Chapter 60: Chapter 60: The Miserable Pukang

Xileilei—

Elder Pukang’s familiar laugh echoed over the entire Bai Lake.

Changxia and the others quickened their pace toward the den. Judging by his laughter, Elder Pukang seemed to be in a bad mood—was he hungry?

At the thought of hunger, everyone’s faces changed.

A hungry Elder Pukang was extremely dangerous—definitely not something they wanted to deal with.

“Let’s go, hurry up.”

“Nuan Chun, help me steam the rice noodles in a bit.”

“Nanfeng and Fen Huhu, you two make the fruit rice cakes.”

As for Chen Rong—

Once he gets back with the fish, we’ll go straight to roasting the meat.

Before that, Changxia needs to marinate the meat so she can take care of the other preparations.

They didn’t catch any geese this time—the time was just too short to search the reeds. Last time, Yadong and the others caught a goose upstream of White Lake.

Today, they hadn’t gone there yet.

“Big Sister Changxia, what should we do?” Mountain Sparrow asked, rubbing her hands together, eager to help.

This time, Lu You and Wuliu stayed quiet.

They, too, knew how terrifying Elder Pukang could be.

Usually, Elder Pukang was either eating, on his way to get food, or else napping in some corner of the tribe, sleeping to reduce his energy consumption—and, supposedly, to cultivate his bloodline power.

Of course, no one dared to check if that last part was true.

That’s also why, despite Elder Pukang’s overwhelming strength, he was assigned to watch over Mountain Sparrow and the others. On one hand, they were worried he might accidentally hurt the tribe’s young beasts; on the other, he really wasn’t suited for much else.

Who would have thought that even just watching Mountain Sparrow could lead to trouble?

Most likely, once everyone returned to the tribe, Gen would have a word with him.

But… “have a word”—Gen would probably bring a few other elders along. After all, there weren’t many in the tribe who could withstand Elder Pukang’s “loving iron fist.”

Even Gen himself wouldn’t risk going alone—he’d probably get beaten up pretty badly.

“Elder Pukang, are you hungry? There’s bone broth simmering in the stone pot—would you like a bowl?” Changxia set down her basket, which was half-full of wild vegetables. She’d meant to wash them by White Lake, but after hearing Elder Pukang’s unsettling laughter, she decided to hurry back to the beast den instead.

Not far from the long table, a black-horned bull had been laid out.

The black-horned bull—one of the three overlords of the Twilight Forest.

Ferocious and aggressive, its destructive power was no less than that of a wild boar. The only consolation was that black-horned bulls wouldn’t attack people unless provoked, so as long as you left them alone, you were safe.

An adult black-horned bull weighed between 1,500 and 2,500 kilograms.

The one Elder Pukang had hunted looked like a small mountain. Its two black horns, from a distance, looked like a pair of sharp swords—enough to make anyone’s heart tremble.

“Yes, please.” Pukang grinned, nodding.

After moving around, he got hungry fast. He looked at Changxia with delight—little Changxia always understood him best. Even if he didn’t say a word, she’d know exactly what he needed.

“Mountain Sparrow, help Elder Pukang with a bowl of soup. And don’t forget to get some for yourselves, too,” Changxia said. She took some wooden bowls from the vine basket in the beast den, rinsed them with clean water, and called Mountain Sparrow and the others over to help.

“Okay!” Mountain Sparrow replied.

She and Lu You washed their faces and hands, then ran over to Changxia to get bowls of soup.

Lu You wrinkled her little nose and stood on tiptoe to peer into the stone pot. Changxia lifted the wooden lid, and a rich aroma wafted out.

Gurgle, gurgle.

This time, before Elder Pukang could say anything, the little ones couldn’t hold back.

“Hehe—” Pukang grinned widely. “Little Changxia, forget the soup—give me a couple of bones to gnaw on.”

“Sure, I’ll bring them right over.” Changxia smiled and quickly filled a wooden basin with three or five bones, handing them to Elder Pukang. He said he wanted bones to chew on—clearly, he wanted to leave the soup for Mountain Sparrow and the other kids. But there was still more than half a pot of bone broth left; the three little ones couldn’t finish it all.

Each of them got a bowl and sat at the long table to drink their soup as Changxia instructed.

Then, Changxia poured the remaining soup from the stone pot into a clean clay jar and placed it on the long table, so Elder Pukang could help himself.

“Changxia, how are we going to deal with the black-horned bull?” Nanfeng asked, dragging out a wooden basin to mix the rice flour, looking at the bull that resembled a small mountain and feeling a headache coming on.

Changxia waved her hand, calmly washing the stone pot and adding water to start a fire. She planned to use the pot to stew beef bones for broth later. “No rush. Wait for Chen Rong to come back with the fish—he can butcher the bull.”

“Changxia—”

Suddenly, Muqin’s voice called from the slope by White Lake.

Changxia was startled and looked up at Nanfeng and Nuanchun.

Nanfeng nodded toward Elder Pukang, signaling to Changxia that word had gotten out about his arrival. Her mother was probably worried Changxia couldn’t handle it alone, so she’d come over.

Sure enough.

Muqin arrived, along with three other females from Heyun.

“Elder Pukang, why didn’t you tell me before leaving the tribe? And how did Mountain Sparrow and the others sneak out?” Muqin greeted Changxia, then stormed over to Elder Pukang, firing off questions.

Elder Pukang grinned, raising his voice: “Muqin, it’s nothing, really.”

You could tell—his voice was loud, but his face was full of guilt, a sheen of sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Changxia and the others turned away, stifling their laughter.

Sure enough, there was someone in the tribe who could keep Elder Pukang in check.

Other than Elder Yami, Muqin was the best candidate.

“Nothing?” Muqin’s voice suddenly rose as she grabbed Elder Pukang by the ear, scolding, “Changxia just recovered, and you’re already dragging her around. Aren’t you afraid the shaman will come after you? And Mountain Sparrow and the others are still so young—what if something happened to them outside the tribe?”

“Hehe—” Pukang just laughed, letting Muqin scold him.

His thick-skinned look was just like a slab of pork belly. Muqin nagged, Elder Pukang listened, gnawing on bones with loud crunches. In no time, he’d finished off the whole pot, not even leaving a scrap behind.

“Ahem!” Chen Rong returned to the beast den with a basket of fish. He said quietly, “Muqin, it’s getting late. I’ve already cleaned the chicken, duck, and fish. Help Changxia with lunch—I’ll go deal with the black-horned bull.”

If Muqin kept scolding, it’d be dark before they finished.

Besides, judging by Elder Pukang’s calm expression, he’d clearly been nagged by Muqin plenty of times and knew exactly how to handle it. In the end, it was the bystanders who felt awkward.

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“……” Muqin pressed her hand to her forehead and shot Elder Pukang a glare. She was so angry she’d lost her senses. She’d forgotten just how thick-skinned Elder Pukang was—just scolding him wouldn’t bother him in the slightest.

Suddenly, Muqin’s gaze turned cold as she stared at Elder Pukang.

“Elder Pukang, if you mess around again, your food will be cut in half.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Elder Pukang’s smile vanished. He stared at Muqin with wide, serious eyes and said, “Muqin, please keep scolding me.”

Cutting his food—now that was absolutely unacceptable.

“Hmph!” Muqin snorted coldly. “Go help Chen Rong deal with the Blackhorn Cattle. And don’t forget to go back and apologize to Elder Yami for what happened with Shanjue and the others.”

There was no way she’d scold Shanjue and the others. All the blame would fall on Elder Pukang. Once he returned to the tribe, the other elders would punish him. This time, Elder Pukang wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of it. He always tried to shirk responsibility and push the blame onto others—let’s see how he manages this time.

Thinking of this, Muqin and Heyun exchanged glances, their eyes full of amusement.