My husband is too wild, I need to go home and find my mom.

Chapter 89 Freezing and Starving to Death

Feng lifted her off his shoulder and then carried her horizontally in his arms: "Then I'll carry you back like this, so I can see what you look like."

Linni felt like a doll in his hands, as if she had no weight at all. She reached out and hugged his strong waist, pressing her face against his bare but still warm chest: "Okay."

Feng carried Lin Ni, leaping and bounding all the way home. Lin Ni looked up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and gave him a passionate kiss. Feng gazed at her with his bright, almond-shaped eyes, full of love. Lin Ni smiled at him, then jumped down from Feng's arms and turned to Yao, saying, "Yao, is lunch ready?"

Bai looked at Lin Ni with a hint of jealousy, while Yao's face remained expressionless as he smiled and said to her, "Bai and I made this together, it's ready to eat."

Linni and Feng sat down to eat lunch, and then agreed to go pick jujubes together after lunch. Yao nodded: "We can make some rattan nets."

Linni said happily, "Yao, you're so smart!"

In the afternoon, everyone went to pick jujubes. The men climbed the trees to pick them, while Linni watched from below. They used branches to knock down the higher ones. After a long day, Linni looked at the large bags and said contentedly, "That's enough. Leave some for the others."

Then she gave Mei, Li, Ling, and Hui each a small bag, mainly to tell them about the benefits of red dates so they could pick them earlier, dry them, and store them. Of course, Mei showered her with praise. Lin Ni declined Mei's invitation to stay for dinner and went home with Feng.

It was snowing lightly on the day of the Tiger Beast Tribe's second winter blessing ceremony. When Linni arrived, there were about a third fewer people than before. Hui was in low spirits. Linni chatted with her and learned that Hui's male silver wolf cub, born this year, had frozen to death in the middle of the night while sleeping. Linni felt sympathy for her but was also surprised. How could it freeze to death in their own home? It turned out they all lived in caves. Winter nights were too cold, so they would light a campfire in the cave. The silver wolf cub, however, loved to get close to the fire. Once, it almost set his fur on fire, so they kept him outside. Unexpectedly, he woke up in the middle of the night and wandered off, eventually freezing to death outside the door.

Linni comforted her for a long time, and after the prayer, she and Feng went to Mei's cave to learn about the tribe's situation.

Mei told Linni that it wasn't the coldest time yet; in twenty days, winter would reach its coldest point, and even adult orcs, let alone cubs, might freeze to death. In fact, orcs in the tribe died of freezing and starvation every year. Although everyone worked hard to gather resources in the autumn, the winter was simply too long and too cold. In previous years, the tribe would organize strong orcs into hunting parties, taking weaker orcs to hunt in more distant areas to ensure they could find enough prey to at least avoid starvation. However, this year, the tribe had dispatched people to deal with the Cursed Lands, so the number of orcs who would starve to death might be even higher. Linni thought of the jujube tree outside the tribe laden with fruit: "Actually, there are quite a few edible fruits and plants around the tribe, aren't there?"

Mei looked at Linni: "Orcs can't gain energy to increase their strength by eating fruits; they have to eat meat."

Linni was puzzled: even if they couldn't obtain energy, at least they wouldn't starve to death, right? Oh well, maybe they'd rather starve than be vegetarian? Anyway, she knew the females in the tribe ate both meat and vegetables; if the females could eat, why couldn't the males? She surveyed Mei's cave; two campfires burned inside, illuminating the entire cave brightly and warmly, indicating that her cave had sufficient supplies. Linni didn't ask any more questions and left. After leaving, she didn't go home but went directly to Hui's cave, asking Feng to teach Hui's partner how to make a heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed). Although it was already very cold, the males could still go out; making a small kang would at least ensure the cubs could stay warm through the winter.

Linni was a little worried that Hui would blame her for not telling her sooner, so that her cubs wouldn't have been in danger. Hui's moral compass was quite sound; she didn't say anything like that. Instead, she was very grateful to Linni and even wanted her and Feng to stay in the cave for food. Hui had six mates in total, one of whom she had found just before winter. She also had three cubs, but her supplies were only half of what she had in her cave, not even counting the pond full of fish she had in it. She shook her head, thanked her for her kindness, and quickly left.

After lunch, Linni asked Feng to teach everyone how to make a heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed), especially the women and families with young children, so they wouldn't get sick from the cold. Feng hadn't realized how useful the heated kang was, and he'd been busy with the Cursed Land, so he hadn't told the tribe about it. Hearing Linni's words, he felt he hadn't done enough for the tribe: "Lin, you are such a kind and great woman! I never thought of that before! I will definitely teach the tribe how to make a heated kang."

Linni smiled at Feng: "You're just too busy. I know you're a good orc who's devoted to the tribe!" Then Linni said to Bai and Yan: "You can do it too. The three of you can teach others, and then let them teach others. That way, everyone will learn quickly, and Feng won't be so busy."

Bai: "No matter how busy he is, he won't get tired. A level nine orc's body can go for days without rest! You don't need to feel sorry for him."

Lin Ni couldn't help but pat his head and scolded him with a laugh, "Feng is your older brother, why can't you stand to see him doing well?"

Feng nodded in agreement: Exactly!

Bai said, "Yao is my older brother. Look how much I care about him!" He put his arm around Yao's shoulder, even though he was shorter than Yao, pretending that he was protecting him.

Yao could only smile.

Feng: I'm so tired!

Lin Ni pulled Yao close: "Yao is mine, you're not allowed to hug him!" This Bai is always following Yao around, clinging to Yao whenever she's not clinging to herself, what's going on?

He grinned, showing his teeth, and said, "If I won't hug him, then I'll hug you."

Linni pushed him away: "Get out!"

Linni chased away her group of partners who wanted to work, and then went back to lie down on the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove).

After closing the restaurant door, Yao followed her into the room. Seeing Lin Ni rolling around on the heated kang bed, he asked with amusement, "What are you doing, Lin?"

The wooden benches in the restaurant weren't very comfortable. Lin Ni missed the sofas of the modern world; lying on them to rest when tired was just perfect. Lately, when she was tired, she either went back to lie on the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove) or snuggled up to Feng. Ever since that day she went jujube picking with Feng, she had grown to love the feeling of sitting on him—warm and reassuring. She knew Feng wasn't good with words, so she decided to make more of an intimate connection with him in this way.