Ze Yu’s answer was sincere, like a clear spring in the mountains. Li Zhu listened, and her heart felt like it had been soaked in warm water—soft and comforting.
She snuggled closer to him, her fingertips brushing over the small rabbit-shaped mark on his chest.
“Actually… all those things in the tribe, I taught the others.”
Li Zhu wasn’t trying to boast. She just felt that now he was her Beast Husband—her mate for life—and some things she didn’t want to hide from him.
Ze Yu looked down at her, curiosity lighting his eyes.
“Oh? How do you know about them?”
Li Zhu hesitated for a moment.
Reincarnation and past lives were far too strange to explain—it would be hard for anyone to believe. She thought for a bit and chose the safest explanation.
“When I was little, I got seriously ill and fell into a coma for three days and nights. I had a very long dream. When I woke up, my mind was filled with things I had never known before.”
Indeed, when she was five, she had fallen seriously ill after an accident in the water.
“What was in the dream?”
Ze Yu’s voice softened even more, his fingers lightly combing through her hair.
Li Zhu gazed at the glowing grass overhead, her eyes distant.
“In the dream, there was food that could last a long time without fire, stone pots that could cook many flavors, many tools made of wood, and tall plants that bore abundant crops… When I woke up, all those things were etched into my mind.”
She paused, a faint smile lifting the corners of her lips.
“At first, I didn’t dare tell anyone, afraid my parents would think I was crazy. Later, I tried making a simple pot out of stone and cooked mushroom soup. I tested it myself to make sure it wasn’t poisonous. Once everyone tasted it and said it was good, I gradually started teaching them.”
From the first stone-pot soups, to drying meat, to clearing land near the tribe and planting various spices she found in the forest…
Over the years, everything she did carried traces of her past life, carefully presented as “revelations from a dream.”
“When I went out with the hunting team to gather ingredients, I always noticed things others didn’t.”
Li Zhu spoke with a touch of pride.
“For example, wild fruits shaped like little lanterns—others thought they were poisonous, but I tried them and found that cooked, they were really sweet. We later called them pumpkins, and now everyone loves them. There were round plants growing underground—we could roast them or boil them; we called them sweet potatoes. And the white parts of wild beasts could be rendered into cooking oil—it smells so good! The bones could be made into soup, rich in flavor and full of nutrition…”
She chattered on, like showing off treasured secrets.
Ze Yu listened quietly, his eyes full of tender amusement.
He could easily picture this little rabbit hopping through the grass with a basket, diligently searching for food—so serious, yet so adorable.
He hadn’t realized before that every part of a beast could be valuable. In his space, the meat was always already prepared in pieces.
“Seeing everyone not go hungry in winter, wearing warmer furs, made me really happy.”
Li Zhu lifted her head, meeting his gaze, eyes sparkling.
“In the past, my family and the tribe protected me so much, I felt like I couldn’t do anything. But now, I can help them. I can make their lives better.”
The feeling of being needed, being relied upon—something she had never experienced in her past life.
In her sixteen years with the Rabbit Tribe, she was no longer a lonely orphan. She had truly become part of the tribe, with people and things she wanted to protect.
Ze Yu leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“My Li Zhu… you’re amazing.”
“All those things you told me, I didn’t know before, but I’ll learn slowly. I’ll take really, really good care of you.”
At this moment, the light in her eyes—the resilience and intelligence that had never faded even though she was born into the weak Rabbit Tribe—entranced him.
“Actually, when I was little, I wasn’t always alone.”
Ze Yu’s voice grew low, carrying a hint of distant memory.
“When my father was still alive, he taught me many things. He said the Baize Tribe could understand all things—not through innate power, but through observation and memory.”
He thought of the western deserts, of his father holding his hand and teaching him to recognize the tracks of sand lizards, telling him which dunes hid water. He remembered the tribe’s surviving ancient books, recording the habits of beasts and uses of plants—treasures left by their ancestors, his father had said.
“After my father passed, I started wandering.”
Ze Yu’s fingers traced through Li Zhu’s hair.
“I went to the rainforests of the southern continent, where vines could consume humans, yet there grew the ‘Awakening Flowers’ that cure all poisons; I crossed the icy plains to the east, where the frozen bones of ancient beasts from tens of thousands of years ago lay beneath the ice, containing immense energy…”
He spoke of dealing with nine-headed serpents in swamps, collecting “Moonlight Grass” on cliffs, and passing by a tribe wiped out entirely—finding only a surviving infant, whom he delivered to a nearby tribe. As he turned away, the infant cried out, calling him “Father.”
“At that time, I thought, this continent is so vast, yet there is no place for me,” Ze Yu said softly, as if afraid to disturb anything.
“Until I met you. Fortunately… I met you.”
Li Zhu’s heart tightened, and she hugged him tightly.
“From now on, I’ll always stay by your side.”
Ze Yu wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. He took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh scent of grass and sunlight, and the sense of home that belonged to him.
They stayed like that, snuggled together, and talked for a long time.
Li Zhu talked about how well her chili peppers were growing, and how she planned to make lots of chili sauce when they ripened.
Ze Yu said he would go to the Black Forest tomorrow to find berries that could dye fabric red and make her a beautiful outfit.
They discussed potential names for their babies, whether to plant a circle of sweet berries outside the cave, and whether to explore other continents in the future.
Outside, the moonlight shifted westward, and the glow of the luminous grass softened.
Li Zhu yawned a big yawn, her eyelids growing heavy, her words becoming slurred.
“Ah Ze… you must come back early from the Black Forest tomorrow…”
“Mm, I’ll be back soon.”
Ze Yu kissed the corner of her eye.
“Stay at home and wait for me. Let your mother stew you some meat.”
“Mm…”
Li Zhu snuggled closer, finding the most comfortable position.
“I’ll miss you…”
Before the words even fell, she had already drifted into a deep sleep, her breathing even, like a small, safe little rabbit.
Ze Yu lowered his head, watching her peaceful face. Her long eyelashes cast gentle shadows over her closed eyelids, and the faintly glowing golden mark on her chest mirrored the rabbit mark on his own.
He raised his hand and used his psychic ability to set an invisible barrier at the cave entrance—a protective Baize Tribe ward. Any high-level beast approaching would trigger an alarm.
Once he finished, he hugged her tightly again and closed his eyes.
Tomorrow’s hunt in the Black Forest would be important. He had to gather the best food for her and the babies, and prepare more crystal stones for the Rabbit Tribe.
At this moment, feeling the warmth of her body and the rhythm of their hearts intertwined, he felt a sense of unprecedented peace.
As the night deepened, the cave was filled only with their steady breathing, mingling with the chirping insects and the wind outside, like a gentle lullaby.