Mu Qingyi looked down at the small female suddenly hiding against him, and for one second he had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling, because the way her face had gone red, the way her ears were flattened in sha, the way her fluffy white tail had curled around her own leg in complete panic, everything about her looked too cute.
Rat beastwon were naturally small and soft, and when they got embarrassed, they really did look like little white dumplings that wanted to roll underground and never co back out.
So of course Mu Qingyi’s first instinct was to hold her.
He did not even think about it.
One arm ca around her naturally, his hand resting carefully at her back as if he wanted to shield her from the river, from Hu Baiyu, from the sun, from the whole world if necessary. That was just how these beastn were when it ca to their female. If she looked uncomfortable, they moved before they thought. If she was flushed, they checked her first. If she was sweating under the sun, they would already be reaching for shade, water, fruit, or their own bodies to block the heat from reaching her.
Mu Qingyi lowered his head slightly and asked in a soft voice, "Are you alright?"
Lin Huahua did not answer properly.
How was she supposed to answer?
That giant thing was still stamped into her brain.
Her little heart was beating like a drum, and the more she rembered, the hotter her face beca, so she only kept clinging to Mu Qingyi’s chest and shaking her head.
Hu Baiyu, anwhile, had also noticed her reaction.
And to be honest, the first feeling that rose inside him was not sha.
It was pride.
He stood there, huge and bare and completely unaware of how criminal he looked, and seeing his female react so strongly to him made a deep satisfied feeling quietly bloom in his chest. Even if he was still innocent in many ways, he was still a lion beastman in the end. Lions were proud. Territorial too. The thought that he could make his female look at him like that and go completely dazed made him feel a very dangerous kind of happiness.
Then that pride mixed with other thoughts.
Nastier thoughts.
Very bad thoughts.
The kind of thoughts that reminded him of last night and made heat gather low in his body so quickly that he had to turn his face slightly away to regain control.
Feng Yiren, who had been suffering his own fox jealousy in the corner, was absolutely not having any of it.
He imdiately stalked over to the fishing basket, rummaged through it, and found one of the spare hide beast skirts Mu Qingyi always packed whenever they went near water. Mu Qingyi was the most prepared male in the world. If the heavens collapsed, he would probably still have fruit and extra hide clothing hidden sowhere.
The skirt Feng Yiren found was not exactly Hu Baiyu’s size, but at that mont he did not care.
He marched straight over and threw it at the lion.
"Wear it," Feng Yiren snapped. Then, because the lion did not react fast enough for his fox temper, he added in a sharper voice, "Quickly. Now."
Hu Baiyu caught the hide beast skirt and looked at him with obvious confusion written across his face.
What had he done now?
Why was everyone angry at him?
He had not even spoken.
Not that he could.
Still, although he was confused, he did not argue. He simply put the skirt on, and because Hu Baiyu was so broad and tall, the thing sat a bit shorter on him than it would on anyone else. Thankfully, it still covered enough to preserve whatever remained of Lin Huahua’s peace of mind.
Feng Yiren gave him a once-over from head to toe, his fox tail lashing behind him, and muttered, "Show off."
Then he walked off with a deeply offended face.
Hu Baiyu stared after him and looked even more lost than before.
What show off?
He had literally only transford back because that was what everyone did when they reached the river.
Why was any of this his fault?
Lin Huahua, still burning with sha, gradually cald down in Mu Qingyi’s arms, though not completely. Even after she finally straightened up and sat under the tree where Mu Qingyi brought her, her mind still kept circling back to the horrible earlier image and asking one question over and over again.
How could a person be that huge?
No.
That was not a person.
That was a disaster.
A natural disaster.
Mu Qingyi, being the calm and attentive deer beastman that he was, carried her to the shade before setting her down, because he had already noticed that the morning sun was getting warr and the last thing he wanted was for her pale little face to overheat from both embarrassnt and heat. Once he sat her down against the wide tree trunk, he crouched to check her feet again, his fingers gentle and warm as he made sure the earlier cuts from the stone had not worsened.
Then he tore broad leaves and softened them with water so he could wrap them lightly over the tender parts before she moved again. That was the sort of thing Mu Qingyi did without needing to be asked. If he saw a problem, his hands were already fixing it.
Lin Huahua looked at him while he worked and had to swallow once.
This deer beastman really was too sweet.
That was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
The lion was still standing nearby with the new skirt on, his ears a little red, while Feng Yiren had gone to the riverbank with a face that clearly said he was not angry at all and everyone should stop imagining nonsense imdiately.
Everything slowly beca normal again.
Or at least as normal as it could beco after Lin Huahua’s eyes had been violently attacked like that.
Then Mu Qingyi finally said that they would start hunting fish now, and the mont Lin Huahua heard it, she rembered why she had co in the first place.
She imdiately sat up straighter.
Her ears lifted.
Her tail moved with fresh determination.
Then she pointed at the water and said, "Okay, I want to hunt too."
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