Ze said in a muffled voice, "Next."
Shen Nong: ...
I shouldn't have asked.
Ze felt extremely uncomfortable. Due to his emotions, his magnetic voice became slightly hoarse. He endured the discomfort, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead. His face was filled with confusion as he told Shen Nong about every change in his body.
Shen Nong's face grew increasingly red as she listened to Ze's words. How could this person say such vulgar things so seriously?
He knew that Ze truly didn't understand, and no one had ever taught him. But Shen Nong didn't know how to answer either, and silently begged Ze to stop talking and shut up.
Shen Nong pressed her hands against Ze's chest, the elastic touch making her face flush. Her eyes darted away, avoiding direct eye contact, and her words were hesitant, tinged with evasiveness, "If you... get up... it won't hurt anymore..."
Shen Nong racked her brains trying to fool the innocent big dog, but the big dog, though stupid, was not fooled at all.
The moment Ze hesitated, Shen Nong was so startled that she dared not move an inch.
All that could be heard was Ze saying, "Priest, please help me."
Shen Nong's mind went blank, and after a moment of silence, she finally found her voice, "Help you with what? I...I don't know how..."
Ze asked, somewhat puzzled, "The priest's ability to make people feel no pain is no longer usable?"
Shen Nong then realized that Ze thought she had a physical problem and believed that he could restore her to normal by using his superpower.
Wait, superpowers!
How could he forget that he has superpowers? Today, his hand was not under his control and he could barely move a finger.
Shen Nong moved his fingertips slightly, and the complex tree roots in the underground plate extended upwards. Last time, the vines almost failed to bind the vines, so this time Shen Nong used the tree's root system directly. Just in case, he also thickened the tree's root system.
Shen Nong didn't even think deeply about why she didn't use her powers to control Ze immediately.
He was lying paralyzed on the bed, soaked to the bone, as if he had just emerged from the water.
Orcs getting aroused is really dangerous.
After the strange feeling on her body subsided, Shen Nong remembered that there was still a dumpling in the cave.
He looked at Tuanzi and found that Tuanzi was not moving.
Didn't you wake up even with such a loud noise?
Shen Nong used her special ability to investigate and discovered that Tuanzi had been knocked unconscious.
Shen Nong glared at the culprit, who was now being held firmly against the cave door by Shen Nong using tree trunks and roots.
But seeing Ze's distressed appearance, Shen Nong couldn't help but soften his heart a little. He sighed and asked, "Ze, do you have a beastman you like? If so, you can talk to him. If he agrees, you can be partners."
Ze maintained a sliver of rationality, struggling to understand Shen Nong's words, and asked somewhat strangely, "What is 'like'?"
Shen Nong was slightly taken aback; he didn't know either.
But it's okay, he has a system. He selected a relatively reliable answer from the system and quickly read it aloud: "Want to share joys and sorrows with the other person, think of them first in everything you do, and feel happy just seeing them..."
As Shen Nong read the rest of the text, her back stiffened as she looked at that line.
"I won't refuse the other person's touch..."
Shen Nong knew he hated being touched by others, but upon reflection, he wondered when he had become so tolerant of Ze.
These two times were even worse; he didn't feel any discomfort at all, only embarrassment and annoyance.
Does he like to choose?
Shen Nong was filled with self-doubt when she heard Ze's voice, "Priest, I like you, can you be my partner?"
Shen Nong suddenly looked up and stared at Ze.
Seeing Ze's serious expression, he realized that Ze had listened to what he had just read and felt that he met the standard, which was why he said "I like it".
Shen Nong didn't know what liking someone really meant, but he didn't want his feelings to be defined by just a few lines of text.
Let nature take its course.
Shen Nong thought this way.
"Fine, if you don't want to find a partner, then just put up with it."
——
Shen Nong was indeed a man of his word. The next day, at the crack of dawn, he sent Hu Xiao with the salt stone to the mountain tribe.
Songshan didn't sleep all night, guarding the entrance to the tribe, just to see if the Wood Tribe priest had lied to him.
But when he saw a lithe figure rapidly approaching the mountain village from afar, Songshan couldn't help but smile.
They didn't lie to him! The Wood Tribe really didn't lie to him!
Hu Xiao had to rush back to training, so he took the large basket off his back and placed it on the ground.
"The priest asked me to pass on a message to you."
Matsuyama's eyes were glued to the pile of salt rocks. "What did you say?"
Hu Xiao cleared his throat and, mimicking Shen Nong, said, "Follow Big Brother, and you'll have plenty of salt!"
A note from the author:
Q: What does it feel like on your legs?
Shen Nong: A giant fire poker?
The answer to "What is liking?" is based on Baidu.
Chapter 52 Teachings
Host, which one do you think we should put in?
The phrase "enough salt" kept repeating in Songshan's mind.
Looking at the large basket full of salt stones, he had no doubt about its authenticity.
Hu Xiao rushed to training, and left after delivering the items and messages.
Before leaving, he told Songshan that if he came to a decision, he should secretly go to the Wood Tribe to discuss it in detail.
After leaving the cave, Shi Liu, the leader of the mountain tribe's hunting team, began to observe whether there was anything unusual about the tribe. Then he saw their chieftain standing like a wooden stake at the entrance of the tribe.
Shi Liu stepped forward in confusion, "Chief, what are you doing here...?"
Upon approaching, Shi Liu spotted the large basket of salt stones on his back. His eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Salt stones!"
Matsuyama then came to his senses, turned around and covered Shiliu's mouth, looking around warily. Only after noticing anything amiss did he lower his hand.
He lowered his voice, acting like a thief, "Don't shout, hurry up and go inside."
Songshan imitated Hu Xiao's roar, hoisted the large basket onto his back, and quickly entered the tribe. After confirming that no one was around, Shiliu hurriedly followed.
He was extremely curious as to why there were suddenly so many salt rocks in front of the tribe.
The clan chief looked like he knew the reason, so he should ask him properly.
Songshan took the salt stone back to his cave, and soon after, Shiliu came in.
"Chief, where did these salt stones come from?"
Songshan originally wanted to say the Wood Tribe directly, but then he remembered that the Wood Tribe priest had said last night that he was not allowed to tell anyone.
He didn't reply to Shi Liu, but said, "Don't worry about this. Distribute these salt stones. But you must order the tribesmen not to mention that our tribe has salt stones, or the tribe will be in big trouble."
Shi Liu's expression changed. Big trouble?
He looked at the pile of salt stones and wondered, "Did the chieftain steal from the cannibals overnight? Or did he steal the salt mountain from the salt tribe?"
Seeing Songshan's serious expression, Shiliu dared not ask any further questions and replied, "Yes, clan chief."
...
The Mu tribe is busy farming again. They've gotten used to farming, and they've quickly cleared out a piece of wasteland.
After planting the wheat seeds, Shen Nong used her special ability to germinate them, making up for the time she had missed.
The Feather Tribe orcs were also preparing to leave. This time, Shen Nong did not accompany them. Instead, the caravan members brought back by Lang Yu set off with the Feather Tribe orcs.
Having replenished enough trade goods, Shen Nong also prepared meat for the Feather Tribe orcs for their journey.
The Mu tribe now has two sources of meat: fishing and hunting.
Now, the Wood Tribe can hunt a lot of meat at once, and when they come back, they marinate the extra meat without worrying about it spoiling. They have a lot of meat stored in their warehouse.
Before winter, Tu Dong had been learning about herbs from Shen Nong and had also found more edible wild vegetables.
Overall, the Mu tribe has no shortage of food now.
The children in the tribe were well-fed every day, and what they looked forward to most was the orchard by the waterfall, whether they were children from the Water Tribe who came later or children from the Wood Tribe who had tasted the fruit before.
They were all very eager to eat it, and whenever they had free time, they would go with the harvesting team to check on how the fruit was growing.
Recently, due to safety concerns, gathering teams have rarely gone there; only hunting teams go there for training and to patrol the salt hills hidden behind the waterfall.
The children would beg the hunting party members to let them check how big the fruit had grown.
However, the children did not ask the hunting party for help today, because their priest promised to take them to the orchard tomorrow.
Shen Nong hasn't paid much attention to the orchard area. Now it's springtime, everything is reviving, and there are many insects.
If you want more and better fruit, you need to catch insects.
These little kids have been wanting to go there all day long, so I'll take them to do some work.
By evening, there was hardly any light outside.
Yang Yu, who was on night duty at the city gate, rushed to the earthen hut where the meeting was being held. "Priest, there is someone outside who says he is the chief of the mountain tribe and wants to see you."
Shen Nong hadn't returned to the cave so late because she was waiting for him.
"Bring him here."
When Songshan saw the tall city walls of the Mu tribe, he was a little confused.
The "stone wall" was built so high and flat. I don't know where the Wood Tribe found so many flat stones, or whether they polished them flat one by one.
When he was led into the Wood Tribe, his eyes were opened even more.