Qingshan Wild Man Valley

Chapter 3

"Come down," I said to him.

He remained standing on the shore watching me, as if he hadn't heard me.

"If you don't wash it clean, no matter how many times I wash it, it's useless!"

I waited for him for a while and saw him nod silently.

He stretched his foot to go into the water, but I stopped him. "Take off your tattered clothes."

He looked at me, and after a long while, he quietly began to take off his clothes.

That's even better. I watched him slowly undress. At least he didn't strip naked without saying a word, proving that he wasn't the kind of person who couldn't wait to pick any flower that came his way.

He was completely naked in front of me. I looked straight at him, and he looked straight at me. He didn't seem embarrassed at all. He was still wearing that savage outfit that at least covered his vital parts. He didn't seem to care at all that he was being seen through. His gaze remained calm as he looked at me.

But the problem is that I look at him differently. Although I am quite experienced in this kind of thing, it is still a bit unsettling to suddenly see a completely naked stranger, especially such a wild man.

He's so thin, so incredibly thin... I wanted to pinch his bones and skin and envy him so much.

But the little bit of flesh he had was very lean and strong. I knew it was muscle, and I found it amazing. I couldn't understand how it grew like that.

His body was covered in wounds, some of which were hidden and were even more severe than those that were exposed.

Even that part... it was indeed thoroughly abused. Although most of the skin and flesh had healed, those large, pink or tumor-like scars were still shocking to look at. Not to mention those dark black lumps that had grown into something else. I closed my eyes. Compared to the most foul smell, this stuff was even more unbearable.

He slowly went down into the water. I was dressed, but he was naked. He sat down next to me, the water swirling around his chest.

However, he remained motionless. After sitting in the water, it was as if he had completed his bathing process, and he stopped moving altogether.

He just stared at my face, his eyes blurred by the steam.

"Do you usually take a shower like this?" I asked.

He lowered his eyes, and after a moment, began to splash water on himself.

"Let me help you." I didn't expect to be so proactive, and I didn't expect that I would no longer find him disgusting, just a little disgusting. But when I grabbed his arm, he still suddenly shivered.

He never hesitated when he hugged me; I never expected him to be afraid of me touching him.

Maybe I was too proactive.

I grabbed a handful of his hair and rubbed it in the water. He was quiet and let me do as I pleased.

I turned him around and started rubbing his back, asking as I did so, "If you don't know who you are, what should I call you?"

He didn't answer, and then I remembered that he was mute, so I shut my mouth and stopped asking.

After I finished rubbing his back, I turned him around. He took my arm, and I thought he was going to do something intimate like kissing me on the lips. But instead, he just took my hand and wrote something on my palm.

Don't you know—when he ran his fingers across my palm, I felt his fingertips were hard and rough, and a tingling sensation ran through my palm.

"Know what?" I asked back, only to realize after asking that he was referring to a name.

How could he be so sure I was that Sheng Huan? He doesn't even know who he is.

"Alright, I'll name you now. How about 'Wild Man'?"

He nodded.

But I was joking with him, yet he nodded very seriously.

“You’re called Savage,” I said, pointing at him, “and Savage is your new name, so I need a new name too!”

I waited for him, but this time he neither nodded nor shook his head.

"I want to be called Sun Qingshan..."

I gave my name, and then I felt guilty. Who would feel guilty giving their own name, especially when it was done in a way that asked for my opinion? What a loss!

He didn't agree, so I started to act spoiled. "That's not fair! You could call yourself a savage even if you weren't originally called one, but I was originally called Sheng Huan. Now I don't want to call myself that anymore! I want to change my name! I want to be called Sun Qingshan!!!"

He still wouldn't nod, and I got a little angry. I could call him a savage, but I didn't need to be so fixated on a name.

Then he took my hand and wrote: Why?

"What do you mean, why! My mom admires Sun Yat-sen, and she's embarrassed to call me Sun Yat-sen. Can't she even call me Sun Qingshan?"

He still held my hand and wrote: I like Sheng Huan.

"That's right, that's perfect. You like Sheng Huan, and Sheng Huan is me, so you like me. Since you like me, I like Sun Qingshan, so you have to like Sun Qingshan too. Don't you like Sun Qingshan?"

He stopped writing and just looked at me.

I was unhappy and pulled my hand away.

He lowered his head and, unusually, didn't look directly at me for a long time.

Actually, a name is not that important, but without realizing it, I regarded the savage as a good person, and the good person as a friend. If he is a friend, shouldn't I make him remember what my real name is?

Silently, I helped him wash the two tattered pieces of cloth he had left on the shore. He lowered his eyes and looked at the water. This time it had been too long, far too long since he had looked at me. Had he finally realized that I was not Sheng Huan? Had he finally come to his senses?

meat consumption issue

I was about to go ashore when the savage stood up first.

He put on his wet clothes, picked me up, and in less than two minutes, he had placed me in the cave and started lighting the dry firewood next to me.

The fire started to burn, and he came over, trying to unbutton my pajamas.

He studied it for a while, then unbuttoned the first button, and the rest of it started moving quickly.

I grabbed his collar to stop him from taking it off, and he twitched his beard and silently said three words: "You'll catch a cold."

"So what if I catch a cold! I won't take off my clothes even if I do!"

He looked at me without showing any helplessness or any other special expression. He just looked at me without moving or leaving. Good heavens, he was forcing me to give in again. How could he do this?

I pursed my lips, steeled my resolve, and decided I wouldn't take it off.

After a half-minute standoff, he suddenly picked me up and carried me closer to the fire. He took off his soaking wet shirt, wrapped his arms around me, and held me tightly.

We held each other silently, and I drifted off to sleep in his arms.

That's so lazy! You just got up, took a shower, and now you're going back to sleep?

The blazing fire made my face burn, but I didn't want the savages to carry me away from the fire. I liked the scorching hot wind that came at me; it would instantly remind me of other things, like childhood memories, like happily sitting in the bathtub singing.

"Two tigers, two tigers, running fast..." I sang to myself, my pronunciation muffled, to cheer myself up. The breath behind me was close, and the savage rested his head on the back of my head. "Running fast—" I started to sing louder and louder.

The wild man hugged me for a while, and soon after, my stomach growled, saying it was hungry.

“My stomach is saying it’s hungry,” I relayed to the savage on behalf of my stomach.

The savage moved and slowly released his grip on me. By then, my clothes were half-dry, and he really had no better reason to keep holding on to me.

"I want to eat meat!" I demanded of the savage, somewhat unreasonably.

The savage froze as he was about to get up. He turned around and wrote on the ground with his finger: "No living creatures."

"I want to eat meat!!" I declared again.

The savage looked at me for a while, then nodded.

So he went out, and my heart began to pound with anxiety. There really were no living creatures here. There were hot springs, but no streams flowing directly nearby. The water I drank was dew collected by the savages who had built a frame for it.

Therefore, there are no birds, no beasts, and no fish, shrimp, or crabs.

There are only small insects crawling on the ground and small insects flying in the sky. If you put a hundred of them together, you won't get even half an ounce of meat.

He was going to find me some meat, but before long, the savage returned with a piece of meat the size of a fried pork chop.

"What kind of meat is it?" I asked him.

He ignored me and just picked up a thicker branch to grill the meat skewers on it.

"Let me see you." I threw myself at him.

He flinched and pushed me away.

Instead, I started to pester him relentlessly. I pulled on his sleeve and tried to tear off his clothes, almost ripping the flimsy rags. Then I saw blood seeping from the inside of his thighs.

"How could you be so silly?!" I grabbed him and heard a "thud" as his hand slipped and the skewer of meat fell into the fire.

He turned to look at the fire and frowned.

Then he turned to me and wrote on the ground with his finger: Wait for me.

He finished writing and was about to stand up, but I stood up even faster than him.

The two of us were more than half a head apart, and I stood in front of him.

"Where are you going to get more meat this time?"

He didn't react when I asked him a question. His wet hair was brushed behind his ears, so his clean face, with the stubble and scars around his eyes and cheeks removed, revealed his expression clearly. He didn't care that I wanted to eat meat, didn't care that he would just find a spot to cut his own flesh, didn't care that the meat had fallen into the fire and he would have to cut it again, and didn't care that I would jump up and ask him about it later.

Actually, his face is very fair, the kind of fair that is naturally difficult to tan.

He's a bit silly, and I know I should be understanding. People who aren't quite right in the head tend to take jokes seriously.

"I was just kidding, who do you think wants to eat your flesh!"

He was still standing there, looking at me.

"How could you be so stupid!" I sighed. "It's because of you that I'm so angry I want to eat meat!"

He lowered his eyes and remained silent.

"Savage?"

"..."

"Savage!!"

"..."

Are you angry?

"..."

Are you really angry?

I know he can't reply with his voice, but I don't like him always having his eyes down. It makes me feel like I'm always bullying him.

He's clearly the savage!

"Savage, if you don't talk to me again, I'll never talk to you again!"

He slowly raised his eyes.