After Being Stranded in the Wilderness, I Became the Bride of the Giant Tribe - 29

 

| GB | Sniff | 29

The next day, a heavy snow fell. Yu Bai pushed open the door of the small hut and gazed at the snowflakes falling all over the sky, lost in thought for a long time.

It wasn't until the bitter wind rushed into the house that a tattooed arm pulled him back inside.

Yu Bai looked up and met the beastman's eyes; soon, he broke into a shy smile.

He rubbed his hands together repeatedly to warm them up, then pressed them against his face.

"The snowstorm is too heavy. How about we don't go to the main city today and just take a day off?"

Huo Duo'er answered in a low voice, "Alright."

After what had happened yesterday, Huo Duo'er didn't want to leave Yu Bai alone.

With nothing much to do, Yu Bai decided to cook a little. After filling up, he stayed indoors twisting hemp ropes.

The stored water was running low. Huo Duo'er stood outside, carrying two stone jars single-handedly, his large figure blocking the wind.

Yu Bai put on his gray fur hat, hugged a stone jar, and followed him.

"Let's go."

Huo Duo'er's gaze flickered slightly. Two shallow dimples appeared at the corners of Yu Bai's mouth.

"I know what you're about to say. There's so much snow outside, but it's my first time seeing anything like it. I just wanted to go out and have a look."

He wrapped himself in several layers of animal pelts, looking clumsy, with only his eyes peeking out from his bundled-up face. His voice was muffled in the scarf around his neck, sounding low and muffled.

The moment he stepped outside, he immediately let out an amazed "Wow!"

Yu Bai was a true Southerner who had never seen such heavy snow before. Everything felt novel to him as he stomped around in circles, leaving footprints everywhere.

In just one night, the snow around the tribe had piled up half a palm deep. The heavens and earth were connected in endless whiteness.

He scooped up a handful of snow, placed it in his palm, and, feeling playful, lightly tossed it at Huo Duo'er's leg.

Huo Duo'er barely reacted, simply lowering his eyes to watch him play. After a while, he said, "Bai, don't freeze your hands."

Yu Bai knew his own body’s limits and soon stopped.

With a smile on his face, he leaned closer to Huo Duo'er, following him step by step.

When they reached the riverbank, they found the surface of the water had already frozen over.

Yu Bai looked around, trying to find a sturdy tree branch to poke through the ice.

But Yu Bai saw Huo Duo'er walk straight to the riverbank, clench his hand into a fist, and smash down on the ice, instantly breaking through it barehanded.

Yu Bai's eyes widened in shock. He hurried over and carefully cradled Huo Duo'er's hand on his own to check it.

"It's fine," Huo Duo'er said softly to reassure him, then lifted a stone jar to fetch water.

It was freezing outside, and he didn’t want Yu Bai to stay out in the bitter cold for too long. After filling the jars, Huo Duo'er picked up both heavy containers with one hand and, with the other, scooped Yu Bai into his arms.

Yu Bai was holding one jar of water against his chest and didn’t dare move for fear of spilling it. He whispered, "I can walk by myself. Don’t do this next time."

"Even if you have great strength, you shouldn't use it like that. What if you hurt yourself? It's better to keep a stick handy," he added.

Huo Duo'er lowered his beast-like eyes to look at the pair of eyes peeking out from Yu Bai’s bundled-up face and said, "Mm, just this once. The wind outside is too strong."

Yu Bai’s face flushed a little, but Huo Duo'er's judgment proved right.

As soon as they returned to the hut, a fierce gust of wind swept by, shaking down flurries of snow from the eaves.

The icy wind, sharp as knives, stabbed into every gap, making Yu Bai hiss as he exhaled, rubbing his frozen hands hard and settling down in front of the fire to warm himself.

After putting down the water, Huo Duo'er was about to head to the earth cellar to cut some meat when Yu Bai spoke up,

"Since we're not going out today, let's cook a good meal and enjoy it."

He asked Huo Duo'er to bring back some pig trotters, he was planning to stew a big pot of them.

Huo Duo'er agreed without hesitation. While he went down to the cellar, Yu Bai took the chance to prepare other ingredients.

Besides the usual ingredients like ginger and vegetables, he also scooped out two large bowls of powdery beans from a jar, they hadn't been ground into powder yet, he was planning to stew them together with the pig trotters.

Before long, Huo Duo'er returned with four freshly cut trotters, but his tone was, for once, a little uncertain.

"Bai, are you sure we’re only eating this?"

In the orc tribe, eating the feet of livestock was rare, there wasn’t much meat compared to the belly or chest, they were troublesome to prepare, and not very satisfying.

Yu Bai nodded. "Help me clean them, please."

Huo Duo'er had long since grown used to and accepted the strange and varied ideas of the sub-female. He lifted his palm, stained with grease and blood, and said,

"I'll do it. You teach me."

So Yu Bai sat on a stone block covered with an animal fur mat and began instructing Huo Duo'er.

First, he had him use fire to burn the hair off the four pig trotters.

While Huo Duo'er worked on the trotters, Yu Bai was busy boiling water.

Once the water in the pot was warm, he picked up the singed trotters and soaked them in the warm water, repeating the process several times.

Then, using a smaller stone knife, he continued scraping away the leftover hair and impurities on the skin, before splitting each trotter in half with the knife.

One round of work left Yu Bai with no time to rest.

He kept the fire going to heat a second pot of water. This time, after the trotters had been cleaned, he blanched them thoroughly in the hot water and scraped along the skin again with the knife.

Yu Bai couldn’t hold the hot trotters with his bare hands. As he leaned over the pot, the steaming vapor blew straight into his face, leaving his cheeks damp and flushed before long.

Huo Duo'er couldn't bear to watch any longer. He took the stone knife from Yu Bai’s hands and started scraping the trotters himself, mimicking Yu Bai’s earlier movements.

Yu Bai smiled right then and there, then dashed off to add more firewood to keep the water boiling

Finally, Yu Bai boiled a big pot of water.

Once it was bubbling, he added the blanched pig trotters, fresh ginger, salted beans, various spices, chopped vegetables, and powdery beans. Then he covered it with a wooden lid and let it stew into a hearty pot.

He let out a long breath, his eyes sparkling brightly, filled with anticipation.

"Once it’s stewed soft, we can eat."

Huo Duo'er looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he swallowed the words back.

No matter what Yu Bai’s past was, or where he had come from, once the bond was formed, he was now simply his mate.

Huo Duo'er fetched a basin of cold water, intending to head outside to grab some grass to wash the grease off his hands.

Yu Bai caught up to him and, seeing the vast snowy field outside, called out, "Wait a minute!"

He ran back to the corner of the hut, pulled out some dried pig pancreas he had prepared earlier, and waved it at the giant.

"From now on, you don't have to go out picking grass just to wash your hands. Use this pig pancreas instead."

Yu Bai's own hands were greasy too. Without hesitation, he grabbed Huo Duo'er's oily hand, rinsed it with the cold water, then wet the pig pancreas and rubbed it over both their greasy hands.

Huo Duo'er curled his five fingers slightly, enclosing Yu Bai’s hands on his own.

Yu Bai looked up and gave the giant squatting in front of him a soft smile, continuing to carefully and attentively rub their hands clean with the pig pancreas.

"This way we can wash them properly. Isn’t it much more convenient?"

Huo Duo'er answered, "Mm."

"I made several pieces of pig pancreas last time. You can use it for bathing too."

"Bai..." Huo Duo'er hesitated, but in the end, he only lightly brushed his damp palm against Yu Bai’s cheek.

Yu Bai blinked, puzzled. "What is it?"

Huo Duo'er said, "Bai is very clever."

Yu Bai froze for a moment. "I-it's just... the old orc taught me," he stammered.

He wasn’t good at lying; the moment the words left his mouth, he quickly lowered his head, his eyelashes trembling above the firelight, his heart pounding wildly.

It wasn’t until the steaming pig trotters were ready that Yu Bai hurried to change the subject.

He first removed the firewood, then picked up his chopsticks and reached into the pot.

He took the first bite and instantly felt the softness of the stewed pig trotter, melting smoothly and tenderly in his mouth.

A look of pure delight spread across Yu Bai’s face, and he quickly called Huo Duo'er over to try it.

Huo Duo'er sat beside him, a little clumsy with the chopsticks, but he managed to pick up a piece of meat.

The tender, slippery trotter melted deliciously on his tongue, and he couldn't help but immediately pick up another bite.

The two of them shared the whole big pot of trotters between them.

Yu Bai rubbed his slightly rounded belly, still feeling a bit unsatisfied.

Huo Duo'er clearly liked the stewed pig trotters too, he finished every last scrap from the stone pot.

After eating, he took the initiative to tidy up, cleaning the area thoroughly.

When he came back from outside, there were a few snowflakes scattered across his broad shoulders.

Yu Bai poked his small face out from behind the door, peering out.

The wind howled in his ears, slamming straight against his face so hard he couldn't even open his eyes.

He had barely inhaled a breath of freezing air when an arm swiftly wrapped around his waist, lifting him right off the ground, just like that, Huo Duo'er carried him back inside.

Huo Duo'er dropped the thick bark curtain over the door to block out the wind.

Yu Bai, still smiling, said, "The wind and snow are just too heavy today. Staying inside really is the best."

Then he added, a little embarrassed,

"Next time... could you not just pick me up and carry me around like that?"

His pride took a small hit.

Even though he was 1.72 meters tall, a height that was considered average in a southern city,  here in this orc world, it was barely worth mentioning.

The beastmen here easily stood at 1.89 meters or taller.

Some, like Huo Duo'er, were even well over two meters tall.

There wasn't a single person built like him around here.

Feeling a little disheartened, Yu Bai thought to himself: he was only nineteen. If he took good care of his body, ate well, and absorbed enough nutrition, maybe he still had a chance to grow taller.

Huo Duo'er had no idea what was running through his mind.

He simply said, "Next time, I'll carry you in my arms instead."

Yu Bai let out a surprised "Ah," and stammered, "T-that's not what I meant..."

Not wanting to get tangled up in his height issues, Yu Bai pulled out the softened bark he had boiled yesterday, sat down by the fire, and began twisting it into rope.

Huo Duo'er scooted closer.

Because of his size, he had no choice but to sit with his legs bent wide under his animal robe, trying to imitate Yu Bai's movements.

Huo Duo'er had sharp instincts.After handling the bark fibers for a moment, he said,
"Bai, these vines feel different from the ones we usually use."

Yu Bai smiled and explained, "I soaked these hemp vines for two days, then boiled them in hot water. The fibers become much more resilient this way. Compared to the way other orcs make rope, this method makes it smoother and finer."

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Huo Duo’er's thick, curly leg hair and quickly averted his gaze, embarrassed.

Making high-quality hemp rope and turning it into cloth would make wearing clothes much more comfortable.

The orcs were used to wearing only animal pelts or rough hemp robes.

When Yu Bai arrived here, he was completely bare, only occasionally wrapping a short piece of cloth around himself. It felt too crude.

What embarrassed him most was that after he and Huo Duo'er slept together, the other would always be bare-chested, with only an animal robe around his hips.

As long as the posture was slightly wrong, the wild black bush would immediately jump out and sometimes, Yu Bai would wake up in the morning, still feeling scared of it.

Once these hemp ropes were ready, he’d make both of their undergarments first, hoping to avoid awkward situations like that in the future.

On a snowy afternoon, neither Yu Bai nor Huo Duo'er went anywhere. They spent the entire day in the small cabin, twisting ropes together.

After a busy afternoon, Yu Bai felt incredibly tired as soon as the sky darkened.

He finished eating the steamed eggs with powdered beans, then drank a bowl of ginger soup to ward off the cold. After washing up, he quickly crawled into bed and fell asleep.

As night fell, Huo Duo'er cleaned the small cabin thoroughly, both inside and out, before wiping his body down with hot water.

The habit of using hot water had been something he’d recently picked up. His mate, Yu Bai, was very clean, sensitive to the cold, and liked warmth. If he could warm himself up, the small sub-female would always curl up close to him.

Once his body felt thoroughly warmed, Huo Duo'er tossed the animal pelts aside and lay on his side next to Yu Bai.

Yu Bai slept deeply, and Huo Duo'er held him close, his heart finally calming after the restlessness of the previous day.

As he thought about it, he pulled off Yu Bai’s animal robe, his gaze lingering heavily as he scanned his mate’s skin. When he saw the marks that hadn’t faded, a feeling of unease tightened in his chest.

He lowered his head, pressing against the marks on Yu Bai’s skin, as if trying to leave something behind.

Yu Bai, still half asleep, felt a tickling sensation, as though a mosquito had bitten him. The itching made him shift slightly.

Yu Bai instinctively reached out to push, but he had no strength. His fingers softly brushed against Huo Duoer's face.

His eyes, still heavy with sleep, fluttered open, confusion clouding his expression.

"What... what are you doing...?"

Huo Duo'er grasped his wrist gently, "I'm just sniffing."

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