LSLFBW: Chapter

The morning sun pierced through the clouds. Today was a rare sunny day after the earthquake.

The last section of wall was filled with mortar and the Black Mountain Tribe’s buildings were finally completed.

Some of the yellow mud on the kangs and walls of some houses hadn’t completely dried and they weren’t habitable yet. Still, this didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm.

In the midst of the cheers of the tribe members, Yang Luo raised his bear bone staff and loudly announced, “Black Mountain Tribe, the mating season has finally arrived!”

“Oh!”

”Mating season!”

”Oh!”

Some eager beastmen heard Yang Luo’s voice and hurriedly looked around the crowd, afraid that their beloved beastman would choose someone else if they were too late.

In the Beastmen World, there was no concept of marriage. How long a partnership lasted depended entirely on mutual satisfaction.

If they liked each other then they would be together. If they felt they weren’t suitable, just break up decisively.

The main reason for most of these separations was that after a winter, they hadn’t received the Beast God’s blessing of offspring.

In fact, Qi Bai felt that the beastmen’s simple emotions were purer and more beautiful than the emotions on Earth, bound by various material and moral constraints.

The beastmen’s way of expressing their feelings was very simple. They exchanged tokens with each other.

The horned beastmen mostly gave selected feathers and animal bones.

These tokens weren’t chosen randomly.

In particular, feathers were usually only obtained by the strongest and most skilled horned beastmen. Therefore, for the horned beastmen, this wasn’t just an expression of affection. More importantly, it was a way to prove their powerful hunting abilities to sub-beastmen.

Of course, the sub-beastmen didn’t just wait passively.

On the annual mating day, the sub-beastmen would gather beautiful flowers in advance. They could give it away to any horned beastman they liked.

These flowers could be used to adorn themselves and also to show their excellent gathering skills.

In a tribe like the Black Mountain Tribe, where many beastmen didn’t fully understand each other, the tokens they exchanged were especially important.

Generally speaking, once the two sides exchanged tokens, it was considered a promise to each other and they could form a temporary partnership that winter.

It sounded simple but on the actual mating day, things didn’t always go according to plan.

The three-day mating season was a grand celebration for the tribe. Apart from the members of the hunting teams who were out patrolling the territory, most tribe members put down their work to enjoy this important day.

This year’s mating day was different from previous years for the Black Mountain Tribe.

Qi Bai had suggested to Yang Luo that ample food be set up in the center of the square for the tribe members to enjoy.

Therefore, the area under the two giant trees in the center resembled a small market. Perhaps it could be more accurately described as a mini temple fair based on the mating day theme.

On the simple tables made from tree trunks, there were ready-to-eat jerky and dried fruit, as well as many freshly grilled snacks.

Qi Bai was currently in charge of his braised food stall.

The young sub-beastmen were all dressed in vibrant colors today, making Qi Bai appear somewhat plain in his brown animal skin outfit.

However, Lang Ze still spotted him immediately in the crowd. He felt inexplicably at ease due to Qi Bai’s attire.

Lang Ze walked through the crowd and went straight to Qi Bai, who was busy working.

Qi Bai didn’t care about his clothes at all.

After several days of experimentation, Qi Bai had finally created a braised dish that satisfied him. Then he built a stone stove at the end of the wooden table. The fragrant braised food simmered in an earthenware pot.

The tribe members had been craving Qi Bai’s braised dish for many days. They finally got to taste it, so they all lined up.

Of course, there were a few clever horned beastmen who planned to quickly deliver the braised dish to their favorite sub-beastman since they felt this dish was just as good as feathers.

Lang Ze rolled up his sleeves, washed his hands with water from the bamboo tube and stood naturally beside Qi Bai. “What can I do?”

Qi Bai was incredibly busy when Lang Ze approached. He pointed to the bamboo behind him and said, “Hurry up and make some more bamboo skewers. I’m afraid the ones I prepared won’t be enough.”

“Okay.” Lang Ze picked up a bamboo skewer, examined it, noted its thickness and obediently started chopping bamboo.

It was a bit tiring but Qi Bai was still happy to see everyone enjoying his food.

To his surprise, there were people who weren’t there for the food.

Qi Bai looked at the long tail feather in front of him, then at the shy-looking horned beastman opposite him. He subconsciously turned his head to look at Lang Ze.

In that casual glance, he noticed Lang Ze holding a bone knife, staring expressionless at the horned beastman opposite him.

Qi Bai and Lang Ze recognized this horned beastman. It was Niu Xin, the round-faced boy who entered the Amo Tribe with them.

However, Niu Xin had drunk the water infused with black grass offered to him as soon as they entered the Amo Tribe and fell into a deep sleep.

Niu Xin remained unconscious until everyone left the Amo Tribe, so Qi Bai didn’t have much interaction with him.

Who would’ve thought Niu Xin had taken a liking to him?

Niu Xin’s face was red. There was a long silence before he finally blurted out, “This feather would look beautiful on you.”

“Wow!”

“Accept it quickly! Accept it quickly!”

On mating day, beastmen could freely express their affections. Unless they already had a mate, refusing a gift on mating day was considered a sign of dislike.

Qi Bai heard the loud cheers of the tribe members behind him and naturally didn’t want to embarrass Niu Xin.

He quickly wiped his hands clean and accepted the feather from Niu Xin in a somewhat bewildered manner.

This was the first time Qi Bai had received a gift from a horned beastman on the mating day. He was unsure of what to say, so he could only manage a dry thanks.

The two of them stared at each other silently for a moment. Niu Xin felt the almost tangible gaze of the young man beside him and stammered, “I… can I have your token?”

Before Qi Bai could speak, Lang Ze coldly interjected, “He doesn’t have one.”

Niu Xin left, looking disappointed. Before Qi Bai could catch his breath, a boy from the Horse Tribe came hopping over shyly.

Yes, hopping.

This boy had injured his right leg in the battle with the bulls. It had been splinted and he was recovering well, but not to the point of being able to walk freely. He still needed crutches.

Lang Ze looked intimidating but the horned beastmen’s belief in pursuing love wasn’t easily defeated.

The boy from the Horse Tribe placed a beast tooth in Qi Bai’s hand with a death-defying resolve.

It was clear that the beast tooth had been meticulously crafted by the young man. It had no grooves at all and there was even a hole drilled at the tip, making it perfect as a pendant. It was very exquisite and beautiful.

Thanks to Lang Ze’s reminder, Qi Bai knew how to answer this time. He smiled sheepishly at the boy from the Horse Tribe. “I really didn’t prepare any tokens.”

“It is okay if you don’t have any tokens. I can come and get it from your cave tonight.”

With a somewhat alluring voice, a strikingly beautiful female horned beastman stepped out from the crowd.

Qi Bai’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.

It wasn’t that he liked her. He was just marveling at how he could attract such a beautiful older woman.

Just as Qi Bai was lost in thought, a bone knife slammed into the wooden table.

Lang Ze walked over, took two skewers of braised beef hearts from the pot and placed them in the woman’s hand. He said with a dangerous glint in his eyes, “Next.”

Qi Bai was pushed aside by Lang Ze and subtly shrank his shoulders. He saw the older woman wink at him with a smile before leaving.

Qi Bai felt guilty for some reason but he couldn’t avoid it. In just one afternoon, he had received more than a dozen tokens.

By mid-afternoon when everyone had some free time, Hu Xue and Diao Lan came over from where they were grilling meat nearby and laughed at him. “There are quite a lot of things.”

Hu Xue even counted them one by one with feigned seriousness before whispering teasingly to Qi Bai, “It doesn’t look like Lang Ze gave you any? Did he secretly give it to you?”

Qi Bai felt his cheeks turn red for the first time when faced with Hu Xue’s teasing.

He realized that no matter whether it was Yang Luo, Hou Yan, Hu Xue or Diao Lan, most tribe members believed that he and Lang Ze would definitely be together.

Still, it didn’t matter what others thought. Lang Ze hadn’t given him anything today.

Just as Qi Bai was wondering how to respond, he heard a sudden cheer from the crowd.

Hu Xue and Diao Lan’s attention was immediately drawn to the sound. Hu Xue tiptoed towards the direction of the sound. “What happened?”

A sub-beastman emerged from the crowd, excitedly waving to everyone. “There are horned beastmen wrestling over there!”

Hu Xue forgot about her earlier question and grabbed a handful of food from the wooden table. “Quick, let’s go and take a look.”

In just a moment, the area from which the sound came was already crowded with people.

By the time Qi Bai and Lang Ze arrived, there was no room left to see inside.

Soon, the crowd receded like a tide.

It turned out that Tun Quan was organizing the crowd to move outward. Behind him, Xi Zhou was drawing a large circle on the ground with a twig.

Well, it seemed that these guys were planning on having a serious competition now.

The thing that amused and exasperated Qi Bai was that standing in the very center of the wrestling circle was Ma Ling, whose leg injury hadn’t fully healed.

Seeing Ma Ling, everyone knew where to look next.

Sure enough, right outside the circle drawn by Xi Zhou, She Li was standing there holding all types of feathers and animal bones. She was clearly a star of today’s matchmaking market.

Qi Bai wasn’t very surprised by this result.

After all, even he had received many gifts despite not being considered conventionally beautiful with his thin arms and legs, and white hair.

A dashing and capable long-legged beauty like She Li would be highly sought after.

She Li was currently raising a child with Ma Ling but that didn’t matter. Judging by Xiao Li’s thick claws and sturdy bones, he would definitely grow into a strong beastman.

All the horned beastmen pursuing She Li were certain they could produce babies just as strong, no, even stronger.