Chapter 79: A Change
As the honey reached his stomach, a strong warmth spread through him, and Xia Lu Nong could almost feel that warmth coursing through his chest and abdomen.
It was a strange sensation, as if drinking cold water on a winter day—you could feel exactly where it flowed.
“Meow,” Xia Lu Nong tugged at his brother’s pant leg with a paw, feeling something indescribable.
He felt as though he was finally “full”—finally had the strength to do something else, like changing back to human form.
The others didn’t feel it as intensely, but they too sensed the energy the honey brought.
Yan Xi Nian’s gaze toward the honey shifted, and he squinted in appreciation, “This is some good stuff!”
“It sure is,” Xia Huo Qu agreed. “We should get this honey back quickly before anything else happens.”
Yan Xi Nian shared the same thought.
The three and the cat swiftly cut down the massive hive.
The four buckets they had brought were far from enough.
Xia Huo Qu looked at the buckets at his feet and said to Kong Zhi, “Kong Zhi, you take Xia Lu Nong back first. Come back with more buckets or bottles.”
Kong Zhi nodded.
This time, Xia Lu Nong didn’t object. He ran down the tree, sprinting toward the clearing. When Kong Zhi climbed down and turned back into his golden eagle form, Xia Lu Nong was ready.
In a few seconds, Kong Zhi had shed his clothes and shifted, grabbing his clothes and the cat in his talons, flapping his wings as they flew back to the base.
Outside the house, Kong Zhi set Xia Lu Nong down before changing back into human form.
“Meow!” Xia Lu Nong urged him to open the door.
Without wasting any time, Kong Zhi threw on his shorts, grabbed the keys, and opened the door.
Xia the cat darted into his room, quickly changing back into human form while yelling to Kong Zhi outside, “Don’t bother looking! We don’t have any at home—we’ll have to borrow some buckets or bottles from the cafeteria!”
Their home only had a limited number of buckets and bottles, and with so much honey outside the base, relying on just those few containers would mean multiple trips. It made more sense to go directly to the cafeteria and borrow enough containers all at once.
“You’ve turned back into human form?” Kong Zhi glanced at Xia Lu Nong, his gaze deep.
Since he wasn’t too familiar with the base, Kong Zhi didn’t want to make decisions on his own, so he simply said, “We should take plenty of rope. I’ll fly directly from the cafeteria to the hive later.”
“Got it.” Barefoot, Xia Lu Nong ran out and quickly slipped on some sandals. “Let’s hurry to the cafeteria first.”
It was only a little after 3 PM, and the cafeteria was busy preparing dinner. When they arrived, no one had time to attend to them.
After Xia Lu Nong explained their request with gestures and words, one of the cafeteria staff asked, “Will those white plastic bottles we use for bulk liquor work?”
“Which kind?” Xia Lu Nong asked, then quickly realized. “Oh, you mean those large 20- or 25-kilogram bottles?”
“Exactly. We’ve cleaned out a batch. If you need them, we can give you a few.”
“Perfect, that’ll work!” Xia Lu Nong replied. “How many do you have? The more, the better!”
The cafeteria staff led them to where the bottles were stored. There were 13 in total: four were 25 kilograms, four were 5 kilograms, three were 20 kilograms, and two were 15 kilograms.
The staff unscrewed a bottle cap and let them smell it. “They’re all clean, and they won’t affect the taste of the honey.”
“Great! We’ll borrow these for now. Do you have any clean funnels we could borrow too?”
“Of course we have funnels,” the staff replied, going to fetch a few.
By the time they returned, Xia Lu Nong had already tied all the plastic bottles together with rope. The staff quickly stepped in to help.
Kong Zhi transformed into his golden eagle form and flew off, carrying the large bundle of plastic bottles in his talons.
Feeling he couldn’t do much by waiting, Xia Lu Nong headed home.
He hoped his brother and the others were safe and didn’t run into any trouble with the bees on the way. Something in his gut told him everything would go smoothly this time.
Just before nightfall, Xia Huo Qu and the others returned. Each one, in their beast form, carried or had tied to them several plastic bottles.
Xia Lu Nong ran out to meet them and helped unload the bottles.
Once the bottles were unloaded, the giant tiger, wolf, and eagle were all panting heavily, clearly exhausted.
After a brief rest, the giant tiger was the first to revert to human form.
Yan Xi Nian picked up his clothes and one of the buckets they had brought back. “I’m going to take some honeycomb and honey to the White Building. These bees don’t seem ordinary, and we should investigate what’s going on.”
“Go ahead,” Xia Huo Qu, now back in human form, waved tiredly. He was exhausted, his lips pale.
Xia Lu Nong busied himself moving the plastic bottles inside, then brought water out for his brother and Kong Zhi to drink.
Xia Huo Qu downed the water in one gulp, then eyed his younger brother up and down. “How are you feeling? No lingering issues?”
“None at all.” Xia Lu Nong raised his hand in a promise, smiling sweetly. “I’m fully recovered, no problems whatsoever.”
His brother gave a small snort, clearly unconvinced.
Xia Lu Nong, like a scolded child, shrank back and followed silently.
After finishing his water, Xia Huo Qu turned to Kong Zhi. “I didn’t get a chance to ask—did any bees sting you?”
“No,” Kong Zhi replied, turning to show his clean, unblemished skin. No signs of swelling.
“Good.”
Xia Lu Nong refilled their cups and then sat with them, listening as they discussed the recent bee hunt.
It wasn’t long before Yan Xi Nian returned.
“How did things go at the White Building?” Xia Huo Qu asked.
“They were amazed!” Yan Xi Nian laughed. “Especially when I told them about the honey’s special effects—they didn’t believe me at first. It wasn’t until someone drank some honey water that they started to believe.”
Xia Huo Qu nodded. “This is the first time we’ve collected something with special properties. It’s definitely worth studying.”
After a pause, Xia Huo Qu added, a bit dejected, “It’s a pity we don’t have enough research equipment. It’d make things much easier.”
Yan Xi Nian was more optimistic, patting his shoulder. “Step by step. It’s been less than two years since the disaster, and we’ve already established a base. Life here is gradually getting back on track. We even have electricity now, so we’ll solve the other issues one by one.”
“True.”
Seeing that they had finally rested, Xia Lu Nong couldn’t help but ask, “Should we start sorting the honey now?”
“Haha, let’s do it!” Yan Xi Nian laughed. “We rushed when collecting it, so we haven’t had a good look yet.”
The group went into the kitchen, where the 13 plastic bottles were lined up on the floor.
Yan Xi Nian picked one up, unscrewed the cap, and peeled back the seal. Squinting into the bottle, he said, “There’s a lot of debris in here. We’ll need to filter it again.”
When they had harvested the honey, they’d been in a hurry, using their machetes to quickly squeeze it out, without worrying about debris. They had just funneled it into the bottles.
Now, looking closely, the honey was mixed with grass, pieces of honeycomb, bee wings, and even large bee larvae. It was a mess.
“I’ll go get some fine cloth for filtering,” Xia Lu Nong offered.
They had some fine cloth at home, which Xia Huo Qu had scavenged during previous supply runs. It was originally used for straining soy pulp when making tofu, but now it would be perfect for filtering honey.
Xia Lu Nong also lugged over the large wooden basin they usually used for washing vegetables. He cleaned it, dried it thoroughly, and wiped it down again to make sure there was no water left. Then he brought it over for the filtering process.
The honey was darker than Xia Lu Nong had expected. A single drop was a yellow-brown color, but now, with a whole bottle of it, the honey looked dark brown, almost black.
When the honey was poured out, it smelled more fragrant than Xia Lu Nong had expected. He licked the honey off his finger and felt an indescribable sweetness spread through his mouth. The aftertaste was slightly sour, with a mixed fragrance—probably a blend of floral scents.
As Xia Huo Qu watched the honey slowly filter through the cloth into the wooden basin, he said, “I’m going to find Old Chen and trade for a few ceramic jars, perfect for storing this honey.”
Xia Lu Nong added, “Brother, get a few extra so we can store oil too.”
Nodding, Xia Huo Qu headed out.
Old Chen was the base’s designated pottery maker and had set up a shop specializing in ceramic jars. The base always had people going out to gather supplies, and the items they brought back were either stored in wooden crates or ceramic jars. Old Chen’s business was always thriving, and he had a large stockpile of jars.
Since it was peanut harvest season, many families were buying ceramic jars to store oil, and Old Chen had prepared plenty.
After hearing Xia Huo Qu’s request, Old Chen checked his inventory. “I have eight jars with a 50-kilogram capacity and ten with a 100-kilogram capacity. Will that be enough? If not, I have another kiln that will open in two days.”
“That’s enough. I’ll take six of the 50-kilogram jars. Please deliver them to my house.”
“Sure thing. That’ll be 30 pounds of rice per jar, a total of 180 pounds of rice.” Old Chen pulled a cart from his warehouse. “I’ll deliver them right away.”
Xia Huo Qu nodded. “I’ll weigh out the rice for you when we get to my place.”
“Deal.” Old Chen quickly loaded the ceramic jars onto the cart and checked them one last time. Then, with a grin, he said, “Word’s going around the base that you collected a lot of honey today. Where did you find it?”
“By the river,” Xia Huo Qu replied. “The bees we encountered were each the size of a ping-pong ball. Unless you’re well-prepared, it’s best not to provoke them.”
“Ping-pong ball-sized bees?” Old Chen shuddered. “Those must be worse than hornets!”
Xia Huo Qu nodded. “They are.”
“Only someone with your skills could handle that. If it were us, we wouldn’t just fail to collect the honey—we’d be lucky to escape with our lives.”
Xia Huo Qu said nothing in response.
Old Chen quickly loaded the jars onto his cart, tying them down with rope. Together, he and Xia Huo Qu began pushing the cart toward the Xia family home.
Before they arrived, they could see a group of people standing outside the house, chatting. As they got closer, Old Chen overheard snippets of conversation, catching the words “bees” and “honey.”
Many of the people in the crowd held various items in their hands, but one person, Shi Jia Cheng, was especially conspicuous. He carried two pig cages, each holding two pink, squealing piglets.
Old Chen was puzzled and pushed the cart toward the crowd, asking, “What’s going on here?”
Xia Huo Qu, standing nearby, also looked at the crowd with curiosity.
The people greeted them, showing particular enthusiasm toward Xia Huo Qu.
Shi Jia Cheng, in his booming voice, called out, “Vice-Captain Xia, we heard you collected some honey with special restorative effects, and we were hoping we could trade for some.”
Thanks for the chapter!