“Xi Nan, come back!”
Xi Nan didn’t stop.
He walked to the large tree outside the cave and leaped onto a branch.
He lay down with practiced ease.
“Xi Nan, why are you on that tree instead of sleeping in bed?”
Xi Nan flicked his tail and buried his head.
“…”
“Xi Nan, get down here right now!”
After he’d defied her again and again, Xi Yao was starting to get angry.
“Weren’t you the one who wanted us to take turns standing guard outside to attract wild beasts?”
Hearing this, Xi Yao’s heart jolted.
She was instantly reminded of the original owner’s hair-raising actions.
In the past, the original owner had tied them to a tree trunk outside the cave when they were just newborns.
Their cave was on the edge of the tribe’s territory, which was already a perilous location.
The cave entrance wasn’t blocked by a stone slab, just a curtain of animal hide.
If any wild beasts invaded, they would be the first to be sacrificed.
The original owner had clearly wanted to use the beasts to get rid of them.
Xi Yao’s eyes instantly reddened, and her heart ached so much she could barely breathe.
“Xi Nan, Mother was wrong before.
I won’t make you do these dangerous things anymore.
Come down quickly.
It’s not safe outside.
Come back into the cave to sleep.”
But Xi Nan stubbornly refused to move, saying in a muffled voice, “You tricked us into going out like this before, and in the end…”
In the end, she had tricked them into going deep into the forest, into the territory of ferocious beasts.
If a Hunting Team hadn’t happened to pass by, they would have been eaten without a single scrap left.
Xi Yao walked a few steps to the base of the tree and looked up at Xi Nan.
“Xi Nan, Mother won’t trick you again in the future.
Look at today.
Didn’t Mother protect you and Xi Bei?
Please believe Mother this one time, okay?”
Xi Nan slowly lifted his head.
His ink-black eyes were hidden in the darkness, completely obscured.
He seemed to be weighing the truth of Xi Yao’s words.
After a long while, he finally spoke in a small voice:
“Then you have to promise you won’t throw us out again.”
Xi Yao immediately raised her hand.
“Mother promises.
I won’t let you suffer even the slightest harm in the future.
If I break this vow, then let me…”
‘She truly did ache for them.
She had always liked children, but in her past life, she was so busy with her career that she had no time for romance, let alone having kids of her own.’
‘Becoming a mother without the pain of childbirth wasn’t so bad, either.’
“You don’t need to swear.” Xi Nan leaped down from the tree and ran into the cave.
Xi Yao subconsciously reached out and snatched, just happening to grab his tail.
With a lift, she scooped his entire body into her arms.
Xi Nan struggled in her arms a couple of times, trying to break free, but he found that Xi Yao was holding him too tightly.
Unable to escape, he turned his head away in a huff and refused to look at her.
Cradling Xi Nan, Xi Yao walked into the cave and said softly, “Xi Nan, Mother knows you’re angry, but I truly want to be good to you.”
Back in the cave, the commotion had already woken Xi Bei, who looked at them with sleepy eyes.
“Big Brother, what’s wrong?”
Xi Nan snorted and didn’t say a word.
Xi Yao carried Xi Nan to the side of the stone bed and sat down.
She placed Xi Nan on the inner part of the bed, then reached out and rubbed Xi Bei’s little head.
“Go to sleep.
Mother will protect you.”
Xi Bei nodded in a daze.
He was timid and a bit of a crybaby, so with his two older brothers usually protecting him, he hadn’t suffered as much harm.
The image of Xi Yao protecting them today was still vivid in his mind, so his resistance toward her wasn’t as strong as Xi Nan’s.
He crawled over and hugged Xi Yao’s arm.
Xi Yao took the opportunity to hug him back as she lay down on the stone bed.
Xi Nan watched Xi Bei being held in Xi Yao’s arms, snorted coldly, and rolled over, turning his back to them.
…
In the early morning, just as Xi Yao returned from washing up at the river, she ran into some Beastmen who had come to give them meat and animal hides.
In total, she received four hides and twenty kilograms of meat.
The Beastmen here already knew how to use salt to cure meat into jerky, and what they had brought was all jerky.
Xi Yao placed the animal hides on the stone bed and then hung the jerky on the wooden rack at the cave entrance that was used for drying hide skirts.
Looking at the empty cave, she began planning how to renovate it.
‘If nothing unexpected happens, I’ll probably have to live in this tribe for a while longer.’
‘The cold season will be here in another month.
I’ll have to wait until it’s over before leaving, at the very least.’
As she was thinking, Xi Nan came in carrying a half-full bucket of water in his mouth and then dutifully went to start the fire.
Xi Yao went to the side, washed the heavy stone pot clean, and placed it on the stove made of a few stacked stones.
Xi Mo had woken up.
His serious injuries hadn’t healed yet, and since they were deep bone-and-muscle wounds, he needed proper nourishment.
Xi Yao sliced the fresh, tender Saber-toothed Tiger meat left over from last night.
The heavy stone knife was not easy to handle at all; she could barely cut through the meat.
‘If only her terminal was working.’
‘It was filled with all sorts of emergency medicine, as well as plenty of cold weapons and firearms.’
“Bad female, I’m going to the river to get more water.” Xi Nan’s childish voice broke Xi Yao’s train of thought.
She looked at her sensible eldest son and flicked his forehead.
“That’s rude.
Call me Mother.”
Xi Nan snorted, grabbed the rim of the wooden bucket with his mouth, and ran off.
Xi Yao shouted after him, “You little brat, be careful!
Don’t run too far.”
Xi Yao put the sliced meat into the steaming stone pot.
Xi Bei lay nearby, occasionally poking the fire and adding firewood.
“Xi Bei, will you come gathering with Mother later?”
Hearing this, Xi Bei’s whole body went stiff.
‘Is it my turn now?’
‘Yesterday’s warmth really was just a dream.’
“I’ll go with you.”
A slightly hoarse, childish voice sounded from behind them.
The person and the beast turned around at the same time.
Xi Mo had already jumped off the bed and was walking toward them.
Xi Bei’s light gray eyes lit up.
“Second Brother, you can get out of bed!!!”
Xi Mo lifted a paw and gently patted his furry head.
“Brother is fine.”
WHIMPER!
WHIMPER!
Xi Bei nuzzled him with his head, his tail wagging happily.
“If you don’t want to end up with a limp, you’d better get back in bed right now.” The moment Xi Yao spoke, the cheerful atmosphere instantly froze.
Xi Mo remembered how, just for eating a few extra bites of meat, she had thrown him to the Hunting Team as bait.
The pain from his broken hind leg and severed tail instantly washed over him.
The joy he had felt from being able to walk completely vanished.
“It’s none of your business.”
“I’m your mother!
If I don’t look after you, who will?”
“Didn’t you abandon me?
Why are you bothering with me now?”
Xi Mo’s eyes grew red.
He turned his head away and refused to look at Xi Yao.
Xi Yao’s heart clenched, and her tone softened involuntarily.
“Ah Mo, how could Mother ever abandon you?
Yesterday, Mother was wrong.
I shouldn’t have been so impulsive and put you in danger.”
Anxious, Xi Bei pawed at the ground beside them, looking back and forth between Xi Mo and Xi Yao.
“Mother, I’ll go gathering with you!
Please don’t be mean to Second Brother.”
Hearing Xi Yao’s words, Xi Mo’s body trembled slightly, but he was stubborn and still didn’t turn his head back.
Xi Yao continued, “Ah Mo, Mother was just muddled with anger at the time.
That’s why I made that decision.
Seeing you get hurt, Mother’s heart was about to break.”
Her voice held a hint of a sob as she reached out to gently rest her hand on Xi Mo’s back, stroking his fur.
Xi Mo dodged her hand and roared with a sob in his voice, “You’re lying!
You threw me out so heartlessly yesterday!
How could you possibly feel bad?”
He had nearly been torn to pieces by those vicious beasts.
Remembering yesterday’s despair, the heart that had started to soften was sealed away once more.
Xi Bei was so anxious he spun in circles, his big eyes filled with worry.
“Second Brother, Mother knows she was wrong!
She’s the one who healed your injuries.
Just forgive her, please.”