Yun Jiao quietly closed her mouth and began seriously thinking about the matter of a second husband. She wasn’t someone who ignored advice. If even the Beast God said so, and Lei Xiao was suppressing his own nature for her sake, it only meant that she would face plenty of trouble in the future.
But in modern times, it was all monogamy. Sure, there were plenty of muscular guys online—open TikTok and it was full of men with eight-pack abs—but that was just daydreaming. At most, she’d hire a handsome tour guide with abs to enjoy a trip, maybe sneak a touch of those muscles. But how many women actually dared to go all the way?
Here, beast husbands weren’t for fantasies. They were real—meant to be slept with. And after sleeping with them, she’d have to bear their offspring!
Yun Jiao could accept admiring them, but sleeping with them was another matter entirely… cough, cough… a whole different story. At the very least, there had to be some emotional foundation, right?
After washing the meat and the wood ear fungus, Yun Jiao and Lei Xiao returned.
Mu Bai and Hu Yun had already lit a fire. A group of beastmen stood far away, each looking terrified.
If the shaman hadn’t been sitting calmly by the fire, they would have screamed and rushed to put it out.
“Yun Jiao!” Guo Guo waved her paw from a distance. “Quick, quick, quick! My pot of water is boiling—do I just throw it in to cook?”
Yun Jiao hurried over, and when she got close, her eyes twitched hard.
The stone pot was clearly newly made, and so big it could fit five Guo Guos inside. “Why did you make such a huge pot?”
“Because Mu Bai, the one who helped you drill wood for fire, still hasn’t managed to get a flame. You’re carrying a child—you can’t go hungry. So I asked Hu Yun to make a bigger pot. You and I will eat together, oh, and Hua Duo and the witch doctor, plus Hu Yun and Lei Xiao can have a taste too. Look, I even had Hu Yun wash all these wood ears.”
“…” Well, fine then!
Mu Bai, still failing to drill fire: “…” He silently put down the stick.
Yun Jiao looked at his soot-covered face and burst out laughing.
Mu Bai scratched his head, embarrassed: “I saw Lei Xiao drill fire like this, but I don’t know why—I just can’t get it to work.”
“You’re hopeless. The wood is wet. Of course it won’t work.”
Lei Xiao rolled his eyes, set down the meat, and went over to teach him how to drill fire properly.
Yun Jiao dumped the washed wood ears into the pot, then had Hu Yun tear the meat into slices. Once the water boiled again, she added the meat slices. She sprinkled in salt, plucked some fresh green onions, broke them into pieces, and tossed them in. Instantly, the fragrance of meat filled the air.
The beastmen standing far away inhaled deeply.
“So fragrant. Raw meat never smelled this good.”
“I really want to eat too! Go make it for me—just like Yun Jiao’s.”
“Huh? But that’s fire!”
“Yun Jiao and Guo Guo are fine, aren’t they? Look, even the witch doctor is eating it. I don’t care, I want to eat too. You’re my beast husband, you have to listen to me.”
“I don’t know how to drill wood for fire!”
“Then learn from Lei Xiao—he’s teaching Mu Bai right now. Hurry up, I’m starving.”
The females began making a fuss, ignoring whether their beast husbands feared fire or not, demanding that they cook for them. The males were frustrated. Some thick-skinned ones went to ask Lei Xiao how to start a fire. Others gathered wood and tried it themselves. And some clever ones had already started picking wood ear fungus.
When the other females saw this, they stopped fussing and rushed over to snatch fungus too. Even though there had been plenty, the beastmen quickly stripped it all away.
Meanwhile, at Yun Jiao’s side, everyone—except Lei Xiao, who was still teaching the males how to drill fire—was already drinking the delicious wood ear and meat soup.
Hu Yun gulped down bowl after bowl, unable to close his mouth from grinning. Meat and “rotten tree flesh” boiled together—how could it taste this good? It felt like he’d wasted his whole life before this. With him there, the huge pot of soup was visibly reduced by half. He reached for more, but Guo Guo slapped his paw away: “Lei Xiao hasn’t had any yet. Save some for him. You know how to make it now—just cook more when we get home.”
Hu Yun pulled his paw back: “Fine, when we get back, I’ll make an even bigger pot and cook it for you every day.”
Guo Guo laughed and scolded him lightly, then went back to drinking soup.
It wasn’t just Hu Yun—Hua Duo felt like she was about to die of happiness. How could anything taste this good?
Before, when she went out gathering, she thought those “rotten tree meats” were disgusting. And now, well, they were still disgusting.
But the flavor was incredible!
She decided she would pick more later to take back with her.
The shaman held the “bowl” of soup and tasted a sip, letting out a long sigh: “Delicious. The meat is tender. It’s indeed better than raw meat.”
“Master, wood ear and meat soup is good for your health. Please drink more.”
“I’m full. You all drink.”
The shaman glanced at Hua Duo, who was happily drinking nearby, and frowned slightly: “You are the Sacred Female. Why do you bother with a useless female?”
If it had been Guo Guo, the shaman would have already scolded her coldly. But Yun Jiao was not Guo Guo. The shaman had interacted with her a few times and had some sense of her character, so she asked calmly.
Just as she had disliked Guo Guo associating with Yun Jiao when she was a “useless female,” now she disliked Yun Jiao, the Sacred Female, associating with Hua Duo, a “weak female.”
Yun Jiao was silent for a moment, then asked in return: “Master, you seem especially against useless or weak females. May I ask why?”
The shaman replied coldly: “Because they are useless. Useless to the tribe, useless to me. Other than eating, drinking, and sleeping, they contribute nothing.”
Yun Jiao was momentarily confused: “Useless? How are they useless?”
The shaman explained evenly: “Our tribe is different from other races’ tribes. We are a wandering beast tribe, with beastmen of many races. To grow our numbers, we must rely on females. The more superior females we have, the more males are attracted. A weak female has no male willing to mate with her, let alone attract powerful beastmen to join the tribe. That is why I say she is useless.”
Seeing Yun Jiao’s surprised expression, the shaman smiled: “Do you think I’m cold-hearted? But child, this world itself is cold. I don’t want to waste my time and energy on beastmen who are useless. They cannot help the tribe, nor can they solve any of my problems.”
So that was it. Yun Jiao finally understood the shaman. It wasn’t exactly coldness—more like realism. Just like modern humans, many people avoid “ineffective socializing.” If they feel a friend offers no help or benefit, they won’t reach out, and contact will be minimal or nonexistent.
The shaman was the same kind of person.
But the shaman’s “benefit” was for the entire tribe.
Yun Jiao thought for a moment, then spoke seriously: “I don’t think you’re cold. In fact, I even somewhat understand you.”
The shaman was surprised: “You understand?”
Yun Jiao nodded, then suddenly shifted her tone: “I understand, but I was once a useless female. I know what it feels like to be rejected, to have no one to rely on. I don’t want the females in the tribe to suffer the same as I did—facing their hardest times without a single beastman to lean on.”
“I also believe that Lord Beast God is a deity who cares deeply for females. He wouldn’t abandon them just because one is useless and another is holy.”
The shaman chuckled: “And how do you know the Beast God’s thoughts? Did the Beast God tell you personally?”
Yun Jiao admitted awkwardly: “Not exactly… but it’s because of the mate contract.”
The shaman’s interest was piqued: “Go on. If you can convince me, then from now on I’ll treat all females equally.”