Chapter 412 - 408: Too Much Meat

Chapter 412: Chapter 408: Too Much Meat

"Captain, Sister-in-law, you’re finally back."

Back at the campsite by the stream, Qi Guoqing and the others, who were eating roasted meat, were overjoyed to see Luo Hongyi and Gu Nuannuan. When they saw the large backpacks they were carrying, Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao quickly rushed forward to help with the bags.

Luo Hongyi was just thinking that the three of them had some decency after all. But then he watched, dumbfounded, as they unanimously scrambled over each other, all heading straight for the single backpack in Gu Nuannuan’s hands—his own.

That’s right. Of the five bags, Luo Hongyi had carried four of them, either on his back or in his hands. He hadn’t even wanted Gu Nuannuan to carry his own bag and get tired, even though they had only been holding them for less than five minutes. But since Gu Nuannuan insisted, he had reluctantly given his backpack to her.

Seeing Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao practically about to fight over the bag in Gu Nuannuan’s hands while he himself was completely ignored, Luo Hongyi’s face darkened. In a foul mood, he threw the four bags he was carrying straight onto the ground. Then he shoved the men aside, stomped over, and snatched the bag from Gu Nuannuan’s hands. He snarled at the three of them, "Grab your own damn bags and get lost! You’ve got nothing better to do? Why are you fighting over a bag that isn’t yours?"

"The bag is so heavy, Boss! We were just worried Sister-in-law would get tired!" Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao weren’t afraid of him this time. They all looked at him accusingly, stopping just short of saying outright, ’The bag’s so heavy, how could you let Sister-in-law carry it all this way back?’

Gu Nuannuan had to stifle a laugh, but Luo Hongyi was so frustrated he could have spit blood. He snapped, "Get lost! Standing around here in your raggedy clothes, aren’t you embarrassed?" At his words, the three of them laughed, grabbed their own bags, and also picked up Qi Guoqing’s bag as they were about to leave.

Only then did Gu Nuannuan notice that they, along with Qi Guoqing, had all washed up. Their clothes had clearly been washed too, but they were still half-damp, probably only briefly dried over the fire before they put them on. She knew it was likely because they were afraid she might return at any moment and catch them shirtless.

"Wait," she called out quickly. She hurried to her backpack, took out the jar of Hundred Herbs Rejuvenating Ointment they had used once before, and handed it to Zhang Huai. "Put some more of this on your wounds. It’ll help you heal faster."

"Got it, Sister-in-law." Zhang Huai took it with a wide grin. "Sister-in-law is the best."

"Captain, Sister-in-law, the chicken soup is warm and ready to drink. You two should have a bowl to warm your stomachs. There are also meat skewers—this is pork, and this is venison." Over there, before getting up to change clothes with the other three, Qi Guoqing pointed to the food laid out on a large rock that they were using as a table, making sure the two of them knew.

"Alright, we know. Old Qi, you should go get changed too. Why are you all wearing soaking wet clothes instead of drying them first?" Luo Hongyi waved a hand to show he understood.

After the four men ran off to change behind a large rock by the stream that was as tall as two men, Luo Hongyi turned to Gu Nuannuan. "I need to go wash up too. You go ahead and eat first." He looked at her and asked, "Are you going to wash? That rock provides some good cover. If you do, I have a set of clean clothes you can change into."

"No, this is faster than washing." Gu Nuannuan casually cast a Cleaning Technique on herself. Her already clean body became even more pristine. Luo Hongyi was dumbfounded. He watched as the few stray blades of grass on her clothes vanished without a trace, then looked down at himself, and back at her, with a deeply wronged expression on his face.

"Aren’t you going to wash up? What are you still standing here for? Or do you want me to use it on you too?" Gu Nuannuan raised her hand as if to form a hand formula. Luo Hongyi shot her a mournful look, then grabbed his clothes and stalked off in sorrowful indignation. ’If you had a trick like that, why didn’t you use it earlier? To think I had to force myself to keep my distance from you the whole way here.’

’And now? If I use it now, how scandalous would it be for me to suddenly become clean without washing, right in front of everyone?’

PFFT. Gu Nuannuan couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the mournful look Luo Hongyi gave her as he left. ’I did that on purpose. Otherwise, who knows how much he would have tried to get fresh with me on the way here.’ Hearing her laughter, Luo Hongyi felt even more aggrieved. At the same time, his heart tingled with desire, and he gritted his teeth in frustration.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Luo Hongyi and the others went off to the side to hold a meeting and discuss their plans. Gu Nuannuan, meanwhile, busied herself setting aside enough of the remaining boar and venison for the next day, then started roasting the rest into jerky. While roasting the meat, she had Cao Cao come out to help. She also took Luo Hongyi’s tattered clothes, washed and dried them, then disassembled them. She lined the fabric with clean oil paper and, in her spare time, sewed four medium-sized cloth pouches that could be tied at the waist to hold the jerky.

"Sigh, there’s too much meat. One wild boar would have been enough." Seeing that all four pouches were full while a mountain of meat still remained before her, Gu Nuannuan felt a little frustrated. ’How are we supposed to eat all of this anytime soon?’

"It’s not too much."

"It’s not. If we can’t finish it now, we can just carry it back and eat it slowly."

"That’s right. This is authentic wild game. We’re not usually lucky enough to get a taste of this."

"Exactly, exactly—"

Luo Hongyi and the other four men walked over just in time to hear Gu Nuannuan’s words, and they all chimed in with smiles on their faces. Without being asked, everyone eagerly came over to help deal with the pile of meat.

Qi Guoqing quickly stopped them. "Don’t, don’t. You all haven’t rested well these past few days. Take this chance to get some rest and build up your energy for tomorrow’s mission. Sister-in-law and I will have plenty of time to deal with this tomorrow. It’s not like it’ll spoil overnight."

"Do as Old Qi says," Luo Hongyi ordered. "You three, go clean up the cave first. Don’t forget to dry it out with fire a couple of times. Once you’re done, all of you go to sleep. Old Qi, you too. Go to sleep with them in a bit." Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao immediately agreed, each pulling a burning branch from the campfire and heading toward the cave.

"And you, Captain. Don’t get so caught up talking that you forget to rest. You’re our backbone, Captain. We can’t have you low on energy tomorrow," Qi Guoqing reminded Luo Hongyi pointedly as he organized the meat.

"Don’t worry," Luo Hongyi replied with a smile. He took the hand of Gu Nuannuan, who was clearly blushing at Old Qi’s words, and led her behind the large rock by the stream. The moment they were out of sight, he pulled her into his arms and, without another word, bent down and kissed her—