The prospect of being boiled and eaten never materialized. The crowd of "Barbarians" parted, and an old man emerged. His snow-white beard nearly reached his waist, and the wrinkles on his face looked deep enough to trap mosquitoes. Leaning on a wooden staff, he walked toward Bai Yang.
The old man seemed to hold a very high position here. As soon as he appeared, the surrounding area fell almost completely silent.
Though the old man was ancient, his eyes were bright and alert. He had a large frame and strode along with vigor. Bai Yang figured he could probably live another ten or twenty years without any trouble.
The old man babbled something at Bai Yang, but Bai Yang couldn't understand a word. He could only stare back, bewildered. With no interpreter around, things were getting awkward.
Then the old man said something to the three people who had brought Bai Yang here. Those three replied now and then, sometimes nodding, sometimes shaking their heads...
Bai Yang could only stand there helplessly, sneaking glances at the people around him from the corners of his eyes. He discovered, to his dismay, that if a fight broke out, he probably couldn't beat even the children here. Even the little tykes barely a meter tall were covered in bulging muscles...
Everyone here, men and women alike, was powerfully built. Standing among them, Bai Yang was a complete weakling.
But Bai Yang noticed something: the people here dressed very casually. Well, "casually" was just a relatively polite way to put it. To be blunt, their outfits were downright embarrassing...
The children under a meter tall were basically naked, boys and girls alike. As for the adults, the men were mostly bare-chested, with either an animal hide around their waists or a pair of rough, baggy shorts made from some unknown fabric. The women weren't much different, though at least they covered their upper bodies, wrapping them in a strip of coarse cloth or a piece of hide and calling it a day...
No wonder the kids here are built like calves. And those women are so... busty. All that plentiful milk must have given them a good foundation from the time they were little!
Bai Yang's eyes darted all over, and his face grew a little red—especially after a group of women pointed at him, deliberately thrust out their chests, and burst into laughter.
Then a huge hand landed on Bai Yang's shoulder. It was Number Two Barbarian. Though they couldn't communicate with words, the other man managed to give Bai Yang a knowing look, complete with an exaggerated wink and a suggestive expression that any man would understand...
"%&...￥%...￥*(&"
The long-bearded old man said something to Bai Yang. Bai Yang couldn't understand his words, but he understood the old man's gesture: he wanted Bai Yang to follow.
Figuring that he might as well take things as they came—and that he could run if anything went wrong—Bai Yang followed the old man.
The people around them pointed and whispered at Bai Yang as if he were some exotic spectacle. The old man thumped his wooden staff against the ground and said something in a loud voice. The crowd immediately scattered.
Being stared at by a crowd feels awful, especially when they're a bunch of Barbarians who look ready to eat someone at any moment. Bai Yang discreetly wiped nonexistent cold sweat from his brow and grumbled to himself.
The village stood in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by a wall made from thick tree trunks. It was probably at least five hundred meters across, and hundreds of trees grew within it—most so massive that it would take several, or even more than a dozen, people to wrap their arms around them.
Bai Yang had to admire these people's survival smarts. Their houses were built in the trees, which not only protected them from wild beasts but also from floods. A river ran right through the village; Bai Yang didn't believe they could avoid the occasional flood.
The old man led Bai Yang to the biggest tree in the village. They climbed a long ladder, and the three people who had brought Bai Yang back followed them up.
When they reached the tree, Bai Yang was surprised to discover that although the house stood at least thirty meters above the ground, it was quite spacious. It wasn't some tiny tree house like he'd imagined, but a proper home of at least a hundred square meters, and it had three stories, judging by the balconies outside. The roof was thatched with a kind of grass Bai Yang didn't recognize.
As soon as he entered, Bai Yang's eyes fell on a place resembling the main hall of a mountain stronghold. At the far end stood a chair covered in tiger skin, with two rows of perhaps ten or twenty chairs facing one another on either side.
Just as Bai Yang was wondering if this really was some sort of mountain stronghold, several nimble women appeared. In no time, they cleared away the chairs on both sides and set down crude low tables. Behind each table lay a soft cushion, something like a woven rush mat made from some unknown material.
At the white-bearded old man's gesture, Bai Yang sat down on a cushion. The women appeared again, quick and efficient, and placed a selection of fruits Bai Yang couldn't identify on the low table. Next came roast meat on a wooden platter, followed by a rough black jar about the size of a pregnant woman's belly...
Bai Yang stared blankly at the spread. Were they inviting him to dinner?
He'd heard that some of Huaxia's ethnic minorities were very hospitable. Could the people of this world be the same?
As it turned out, Bai Yang had guessed about eighty or ninety percent of it. Outsiders rarely visited this jungle village, and unless they needed to go out to obtain necessities, the villagers almost never left. Bai Yang seemed a little strange to them, but he was the only guest to arrive in quite some time.
Bai Yang looked around the hall and saw that, besides himself and the three people who had brought him here, another dozen people had appeared at some point. They were all broad-backed and muscular, full of wild vigor. Like Bai Yang, each had a wooden low table about a meter long in front of them, piled with fruit and roast meat, along with a large black jar.
The white-bearded old man at the head of the hall, who looked like the chief of a mountain stronghold, smiled at Bai Yang and babbled something. Then he raised a hand in invitation.
Bai Yang saw the people in the hall already digging in. They grabbed huge chunks of roast meat and stuffed them into their mouths, then took a bite of fruit to cut the grease. When they opened the jars, they turned out to contain liquor. They drank straight from them, filling the room with the rich aroma of wine and meat...
Watching the Barbarians feast with such gusto, Bai Yang wanted to cry out, You people are so bold! At the same time, he was utterly dumbfounded. If they were having a meal, where were the bowls? The chopsticks? The rice?
Besides, there was another reason Bai Yang hadn't dared take a bite: the fruit, roast meat, and wine in front of him were fine for these Barbarians, but what if his Earthling constitution reacted badly? Something that was food to them might be deadly poison to him!
While Bai Yang was observing the others, they were secretly watching him too. The white-bearded old man in particular had been taking in every one of Bai Yang's reactions, nodding thoughtfully to himself.
Then he said something toward the back of the house, and a woman came out carrying a wooden tray. She walked straight toward Bai Yang.
When the woman appeared, Bai Yang froze and swallowed unconsciously.
She was about 1.7 meters tall, with a gorgeous, voluptuous figure. Even by Earthling standards, she was a classic beauty. Her wheat-colored skin radiated wildness; she had big eyes, a small mouth, a high nose, and a palm-sized face. Her hair was tied into a neat ponytail at the back of her head.
And her outfit in particular—her ample chest was wrapped in a strip of cloth barely thirty centimeters wide, as if it might burst apart at any moment. Her slender, supple waist was striking, and a leather skirt covered her lower body. She strode toward Bai Yang on long, straight legs, nearly stopping his breath.
What's going on? Bai Yang was at a loss.
What surprised Bai Yang even more was that the woman walked right up to him and then knelt down, setting the wooden tray on the low table in front of him. It held two wooden bowls, two pairs of chopsticks, and a small knife.
The wooden bowls and chopsticks looked brand-new, no matter how Bai Yang looked at them...
As Bai Yang stared in utter shock, the woman swiftly used the small knife to cut the roast meat on the table into bite-sized pieces. Then she picked some up with one pair of chopsticks and put it into a bowl. Next, she opened the jar and poured a bowl of emerald-green liquor into the other bowl. Then she gazed at Bai Yang with her big, blinking eyes.
Bai Yang looked up at the people around him, bewildered. Everyone was watching him.
What does this mean? Bai Yang was utterly confused.
The white-bearded old man gestured invitingly to Bai Yang. He understood: they wanted him to eat.
He looked around, then at the bowls on the table in front of him, then at the woman beside him, who carried a faint, pleasant fragrance. Bai Yang was thoroughly confused.
What left him even more stunned was that the woman blinked her big eyes at him a few times, then picked up a pair of chopsticks. Seeming rather unfamiliar with them, she picked up a piece of meat and brought it to his mouth.
Bai Yang's mind had all but shut down. He instinctively opened his mouth and ate. He didn't taste the meat, and he forgot to worry about whether his Earthling constitution could handle the local food.
Being waited on while he ate—and by a gorgeous beauty, no less! When had Bai Yang ever experienced anything like this?
Once Bai Yang started eating, the people in the hall began again. But for some reason, they'd lost their earlier gusto and now seemed a little awkward.
What a pampered young master. He needs bowls and chopsticks to eat, all that unnecessary fuss, and he can't even eat by himself without a woman waiting on him!
Having a young master like him come to our village is a blessing. We must take good care of him.
If he takes a liking to Little Cat, she'll be in for a life of luxury.
The group of people eating and drinking exchanged whispers in a language Bai Yang couldn't understand...
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