"Wow~ This place is pretty nice, small and unique. It should be quite cozy after a little decoration."
Xiang Yuanyuan walked around, her boots making the snow crunch, but she didn't feel cold, instead she felt very interested.
She didn't know what this place looked like when Du Ruo lived here.
At that time, the house was drafty and many of the wooden structures of the floors and walls had been destroyed.
Du Ruo was the only one who didn't care about this environment, so he didn't pay attention to it, but compared with now, it was a world of difference.
"Haha, as long as you like it, I'll light the stove first so that the house will be warmer."
Seeing that Xiang Yuanyuan was happy, Du Ruo was even more satisfied with this place, but the tent he had just bought was no longer needed.
Originally, he wanted to let Xiang Yuanyuan stay in the tent while he went to repair the wooden house. Now it seems that it is completely useless, which saves him a lot of trouble.
"You go move the things, I'll take care of this."
Xiang Yuanyuan didn't let Du Ruo make a fire. She took the firewood from Du Ruo's hand, pointed to the daily necessities piled outside, and then squatted beside the stove.
"Please don't set the cabin on fire."
Du Ruo was not very reassured. Although he had not lit the stove for a long time, with his skills, it was absolutely impossible for him to start a fire.
"Just go and do your own thing. My family doesn't just make medicinal wine. We used to make our own wine. And I'm the best at making fire."
Xiang Yuanyuan glanced at Du Ruo with a confident look on her face.
Xiang Yuanyuan really didn't lie. After a while, the fire was lit, and Du Ruo had already moved the supplies into the wooden house and arranged them.
Uncle Xiong came over after a while, this time carrying a bigger pot filled with steaming hot chicken stewed with mushrooms. The aroma made Xiang Yuanyuan, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but feel her stomach growling.
"That's great. If you need anything, come to my house and get it. I'll be back first."
Uncle Xiong waited for Du Ruo to take the large basin in his hand, but did not go into the house. Instead, he stood at the door and looked around the bright yet warm wooden house. Inside the wooden house, even the floor had been newly laid, and there was no longer the previous musty smell.
After reading it, he sighed, politely declined Du Ruo's request to come into the house for tea, turned around and went back with the flashlight.
"Wow~ It smells so good and tastes so good. They used to say that all the food in Northeast China is stewed and tastes the same. I didn't expect it to smell so good and taste so good."
After Uncle Xiong left, the two of them gathered around the stove and ate from the big bowl that Uncle Xiong had brought.
Xiang Yuanyuan was holding a pot sticker soaked with soup in her hand and eating the small hazel mushrooms in the stew non-stop, talking as she ate and couldn't stop at all.
"If it tastes good, eat more. These mushrooms are picked and dried by themselves, and the hens are also raised by them."
Seeing Xiang Yuanyuan eating happily, Du Ruo couldn't help but eat a little more, but the portion was still a bit big. Without Du Ruo's intention to eat more, Xiang Yuanyuan couldn't finish it all and left some.
You don’t have to worry about it going bad these days, just cover it slightly and you can eat it the next day.
After eating, Du Ruo cleared out a piece of space in front of the wooden house, found a big dry tree nearby, made a simple set of rough wooden tables and chairs, and lit a bonfire in the open space.
Du Ruo just sat outside holding Xiang Yuanyuan and looked at the stars in the sky.
At the edge of the forest, the sky was not polluted at all. Looking up, one could see the starry sky, but there was no other light around except where they were.
This feeling of being on the edge of the world brought Xiang Yuanyuan a different experience.
Because it was already spring, the cold wind was not so biting. Moreover, Xiang Yuanyuan curled up in Du Ruo's arms and did not feel the cold at all, as if the cold wind around her automatically bypassed Du Ruo when it blew.
"It's great, it's just the two of us together, husband, we want to be together forever... and the baby."
Xiang Yuanyuan looked up at the sky. The stars were exceptionally bright, as if they were right in front of her. Xiang Yuanyuan stretched out her hand with her five fingers spread out, as if to grab the stars. With her other hand, she touched her lower abdomen and said something softly.
"Well...we'll go to the mountains tomorrow. I don't know if we can find the tiger."
Du Ru originally wanted to make a promise to Xiang Yuanyuan, but then he thought of his own situation, so he subconsciously avoided the question and changed the subject.
"Yes, I can definitely do that~"
Xiang Yuanyuan withdrew her hand, shrank closer to Du Ruo's arms, and said something in an affirmative tone, but it was unclear whether she was answering herself or Du Ruo.
There were no insects chirping near the woods, only the occasional sound of wind blowing through the leaves. It was very quiet, and coupled with the dark night, it made for a particularly good night's sleep.
However, Xiang Yuanyuan would still be woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of Du Ruo scratching her body. Only after she comforted her gently would Du Ruo relax again.
Xiang Yuanyuan didn't know whether she should tell Du Ruo about this, but when she saw that Du Ruo had returned to normal during the day, she continued to keep her thoughts to herself.
"Hubby, isn't your body transformation finished yet?"
The next morning, Xiang Yuanyuan sat by the fire and slightly heated up the leftover food from yesterday. While eating, she inadvertently said something gentle.
"Not yet. This time it really lasted a bit longer. It should be over soon."
When this was mentioned, Du Ruo subconsciously pulled out the panel, and then felt the itch deep in his body, frowning.
"Well, husband, I'll give you some chicken wings. Shall we go to the mountain later?"
When Xiang Yuanyuan saw Du Ruo frowning, she stopped asking questions and looked at Du Ruo with curiosity.
"Let's go around the village first and return the big basin. When the sun comes out, we'll go to the mountain."
Du Ruo finished the remaining dishes, then took a pill from the wooden box and threw it into his mouth. He then took the bowl and chopsticks to the nearby stream to wash them, and fetched a bucket of water back to the wooden house.
After doing all this, he took Xiang Yuanyuan and the big basin and walked towards the village.
The village was sparsely populated, with many empty rooms and few young people. After the two men returned the large basin, they took a quick look around and, finding it not fun, headed up the mountain.
"Wow, this road is so slippery."
Walking in the mountains, Xiang Yuanyuan's snow boots stepped on the melting snow. Although she was very careful, the road was still slippery. If Du Ruo hadn't been beside her, she might have slipped several times.
"Are you sure you don't want me to carry you for a while?"
Du Ruo carried the handle of the Tang sword on her back and held Xiang Yuanyuan's arm. She originally wanted to carry Xiang Yuanyuan into the mountains, but she wanted to experience it. However, the fact that she almost slipped after taking a few steps still made Du Ruo a little worried.
The snow had become thinner, and when Xiang Yuanyuan stepped on it with his shoes, he could feel the dead leaves and mud underneath.
"Hey, I'll just be more careful, it's okay."
Xiang Yuanyuan looked around as she walked, saying to be careful, but her mind was not on her feet at all. She didn't care because she knew Du Ruo was beside her.
The two walked very slowly, but their interest in each other did not diminish at all. Fortunately, after entering the mountain, the road became much easier to walk on because the slope was not very high.
It was called a road, but in fact there was no road at all. Du Ruo just took Xiang Yuanyuan to the chestnut tree where the black bear was found last time.
As Du Ruo walked, he listened to the movements around him and was able to capture a lot of useful information.
Just like now...
"Honey, can I have some snacks?"
As they walked, Du Ruo suddenly asked a question.
"Huh? What snacks?"
Xiang Yuanyuan was originally observing a bare persimmon tree, and when she heard Du Ruo say this, she immediately became interested.
"Wait~"
Du Ruo smiled, then took a light step and rushed forward. After just a few steps, Du Ruo's body rose up and landed on top of a big tree.
Xiang Yuanyuan looked up and saw Du Ruo reaching his hand into the hole in the tree.
Originally, Xiang Yuanyuan thought that Du Ruo had found the squirrel's storage room.
Unexpectedly, when Du Ruo pulled his hand out from the tree hole, what he held in his hand was not dried fruit, but a furry squirrel.
"Squeak!!"
The squirrel was caught by Du Ruo from the warm tree hole. After Du Ruo put it on the tree trunk beside it, the squirrel, which was originally a little confused, cried twice and then immediately ran to the end of the tree trunk.
But when the squirrel looked back, it saw Du Ruo putting his hand into the tree hole again. Suddenly, the squirrel, which was about to escape, stopped and stood on the branch watching Du Ruo's movements.
"Cuckoo!!!!"
It was not until he saw Du Ruoshou come out of the tree hole again with a handful of dried fruits in his hand that he started to turn around anxiously. However, he did not dare to get too close. He could only stand on the branch and kept making angry noises.
But Du Ruoke didn't care. He kept reaching in and taking out handfuls of dried fruits and putting them into his pocket.
“Gugu!! Gugugugu!!!”
This made the squirrel very anxious and he started cursing loudly.
"Haha, okay, look how anxious you made the little guy. I can't eat that much."
Xiang Yuanyuan was laughing while watching from below. After Du Ruo took out three handfuls of food, she quickly called out to Du Ruo to stop him, fearing that Du Ruo would take out all of the little squirrel's dry food.
"Okay~ Really, you're so stingy. You can't finish all this. Here, this is for you. It's compensation. This one won't do. This one is too big. It has to be given to my wife."
Du Ruo replied to Xiang Yuanyuan, then took out a big walnut from his pocket and handed it to the little squirrel. However, after handing it over, he took a look at it, put the big walnut back and replaced it with a small pine nut.
"Hiss!!" The little squirrel looked at the pine nuts that Du Ruo handed over, snorted angrily from its nostrils, and then bit Du Ruo's hand.
It was a pity that its sharp teeth bit into Du Ruo's fingers, just like biting a piece of cowhide, with no effect at all. But it did not let go, and stared at Du Ruo while biting.
"Hey, forget it. I won't tease you anymore."
When Du Ruo saw that the little squirrel was angry, his hand slipped and he broke free from the squirrel's teeth. He replaced the pine nuts with hazelnuts and placed them on the branch. Then he jumped lightly and returned to Xiang Yuanyuan.
"You just bully these little animals."
Xiang Yuanyuan saw the squirrel on the branch still jumping up and down and chirping, and she lightly hit Du Ruo's shoulder with some amusement.
"It's okay. There's still a lot of food in the squirrel's nest. We can't finish it all."
Du Ruo crushed the walnut in his hand and handed it to Xiang Yuanyuan, then continued walking forward with Xiang Yuanyuan.
But Du Ruo was carefully feeling the place on his finger where the squirrel had just bitten him.
Although the little squirrel's teeth were powerful, its bite force was almost inaudible to Du Ruo. However, he had a keen sense and noticed something strange about the finger that the little squirrel had bitten.
It seemed that... when I was bitten by the squirrel, the itch that went deep into my finger bones became a little weaker.
It’s just that the change was so small that if Du Ruo hadn’t had extremely sharp perception, he might not have noticed it.
This made Du Ruo inevitably have a hint of speculation in his mind, perhaps the solution to the unbearable itching in his body might lie in these woods.
Now Du Ruo is even more looking forward to finding the black bear and the tiger as soon as possible.
Du Ruo was afraid that there might be bacteria on the dried fruits, so she helped Xiang Yuanyuan peel the fruits herself, and then used her breath to take out the flesh and gave it to Xiang Yuanyuan to eat.
Xiang Yuanyuan was just complaining about Du Ruo bullying small animals, but now he is eating them with unusual happiness. One has to admit that the little squirrel is good at selecting and storing dried fruits. None of them are bad, and they are all very plump and taste unusually sweet.
It would have taken Du Ruo only ten minutes to walk to the place where the black bear was peeling chestnuts, but it took her an hour and a half to get there with Xiang Yuanyuan.
Xiang Yuanyuan was eating dried fruits and couldn't stop at all. Du Ruo kept peeling them and she kept eating them.
Occasionally he would stuff one into Du Ruo's mouth, completely forgetting about the little squirrel, the victim just now.
"We're here. When the chestnuts were here, the black bear took the initiative to help peel them."
Du Ruo brought Xiang Yuanyuan to the chestnut tree. While talking, he took out the photos on his mobile phone and showed them to Xiang Yuanyuan.
"Has the black bear left now?"
Xiang Yuanyuan compared the photo on her mobile phone with the now bare chestnut tree and asked Du Ruo curiously.
"It shouldn't have gone far. By then it will have already gone into hibernation. Let's look for it."
Du Ruo listened carefully to his surroundings and did not hear any animal sounds. As he spoke, the Tang sword on his back automatically flew out of the scabbard and Du Ruo stepped on it.
"Wow, are you looking for it by flying?"
When Xiang Yuanyuan saw Du Ruo stepping on the sword, she followed suit without saying a word, and consciously grabbed Du Ruo's hands and let Du Ruo put his hands on her waist.
"Of course we have to fly to find it. Otherwise, how long will it take to find it? Let's go~~"
Du Ruo smiled, hugged Xiang Yuanyuan, then flew on the flying sword and landed directly above the sea of books.
"Wow~~"
The trees in Lesser Khingan Mountains were extremely tall. Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan were only about one meter above the treetops on their flying swords. Then, as Xiang Yuanyuan exclaimed, they circled around on their flying swords, searching outward.
The flying sword was not very fast. On the one hand, it was to prevent Xiang Yuanyuan from being blown too hard by the wind, and on the other hand, it was to facilitate the search.
Flying above the sea of trees, the surroundings are endless and it really feels like being in the ocean. In addition, it is already April, and although there is still snow on the ground, many trees have begun to sprout and grow new buds.
In addition, many trees are evergreen all the year round, and the forest is generally mostly green. When flying above, the sea of trees seems to be connected to the sky, and the scenery is really amazing.
"Found it~"
In less than ten minutes, the flying sword had searched the surrounding area of nearly ten kilometers. After Du Ruo said something, he stepped on the flying sword and flew towards a tall tree.
"Whoosh~"
The flying sword fell from the top of the tree, and when it was about to reach the ground, Du Ruo walked down from the sword holding Xiang Yuanyuan. The Tang sword shook in the air, and then automatically returned to the scabbard behind Du Ruo.
In front of the two men, a black bear was digging at a big tree with its mouth wide open, gnawing at the bark and roots of the tree with its sharp teeth, completely unaware of the two people behind it.
At this time, Black Bear had lost a lot of weight. If he still had a round face and a big belly when he met Du Ruo, he now looked very slim. The big belly was gone, and even his face had become thinner. Not only that, there was an unpleasant smell all over Black Bear.
However, Xiang Yuanyuan was trying hard to watch the black bear at the time and did not notice the stench.
Du Ruo gestured to Xiang Yuanyuan to stay where she was, while he took a few steps forward silently and walked towards the black bear.
Xiang Yuanyuan was not worried about Du Ruo at all, and even took out her cell phone to start filming.
Du Ruo came to the black bear quietly, without saying a word, and just stood behind the black bear, stretching his head and watching the black bear eat the bark and roots in big mouthfuls.
"That's all you're going to eat?"
The black bear might be extremely hungry, or it might also think that Yuanyuan was standing downwind, so it didn't notice at all. After observing for a while, Du Ruo couldn't help but ask a question.
"!!!"
The black bear was eating happily, but was frightened by Du Ruo's words.
"boom!!!"
The black bear shuddered, and instinctively slapped the place where Du Ruo was standing. The bear's paw hit the side of Du Ruo's body. Du Ruo did not dodge and was hit hard.
"Tsk tsk, the power has decreased a lot, it seems that he is starving due to hibernation."
Du Ruo smiled and couldn't help but say "you", but she was very happy in her heart.
His guess was right. Being hit really could relieve the itching of the body. The powerful slap from the black bear just now made the place where he was hit seem to be less itchy, and instead gave him a refreshing feeling.
"Bang! Bang bang!!"
The black bear didn't even bother to identify Du Ruo. It stood up and was as tall as Du Ruo. It attacked Du Ruo with its left and right arms as if it was frightened and kept hitting him.
However, Du Ruo was hit several times by the black bear like an iron stake, but his body did not move at all. The corners of his mouth were raised and there was a happy smile on his face. It was obvious that he was in a good mood.
"roar~"
After slapping Du Ruo several times in a row, the black bear instinctively opened its mouth and bit Du Ruo.
Seeing this, Du Ruo smiled even more like a masochist, expecting the black bear to bite him.
"Woo~~"
But before the black bear bit Du Ruo, it saw Du Ruo's face clearly, then sniffed it twice with some confusion. Then the black bear shuddered, subconsciously turned its feet inward, retracted its teeth, whimpered twice, and sat on the ground, protecting its crotch with its front legs.
"..."
Seeing this scene, Du Ruo, who was originally expecting something, was stunned. Even Xiang Yuanyuan, who was holding up her mobile phone to take pictures, was stunned.
There was silence at the scene, and Du Ruo knew that the black bear had recognized him.
"You bastard, I gave you the chance but you didn't make any use of it."
Du Ruosheng slapped the black bear on the shoulder and said something speechlessly.
"Woo~"
The black bear was not angry. He whimpered and just sat on the ground looking at Du Ruo. He had a wronged expression on his face, and even the corners of his eyes seemed to be wet.
"Get up... You really stink. You must have just woken up from hibernation. Never mind. Let me take you to a full meal first."
Du Ruo originally wanted to say something, but then he smelled the unpleasant odor from the black bear, and his eyes fell on the black bear's flat belly.
He immediately gave up the idea of getting the black bear up and continuing to pat it, and decided to find something for the black bear to eat first.
"Wife, this black bear stinks. I saw a river ahead. Let's take it there to wash first, and then catch some fish for it to eat."
Du Ruo knew that if he wanted the black bear to work, he had to feed it first, so he told Xiang Yuanyuan.
"Good~"
Xiang Yuanyuan had no objection and originally wanted to get closer to observe and photograph the black bear, but after smelling the scent of the black bear, she decided to stay away from it.
"Forget it, let me let you experience the feeling of flying."
Du Ruo originally wanted to catch the black bear and go to the river, but after looking at the dirty black bear, he gave up.
The man walked towards Xiang Yuanyuan, then hugged Xiang Yuanyuan and ran towards the river. The black bear was like being grabbed by an invisible big hand, and then with a panicked expression on its face, its limbs left the ground and flew in the direction where Du Ruo left.
Du Ruo's mental power cannot drive the human body, but it has no effect on animals.
(End of this chapter)
