They went to bed early, so they naturally woke up early as well. At the crack of dawn, the two parents were already up preparing for chores.
The two cubs were still lying in bed covered with animal skin blankets.
Hu Li was still asleep beside the little white fox, his drool seemingly staining the fox’s snow-white fur.
The little white fox twitched its front legs half-awake, but hearing the noise, it instinctively struggled to open its eyes.
Bing Qiu first glanced at little Xue Tuan, who was sleeping soundly on its belly, then habitually licked the cub’s face. Afterward, Bing Qiu transformed into human form and got up to help the adults with the chores.
Hu Li woke up groggily. He rubbed his eyes and sat up for a moment, then saw a figure at the door.
“Brother… Brother.”
“Hey.” Seeing that Xue Tuan was also awake, Bing Qiu casually picked Hu Li up and let him sit astride his neck. “Let’s go, let’s rinse our mouths.”
As soon as they went outside, Gray flapped its wings and flew over, landing on Xue Tuan’s shoulder. Gray tilted its head and pecked at Xue Tuan’s hair near his ear as if to say: You’re awake.
The reason their family paid attention to oral health was thanks to the elders of the Snow Fox Clan. The elders noticed that, at some point, many young members of the clan had developed teeth so badly they couldn’t eat meat.
The clan chief, upon hearing this, knew this wouldn’t do and had to find the problem! So the clan chief earnestly urged everyone to pay attention to dental hygiene, as for how to do it, that was up to each individual.
Therefore, when Xue Tuan woke up and was supervised by his brother Bing Qiu to rinse his mouth every day, he was quite surprised.
Hu Li couldn’t help but admire the keen observation skills of his predecessors, such insight required the experience of countless generations.
Today’s breakfast was roasted potatoes, clearly indicating a pitifully limited selection of staple foods.
Hu Li silently observed this small tribe. There were no crops grown or livestock raised nearby. Yet, he had indeed seen broken old tools inside the houses, either used for harvesting wild crops or indicating that crops had once been cultivated but abandoned for some reason.
Holding the warm food in his hands, Hu Li wondered: Could it be that it’s difficult to grow crops in this world? Are they truly reliant on the weather and gathering from the wild every day?
While not everything here was familiar to him, the differences weren’t significant. For example, prehistoric corn was typically only 2 centimeters in size, but in this world, most of what they ate was the bred, selectively cultivated form of later generations that were sometimes even larger.
Even the ginseng spirits of China had “farming genes” imprinted in their souls.
There was no reason they wouldn’t study farming.
Thinking about Elder Mu Shi’s words, Hu Li realized that perhaps they had lived in this area for too many years, and the resources had been almost completely depleted, leading to food shortages during the cold season.
Hu Li learned that in this world, cubs could freely change their animal forms. However, upon reaching adulthood, their animal forms grew exponentially larger, and required significantly more energy to maintain their transformation.
This meant that those who were starving couldn’t even successfully transform.
Without transformation, their hunting abilities were greatly reduced, leading to hunger and a vicious cycle.
The adults were definitely going hunting today. They had promised the elders to contribute a portion of their food to the tribe, and they couldn’t break their promise.
Sure enough, after everyone finished breakfast, the two elders told them they were going hunting, leaving Bing Qiu behind to look after the youngest cub.
Just as Rong Shan and Feng Yan were about to leave, Xue Tuan grabbed Rong Shan’s animal skin coat, preventing him from going.
Rong Shan had no choice but to squat down. He looked at his little one, and stroked his face, saying, “Sweetie, how about playing at home with your brother today?”
Hu Li shook his head: “Together, I’ll go with you.” He was determined to go out with his father today, he couldn’t stay home all the time.
“Go ahead, go ahead, I’ll look after little brother!” Bing Qiu chimed in, standing behind his brother. Although he hadn’t expected Xue Tuan to ask to go out with his father, he didn’t want to stay home either, and immediately agreed to go along.
Bing Qiu glanced at Gray perched on Xue Tuan’s shoulder and had a sudden inspiration: “And Gray! Gray can protect Xue Tuan too!” He had another reason to persuade his father.
Gray, suddenly called out, jumped up and down twice, his little eyes filled with great confusion: ?
Rong Shan’s gaze shifted from Bing Qiu to his own little one’s bright eyes.
Seeing Xue Tuan’s unusual insistence, Rong Shan softened and turned to Feng Yan, seeking his opinion.
Feng Yan, however, addressed Bing Qiu with a slightly serious tone, asking, “Can you take good care of your younger brother?”
“Yes!” Bing Qiu immediately puffed out his chest and answered loudly, “I promise I won’t let Xue Tuan out of my sight!”
Thus, the beastmen of the tribe saw a rare sight of a whole family going hunting together.
Normally, the division of labor in a family was that the stronger beastman would go out to hunt for food while the other sub-beastman partner would be responsible for looking after the home. Occasionally, two adults would go out together but that was only when the youngest child in the family was already old.
“Going hunting with their cubs? What’s that snow fox family doing?”
“Who knows? I told them there was no food, but they wouldn’t believe me.”
“Even such young cubs have to go out to work, that’s so pitiful…”
“Mind your own business, we can’t even feed ourselves.”
It’s rare to see a snow fox family going hunting with their whole family. Especially with such young cubs, they’d just think the adults in the family are out of their minds.
Everyone in the tribe who saw this scene couldn’t help but murmur amongst themselves.
The two elders were well aware of this. But Feng Yan and Bing Qiu had already scouted the forest yesterday, and he and Rong Shan were among the strongest fighters in the tribe. If even they couldn’t protect their cubs in the wild, who could they entrust them to? They were confident in that much.
But the wild is not like the tribe. Feng Yan earnestly instructed the cubs, “You must be vigilant, understand?”
Qing Miao stood in front of his thatched hut, and watched the snow fox family depart. He felt a little worried. But looking at the dwindling food supplies, he could only sigh. He still had to go out with the gathering team today, hoping to find more fruit.
Once they left the tribe, they all transformed into snow foxes as hunting in animal form was much easier.
Hu Li, meanwhile, slung the small animal skin bag his father had made for him over his shoulder and sat on Bing Qiu’s back.
Before setting off, the two enormous snow foxes came to Xue Tuan, and took turns rubbing their heads against Xue Tuan’s little face.
Xue Tuan obediently stretched out his hands to hug his father and mother’s fluffy heads, squinting his eyes and rubbing back contentedly.
Seeing that the cubs were in good spirits, the two snow foxes then ran ahead, leading the way. Bing Qiu wanted to nuzzle his younger brother, but after trying, he couldn’t reach him and had to give up. So he shrugged his shoulders to get his brother settled, and got ready to leave.
A black, beast-like figure remained hidden behind the tribe’s gate, silently watching the snow fox family disappear into the distance.
As soon as the snow foxes set off, Gray flapped its wings and soared into the sky. Whenever they hunted, Gray would go out to forage on its own. After eating its fill, it would fly back to find them, so no one worried much about it.
This was the first time Bing Qiu had carried his brother out, and he excitedly chased after his father and mother. The cold wind whipped against his cheeks, and he felt as if he had grown up, capable of protecting his brother.
Bing Qiu looked young, and seemed quite childish when playing with Xue Tuan. But in the wild, Bing Qiu was very measured. This was because Feng Yan and Rong Shan had instilled in him from a young age that while he could be mischievous at home, he must be extremely careful outside.
Xue Tuan, perched on the fluffy white fox, didn’t think much of it. His family had already endured hardship and sleeping outdoors, so going out together didn’t pose any danger for him. He treated it like a vacation.
However, Xue Tuan wasn’t idle. His big eyes darted around, constantly watching the scenery rushing by. His goal was to find something useful to improve his family’s living conditions.
Humans are always greedy, and simply being full wasn’t enough. He wanted more delicious food, and more seasonings.
Feng Yan and Rong Shan ran, searching for prey. They had brought their lunch and planned to spend the whole day hunting, making the most of the daytime.
While hunting at night was possible, the conditions were much harsher. Feng Yan and Rong Shan only chose to do so when all else failed.
The cold season truly was the hardest time to find food.
Along the way, their running speed varied, but they didn’t spot any prey. The occasional birds they encountered were not easy for them to catch.
Furthermore, birds and other small wild animals were hardly enough to satisfy their hunger. Xue Tuan agreed that his family should expend their energy hunting larger prey.
Xue Tuan even began to wonder if, due to their unrestrained hunting, there was no other prey left in this territory.
Just then, Feng Yan ahead suddenly slowed down, and Rong Shan also came to a stop.
They had finally discovered the tracks of some kind of wild animal. The two snow foxes studied them for a moment, exchanged a few whimpers, and then, seemingly having decided on a plan, turned and walked towards Bing Qiu and Xue Tuan who were following behind them.
Then the three foxes began to communicate.
Xue Tuan stared blankly at them, feeling it was incredibly unfair. Not only could he not transform, but he also couldn’t understand the furry creatures’ conversation—it was infuriating!
Xue Tuan tugged at the little white fox’s fur, whimpering and wriggling as he slid off his brother.
Bing Qiu immediately stretched out its front paws and grabbed Xue Tuan, preventing him from running away. Then it growled a few times at its father, indicating it would watch over its younger brother and that it and its mother should focus on hunting.
The tall snow fox walked over, patted Xue Tuan’s fur firmly with its paw, and then left.
Feng Yan and Rong Shan probably felt that the cubs would perform better if they weren’t near the prey.
So they had just told Bing Qiu and Xue Tuan to stay put and not wander off while they went hunting.
Finding prey was extremely difficult. Bing Qiu knew it was crucial to their family’s food supply for the next few days, so it assured its mother and father that it wouldn’t cause any trouble.
“Go over there…”
Xue Tuan’s soft voice reached Bing Qiu’s ears, accompanied by its younger brother tugging at its fur.
The little white fox’s ears twitched. Understanding what its brother was saying, it glanced in the direction its father and mother had gone.
They were now free to roam as they waited for their father and mother to return.
There was no danger nearby, and as long as they didn’t stray too far, Bing Qiu was willing to wander around with Xue Tuan, hoping to gather some fruit.
However, Xue Tuan, after pulling him along, walked straight to a clump of strange plants a few meters away.
Bing Qiu strolled over to Xue Tuan, tilting his head to examine the plant. It was a species he had never seen before.
The plant had rough, thin vines that twined around other plants. Its leaves were smooth and oval, and it bore small green fruits.
Seeing Xue Tuan reach for the fruits, Bing Qiu quickly nudged him away with his fluffy head, and prevented him from touching them.
Bing Qiu clearly remembered his father and mother’s instructions not to easily try unfamiliar foods unless they could borrow a Hundred-Herb Beast from the tribe.
The Hundred-Herb Beast was a type of spirit beast that could taste whether a plant was poisonous, it would spit out anything poisonous.
Xue Tuan had certainly heard about the Hundred Herbs Beast, but he was unusually excited at this moment because the plant in front of him looked very much like the pepper from his previous life!