Chapter 7: Inconceivable
A dark glint flashed in Xiao Jihan’s cold, handsome eyes.
Yesterday, she had tried to force herself on him, and he had fought back with everything he had. He hadn’t dared to use his powers, trying only to evade her, but she had also taken an aphrodisiac and was completely frenzied, determined to have him. In the struggle, she had accidentally slammed her head against the wall.
After that, her behavior had been… off.
Normally, she would have retaliated for his defiance a thousand times over.
“It was my fault,” Xiao Jihan said, his voice low. “If I hadn’t resisted, perhaps she wouldn’t have become even more obsessed.”
Hua Linye looked at him. “I know you. You would rather die than let her touch you. I’m the same way, so don’t dwell on it.” He let out a sigh. “If only we could be like Mei Qingchen and Shen Ci’an, just disappear and ignore her. That would be a relief.”
Mei Qingchen and Shen Ci’an were Su Muyao’s other two beastmen husbands. They hadn’t dissolved their contract with her, but they had vanished without a trace, leaving her powerless to do anything about it. As a result, she took all her frustrations out on the ones who remained.
Xiao Jihan’s expression shuttered, hiding the lonely sorrow in his eyes. “They both come from powerful backgrounds. Their families have secret arts that can override the beastman husband contract. Even if Su Muyao were to die, they would live on.” His voice was frosty. “But we can’t.”
Both he and Hua Linye were trapped by their circumstances. If they failed to protect Su Muyao and she died, they would die with her.
A look of confusion crossed Hua Linye’s face. “If their families are that powerful, they could have forcibly broken the contract back in Beast Emperor City. Why did they follow her into exile? Why come to a place like this?” It was a question that had long baffled him.
Xiao Jihan’s gaze was as cold as frost. “Perhaps they had their own reasons for coming here.”
After talking for a while, the two decided to skip dinner. It wasn’t that they feared death, but they weren’t living for themselves alone. They couldn’t afford to die.
When Xiao Jihan had returned, he had brought a small bucket of bird eggs and a wild rabbit, which he set to the side. He didn’t even glance toward the cookhouse, as if the mere sight of Su Muyao would dirty his eyes.
He said to Wen Nanxi, “Hua Linye and I won’t be eating dinner.”
Wen Nanxi sighed inwardly. “Our lady is different now. You should eat with us.”
The three of them were all Su Muyao’s husbands and should have been rivals. The husbands of other females often fought for favor, but they never did, likely because none of them had any affection for her. Misery, it seemed, loved company. Furthermore, during their journey into exile, many factions—including those of her five former husbands—had tried to assassinate her. They had fought together to protect her, forging a bond that precluded any rivalry.
But Xiao Jihan had no trust that Su Muyao had changed. He didn’t argue with Wen Nanxi, simply shaking his head. “We’re not hungry.”
Wen Nanxi went to the cookhouse to tell Su Muyao.
Su Muyao looked at the large basin filled with fish paste. “I prepared dinner for all four of us.”
As much as she wanted to ignore them, her predecessor’s actions had been too extreme. If she didn’t improve their impression of her, she could easily lose her life. If she were powerful, she wouldn’t care what they thought. But right now, she hadn’t even reached the first rank of her abilities. Besides, the two of them had, in fact, brought back food. They might hate her, but they still fulfilled their duty.
“I’ll take it to their room later,” Wen Nanxi offered.
“Alright.”
“Host, they’re afraid you’ve drugged the food!” the System piped up.
The corner of Su Muyao’s mouth twitched. “No wonder.”
She was a fast cook. She rendered some lard from the pork fat and made a pan of scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Then she prepared the fish broth and cooked the pure fish noodles. She also roasted some sweet potatoes in the embers of the fire.
She plated two large dishes of scrambled eggs and tomatoes, a pile of roasted sweet potatoes, two big bowls of fish noodles, and a large bowl of fish soup. The noodles and soup she made had no fishy smell at all; instead, they had a rich, savory aroma.
To prove the food was safe, she ate some of each dish in front of Wen Nanxi.
“I didn’t drug it, and I didn’t poison it,” she stated plainly. After a beat, she added, “I’m counting on you all to protect me and find food. It would be foolish of me to harm you.”
Wen Nanxi’s gaze was warm and gentle. “Mm, I know. They will eat.”
He carried the food to Xiao Jihan’s room and called Hua Linye over as well.
Hua Linye hadn’t fully recovered from his previous injuries, and he’d sustained new ones today while fighting a mutated beast to secure the wild boar. He had been silently enduring the pain, letting no one know. He had no appetite, but a rich, tantalizing aroma he couldn’t identify drifted into the room.
Combined with what Wen Nanxi had said, Hua Linye felt a sense of unease. “She’d be kind enough to cook for us?”
“Our lady tasted everything in front of me, and she used clean utensils,” Wen Nanxi reassured him. “Don’t worry, there’s no drug in it. Besides, she’s right. She needs you to protect her and find food. She wouldn’t harm you.”
They wouldn’t believe Su Muyao’s words, but they trusted Wen Nanxi.
Hua Linye and Xiao Jihan hadn’t eaten all day and were genuinely hungry. After a moment of hesitation, Hua Linye picked up his utensils.
“This food is strange. In the restaurants of Beast Emperor City, they cook eggs with vegetables, but I’ve never seen them cooked with fruit.”
“And this is fish soup. Is it really edible?” Hua Linye was still skeptical. But smelling no strange odor, he picked up his spoon and took a tentative sip.
He froze. “There’s… no fishy taste at all.” The broth was a creamy white, its flavor rich and exquisitely savory.
Wen Nanxi smiled. “And these are noodles made from fish.”
It was the first time Xiao Jihan and Hua Linye had ever heard of such a thing. When they tasted them, they were stunned by the incredible flavor. To say nothing of the roasted sweet potatoes and the scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Every single dish was a revelation.
After that, they fell silent, simply eating. They had to admit, it was unbelievably delicious. They never imagined that in this remote, desolate tribe of exiles, they would eat food that surpassed the finest cuisine in Beast Emperor City. If they hadn’t tasted it themselves, they would never have believed it.
At the same time, their hearts were filled with a profound and heavy sense of disbelief. It all felt so inconceivable.
Su Muyao could identify edible plants… and she knew how to cook?
Only after Wen Nanxi saw that they were truly eating and understood what the dishes were did he return to the cookhouse.
Su Muyao was sitting at the small table. When she saw him return, her eyes curved into a smile. “You’re back. Let’s eat together.”
She held her chopsticks, waiting for him. Wen Nanxi had assumed she would have started eating long ago.
A warmth spread through his chest. “My lady… were you waiting for me?”
“Of course. We cooked it together, so we should eat it together.”
Her predecessor had only ever cared about herself. But in Su Muyao’s view, they were now a small team. To survive in this tribe, the whole team needed to be well-fed. Eating properly was the only way to build up their strength, handle danger, and hunt for more food.
She was clear-headed about her situation. As breathtakingly beautiful as each of these men were, they were also poison.
Lethal poison.
She wasn’t foolish enough to get emotionally involved.
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