Primitive Once Again

The Vash continent was ravaged by wind and snow all year round, and everyday, the people here were greeted with the same scenery.

Meng Jiuzhao named this continent Vash because the Vash tribe resided here.

He didn’t know if the other corners of this planet were as cold as this corner, but Meng Jiuzhao grew up in pure whiteness, and white had become his most familiar colour.

However, the Vash continent seemed to have a few changes this year.

This was something that Meng Jiuzhao was the first to notice: Louis had started shedding!

That night, Meng Jiuzhao was sleeping under Black’s wing as always, and Louis climbed over to Meng Jiuzhao from underneath White’s wing as always. Then, as always, he hugged Meng Jiuzhao to sleep, and Meng Jiuzhao, who had always slept like the dead, let the two wings wrap around himself.

It wasn’t until early in the morning that Meng Jiuzhao was awoken by the heat.

He stretched his hand out randomly, and felt like he managed to grab something. But he was still too sleepy at that time, so he went back to sleep. When he woke up again and saw that he was grabbing a handful of feathers, his mind suddenly cleared.

Right now, Black’s body was covered in scales, so these feathers definitely couldn’t be his, then…

Meng Jiuzhao immediately saw Louis who was rolled to one side.

“Chirp?” Louis couldn’t understand why he was being inspected all over.

“Sorry, Louis. I was too sleepy yesterday and grabbed your feathers. It must’ve been painful, right?” The feathers of a Kantas cub were extremely fine, and grew very securely, so it didn’t shed easily. (The down that Louis contributed to Meng Jiuzhao’s old sweater were the only 3 that dropped in the span of an entire year = =///)

It was a serious matter when cubs started shedding. A small bald spot could expand to become larger bald spots and even lead to death! This was why when White found out he was shedding that year, he was so depressed.

Black and White shed their feathers because they were approaching adulthood, and their body was preparing for the growth of their scales. But Louis was a cub through and through!

“Chirp~” Louis said that it didn’t hurt at all.

Meng Juizhao looked at him with even more guilt. He believed that Louis was acting because he didn’t want him to feel guilty.

To express his apology, Meng Jiuzhao skipped class that day. He went to find Xuehua to ask for the method of reweaving a sweater, before tremblingly using an entire day to remake his old sweater into Louis’ size, giving it to him to wear.

Louis was overjoyed to wear Meng Jiuzhao’s old clothes, so the entire day, he walked all over the tribe, showing off his new clothes to everyone.

Alright, close your eyes now, and imagine a chicken wearing a sweater.

That was exactly what Louis looked like that very moment. o(╯□╰)o

He thought he looked pretty good, so he didn’t take off the sweater even when he slept. Even when White wanted to forcefully take it off him, all he managed to do was get pecked, so everyone could only let him sleep in that tragic looking sweater.

The next day, something more terrible happened. The hair on Louis’ head fell.

The situation had worsened, and despite his objections, Meng Jiuzhhao still took off his sweater. A huge bunch of fluff came off together with the sweater, covering the ground in fluff.

Louis became a chick that shrunk in size.

It became a big deal.

Meng Jiuzhao could only confess the situation. When he was speaking, he was extremely fearful. If it was his fault that the healthy, true Kantas cub Louis was sick, how angry would Black and White be?

He got prepared to take a scolding. From his birth till now, Meng Jiuzhao had never been scolded, and he never knew that getting a scolding would make him feel so sad.

Unexpectedly, Black and White didn’t blame him at all.

“Baby, don’t be afraid, Louis will be fine.” Black hugged Meng Jiuzhao, who looked very timid, and rubbed his head, “Louis’ feathers are very strong, so you can’t pull them out with only your strength.”

White transformed back into his original form, licking Louis the little chick up and down. After eating a mouthful of feathers, Louis’s feathers were finally straightened out, causing him to look slender and weak.

They didn’t go out to search for food today, but instead hugged Louis and rushed to Eim’s place.

Eim’s house was still next to Black’s, but after 7 years of development, not only had Black’s nest expanded a few times, even Eim’s home got bigger.

“Hey! Black, you’re early today, let me tell you a piece of good news, I’ve become… A great-grandpa!” Seeing Black, Eim couldn’t resist the urge to share the good news.

“This is the grandchild born from the sixth cub in my brother’s fourth litter. Look, isn’t he cute?” Eim carefully pointed to a grass nest at one side.

“…” Meng Jiuzhao went 囧.

“What’s wrong with Louis?” He soon discovered that Black and White’s expressions were not right. Walking close to them, he noticed Louis who was being hugged by Black.

One had to know that little chick Louis had always been as strong as a snowboar, and wouldn’t easily let his parents carry him. The fact that he was obediently staying in Black’s arms meant that something was not right.

“Louis is shedding!” Black immediately spoke out his worries. After explaining the cause and effects, he looked at Eim with expectant eyes.

Black’s decision to seek out Eim was not without reason. Eim, who had raised dozens of litters of rabbits, was the well-deserved parenting expert of the tribe!

When Parenting Expert Eim heard Black’s issue, the smile on his face was replaced by a serious expression.

He walked to Black, raising his head to look at Louis in Black’s arms. (←Black was currently half a head taller than Eim 囧)

He took a close look at Louis’ hair roots before confirming with Black about Louis’ recent diet. 

“… He can eat half a horned sheep for every meal… And after meals he would eat the fruits that Baby gives him… That’s all…” Black recalled, before reporting Louis’ meals to Eim.

Eim went eerily silent for a minute.

If he hadn’t asked about it specially, he wouldn’t have known that Louis was such a big eater!

“I did a check, Louis doesn’t have any red bumps or insect bites on his skin, so it shouldn’t be a skin disease. Also from your description, he doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of decreased appetite, and his body isn’t uncomfortable anywhere either, so he shouldn’t be sick.” Eim said slowly.

“Actually, over the past few days, Dad has also been shedding. I asked him about it and he said it was because he felt hot from sleeping next to the fire, so could Louis’ reason for shedding be– The heat?”

Meng Jiuzhao was suddenly enlightened!

Yes! That’s it!

Living in such a cold place for so long made him forget that long furred animals would shed during spring and summer!

Oh yeah… Meng Jiuzhao had lived here for such a long time, but he never once felt hot~  The day he pulled out a bunch of Louis’ feathers, wasn’t it because he was feeling “hot”? And the next day, he even knitted him a very, very, warm, sweater–

Fundamentally, Louis lost his feathers because he was feeling hot.

Meng Jiuzhao decided to make a comb for Louis.

The simplest to make was probably a wooden comb, but it seemed that the only thing capable of providing him the wood he needed were the 3 saplings growing outside Andy’s home. 

Whenever he passed by their house and wanted to pick a leaf or a branch or do something, Xuehua would always give them a fierce look. Therefore, a wooden comb couldn’t be made. 

In the end, he thought about it for a long time and chose to make a brush.

A type of shrub grew here, a shrub with nearly no stem and only leaves. Their leaves were similar to pine needles. 

On the entire Vash continent, this was easiest to obtain after Crunchy Grass due to the tenacity of the plant. But because the leaves were sharp and easily cut one’s mouth, the herbivorous beastmen were unwilling to eat them unless the situation necessitated it.

Meng Jiuzhao carefully picked hundreds of “pine needles” that were of the same length.

After that, he gathered them together with his left hand, and used his right hand to firmly knot the leaves at the root with a straw rope. A simple brush was finally made in this way.

He tested it out on his hair, and it seemed to work pretty well, just that the leaves loosened easily, so he added another rope to secure it and used it on Louis that very night.

Louis was happy to be brushed. Because he felt too comfortable, Louis, who usually fell asleep later than Meng Jiuzhao, started snoring midway through the brushing session. 

Meng Jiuzhao was about to keep the brush, but he turned around and saw the expectant looks of his two dads–

Thus, filial child Meng Jiuzhao did an entire night of grooming, causing his body to be covered in sweat.

The 3 Kantases expressed that this hair brushing thing was really too comfortable, so this activity was unanimously added into their family’s after meal bonding activities, becoming their bald cub’s fixed duty.

Meng Jiuzhao even benefited a lot from this activity in the future by developing abs and stuff, but that’s for the future.

    ***

Abs and whatnot were better left to talk about in the future, but for now, Meng Jiuzhao started paying attention to changes of the tribe.

Near their tribe was a small river, and many Crunchy Grass grew in the vicinity. Sita would frequently bring the cubs there to pick Crunchy Grass + play.

When they went there, Meng Jiuzhao paid special attention to the frozen layer of the river. The third time he went there, he noticed the edge of the river starting to melt, and heard a faint sound of flowing water under the icy layer. 

The 3 saplings outside Andy’s house also seemed to be more energetic, their original brown and thin trunk turning much greener.

Another observation he made was that during mealtimes, more hairballs were seen on the ground. Everyone had started shedding.

    ……

Meng Jiuzhao recorded his daily observations onto the stone slate, also recording Louis’ hair growth. After 30 days, Louis finally stopped shedding, and he started carefully observing Louis’ hair growth.

Louis’ new fur was something he had never seen on Black or White. It was stiff and coarse, not as fine as before. Compared to his old fur, the new one could better allow him to discharge excess heat.

Usually, even during summer, the Vash continent would still be a sea of white, and even during summer, only a portion of the river would melt. 

According to the tribe’s existing method of dividing the seasons, it was still far from summer. But in the short span of a few months, a big change occurred: 

The ice layer on the ground thinned out, and more tenacious plants started emerging. The ground became green, and the flowing water suppressed under its frozen layer gushed out, murmuring as it flowed. It frequently washed away any remaining blocks of ice on the riverbed, making it much wider now.

With the help of the above changes, Meng Jiuzhao could make sure of one thing:

The weather was getting hotter!

Translator has something to say:

Louis acts like a little brother who idolises his older brother who got his hand-me-downs, but from another perspective, it’s like a hubby being happy about everything wifey does for him–! It’s too cute!!

Also… I planned on getting this chapter out but I got distracted… By translating smut and playing honkai star rail… So I haven’t really been working on this project…