the doorway, shielding him from the wind.

Yu Bai smiled, not at all upset by nearly tripping. Instead, he patiently adjusted his waistline, pulling his robes in properly.

When he looked back and saw Huo Duo'er still standing there, Yu Bai said a little sheepishly, “It’s not easy to hunt an animal and get a full pelt, so I made the robe a bit longer. That way, I won’t need to change it for a while.”

He mumbled to himself, “I should be able to grow a little taller, right?”

Huo Duo'er replied, “You will.”

Yu Bai thought he was just trying to comfort him, and with a soft smile, he waved his right hand. “Go on, get back to work. I’ll make meatballs for you tonight.”

Huo Duo'er asked, “Meatballs?”

Yu Bai explained, “It’s pork, chopped up finely, coated with a layer of flour on the outside, then fried in oil.”

The giant had never eaten food prepared like that before. Yu Bai urged him again, and only then did Huo Duo'er head back out to dig the kiln.

—

The courtyard was small, and all the unused corners were piled with food and firewood.

Until the clay kiln was finished, the cleaned wild yak that had been hunted was hung under the eaves of the house.

Yu Bai took out the yak pancreas used to scrape off fat and placed it into a stone jar, pounding it into a paste.

After finishing that step, he went to gather some plant ash. Mixing the ash with the meat paste from the pancreas, he stirred the mixture together until it became thick and sticky. 

When it got too heavy to stir any further, he scooped out a bit, shaped it into a ball in his palm.

Most orcs cleaned themselves with plain water, at most, they used leaves or similar things to scrub off grease and dirt from their bodies. But those methods never worked as well as soap.

So Yu Bai had to rely on an old-fashioned method passed down from earlier generations, making simple soap by hand using pig pancreas and ash.

He placed the shaped soap balls inside the house to air-dry for a while. Once dried, they could be used.

After finishing the soap, Yu Bai didn’t rest. He picked up a stone knife and began cutting off chunks of fat from the wild boar, tossing them into the pot to render lard.

Since the old orc had left, this was Yu Bai’s first attempt at firing pottery by himself. All he had to work with was a single, modest-sized clay pot and two bowls.

The fat he’d sliced off the yak was thick and abundant, but the pot was small. Just rendering the lard was going to take several long rounds of waiting.

During the process, Yu Bai also cut off a large piece of lean meat.

He minced the meat into a fine paste, then washed a handful of wild vegetables, some wild ginger, and salted beans. He chopped all the ingredients finely, then turned and went inside. After rummaging through a few jars in the corner, he grabbed three eggs and beat them.

The chopped vegetables and beaten eggs were poured into the minced meat, then mixed together and stirred thoroughly.

Earlier, he had ground quite a bit of flour from pink beans. He scooped out half a bowl of the fine powder, then began shaping the meat mixture into balls with his bare hands. Once each ball was formed, he rolled it in the flour, getting them ready to fry in the pot.

The fire roared, and the stone stove filled the air with heat. Yu Bai’s face was slick with sweat.

When Huo Duo'er walked in, Yu Bai was dodging splatters of oil flying from the pot.

Suddenly, his wrist was gripped, and he was pulled aside by the giant.

“Bai, what are you doing?”

Yu Bai wiped the sweat from his neck. “You’re done already?”

Then he explained, “I’m rendering pork fat. The oil that comes out, along with the crispy bits left behind, can both be used for stir-frying.”

Hot oil splashed onto the giant’s arm, the temperature was scalding, and Huo Duo'er frowned slightly.

“Bai, you show me, I’ll do it.”

Huo Duo'er had just come back from digging the clay kiln. He set down his tools and returned to the stove, sweat soaking his back and both arms.

Seeing this, Yu Bai went inside, poured a bowl of water, and brought out a piece of coarse linen.

“Have some water, and wipe off your sweat too.”

Huo Duo'er silently took the cloth. Yu Bai tilted his face up at him with a smile, then went back to shaping the meatballs.

By the stove, the meatballs, lightly coated in flour were dropped into the hot oil. The sizzle of frying filled the air, drawing Huo Duo'er’s gaze downward in curiosity. He had never seen food prepared like this before.

The aroma began to spread, and the fried meatballs came out golden and crispy on the outside.

Yu Bai filled a bowl with the fried meatballs, blew on them to cool them down a little, then picked one up with his chopsticks and held it out.

“Try it.”

Seeing him stretching his arm as far as he could, Huo Duo'er grasped Yu Bai’s wrist and lowered his head to take a bite of the meatball.

The crisp, fried texture was unlike anything he’d ever tasted before. The giant’s pupils narrowed slightly. “Very unique.”

He ate another one. “Delicious.”

Yu Bai was delighted. That afternoon, he kept frying batch after batch, and together they finished off a whole pot of meatballs.

—

After nightfall, the temperature dropped sharply. Yu Bai had spent most of the day rendering pork fat and shaping meatballs, and naturally ended up with oil stains all over him.

Out of habit from his modern-day lifestyle, he insisted on washing up before bed.

The courtyard was small, mostly taken up by firewood and the pen for livestock. He poured the hot water he had boiled into a jar, added some cool water to adjust the temperature, and carried it into the house.

Yu Bai found a corner facing away from the firelight. Just as he was about to untie his robe, he hesitated, then turned his head slightly to secretly glance at the giant who was still grinding stone tools.

He said softly, “Huo Duo'er, I’m going to take a bath now.”

Yu Bai was naturally introverted. Even though they were both men, the idea of bathing completely exposed in front of the other was something he absolutely couldn’t handle.

Huo Duo'er looked up, his beast-like eyes catching the light. Yu Bai hurried to explain, “I—I mean, could you not turn around until I’m done?”

His voice grew quieter and quieter as he spoke. Huo Duo'er responded, “Alright.”

The giant turned his back again. Yu Bai’s lips, usually pressed tight when he was nervous, curved just a little. Then he quickly began to untie his layers of robes.

It was freezing on a winter night. He shivered, dipping the coarse linen into the warm water again and again, scrubbing himself down briskly while gasping from the cold.

When the sound of water finally stopped, Huo Duo'er tilted his head slightly.

Yu Bai had asked him not to look while he was bathing, but in the giant’s mind, bathing and dressing weren’t the same thing. So technically, he was keeping his word.

And that single glance revealed a figure bathed in the soft, pale glow of clean skin.

This streak of white faintly glimmered in the dim corner, slender and fragile, so delicate that it almost made him want to destroy it.

The giant's gaze slid downward, and in the subtle curve of this delicate and graceful indentation, he caught sight of soft, snow-white undulations, more full than a ripened fruit, as though it would overflow from his palm with just a gentle squeeze.

Yu Bai bent down slightly, and Huo Duo'er's gaze darkened as he seemed to try to catch a clearer view of the gap between the snow-white undulations in the darkness.

His heart was restless, his mouth dry, his body taut with pain, and his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth.

Yu Bai carefully adjusted his robe, seemingly sensing something, and turned his head to see Huo Duo'er facing him. In the firelight, the giant's pupils flickered with a dark, flowing light, startling him.

"You... why did you turn your head?"

Huo Duo'er's beastly eyes burned with bright intensity.

"Bai, I wasn’t looking at you bathe."

The orc's expression was as usual, it didn’t look like he was lying.

 Yu Bai sighed in relief in his heart.

Huo Duo'er said he wasn’t looking, so he wasn’t. The other party wouldn’t lie to him.

"Forget it," Yu Bai murmured. "It’s getting late. You should rest."

Yu Bai poured out the remaining water, then immediately crawled into his animal’s blanket after returning to the room.

He wrapped himself up like a silkworm cocoon, leaving only his eyes exposed.

Huo Duo'er added more firewood, and the flames grew higher, casting a glow on the stone.

Yu Bai turned his back, waiting for sleep to come, but his body, warmed by the hot water earlier, couldn’t seem to get warm again.

The wind in the deep night grew louder, and the warmth in Yu Bai’s legs and feet faded, leaving them cold. No matter how much he tried to cover them, they wouldn’t warm up.

He turned over restlessly, and just as he was about to settle, Huo Duo'er suddenly spoke: "Bai?"

"It’s nothing. You sleep," Yu Bai assured the orc. "I’ll try not to make any more noise."

He didn’t even turn over, keeping his body rigid and flat, his feet still cold.

The cold wind howled through the crack in the door. Huo Duo'er lifted the animal’s bedding. "Bai, are you cold?"

He said again, "Come here and sleep with me."

Yu Bai was both cold and tired, yet he still couldn’t fall asleep.

Perhaps it was because the giant seemed so reliable. The hesitation in his heart, which had lingered a little, completely faded after the giant’s second prompt. He gave up on struggling.

He grabbed a blanket of animal bedding and moved closer to Huo Duo'er.

The stone bed was large enough to comfortably accommodate the size of an adult orc.

But the giant race was taller than most other orc tribes, and Huo Duo'er nearly filled the whole bed.

As soon as Yu Bai lay down, he felt a bit of regret. He tried to get up, but before he could, Huo Duo'er had already shifted onto his side.

Yu Bai: "…"

Huo Duo'er’s presence was just too overwhelming. With his upper body bare, the moment he lay down, a steady flow of warmth began to transfer to Yu Bai.

Gradually, their body temperatures seemed to merge, and Yu Bai no longer felt cold. His feet began to warm up.

Huo Duo'er gently patted Yu Bai’s back through the animal bedding. "Is it warmer now?"

Yu Bai nodded slightly, the awkwardness from earlier instantly disappearing.

Putting everything else aside, Huo Duo'er really cared for him, looked after him in every way, he was a really good big brother. What had he been so embarrassed about?

With this thought, Yu Bai suddenly moved closer, his cheek softly resting against Huo Duo'er’s chest.

The solid, broad chest felt so reassuring, like a protective fortress. The defined muscles had a slight elasticity to them, and it felt quite comfortable against him.

Yu Bai’s face turned a little shy, his eyes curving into gentle crescents, and he tried to make himself fall asleep quickly.

His voice held complete trust and unconscious dependence.

"Huo Duo'er, you're really good."

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