Cute Beast World: Beast Husband, Memeda!

Chapter 5 – Family

Lin Huanhuan had originally wanted to also buy a pair of shoes, but the beastmen didn’t like to wear shoes, so no one sold such things.

Exasperated, Lin Huanhuan could only mull over making a pair of shoes herself.

Needles and thread were needed to make shoes. These types of things did have some people selling them.

Lin Huanhuan looked at the needles and thread with a bit of hesitation.

She was penniless. If she wanted to buy anything, she could only get Bai Di to pay, but Bai Di had already bought two sets of clothes for her. She was embarrassed to have him pay again.

Bai Di glanced at her, then took out a crystal coin and bought a whole set of needles and thread.

After he wrapped the needles and thread, he took it in his hand, and said to Lin Huanhuan, “If you want to buy anything, just say it. I have crystal coins.”

Lin Huanhuan blushed a bit, “Thank you. Just treat those crystal coins as something I borrowed from you. I will make money and pay you back in the future.”

Instead, Bai Di said, “You are my female. We are a family. All of my things belong to you. I can give you whatever you want.”

The words “family” were like a big hand as it gently wrapped around Lin Huanhuan’s heart.

It was so heartwarming that it made her want to cry.

She had once longed for a family that belonged to herself. However, she could only bury this desire in the bottom of her heart with the early death of her parents.

But now, this beastman in front of her had awakened her desire with just one sentence.

She really wanted to have a family.

Seeing how the eyes of the little female turned red, Bai Di immediately became flustered from worry, “Don’t cry! Are you uncomfortable somewhere? Or did I do something wrong? Tell me, I will definitely correct it!”

He wanted to touch her, but was also worried about her crying. He could only hover around her, burning with anxiety.

Lin Huanhuan wiped her eyes and smiled embarrassedly, “I was just too happy.”

“Happy?” Bai Di didn’t understand why she would still cry despite being happy.

Lin Huanhuan held his finger, “I really am happy because I have a family now.”

……

…

After visiting the market, the sun was about to set.

Lang Zhu sent someone over to invite Bai Di and his female to come over as guests, but was declined by Bai Di.

He knew what Lang Zhu was playing at.

The wolf tribe had numerous clan members but there were only a dozen or so females. As for males, there were more than three hundred males.

This was the kind of situation where there were plenty of males but few females were commonly seen in this world. In order to produce offspring, each female had many male partners surrounding her side.

The females of the wolf tribe were naturally not an exception. But even though it was like this, there were still many young males who were not able to find a female partner.

For the wolf clan, every female was priceless.

Lang Zhu wanted Lin Huanhuan to stay and pick a few young males she took a fancy to from the wolf tribe as partners.

As soon as Bai Di thought of how there would be other males who wanted to share Lin Huanhuan with himself, he became very angry.

Lin Huanhuan was his partner alone. He would never allow others to get involved with her!

Bai Di held Lin Huanhuan as he left the foot of the mountain and found a cave nearby.

He spread out a thick layer of hay on the ground, and then placed Lin Huanhuan on the haystack.

“I am going to go hunting nearby and will be back soon. You be good and just wait here for me. Don’t wander around no matter what.”

“Ok.”

Bai Di especially used a large stone to block the entrance of the cave to prevent anyone from seeing Lin Huanhuan. Only then did he reluctantly left.

Lin Huanhuan unfastened the cloth bag and took out the tinder.

She picked up some dry wood inside a tree hollow, piled them together, and carefully lighted them up.

The light of fire appeared!

Lin Huanhuan felt the long lost warmth, and her face blossomed into a joyful smile.

After lighting the fire, she began to read that atlas.

The first few pages of the atlas introduced the basic situation of this continent, amongst which highlighted two important points.

One was about soul beasts, and the other was about females.

Soul beasts came from ordinary beastmen that had evolved. Their might was extremely powerful.

As for the females, they were a species that were rarer than the soul beasts. They bore the responsibility of breeding offspring.

Their numbers were too sparse. In order to be able to better reproduce offspring, every female would have many male partners.

When she saw this, Lin Huanhuan’s expression was filled with shock and embarrassment.

She never expected that this world actually thought highly of polyandry.

She continued to read further and saw the introduction of crispy fragrant fruit in the picture atlas ——

It was a woody plant that faced the sun. Its leaves and fruits could be used as a medicine. When orally administered, it can remove damp heat¹. When applied externally, it can reduce inflammation and staunch bleeding.

¹TN: Heat (Re Qi) and coolness (Qing Liang) is a common thing seen in TCM. They are seen as the cause for some common ailments (eg: mouth ulcers and pimples are a result of too much Re Qi). The closest western equivalent would be the ‘humours’ of the body back in Europe before the age of modern medicine. The heat and cold can be seen as the equivalent of yin (cold) and yang (heat) where if you have too much of either, you would get sick. Consuming different foods can give you too much of either (eg: oily or fried foods would give you heat while beer or chrysanthemum tea would give you coolness).

Damp Qi (Shi/Han Qi) is another concept in TCM. It’s the cause of internal problems and there are various ways you can get it. An example is being soaked in water/rain and then having it dry on you. The humidity of the water would seep in your pores and can cause your joints to ache. This is usually treated by either sucking out the humidity, by ‘evaporating’ it with heat (not the Re Qi type of heat), or through TCM prescriptions. It is also seen as the cause of dysmenorrhea (severe menstrual cramps) amongst other things.

Lin Huanhuan immediately opened the animal skin pouch that Long Zhu had given her and grabbed two crispy fragrant fruits from inside.

The dark red fruit was round and plump. You could even smell a faint sweet scent when you got close to it.

Because Bai Di was thinking about the little female in the cave, he finished hunting his prey with the fastest speed and then dragged the prey along as he rushed back.

It was already well into the night. The mountains were pitch black. The fire’s light that peeked out from the cave looked particularly bright.

As soon as Bai Di saw the fire’s light, his complexion immediately changed.

The cave was on fire!

The little female was still in the cave!

Bai Di quickly threw his prey away and quickly ran into the cave.

Still examining the crispy fragrant fruit, Lin Huanhuan raised her head and saw the anxious look on Bai Di. She couldn’t help but get dumbfounded.

“What, what’s wrong with you?”

Bai Di rushed over and pulled her up, “Leave here quickly!”

Lin Huanhuan didn’t understand, “Why? Did something happen?”

“There is a fire here. It’s very dangerous!” Bai Di grabbed the animal hide and rushed towards the fire! He needed to put out the fire!

Lin Huanhuan was taken aback by his actions.

She quickly held back Bai Di’s arm, “Don’t panic! I was the one that ignited the fire!”

Bai Di stopped his movements and looked at her in surprise, “You’re the one that lit the fire? Do you know that fire is very dangerous? Anything that touches it would be burned to ashes!”

“I know, but as long as you are careful, you won’t be burned,” Lin Huanhuan tried to persuade him, “Look, you can see how I wasn’t burned even though I had just stayed by the fire for such a long time. It’s more than enough to prove that it is not as dangerous and you thought. Besides, I need fire. It can provide me with warmth and can cook food for me.”

Bai Di hesitated for a moment before he finally compromised.

The little female needed fire, and he couldn’t bear to refuse her.

Bai Di dragged his prey, which was thrown halfway along the way back, into the hole. He carefully peeled off the animal hide and set it aside, intending to wait until tomorrow morning to go wash it.

His little female liked to collect animal skins, and he wants to satisfy her little hobby.

Bai Di cut off the tenderest piece of meat for Lin Huanhuan.

He watched as Lin Huanhuan cut the meat into strips, skewered with branches, and then cooked on top of the fire.

The meat was roasted until it sizzled loudly. The oil spilled out and fell into the fire, splashing out sparks.

Bai Di watched with fear and alarm on the side, afraid that the little female would be burned by the fire. His nerves were pulled taut, readying himself to pounce up and rescue the little female at any given moment.

Lin Huanhuan handed him the roasted meat and looked at him with an encouraging look, “Try it.”

Bai Di hesitated for a moment, then took the skewer and took a bite.

It was very hot, but very fragrant.

It tasted much better than raw meat!

Bai Di finished the meat skewer with big bites and sincerely praised, “It’s delicious!”

Seeing how he liked to eat it, Lin Huanhuan was very happy.

Bai Di immediately cut all the remaining raw meat into pieces and placed them on the fire to cook.

He seems to be very talented in cooking. He immediately understood the technique behind barbecuing meat.

The meat he roasted was seared on the outside but tender on the inside. It was crispy and fragrant, extremely delicious!

Lin Huanhuan ate four skewers before she became full. The rest of the skewers went into Bai Di’s stomach.

The deliciousness of the barbecue finally made him become not so afraid of fire.

After he satisfied his thirst and ate his fill, Bai Di turned into a white tiger and laid beside the fire, licking his wounds.

The wounds that were caused by the prey during the day still remained on his foreleg. Although it had stopped bleeding, it still hurt a little.

Lin Huanhuan shifted over, “Let me help you bandage the wound.”

She took out the crispy fragrant fruit and, after chewing it, she applied it carefully onto Bai Di’s wound.