Tiger tribe XIX
Quail"s Note: from this chapter on I"ll refer to the female of a couple as "mom" and the male as "dad". I"ve used "dad" or "father" for both parents, but it really just doesn"t make sense, given how the original text differentiates between the two. I"ll change the references in past chapters sometime in the future.
And I"ve always wanted to say this to everyone: Have a great morning/day/evening/whatever ~ you"re awesome and the world should know that!
⊂◉‿◉つ
Ya An was scared stiff. He realized that while he was mindlessly wandering he had already reached the deep forest, and suddenly he was covered in cold sweat.
When he looked toward the place where the sound was made, he found a very handsome shapes.h.i.+fter.
The shapes.h.i.+fter had dark green hair, which looked very different from the brown hair of the people in the tribe. It seemed strange and dazzling. His eyes were bright, as if he were always looking at you, making you forget yourself and fall hopelessly into them. His strong and upright body was full of explosive power, and the scent of a strong shapes.h.i.+fter wafted toward him.
Ya An was captivated by him.
He had never seen such a strong and charming shapes.h.i.+fter.
"Who are you?" he heard himself ask.
"I"m here to save you, enchanting beauty. Follow me, and I can make you happy." The shapes.h.i.+fter"s pupil contracted into slits, and his voice became slow and bewitching.
Ya An felt that he had been summoned, his mind and heart slowly emptying of everything. The only thing he knew was that this shapes.h.i.+fter was becoming more and more attractive.
He wanted him. He wanted him like crazy. He belonged to this shapes.h.i.+fter. He would devote everything he had to him. He had come into this world solely for this master, his G.o.d.
Nothing could stop his steps as he ran toward the G.o.d.
Ya An"s eyes became dazed and gla.s.sy as he moved step by step toward the strange shapes.h.i.+fter, like a moth lured to the flame.
"Come, good child. I will make you happy." The strange shapes.h.i.+fter lifted Ya An in his arms, and his voice was slow and hypnotizing.
......
"Ah Yu, I have bad news. I just realized that Ya An is gone. Do you think something could have happened to him?" Ya Qi was shocked for a long time after he heard that he was going to take over as the doctor, and only slowly recovered from the shock. Because he had always thought that Ya An would take over, Ya Qi felt really uneasy. He had wanted to find Ya An to apologize, but he could not find him anywhere. Some shapes.h.i.+fters had told him that Ya An seemed to have gone into the forest. Ya Qi immediately became anxious.
"So he disappeared. Why are you worried?" Jiang Yu"s tone was rather strange because he himself did not like Ya An at all. This person was always arrogant and even dared to bully his Ya Qi. Thank goodness he hadn"t been picked as the doctor"s successor. "Didn"t he bully you often? If he"s gone he"s gone, isn"t it better? If he were still here he"d keep on bothering you. But don"t worry, with his personality he won"t be able to cause you any trouble."
"Ah, how can you say that?" Ya Qi was somewhat angry and his eyes were red. "It"s all because of me that Ya Qi disappeared. And now he is alone in the forest. What if something happens?"
The thing that Jiang Yu can"t stand the most is seeing his little chimera friend crying. This child is really too good, he can tease him occasionally, but can never go overboard.
When he saw Ya Qi"s eyes redden, Jiang Yu comforted him immediately. "Don"t cry, don"t cry. Look, Qi is just about to come and beat me up! I"ll tell the clan leader about it and ask him to send some people to help him."
What Jiang Yu said was all true. Next to them, Qi had been pulled by his dad into a conversation, but his eyes would occasionally dart back to them. Seeing that Ya Qi"s eyes were red, his whole person took on a terrifying aura, and he stared viciously at Jiang Yu. If it wasn"t for the fact that he couldn"t leave, Qi would have surely and punched Jiang Yu a few times.
Ya Qi nodded. When Jiang Yu mentioned Qi, he couldn"t help but feel a little embarra.s.sed.
Jiang Yu patted his head and led him to the tribe leader, and matter-of-factly* reported on Ya An"s situation.
(*This is originally 原封不动 -Yuánfēng bù dòng- which refers to not opening an envelope or seal. I just found that extremely interesting for some reason -- perhaps it"s because my family always gets to my mail before I do :)
When the leader heard him, his manner changed and he quickly summoned all the shapes.h.i.+fters and asked them if anyone had seen Ya An. The shapes.h.i.+fters that had talked to Ya Qi repeated what they had said. A few people pointed out a direction.
The leader immediately ordered everyone to search in that direction.
"Rest a.s.sured, he will surely come back safely," Jiang Yu patted Ya Qi"s shoulder. "Why don"t you follow the doctor, just in case he needs your help. Right, current tribe doctor? "
Jiang Yu couldn"t resist teasing Ya Qi every time he saw him, but this time before Ya Qi"s had begun to blush, Qi immediately batted away his hand.
"Let"s go, my mom the doctor called for you." Qi pulled Ya Qi away.
"Hey, don"t pull me! Ah Yu, is your hand is okay?" Even though he was pulled by his favorite shapes.h.i.+fter, Ya Qi resisted. He had seen Qi hit Ah Yu"s hand just now. Ah Yu"s hand certainly must hurt right now!
"It"s okay, it"s okay," Jiang Yu waved to him, secretly grimacing in pain while cursing Qi. You better not give me a chance to get back at you, or I"ll punch you until you"re black and blue!
But looking at the two young people so happy together, Jiang Yu"s mouth felt a little strange and filled with sourness.
Ya Qi loves Qi and Qi also loves Ya Qi. When he sees how Qi acts towards himself, he knows that their feelings are extremely deep.
Why aren"t Mu and himself like this?
Jiang Yu looked around and tried to find Mu. Then he suddenly remembered that Mu would have also been sent to the forest.
When he thought about his current behavior toward Mu, Jiang Yu felt frustrated. No, he had to think of a way to pursue Mu today! At worst, he"d ask his mom and have him come up with ideas!
Everyone looked for a day and a night, yet no Ya An was found. The atmosphere inside the tribe was extremely tense.
There aren"t many people in the tribe, so they are all cherished by everybody. Moreover, Ya An is a very talented chimera, so everyone is worried.
Even at the next morning, no one had found Ya An. All of the people"s expressions were very heavy. Ya An"s mother and father were even more distraught.
"Hu, Ya Ming, it might be hard to accept the reality, but Ya An is probably already..."
"No, it"s impossible, my child wouldn"t send himself into a beast"s mouth, he is sensible, he definitely hasn"t run away!" Ya An"s mother violently shook his head, unwilling to accept that his child was already dead.
"Ai ...", everyone sighed and did not say anything else. They just continued to look in the forest.
If he had really died in the forest, they would always find the body.
During the time when everyone had dispersed to look for him, Ya An suddenly returned alone to the tribe that afternoon.
"Ya An! You"re okay!" His mother hugged him excitedly and couldn"t help but cry.
"Mom, I"m fine. I know everyone is looking for me. I"ve really inconvenienced them" Ya An very politely bowed to everyone. "Thank you."
"It"s okay, it"s okay, you"re back home." Everyone was also very happy to see that Ya An was back. After Ya An had said a few words to them, they dispersed to their own homes.
As Jiang Yu was heading home, he frowned. Something felt wrong.
He always had the nagging feeling that after coming back, Ya An was a little weird. Although he couldn"t pinpoint why, he really gave Jiang Yu the impression that something strange was going on.
Ya An"s temperament is very self-righteous. He was robbed of his original position of the doctor by Ya Qi, but he didn"t throw a tantrum or try to bully Ya Qi. Instead, he stays calm and even thanks everyone?
No, there is definitely witchcraft involved in this!
Jiang Yu secretly increased his vigilance. He must be observant of Ya An during this time and make sure nothing bad happens.
However, three months later, Jiang Yu was still not able to find any abnormalities with Ya An. He seemed to have turned into a very quiet person who went out to collect herbs. He didn"t do anything that crossed the line, and during Jiang Yu"s secret observation of him, he didn"t even say anything bad about Ya Qi.
Jiang Yu was suddenly shocked, how is this possible?
Apart from Ya An"s incident, Jiang Yu was also occupied with what to do with Mu.
He embarra.s.sedly mentioned it to his mom, so that he could help him come up with ideas on how to pursue Mu. His mom laughed for a while when he first raised the topic. Later he discovered that the little guy was so embarra.s.sed he was angry. Only then did he start to brainstorm ideas about what Jiang Yu should do.
Jiang Yu kept all these thoughts in his mind as he went to find Mu the next day, but Mu did not want to see him!
He looked unbelievably at Aspen, who was in front of him. "Have you spoken to Mu? How could he not want to see me?"
Aspen"s face was stiff. He obviously could not stand others doubting him. He resisted his anger and said with a smile, "How could I lie to you? It is true."
Jiang Yu did not believe him and started to shout loudly outside the door. After a long time, Mu came out. Jiang Yu saw him and was very happy. He was just about to talk when he was frozen by Mu"s cold face.
"Why are you looking for me?" Mu said with a cold face. "Spit it out, I"m busy."
Jiang Yu had not seen this expression on Mu"s face since the two of them were open and honest with each other, when they were picking herbs. He was shocked by Mu"s coldness, and said dazedly, "I want to collect herbs. ."
"I still have things to do, I can"t go." After Qi finished talking, he did not give Jiang Yu any time to reply, but immediately turned and walked back.
When Jiang Yu arrived back home, his mind was at a loss. Besides feeling shocked, he only felt wronged. He couldn"t help crawling into bed and bawling for a while.
Why did Mu start treating him like this all of a sudden?