Chapter 199: Oh God, You Smell This
Nan Xun was furious at this self-righteous man.
“Pah! Even if every man in the tribe dropped dead, even if I ended up alone for the rest of my life, I still wouldn’t be with you! You narcissistic man—your proposal insults me and betrays Chuxue! You’re unworthy of being the tribe’s number one warrior. How could I ever have liked a man like you!”
If the native language had idioms, Nan Xun would have cursed him so hard he’d want to crawl into a crack in the ground.
Damn it—she’d seen narcissists before, but never one this bad!
After tearing A-Yu apart, she saw him standing there completely stunned, his face dark and ugly. The sight delighted her. Then she turned to the chieftain and A-Shi and said solemnly, “Thank you, A-Da and A-Brother, but I truly don’t need this. I don’t want to have cubs yet.”
In prehistoric times, a man and woman coming together meant the woman taking on the responsibility of bearing children.
After saying that, Nan Xun left—dragging along Chuxue, who looked like a bullied little lamb.
Inside the stone cave, the chieftain and A-Shi exchanged looks. A-Xi actually refused A-Yu? She clearly liked A-Yu the most.
Nan Xun pulled Chuxue into her own cave, planted her hands on her hips, and started scolding. “Chuxue, how could you agree to something this absurd? Didn’t you say that where you’re from it’s one man, one woman—and if a man marries another or messes around, he’s despised? How could you agree to him marrying me?”
Nan Xun spoke in the language Chuxue had “taught” her, since the native tongue was too limited.
Only then did Chuxue lift her head. Her swollen, red eyes made Nan Xun ache for her.
Women from her world couldn’t tolerate men being fickle. What kind of heart had Chuxue had when she agreed to this?
“A-Xi, A-Yu is a very responsible man. When he first rejected you, he felt deeply guilty. Later, many people in the tribe secretly mocked you. He felt he’d wronged you—and then there was the time you saved me. He felt he owed you a great debt, so he made that decision. Of course I didn’t agree in my heart, but what right did I have to interfere? I’m just a captive,” Chuxue said with a bitter smile.
She could see that the prehistoric man truly liked her. Toward A-Xi, he only felt sibling affection. But guilt made him take responsibility for another woman.
In the past, Chuxue would rather shatter like jade than live like broken tiles. She had her pride and would never have agreed to her man marrying another woman. But now, that woman was A-Xi—the first woman in the tribe to grow close to her. Sincerity or pretense, Chuxue could tell. And what she couldn’t refuse most was that A-Xi had just saved her life.
If A-Xi really liked A-Yu, and A-Yu was willing to marry her, Chuxue truly didn’t have the courage to say no.
Hearing this, Nan Xun said, exasperated, “I’ll ask you just one thing—do you like A-Yu? If you do, then keep a tight hold on him. Tell him everything you think. Tell him when you’re unhappy. Why should you be the one to compromise? Who does he think he is?”
Nan Xun’s fluent Mandarin made Chuxue laugh through her tears. “A-Xi, your way of thinking is so progressive. Even in our world, you’d be respected and admired.”
Nan Xun patted her head. “Chuxue, I already have the warrior I love. We’ve already… well… what do you call it—right, what you said: privately pledged ourselves.”
Chuxue was shocked. “Th-this is real? But…”
Since arriving in the tribe, she’d been inseparable from A-Xi, and she really hadn’t noticed A-Xi showing interest in any man.
Nan Xun winked at her and smiled slyly. “It’s real. He’s really handsome, with a great body—no worse than A-Yu. I used to fancy A-Yu just because he looked good. Now I’ve found someone even better, so of course I don’t like him anymore.”
Suddenly thinking of something, Nan Xun asked, “Did you hear some gossip? Let me guess—about A-Yu carrying me back?”
Chuxue lowered her head and stayed silent.
Nan Xun laughed twice and leaned close to whisper a few words into her ear.
Chuxue’s little face instantly turned as red as a monkey’s butt. She stammered, “Y-you two… really already…?”
Nan Xun actually got shy for once. “A-Mang is amazing in that regard—so good it leaves me wanting more.”
Chuxue was completely stunned by A-Xi’s boldness. Blushing, she ran off.
After Chuxue left, Nan Xun hummed a little tune and returned to her cave, then pulled out the animal-hide apron she’d hidden beneath the dry grass.
She lifted the hide apron she’d stolen to her nose and sniffed it, then tossed it aside in disgust. “Stinky rogue. As expected, aprons all stink.”
Little Eight’s voice trembled. “Honey, you’re really not normal. You actually sniffed something a man uses to cover his lower half? Aaaah—you’re so perverted.”
Nan Xun: “…”
Little Eight continued wailing. “And what you said to Chuxue just now was way too hardcore! You really haven’t adjusted to your gender yet, have you? You’re not a man, not a macho guy—you’re a woman!”
Nan Xun lazily yawned, spread the savage’s animal-hide apron beneath her, and lay down on it. Unhurried, she said, “I was using hardcore language to tell Chuxue that I’m no longer interested in her man.”
Little Eight went, “Oh.”
Nan Xun asked curiously, “If I hadn’t come to this world, would Chuxue and her destined man still have had such a bumpy relationship?”
Little Eight immediately got into storytelling mode. “Oh, absolutely. In the end, the chosen one led the tribe to prosperity and lived happily ever after with the new chieftain—but the process was extremely tortuous.
“First, Chuxue and A-Yu had conflicting views and ideals, which took time to reconcile. Second, A-Xi kept stirring trouble, causing endless misunderstandings. In the original world, A-Yu even married A-Xi—tsk—and did that right in front of Chuxue. After all, one family only had one stone cave.”
Nan Xun cut him off—she couldn’t take it anymore.
Little Eight wasn’t done. “If you don’t want that, I’ll tell you something else. Do you know how A-Xi ended up? Hehe—later, Chuxue became a real master of household intrigue. She schemed A-Xi away. A-Xi went out alone, unfortunately ran into cannibals, then kept doing stupid things that enraged them, and in the end was torn apart and eaten.”
“Wait—what the hell?!” Nan Xun interrupted in horror. “Cannibals? Eaten? Little Eight, don’t tell me there’s a tribe here that eats people!”
Little Eight chuckled. “There sure is—and it’s not that far. Cross a mountain and a river, and an ordinary person could get there in seven or eight days.”
Nan Xun: “…”
Little Eight was about to go on about the cannibals’ gruesome deeds, but Nan Xun had already plugged her ears.
Little Eight clicked his tongue. “You’ve seen demon kings eat people—why are you scared of this?”
“That’s totally different, okay? That was a fantasy world—of course demon kings eat people. Xue Ming was a demon beast to begin with! But what you’re talking about now is cannibals—damn it, those are humans eating humans! Ahhh, I can’t think about it. I won’t be able to sleep!”
Resting her head on A-Mang’s animal-hide apron, Nan Xun soon fell asleep. In truth, the hide didn’t smell bad at all—it carried a faint scent of grass and woods, probably because A-Mang often hunted in the forest.
In her sleep, Nan Xun’s lips curved slightly, her expression peaceful and sweet, as if she were having a beautiful dream.
