The Earthen Bed Was So Warm, and the First Bond Reached Its Peak

That evening on the beach, Chu Xiu and the three girls sat around the fire, each holding a large skewer of roasted meat.

The Owl might have been ugly, but its meat smelled incredible.

Chu Xiu and the girls ate until grease coated their lips.

"This is so good! Now this is real food. What have I been suffering through these past few days?"

Ning Rongrong's eyes filled with tears of joy.

Shui Bing'er chewed a mouthful of meat and chimed in:

"Cooked food is so much better. Fresh raw food is fine once in a while, but after two or three days straight, it makes me want to throw up."

Even Qian Renxue, usually the most poised and dignified of them all, had forgotten about appearances.

She didn't speak while eating. She simply devoured the meat in her hand, swallowing hard now and then, too absorbed to say how happy she felt.

Chu Xiu took it a little more calmly.

The meat was tasty, but with nothing to season it except salt, it couldn't compare to the barbecue he'd eaten before crossing over.

Besides, he'd eaten plenty of raw meat over the past few days, so he wasn't exactly craving fat.

"Chu Xiu, I'm still hungry. Roast me two more skewers."

Ning Rongrong had finished her meat, but she was only half full.

Qian Renxue and Shui Bing'er looked as though they wanted more too.

"No."

Chu Xiu shook his head. "You've been eating nothing but Wild Apples for days. Your stomachs aren't used to meat anymore. Eat a little today and let them adjust. You can have more tomorrow."

Ning Rongrong puffed out her cheeks, unconvinced.

But she knew he was right.

After days of such a light diet, their stomachs were fragile. If they ate too much meat at once, they'd be running to relieve themselves in the middle of the night.

"You three get some rest. It's my turn to take the first watch tonight."

Qian Renxue got up, gathered some firewood, and stacked it beside the fire.

Before, keeping watch had mainly been about guarding against wild animals. Now it also meant feeding the fire through the night.

"How about I take watch tonight?"

Chu Xiu glanced at Ning Rongrong.

Her Bond Value had already reached 90. One final push should bring it to the maximum.

Chu Xiu meant to strike while the iron was hot and win Ning Rongrong over tonight.

His look made Ning Rongrong flustered.

"No. I don't agree."

"Why?"

"Because... because you're the one holding the four of us together. You have more important things to do. Leave little jobs like keeping watch to us."

"But I'm not tired today."

"Still no. I'm not ready yet."

By the time Ning Rongrong said that, even her neck had turned red.

Before Chu Xiu spoke up, part of her had been looking forward to it. But when he actually tried to make a move, she lost her nerve.

Chu Xiu understood her hesitation.

After all, he had once been Xiao Chunan. He knew what it felt like to want something but lack the courage to act.

At a moment like this, one more push and a firmer approach would usually do the trick.

But then Shui Bing'er spoke.

"Chu Xiu, you should get some proper rest. Didn't we agree to build an earthen heated bed tomorrow? We can only help you with it. You'll have to do most of the work."

Sleeping on the beach was uncomfortable.

Even with a layer of straw underneath them, the damp still crept in at night.

None of them had slept well these past few days. They often woke with aching backs, and given enough time, their joints would suffer too.

With Shui Bing'er objecting as well, Chu Xiu couldn't keep insisting.

"All right. I'll get some rest, then."

Chu Xiu got up from the sand, dusted himself off, and ducked into the nearby grass tent.

The night passed.

The next morning, the four of them got to work on their assigned tasks.

With Extreme Long-Distance Vision to keep him safe, Chu Xiu went to fetch springwater from the foot of the mountain.

Ning Rongrong, the youngest, gathered straw, while Shui Bing'er and Qian Renxue dug up soil at the edge of the woods.

On the first day, they collected all the materials.

On the second, they mixed soil, springwater, and straw to make earthen bricks.

On the third, they stacked the bricks, which had dried in the sun the day before, into a heated bed. Then they secured their grass tent over it.

Finally, they lit a fire beneath the bed.

The sea breeze blew through the bed's flue, making the fire burn even brighter than it had on the beach. Before long, the whole bed and the inside of the tent had grown warm.

"That's it? It still looks pretty crude."

Ning Rongrong stared at the new shelter they'd spent three days building, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Shui Bing'er was much easier to please.

She smiled. "It's already great. At least we won't wake up feeling sticky or cold anymore."

"You eat a meal one bite at a time, and you build a house bit by bit. A proper house in three days? You wouldn't get a deal that good even in your dreams."

Chu Xiu was pleased with his handiwork.

He wasn't a professional. Getting it right on the first try was already impressive.

And what was wrong with a small house?

He didn't need a big house to find a wife. The smaller the space, the easier it would be to get close to the girls.

Boom!

Thunder cracked overhead.

At some point, dark clouds had covered the sky.

"It's going to rain."

Qian Renxue looked up, her brows drawing together.

"Good thing we finished the heated bed. If we'd been caught in the rain tonight, we might have caught colds."

Shui Bing'er sounded relieved.

"Do we still need to keep watch tonight?"

Ning Rongrong looked at Chu Xiu. Shui Bing'er and Qian Renxue waited for his answer too.

They didn't have to follow his lead on everything, but over the past few days, they had all come to rely on him to some degree. Whenever a problem came up, asking what he thought felt natural.

Chu Xiu answered casually:

"Why keep watch in the rain? Even if there are wild animals around, they won't come out to hunt in this weather."

Raindrops began to fall.

They pattered against the sand.

Chu Xiu sent the girls into the tent first and went in last, staying by the entrance.

Fortunately, he'd thought ahead. When he made the tent, he'd considered the possibility of rain and added a straw door curtain.

With the curtain shut, not a drop of rain came inside.

"It's so dark."

Ning Rongrong sounded a little nervous.

On previous nights, they'd left the curtain open when they slept, letting in at least a little moonlight.

Now she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. All she could hear was the rain rattling against the tent.

"Quiet now. Let's get some sleep."

Chu Xiu told her to sleep, but his hands quietly slipped around her waist from behind.

Then one moved up, and the other moved down.

"N-no, Chu Xiu. I'm not ready."

Ning Rongrong's heart raced, and heat spread through her body. She pressed her hands over his and whispered so softly he could barely hear her.

Chu Xiu had no intention of stopping.

He kept exploring while murmuring a warning in her ear:

"Be good, Rongrong. Don't make a sound. You wouldn't want Sister Xue and Bing'er to see you like this, would you?"