Inexperienced in the Ways of the World

"Little one, don't you have any family?"

To alleviate the loneliness of the journey, the monkey turned to ask the Numinous Stone Monkey.

"Family?"

After the Numinous Stone Monkey uttered those two words, it looked at the monkey who had spoken them with a blank expression.

"They are your mom and dad."

Seeing that the Numinous Stone Monkey seemed puzzled, he added, "..."

"Mom and Dad?"

The Numinous Stone Monkey still looked completely bewildered.

"Do you know where you came from?"

Seeing that the Numinous Stone Monkey seemed clueless, he changed his approach.

"Know!"

The Numinous Stone Monkey gave an affirmative answer.

But before the monkey could even rejoice, it got soaked and its next move left it bewildered.

The Numinous Stone Monkey darted into a crack in a large rock by the roadside and then leaped out again.

"You mean you sprang from a crack in a rock?"

The monkey looked at the Numinous Stone Monkey with some uncertainty and said...

"Mmm!"

The Numinous Stone Monkey nodded repeatedly, indicating that it had indeed sprung from a stone.

The Numinous Stone Monkey was telling the truth, but the monkey, who had never seen it before, would never believe it.

"Where would a baby monkey spring out of a crack in a rock? This little guy must have been abandoned by his parents. It's so pitiful."

This is what the monkey was thinking.

Do you have a name?

To avoid hurting the Numinous Stone Monkey, the monkey changed the subject.

"Name?"

The Numinous Stone Monkey bit its own finger, staring blankly at the monkey.

"It's how others usually address you. For example, in my tribe, they all call me A Shui."

"I can't keep calling you 'little guy' forever."

This is how the monkey explained it to him.

"Name? None."

After thinking for a while, the Numinous Stone Monkey said with great certainty that he did not have such a thing.

"How pitiful this little guy is! He doesn't even have a name!"

A Shui thought to himself.

"Then let me name you. Since you said you sprang from a crack in a rock, let's call you Stone Monkey."

Immediately afterwards, A Shui gave the Numinous Stone Monkey a name.

"A name, I have a name now."

The Numinous Stone Monkey clapped his hands and jumped up and down happily, shouting, "From now on, I'm called Stone Monkey!"

But his joy was short-lived; a rumbling in his stomach shattered his illusions—yes, he was still hungry.

"Come with me quickly, the wild fruit is just ahead."

Upon hearing the cries from the Stone Monkey's belly, A Shui immediately waved and led him away.

Upon hearing this, the strength that had been building up in my stomach suddenly returned, and I ran forward using all four limbs.

"Hey, slow down, I still need to show you the way, don't get lost."

Seeing the Stone Monkey's speed, A Shui quickly called out to him.

After a few minutes, A Shui led the Stone Monkey to a fruit tree.

"Follow me up to pick some fruit."

A Shui first climbed up the fruit tree, then gestured to the Stone Monkey behind him, signaling for him to follow.

Seeing A Shui's actions, the Stone Monkey followed suit and climbed up the fruit tree.

He then found the fruit that A Shui had given him earlier, and he picked and ate it, devouring more than a dozen wild fruits in one go.

"Wow, this little guy can eat so much! He's almost as big as me."

A Shui was curious about the Stone Monkey's appetite, because in his tribe, an ordinary little monkey could only eat a maximum of 5 wild fruits a day.

However, the Stone Monkey was clearly different from the other monkeys in his tribe. He ate more than a dozen wild fruits and still seemed to want more.

"Stone Monkey, come here quickly! Don't pick that wild fruit; there's a snake over there."

When the stone monkey reached for the wild fruit on the far side, A Shui's alliance stopped him. First, there was a rushing river below the fruit, and second, a venomous snake was eyeing the Stone Monkey menacingly above it.

If the Stone Monkey had fallen into the river, he could still be saved, because not far downstream there was a shallow beach where the water was deep enough that even a small monkey like him could stand firm.

But now there's a poisonous snake up there, which is making things difficult.

"Huh? A Shui, what did you say?"

Afterwards, all he could see was that one relatively large wild fruit. When he heard what A Shui said, he didn't take it to heart. Instead, he picked the wild fruit and then turned to ask him.

At this moment, the venomous snake above had already arched its body, preparing to attack the Stone Monkey. Just as the Stone Monkey turned around to speak, he straightened his body and flew out from above.

However, what happened next completely stunned him, and he quickly ran to A Shui's side using all four limbs.

This caused the venomous tongue's attack to miss its mark. His body flew straight over the petrified head and headed straight for the rushing river. However, he was unlucky and crashed headfirst into a sharp rock in the river, impaling his body on the stone. No matter how much he struggled, it was all in vain.

"Stone Monkey, you were lucky to be alive just now, otherwise you would have died."

A Shui, looking at the monkey with a joyful expression, said that the snake's sudden attack had almost scared him to death; he thought the cute little monkey was going to die.

But after the little monkey finished speaking to him, it bit the wild fruit, lowered its head, and crawled towards him. This action just happened to dodge the venomous snake's fatal attack, causing the snake to miss its target and dart into the river, losing its life in the process.

"Dead? What's that?"

The Stone Monkey remained completely baffled by the meaning of this term.

"So what are you afraid of?"

A Shui asked the time in a different way.

"And what is that?"

The Stone Monkey still seemed somewhat bewildered.

At this moment, A Shui suddenly came up with an idea. He asked the Stone Monkey to give him all the wild fruits it had picked.

I won't give you any of these wild fruits.

A Shui immediately spoke to the Stone Monkey.

The Stone Monkey immediately ran towards him, leaping and bounding as it tried to take the wild fruit it had picked from his hands.

A Shui watched as the Stone Monkey struggled for a while before finally giving him the wild fruit.

"You felt scared after hearing that I wouldn't give you wild fruit."

He spoke earnestly to them at that moment.

"I understand. And what about death?"

After responding, the Stone Monkey asked what death felt like.

"Death is when you can no longer eat wild fruit."

A Shui spoke to the Stone Monkey with a serious expression.

"I see."

He said it afterward, his whole body trembling.

"If anything looks at you with ill intent in the future, run away immediately."

"Because if they catch up with you, you'll never be able to eat these wild fruits again."

A Shui immediately warned the Stone Monkey to be careful of these things.

"Um!"

The Stone Monkey nodded repeatedly.

"Come on, I'll take you to pick another kind of wild fruit."

In order to avoid causing serious psychological harm afterward.