The scaly-armored boy shook his head and smiled, "No, I heard from Grandpa that he hasn't made a sound since he was rescued. I suspect he is mute."

"Maybe it's true, but you don't know that he is quite agile. Although he can't speak, he can still help the tribe. It's better than being abandoned outside, right?"

"Yes, what kind of disaster did their tribe encounter that left him alone? Dad said that when grandpa rescued him, he was covered in blood and almost dead, but he was full of life a few days later. Dad said this is called a gifted person."

"Alas, it's quite pitiful, but fortunately he met our Hanyu tribe, otherwise which other tribe would take in such a person of unknown origin?"

As everyone was chatting, the last ray of sunset set, leaving only a glimmer of light remaining in the sky.

As the sun sets, the young men working in the fields pick up their hoes and walk towards the village.

"Let go of Shitou! It's time to go back and take medicine." The little girl with pigtails kicked over the fat boy's stone house, grabbed the young man's sleeve and pulled him back.

The young man stood up slowly and was dragged by the little girl to chase after the group.

"Follow closely!" As if she was dissatisfied with the young man's slow pace, the little girl turned around and greeted him, then waved her hand to signal her to keep up.

The young man nodded to show that he understood.

Soon, a row of stone houses appeared in front of everyone. The young men said goodbye and went back to their homes. Only the dull young man followed the little girl to the edge of the village.

There stood a solitary stone house, which looked larger than any other house in the village, and had an independent courtyard filled with jars and herbs, as well as some strange poultry and livestock.

There are only three people living in this yard.

A strong and somewhat aged old man, this little girl with pigtails, and this dull young man.

Few people know what the strong old man's name is. He is the grandfather of the tribe. He is in charge of all the herbal prescriptions in the tribe and is responsible for taking care of everyone's health and treating the wounded.

The little girl with pigtails is named Abao. She is an orphan. Her parents died when the tribe went out hunting a few years ago, so grandpa adopted her.

However, the little girl was lively and well-behaved by nature, and she quickly adapted to this kind of life, only feeling lonely occasionally.

But ever since the old man picked up the young man, Po no longer felt lonely.

"You're back?"

When the two men returned home, the old man was sorting his earthenware jars in the yard. He casually looked up and asked, then continued to work with his head down.

A Bao said obediently: "Grandpa! What are we going to eat tonight? I'll go cook."

"There's some broth left over from yesterday in the pot. Feel free to heat it up and cook some rice. We'll have a full stomach tonight, as we have important things to do tomorrow."

Grandpa said slowly.

A Bao nodded and dragged the young man towards the kitchen: "Shi Tou, help me!"

Soon a puff of smoke rose from the kitchen.

The little girl's serious voice continued to sound in the kitchen.

"Shitou, more firewood! More firewood!"

"Shitou, add some water."

"Shitou bring that bowl."

"Shi Tou, this is for the chickens. Go feed the chickens first, or you won't get any food."

"Remember, this is for feeding chickens. Cluck, cluck, cluck, chickens. Remember?"

Listening to the little girl's busy commanding voice, the old man in the yard couldn't help but shook his head and laughed. Since the young man came, this originally deserted home suddenly became lively.

At dinner time, the family of three huddled around a small stone table, eating yesterday's leftover broth, but it didn't look shabby at all.

Abao was the one talking during the entire dinner. The young man just lowered his head to eat. After eating, he cleared the dishes and sat there waiting for the two of them.

The old man was listening all the time and occasionally gave the young man a piece of meat.

After dinner, the old man brought in a stone jar from the yard and handed it to the young man.

"I drank it all in one breath."

As he spoke, the old man made a gesture of drinking water. The young man nodded, took the stone jar and drank all the medicine in it in one breath.

This is the medicine the old man made for him to heal his wounds.

After drinking the medicine, the old man put away the stone jar, glared at the little girl who seemed very curious about the medicine soup, and then said to the two of them: "Tomorrow is the beast tide. No matter what happens outside, don't go out. Do you understand?"

Abao nodded obediently, and the old man turned to the young man: "Do you understand?"

However, the young man shook his head with some confusion, indicating that he did not understand.

The old man thought for a moment and said to the little girl, "Abao, bring the parchment roll and the charcoal."

Upon hearing this, Po was immediately excited and said, "Grandpa! I'll draw this time! I'll do it!"

The old man rubbed her head and nodded.

Soon, Abao brought a small piece of charcoal and a small parchment scroll. After thinking about it, the old man asked Abao to start drawing on the parchment scroll.

"Demon beast... Awooo - big monster -" Po said to the young man, pointing at the "demon beast" he drew. The young man scratched his head and woofed at Po.

A Bao opened his mouth wide and looked at the young man in surprise, then turned to look at the old man: "Grandpa, he is a dog demon!"

The old man laughed: "Is that a monster you drew? This is obviously our Da Huang, so it's normal that he doesn't recognize it."

A Bao immediately pursed his lips and looked at the young man in dissatisfaction, muttering: "What about monsters? I drew monsters, how come it's Da Huang!"

"Let me do it." Then the old man sketched a tiger on the parchment with just a few strokes.

A house was drawn with two little people, one big and one small, standing in the house.

"Tomorrow..." The old man drew another circle on the parchment. A Bao snatched Heitan's hand and added a few black lines radiating outwards, pointing at the sun and gestured to the young man.

"Tomorrow! When the sun rises, there will be a monster - Awooo! A terrible monster will come to eat people! We two have to stay in the stone house, otherwise, Awooo will eat us!"

Looking at the picture and the little girl's gestures, the young man finally nodded, a trace of annoyance and worry appearing on his face.

He looked at the old man and opened his mouth, but no words came out.

But the old man understood what he meant: "Don't worry, I'm old and it's not my turn to fight, you guys should go to bed early."

After saying that, he walked out of the house with the dishes and chopsticks.

A Bao quickly patted the young man's arm, and the young man caught up with the old man, snatched the dishes and went to the yard to wash them.

After it was completely dark outside, A Bao lit a dim oil lamp, made the bed, poured the boiled foot-washing water into the stone basin, and directed the young man to bring the stone basin into the house. The two washed their feet, poured the water, and then went to bed.

The young man slept opposite her, each of them sitting on either side of the kang, and the room soon became quiet.

"Shitou, you know, my parents were killed by monsters..."