SGSHE68

Looking into the little cub’s sincere eyes, AXing suddenly felt a twinge of guilt.

After all, while he hadn’t stinted on the little cub’s food and drink, he hadn’t exactly paid much close attention to him either. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let the little beastman eat meals cooked in the tribe’s giant stone pot every day, only discovering today that the cub actually had a knack for cooking.

Still…he could make it up to him later.

AXing said, “As long as you can tell the difference between good and bad, that’s what matters, there are very few sub-beastmen like Bai Xiang. However, sub-beastmen can’t shift into beast form and can’t hunt. The meat allocated by the tribe isn’t nearly enough to live on, so beastmen still have to do the hunting.”

While speaking of Bai Xiang, the beastman took the opportunity to point out the ‘disadvantages’ of being a sub-beastman. Of course, AXing was well aware of their ‘strengths’ too, but he had no intention of telling the little cub about them.

Jing Heguang nodded and said earnestly, “Don’t worry, Brother Xing, I won’t let Bai Xiang fool me again!”

Jing Heguang was eager to distance himself from Bai Xiang. As for other sub-beastmen, they were of no concern to him whatsoever.

Although the little cub didn’t fully grasp the nuances, AXing knew better than to rush things. Seeing that the cub had given up on Bai Xiang and even seemed to dislike him, AXing felt much more at ease.

After quickly wiping himself clean, AXing beckoned to the little cub: “Come here, let me give you a bath.”

Jing Heguang walked slowly toward AXing on all fours, feeling a bit awkward. He was used to walking on two legs, so moving on four felt strange.

Watching the little cub move with a clumsy, same-side gait, AXing smiled faintly.

Jing Heguang looked up, saw AXing smiling happily, and smiled back. His eyes crinkled at the corners, and his mouth curved into a smile.

It was only a few steps away, Jing Heguang reached AXing’s side without even realizing he’d been walking awkwardly, and was then placed into the river water. First, he got his body thoroughly wet, then worked up a lather with soap-pod suds and scrubbed him all over from head to toe.

As he was being scrubbed, Jing Heguang felt like he was getting the short end of the stick.

He’d only managed to sneak a few glances at brother Xing, yet the guy had touched him all over, every inch! He’d even flipped him over and scrubbed him thoroughly!

Jing Heguang rubbed his two front paws together, wondering if he could bathe himself, but gave up after just a couple of tries.

It was no use. His legs were too short, he was simply defeated by his own short legs.

Seeing him playing by rubbing his paws together, AXing carefully scrubbed those little paws again.

Jing Heguang: !!!

His heart just melted.

When brother Xing turned into a giant tiger, he looked absolutely ferocious, so how could he be this gentle in human form?!

It was one thing to gently rub behind his ears, but to scrub his paws so meticulously too!

Jing Heguang obediently lifted his paws, cooperating with the scrubbing.

No one knew that while the river water was cool, his heart was bubbling over with joy.

***

Once they were clean, they walked home together under the moonlight.

Jing Heguang said, “The moonlight is beautiful tonight!”

AXing glanced up at the sky. “It is nice.”

Jing Heguang knew AXing wouldn’t get the reference, but he was still delighted. He was so happy he felt like running a few laps.

He didn’t actually get to run those laps until they were back in bed.

Jing Heguang trotted around the bed a few times before being placed back into the bowl lined with animal pelts.

He poked his head out of the bowl and tentatively asked, “Brother Xing, I don’t want to sleep in the bowl.”

“No,” AXing replied, turning around while tidying up the bedding. “Your bed is too dirty. I’ll wash the pelts for you later.”

Jing Heguang: Attempt to climb into the big bed — Failed x 1.

***

Beastmen have incredible self-healing abilities. In less than half a month, AXing’s injuries were nearly fully healed. He had been examined by the shaman earlier that day and given a clean bill of health.

That evening, after running a few laps on the bed, Jing Heguang refused to go back to sleeping in his bowl.

He lay flat on the animal hide pillow, stubbornly refusing to budge.

AXing poked him with a finger, and Jing Heguang flicked his tail.

AXing said helplessly, “If you don’t want to sleep in the bowl, then you can sleep on the bed.”

Jing Heguang looked back at him. “Really?”

“Really.” AXing nodded and turned to tidy up the bedding on the other side for the little cub.

If the cub slept in the bowl, it could be placed right near his head. If he slept on the bed, the distance would be much greater. AXing felt a twinge of regret.

Jing Heguang watched his movements, dumbfounded.

Was it the bed he wanted to sleep on? No — it was the person!

Jing Heguang calculated the days. Tomorrow he will be able to shift into his human form again. Once he became human, he planned to move out and start courting AXing.

To gain a new identity, one had to break free from the old one.

Relationships between two beastmen were not uncommon in the clan, given that the population of sub-beastmen was less than beastmen.

Jing Heguang believed that with enough effort, he could surely win AXing’s heart. If all else failed, he could always shift into his beast form and act cute!

And yet, this little wish before his big transition was being thwarted by the presence of a second bed in the cave!

Jing Heguang lay on the bed, feeling utterly dejected like a dead dog.

AXing worked efficiently, tidying up the other bed in no time.

However, when he turned back, he noticed the little cub still looked unhappy, even though he was allowed to sleep on the bed.

AXing gave the cub’s cheek a gentle pinch. “AGuang, it’s all set. I’ll carry you over.”

Jing Heguang whined, “I don’t want to move.” I just want to sleep in your bed.

If he didn’t get to sleep there today, it would be a very, very long time before he had another chance.

AXing thought for a moment, perhaps the little cub simply found his bed more comfortable? The animal skins on his bed were indeed more plentiful and softer.

AXing felt he had figured it out and decided to make the other bed just as thick and cozy for tomorrow.

Then, he said considerately and generously, “You sleep here, then. I will go sleep over there.”

Jing Heguang: ???

Is that even an option?

Jing Heguang began to wonder: did he really stand a chance?

He was lying right there, yet his brother Xing didn’t even give him a few extra pets. Was his fur not soft enough anymore?

Jing Heguang scrambled up. “I’ll go sleep over there.”

He hopped down from the bed with a patter of paws, walked over to the other bed, rubbed his paws, and jumped up onto it.

The new bed smelled of sunshine, a pleasant scent, but it lacked the familiar scent of the maltese tiger.

Jing Heguang lay down with a sense of disappointment, burying himself deep within the large animal-skin quilt.

From AXing’s perspective, all that was visible was a small, rounded lump, a tiny, tiny shape.

AXing covered the light-emitting pearl with a black animal skin, plunging the cave into darkness.

Yet, as he lay there, Xing still couldn’t fall asleep.

— The little cub is still unhappy.

The cub wanted to sleep in a bed, and he had let him do just that. He’d even let the cub choose whichever bed he liked, so why was he still unhappy?

AXing felt a bit flustered. Then, as he touched the spot where the little cub had previously been lying, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

Now, it was him lying here.

Did the little cub want to sleep here because he didn’t want to sleep alone?

It seemed the cub’s personality had changed quite a bit since shrinking. AXing felt he finally understood what other beastmen meant by ‘cute’.

Excited, AXing climbed out of bed and relying on his excellent night vision, walked over to the other bed.

Swallowing the words ‘little cub’ that had nearly slipped out, AXing asked, “AGuang, do you want to sleep with me?”

Jing Heguang’s fur stood right on end.

That was so direct, he loved it!

Jing Heguang extended his two front paws out from under the animal hide blanket: “Brother Xing, I want to sleep with you!”

With that, Jing Heguang was scooped up and placed onto AXing’s bed.

Mission accomplished, he’d successfully made it into the bed!

Jing Heguang happily found a corner and lay down obediently.

He was tiny and took up hardly any space, he was very easy to look after.

AXing felt content too, and lay down to sleep alongside the little cub.

He mused that perhaps shrinking had made the cub more dependent on him. That was actually better, it would keep the cub from being lured away by other sub-beastmen.

AXing lay there and soon fell asleep.

Jing Heguang, however, was too excited to sleep. He lay there letting his thoughts wander, eventually dwelling on AXing’s wounds he had examined earlier that day.

AXing had injuries on his lower leg and one arm, with thick scabs covering the wounds.

Jing Heguang climbed up and made his way around to the other side.

The soft pads on his paws meant he moved almost silently, though the king of the jungle was still roused from his slumber, only to feign sleep.

Jing Heguang crawled to the other side, snuggled up against brother Xing’s arm, and slowly drifted off to sleep. After falling asleep, the little cub reached out his claws again and wrapped them around the other’s arm.

AXing looked down at the soundly sleeping cub and gave him a gentle pat. “You little heartless thing, do you even have a conscience?”

In the past, whenever AXing was injured, the cub wouldn’t have cared or paid him any mind. Seeing him now, leaning against him with such reliance and concern made AXing’s heart soften.

Just as AXing was feeling this tenderness, he noticed the cub beside his arm…growing larger!

AXing watched as the cub instantly shifted into human form. He did a quick mental calculation, sure enough, the time had come, though it was a night earlier than expected.

However, the cub’s appearance had changed slightly compared to half a month ago.

Half a month ago, the cub had been more than half a head shorter than him, but now he actually looked a good bit taller?

AXing thought about the cub’s beast form and accepted the change, feeling relieved at the same time: it was a good thing the cub hadn’t grown in proportion to his beast form, or else no cave would have been big enough to hold him.

The cub also seemed a bit better looking, his features have really matured.

Just as AXing was observing him, Jing Heguang opened his eyes.

The moment he opened his eyes, his stomach let out a loud, rumbling growl.

Jing Heguang opened his eyes and said somewhat sheepishly, “Brother Xing, I’m so hungry. Can I eat your dried meat?”

Jing Heguang never imagined that the very first thing he’d say after transforming into a human would be something so unromantic and unglamorous!

But he was truly hungry. He felt as though the word hungry was the only thing left in his mind.

AXing, having been through this himself, understood the situation perfectly: the cub had passed the period of weakness and now needed to replenish his strength with good food!

He quickly got up and handed Jing Heguang some fruit that could be eaten immediately, then set up two fires outside the cave, one for boiling soup and the other for roasting meat.

***

In the dead of night, the aroma of food wafted through the air, making the other beastmen’s stomachs growl with hunger. The white tiger didn’t live far away, so he got up and poked his head out of his den, only to discover that brother Xing was cooking for AGuang.

Wiping his mouth, the white tiger brought over some meat, hoping to snag a bite.

He handed the meat over and said with a grin, “brother Xing, could you roast some for me while you’re at it? I’m starving too!”

AXing nodded. “I’ll roast some for you in a bit.” He had to feed his little cub first.

The White Tiger rubbed his hands together. “Yes. You can cook mine once AGuang is halfway full!”

Every beastmen goes through a period of physical weakness, so they all understand the rules: a beastman in that state absolutely cannot go hungry. The white tiger wanted to taste brother Xing’s cooking, but he had no choice but to wait his turn.

Yet he waited and waited, almost falling asleep in the process, while the young canine beastman just kept eating, his stomach seemingly a bottomless pit!

The white tiger’s eyes widened. “Hey, AGuang, surely you aren’t going to stuff yourself to death just to keep me from having a bite of this meat?”

If one eats too much, their body will reject it! The white tiger remembered a time he’d been greedy and overeaten, he’d ended up vomiting it all back up.

Jing Heguang found it strange himself.

He simply wasn’t full. He was hungry as if there were a gaping hole in his stomach.

Swallowing a large chunk of meat, Jing Heguang managed to reply, “I’m just so hungry.”

He felt like he was living out a meme in real life: small, innocent, yet capable of eating an enormous amount.

Don’t ask, if you did, the answer would be that he felt absolutely miserable!

The more he ate, the hungrier he got. It was as if he couldn’t be satisfied. He had planned to hunt the finest wild beast tomorrow to win brother Xing’s heart, yet here he was, devouring the man’s entire stockpile!

The only one who truly understood the situation was the maltese tiger, who was busy roasting the meat.

The amount of nourishing food a beastman required was usually directly proportional to their physical size.

In other words…the bigger they were, the more they had to eat. Of course, this was just because the little one had recently gone through a period of weakness and needed to eat voraciously to recover. Otherwise, AXing would have been worried about not being able to afford to feed the little cub!

When the stash of dried meat was running low and nearly used up, AXing tugged at the white tiger’s arm: “ABai, we’re running out of food. Lend me some of the meat you kept for yourself. I’ll pay you back later.”

The white tiger, who had originally planned to mooch a free meal: ???

Wasn’t he supposed to be the one getting a free meal? Why was he ending up having to contribute his own meat instead?!