After Death, I Finally Met The Man Of My Dreams

Chapter 9: Rental Fee

"I only have the one pot at home. I can't make tea and cook a meal at the same time." Mochou explained.

"I'll bring you a medicine pot you can use to make the tea."

"I can't pay for it." Mochou said. He was still determined not to take charity.

"Then let's make a trade. When we head back you can check your traps and if you caught any rabbits or birds I'll take one as payment for the pot." Yichen suggested.

"One rabbit is not worth the cost of a pot." Mochou retorted.

"Consider it a rental fee then. Until you can afford to buy one." Yichen said. He was determined to get Mochou to accept the pot. He wanted to help and he felt it was important to get Mochou to start taking some medicinal herbs.

"He's too thin and I'm worried about his fever from yesterday." Yichen mused.

Mochou started to waver. He really could use another pot. If he had one he wouldn't have to take another cold bath at night.

"Okay, but only if I find a rabbit or bird." Mochou said after weighing the pros and cons.

"In that case I hope we find one as soon as possible." Yichen said. His sharp canine showing while he smiled.

Mochou looked at him and felt his heart thump. A light blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Let's go." Mochou said feeling shy.

"Mmm... It's getting late. We'll need to hurry back. The forest is dangerous at night." Yichen agreed. He held out his hand to help Mochou up but Mochou ignored it and stood on his own.

Yichen wasn't offended. He simply followed behind Mochou as they headed out of the forest.

...

While they walked Mochou checked on his traps. To his delight he managed to catch three rabbits and two quails.

"Amazing! Even though the time isn't the best for catching them I still managed to get so many! Is it because this world is less advanced the animal populations are still healthy, maybe even abundant?" Mochou mused as he reset the trap.

"These traps you've made are interesting. I've never seen any like them before." Yichen noted as he admired the results. He was familiar with local hunters and how they hunted. The traps they made were useful but not very reliable. More often than not they failed to work and the prey would escape or be killed by the trap.

"They aren't difficult to make." Mochou humbly replied.

"That only makes them more impressive. Simplicity is the hardest to achieve with success." Yichen said causing Mochou to blush again.

"I'll take the little quail in exchange for the pot." Yichen said.

"They don't have much meat. I'll give you one of the rabbits." Mochou countered.

"I prefer the quail. Keep the rabbits for yourself to eat or sell in a few days." Yichen restated.

Mochou couldn't understand why he preferred the smaller quail. Yichen however had a good reason to make sure Mochou kept the more valuable rabbits than the small little quail.

"He needs to eat more." He thought as he glanced at Mochou's thin waist.

With that decided they continued walking forward until they reached the edge of the forest by Mochou's little hut.

"I live over there. I don't have much but if you wait I can make some tea." Mochou offered.

Yichen wanted to accept. However he couldn't. It was inappropriate for a man to enter a GER's home even if invited without a male family member present. In fact him following along and spending the day with Mochou was already cause for rumours. It was difficult for Yichen to pass up the chance to get to know Mochou more.