Mo Fuqing didn’t want to talk to him, but from the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw a figure hiding in the grass on the shore.
His heart skipped a beat, and he answered vaguely, “Maybe.”
Xue Xi’s eyes lit up, but he still felt awkward.
“It must be because Shen Feng isn’t here, so she pays more attention to us. Um… does it hurt?”
“Hurt? What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you go into heat today? What does it feel like?”
Mo Fuqing looked at him coldly. But since he had snake eyes, Xue Xi didn’t notice the killing intent. Instead, he pulled out a piece of grass, put it in his mouth, and chewed while thinking about when his own heat period would come.
Xi Qingqing didn’t expect her two husbands to talk about this behind her back. She quickly ran out and interrupted them:
“Um… can you help me with something?”
Mo Fuqing answered by diving straight into the river and disappearing.
Xue Xi stood up and scratched his head.
“What do you need?”
He was a little worried she still wanted his fur.
Xi Qingqing didn’t know what he was thinking. She brought him back to the wild boar and explained what she needed.
Xue Xi suddenly relaxed.
He agreed quickly. Soon, he cut the boar into pieces and even cleaned the meat.
Looking at the fresh red meat, Xi Qingqing almost drooled.
After living in the apocalypse for so many years, she hadn’t eaten meat like this in a long time!
She thought about recipes. Before the apocalypse, she loved food.
Should she make braised pork? Or stir-fried pork?
Ah, it would taste even better with rice.
Although the system said this world had a modern system, she didn’t know if they even had rice at home. After all, one husband ate raw meat, and they only had one pot.
On the way earlier, she had found wild onions. She set up the pot, boiled water, washed the onions, and put them in with the meat.
The boar had a lot of fat, so oil came out naturally while cooking.
She told Xue Xi to go play somewhere else. Then she added soy sauce and salt and stirred.
There weren’t many ingredients, but the meat was young and tender.
By the time the food was ready, it was evening.
Xi Qingqing took out the cooked meat and went to call Xue Xi to eat. But he told her to eat first—he was worried there wouldn’t be enough.
“Eat,” she said. “I cooked half the boar. It’s enough.”
Even if they saved it, it could last three days. She had also kept the pig’s feet and head for another meal.
She didn’t wait for him and started eating right away.
The meat was surprisingly tender and chewy.
As she ate, she sped up, because she realized Xue Xi had been right—he ate very fast and a lot.
When he saw her eat faster, he slowed down instead.
After eating, Xue Xi took the dishes to the river to wash them. Xi Qingqing followed to check. When she saw he used clean upstream water—not the water Mo Fuqing bathed in—she relaxed.
She returned to the hut and saw Jiang Fei still sitting in the chicken coop.
It wasn’t really a chicken coop, just a small shed with a stone trough of clean water.
Jiang Fei was tall, so he looked pitiful sitting in such a small space.
Xi Qingqing felt a little soft-hearted and was about to call him inside when the system spoke:
【This shed was prepared for the original owner.】
Xi Qingqing: “???”
“What do you mean?” she asked quietly.
The system was silent for a moment, then said:
【Before picking her up from prison, they planned to make her regret. They prepared this shed for her to sleep in and wouldn’t let her enter the house. She had to find her own food, and they wouldn’t help.】
Xi Qingqing thought about how Xue Xi waited for her to eat first and fell silent.
“And then?”
【When they first met, the original owner said Jiang Fei looked scary and forced him to sleep in the shed.】
【She said Xue Xi was stupid and didn’t let him come home.】
【She wanted revenge, so she drugged Mo Fuqing, planning to break his fangs, but used the wrong drug—it became an aphrodisiac.】
【She took over the hut herself, so she got sick from the cold wind and died.】
“….”
Xi Qingqing held her forehead.
At first, she thought the original owner was just pitiful. Now she realized people are not simply good or bad.
The original owner was pitiful, but also hateful to her husbands.
No wonder Mo Fuqing ran away when he saw her.
“Go away,” Jiang Fei said coldly.
“Come sleep inside,” Xi Qingqing said.
Jiang Fei froze, then bared his teeth.
“I won’t go! Don’t even think about skinning me!”
Xi Qingqing paused. She had forgotten—he was also almost skinned by the original owner.
Back then, Jiang Fei transformed into a beast later than others. When he first came to her, he was a small, cute animal, and she liked him.
But when he grew into a lion, she started thinking—was fox fur warmer, or lion fur?
To her, she would have many husbands in the future. Losing one or two didn’t matter.
If Jiang Fei hadn’t escaped, he wouldn’t be here now.
“I won’t skin you,” Xi Qingqing said. “I’ve changed.”
Jiang Fei still looked at her with suspicion.
It seemed the original owner had left him with deep trauma.
She wanted to persuade him more, but then she thought about it.
Xue Xi showed his feelings openly so she could guard against him.
But Jiang Fei hadn’t been educated. If he suddenly remembered the past and got angry in the middle of the night, he might attack her.
She didn’t want to watch him all the time.
So she changed her words:
“But where you live is your choice. If you feel comfortable here, then stay here.”
Jiang Fei didn’t expect her to be so easygoing. He watched her turn and go back inside.
He relaxed a little, changed into his beast form, and licked his paws while thinking:
She must be pretending, trying to trick me!
After all, winter is coming, and his fur should be warmer than fox fur.