Chapter 47

While Nan Ge Er was still moody, a rustling sound rang out from the forest nearby.

A large, pitch black head emerged from the woods at the opposite side of Nan Ge Er.

From the direction of Nan Ge Er’s line of sight, it was plainly visible.

It clearly was a colossal black bear, which should be hibernating at the period of time!

Nan Ge Er’s eyes were as wide as balls.

Was it awakened by us? Or was it hungry? Or maybe cold?

How is it possible?! How is it possible?!

Nan Ge Er attempted to calm his nerves and stabilize his chaotic thoughts.

That black bear was immense, seemingly around 300 Jin¹. Although it didn’t howl and was only approaching them, from a mere glimpse at its hill-sized body, Nan Ge Er could feel the ferocity emitted by the wild beast.

“Hm?” when Mo Shu noticed Nan Ge Er’s eyes were staring straight behind him, he turned around as well, “What’s wrong?”

“Mo Shu…” Nan Ge Er gulped down, asking him with a dry mouth, “Are you able to fight with a winter bear?”

“Hm?” Mo Shu had no idea what Nan Ge Er was talking about. He just greeted at that black bear, “Quite a good harvest, huh?”

“Eh?”

Nan Ge Er was stunned.

The bear moved a little. Strictly speaking, the entirety of the bear arched upwards.

Following a thud, that patch of blackness was smashed onto the ground.

Only then did Nan Ge Er see the whole picture. It was a guy lugging the black bear over —as the size of the bear was too enormous, it completely blanketed the guy.

That was precisely why Nan Ge Er thought the black bear was going to attack…

However, his mind was evidently much more frenzied now—Oi!

Why is this so? You’re not even as heavy as this bear, right? How in the world did you manage to get this ferocious wild beast over here?!

Are you an ant?!

The thing that Nan Ge Er found unbearable was, there wasn’t even any bit of surprised cheer from the busy crowd. They simply rushed forward, with every one of them doing various chores like drawing blood away, skinning it with a knife, picking around while cutting the meat with a dagger, and even taking the bear gallbladder out…

Is it really alright to go through such a surrealistic event in such a collected way?!

Nan Ge Er didn’t even have the energy to comment.

The guy who hauled the black bear spoke a little with a few people in the busy crowd before they patted one another’s shoulders. Subsequently, he went away to change his clothes and walked in the direction of Mo Shu and Nan Ge Er after that.

At a glance, he couldn’t really be considered a muscular figure. He was slightly well-built at best but completely incapable of holding up the standard of a beefy guy.

Exactly how did he haul the bear here?!

Nan Ge Er gazed at the male, stupefied and perplexed.

That guy stopped in front of Mo Shu and greeted him, before smiling towards Nan Ge Er, “Nan Ge Er, I’m Xiao Xia’s older brother.”

“Oh…” Nan Ge Er raised his head and scrutinized the guy’s face carefully only after hearing that. The entrance of this macho male was just too sensational, which was why Nan Ge Er didn’t take note of his appearance at all.

— Indeed, he bore some resemblance to Xiao Xia, who was far away in Guang Tian.

“You are often mentioned in Xiao Xia’s letters.” Da Xia² laughed, “He even said that you don’t like the cold and wanted me to take care of you well. So, I hunted a bear specially to have its hide made into a coat for you.”

What in the world are you thinking?! You went to hunt a gigantic black bear alone, just for me to use its hide as a fur coat?!

You are a superhero, aren’t you?!

Nan Ge Er was absolutely speechless, as black lines fall on his head. Still, he twitched his lips and smiled, “Thank you.” He inspected his body up and down, “You aren’t hurt, are you?” Although that fellow appeared to be rather relaxed and seemingly had not a trace of blood on him, Nan Ge Er still asked him casually.

Da Xia rubbed his stomach, “Speaking of which, I think I’m a little hungry.” While uttering that out, he informed Mo Shu, “Xian sheng, I’m going off to eat.” Turning his body away, he returned to the crowd.

I just knew I shouldn’t have asked.

Nan Ge Er could only feel black lines packed fully on his forehead, clueless as to what he should say.

“After we get back home, Xiao Nan will have new clothes to wear when the fur is fixed up.” Mo Shu let out a light chuckle, and stroked Nan Ge Er’s head, “How obedient.”

Winter will already be long over when the fur is fixed up and made into a coat, ok?!

Besides, how does getting new clothes have anything to do with me being obedient?!

Anyhow, am I a three-year-old kid? What’s with your ‘how obedient’?!

You’re the one who’s obedient; your whole family are the ones who are obedient!

Mo Shu completely ignored Nan Ge Er’s indignant gaze as he ruffled his hair with a smile, before frowning at the bowl in his hand, “What should I do? Xiao Nan, you aren’t eating again.”

“I’m sick of it!” Nan Ge Er rejected it heatedly.

“This is good for your body.” Mo Shu coaxed, “You want to get well soon too, right?” He attempted to squeeze the spoon into Nan Ge Er’s mouth while persuading.

“I do wish to get well quicker, but I don’t want to eat this!” Nan Ge Er dodged away and shook his head vigorously. He buried his head into Mo Shu’s chest, simply refusing to eat.

He knew what to describe his current scenario—willfulness.

This fellow is usually the one wreaking havoc in my life, so what’s wrong with me making things difficult for him this once?!

I just want to be willful; deal with it!

Indeed, Mo Shu couldn’t do anything about Nan Ge Er current willfulness. He finished the practically untouched porridge in a few gulps, before reaching out to stroke Nan Ge Er’s head, “Understood.”

Nan Ge Er knew Mo Shu had given up on feeding him porridge when he heard Mo Shu gulping. He lifted his head and looked towards Mo Shu.

“Be good and don’t move away from here.” Mo Shu wrapped Nan Ge Er tightly with a cloak, carried him up, placed him near the bonfire, and stuffed the heater inside the fur coat, “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Where to?” Nan Ge Er asked as he stared blankly at Mo Shu walking away.

“Preparing lunch for you.” Mo Shu smiled. He pulled a passerby over casually and pointed at Nan Ge Er, indicating the person to watch over him. Then, he smiled towards Nan Ge Er again, “You can’t keep having an empty stomach.”

Preparing lunch?

Nan Ge Er was a little confused—after all, he did know his body well; it was absolutely impossible for him to eat much of that barbequed food.

In a flash, Mo Shu came back with a few fish in his hand.

Nan Ge Er was able to notice those few water droplets on the hands Mo Shu let outside, and the slight pallidness of his skin.

The weather is so cold.

He could still feel the chill even when bundled up in such a thick fur coat. Everyone was wearing thick winter clothes as well.

Mo Shu was only fit; he still could feel the icy cold too.

In such freezing weather, fish were normally in the deeper waters. Catching fish in the shallow waters was just impractical.

Even Mo Shu had no choice but to endure the bitter weather when diving down to catch fish, which was why his skin froze and revealed such a color.

Mo Shu walked towards the bonfire with icy cold air around him. Perhaps he was scared that Nan Ge Er might get chilly from him, so he distanced himself quite a bit.

He took the bowl of water passed over by others agilely and poured it into the pot. Following next, he cut every part of the fishes and threw them into the pot. He got a few pieces of ginger and garlic from others and covered the pot.

Nan Ge Er, draped in a fur coat, gazed at the skilled and natural movements of Mo Shu.

After busying around, Mo Shu raised his head, looked at Nan Ge Er, and smiled, “There will be fish soup in just a moment. Be patient.”

Nan Ge Er nodded.

He pondered for a while before talking to Mo Shu again, “It’s cold. Sit over here and block the wind for me.”

Mo Shu didn’t seem to understand how Nan Ge Er was able to feel the breeze when he was sitting downwind.

Nonetheless, since the bonfire dispersed quite a bit of the chilly air he had around him after he bustled about for a while, he went over and sat next to Nan Ge Er. He tilted his head and asked, “Is this better? Still feeling cold?”

Nan Ge Er chuckled without replying to him.

“What’s the matter?” Feeling that there was something seemingly wrong with Nan Ge Er’s expression, he asked him a little nervously.

Instead, his hand was held by a pair of slightly cold hands.

“Still feeling cold?” The demanding little pumpkin rubbed his hand, attempting to provide some warmth to it.

Mo Shu was stunned momentarily, before curling his lips up, “Not anymore now.”

“The weather is so cold! Are you trying to kill yourself?!” He continued his grumbles.

“It isn’t that serious.” Mo Shu smiled as he looked at Nan Ge Er, who lowered his head, “It is only cold when I just entered the waters.”

“I can continue having porridge.” Nan Ge Er muttered.

Although he knew it wouldn’t actually endanger Mo Shu’s life, it was still too much of a torment.

“Sorry for making you go through this.” Mo Shu caressed his cheeks with his free hand, “It won’t be so cold when we travel southwards in a few days.”

“Un.” Nan Ge Er gave him a nonchalant reply and continued rubbing Mo Shu’s hand.

In truth, someone with cold body temperature, even if constantly well taken care of, should still cause much more concern than the other.

After a slightly helpless smile, Mo Shu lifted Nan Ge Er’s chin a little, removing his line of sight from his hand, “It is alright, it will be fine soon.”

Nan Ge Er struggled a bit but wasn’t able to free himself. He turned his head up, looking at Mo Shu a little defeatedly, “You can’t be complacent about it.” It might become frostbite!

“I’ve overcome all kinds of difficulties in the past; this is nothing.” Mo Shu laughed at Nan Ge Er’s pointless worries.

“Last time, I didn’t know about it. But now, I can’t just look on without a care.” Nan Ge Er murmured.

When Mo Shu heard Nan Ge Er muttering that, his pupils dimmed a little. He started chuckling, his laughs getting increasingly tender.

“So cute.” He whispered, “I really want to hug such a cute Xiao Nan tightly.” He withdrew his hand that was held by Nan Ge Er. With both of hands caressing Nan Ge Er’s face, he closed the gap between them, landing a soft kiss on Nan Ge Er’s lips, “But now, I just want to kiss you.”

T/N

¹1 jin (Chinese) = 0.5 kg

² Da Xia= since ‘Xiao’=small and ‘Da’=big, so Nan Ge Er referred ‘Xiao’ Xia’s brother as ‘Da’ Xia