Gu Chengyan gave a light cough and released Sai-He-Chinna’s hand, turning around to open the door and let the little wolf in. “Let’s talk about your business first.”
The little wolf trotted in, nuzzled him affectionately, and let out a series of low barks at Sai-He-Chinna: Black Back found a large group of dead birds by the Kuli River and wants you to come back and take a look.
The Kuli River was a hidden waterway within the birch forest. Originating from the snow mountains, it had a steep drop in elevation, meaning it didn’t freeze even in this season; it was running water. Many animals in the vicinity came to the riverbank to drink. They had chosen the birch forest as their territory precisely because it was rich in water sources while also being well-concealed. A wolf pack might go one or two months without catching new prey, but they could not go that long without water.
Upon hearing that something had happened near the Kuli River, Sai-He-Chinna’s expression changed. Just as he was about to follow the little wolf, he abruptly froze and turned back to look at Gu Chengyan he hadn’t finished learning his lessons yet. If he left now, would his wife be angry?
Gu Chengyan looked at him, puzzled. “What is it?”
Sai-He-Chinna pointed at the words written in water on the table. Considering the little wolf was nearby, he felt shy about walking over to touch Gu Chengyan, so he just pointed at his own throat: —Don’t we need to continue?
Gu Chengyan looked at his prominent Adam’s apple, his eyelashes fluttering, before eventually looking away. “…It’s not that urgent; you should attend to your business first.”
Not urgent?
Sai-He-Chinna looked at him strangely, thinking that if it wasn’t urgent, why had he been so focused on practicing his name just now, even teaching it so many times? He recalled Gu Chengyan’s actions from yesterday to today: from being angry at him and not letting him back into the nest, to later falling asleep obediently in his arms, to the next day taking him to see the food and teaching him to speak…
Sai-He-Chinna’s eyes lit up as he experienced a moment of enlightenment: Aren’t these all just roundabout ways of trying to make me stay? A beautiful partner couldn’t be wrong; he was simply trying to keep him by his side for a little longer. How cute, to come up with so many excuses.
Sai-He-Chinna nodded vigorously: I knew it. My wife has me in his heart.
Gu Chengyan had no idea what was going on in the brat’s head; he only knew that Sai-He-Chinna was suddenly looking at him with glowing eyes—those bright blue eyes instantly transformed into a sparkling sea under the sun, so dazzling that Gu Chengyan couldn’t help but step back. He didn’t fear water, and he quite liked the sea, but this kind of gaze was more than he could handle—it gave him the illusion that he was about to be swallowed whole.
However, Sai-He-Chinna grabbed his arm, racking his brains to squeeze out, “Go… to-geth-er!”
Gu Chengyan: ?
Sai-He-Chinna’s palms grew damp with thin sweat, his grip tightening unconsciously. “Go, go… to-geth-er… let’s go together!” Although it was stuttered, it was undoubtedly standard Rongdi.
Go together?
Gu Chengyan blinked. “Go where?”
Sai-He-Chinna gave the little wolf a look. The little one’s round eyes brightened as well; it crouched down, howled at Gu Chengyan twice, and turned to run outside. Before long, it returned with the big white wolf. Both wolves were panting, their tongues lolling out from exhaustion.
Gu Chengyan scratched the little wolf’s chin and poured them a basin of water with a smile. “What’s the rush? Look how tired the little ones are.” Fresh water was a precious resource in the snow mountains; after a moment of surprise, the two wolves crowded around the basin and gulped it down.
Sai-He-Chinna pursed his lips, wanting to tell Gu Chengyan not to spoil his subjects like this—even a young wolf should learn to find its own water. But when he looked back, he saw Gu Chengyan smiling softly, his gaze gentle, his beautiful eyes seeming to contain the warmest winter sunlight. The words died in his throat. Sai-He-Chinna shook his head, watching the wolves, and thought to himself, You lot are truly lucky.
Once the two wolves finished drinking, he pulled Gu Chengyan outside, pointed toward the birch forest behind the house, and signaled for him to climb onto the back of the big white wolf.
“Hmm?” Gu Chengyan looked at the giant wolf, which had knelt obediently before him. “This is…?”
Sai-He-Chinna thought for a moment and gave a heavy nod: A beautiful partner is far-sighted. Speaking the language is indeed important. For example, now, there’s no way to express the full meaning through gestures alone. He scratched his head, pointed at the little wolf and the big white wolf, pointed at the birch forest and patted his own chest, and finally took Gu Chengyan’s hand and shook it.
“This is… you want to take me to see your territory?” Gu Chengyan asked.
“Mm-hm!” Sai-He-Chinna nodded vigorously: At least my wife is beautiful and smart!
Gu Chengyan didn’t know what the brat was up to, but since he had nothing to do on the Far North grasslands, going along to have a look was fine. He swung his leg over the white wolf’s back and patted its neck lightly. “In that case, I’ll leave it to you.”
The white wolf stood up cautiously, tried running two steps, and only dared to pick up speed when it saw that Gu Chengyan was sitting steadily. Riding a wolf was different from riding a horse; furthermore, this was bareback riding without a saddle or stirrups, which required a high level of horsemanship. Fortunately, Gu Chengyan had been accustomed to horses since he was young, and after getting used to it for a moment, he found his rhythm.
The white wolf ran fast, the grassland wolves followed closely, and the youth was also athletic and clearly well-trained, keeping up with no trouble at all. Gu Chengyan glanced to the side and discovered that the youth’s way of shifting his feet was somewhat similar to the light-footed martial arts techniques of the Central Plains; it was likely he had received some guidance.
After entering the birch forest, the white wolf weaved through the identical-looking thickets, and after several turns, brought Gu Chengyan to the wolf den. This was a gentle slope hidden deep within the birch forest, with the top connecting to the northern slope of the snow mountain, covered in many gray rocks hidden beneath deep snow. Between the interlocking rocks, one could vaguely see several concealed wolf dens; the grassland wolves he had seen before were coming out of the dens, watching them from afar.
On the other side of the slope, the sound of water could be heard faintly; it seemed there was a river running through a deeper part of the birch forest he hadn’t known about. The white wolf slowly slowed down and knelt low, letting Gu Chengyan climb off. Simultaneously, the grassland wolves used low barks to call out to the other wolves.
Gu Chengyan looked around and found the number of wolves had increased—there were some new faces that had bristled their backs and flattened their ears, baring their teeth with a ferocious look as soon as they saw him, but before they could pounce, they were pinned down by the other wolves. They gathered in twos and threes, exchanging low barks Gu Chengyan couldn’t understand, and before long, the entire pack went quiet.
The wolves pressed their front paws to the ground and lowered their heads, looking with reverence toward the figure behind Gu Chengyan—Sai-He-Chinna, who was walking leisurely toward them with the little wolf.
A ray of sunlight pierced through the snow-laden trees, casting a glow upon him, making his sharp-featured, deep-browed face shine brilliantly. Sai-He-Chinna squinted his eyes, scanned the wolf pack, and suddenly reached out to wrap his arm around Gu Chengyan’s waist, shooting a warning glare toward several directions. The few wolves that had been baring their teeth immediately flattened their ears, whimpering and shifting their eyes away, their fur standing on end as they trembled in fear.
Gu Chengyan was curious for a moment and turned to look at Sai-He-Chinna, ignoring the hand the youth had placed on his waist with no intention of letting go. Having lived with the pack for years, Sai-He-Chinna had long ago developed keen instincts; as soon as Gu Chengyan’s gaze fell upon him, he retracted the ferocity in his eyes.
His blue eyes blinked, and he tilted his head, making a confused expression. “Wuwu?”
Gu Chengyan vaguely felt something was amiss and was about to say something when three more wolves ran toward them from the direction of the water. Leading them was a black wolf; its coat was smooth and lustrous, speckled with patches of white. Its eyes were bright, and the fur on its snout was thick and fluffy; it was clearly a wolf of high standing within the pack.
When the black wolf saw Gu Chengyan, it lowered its head slightly before turning its attention to Sai-He-Chinna, barking a low exchange. Sai-He-Chinna replied to it twice, then turned to scramble through gestures to Gu Chengyan: —He had to go with “Black Back” to check the water source.
Gu Chengyan couldn’t decipher such complex body language; he only saw that the black wolf had urgent business with Sai-He-Chinna.
“You attend to your business,” Gu Chengyan said with a smile, patting his shoulder. “I happen to want to go have a look at that water; I didn’t even know there was a river in the birch forest.”
He was thinking in habitual terms, assuming Sai-He-Chinna was like a host who had invited him over as a guest, but now had an emergency to handle. He would follow the host’s lead and treat this as an outing.
He hadn’t expected Sai-He-Chinna to be slightly surprised upon hearing this; he had never imagined his beautiful “wife” would be this clingy. He had originally wondered if he should have “Ota” and the others accompany Gu Chengyan to stroll around and inspect his territory… but he hadn’t expected Gu Chengyan to be unwilling to part with him.
I love it.
Thinking this, Sai-He-Chinna’s face turned even redder, but upon second thought, he felt his beautiful wife was acting a bit too willful. It… it isn’t midwinter yet… The Wolf King and Wolf Queen still had so much to do. How… how can he be thinking about “that kind of business”? Was he deliberately testing him?
He was lost in his wild imaginings, but Gu Chengyan was perplexed by his scrutinizing gaze. “What is it? Can’t I go?”
Sai-He-Chinna shook his head vigorously: Can! Of course you can!
Gu Chengyan smiled. “Then shall we go?”
Sai-He-Chinna busily signaled for “Black Back” to lead the way. The little wolf and the big white wolf exchanged a look and followed behind Gu Chengyan. Black Back led them through the thickets, and as the sound of water grew louder, Gu Chengyan saw a wide river from afar—the source was likely in the snow mountains, but the river valley was extremely steep, and the current was so fierce that small waterfalls had formed in several places.
Black Back ran to a spot on the riverbank and gave two low barks, signaling for Sai-He-Chinna to come over. Gu Chengyan had been admiring the sight of the river hanging from the snow mountain, but as soon as he saw what they were looking at, his brows furrowed sharply.
Lying in the snow were many snow finches grayish-yellow feathers, snow-white bellies all dead, eyes closed, wings spread wide, bellies facing upward. Besides these small snow-mountain birds, there were other small animal carcasses, most of them lying near the riverbank.
Sai-He-Chinna picked up a bird carcass, sniffed it carefully, then approached the Kuli River and squinted to observe: the water was clear and not turbid, but given the massive death toll of animals and the fact that the small fish usually visible in the water had vanished without a trace…
Sai-He-Chinna’s expression turned solemn; he sensed the problem lay upstream. He straightened up, turning to instruct Ota to take Gu Chengyan back first—the matter wasn’t as simple as it appeared on the surface.
But Gu Chengyan spoke first: “Their condition looks as if they accidentally ate some poisonous grass, or there’s poison in the water.” He prodded a dead bird with a branch. “Shall we head upstream to have a look? We might find some clues.”
This time, it wasn’t just Sai-He-Chinna who was shocked. Even the black wolf, which had rarely looked at him before, widened its eyes; after a long while, it let out a howl, suddenly extending its front paws to the ground, bowing its head deep.
The gesture looked very much like a subject kneeling before an Emperor.
Gu Chengyan: “…?”
Sai-He-Chinna smiled, walked over, and took his hand, using his warm palms to heat up Gu Chengyan’s slightly chilled fingertips: I wasn’t wrong. With such a sense of responsibility, his Wuwu would make an excellent Wolf Queen!