Chapter 200
The more Lang Ze thought about it, the more he believed that not having eaten was the reason.
After all, he usually had finished his second meal by this time, but he had woken up in the middle of the night and hadn’t eaten anything yet.
With that in mind, Lang Ze bought twice as much food as usual.
When Bai Tu saw the food, he was confused: “?” Did he deduct too many points? Did he actually make Lang Ze lose his mind?
Lang Ze and Lang Qi ate more, while the cubs and Bai Tu ate about the same amount. In the end, half of the food was left. Lang Ze packed it all up and took it to the other little wolves. The little wolves had insatiable appetites, and within half a day, the food was all gone. They were still able to eat normally at lunchtime.
When Lang Ze returned after delivering the food, he found that Bai Tu and Lang Qi weren’t home. Only a few cubs were there. He was about to play with the cubs when he suddenly saw Lang Qian busy by the desk. His hair stood on end.
Lang Qian glanced at Lang Ze, who had an unusually long expression, and frowned slightly.
He had been fine in the morning, but now his reaction was much stronger. What was going on?
However, Lang Qian didn’t voice his doubts. Instead, he briefly explained why he was there: “Tu had something to do, so I’m helping look after the cubs.”
Originally, Bai Tu could have asked Lang Ya to help, but Lang Ya had been busy recently, and the rainy season left him with no time to rest. His schedule was even tighter than Bai Tu’s, so the more available Lang Qian became the best candidate to look after the cubs.
Naturally, Lang Qian had agreed to take care of the cubs. He also brought some herbs with him—some harmless medicines for people that could be prepared at home. While the cubs were playing, he could work nearby. Although Bai Tu’s cubs were playful, they rarely damaged things, so he wasn’t worried about the herbs being ruined.
Lang Ze looked at Lang Qian and then at the herbs in his hands. Thinking of what Bai Tu had said in the morning, he hesitated for a moment and took a step back. “Then you take care of the cubs. I’ll go home.” He turned around and ran off.
Lang Qian frowned. This reaction was much more intense than in the morning. Had something happened in such a short time?
Lang Chu, hearing the noise, looked up at the two of them. Before he could say anything, Lang Ze had already run off. He could only ask Lang Qian.
“Uncle Lang Qian, what are you looking at?”
“Uncle Lang Ze already ran off.”
“Why is Uncle Lang Ze so scared of you?”
“Did you hit him?”
Hearing the cubs’ questions one after another, Lang Qian shook his head. “I don’t know.” He also wanted to know why Lang Ze suddenly ran off.
However, Lang Qian never wasted energy on such trivial matters. After all, he understood Lang Ze’s personality. He had left suddenly, but he might come back soon. Instead of wasting time thinking about why Lang Ze had left both times, it was better to focus on getting more work done. The reason was still the same—raising cubs was really expensive in terms of points. He needed to earn as many points as possible while he was in the tribe.
But… the fact that Lang Ze had left without a word twice made him a little uneasy. He told himself it was probably nothing.
Lang Chu couldn’t get an answer and curiously peeked out the window. He noticed Lang Ze hadn’t gone far—he had just stopped at the door.
“Uncle Lang Ze is getting wet in the rain.”
“His clothes are all wet.”
“Isn’t Uncle Lang Ze cold?”
Lang Chu was puzzled. If they got caught in the rain, their dad would change their clothes and give them a hot bath immediately. Now, Uncle Lang Ze was outside, soaked through with water, and his hair and clothes were drenched. Why wasn’t he coming back quickly?
Hearing Lang Chu’s words, Lang Qian, who had been focused on weighing the herbs, paused his actions and slowly looked out. Lang Ze hadn’t shifted to his beast form. His movements were just like when Lang Qian had seen him outside before—squatting miserably at the door, looking like he had suffered some kind of injustice.
Lang Qian had heard Bai Tu mention the cubs pretending to be pitiful before, but he hadn’t thought much about it at the time. However, seeing Lang Ze like this now, he unexpectedly started thinking about something: the palm-sized cub squatting outside looking so wronged. When this image came to mind, Lang Qian glanced at the other cubs in the room and felt more eager to have his own cubs.
After thinking for a moment, Lang Qian put down the herbs in his hands and waved at Lang Chu.
Lang Chu saw Lang Qian’s gesture and jumped off the bench.
“Go shout for Uncle Lang Ze outside,” Lang Qian said. Although Lang Ze was an adult, it wasn’t good for him to stay out in the rain for too long.
However, the cubs couldn’t go outside, so they could only shout from the door.
“Okay!” Lang Chu nodded, walked to the door, and shouted outside, “Uncle Lang Ze, it’s raining heavily, hurry up and come home!”
“Otherwise, Dad will be mad!” “Father will be mad.” “When he gets mad, he hits people.”
Lang Chu remembered the time last year when they sneaked out to play in the rain and got beaten by their father. He quickly shook his head. Getting rained on and then beaten was too scary.
Lang Ze was squatting at the door, but he clearly heard the cub’s voice. He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to go back. After all, there were cubs in the room now. Lang Ze stood at the door, very conflicted. While he was still hesitating, a bear tribe member walked by the door.
“Ze, what are you doing here?”
“Did you anger your partner?”
“Oh, wait, I forgot. You don’t have a partner.”
“Who said I don’t!” Lang Ze reflexively retorted, but after speaking, he suddenly remembered he indeed didn’t have a partner. The other person wasn’t wrong, but after saying it, he unwillingly refused to admit his mistake.
“Lang Ze has a partner?” The white bear beastman who had just spoken was very surprised. Although he wasn’t from the Hundred Beast Tribe, he knew about the major matters of the tribe and hadn’t heard that Lang Ze had a partner. Lang Ze, after all, was the younger brother of Lang Qi and the captain of the patrol team. If Lang Ze had a partner, the Hundred Beast Tribe would have surely shared the good news.
However, thinking about how Lang Ze often had to go outside, the white bear beastman patted his head. He understood what had happened!
Lang Ze must have found a partner in another tribe, but the partner didn’t follow him back to the Hundred Beast Tribe, so no one knew.
To his surprise, the seemingly simple Lang Ze quietly found a partner outside. The white bear beastman gave him a thumbs up. “Ze is amazing.” Not long ago, members of their tribe had said that Lang Ze’s team probably wouldn’t find a partner this year, but it turned out he already had one. Though they didn’t know when Lang Ze got his partner, finding one was always something to celebrate in any tribe.
“Now that you have a partner, next year make an effort and bring them back to the tribe. It’d be great if you could have two cubs!” said the white bear beastman. He then started talking about his own tribe, “Look at our leader. They already have five cubs, and now they’re expecting more!”
Actually, asking others about their partners and cubs wasn’t his real purpose. His real aim was to show off how many cubs his tribe’s leader had.
The white bear tribe wasn’t the strongest among all the tribes, but they definitely had the most cubs. Of course, Lang Qi and Bai Tu also had five cubs, but two of Bai Tu’s were from the previous wolf king, and theirs were not!
And the leader of their tribe was expecting more cubs next year. The only regret was that the leader’s partner was from the Feather Tribe, but thinking about it, if the leader had a partner from another tribe, they might not have had so many cubs. With that thought, he felt comfortable. The Feather Tribe wasn’t bad!
Lang Ze listened to the other’s words, and his brows furrowed. He didn’t have a partner or cubs, and his vanity made him unwilling to tell the truth.
He would definitely have many cubs, Lang Ze thought.
But without a partner, how could there be cubs? Thinking about this, Lang Ze felt even worse.
While the white bear beastman used the topic of having cubs to show off how many cubs their leader had, he wanted to say more, but Lang Ze no longer had the patience to listen.
“I’m going home,” Lang Ze said and walked into the yard, slamming the door shut with a loud bang.
No wonder the Lion Tribe doesn’t like to interact with the Bear Tribe—White Bear Beastman is so annoying.
After closing the door, Lang Ze realized that he was back in the yard. He pretended to pat the water off his body, but since he was drenched, a few pats didn’t make any difference. Inside, there were only the fragile cubs and the weak sub-beasts. Any exposure to rainwater would give them a cold. Lang Ze didn’t go back to the room but instead jogged a little and climbed over the wall to return to his home.
Lang Qian saw through the window that Lang Ze had been walking towards this direction but suddenly turned and climbed back over the wall to the next door. Lang Qian slowly withdrew his gaze.
Lang Chu looked up at Lang Qian beside him. “Uncle Lang Qian, are you upset?”
“Who made you angry?”
Lang Qian shook his head. “I’m not upset, just a little tired.”
Lang Chu thought for a moment. He and his brothers had been very well-behaved today, not causing any trouble. They had been cleaned by Dad and Father in the morning and hadn’t gotten dirty since. Why was Uncle Lang Qian upset?
When Dad was upset, he would directly say so, and they could correct their mistakes right away. But Uncle Lang Qian didn’t want to say anything. Lang Chu got tangled up in his thoughts—how could he make Uncle Lang Qian happy again?
Bai Ye, who had been looking at the herbs on the table, overheard Lang Chu and Lang Qian’s conversation. He looked at Lang Qian, then climbed up onto the chair, trying to reach the herbs in the middle of the table.
Lang Qian quickly composed himself. After all, he had been through a lot since he was young, and being avoided by others wasn’t a new experience.
Not to mention when he first arrived at the Hundred Beast Tribe, many beastmen rejected him. Sometimes, they would even avoid talking to him, but he persisted.
As long as he could stay in the Hundred Beast Tribe and live a normal sub-beastman life, it didn’t matter how others treated him. After all, Bai Tu wouldn’t change how he treated him because of others’ attitudes.
He thought this way, but his mind kept replaying the image of Lang Ze leaving earlier—the indifferent way he turned his back.
Today, Lang Ze had changed so much. The surprise when he saw him in the cafeteria, the shock when he saw him in the room, and the way Lang Ze would rather climb over the wall and leave than stay in the same room with him.
After dodging him so many times, Lang Qian started to suspect that perhaps Lang Ze… didn’t like him or maybe even hated him. That’s why he was so surprised and left in a hurry. Lang Qian raised his hand to his chest, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
It was probably because the weather had gotten cold, Lang Qian thought. He’d add more clothes when he went back later.
Bai Tu should be back soon. Once he did, Lang Qian could return to his own place. To that place, where only his scent remained, and it felt completely safe.
Lang Qian blinked, clearing the fog in his eyes. He turned around to finish the remaining work, but what greeted him were the neatly packed bundles of herbs.
“Uncle Lang Qian, I’ve already finished it for you,” Bai Ye said, patting the neatly arranged bundles.
Lang Qian was so shocked that he forgot about what had just happened. The herbs he brought weren’t much, but it would normally take a small part of the morning to complete. He had just finished two-thirds of it, and there were still some left.
Bai Ye had already divided all the remaining herbs. Even if Bai Ye hadn’t followed the exact recipe, to divide the herbs so evenly and pack them just as Lang Qian would have done was no easy task for a cub of his age.
Bai Ye was under seven years old, yet he could already do such complex work. Lang Qian rubbed his stomach. Could he have a cub as exceptional as this in the future? Maybe he should find a smarter father for his cub.
“Very well done.” Even though Bai Ye didn’t understand how to divide the herbs evenly, doing it to this extent was impressive. Lang Qian decided that if he ever had cubs, he would raise them just like Bai Tu did.
Lang Qian didn’t open the bundles Bai Ye had packed. Bai Tu would be back soon, and if he saw the scattered herbs, he would definitely ask. Lang Qian didn’t want to upset Bai Tu over something small.
Once Bai Tu returned, he would take the time to sort the herbs, picking out those that could be re-organized. It wouldn’t take too much time or resources. As for the herbs that couldn’t be separated, he’d simply buy them with points, and it wouldn’t cost too many points—just a little treat for the cubs.
After all, there was no need to raise an extra person now. Besides what was left for the cubs, Lang Qian still had remaining points.
Seeing that Lang Qian seemed much happier than before, Bai Ye clapped his hands in satisfaction. Carefully, he supported himself on the table and slid down from the chair. The chair was designed for adults, so it was a bit high for cubs, and their feet dangled off the ground.
“Be careful!” Lang Qian immediately caught the cub. No matter how many times he saw a cub slide off the chair, he always worried they might get hurt.
It wasn’t the first time the cub had climbed onto the chair. Even the relatively well-behaved Bai Ye was quite skilled at it and knew how to get down safely from the chair.
Not long after Bai Ye slid off the chair and onto the ground, Lang Qian heard Bai Tu calling for him at the door.
Outside the door, Bai Tu looked at the closed gate in confusion. Their family usually didn’t close the door during the day. On one hand, there were people at home, and on the other hand, it made it easier for other beastmen from the tribe to come and find him or Lang Qi without having to wait for someone to open the door.
Lang Qian wasn’t visiting for the first time, so he knew Bai Tu’s habit of leaving the door open. Why was it suddenly closed today?
Though puzzled, Bai Tu didn’t say much. After calling out a couple of times, he just waited outside. Not long after, Lang Qian came out with an umbrella and opened the door.
“Qian, thank you for your hard work.” Bai Tu noticed that only Lang Qian and a few cubs were at home, and Lang Ze wasn’t there. He felt relieved that he had called Lang Qian over. Compared to Lang Ze, who always seemed to run off somewhere, Lang Qian was much more reliable.
“It’s no trouble, Tu. I’ll be heading back now. Call me again if you need help next time.” Lang Qian, worried that Bai Tu might suddenly want to look at the medicine he brought, had already packed the medicine into a large bag before opening the door, holding it in his hand as he planned to head straight home.
“Is it cold medicine? Leave me two packets.” Bai Tu knew Lang Qian had come with work, so he mentioned it.
Their family was careful about colds—whether it was him and Lang Qi or the cubs, they rarely caught colds during the rainy season. But Lang Ze was different.
The young wolves were free-spirited, and even before moving to the residential area, they often went outside. Even now, the rainy season affected most of the beastmen, but it had no impact on them. It was likely that Lang Ze was out there, caught in the rain somewhere.
The young wolves could usually tough it out when they got sick, but they were fragile at times. Bai Tu kept a couple of packs of cold medicine at home just in case.
Normally, there were a few packs on hand, but recently Lang Ya had been very busy and got sick a few days ago, so Bai Tu had given the medicine to Lang Ya. Now, since Lang Qian had some with him, it was just the right time to replenish the stock. Whether it would be needed or not didn’t matter, but having it on hand always made him feel more at ease.
Hearing Bai Tu’s words, Lang Qian was startled but tried to stay calm and explained, “These haven’t been packaged yet. I’ll bring them over later.” He moved the bag of medicine behind his back, “Tu, you stay with the cubs. I’m heading home now.”
“Not packaged yet? Alright.” Bai Tu was a bit surprised. Normally, even if Lang Qian had finished his tasks, he’d find a way to stay a bit longer and play with the cubs. Why was he in such a hurry today?
By the time Bai Tu responded, Lang Qian had already walked into the yard. He had left so quickly that his umbrella wasn’t even opened yet and was still struggling with it in the corridor. Bai Tu looked at the cloth bag holding the medicine and could see that the little packets inside were neatly arranged.
It seemed like the medicine was already packed?
But Lang Qian had no reason to lie to him. It was probably due to some other reason. Bai Tu didn’t dwell on it and began to check on the cubs.
“Come here, let me see if there’s ink on your hands?” Bai Tu asked.
Lang Ze had been helping the cubs dye the little wooden wolves, and though he didn’t mean to get ink on other places, ink could easily spill if not careful. Both he and Lang Qi had been busy, and in the morning, they only managed to clean one spot for the cubs to play. The rest of the place hadn’t been cleaned up yet.
Before leaving, he had told the cubs not to run around, but he was still a little worried.
After Bai Tu asked to check, Lang Sui, Lang Yao, and Bai Ye obediently walked over, stretching their hands out with palms facing up for Bai Tu to check. The other two cubs looked down at their hands and silently stepped back, hiding behind.
How strange, they clearly hadn’t played with ink, but their hands had turned black.
Lang Ying and Lang Chu quietly hid behind the toy shelf, waiting for their father to finish checking on their older brother and younger brother before they could go out!
When they were allowed to go out, they would just say they were hungry, and their father would definitely go and cook for them. That way, he wouldn’t notice the mess on their hands.
Bai Tu had eaten far more meals than they had, and could tell right away what the cubs were up to. He spoke up: “Lang Ying, Lang Chu.” The cubs were so easy to guess—they couldn’t hide anything. Every time they had a secret thought, their eyes would move restlessly, looking up at the sky, down at the ground, left and right, but never looking at him. It was so obvious, and it made him want to laugh.
“Oh!” Lang Ying sighed. He had been caught.
“Coming!” Lang Chu clenched his fists and rushed toward his father, saying, “Dad, I’m hungry!”
Bai Tu quickly raised his hand to stop his little “cannonball” of a son: “Slow down!” He didn’t dare imagine what would happen if Lang Chu fell or bumped into something.
But with this interruption, Bai Tu didn’t bother to scold the cubs. After all, even though their fists were clenched, it was clear they hadn’t been messing around with the dye too much. They must not have touched those dyed toys. “Go wash your hands, can you do that?”
“Yes!” Lang Chu quickly nodded. The fact that Bai Tu didn’t check their hands but just told them to wash meant he was letting them off the hook.
Sure enough, Dad was the best dad in the world!
“Go ahead,” Bai Tu ruffled Lang Chu’s head. Though the cubs sometimes caused trouble, most of the time they were adorable. The other cubs quickly gathered around, eager to be petted. Bai Tu had gotten used to taking care of the cubs since they were little, so he gently rubbed the heads of all the cubs, “Wash your hands and faces, then dry off. I’ll go make you some food.”
Lang Chu cheered, “Food!”
When Bai Tu said “make food,” he didn’t actually have much to do. Lang Qi had already prepared most of the food before going out. Bai Tu just had to cook it.
The food Lang Qi prepared included food for Lang Ze, but Bai Tu had already started cooking all the food, yet Lang Ze hadn’t shown up. Normally, when there was smoke from the stove, Lang Ze would rush over, eager to eat, but today—what was going on?
What happened next surprised Bai Tu even more. Not only did Lang Ze not appear while the food was being made, but the food was also ready, and still, there was no sign of him next door. The door was quiet, and no one came in. Not wanting to eat when there was food? This was unlike Lang Ze, who usually couldn’t wait to eat. This was unusual. Bai Tu carried the food back to the dining area and called the cubs over to eat, asking them along the way, “Did any of you see Uncle Lang Ze today?”
“I saw him.”
“Uncle Lang Ze got really wet in the rain.”
“Uncle Lang Qian asked me to call Uncle Lang Ze back, but Uncle Lang Ze didn’t come in. He climbed over the wall and left.”
“Uncle Lang Qian was really upset.”
“Upset?” Bai Tu was even more surprised. Lang Qian had the most stable personality of anyone he knew. From the time Bai Tu met him until now, he had never seen Lang Qian get angry. He always had a gentle smile on his face.
Thinking about Lang Qian’s expression, Lang Chu nodded seriously. Uncle Lang Qian was really angry. Dad had never been this angry before.
“Uncle Lang Qian was upset because of Uncle Lang Ze?”
“Will they start fighting every time they meet?”
Lang Chu was really worried. He liked both Uncle Lang Ze and Uncle Lang Qian, and if they fought, he would only be able to see one of them at a time.
Lang Qian and Lang Ze hadn’t been in the tribe for long, so when they were separated, Lang Chu began counting on his fingers to see how long it would take before he could see them again. He realized he needed more fingers and grabbed his little brother Bai Ye to help. Bai Tu wasn’t paying attention to the cubs’ little movements; he was still in shock over what the cubs had said.
Lang Qian and Lang Ze had a falling out?
One unexpected thing after another had happened today. They had worked together for so long, and if there was really a conflict, they would have switched to different teams by now. There was no way they would have stayed in the same team for so long if they had a problem. They had worked together for years without any issues, and now, during the rainy season, they suddenly had a falling out? Bai Tu couldn’t believe it. He still remembered that Lang Ze had even voluntarily lent Lang Qian some of his points.
He had never heard of Lang Qian lending points to anyone else—not because he was stingy, but because of his personality. In the past, when he was treated poorly in the West River Tribe, the people around him either used him or despised him, which made Lang Qian distrust anyone. He only trusted himself and maintained distant relationships with everyone—neither too close nor too hateful.
Beastmen in the tribe often borrowed points from each other because they liked certain snacks or clothes and wanted to buy them. If new items were released in a short time, they might accidentally overspend, and later, if they found something they liked, they would only be able to watch, frustrated.
Many items in the tribe were limited in quantity. If something was available today, it might be gone tomorrow. If they wanted to wait for the next round, it could take a month. Everyone wanted to have it first, and those who liked something but didn’t have the points would borrow from others.
Most beastmen would borrow points from people they were close to, and similarly, they would only lend their points to those they had good relationships with.
Lang Qian’s willingness to lend points to Lang Ze proved that their relationship was good, at least better than Lang Qian’s relationships with others in the tribe.
Could these two people really have fallen out? Bai Tu honestly couldn’t understand.
But whether they had a falling out or something else had happened, the food still needed to be eaten.
“Sui, go call your uncle to come eat.”
Lang Sui responded and walked to the corner, knocking on the wall separating the two houses: “Uncle, it’s time to eat! There’s lots of good food today!”
In the neighboring yard, just one wall away: “Achoo—”
Lang Ze sneezed, slapped the wall to signal that he had heard, then continued squatting in the rain, tangled in his thoughts. Lang Ze didn’t understand why every time he saw Lang Qian, his heart felt different from when he saw anyone else.
A few days ago, Lang Ze had realized that every time he saw Lang Qian, his heart would race, and he would feel a strange, tingling sensation in his chest, like he was seriously ill.
This feeling only happened when he saw Lang Qian, but when Lang Qian was out of sight, he couldn’t stop thinking about him. He had been tangled up in these thoughts for a long time, and the night before was even worse—he suddenly dreamt of Lang Qian in the middle of the night, and in the dream, he felt like his whole body was baking by a fire.
A fire in winter felt comfortable, but in summer it wasn’t so pleasant. Even though it was the rainy season, the weather wasn’t cold enough to need a fire.
Lang Ze had originally planned to try and sleep it off, but every time he closed his eyes, he thought of Lang Qian, and the sensation made him uncomfortable. In frustration, Lang Ze got out of bed, pulled all the cubs out of their sleep, and decided to stay awake and play with them instead.
Sure enough, when he played with the cubs, the discomfort wasn’t so bad.
Lang Ze didn’t understand what was happening to him. After seeing Lang Qian today, his heart still felt weird. He thought it might just be because he hadn’t eaten, but now that he had breakfast, he still felt uneasy.
Originally, he had crossed the wall to take a bath, but after climbing over, he regretted it. He felt like he should go back but didn’t understand why he felt that way. Unable to make sense of it, he just squatted in the yard and thought about why he was feeling this way.
Even though he didn’t go next door, he could hear everything clearly from the sounds coming through the wall—he knew that Lang Qian had gone to open the door, spoken to Bai Tu, and then gone back.
When Lang Qian wasn’t in the neighboring yard anymore, Lang Ze felt a strange emptiness in his chest. Suddenly, as the smell of food from next door wafted over, he realized what was happening.
He must be sick, just like those people who got addicted to the medicine from the Black Forest Tribe’s shaman. He remembered the symptoms they had: when they didn’t have poison, they desperately wanted to consume it. After taking the poison, they would act strangely. Now, Lang Ze realized his symptoms were exactly the same—when he saw Lang Qian, he felt strange, and when he couldn’t see him, he wanted to.
He didn’t care whether his body was dry or wet anymore, and he climbed over the wall again.
“Tu, someone drugged me!” As soon as he landed, Lang Ze shouted.
Bai Tu had just finished checking if the cubs had washed their hands properly and was serving them food when he nearly dropped the spoon in shock at hearing this.
“What happened?!” Bai Tu didn’t doubt the truth of the statement, considering how unusual it was that Lang Ze hadn’t rushed in when the food was ready.
“I feel uncomfortable!” Lang Ze said, walking toward the room, stopping at the door.
Bai Tu noticed that Lang Ze was dripping wet and became even more worried. “Where do you feel uncomfortable? When did this start? Why didn’t you say anything earlier? Who drugged you?”
Bai Tu quickly fired off a series of questions, but Lang Ze opened his mouth to answer and suddenly stopped. He realized that every change he had been feeling was connected to Lang Qian, but it was impossible for Lang Qian to be the one who had drugged him.
So how should he explain this to Bai Tu?
If he said that he felt uncomfortable when he couldn’t see Lang Qian and worse when he did, would Bai Tu go and ask Lang Qian about it? What if others overheard and misunderstood Lang Qian?
Lang Qian had come to their tribe because the West River Tribe wanted to attack, and there were still some people in the tribe who spoke badly of Lang Qian. If they found out about this, they would surely start bad-mouthing him. He couldn’t say anything. If he did, Lang Qian would be bullied again. What if he didn’t notice it this time? Thinking of this, Lang Ze quickly shook his head. He couldn’t say anything, he absolutely couldn’t.
Lang Ze immediately said, “Tu, I’m not uncomfortable anymore.”
Bai Tu: “…”
This sentence sounded even stranger. Bai Tu was still uneasy and asked, “Tell me the truth, where do you feel uncomfortable? Did you eat anything strange today? Where did you go just now?”
“I’m not uncomfortable anymore, nothing hurts, I didn’t eat anything weird, I’ve just been staying at home.”
Bai Tu was a bit suspicious about the “staying at home” part, but looking at the water droplets on Lang Ze’s body, he didn’t have time to dwell on it. “Go change your clothes and take a hot shower!”
Despite being wet, Lang Ze’s complexion was rosy and full of vitality—he looked particularly healthy. Bai Tu suspected that he had been misled by Lang Ze’s first statement. Now, Lang Ze didn’t seem like someone who had been drugged, but more like someone who had just acted foolishly. While thinking this, Bai Tu caught sight of Lang Qian arriving, holding the familiar cloth bag. His eyes brightened, and he waved his hand.
Lang Qian arrived at just the right moment to prepare some medicine for Lang Ze, which he could drink after his shower. Bai Tu wasn’t sure how long Lang Ze had been outside in the rain, but it was already foolish enough. If he caught a cold, it might make him even more foolish.
“Good hiccup—” Lang Ze agreed, seeing Bai Tu’s gesture, and turned to look behind him, startled, and hiccupped.
If one couldn’t tell there was something off between the two, Bai Tu would have wasted all these years of experience. He glanced at Lang Qian, silently asking why Lang Ze had gone out into the rain.
Lang Qian shook his head, as he would have liked to know the reason as well.
“Forget it, go back and take a shower and change your clothes.” Bai Tu decided to send Lang Ze away first, so he could speak to Lang Qian slowly.
Lang Ze agreed but hesitated, looking at Lang Qian in the yard without moving. Bai Tu, seeing Lang Ze’s gaze almost glued to Lang Qian, was amused. He had been worried earlier about a conflict between them, but now seeing Lang Ze act like this, it was clear there was no conflict—Lang Ze could barely move when Lang Qian was around.
“Go take a shower!” Bai Tu urged, even if Lang Qian was handsome, Lang Ze couldn’t just keep staring at him.
“Oh,” Lang Ze responded, taking a small step out, then stopped again.
Bai Tu was so amused by his actions. Who was he trying to fool?
Unable to direct Lang Ze, Bai Tu decided to direct Lang Qian instead. “Qian, leave the medicine here, and go back first.” He would let Lang Ze change clothes first, then he could wait for the cubs to finish eating and ask Lang Qian for more details later.
“Mm.” Lang Qian nodded, placing the medicine bag on the table. He spoke softly to Bai Tu, “Tu, these medicines were all prepared by Ye.” After saying that, he opened the bag.
Inside the bag were several common herbs, and the proportions were for cold treatments designed by the tribe’s best medical specialist, an animal-type beastman.
“Ye prepared them?” Bai Tu lowered his voice as he asked, also consciously whispering. He had thought Lang Qian meant that Bai Ye had been handling the herbs or learning from Lang Qian to prepare the medicine. Bai Ye loved plants, and whenever he saw someone working with herbs, he would always take a long look, though he hadn’t handled them before.
But after seeing the herbs in the bag, Bai Tu realized he had misunderstood. Bai Ye was sensitive to plants and other items, but this medicine was clearly prepared by an animal-type beastman who knew what they were doing.
“Yes, they were all prepared by Ye. I wasn’t feeling well this morning, and I put the medicine on the table. When I came back, it had already been packaged. I’ve checked it, and all the medicine is the same as what we use.” Lang Qian spoke in a very low voice, his words only reaching Bai Tu’s ears. No one else heard, not even the cubs on the other side of the table, who could only see them talking but couldn’t hear the conversation.
Lang Qian had never relied on others for everything, even the biggest matters had to be solved on his own. When he returned earlier, he had felt a little uncomfortable but had spent some time in his room to calm down.
After he calmed himself down, he started checking the medicine, trying to figure out how much was unusable and which herbs to replace with points.
But when he opened the first few packages, he froze. The herbs weren’t randomly chosen and packaged but were arranged according to the correct formulas. The herbs were neatly placed, and it was easy to see the difference in their quantities.
Lang Qian had been preparing medicine for a long time, and most of the time, he could estimate the quantity by hand. Only a few herbs needed to be weighed, so he understood that the proportions of the medicine were perfect.
At first, Lang Qian had some doubts that the bag of medicine had been rearranged by Bai Ye after he had prepared it, but when he opened all the medicine packages and saw that the ten or so prescriptions he had made were at the bottom, while the ones on top were indeed prepared by Bai Ye, he realized the truth.
Bai Ye was so young, yet he had prepared so many medicines by himself, and they were all perfectly correct. Lang Qian felt this was something he had to tell Bai Tu, so he hurried over without even eating.
Bai Tu listened to Lang Qian’s explanation and looked at the neatly arranged medicines on the table. He realized he had overlooked something earlier—separating the herbs in each prescription was indeed something Bai Ye, with his obsessive-compulsive tendencies, would do.
Bai Ye’s talent for medicine was higher than Bai Tu had imagined. However, Bai Tu then thought of something else: “Qian, don’t tell anyone about this.”
Bai Tu would never suppress a cub’s talents, but the fact that such a young cub could prepare medicine was not something that should be spread. They would do everything they could to protect the cub’s safety, but if this information got out, someone might get the wrong idea, and the cub would be in even greater danger.
“Don’t worry, Tu. I won’t say anything. But you have to be careful,” Lang Qian understood better than Bai Tu the danger of revealing this information.
Even though the sub-beastmen were now safe, protected by the Hundred Beast Tribe and countless other tribes, Lang Qian had not forgotten the kind of life he used to live.
A cub who was as knowledgeable about herbs as an adult sub-beastmen, who was still young and easy to control, would definitely attract attention. Although the shaman Wu Jiu and his followers were dead, no one could guarantee that all their disciples or their disciples’ disciples had been caught.
Lang Qian had come to find Bai Tu as soon as he realized this, fearing that Bai Ye’s knowledge of medicine might be exposed again without Bai Tu’s knowledge, potentially being exploited by someone with bad intentions.
Aside from Bai Tu, Lang Qian trusted no one, so he only told Bai Tu, even helping to conceal it from the cubs’ uncles.
The Beast God Continent had too many people who would harm sub-beastmen out of greed for their talents, so they had to be cautious.
Lang Qian looked back at Lang Ze, still in the yard, and packed up the medicine on the table. “Tu, I’ll head back now.”
As he spoke, he began to leave.
Lang Ze immediately panicked. “Wait.” He realized that Lang Qian seemed different now than he did in the morning. His intuition told him that if he didn’t stop Lang Qian now, he would regret it later.
“Hm?” Lang Qian stopped and looked at Lang Ze, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
“I…” Lang Ze wanted to stop him, but once Lang Qian was in front of him, he didn’t know what to say.
Seeing Lang Ze at a loss for words, Lang Qian felt a bit uncomfortable. But recalling how resolutely Lang Ze had rejected him earlier, he steeled himself and looked away. “If nothing’s wrong, I’ll head back now,” he said, then moved to leave. Although things weren’t going as planned, some matters still had to be dealt with. He needed to pick someone and get pregnant before the winter.
“No!” Lang Ze immediately blocked his path, worried that Lang Qian might leave. He snatched the umbrella from Lang Qian’s hand and threw it aside. “You can’t leave!”
What would I do if you leave?
Lang Ze suddenly wanted to say this, but he didn’t dare to. He could only think it in his heart.
Bai Tu, who had been worrying about how to cover up Bai Ye’s talents without making the cub feel restricted, sighed helplessly as he saw the scene in the yard.
“Qian, Ze just said he’s uncomfortable and suspects someone drugged him. Can you check on him?” Bai Tu didn’t want to see a situation like what happened with Xiong Liao and Ying Mian, so he decided to help the two.
“You’re uncomfortable?” Lang Qian immediately grew concerned, setting aside everything else. Health was the most important thing now. “Where does it hurt? Are you sure you’re sick?”
“I’m not—” Lang Ze wanted to say he was fine now, that he had already gotten better. But when he saw Lang Qian’s worried expression, he immediately nodded. “Yes, I feel unwell. I’m sick!”
If I’m sick, then I’m sick—either way, Lang Qian couldn’t leave.
