By the ti she woke up, it was already the next morning. Gu Yin had long since reverted to his snake form, coiled lazily in a corner, fully sated.
He always waited until his body had cooled before moving away from her.
She looked at the blinding sunlight outside the window and covered her face with her hand. After resting for a good while, she finally managed to get dressed and climb out of bed.
"HISS~" Hearing the movent, the python beside the bed imdiately lifted its head and flicked its forked tongue at her.
Then it tucked its head back under its tail.
"..." An Jin was speechless as she watched his little antics.
It certainly wasn’t the first ti. Every ti they finished, he would curl up in the corner, cover his head with his tail, and enter so sort of sage-like trance. He acted so shy, you’d think *she* was the one who’d forced herself on *him*.
’Oh well, I’ll just leave him be.’
Exhausted and having not eaten a thing the previous day, An Jin felt her stomach rumbling. She quickly scrambled out of bed and ran to the kitchen, hoping to find so leftovers.
There were two wild vegetable flatbreads, but they were cold.
An Jin fried up two pieces of at for herself. After she’d eaten her fill, Gu Yin unapologetically polished off the rest.
After they had both eaten and drunk their fill, Gu Yin lingered with her for a while, coiled around her affectionately. He then told her he was going into seclusion for the next few days to shed his skin. He wouldn’t be around, so there was no need to bring him any food, and he went on and on about her needing to take care of herself.
「...」
Every year, as the hot season began and ended, the animals would start to shed their coats. The Beastn were no exception. And since many of them were massive, fluffy creatures four to five ters long, the amount of fur they shed was simply unbelievable.
Ling Hong’s shedding was also getting worse and worse.
Living under the sa roof, An Jin would wake up every morning, push open her door, and be greeted by the sight of several large clumps of white fur tumbling about the room, blown across the floor by the wind from the window.
She couldn’t stand it, so she took it upon herself to sweep up the fur. But Ling Hong just kept shedding more... and more...
She simply couldn’t sweep as fast as he could shed.
"Co over here, let groom you," An Jin called out, grabbing a pair of relatively sharp stone scissors and a large comb. From a distance, she waved enthusiastically at Ling Hong.
"..." The Silver Wolf hesitated for a mont before padding over with elegant steps. He finally lay down beside her with an air of resignation.
SNIP, SNIP.
Ling Hong noticed a few beautiful white tufts floating in the air. He belatedly realized it was his own fur being cut. "Awoo?"
When An Jin finally let him go, Ling Hong frantically ran to the riverbank to check his reflection. He discovered that his fluffy, soft wolf fur had been trimd considerably shorter.
"Awoo..."
"Clan Leader, An Jin and her people have been making a lot of cloth recently! They’re using it to make clothes and plan to go to Beast Gathering City to trade for supplies!" She Nuo reported, having rushed to the Luoten Tribe.
"Cloth?"
Luoten’s brow furrowed so deeply it looked like a mountain range. He then let out a cold laugh and, with a loud CRACK, smashed the stone table with his massive palm. "That female certainly is capable. Figured out sothing new again..."
She Nuo silently lowered his head.
"What are their plans?" Luoten asked coldly, suppressing the rage boiling within him.
She Nuo dropped to one knee, showing imnse respect for the tall, burly, golden-haired Beastman before him. "From what I’ve gathered, they want to use the clothes to trade for expensive supplies and rare ores at the inter-tribal gathering..."
"They’ve always wanted to expand their population. They might try to trade for females from smaller tribes and for exceptional Beastman Warriors."
She Nuo’s voice trembled with deep concern. "If they succeed, An Jin’s tribe will grow powerful very quickly. When that happens, we..."
"Hah! Wishful thinking."
"But Clan Leader, our tribes are not far apart. If they really beco strong, they will eventually surpass us. There’s already a rift between us. When the ti cos... I’m afraid our tribe will be..."
Luoten spat on the ground and glared at him. "Impossible! A tiny tribe that’s not even six months old wants to shake the decades-old foundation of the Luoten Tribe?!"
Despite his words, Luoten’s brow only furrowed deeper. In his heart, fear had already begun to take root.
Six months ago, when those twenty or thirty people split from the Luoten Tribe, he’d been content to sit back and watch the show. He was sure they wouldn’t last through the long rainy season or the deep cold, and that they’d eventually co crawling back to him.
He never expected it.
He truly never expected it!
That female actually had a way. Not only did they easily survive the long cold and rainy seasons, but they were flourishing, expanding from a small tribe of a few dozen to a dium-sized tribe of nearly 200 mbers?!
That rate of growth was simply terrifying.
She had beco a great thorn in his side that had to be removed!
’Females were ant to be dependent on males. Without a male’s protection, they could only starve and wait to die. How could a female possibly lead a tribe as its Clan Leader?’
’It was a complete insult to all males. Utterly ridiculous!’
Luoten sighed deeply and wearily closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his crimson-gold pupils burned with an unquenchable, sweeping ambition. "Rest assured, I won’t let that day co to pass!"
"Clan Leader, you an..."
She Nuo was overjoyed. Luoten beckoned with his hand, and She Nuo imdiately knelt obediently at his side. "I have a plan, of course. I’ll need you to coordinate from the inside. I trust our people will be able to return to the tribe very soon!"
The light in She Nuo’s eyes grew brighter. After hearing the plan, his admiration for Luoten was absolute.
He nodded firmly and promised, "Rest assured, Clan Leader. I will carry out my duty!"
Luoten waved him away, telling him to return before he was missed and his absence aroused suspicion.
As soon as She Nuo was gone, Luoten’s gaze turned vicious. His coarse, massive hands clenched into tight fists, and a strange, cruel smile played on his lips.
「...」
anwhile, An Jin’s tribe had finished producing nearly a hundred bolts of cloth. Everyone was bustling about, preparing for the inter-tribal gathering in a few days.
An Jin took two bolts of the finest cloth for herself, planning to get so practice by making a couple of outfits.
’She had been dying to get out of these dull, ugly, and uncomfortable beast-hide tube tops and skirts for ages.’
’Speaking of which, Gu Yin and the others have never worn clothes made of cloth before. I might as well make a few outfits for them too!’
’They were all so tall and handso, with bodies like top male models—walking clothes hangers. I wonder what they would look like in different styles of clothing made from this fine cloth?’
’They’d probably look amazing.’
An Jin couldn’t help but feel excited. People always strive for beautiful things.
An Jin sprawled across the table, cupping her cheeks in her hands. Her fair, delicate fingertips twirled a charcoal stick as she began sketching out designs for various practical and attractive clothing styles.
After about a year, thanks to the Shark Pearl and her own skincare routine—and perhaps because she had been eating well and her body was going through a second growth spurt—her appearance had changed dramatically.
Her skin had beco fair and delicate, her features more charming and refined. Her once scrawny, underdeveloped figure was now blossoming into one that was graceful and curvy.
She was starting to look more like her forr self from her previous life.
The changes were subtle, creeping into her daily life so gradually that Gu Yin and the others didn’t notice anything unusual. They simply thought she was finally coming into her own.
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