Chapter 300

The moment he fell from the pit, Guoguo found himself unfortunate, but grateful at the same time. It was better for him to fall to his death than be stabbed to death by these people.

If Tangtang were back with people and saw his body on the ground, how grieved he would be, and so would Dad, Daddy and Baozi.

In general, falling was better. Once he fell, no one would know where he was. They would just presume that he vanished, and thus he would live in their heart forever. Guoguo thought to himself the moment he fell.

However, it didn’t occur to him that those barbarians would also fall after he did. But unlike Guoguo, the barbarians didn’t fall voluntarily.

This pit was different from what Guoguo had expected, because it had taken him a while to land. Besides, before he finally landed, he had assumed that he would land heavily on the ground, bleeding, but that was not the case. Instead, he fell into the water and floated down the stream. Later, he lost consciousness and knew nothing.

When he woke up again, Guoguo didn’t know what time it was. He only felt that the sun above him was so bright that he couldn’t open his eyes.

“You’re awake. Do you want some water? You’ve been sleeping for a long time.”

Suddenly, a gentle voice came into Guoguo’s ears. Guoguo forced himself to open his eyes and saw an extremely beautiful Ge’er in front of him.

Guoguo stared at him blankly for a while before saying, “Where am I?”

Guoguo was startled by his own voice when heard it because he sounded hoarse as if a duck was quacking, which was unpleasant to hear.

That Ge’er passed his canteen over to Guoguo immediately. “Drink some water before you speak. You’ve slept too long.”

Guoguo wanted to take over the canteen with his own hands and drink the water himself. However, it was when he raised his hand that he found both of his hands were wrapped with white cloth. He remembered that his right hand had been slashed by those barbarians, while his left hand might have hit the stone in the water. Guoguo didn’t know whether it was because it hurt so much that he went numb, and neither of his hands could feel anything now.

That Ge’er explained with a smile, “Your hands were injured, and I applied medicine to them. Since you can’t move now, let me feed you!”

Guoguo looked at him and wanted to thank him, but then thought of his unpleasant voice, so he just smiled and nodded. Then Guoguo held that Ge’er’s hand and drank some water. When his throat was moist, Guoguo felt better.

The Ge’er put the canteen away and said to Guoguo, “This is the territory of Shanwai Clan. My name is Shanwai Muya, and you may call me Muya. I found you in the water. You’ve slept for three whole days. You were badly injured and I almost failed to bring you back. Luckily, you’re awake now.”

Badly injured? Guoguo looked at his own hands. Those wounds were not deadly, so he couldn’t be badly injured! Thinking this, Guoguo felt a pain in the chest. The next moment, he started to cough at once.

The more he coughed, the more he felt the pain. His guts hurt. It was very likely that he had hit his chest against something in the water.

While Guoguo was coughing, Shanwai Muya was patting him on his back very gently, looking worried.

Guoguo had coughed for a while before he stopped. Just as he was about to say something, Shanwai Muya interrupted him, “Don’t talk for now. I could guess what you are going to say anyway, but wait until you get better. Even if you want to go back, now is not the right time.”

Hearing Shanwai Muya, Guoguo fell silent. He knew that Shanwai Muya was telling the truth, but he was still very upset. He didn’t know how Dad and Daddy were going, or how they felt when hearing the news that he was missing, and also his brother…

Seeing that Guoguo kept his head down, Shanwai Muya didn’t say anything. After a while, it was when the sun was slowly sinking in the west that Shanwai Muya said, “Let me take you back to my home first! I’ve been out for a few days, and it’s time for me to go back.”

Now Guoguo raised his head and looked around. This was a forest and he was surrounded by trees. There was a cave not far from them, and he was leaning against a tree. Rays of sunlight shone through tree branches upon him.

It was so bright that Guoguo didn’t feel good under the sun. He didn’t know why he was kept under the tree while there was a cave.

Shanwai Muya could read Guoguo’s mind and explained, “I don’t know how long you had been in the river. It’s gloomy and cold in the cave, so I carried you out to do some sunbathing. I carried you back into the cave at night.”

Guoguo was a little embarrassed when he heard Shanwai Muya’s explanation. He, a man, should have been carried repeatedly by a Ge’er. How shameful! Fortunately, he had been unconscious back then and known nothing.

Guoguo didn’t answer him because he felt awkward, while Shanwai Muya just picked him up when he was awake, very easily.

Guoguo, “…” He couldn’t be more embarrassed.

“Muya, put me down! I can walk by myself. It’s just that my hands got hurt, but my legs are fine. You’ll get tired from carrying me.”

Shanwai Muya didn’t answer. He just spared one hand and pulled up Guoguo’s trousers, letting him see the white cloth wrapped around his leg.

Guoguo, “…”

After seeing it, Guoguo closed his eyes silently. He hadn’t felt the pain before, so he hadn’t expected that his legs would also be injured at all. Now he realized that he couldn’t even move.

Shanwai Muya chuckled, “You have difficulty in moving now, so don’t think too much. Besides, you look younger than me, and no one will laugh at you even if I’m carrying you.”

Guoguo remained quiet.

Shanwai Muya didn’t mind it at all. He carried Guoguo and walked forward along the path. Neither of them spoke on the way. Guoguo was too shy to talk. In addition, he was totally unfamiliar with this place and didn’t know what to say. Meanwhile, he was in poor physical condition right now. He could feel that he was injured both on the inside and outside. He also didn’t know when he could get well.

They had walked for a while, and some bamboo houses could just be made out in the distance. Shanwai Muya said to Guoguo, “That is the place of residence of Shanwai Clan. There are only thousands of us and we are a little clan in the north of Yanzhou. Usually, few people visit our place, while the people from our clan seldom go out either. We mainly move around within our own territory. You were so lucky that you fell into the territory of Shanwai Clan. Otherwise, I would have missed you.”

Guoguo rolled his eyes. He hadn’t known where he would land while he had been falling.

Shanwai Muya introduced Shanwai Clan to Guoguo in a soft voice, including their customs, language, culture, etiquette and food. He told Guoguo everything, no matter he could remember them or not.

When he finished speaking, Shanwai Muya stopped in front of a two-storey bamboo house. He said, “This is my house. There’s only one in my household, and no one visits me, so it’s fine even if I’m out for two or three days.”

Guoguo nodded his head, the only thing that was still intact all over his body. “Well I see. I was wondering why no one was looking for you while you had been out for days.”

Shanwai Muya smiled faintly, “Otherwise, do you think that my Dad and Daddy won’t be anxious when I, a Ge’er, have been out for days? Furthermore, I’ve brought back a son of unknown background with me.”

Guoguo puckered his lips. Although Shanwai Muya’s words made sense, Guoguo still didn’t want to identify with him.

Shanwai Muya opened the door, put Guoguo on the bed and said to him, “Lie down and have a rest for a while. I’ll go cooking. Let’s talk when we’re full.”

Guoguo nodded, expressing his agreement with him, and lay on the bed peacefully.

However, he was still thinking while lying on the bed.

He knew that with his current physical condition, he would be unable to go back in a while. The best solution was to have someone send the message out for him. As long as Dad and everyone else knew he was still alive, that would be enough. He would go home when he got well.

But Guoguo wondered whether Shanwai Muya was willing to send the message out for him?

Guoguo could tell that obviously, Shanwai Muya hadn’t told him everything while introducing Shanwai Clan to him.

Guoguo was 15 now and could get married. However, Shanwai Muya, a Ge’er, should have dared to stay with him alone, carry him and take him home, which really confused Guoguo.

Guoguo hadn’t noticed these issues before. Now that he was lying alone, these doubts just popped up.

He himself knew nothing about Shanwai Clan, so he was more or less worried, but he hadn’t been worried for long before Shanwai Muya came in with food.

Shanwai Muya told Guoguo as he walked into the house from outside, “This time, I went out to find food at first, but I didn’t expect to bump into you. Not only haven’t I found any food, I’ve also consumed all the food I brought with me. There’s no food left at home. I just cooked a little rice paste. Make do with it! Later I’ll go out to look for something else to eat.”

Shanwai Muya sat at the bedside as he spoke. He took a spoonful of rice paste and sent it to Guoguo’s mouth.

Guoguo was just about to say that he could eat it on his own. Then he saw the white cloth wrapped around his hands and opened his mouth silently.

Shanwai Muya seemed to have been amused by Guoguo. When Shanwai Muya was feeding him, a smile was hanging on his face. As a Ge’er, he was good-looking to begin with. Now that he was smiling, he looked even prettier.

After feeding Guoguo the rice paste, Shanwai Muya notified him and went out. It had been a long while before he finally came back. Guoguo could tell that it was already dark outside by looking through the dense bamboo grove.

Guoguo heard something baaing when Shanwai Muya was back. He could tell that Shanwai Muya had brought a sheep back, and quite a few other things. Guoguo heard his footsteps and assumed that Shanwai Muya must have run in and out several times.

When Shanwai Muya had finally done the chores, he went in to see Guoguo in a sweat, while Guoguo was lying on the bed, smiling at him.

Seeing that Guoguo was fine, Shanwai Muya walked out again, saying that he would do some cooking.

To Guoguo, the rice paste he had had in the afternoon was far from enough. After all, he hadn’t eaten for days. Besides, he was quite curious about Shanwai Muya’s cooking skill.

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