As Xi Bei spoke, he rubbed his head against Xi Mo’s leg, trying to soothe him.
“Xi Bei!
How can you call her Mother?
Have you forgotten how she used to treat us?”
Xi Bei let out an aggrieved whimper and flopped onto the ground, pawing at the dirt.
It took him a long while to finally stammer out a reply:
“B-but she’s changed for the better!
She’s good now.”
Xi Yao looked at Xi Mo, her eyes filled with heartache.
“Ah Mo, Mother truly knows she was wrong.
I promise that from now on, no matter what happens, I’ll think of your safety first.
I won’t be so reckless again.
Please, just forgive me this once, okay?”
Just then, Xi Nan returned with a bucket of water in his mouth, only to see his two younger brothers huddled together.
He assumed Xi Yao was bullying them again while he was gone.
Xi Nan violently threw the bucket down, and water splashed everywhere.
He charged over menacingly and glared at Xi Yao.
“You wicked female!
You’re bullying them again!
I’ll kill you!”
With that, he bared his fangs and claws and lunged at Xi Yao.
Seeing this, Xi Bei quickly used his body to shield Xi Yao and shouted, “Big Brother, it’s not like that!
Mother is apologizing to Second Brother!
She knows she was wrong!”
Xi Nan froze, his ink-black eyes wide with disbelief.
He stared at Xi Bei, then turned his head to look at Xi Mo.
Xi Yao carried Xi Mo back to the bed.
This time, Xi Mo didn’t struggle.
“Xi Mo, I know it’s hard for you to believe me right now, but I am truly determined to change.
Letting you get hurt is the biggest regret of my life.”
Xi Nan stood to the side, looking awkward.
He realized he had misunderstood Xi Yao, but he couldn’t swallow his pride and apologize, so he just muttered under his breath:
“Who knows if you’re really sincere.
You’re probably all talk, just like before.”
Xi Yao looked up at Xi Nan, her expression serious.
“Xi Nan, I will prove it with my actions.
I failed to protect you all before and let you suffer so much.
That won’t happen again.”
Xi Bei chimed in from the side.
“Big Brother, Mother really seems to know she was wrong.
Let’s give her another chance.”
“I don’t want to be without a mother.”
Lying on the bed, Xi Mo hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.
“I’ll trust you just this once.
I hope you don’t disappoint us again.”
Xi Yao nodded emphatically.
“I won’t let you down.
You just focus on getting better.
When you’re healed, if you still want revenge, I won’t stop you.”
Xi Mo fell silent.
Xi Yao returned to the stone pot and stirred the contents a few times with a pair of simple wooden chopsticks.
She sighed as she looked at the bubbling meat broth.
No bowls, and no salt.
‘What a miserable life.’
But even without bowls, they still had to eat.
She picked up a few clean leaves, placed some slices of meat on them, and brought them over to the stone bed for Xi Mo.
Then she called the other two little ones over to eat.
Xi Nan and Xi Bei obediently went to the stone pot and tried to copy Xi Yao, using sticks to pick out slices of meat.
But they couldn’t manage to pick anything up, and even singed some of their fur in the process.
Xi Nan threw down the stick in his hand and gave up on eating altogether.
“…”
Xi Bei looked at Xi Yao with a pitiful expression, wanting to eat but unable to get any of the meat.
Xi Yao walked over and helped them, placing slices of meat onto clean leaves for them.
‘I have to figure out how to make some bowls today,’ she thought.
As Xi Nan ate, he secretly watched Xi Yao.
Seeing how earnestly she was caring for Xi Mo, much of the resentment in his heart began to fade.
…
Before long, one of the other females came to call her to go foraging.
Xi Nan, not trusting her to take Xi Bei out alone, wanted to go with them, but she refused.
“You stay here and look after Xi Mo.”
Xi Mo didn’t feel comfortable either and was about to speak up, but Xi Yao cut him off.
“It’s not up for discussion.
That’s final.”
With that said, she picked up Xi Bei and left the cave.
Carrying Xi Bei, Xi Yao followed a few other females from the tribe as they headed out of the settlement.
The other females deliberately kept their distance from Xi Yao, occasionally whispering amongst themselves with looks of pure disgust.
Xi Yao pretended not to notice.
She held Xi Bei and scanned her surroundings.
“I can’t believe she has the nerve to carry that little monster around in public.
We should stay far away from her; who knows what kind of disaster she’ll bring upon us,” one of the females said with a sneer.
“Exactly.
I really don’t understand why the Clan Leader still lets them stay in the tribe,” another agreed.
Xi Bei shifted uneasily in Xi Yao’s arms.
Xi Yao held him tighter and soothed him by patting his back.
“Be good, Little Bei.
Don’t listen to them.
You and your brothers are the cutest little Zaizai.”
By now, they were about a ten-minute walk from the tribe, accompanied by two Beastman warriors for protection.
“There are lots of wild vegetables over here!
Hurry!”
The female who had come to get Xi Yao earlier called out from a short distance away.
Hearing her shout, the other females swarmed over.
Just as Xi Yao got closer, one of the females deliberately shoved her, nearly making her fall.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!
Get away from us!
Don’t bring your bad luck over here,” the female shrieked, as if she had touched something filthy.
Xi Yao steadied herself and looked at the other female calmly.
“Mina, we’re all gathering food for the tribe.
Is this really necessary?”
“When we’re around a female who gives birth to monsters like you, we’re afraid we won’t find anything good.”
Xi Yao gritted her teeth and held her tongue.
Ignoring them, she turned to look for wild vegetables elsewhere.
In this world, no one knew how to weave baskets yet.
Everyone used Beast Skin Bags sewn from animal hides.
Xi Yao figured she would need one herself, so she gathered some nearby vines and started making a simple basket.
Baskets like these were rarities in the interstellar era, considered antiques and collector’s items.
Her family happened to own one, and she had secretly studied its construction a few times.
Now was the perfect chance to put that knowledge into practice.
Relying on memory, Xi Yao began to intertwine and weave the vines.
At first, her fingers felt clumsy and wouldn’t cooperate, making her work a mess.
But slowly, she got the hang of it.
She first wove a flat base, then began building the walls up from the edge, bit by bit.
Before long, the basic shape of a basket began to emerge.
After the other females had finished gathering vegetables, they wandered over to Xi Yao in twos and threes.
When they saw Xi Yao sitting there fiddling with vines, her Beast Skin Bag lying flat beside her with hardly any vegetables inside, they became furious.
“Look at the time!
How can you have the leisure to be playing around?
Did you come here to forage or to fool around?”
“Exactly.
We’re working our tails off foraging, and she’s just sitting here slacking off.
Let’s see how she explains this to the Clan Leader later,” another female added, her eyes gleaming with malice.
Xi Yao looked up.
“Which one of your eyes saw me playing?
I’m making this basket to make foraging more convenient in the future.
It’ll hold more, too.”
“Tch!
That’s just an excuse for your laziness.” A short-tempered female reached out, trying to smack the unfinished basket out of Xi Yao’s hands.
Xi Yao quickly sidestepped the blow, protecting the basket behind her back.
A cold glint entered her eyes.
“You don’t have to believe me, but don’t you dare break my things.”
“So what if I do?
The cubs born from your kind are all monsters.
What good could possibly come from something you made?” the female persisted, looking ready to strike.
Xi Bei, terrified, trembled beside her and clutched the hem of Xi Yao’s clothes.
Being cursed to her face again and again, Xi Yao’s own temper began to flare.