Chapter 34: Soft Vines
Shu Hanyu hugged Shu Jintian and arrived at the aforementioned back of the mountain. This place had an expanse of forest that wasn’t too tall or large; the trees were sparse, the branches broad, and the leaves few, while several vines were wrapped around the tree trunk.
The green vines snaked around the large trees, extending their appearance in a wanton manner. Dark-green vines circled and twined around the branches, just like a passionate lover attaching themself to their lover’s well-built body.
A few clusters of tender, emerald green leaves grew from between the vine branches, with some slender vines growing out from the cluster of leaves. The slender green vines hung down from above and swayed under the breeze in the forest. The breeze passing through the vines were all dyed in a green and astringent scent.
So it turned out that this side of the mountain was just opposite of the mountain cave. The mountainside here was comparatively precipitous. If Shu Jintian were to go downhill, he would have to travel a circle around the mountain, but Shu Hanyu could proceed downhill in a straight line, which was why he could leave and return so quickly in the morning.
“Tiantian, it’s here. Hurry up and pick one; I’ll take it for you.” Shu Hanyu nudged the female in his embrace, and looked towards the vine forest with raised brows to indicate for Shu Jintian to have his pick.
“Aiya, my waist~” With Shu Hanyu’s nudge that he didn’t know the strength of, Shu Jintian’s waist immediately had a fierce fit of limpness and aching. He hastily hugged Shu Hanyu’s neck tight. He waited for a long while before he shifted his body to get down from Shu Hanyu.
Shu Hanyu let the female down and took his hand.
Shu Jintian had rested in Shu Hanyu’s embrace for a while and his strength recovered by a lot. With some difficulty, he could still walk by himself now.
Shu Jintian was led along by Shu Hanyu as if he was a lover and he was somewhat uneasy. As such, he pretended to naturally shake off Shu Hanyu’s hand and ran forward excitedly, but he actually also did find the vines to be of value.
“There really is a lot ah. That’s great! I want to bring them back.”
Shu Hanyu saw that the female became playful and didn’t bother him. He followed behind him and watched as the female played.
It turned out that those slender, thread-like vines were the toughest, and were also the softest. Shu Jintian kneaded a vine in surprise. Not bad; it was even more suitable than he had imagined.
He only had a set of clothes, and they were worn on alternate days. Before, he had always thought of escape and didn’t have the heart to care about such things. He had intended to figure those things out after he escaped. Now that he had decided to live the rest of his life with the big snake, he began to pay more attention to some details in life. First were the clothes; he had to find a way to make some.
And these vines had a soft feel, and the quality was resilient; they could probably be weaved into clothes ba!
Shu Jintian’s thoughts were uncertain. He had never made such things either, so he’ll just try it out first ba!
Shu Jintian did as he said he would. The slender vines were mostly at high places. He warmed his body up, tied the vine around his neck to his waist, then stepped on the tree branch to climb up.
This tree wasn’t tall; it was only about twenty meters tall, and in this world different from his, it was considered a relatively short tree. Moreover, this tree had many branches which grew continuously from top to bottom, so it was very easy to climb.
Shu Jintian crawled up the tree with soft legs, grabbed the vines among the dense, tender trees, and snapped them away strand by strand. A foliage’s vines had about two or three usable ones. Once Shu Jintian was done plucking one area, he was about to go for another place when he noticed that Shu Hanyu had turned into a snake form while he was unaware and had climbed up to his side.
“What’s up?” Shu Jintian sorted out the vines and arranged them on his left arm and asked casually.
“Ss ss~” Wound around the branch the female was on, the not-too-thick branch hung down slightly along with Shu Hanyu’s approach.
“Ai~ Don’t ah, be careful it breaks,” Shu Jintian cried out in alarm and crawled closer to the tree trunk.
Shu Hanyu understood the female’s meaning and directly turned around and crawled onto a neighbouring tree that was thicker. His snake body flexibly coiled tight on the branch, and the remaining tail was still mostly left at Shu Jintian’s side. The tip of Shu Hanyu’s tail plucked the vine on his arm and with a hoist, the vine glided down his smooth snake body and arrived before him.
“Ai~ What are you doing ah Hanyu?” Shu Jintian supported himself with a hand on the branch and slowly shifted to the tree trunk, slanting his butt to sit on the tree branch.
Shu Hanyu retrieved his tail and turned into a human. Holding the vine and thinking about it, he asked, “Tiantian took so many vines, did you want to make clothes?”
Shu Jintian looked at Shu Hanyu in astonishment and spoke suspiciously, “How do you know? Hold on, these vines really can make clothes? Do you know how?”
Shu Jintian became excited and wanted to crawl over to Shu Hanyu.
Shu Hanyu was a step ahead of the female and nimbly went over to where he was near the trunk, then pondered before saying, “In my memory, there’s a… woman who knows how to weave clothes to wear with these vines. But I saw that Tiantian’s clothes are all softer than those, and are much better to wear than the ones weaved by vines. I thought you didn’t know how to make them with vines, so I didn’t think about it.”
Shu Jintian said excitedly, “Really? That’s great!”
Shu Hanyu seized the opportunity to embrace the female. “Does Tiantian want to weave this sort of clothes? They aren’t as good as yours. Why doesn’t Tiantian weave the one you’re wearing?”
“It would be great if I could; how could I be picky right now?” Shu Jintian thought about various things in his past. Even though he didn’t live happily, he had a smooth life, yet now he was just trying to get by like this!
Shu Jintian thought about some of his experiences here. The more he thought about it, the more depressed he became.
Shu Jintian lowered his lids, covering his frailty.
“Tiantian?” Shu Hanyu held the female tightly then raised his head and bit his lip before giving a heavy suck.
“Wu~ What are you doing?! I still want to pick vines ne, so let go ah!” Shu Jintian said, muffled. He wasn’t able to maintain his depressed mood for more than a few seconds before it was scared away by Shu Hanyu. Shu Jintian pressed both hands on Shu Hanyu’s chest, wanting to push yet not daring to.
“Then I’ll help pluck them for you. Whatever Tiantian likes to wear, I’ll make for you.” Shu Hanyu let go of the female and reached out to swiftly climb over to a branch, then casually tore down a few vines, then switched locations to continue plucking them. Not long after, a pile of vines hung on his arm.
Ai! Forget it, everything’s in the past. Why think about it?! Just think of picking up this life and starting anew. Moreover, the big snake isn’t that bad; he could eat his fill and wear warm clothes. In such a bitter life, didn’t humans hope for just that?!
Shu Jintian looked at Shu Hanyu who was working hard in helping him pluck vines, and said with a smile, “Hanyu, don’t take those that are too thick ah, it’s a waste to pick them anyways.”
Shu Hanyu said, “I know, I have to take the ones with the same thickness, right?”
Shu Jintian suddenly recalled that the big snake had just said he saw a woman weaving clothes with vines, then asked curiously, “Have you seen other people? What relationship do you have with those women?”
Shu Hanyu’s inherited memory all came from his blood-related beastmen, and among them was his male father. However, Shu Hanyu didn’t know how to say this, and didn’t know how to convey it for a time.
Shu Hanyu thought about it, then deliberately spoke with an excuse, “They’re all other people’s women. Some are sturdy women who are well-raised, and after living with us Spiritual Snakes for so long, they want to make clothes because they only have one set too.”
“Women’s bodies shouldn’t be described as sturdy ba!” Even though he knew the big snake had just learnt his language and inevitably used some unsuitable terms, he still couldn’t help black lines covering his face.
Shu Hanyu thought the female was being jealous; after all, his build was too tiny, and feeling inferior was inevitable. As such, he hurried to comfort him.
“Even though Tiantian has a small body, you’re also very well-raised, very healthy.”
Shu Jintian, “…”
Shu Jintian endured and endured, and ultimately couldn’t stop himself from saying, “How ‘sturdy’ are your women? Laozi is 180cm tall ah! Is this considered fucking small?!”
Shu Hanyu looked at the female in amusement. “Tiantian also doesn’t have to feel inferior either. You’re only a size smaller than regular women, and only a head shorter at most too. Moreover, you look cuter like this; I like it a lot.”
It would’ve been fine if Shu Hanyu hadn’t explained, as Shu Jintian immediately became powerless after that.
Were the women in this world so strong to this degree? How tiring. He felt like he could no longer love.
It was a good thing he hadn’t thought of the women here, otherwise, he might have collapsed if he bumped into them.
The two of them plucked a large bundle of vines before Shu Jintian’s stomach began growling from hunger.
Because they were carrying vines, it wasn’t convenient for Shu Hanyu to hunt. Therefore, he first sent Shu Jintian back to the cave, then tied him up at the end of the bush by the cavern entrance so he could rest in the grass pile or go out and sunbathe.
Shu Jintian tugged at the vine in resentment, his teeth aching from hate. Hateful snake, what on earth should he do before he trusted him?
Though Shu Jintian was incredibly angry, he had never thought of breaking the vine. Because even if he broke it, the big snake would immediately tie him up again. Might as well resolve the root of the problem and first make the big snake completely trust that he wouldn’t escape.
Shu Jintian squatted in the cave, bored for a time, then began to study the vines. Though the vines felt soft, if it was broken, it would still leave some welts. So if he weaved clothes with this, it definitely wouldn’t be nice to wear. However, since someone had already made clothes with it, then it would definitely work. There must be a special method to treat the vines, but how was it treated ne?
Use salt to cure it? It’ll definitely be soft, but wouldn’t it become pickled vegetables? Or roast it over a fire? Wouldn’t it get stiffer as it’s roasted? Boil? It’ll be cooked! Could cooked clothes be worn? Or should it be dried through natural wind? It would probably turn yellow…
Shu Jintian found it to be a real headache until Shu Hanyu brought back a large pile of things.
Shu Hanyu carried a large prey in one hand, the meaty butt area already had a large piece of meat bitten off, cleaned and packed in a large seashell.
Shu Hanyu had just gotten this seashell from under the sea; the colour was much more beautiful than the one they picked up previously. Shu Hanyu had already picked clean its insides, and the inner shell was shining glossily. The colour was a pure azure colour, fading from inside out. The centre was dark while the outer parts were light, and it looked very pretty. The most wonderful part was that the outside part of this seashell was also very glossy and didn’t have as much fur, and looked very clean.
“Tiantian, let me go fill it with water. I’ll be back very soon.” Shu Hanyu tossed down the prey in his hand and passed the clean meat over to Shu Jintian, holding the seashell and about to go downhill.
“Wait, why get water? Getting water uphill is too troublesome, so let’s just roast meat now. We can boil meat next time ba!”
Shu Hanyu had been busy from morning till now, and had no time to rest for a single moment. Moreover, his bloodshot eyes always seemed as if he needed rest, and Shu Jintian couldn’t help feeling a bit distressed over the big snake. He didn’t know if the big snake’s eyes would recover, or whether it affected his eyesight.
“No, the vines can only be used after being freshly blanched in water. They all made it like this; did Tiantian not know?”
“Huh? It really does have to be boiled! Oh, then hurry up then, I’ll make a fire first.” Shu Jintian was astounded. It really did need to be cooked; why was it identical with making a meal?