"There’s nothing left to eat." Xiu Xi skewered the cleaned wild chicken on a branch to roast it, turned around to pull her to his side, making sure she was within his line of sight, before he continued, "From now on, don’t eat any."
He didn’t like eating mice himself – firstly, they had little meat, and secondly, the taste was mediocre. It was just that when he first arrived in this world, his body was too weak to hunt, and he could only pick up some mice to eat. He didn’t know if it was good luck or bad luck, but every time, he ended up encountering her and even let her see everything clearly.
"Mmhmm, don’t eat them anymore, I’ll hunt meat for you," Ruan Jiaojiao chimed in, her eyes fixed on the wild chicken.
The fire was strong enough, and the pheasant roasted quickly, turning the outside layer pitch black. As Ruan Jiaojiao was hungry, having only eaten fruit for a day and a night with no other sustenance, she surprisingly found the charred pheasant quite fragrant.
The oil from the pheasant dripped onto the firewood, sizzling and intensifying the flames. Ruan Jiaojiao shifted her gaze from the wild chicken to Xiu Xi beside her.
She didn’t know if it was the beauty of the moonlight or the brightness of the fire, but she actually found this little antagonist to be much better-looking than the first time she saw him.
His height wasn’t discernible, but he had definitely put on some weight and no longer looked emaciated. Although he was wearing tattered clothes, they couldn’t hide his delicate features. She believed that if he dressed up carefully, he would undoubtedly be the best-looking person in this book.
"Brother Xiu, what do you think about Wa Yiting?"
Xiu Xi turned to look at her with a puzzled expression, as if he didn’t know who she was talking about.
Ruan Jiaojiao pursed her lips, explaining, "It’s that little girl we went to see together that day, the sick one, remember?"
Xiu Xi looked at her for a few seconds, then nodded silently.
"Then tell me, what do you think about her?"
"I don’t know." He had never paid any attention to others.
"What do you mean you don’t know?" Ruan Jiaojiao wasn’t satisfied. She tugged at his sleeve and asked softly, "Has she ever brought you anything to eat? If she has, would you think she is particularly nice?"
"No, I wouldn’t," Xiu Xi replied succinctly, focusing on roasting the wild chicken in his hands.
Ruan Jiaojiao sighed. It seemed she had asked a pointless question. She couldn’t remember when exactly in the book the female protagonist had given this little antagonist the wormwood cakes. How was she going to guard against her in the future?
Ruan Jiaojiao sighed with worry once more.
Next to her, Xiu Xi finally finished roasting the wild chicken, broke it apart, peeled off the skin, leaving the tender white meat inside, and wrapped a chicken leg in wild grass before bringing it to Ruan Jiaojiao’s mouth.
Ruan Jiaojiao immediately forgot her worries, taking a bite of the meat, her brows furrowed – it had no taste and wasn’t delicious at all.
But now was not the time to be picky. Even if it tasted bad, she gnawed on it bite by bite. Xiu Xi didn’t start eating right away but broke off both chicken legs first and only then began to nibble at the chicken body.
Ruan Jiaojiao struggled to finish one chicken leg and couldn’t eat any more. The taste was bland, and it was quite greasy. She had swallowed it only for the sake of maintaining her energy.
Seeing that she didn’t eat much, Xiu Xi looked anxious and pushed the other chicken leg directly into her hands. Ruan Jiaojiao shook her head, declining, "Brother Xiu, you eat it. I’m full."
She smacked her lips, thinking about the fruit the monkeys had given her during the day, feeling it was a pity. She should have taken a few apples with her before leaving – they would have quenched her thirst and cut through the greasiness.
Just as she finished thinking, something thudded down beside her. She turned around only to see a red behind disappearing up into the trunk above her.