In the end, Moya had no choice but to bring this little tagalong along to buy animal skins.
This time he didn't go looking for Grandma Ya's family, but took another path instead.
The tribe was silent and mysterious at night, moonlight cut into broken silver specks by the dense canopy, scattering across the tribe's grasslands.
Along the way, countless Giant Pythons could be seen sleeping, some coiled beside caves, some hanging themselves from branches, and the larger ones simply sprawled brazenly across the middle of the path, deep in slumber, their scales gleaming with a cold, iron-like sheen under the moonlight, their presence enough to make one's heart race with fear.
Held in his arms, Gao Yue looked around curiously, and the more she looked, the more afraid she became, swearing to never wander through the tribe alone.
The two of them arrived in front of a rock face.
Gao Yue noticed that this entire mountain had been hollowed out with numerous caves, distributed at different heights like a honeycomb. At this moment everything was silent, and those living here were probably already asleep.
Moya stood in front of one of the caves and quietly released a trace of his presence.
After a while, a tall male strode quickly out of the cave. He had short gray hair and an extremely burly, powerful build.
Huiyan's eyes lit up when he saw Moya, his face showing delight, but when his gaze swept over to Gao Yue beside him, his brow furrowed slightly.
Seeing this, Gao Yue, who had wanted to greet him, gave up on the idea.
This was someone unfriendly toward her, so she wouldn't bother courting rejection.
Huiyan's gaze turned to Moya. "Coming by this late, is there something you need from me?"
Moya was concise: "How many Soft Beast Skins do you have left?"
Huiyan was a "tanner," skilled at processing all kinds of animal skins, and would usually take the surplus skins out to sell in the trading district.
Hearing this, Huiyan was a bit surprised—he hadn't expected Moya to come looking for him so late at night just for this.
"Soft Beast Skins, probably around a dozen or so left. Why?"
Moya: "Name a price, I'll take them all."
"All of them?" Huiyan was even more astonished. "What do you need that many Soft Beast Skins for..." His gaze inadvertently swept over Gao Yue's figure again, and as if he understood something, he closed his mouth, seeming to want to say something but holding back.
Moya didn't explain, just looked at him flatly, silently urging him on.
"Fine, fine, I get it... but Soft Beast Skins are quite a bit pricier than ordinary animal skins," Huiyan said. "For more than ten of them, I'll charge you five Tier 2 beast crystals. How about it?"
"Fine." Moya had no intention of haggling, and produced five gem-like beast crystals shimmering with various colors from somewhere, handing them over.
Huiyan took the beast crystals and returned to the cave.
Before long, he came back out carrying a huge, neatly folded stack of animal skins.
The skins were fluffy and the quantity was considerable—piled together, they looked like seven or eight fluffy cotton quilts stacked into a small hill, blocking more than half of Huiyan's body from view, looking rather exaggerated.
Looking at the huge pile, Moya clicked his tongue. "You're just handing this to me like this? How am I supposed to carry it? Go find a long, sturdy rope."
So Huiyan went back into the cave again and brought out a long strip of bark rope that looked quite tough, helping Moya bind the cloud-soft pile of skins securely together.
Once it was bound, Huiyan's gaze flickered for a moment, and he said in a low voice to Moya, "Don't leave yet, I have something to tell you."
Moya: "?"
Huiyan glanced at Gao Yue first, seeming to consider whether he should avoid speaking in front of her.
Then, deciding that such a chubby outsider Female Cub posed no real competition, he didn't bother pulling Moya elsewhere. He looked Moya straight in the eye and asked seriously, "I wanted to ask you... have you really given up on Lin Xi? Are you not going to take her as your mate anymore?"
Moya's brow furrowed.
These past few days people kept coming to ask him this question, and it was truly wearing on his patience. He said impatiently, "What do you think?"
Huiyan: "Don't get impatient, I have something important to tell you..."
Though he'd said it was something important, he hemmed and hawed for a good while.
"Since you don't intend to pursue Lin Xi anymore, I won't hide it from you either."
"You know, Moxia has always had feelings for you, and really wants you to be her Beast Husband. It's just that before, you were Lin Xi's Protector, so she let it go."
Moya's brow furrowed slightly, his pale green Vertical Pupils turning sharp and cold, and he stared at him without speaking.
Huiyan swallowed, and pressing on despite the pressure, continued, "After the Autumn Moon Festival, I wanted to come find you, to ask what you thought—could you... could you consider her?"
Moya's voice turned cold: "Did she force you to come as a matchmaker?"
Huiyan waved his hands repeatedly. "No, no, I came to find you of my own will!"
"We're blood brothers, and I really want you to join us, to become a family again. I know, I'm your fifth brother, but my strength isn't as strong as yours—I'm still only Tier 3 even now, while you're a Tier 5 powerhouse. There's no way you'd stoop below me as the fourth beast husband."
"So if you're willing, I can give up the position of First Beast Husband to you."
Moya took a deep breath, so furious he laughed instead. "You're really something. I'll pretend I didn't hear what you said today. If you dare say it to me again, you'd better be ready to lie in bed for half a month!"
With that, he turned to leave.
He'd only taken one step when Huiyan grabbed him.
Huiyan's originally resolute face was now filled with bitterness, even looking somewhat humble, as he pleaded, "Please consider it. Moxia really is an excellent Female—beautiful and gentle. Sure, her talent isn't as strong as Lin Xi's, but isn't Lin Xi looking for someone else now anyway?"
Moya couldn't listen to any more of this.
He lifted his foot and kicked violently, sending the man flying five or six meters.
Then, with one hand he hoisted up the enormous bundle of Soft Beast Skins, and with the other he pulled in Gao Yue—whose pupils had blown wide from listening in—and left the place.
After they left.
A Female emerged from the cave that had seemed silent and still the whole time.
It was none other than Moxia.
She was a tall Female with a somewhat square face and high brow bones. Treading through the moonlight, she walked over to Huiyan's side and crouched down beside him.
"I'm sorry, I was useless, I couldn't persuade him..." Huiyan said, lying on the ground, dejected and ashamed.
Moxia hid the disdain in her eyes.
Born to the same Father and Mother, yet one broke through to Tier 5 at nineteen, while the other was still only Tier 3 at twenty-seven.
She had originally been willing to let Huiyan be First Beast Husband, thinking he had potential and would grow stronger—who knew he'd stay stuck at Tier 3 without making an inch of progress.
Weak strength was one thing, but he wasn't even as good-looking as his younger brother.
How was anyone supposed to feel balanced about that?
The cold rain season was coming, and yet she only had one Tier 3 beast husband and two Tier 2 beast husbands—not even enough to help her process Tier 4 Beast Crystals. It was truly infuriating and vexing.
She needed a beast husband with real strength.
Moxia helped him up, soothing him gently: "It's alright, you've already done well. Asking you to speak to him was already putting you in a difficult spot."
Moved, Huiyan gritted his teeth and said, "Moxia, don't worry, I'll find another chance to persuade him!"
Moxia thought for a moment, her eyes flickering, and said, "There's no rush. I'll think of a way to get that Female Cub by his side to leave first."
……
On the way back, Gao Yue sorted through the gossip she'd overheard in her mind.
This gray-haired man she'd run into today said he was Moya's fifth brother, and then there was a woman named Moxia who had her eye on Moya and had sent this fifth brother to act as a matchmaker.
But there was a lot she hadn't quite worked out yet...
What did First Beast Husband mean?
And what did fourth beast husband mean?
Gao Yue didn't think along the lines of ranking a first wife and second wife. Following Earth logic, she thought of the title "First Lady," like the First Lady of America. She figured this was probably some kind of status ranking within the tribe?
But there were still a lot of things that didn't quite add up...
In that instant, an image flashed through Gao Yue's mind—the Three Old Men in Grandma Ya's home, and the three men brought along by the woman who'd come to pick a fight. Some outlandish guess flickered through her mind.
The thought passed too quickly for her to catch hold of it.
Gao Yue's curiosity was clawing at her like a cat's paw—she really wanted to ask Moya what exactly was going on. But seeing his utterly grim expression and the hard, tense line of his jaw, she went quiet as a quail and didn't dare ask.
Back in the cave.
Without a word, Moya spread more than a dozen Soft Beast Skins onto the stone bed, piling them up sky-high.
"Try lying on it again," he said flatly.
Gao Yue kicked off her slippers and climbed onto the stone bed with happy anticipation, lying down on it.
The texture of the Soft Beast Skins was incredibly soft—lying on it, she felt her whole body wrapped in soft warmth, her entire body sinking softly into it.
They were a pale, creamy yellow, each skin enormous and whole—she had no idea what beast they'd been taken from, but they were far bigger than her old two-by-two-meter blanket back home.
She tentatively picked one up to cover herself.
So light!
Seeing how fluffy and thick the skin looked, she'd expected it to be heavy like a Raschel blanket, but it turned out to be very light, while the softness was top-notch.
Thinking about it, that made sense—this was genuine fur, and the better the pelt, the lighter it was said to be.
Real fur was so expensive back on Earth—a pelt this large and this fine now would probably cost at least a hundred thousand yuan.
And that was her lowballing it—some celebrity's fur coat had fur far worse than this, yet it was rumored to cost several million. In modern times, this would definitely be hyped up to an astronomical price.
Gao Yue laid the animal skin blanket she'd originally been covered with at the very bottom, then flung herself onto the pile of Soft Beast Skins.
It felt like lying on a cloud.
Insanely comfortable.
She happily wiggled her limbs a few times, even her splinted right arm moving restlessly, turning about contentedly.
Even comfier than her old latex mattress! Good lord, this was too comfortable.
In Moya's eyes, the way she looked right now was like a Turtle happily paddling about.
The cold, frosty look that had lingered on his face because of what Huiyan said melted slightly, taking on a hint of amusement.
Snowball Pig climbed up, grunting with wounded, envious little huffs.
It had accompanied its owner for so long, yet she'd never once thought to get it an animal skin pad too—so unfair, so biased.
Seeing this adorable little pig climb up, Gao Yue pawed at it, trying to pull it into a hug, but Snowball Pig stood stubbornly rooted in place on stiff legs, its little black bean eyes fixed accusingly on Moya, unmoving as a mountain—there was no way Gao Yue could budge it.
Then Snowball Pig was scooped up by Moya's large, well-defined hand and stuffed straight into Gao Yue's arms.
Just like grabbing a rag doll and stuffing it into a little girl's arms.
Gao Yue, already twenty-three years old, suddenly felt a child's simple happiness again. Hugging Snowball Pig, lying on the cloud-like stack of a dozen or so Soft Beast Skins, she curved her eyes into a smile at Moya.
"Thank you."
Moya: "You're welcome. Go back to sleep."
Warm and soft all over, Gao Yue really did drift off into a deep sleep again.
This time she slept very, very deeply.
And had a sweet dream.
✦✦✦