novelraw Chapter 302 Choosing One to Grow Old Together
Chapter 302 Choosing One to Grow Old Together
Chapter 302 Choosing One to Grow Old Together
During the cold season in the northern wilderness, the weather is unpredictable.
The sun was out in the morning, but the blizzard struck again at noon.
Due to various reasons, Ujah ultimately had to abandon his planned attack.
Beast City finally got through a peaceful winter.
The only unexpected thing during the cold season was that Yu Shaochen entered adulthood.
Ling Chengen was sleeping soundly late at night when Su Weihua shoved a small panda that looked like an oven onto her bed. Startled, Ling Chengen sat up and stared blankly at Su Weihua standing by the bed.
She looked at Su Weihua's silent face, then glanced down at Yu Shaochen, who was curled up beside her, and realized, "Is he sick again?"
“No, he’s in his breeding season.” Su Weihua sighed helplessly. “When males are in their breeding season, they are very resistant to other males getting close. Let him stay with you for now.”
Ling Chengen glanced at Yu Shaochen, then looked at him again: "So, Yu Shaochen is a little older than you?"
For some reason, she always subconsciously felt that Su Weihua was bigger. Maybe it was because he had fewer expressions and spoke less, so he seemed a bit old-fashioned.
Su Weihua was speechless for a moment as Ling Chengen inexplicably shifted his focus, but she still answered truthfully, "He is more than three months older than me."
After saying that, he ignored Ling Chengen's expression and turned back to his small bed to rest.
Several curtains were hung inside the room, and they were always drawn when sleeping.
Ling Chengen glanced at Su Weihua and casually pulled the curtain closed. He then looked at Yu Shaochen, who looked like a plush toy, and sighed silently. He picked up the little panda on the quilt, stuffed it into the bed, cut his finger, and put it directly into Yu Shaochen's mouth.
Looking at his fingertips, which had been pricked by Yu Shaochen's sharp teeth, Ling Chengen leaned against the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, his thoughts wandering.
This seems rather unhygienic. If she weren't an orc, I'd really worry that I'd get rabies sooner or later...
With the presence of a female aura, the restless Yu Shaochen finally calmed down.
After confirming that his condition had stabilized, Ling Chengen grabbed another blanket, snuggled up on the inside of the bed, and fell asleep again.
Winter is truly a perfect season for sleeping.
However, while she was half asleep, she suddenly remembered something.
Yu Shaochen and Chongzhen Su Weihua are close in age. Yu Shaochen has already entered his reproductive period, which means that the other two will soon enter their reproductive period as well.
Bai Qingyu has reached adulthood and has already gone through one breeding season, which was around April.
Yuheng's situation is slightly special. His breeding season is not very stable. It was previously said that symptoms would appear about once every six months, but so far, it has only appeared once in the summer. If his assessment of his own condition is not a problem, then he will soon enter his breeding season.
She suddenly felt a lot of pressure, and it seemed like she needed to replenish her blood.
Moreover, apart from Su Weihua, the others were not as easy to deal with as Yu Shaochen, and they were bound to engage in some physical or inappropriate behavior.
Issues that hadn't been considered before now have to be faced squarely and addressed.
Among those she was relatively close to, only Bai Qingyu was close, and Yu Heng could barely be considered half a close friend.
But her relationships with the others were probably like those of friends or partners; she didn't have much affection for them or any particular feelings for them.
Ling Chengen was preoccupied with her thoughts. The next morning, after the snow stopped, she went out for a stroll by herself.
Being under the same roof, looking at those same faces, makes it impossible to think clearly.
Finally, she ran to the Xuemu River and looked at the water beast people along the riverbank. Many of them had built igloos on the river or simply driven wedges into the river to make felt tents.
After dealing with the Water Beast Clan a few times and becoming familiar with them, Ling Chengen observed them closely for a while and discovered that they were drilling holes in the ice, intending to cast nets to catch fish.
The ice cave wasn't very big, but it wasn't small either, about one meter in diameter. The ice layer was already more than one meter thick, so the most difficult part was breaking through the ice.
Ling Chengen watched as several strong and robust water beast warriors took turns using tools, and it took them at least half an hour to finally dig out a decent hole.
As they reinforced the cave entrance, a dozen or so male orcs, dressed like brown bears, tossed a brown net woven from tough vines into the ice cave.
Ling Chengen watched for a while, and just as she was about to get closer, several water beast cubs carrying small buckets slipped on the ice and bumped into her leg. The force of three or four cubs rushing around was not small, and Ling Chengen was caught off guard and was directly scooped a meter away.
With her agile and nimble movements, she managed to steady herself. Looking back at the cubs whose cheeks were red from the cold and whose hats covered their eyes, she reached out and lifted up all the little brats with their faces frozen. Then she handed the bamboo bucket at her feet to the nearest child.
"Be careful..." Ling Chengen looked at the little kid with snot running down his nose from the cold and said with a hint of disgust, "Hurry up and wipe your snot off, or it'll freeze into an ice cube in a minute."
The little boy straightened his hat, his ears covered with fluffy hoods, looked up at her for a moment, and then exclaimed, "You're from Beast City!"
He and his friends stared at Ling Chengen for a while, as if he were watching a monkey. He wiped his nose with his dirty sleeve, which made Ling Chengen's head twitch. He wished he could hit him on the head.
The little brats only have a three-second attention span. They quickly apologized politely, then called to the other children, carrying small buckets in one hand and simple fishing rods in the other, and huffed and puffed as they ran towards a few teenagers who didn't seem to be adults yet.
The water beast child who was lagging behind looked at Ling Chengen and waved to her: "Do you want to go fishing with us?"
Ling Chengen knew about ice fishing, but she had never tried it.
Since she had nothing else to do, she went with a few children.
Children can't open ice caves. It was a group of fifteen or sixteen-year-old teenagers who used their special abilities to open small ice caves, each only a dozen centimeters in diameter, to prevent the cubs from slipping into them.
Ling Chengen squatted to the side, watching them chisel their way through the chisels. After a moment's thought, he directed a boy with a metal-type ability to make a tool shaped like an ice diamond. Although it wasn't an electric ice diamond, it could still be made by hand.
This tool isn't exactly great, but it's definitely faster than before.
The group dug several holes in the ice and then began baiting their fishing hooks.
Ling Chengen observed that they were all leftover food, mostly small pieces of meat, and some white worms...
Perhaps because they had become familiar with Ling Chengen, and because she had even created an ice drill that saved a lot of energy, the children were all very willing to listen to her and did exactly what she was told. Ling Chengen was also having a rare good time and started using his limited theoretical knowledge to lead the little ones in ice fishing.
Ice fishing was easier than she had thought. This might be because there were more fish in the Xuemu River, and because the ferocious giant aquatic beasts had to seek a more suitable living space in the southeastern sea after the river froze over. As a result, there were many small and medium-sized freshwater fish in the river.
With those simple hooks and a little bait, you can catch a fish every few minutes.
These kids didn't even care about fish that weighed two or three pounds. They would pick them up, see that they weren't big enough, and just throw them into a larger bucket. After they finished fishing, they would pour all the small fish from the bucket back into the ice cave.
Ling Chengen played on the river for nearly four hours. He didn't want to go back at noon, so he simply took several cubs and started a fire on the ice.
She dragged out planks and a tent from the space and had several children help set up the tent, which just covered the ice hole inside.
Without the biting wind, the chill was largely dispelled.
After laying out the mat, Ling Chengen brought out two stoves, one larger and one slightly smaller. He also took out a dagger and asked a few teenagers to kill one of the fish in the bucket, cleaning out its internal organs, the black membrane in its belly, as well as its gills and scales.
The boys' fingers were red from the cold. After they returned with the clean fish, Ling Chengen washed the white radishes in his space, chopped them into pieces, cut the fish into large chunks, fried the fish in a pan for a while, and then added water to stew it on the spot.
The cubs stopped ice fishing and instead circled the stove with longing eyes. After the fish soup was ready, everyone drank several bowls.
After drinking the hot soup, Ling Chengen finally felt better.
Sitting on his little stool, warming himself by the fire, he slowly brewed milk tea for himself.
She made the tea herself, and the taste was just so-so. She didn't know much about tea, so she just drank it anyway.
Just as she lowered her eyes to calm herself down and was thinking about whether to talk to each of her family members one by one, someone lifted the tent flap, bent down and walked in.
Ling Chengen stared blankly at Shi Ruoan, who was dressed more lightly than the others, for a moment before reacting and asking first, "How did you find this place?"
"I can smell the aroma of fish soup."
Shi Ruoan looked at the tent, which wasn't very big. The children had already eaten and drunk their fill, and carrying the empty pot, they ran out to wash it, leaving the two of them alone.
Ling Chengen took out another small stool from his spatial storage, placed it next to the stove, and said with a smile, "Your nose is quite sensitive. Did you come out alone?"
"Yes, Bai Qingyu also wanted to come out and find you, but something came up and he couldn't get away."
Ling Chengen sighed softly and asked, "Have you had lunch?"
Shi Ruoan shook her head.
Ling Chengen spread his hands and said regretfully, "It's a pity you're too late; the fish soup is all gone."
Shi Ruoan said calmly, "I'm not hungry. It's the same if I eat when I get back."
Why did you suddenly run out all by yourself?
Shi Ruoan felt that her behavior was somewhat abnormal. Although he had only known Ling Chengen for half a year, he already had a certain understanding of her personality and habits. She was not a willful person and would not suddenly leave without saying goodbye.
Ling Chengen pulled out an iron net from his spatial storage and stretched out his left hand toward him: "Take out some of the seafood you've stockpiled there, I'll grill some for you to fill your stomach."
Shi Ruoan watched as she put away the other stove, replaced it with a charcoal brazier, took out a few of her favorite sea fish from her spatial storage, thawed the frozen seafood, and casually placed it in a basin next to her.
Without Ling Chengen's instruction, he skillfully cleaned the seafood and, imitating Ling Chengen, cut the small fish open from the belly and laid them out on the grill...
Ling Chengen didn't really want to answer his question, but Shi Ruoan's aura was very calm and peaceful, perhaps a unique quality of a charlatan...
Anyway, Shi Ruoan kept her company while she idly went about her business for a while before she finally spoke up: "I'm considering whether or not to end my relationship with Chongzhen and the others."
Ling Chengen dropped a bombshell right off the bat. Shi Ruoan looked up at her for a moment and found that she looked very calm. It shouldn't be something she said in anger after arguing with her beastly husband.
He lowered his eyes and slowly stirred the bubbling milk with a wooden spoon. After a long while, he said, "Why would you have such a thought?"
Most females on the animal plains have several male partners.
In fact, even females in the sea are like this, except for male orcs who are kings of the sea, who occasionally have multiple female partners.
The situation of fewer females and more males is actually quite similar, whether on land or at sea.
Ling Chengen rested his chin on his hand, gazing at Shi Ruoan's serene and aloof eyes, and sighed softly, "I don't want so many beastly husbands. Maintaining a relationship requires a lot of time and energy, and I'm not a particularly emotional person. Besides, I'm tired of wasting time on this kind of thing, having to maintain a balance in everyone's relationships..."
Shi Ruoan listened attentively without responding.
“Being in your position, you have to consider more than just emotional issues.” Shi Ruoan was very objective, flipping the fish on the grill over and speaking slowly and deliberately, “Besides, you need the strength of several of them. If you end your relationship directly, it might disrupt the situation you’ve built up so far.”
He didn't think Ling Chengen was an emotionally detached person.
On the contrary... he felt that she took relationships very seriously.
Therefore, she is stubborn and cautious when it comes to partners.
Females like her are rare. Most females, as they grow older, will come into contact with different male beastmen. In addition, after reaching adulthood, female beastmen are driven by their reproductive instincts and inevitably develop bonds and entanglements with male beastmen, so they will show the phenomenon of falling in love with one after another.
This situation is not actually the fault of the female.
Rather, it is determined by the reality, mainly the huge imbalance between the ratio of females and males.
In addition, orcs, although they have human form, still retain the reproductive instincts of beasts.
How many animals in the wilderness can maintain a one-on-one lifelong mate system?
Most of them stay in spring and leave in autumn, and some even leave immediately after the female becomes pregnant, leaving the female to hunt and raise the cubs alone...
Therefore, most females who choose to remain faithful to one man are doing so against their own instincts.
Shi Ruoan slowly explained the root cause to her, then looked up and stared into her eyes: "You're not an adult yet, why are you in such a hurry to sever ties with them? And how can you be sure you won't regret the decision you made today in the distant future?"
"Choosing to live with multiple partners may present some challenges, but with your abilities, you are capable of handling and balancing them."
"But if you only choose one lover, the consequences can be dire when that love fades..."
"Like Panxing's mother, she loved King Xeiya very much at first, but when their relationship broke down, she was in great pain, tormented herself to the point of being unrecognizable, and finally chose to abandon Panxing..."
Shi Ruoan lowered her eyes and said, "The love between partners doesn't actually last forever."
“When I was at the Sea God Temple, I saw many lovesick men and women every day, and many people were repenting and atoning for their sins in front of the statue of the sea god…”
He had seen far too many similar things.
He knew very well that it was human nature to be fickle and easily bored.
Ling Chengen sensed something was off. She subtly glanced at Shi Ruoan and asked, "So you don't believe in love?"
Shi Ruoan looked up and smiled faintly.
“I believe,” he suddenly said.
Ling Chengen: "Then what about you?"
“I just don’t believe it will last forever,” Shi Ruoan said softly.
Ling Chengen neither agreed nor disagreed with his point of view. She had never deeply loved anyone, nor had she spent her life with anyone. She was actually quite similar to the beastmen of this world; it was all her first time...
Ling Chengen used tongs to pick up the grilled fish and put it on a plate: "It's almost burnt. Are you daydreaming?"
Shi Ruoan suddenly came to her senses and looked up at her.
He was wondering whether he should speak up.
At this point, it seemed like nothing he said would be right, but he didn't want to dwell on it any longer.