Chapter 42: Chronicles of the Great Wilderness (Part 1)
Chapter 42: Chronicles of the Great Wilderness (Part 1)
Gao Jing woke up.
He felt like he had slept for a very, very long time. It had been an incredibly deep, satisfying sleep. Waking up, he felt clear-headed and refreshed, his whole body light and comfortable.
It felt absolutely wonderful.
He could swear he had never slept so deeply and completely in his entire life!
Memories surfaced in his mind, and Gao Jing immediately sat bolt upright.
He found himself in the familiar bird’s nest-like bed, his bottom cushioned by a thick sleeping bag.
Daylight had already broken.
Clearly, after getting drunk last night, Gao Jing had been brought back to the wooden house to rest.
This was practically his temporary home in the Great World now.
Thinking about it, Gao Jing felt a little surprised.
His alcohol tolerance was now astonishing. Last time, drinking against Niu Jinxing, he alone had knocked out all three of the others.
53° proof Feitian Maotai – Gao Jing had finished nearly three bottles.
Completely unfazed.
Yet last night, the fruit wine he drank wasn’t even more in quantity than the Maotai, and its alcohol content was minimal.
How did he end up getting drunk and passing out without realizing?
A truly strange thing.
Gao Jing shook his head, disinclined to waste energy guessing the reasons.
The Great World was inherently an unscientific place; many things couldn’t be understood or measured using Blue Star’s common sense anyway.
His brain had limited capacity; thinking too much might make it explode.
He stretched his limbs, then sprang out of the bird’s nest-bed.
He spotted Shan Guoer immediately.
The little girl was sound asleep.
Her sleeping posture was peculiar.
Her upper body lay sprawled on the wooden table, arms spread out gripping the tabletop. The left side of her round little face was pressed against the wood, eyes closed, lips slightly pouted. Her nasal breathing was long and even.
As for the lower part of her body, Gao Jing didn’t need to look to know it was dangling down below.
Because she was about the same height as this table.
She could sleep like this!
And very soundly at that.
Squeak~
Just as Gao Jing was hesitating whether he should wake the little girl, a big bubble suddenly blew out of her nose.
Pop!
It immediately burst.
Gao Jing couldn’t help laughing out loud.
Hearing this, Shan Guoer sniffled and opened her big eyes.
“Shan Guoer.”
Gao Jing waved at her with a smile: “Good morning!”
Seeing Gao Jing so close, the newly awakened Shan Guoer immediately took a deep breath and puffed out her cheeks.
Puffed out so much her own little face bulged!
Yikes!
Instinctively, Gao Jing threw himself flat onto the ground on the spot.
This was an old prank the little girl used to play on Gao Jing – suddenly blowing hard at him across the tabletop, sending him tumbling sideways.
Making him feel like he was in an 18-level super typhoon – like his whole self was about to fly apart.gif!
Gao Jing’s reaction right now was pure reflex.
Giggles!
However, the expected “typhoon” didn’t come.
Shan Guoer raised her head, propped her chin on her hands, and said with a smile: “I won’t do that again anymore.”
She pouted, looking slightly unhappy. “Grandpa said I have to be polite to you. Can’t be naughty.”
Gao Jing scrambled up off the ground, unable to decide if he should laugh or cry.
Somehow, Gao Jing actually felt that the previous way was much better.
He asked curiously: “Why were you sleeping here?”
“Last night, Grandpa told me to bring you back here to sleep,” the little girl explained. “He also told me to watch over you. So I slept here.”
Warmth spread through Gao Jing’s heart. “Thank you, Shan Guoer.”
“You’re welcome.”
Shan Guoer shook her head. “You gave me so many candy pieces. It’s only right that I look after you.”
She seemed quite like a sensible little adult.
With that, the little girl plopped herself onto the tabletop, pulled a Peanut Brittle from her pocket, tore off its wrapper, popped it into her mouth, and crunched down happily.
She chewed happily, her eyes crinkling shut from the sweetness.
Gao Jing felt a bead of sweat. “Shan Guoer, you shouldn’t eat so much candy. Be careful you don’t get cavities!”
He was worried that with the little one eating like this, those 200 pieces of sesame candy wouldn’t last very many days at all.
Shan Guoer looked puzzled: “What’s a cavity?”
“Cavity is…” Gao Jing struggled to explain: “Tiny worms grow inside your teeth. Then your teeth hurt a lot. It just means your teeth are sick.”
“Ah!”
Hearing about “worms growing” and “hurt a lot”, the little girl immediately covered her cheeks fearfully.
But then she dropped her hands, held her head high, and declared proudly: “I’m not scared! My Grandpa is super good at treating sickness!
“He’s the Grand Shaman!”
You’ve got a big boss backing you up; you totally win!
Gao Jing was speechless.
Tap Tap!
Right at that moment, there was a light knock on the door of the wooden house from outside.
Speak of the devil, and the devil appears. It was the Elder Shaman who had arrived.
Grandfather!”
Shan Guoer hopped off the wooden table and threw herself into the Elder Shaman’s arms.
“You haven’t been naughty, have you, Little Guoer?”
The Elder Shaman patted her head with a smile. “Go brush your teeth and wash your face now.”
The lives of the Shan Yue Giants were simple, but they weren’t dirty.
In fact, they paid great attention to cleanliness.
No one in the Village Fort threw trash around. No one relieved themselves carelessly either. Everything was kept tidy.
Usually, the Giants used specific twigs with the bark stripped off to clean their mouths and washed themselves in the Mountain Stream.
They were a people of young civilization.
“I wasn’t naughty.”
The little girl dashed away like a streak of smoke. “I’m going to brush my teeth!”
The Elder Shaman shook his head with a laugh and turned to Gao Jing. “Your Honor…”
Gao Jing quickly replied, “Please, just call me by my name.”
Earlier, the Elder Shaman had called him “lord,” mistaking him for nobility among the Ancient Descendants.
Gao Jing naturally didn’t dare think of himself as noble.
So the Elder Shaman had switched to calling him “Your Honor.” Both “lord” and “Your Honor” were formal titles.
The first was used for nobles and the mighty, reserved for true “lords.”
The latter was used for respected commoners who held some position or reputation.
“Lord” ranked higher than “Your Honor,” while above “Lord” stood “Sovereign” and “Monarch.”
This was the hierarchy, the ruling classes of the Great Wilderness Humans!
Gao Jing had learned all this from the Chronicles of the Great Wilderness.
“Mm, Gao Jing.”
The Elder Shaman didn’t insist on the titles. “How long do you plan to stay this time?”
The question might have sounded a bit blunt to some.
It actually meant he saw Gao Jing as a true friend of the Shan Yue Tribe.
Being overly polite with friends created distance!
Gao Jing answered without hesitation. “Shaman Chief, I wished to learn from you a while longer.”
Gao Jing had already read the Chronicles of the Great Wilderness, the sacred book of the Giants of the Great World, many times over.
He could recite most passages from memory.
But knowing them by heart didn’t mean he understood them deeply.
Many of the stories within remained obscure to him.
Much of the content was still unclear.
He needed someone like the Elder Shaman, wise and experienced, to answer his questions.
Yet, learning the Chronicles wasn’t his main reason for lingering in Shan Yue Village.
His true purpose… he couldn’t reveal that to the Elder Shaman just yet.
He feared breaking an unknown taboo. That could wipe out the friendship and trust he’d worked so hard to gain.
“Of course.”
The Elder Shaman smiled. “You may learn for as long as you wish.”
“Thank you!”
Gao Jing bowed to the Elder Shaman with deep, physical act of respect.
He had long considered this Shan Yue Giant his teacher. He treated him with all honor and reverence.