Chapter 29

After a night’s rest, Li Yuanxi reluctantly lifted her head from Wei Shu’s shoulder. Somehow, they had ended up holding each other again.

Li Yuanxi lay flat on her back and glanced sideways at Wei Shu, who was sleeping soundly on her side. She let out a sigh, feeling a bit melancholic. They weren’t lovers, but they slept even more entwined than a real couple—what was she supposed to do?

Her arm was still under Wei Shu’s neck. Luckily, there was a gap there, or her arm would have gone numb—just like last time.

Wei Shu had her eyes closed. When she was fast asleep, her face looked soft and obedient, the corners of her mouth slightly lifted in a sweet, cute smile. Her warm, moist breath fell on Li Yuanxi’s arm.

It tickled—an irresistible itch, like a feather brushing against her heart. Li Yuanxi stared at Wei Shu’s face and swallowed hard. She slowly withdrew her arm and got out of bed.

Sitting on the edge of the bed with her feet on the ground, Li Yuanxi looked grim. She bent over, hugging her knees tightly. A certain part of her body had reacted again. She rubbed her forehead in annoyance, opened the cave door, and walked out.

This was the second time on this island that she’d had a physical reaction. The time gap was too short. She had only… Li Yuanxi’s mind flashed back to Wei Shu’s sleeping face, and a wave of disgust washed over her.

She felt she had defiled her best friend. Li Yuanxi lowered her head and waited for the restlessness in her body to subside. The calls of wild geese echoed everywhere in the forest.

“When do wild geese fly across the ocean?” Li Yuanxi’s sluggish brain finally kicked in. She had a bad feeling. Geese only migrated on a large scale during winter.

Li Yuanxi slapped her forehead. Obviously, this island was a temporary stopover for the geese. They would rest here for a maximum of two days, then take off again after eating and drinking their fill.

Maybe even more birds would come to rest and stop here today. Li Yuanxi’s whole body cooled down. She looked up at the geese flying over the forest and remembered what Wei Shu had said yesterday: geese were very faithful.

Geese and cranes were alike—they were loyal to their mates, loving only one partner for life.

Did she also look forward to having a mate?

Li Yuanxi lowered her head in confusion. She had to admit there was a faint, secret joy, but she quickly pushed it aside. She needed to think about one thing: would this island also experience a cold snap?

If a cold snap came and the temperature dropped to around ten degrees Celsius, she and Wei Shu would shiver. They could still bear it. But if it got lower, they would face a much bigger challenge.

Especially since there were no mountain ranges or islands around to block the cold. She had originally thought there wouldn’t be winter at sea.

Now, she wasn’t so sure. She had to make plans early for the coming winter.

Li Yuanxi started counting the days. Their plane had crashed on September 25. Now, a month had passed since the crash.

That meant autumn was over. On the mainland, the temperatures had already started to drop. On the island, because of the strong sun, the temperature difference between day and night was noticeable, but the chill of deep autumn hadn’t yet arrived.

After taking care of her personal matters, Li Yuanxi walked into the cave and ran right into Wei Shu, who was holding a cup and getting ready to brush her teeth. After that incident, Li Yuanxi’s face flushed bright red the moment she saw Wei Shu.

As Wei Shu passed by Li Yuanxi, she caught a faint, familiar scent of agarwood. But when she tried to smell it again, it was gone.

Li Yuanxi pressed her body against the stone wall, avoiding Wei Shu as she leaned in, afraid that Wei Shu would sense her nervousness. But her red cheeks and evasive eyes had already given her away.

Wei Shu squinted and moved closer to Li Yuanxi, deliberately sniffing her, then tilted her head back and asked curiously, “Did you sneak a snack? Why are you so guilty?”

“Who sneaked a snack!” Li Yuanxi turned away awkwardly. She refused to admit that Wei Shu’s sudden approach had made her heart race several beats faster and still hadn’t slowed down. And she hadn’t sneaked any snacks!

“Hmph.” Wei Shu looked at Li Yuanxi’s reddened face and smiled softly. Her eyes, clear as a pool of water, held a teasing glint and joy.

Li Yuanxi snorted lightly, avoiding Wei Shu’s smile. Her pounding heart wouldn’t calm down. She covered her chest and took a deep breath to slow the rhythm. Thinking of the scene just now, she couldn’t help but let out a low laugh.

Good thing Wei Shu couldn’t see her face—if she had, she would have been shocked by how foolishly she was grinning.

Li Yuanxi boiled half a barrel of water. When it boiled, she threw in half a lemon she’d kept from yesterday. This was their main source of vitamin C.

The tangy, fresh scent of lemon filled the cave. Li Yuanxi lifted the barrel and poured out two cups of hot water. The round aluminum can on the small table steamed. Wei Shu came in and drank the warm water at just the right temperature.

Breakfast was simple: just a plain boiled taro, paired with a little purple wild grass that could supplement trace elements. The taste was unique—not bitter or astringent, but hard to swallow.

“Are you sure this grass is edible?” Li Yuanxi looked at the wild grass she had boiled; the soup had turned purple and tasted strange. “It’s perilla grass,” Wei Shu said, picking up a perilla leaf and chewing it elegantly.

Seeing Wei Shu eat it, Li Yuanxi had to swallow hers too. So this was perilla grass? It looked different from the perilla she knew.

“Eating it can prevent colds and soothe the stomach,” Wei Shu informed Li Yuanxi as she watched her chewing the grass one strand at a time.

“Oh, oh, oh.” Li Yuanxi nodded quickly and, under Wei Shu’s watchful gaze, finished the grass in a few mouthfuls. Satisfied, Wei Shu continued with her own.

“Yesterday’s geese are flying south for the winter. Our island is their stopover point.” Li Yuanxi frowned. “Based on the time we arrived on the island, it’s already the end of October.”

She looked at Wei Shu. “Let’s set aside some spaces for food storage and firewood storage.” Wei Shu patted Li Yuanxi’s wrist and offered her opinion.

“I was thinking the same thing. I want to bring back all the big barrels on the beach. We need to prepare more food during this time. We don’t have enough clothes, so we’ll have to rely on firewood and food to survive the winter.”

After discussing the day’s tasks, Li Yuanxi went out of the cave to move the remaining barrels. Wei Shu stayed inside to organize and reorganize the firewood storage.

In winter, they needed dry wood so the smoke wouldn’t build up inside the cave. With the door closed, they could also keep the temperature inside.

Li Yuanxi walked to the back beach. A large group of gray birds lay sunbathing on the sand. What had been a clean beach yesterday was now covered in droppings.

“This is a beach with a smell.” Li Yuanxi held her breath, shooed away the geese resting on the barrel, hoisted it up, and trudged into the water, pushing the barrel away from the noisy, chattering beach.

The two geese she had shooed circled overhead, following her as she flew. Li Yuanxi didn’t feel much. She dragged the barrel forward with a vine, when suddenly something landed beside her.

Li Yuanxi dodged, and something else fell. She widened her eyes. “What the hell!!!”

She looked up and saw two geese circling above her head. She muttered uncertainly, “These… couldn’t be the two I just chased away, could they?”

Those two geese perched on the barrel had been young adults. One was male, one female, smaller than fully grown adults. They had been following their parents on the flight.

They had slipped away from their parents to forage and had come together, snuggling. Then a tall, skinny giant had driven them away. The two young geese were furious and chased after Li Yuanxi.

When the first attack was dodged, the goose with slightly white wings craned its neck and called a few more times. A few more geese came flying over. Li Yuanxi saw this was going to turn into full-blown pursuit!

Immediately, a rain of droppings fell on her head. Li Yuanxi sprinted, dragging the barrel through the waves. She ran fast, but she couldn’t outrun the birds above.

Suddenly, the beach turned into a scene of Li Yuanxi hopping around to avoid the geese dive-bombing her.

“Oh, damn! Once or twice is enough!!!”

“You geese have gone too far!!!”

Standing on the beach, Wei Shu heard Li Yuanxi’s shouts and ran over quickly. Then she saw a sight that made her laugh.

Seven or eight geese circled around Li Yuanxi, sometimes flying high, sometimes swooping low and skimming over the top of her head.

Li Yuanxi covered her head, feeling like she’d never been this close to geese before. Were geese this vengeful?

When another goose swooped low and tried to flap her with its wings, Li Yuanxi shot out her hand like lightning, grabbed its neck, twisted its wing behind its back, and immobilized it.

“Little thing, when your ancestor was catching chickens on Earth, you weren’t even born.” Li Yuanxi shook the struggling goose, looked up at the other geese calling anxiously, ignored them, and planned to take it home to stew for Wei Shu.

After being sprayed with something indescribable on her shoulder, Li Yuanxi was already angry. And now this endless harassment—she might as well eat it.

They were short on food anyway. Li Yuanxi looked up at the geese circling overhead, unwilling to leave. She narrowed her eyes, a dangerous glint appearing. “If I could catch a dozen or so, that wouldn’t be bad.”

She climbed ashore, looking bedraggled. Struggling, she lifted her leg and stepped onto the wet sand, letting out a heavy breath.

Wei Shu patted the grayish-white feathers stuck to her hair and looked at the goose—at least four jin—in her hand.

“Let’s go home.” Wei Shu’s expression was calm and cold, with no sign of yesterday’s attempt to dissuade Li Yuanxi.

Li Yuanxi had expected Wei Shu to ask her to release the goose. She had even prepared herself mentally. But to her surprise, “Hehe…” Li Yuanxi brightened up, all the frustration gone. She dragged the barrel ashore.

She casually tied up the goose, mainly wrapping its beak so it wouldn’t bite Wei Shu. When that was done, she handed the goose to Wei Shu and bent over to haul the barrel herself.

After a lot of effort, she carried the second barrel to the cave entrance. Wei Shu flipped the backpack basket over the goose and weighed it down with two stones. The goose couldn’t get free, and no one could rescue it.

The geese in the sky followed them, staying above the forest without leaving. Li Yuanxi completely ignored the birds that shat on her head—it was too much.

At first, she hadn’t seriously considered hunting them. Now, she felt stupid. One goose was several jin of meat. The innards after slaughter could be used as bait.

And given the density now, her hunting success rate would be high. Winter was coming. The more food they had, the better their chances of survival.

If they couldn’t survive, hypocritical kindness was just hypocrisy. Li Yuanxi made up her mind to hunt the geese.

“I plan to use the geese as a food reserve. You…” Li Yuanxi was still worried that Wei Shu might feel uncomfortable. She stood in front of Wei Shu and asked if it was okay.

“Fine. There are plenty of geese,” Wei Shu said, looking up at the forest canopy, where many geese were still vaguely visible flying.

Besides geese, there might be other large birds arriving in the next few days. But geese were usually the first to migrate.

Li Yuanxi finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “Did you see that flock? They were way too much, shitting right on my head.”

Li Yuanxi grabbed Wei Shu’s hand, asking for comfort. She even deliberately rubbed her head against Wei Shu’s shoulder, breathing in her pleasant scent, and felt a little less disgusted.

Wei Shu was about to comfort her when she stiffened and asked, “Did any of it get on you?”

“Wah… it landed on my shoulder…” Li Yuanxi had just started faking a crying voice when Wei Shu gently pushed her away. Li Yuanxi looked up at her in confusion, her clear eyes asking, “What’s wrong?”

Wei Shu took a step back and gave an awkward smile. She pointed at Li Yuanxi’s shoulder. “I’m not disgusted by you, I just think you should change your clothes.”

“Huh?” Li Yuanxi sniffled, on the verge of tears. She turned and walked away. She was hurt. She was sad. If Wei Shu had gotten shit on her, she definitely wouldn’t have minded!