Werebeast Gongs CH 098 Let It Be
A few days passed in restlessness and unease, yet Lei Jin’s belly showed no adverse reactions. Instead, it felt comfortably warm. He began to suspect that the medicine Healer Qing Qiao had given him was ineffective. But at this moment, he didn’t feel like digging into the truth. Xiya and the others were still absent—Roger mentioned they were helping distribute the tribe’s harvest. With crops ripening one after another, the werebeasts of each household had been busy assisting. Now, everything was being allocated family by family to ensure ample food before winter arrived.
Berg carried Bubbles out for breakfast.
Lei Jin glanced up and greeted them before lowering his head again, listlessly pushing the food around in his bowl. He had no appetite.
"Bubbles seems a bit listless these past couple of days," Roger remarked, having already finished his meal. He took the child from Berg so the latter could eat.
Seated beside Roger, Lei Jin took a closer look at Bubbles. The little one did seem unusually lethargic.
"Maybe it’s the cold weather making him sluggish." That was one explanation, but Berg knew the real reason. Merfolk were born to live in the sea. Though adults like him could move freely on land, they still preferred the boundless freedom of the ocean. For a child as young as Bubbles, the sea was the most suitable environment. Even though he often soaked in water here, it wasn’t the same as the vast ocean.
"Bubbles." Lei Jin stroked the child’s forehead and called his name softly.
Bubbles perked up slightly, eyelids drooping as he nuzzled affectionately into Lei Jin’s palm.
"He’s so attached to you. Here, you hold him. I’ll fetch the fish soup from the pot." Roger chuckled and passed Bubbles to Lei Jin.
Having held the child countless times, Lei Jin cradled him deftly—one hand supporting his neck, the other under his bottom.
"Yaa yaa!" Bubbles’s tiny arms flailed, landing a light pat on Lei Jin’s belly.
"Bubbles, behave." Berg hastily swallowed a few more bites before reaching out. "Give him back to me. This child is too unruly." Despite his words, his face was full of undisguised pride and doting affection.
"It’s fine. I’ll hold him for a bit. How much trouble can such a little one cause?" Lei Jin brushed it off.
"I’m worried he’ll hurt the one in your belly." Berg rolled his eyes dramatically. A few days ago, Lei Jin had been adamant about aborting the baby, but now he seemed calmer, so Berg spoke without restraint.
Lei Jin’s smile froze.
Roger returned with the fish soup and set it on the table. Gently patting Lei Jin’s arm, he said, "Hand Bubbles to me. He hasn’t eaten yet, and the soup will get cold."
"Yaa yaa!" Just as Lei Jin was about to pass him over, Bubbles clutched his shirt tightly, tears welling in his eyes.
A sharp pang struck Lei Jin’s heart. If his own child were born, would they be as adorable as Bubbles? Would they cling to him with such wholehearted dependence? Would they be reluctant to let him go? But all these "what ifs" were meaningless now—because that night, after much hesitation, he had drunk the medicine. Call him heartless, call him cruel—he simply couldn’t trade his future for this child.
Though the baby was still inside him, he hadn’t felt any movement in days.
"Lei Jin, what’s wrong?" Berg asked nervously, noticing his sudden change in expression. Had he misspoken?
"Nothing. Here’s your son back." Lei Jin soothed Bubbles briefly before firmly depositing the fussing child into Berg’s arms and standing abruptly.
"Where are you going?" Roger rose as well. Before leaving, Xiya had mentioned that Lei Jin had taken the abortifacient two days prior and needed someone with him at all times.
"Out for a walk." Lei Jin waved dismissively, signaling he didn’t need company.
"Wait for me. I’ll come too." Roger pushed the fish soup toward Berg. "Feed Bubbles. I’m going out with Lei Jin."
"Okay." Berg picked up the spoon, watching curiously as Roger hurried after Lei Jin. Lei Jin’s pregnant, but does he really need to be watched so closely?
"What? Afraid I’ll run off? Keeping an eye on me for Xiya and the others?" Lei Jin smirked as Roger caught up.
Roger frowned. "You know that’s not it. Why make such jokes? Haven’t they conceded enough?" He understood Lei Jin’s perspective, but as a father, he couldn’t remain indifferent to his children’s pain.
"Conceded? If not for them, there wouldn’t be this child. Why shouldn’t they concede?"
"I won’t argue. Where do you want to go? I’ll walk with you." The moods of expectant parents were unpredictable—words often didn’t reflect true feelings. And Lei Jin’s heart was undoubtedly tangled in contradictions.
"Nowhere in particular." He’d just felt stifled indoors and needed air.
"Let’s visit the fields, then." Roger remembered Lei Jin’s interest in the crops. Now that harvest was done, he could pick what he liked. If necessary, they could trade their family’s share for others’.
"Fine." Lei Jin shrugged.
The temple stood at the tribe’s center, its towering form visible from every street, shrouded in unsolved mysteries—bizarre stone statues, enigmatic symbols, a celestial map of the stars.
"Roger, do you regret coming to this world?" Lei Jin asked suddenly.
"Yes." Roger answered without hesitation.
Lei Jin arched a brow in surprise.
"What, did you think I came here willingly?" Roger countered.
"Not exactly. But I assumed you wouldn’t regret it now." To him, Roger seemed to have accepted this life, despite lingering unresolved conflicts. At the very least, he shouldn’t still be thinking of leaving.
"I regret coming here, but not staying."
A yellow-winged butterfly with red spots fluttered past them.
"You’ve lost me." Did educated people always have to speak in riddles?
"Lei Jin, what did you do before?" This was Roger’s first time asking. He’d never seen the need—in this world, the past was meant to be discarded.
"Led a bunch of good brothers to scrape by."
Though Lei Jin’s words were vague, Roger understood. He wasn’t particularly surprised. Even without knowing the details, he’d sensed Lei Jin was no ordinary office worker. His personality was too unrestrained, too fiercely independent.
"I used to be an archaeologist," Roger offered casually.
That caught Lei Jin off guard.
"My father was a renowned paleontologist. From childhood, I aspired to be as accomplished as him—though I chose archaeology." Roger gazed distantly at the sky, as if peering into memories.
"How did you end up here?" Lei Jin was keenly interested. Perhaps finding commonalities would reveal a way home.
"Years ago, we discovered a mysterious ruin—unlike any known civilization. No written language, just simple symbols. The surviving murals depicted people who could shift between human and beast forms. I found a black stone there, a ring shape. One rainy day, I took shelter in the ruins. When the rain stopped, I stepped out… and was here."
"A black stone too?" This confirmed Lei Jin’s suspicions. If the stone was the key to arriving here, it must also be the way back. Whether it would work or not, he needed to reclaim those two fragments from Xiya and Mingya. Though incomplete, they might form a ring when combined.
"What about you?" Roger asked.
"Mine’s even more absurd. I took a bath, stepped out, and ended up here—without even time to get dressed." The memory irked him. At least let me grab some clothes for fuck's sake.
"Lei Jin, do you ever feel… none of this is real? That one day we’ll wake up and find it was all a long dream? That everyone here was just passing through our subconscious, never truly existing?"
Lei Jin broke out in a cold sweat at the eerie thought. Not real? A dream? He shook Roger’s shoulders. "Roger, what kind of dream are you having? Wake up!"
A dream? Then what was this bulging belly of his?
Roger pushed his hands away. "It’s just a feeling."
"You’ve got too much free time if you’re fantasizing like this." Lei Jin shot him a look.
How could those three—who had played such significant roles in his life—simply not exist? He disliked that notion intensely. Even now, he had to admit that though his feelings toward each of them differed, they all occupied substantial space in his heart. But did that mean he had to bear their children? Lei Jin asked himself, but no clear answer came.
As they talked and walked, they unknowingly arrived at the tribe's fields.
Most of the crops had already been distributed, leaving only the wheat still being threshed. On a compacted patch of ground, werebeasts pulled stone rollers over thick layers of spread-out wheat.
Nearly every household in the tribe had sent people—at least a few hundred—but the open space kept it from feeling crowded. Each family received modest but well-rounded portions of the harvest. However, preferences varied—some wanted certain crops while others disliked them—so groups formed to negotiate exchanges.
Lei Jin noticed that beans and chili peppers were the least popular. Almost every family wanted to trade them away—except Xiya’s household, who knew Lei Jin could cook them well and held onto theirs.
"They only eat chili peppers in cold weather to warm up, and they don’t use much normally. As for beans, no one likes them—they take forever to cook and still taste terrible," Roger explained from the side.
"We still have plenty of potatoes at home, right?" Lei Jin suddenly asked.
"Yeah. Our garden isn’t big, but the yield is decent."
"Let’s trade our potatoes for their beans." He noticed potatoes and sweet potatoes were quite popular, probably because they could be eaten as staple food.
"Sure. Let’s go talk to Xiya and the others." Roger knew Lei Jin must have his reasons.
As soon as they approached—
"Lei Jin, you came? Are you dressed warmly enough?" Mingya bounded over cheerfully, clasping Lei Jin’s hands between his own and rubbing them gently. No one had told him about Lei Jin drinking the abortifacient.
Lei Jin’s mood soured—even Mingya was taller than him now—but he didn’t bother stopping the boy’s affectionate gestures in public.
Moya watched them approach with a faint smile, though the shadows in his eyes were impossible for Lei Jin to ignore.
Someone was asking Xiya about trading goods, but he still managed to turn and greet them.
Roger went over and spoke a few words to Xiya, who nodded. Soon, a man eagerly traded a large half-bag of beans for a small pile of potatoes.
Seeing this, others rushed to ask for similar trades. By the end, their family’s potato pile had been exchanged for three full bags of beans.
Just then, the tribal chief, An Bu, walked over. Frowning at the amount of beans they’d acquired, he asked, "Beans aren’t filling. Why trade for so many? I’ve got extra potatoes—take some from me later."
"No need, Uncle An Bu. We have enough food at home," Xiya declined with a smile.
An Bu sighed at the chaotic scene. "Every year at this time, it’s a mess. Some families want this, others hate that—but we can’t distribute based on preferences alone. It’d take forever."
"Then why not assign each family their own plot and let them grow what they want?" Lei Jin suggested after a moment’s thought.
"That won’t work. Some elders and injured tribesmen can’t farm. We can’t abandon them."
"Families who farm could contribute a portion to the tribe each year, which could then be distributed to those in need. It’s not an unsolvable problem."
An Bu nodded thoughtfully but hesitated. "The tribe’s collective farming doesn’t yield much as it is. If each family farms alone, with less manpower, wouldn’t production drop even more? What if food runs short?"
Lei Jin glanced at Roger, but seeing he wasn’t in the mood to speak, took over. "Actually, there’s no need to burn new fields every year. Many families keep live prey they haven’t eaten yet, right? Manure and wheat straw can be spread as fertilizer. Fertile land yields more."
“That’s possible? Those things are easy to get—every household has them!" someone nearby exclaimed excitedly.
"And different crops can be planted in rotation."
Noticing the crowd’s confusion, Lei Jin gave an example: "For instance, we could plant wheat now and harvest it shortly after next year’s rainy season. Then we could plant sweet potatoes and potatoes right after—wouldn’t that mean two harvests a year?"
"But won’t the wheat freeze when it gets colder soon?" People pressed closer to hear Lei Jin’s ideas.
"It shouldn’t." Lei Jin reasoned that since autumn here was long, winter probably wouldn’t be too harsh. Wheat should survive—but he couldn’t guarantee it outright. Failure would be disastrous, so he added, "We could try a small batch this year."
The crowd nodded, agreeing it was a safer approach.
Xiya watched Lei Jin, lively and confident as he spoke to the crowd, and thought, this is the real Lei Jin—free and spirited. If he didn’t want the baby, why force him? But their unborn child...
"What medicine did you give him?" Roger asked, standing outside the crowd while Mingya stuck close to Lei Jin.
"White tea flowers from the poolside. I picked them myself," Moya answered. Though he was puzzled—Healer Qing Qiao had said the abortion would happen within two days of drinking it. Why was there still no movement? Not that he was hoping for it.
Roger was speechless. Qing Qiao’s mischievous streak really never changes.