Chapter 158: I Want to Hug You

Chapter 158: Chapter 158: I Want to Hug You

Bai Wanwan had slept soundly, and when she woke, she was too cozy to open her eyes.

Her body still ached, and as her hand stirred, it brushed against hard muscle.

Without opening her eyes, she snuggled deeper into the male’s embrace.

It was rare for them to indulge in a lazy morning in bed with her.

The drowsy Bai Wanwan just wanted to nestle in his arms and drift back to sleep.

The name "Xin Feng" was on the tip of her tongue when she caught a sharp, icy scent belonging to someone else.

"Zhu Xiu..."

She smiled and opened her eyes. "Xin Feng never wants to sleep in with me. It’s so nice to wake up and see you instead."

She hugged his waist tightly, nuzzling against his chest.

Zhu Xiu gazed down at her. "If you have any plans of getting out of bed later, you’d better lie still."

Bai Wanwan noticed it too. ’Alright, I got a little carried away.’

"When did you get back yesterday?"

Zhu Xiu stroked her soft, long hair. A faint, light red shimmered in his eyes, showing he was in a very good mood.

The cold, unapproachable aura that usually surrounded him seemed to have vanished.

"I carried you back after you fell asleep."

"Did you see the snake cubs, then?"

Bai Wanwan sat up, her eyes scanning the stone house for the snake eggs.

’That was the good thing about snake cubs. They were born as eggs, so she didn’t have to worry about them at all. You could just leave them be.’

Finally, in a nursery nest in the corner of the sofa, she spotted several large, oval eggs.

"Mm, I saw them."

Compared to Bai Wanwan’s excitement, Zhu Xiu seemed rather uninterested.

Noticing this, Bai Wanwan leaned down, getting close to him. "You’re a Father Beast now! How come you don’t look very happy about it?"

"I am happy."

Bai Wanwan eyed his micro-expressions with suspicion. ’This guy really is hard to read.’

’He was nothing like Yan Lie. When Yan Lie was happy, his eyes would crinkle into smiling crescents. When he was unhappy, he looked so wronged you’d think he was about to cry tears of gold. His emotions were an open book.’

Zhu Xiu didn’t avert his gaze. In his heart, Bai Wanwan was far more important than any cubs.

His palm caressed her small, palm-sized face. "Last night, Xin Feng and I talked it over. We’ll leave this place once you’ve harvested the potatoes. What do you think?"

Bai Wanwan nodded. "Okay. It’ll be good to get out and explore anyway. The Black Dog Tribe is too vulnerable to Eagle Beast attacks, and it’s not safe for the cubs."

"There’s a large tribe nearby, the Golden Lion Clan. Would you like to go there?" Zhu Xiu asked, seeking her opinion.

The Golden Lion Tribe... She’d heard it mentioned many times.

’I am a little curious what a large tribe is really like.’

’How prosperous and civilized could they be?’

’But they already know how to use tools and weave linen, which means their society must have some basic structure.’

"Alright, let’s go to the Golden Lion Tribe."

’A large tribe should be a better place to ask about the Energy Stone’s whereabouts.’

’It wasn’t that she was unwilling to spend her Points on Zhu Xiu, but if there was another way to solve his problem, that would obviously be better.’

’If she saved these Points, they might come in handy at a critical moment.’

In the following days, their home became a hive of activity.

Typically, Xin Feng would stay and guard the house while Yan Lie and Zhu Xiu hunted separately. Mu Feng would then deliver their kills back home.

Bai Wanwan and Shi Hua were in charge of slicing and roasting the meat.

On a whim, Bai Wanwan had Xin Feng cut some of the meat into paper-thin slices.

She experimented with three marinades—hot and sour, numbing and spicy, and five-spice—and coated the thin meat slices with them.

Once they were roasted dry over a high flame, Bai Wanwan tasted a piece.

It was crispy, fragrant, and savory. It had the crunch of a potato chip but the satisfying texture of meat.

She couldn’t stop after just one.

Ever since she started saving Points to remove Zhu Xiu’s Dark Curse, Bai Wanwan hadn’t redeemed any snacks. It had been a long time since she’d been able to indulge like this.

The meat was readily available, and the taste was just as good as any snack she could have bought with Points.

"Wanwan, this is so delicious!"

Before Shi Hua had even swallowed, she couldn’t resist popping another piece of the meat crisp into her mouth.

"Slow down, there’s plenty more."

Bai Wanwan said with a grin, then got up and walked over to Xin Feng.

Seeing that he had already sliced another whole basin of thin meat in such a short time, Bai Wanwan stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You’re amazing. Thank you for all your hard work."

The work was easy, and on top of that, he was being praised by his mate.

Even a slow-tempered man like Xin Feng couldn’t help but smile.

"This basin is done. I’ll bring it over. I’ll keep cutting more so you’ll have plenty to eat when we’re on the road."

Bai Wanwan nodded eagerly. "Yes, cut lots! Cut lots! The fire is perfect today, let’s make a few big bags’ worth."

With Shi Hua watching the fire and Xin Feng slicing the meat, she decided to take a stroll and check on the potatoes.

The stalks and leaves above ground were growing well, but she had no idea what was happening in the soil beneath.

’But they seem to be growing a little too fast...’

’It’s only been about forty days, right? Yet the stalks and leaves are already so lush and thick.’

She gently poked at the dirt with a branch and saw a potato the size of an egg.

’Can they grow this big in just forty days?’

She didn’t know much about botany, but in her limited experience, no plant she knew of went from sprout to maturity this quickly.

’Could it be that the soil in the Beast World is just that fertile, and the sunlight that abundant?’

’Whatever!’

’The sooner they mature, the sooner I can prepare the food and we can leave the Black Dog Tribe.’

After a quick inspection, Bai Wanwan decided they probably weren’t ready to be harvested yet. On the whole, the potatoes were still on the small side.

’I’ll just have to wait a little longer, then.’

「Five days passed in a flash.」

Zhu Xiu and Xin Feng had already hauled dozens of kills back home. A portion was given to Shi Hua’s family, leaving them with about thirty carcasses.

Every day, when Bai Wanwan wasn’t making meat crisps, she was pacing around her potato patch, willing them to mature faster.

"Wanwan..."

She was squatting on the ground to inspect the plants when she heard someone call her name from behind.

Bai Wanwan slowly turned and saw Yan Lie standing in the alley beside their stone house, looking clean and dry.

He kept his voice low and beckoned to her.

Bai Wanwan cleared her throat, glanced at the busy Xin Feng and Shi Hua, then slowly rose and walked over to him.

"What is it? Can’t this wait until you’re inside?"

Yan Lie held up the Beast Skin Bag in his hand, offering it to her. "The fruits in the mountains are ripe. All the females love them, so I picked some for you."

Bai Wanwan leaned in to peek inside the Beast Skin Bag. The fruits inside were fist-sized and a brilliant red, looking utterly tempting.

She blinked up at him, her mouth already watering. "Are they good?"

Yan Lie’s gaze fell on her lips as they parted, and his own throat felt a little dry. "They’re... they’re good."

"Then take them inside. I’ll come have a taste after I’m done checking the potatoes."

She started to turn away, but Yan Lie caught her by the wrist.

"Wanwan..."

Bai Wanwan turned back to meet his brilliant eyes, which were swimming with intense emotion.

"Wanwan, I want to hold you."

For the past few days, whenever Zhu Xiu was home, he’d been hovering over Wanwan, barely leaving her side.

He hadn’t had a single chance to get close to her.

The last time he’d kissed and held her was before Zhu Xiu had returned.

Bai Wanwan didn’t answer right away. As she watched him, the tips of his ears slowly began to turn red...