Chapter 38

A faint woody scent gradually spread through the air. It was agarwood, deeply penetrating. It seeped into her lungs with every breath, soothing her spirit like a gentle breeze, instantly lifting the heavy knot in her heart.

Li Yuanxi’s eyelids fluttered. “It smells so good. Such a nice scent,” she murmured unconsciously. Her body felt an inexplicable lightness and ease. She moved her leg and felt a dampness in her pants, very uncomfortable.

Li Yuanxi opened her eyes and loosened her arm around Wei Shu. She sat up groggily, touched her pants, and the moisture on her hand woke her up instantly.

Li Yuanxi’s pupils dilated a hundred times. Reflexively, she touched her chest. Good. As round as ever. Li Yuanxi bent her knees and carefully got up, sniffing the air. She didn’t react immediately. “What’s that nice smell?”

She walked out of the cave, looked at the stain on her pants, and held her head in pain. There was a fair amount of shame mixed in. Couldn’t she be a little more disciplined!

Li Yuanxi was worried. She had never had a reaction like this before. She grabbed her hair in frustration and rubbed it vigorously.

Wei Shu woke up to the faint scent of agarwood. Her own pheromone gland reacted to the aroma, slightly opening to release her own scent, a signal that she was safe.

Wei Shu sniffed. The pheromone had no aggression or possessiveness, just a diffused smell of agarwood. She sat up, got off the bed, and took a sip of lukewarm water.

“So this is Li Yuanxi’s pheromone?” Wei Shu’s eyes were bright. She was very satisfied with the scent. It smelled wonderful. Her own pheromone danced in the cave air, trying to communicate with the pheromone’s owner.

“Seems like our matching degree must be quite high.” Wei Shu put down the cup and sat on the bed. She leaned over and smelled Li Yuanxi’s pillow, which also carried a faint scent of agarwood.

When Li Yuanxi returned to the cave, she stealthily washed her underwear and quietly changed her clothes, constantly looking back, afraid of waking Wei Shu.

Wei Shu heard Li Yuanxi’s movements. Her earlobes burned red. She thought Li Yuanxi had only released pheromone; she hadn’t expected that to happen.

It wasn’t Li Yuanxi’s first time releasing her pheromone. It had only happened twice: the day her pheromone gland matured, and the night before she left to study abroad.

Tonight was the third time. Li Yuanxi sat on the edge of the bed, her head aching. [Am I too happy, so my body just reacted naturally?]

[Before, these two things never happened at the same time. My physical reactions were always separate from my thoughts. Why have they come together now!]

Li Yuanxi caught a whiff of a floral scent. It smelled like roses, mixed with a hint of elegant evening primrose. She quickly got up, opened the wooden door to let the air in, her face as red as an apple.

She took a fan woven from coconut leaves and started fanning the air out of the cave. “Hehehehe…” Wei Shu laughed silently in the dark. Chuyi was still so cute. She had deliberately pretended not to be awake, afraid Li Yuanxi would be embarrassed.

Li Yuanxi worked for over an hour before the smell of agarwood in the cave was completely gone.

“Phew. Finally gone.” Li Yuanxi exhaled and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her arm was a bit sore from fanning for so long. She lay back down but couldn’t sleep.

She didn’t drift off until nearly dawn. When she woke up again, she was alone in bed.

Wei Shu was already outside, hanging the smoked goose meat and fish on the third row of wooden racks, spaced evenly apart. The sea breeze blew, and the shade of the trees swayed. The dark red and black goose meat also swung with the breeze.

The cleaned, split fish, after smoking, had a nice color and were hanging on the racks, too. The fish bodies were neatly cut, with a faint milky scent of coconut.

Now, the open space by the cave was completely full. Wei Shu stepped back a few paces and nodded in satisfaction.

Looking at the three neat rows of wooden racks, all festooned with vines holding goose and swan meat, she felt a great sense of accomplishment.

The sun in the sky was still strong, but the temperature wasn’t as hot as before. When the sea breeze blew, it even felt a little cool.

Based on the days Li Yuanxi had recorded, they calculated that winter would fully set in within twenty days at most.

They still didn’t know how cold the island winter would be, or how long it would last. They could only stockpile as much food as possible to ensure they had enough for the coming days.

When Li Yuanxi came out of the cave, a tuft of hair was sticking up on her head. She stood at the cave entrance, her gaze soft, quietly watching Wei Shu work. A natural, happy smile bloomed on her face.

Li Yuanxi went back inside, quickly washed up, and scarfed down her breakfast. She was ready to explore the island for other food sources.

“I’ll come with you,” Wei Shu said, also slinging her own backpack basket over her shoulder. She also picked up a few pieces of dried meat and wrapped them up, planning to skip coming back home for lunch and just have a simple meal outside.

What they needed most right now were carbohydrates. Without them, they would lose weight too quickly, harm their health and digestive systems, and become susceptible to illness.

They walked through the forest. Li Yuanxi planned to take Wei Shu on a full circuit of the island. She hadn’t succeeded in her earlier attempt; she’d gotten halfway and gotten sidetracked by hunting.

Li Yuanxi took the initiative to reach out and hold Wei Shu’s hand. A blush bloomed on her face as she kept grinning like a fool.

Wei Shu let her hold her hand, a hint of shy pink on her own face. They walked side by side along the shoreline, heading towards the sun.

Many hermit crabs were scurrying across the white sand. A seagull circled in the sky before flying away. The leaves on the island were beginning to fall.

This time, they took their usual route, returning to the beach where they’d found the big iron barrel. There were still many gray feathers on the sand, left by the wild goose flocks.

“There might be a freshwater source in the middle of the island. Swans can forage in the sea, but they prefer freshwater habitats. We’ll circle the island first, then head for the center.”

“We’ll check out the water source where the swans are. See if it’s bigger than the small pool I found in the ravine. There’s bound to be fish and shrimp in there. That would give us another reliable food source.”

After walking for half an hour, Li and Wei discovered a large, flat stretch of reefs. They carefully made their way across the gray-white reef cluster, which was covered in oysters.

Wei Shu stepped over the uneven, strangely shaped rocks and spotted a dense cluster of black mussels, each one looking very plump. Her eyes lit up. This large area of mussels was another source of protein.

Li Yuanxi bent down and used her axe to pry open an oyster. Seeing the plump meat, she started to drool. It looked delicious.

She thought of another future condiment: oyster sauce. They could boil the oysters down. Oyster sauce had a shelf life of about six months, more than enough for her and Wei Shu.

Li Yuanxi left a mark on this patch of reef with her axe, planning to come back to harvest the oysters and mussels later. She didn’t intend to stop now.

But Wei Shu spotted a chain of green plants in the shallow water. They looked like clusters of crystal-clear, bright green beads. They were quite pretty. She reached out and picked one up. Food.

“Chuyi.” Wei Shu called Li Yuanxi’s pet name and lifted the string of plants. “Look what I found?” she said, smiling, waving the thing in her hand.

“Are those sea grapes?” Li Yuanxi came over, looking at the string of green plants in Wei Shu’s hand in surprise.

“Mm, they’re sea grapes. We’ll take them home and fry them with swan eggs for dinner tonight.” Wei Shu put two leaves in her backpack basket as a cushion, then placed the sea grapes inside. She turned and saw a clump of something floating in the water.

“That purple clump looks like gracilaria,” Wei Shu said, pointing to a purple weed clump growing in the cracks of the reef, swaying with the waves. She took Li Yuanxi’s hand and ran over, picking up a strand. It really was.

“You don’t have to eat just wild vegetables anymore,” Wei Shu said, patting Li Yuanxi’s shoulder approvingly. She bent down to pull it out.

But Li Yuanxi was faster, reaching out and grabbing the gracilaria. She pulled hard, and a large clump of purple gracilaria came up in her hand. It looked a bit like hair, but thicker.

The gracilaria felt rough and substantial. After pulling it up, she thought it would taste quite crunchy.

“Gracilaria is high in fiber. There’s a lot of it here. Enough to last us a long time. It has potassium and crude protein. We got lucky.” Wei Shu smiled, pointing at the gracilaria in Li Yuanxi’s hand. The sea breeze lifted her hair, and Li Yuanxi was completely captivated.

“So we’ll have a feast tonight.” Li Yuanxi put the gracilaria in her backpack basket, leaving the roots in place to see if it would grow back.

Li Yuanxi walked around the reef cluster. It was mostly oysters, mussels, and some small sea snails. Growing in the crevices were gracilaria and bright green sea grapes.

She decided this would be their first wild seaweed garden!

Part of the flat, gray-white reef was submerged in shallow water, part exposed. There were some traces of seagulls, like their droppings.

“Shu Shu, we’re not going to starve, hahaha!” Li Yuanxi washed her hands, took Wei Shu’s hand, and continued walking. She swayed her head smugly. “I’m so happy. Happy to be with you.”

“Yeah, so you better keep it up,” Wei Shu said, stroking her hair. She looked at Li Yuanxi’s stylishly messy hair and felt her own handiwork wasn’t bad. She smiled softly, gentle light in her eyes.

They walked slowly across the sand. Occasionally, Li Yuanxi would bend down to pick up a piece of wire or a torn piece of fishing net or line, collecting them for possible future use.

After walking for nearly three hours, they had circled the island. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to Li Yuanxi’s hopes. No big surprise gifts. She looked up at the sun. “Looks like we’ve picked up all the gifts.”

“Hm?” Wei Shu sat down under a tree to rest. Her legs were a bit sore from walking for hours.

“Nothing. Let me rub them for you.” Li Yuanxi shook her head and hurried over to sit beside Wei Shu. She picked up her leg, took off her shoes, and worked her fingers up her calf, massaging to relax the muscles.

Her knobby fingers moved up the calf muscle with just the right pressure. Wei Shu watched Li Yuanxi’s lowered eyes and the contented smile on her face. She paused, then smiled.

Wei Shu’s heart felt warm. For the first time, she understood what her Second Sister meant when she said her heart felt sweet. It was a sweetness no candy in the world could match.

Li Yuanxi’s fingers reached Wei Shu’s knee joint and pressed a little harder. Wei Shu’s leg shot out, kicking Li Yuanxi right in the chest.

“Ouch!” Li Yuanxi grabbed Wei Shu’s foot. Wei Shu’s foot was still pressed against Li Yuanxi’s chest. The soft feeling under her foot made Wei Shu instinctively pull back.

Wei Shu bit her lip, looking at the surprised Li Yuanxi. The red on her face was almost bleeding. “I didn’t mean to. Let go, please~” Her coquettish little voice was full of charm. Li Yuanxi swallowed unconsciously.

“I know. It was my fault.” Li Yuanxi quickly put Wei Shu’s foot down and put her shoe back on. Wei Shu immediately pulled her leg back and turned her back to Li Yuanxi. Li Yuanxi scratched her head awkwardly. She didn’t know who had gotten the raw end of that deal.

In the end, they sat together, faces red, each looking away at the sky or the ground, avoiding each other’s gaze. After resting for half an hour, Li Yuanxi planned to check the center of the island. She was thinking how to ask Wei Shu to go back and rest.

Wei Shu stood up, slung her small backpack basket over her shoulder, and directly called out, “Let’s go. Let’s head into the mountains.” She knew if they sat here any longer, Li Yuanxi would probably try to persuade her to go home and go find food alone.

“Maybe you could…” Li Yuanxi didn’t get to finish before Wei Shu waved her hand and cut her off. Wei Shu took Li Yuanxi’s hand and led her, taking the initiative to climb up the mountain.

Li Yuanxi tightened her grip on Wei Shu’s hand and took a long stride to walk in front, her pathfinder stick tapping the dead leaves and weeds.

Wei Shu looked at Li Yuanxi’s tall, slender back. Suddenly, she reached out and hugged Li Yuanxi’s waist. Li Yuanxi was startled and stiffened like she’d been frozen.

“What’s wrong?” Li Yuanxi turned her head to ask. Wei Shu didn’t let her turn around.

She shook her head and rubbed her cheek against Li Yuanxi’s back. Her voice was low and husky. “Nothing. I just wanted to hug you.”