The grandfather and grandson exchanged a few more words before the old man let his grandson rest well and left the room.
"Click," Weisheng Yueren looked at the firmly shut door, thinking about the fleeting figure that had passed through his mind. When he tried to probe deeper, his head started to hurt. Weisheng Yueren rubbed his temples and carefully recollected.
When he was seriously injured and unconscious, his consciousness had briefly cleared for a moment, but it was just for an instant. In a daze, he saw a figure, likely a girl, because he faintly heard her speaking.
He only saw a blurred shadow and didn't discern the person's face, but he did see something emitting a white light. Since the person was leaning over the top of his head, the object was hovering right in front of his eyes, probably a necklace.
That's right, a necklace, a long one, white, and it seemed to have some sharp things on it. That's all he could remember.
Weisheng Yueren lifted his arm and looked at the faintly pink new flesh that had grown, frowning.
He did not share this matter with his grandfather, as the Weisheng Family was already troubled enough. There was no need to add to his grandfather's worries with these things; it was better to keep this strange and puzzling incident to himself.
Primitive Forest
Seeing no hope of leaving, the children begrudgingly began to prepare their animal skin clothes for autumn and winter like they did every year.
Qinghe was about to sew a piece of tiger skin. She had followed a few Snow Wolves and saw them kill the tiger before starting their meal, skillfully skinning it then. The animals here retained their primitive wildness and were exceptionally ferocious.
But even with their ferociousness, they were no match for those abnormal Snow Wolves. Apart from some holes around the tiger's neck from the wolves' bites, the rest of the skin was almost intact, enough to make a small garment when pieced together.
Qinghe picked up a wolf tooth and casually grabbed a blade of grass. Without any noticeable action, the fragile grass somehow became exceptionally tough and easily pierced through the eye of the wolf tooth. Then, picking up a deer sinew, she threaded it through and began sewing her small garment.
Lucky for her ability, any ordinary person would struggle to survive here. Xiaoqing shook her head in resignation and continued to sew the animal skin, carrying on with her primitive life.
Done. Qinghe looked at the clothes in her hand with satisfaction. Hmm, not bad, her skills were improving. She remembered her first sewing attempt, how clumsily she used the wolf tooth and deer sinew, turning a perfectly good piece of animal skin into a pitiful sight.
A few days passed, and the tail end of summer had arrived. Autumn came as it said it would, so Qinghe had been busy preparing autumn and winter clothes. Now, finally, they were all done – clothes, trousers, a shoulder wrap, a not-so-pretty hat, and multiple layers of animal skin shoes, enough for the whole winter.
"Ah," Qinghe stretched lazily, the sunlight through the leaves feeling warm. Taking advantage of the good midday sun, she decided to go to the riverside for a bath.
The lake water was icy, yet Qinghe seemed unaffected as she stripped and plunged in with a splash.
Indeed, for someone like her who grew up in a civilized era and accustomed to hot showers, this cold water was not really comfortable.
But compared to not bathing at all and bathing with cold water, obviously, not bathing was even more unbearable for her, so with time, she acclimated, and it didn't feel so cold anymore.
The first time she bathed, she thought she was going to catch a cold, but apparently not. Her body was as sturdy as an ox; aside from one instance when she accidentally ate some poisonous berries that gave her diarrhea, she never felt uncomfortable again.
With a splash, Qinghe dove into the water, rippling the surface and darting around like a fish, swimming forward, backstroke, freestyle, and doing all sorts of fancy strokes, thoroughly enjoying herself.
In the mountains without sun or moon, a thousand years had passed in the outside world, and in the blink of an eye, Qinghe was now sixteen, blossoming into a beautiful young woman.
With a whoosh, a bamboo arrow whistled through the air and quickly impaled a chicken. Qinghe scurried over and, after observing it for a while, was quite satisfied with the results of her strenuous training.
If one looked closely, they would notice the figure holding the chicken had no bow nearby. Without a bow, how did the arrow appear, and how did it strike the prey with such accuracy?
Qinghe didn't care about these details, as if she had done it a thousand times, she skillfully slaughtered the chicken, plucked it, cleaned the innards, and started roasting it over the fire.
Then she picked up a green plant beside her and with a pinch of her bare hands, she squeezed the juice onto the chicken meat. She took a few more stalks, continued the process, and then quietly waited.
Leaning back with a casual air, with a piece of grass dangling from her mouth like a hooligan and lying on the ground with legs crossed at the ankles, she looked up at the sky, waiting for her meal.
By now, she had grown up and no longer needed to worry about how to survive after venturing out. Over the years, she had explored constantly and finally saw the outskirts of the Primitive Forest. Once she stepped out, she would be completely integrated into this era.
But if she left, what about the Snow Wolves? Xiaohe's small size didn't matter, but those wolves were two meters tall and might be a rare and special breed. If she struggled to sustain herself after leaving, how could she protect them?
Besides, they belonged to the Primitive Forest where they could run freely, hunt, and feed. How could they adapt to the narrow houses outside, the polluted air?
She didn't need to go outside to know the air must be poor. Back in 2020, environmental concerns had already attracted attention and measures were being taken to restore and change the polluted air.
Considering the airplane technology she had seen before, the current era must be before 2020, and the air quality undoubtedly terrible.
After eating her fill, Qinghe continued riding the wolves around, arriving at the outskirts of the forest and looking at the familiar life that lay just within reach, the place where she should be living. She was conflicted.
While smoothening the fur of Xiaoliu, Qinghe suddenly looked up and called out sharply, "Xiaoliu, quick."
The most winsome of them all, Xiaoliu twitched its nose, sniffed the air, and immediately bolted in the direction of the scent of blood.
Rushing like a whirlwind, Xiaoliu swept away in one direction. Qinghe's willow-shaped brows curved slightly, her mood was buoyant. She was finally going to see people again. This time, she wondered which unfortunate soul had wandered in; since there was a guest, she most certainly had to "entertain" them thoroughly.
Before Qinghe could get close, she heard the angry roars of two animals. But when she approached and saw the scene before her, she almost couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Whose unlucky child was this? Running into a beast was one thing, but bumping into two, and not just any two, but being the coveted delicacy in the struggle between two lords of the forest—she didn't know whether to say they were "lucky" or just plain unlucky.