Gentle Beast Novel Chapter 18

Gentle Beast Chapter 18

Ryan stared at his front paws with rigid fixation. They were young again, and the paw pads were pink. He turned to look behind him and saw his long tail had shrunk as well. It wasn’t offensive in the least and obediently hung to the ground, it tilted slightly, and seed harmless and stupid.

He had once again returned to this damned infancy.

Ryan clenched his teeth tight. After a short ti of several fluctuations in his mood, no one’s expression was going to look good.

On the other side, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u and Eric were equally shocked.

She was drowsy but suddenly woke up all of a sudden, and she stared at the bed where the leopard was “entertaining himself” and tried hard to recall sothing.

He wasn’t in her space? When did he co out?

How did he get out?

She thought for a mont but could not find any impression of it.

Was it possible that when she struggled to sleep, she accidentally released him from her space?

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u moved toward the bed a few steps, wanting to approach the little leopard and see what was going on.

Suddenly her wrist was grabbed tightly by Eric who had just stepped outside the room.

Eric’s eyes widened and he shook his head, hesitating, “??u. . . you cannot go there.”

Eric was unable to comprehend the scene before his eyes, this was beyond outrageous.

What he saw just now was an obviously adult leopard, how in the blink of an eye, did it beco a small innocent cub?

“Why can’t we go?” Jǐ Xiǎo ??u, although puzzled, still stopped in accordance to his words.

“Because. . . it. . .” Eric hemd and hawed, his ordinarily clever tongue was now stuck, unable to link words into sentence. He was both afraid of Ryan becoming bigger and searching out his race to cause trouble, but also worried that Jǐ Xiǎo ??u would be unable to accept it.

He hesitated for half the day, then callously entrusted, “You fell asleep a mont ago, your leopard, it beca. . .”

——It beca a mature leopard and wanted to do sothing detrintal to you.

Unfortunately, this sentence did not have the chance to finish. The little leopard on the bed quickly raised his eyes and they flashed coldly, his hind limbs exerting force to jump up and over to Eric.

Eric was caught off guard and he staggered back two steps, feeling in front of him that black——

That leopard was lying on top of his face.

Imdiately afterwards, it pointed its pointed claws at his face and, with both hands, he successfully dragged six bloodstains down Eric’s cheeks.

“Oh——”

Eric covered his face and cried out loud.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u: “. . .”

When had this leopard and deer gotten into such a knotted grudge. . . ?

*

Because of the darkness outside, the dinner was eaten inside Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s house.

It was a al to end all thoughts.

Eric would, from ti to ti, look to Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s side where the leopard laid, with his expressionless face, and if the cub did anything at all, he would imdiately stand and tightly guard Jǐ Xiǎo ??u behind him.

Just like the first ti he saw the leopard cub.

And if Eric tried to say anything to Jǐ Xiǎo ??u in a whisper, the leopard would imdiately dart to Eric’s side and unsheathe his claws as a threat.

Thus, Eric, with his blood-stained face, sullenly finished dinner.

Afterwards, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u took the initiative to clean up the dishes and the chopsticks.

Eric did not stay long and was preparing to leave.

But before departing, he looked profoundly into Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s eyes then the little leopard’s, and though he wanted to say sothing, ended up leaving without saying a word.

Sending Eric off, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u pointed at the leopard’s head and said, “Táo Táo, how can you be so an to Eric?”

“Táo Táo” was shouted out.

Ryan was too lazy to lift his eyelids, and he refused to recognize this stupid na.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u also hadn’t expected to see his hind leg’s bandages were shredded apart. And though she didn’t know how he had done it, she moved aside the wooden bench by the fireplace and carefully reapplied the bandage.

The burning fire in the fireplace made the room warm and serene.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u wrapped the bandage around to one side and warned, “You’re still injured and now you’re hurt again. Even when it gets better, you might be left with sequelae*. It’s winter now and Eric said there’s going to be a blizzard in a few days. We should stay here for a while. Take advantage of the ti and let this wound heal.

Ryan did not respond, and he was thinking about sothing else.

Why did he return to this size so soon after reaching his original shape?

What did this have to do with Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s 'space”?

After his wound was dressed, Ryan laid on Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s legs and patted the back of her hand with his paw pads, tilting his head to stare at her.

Trying to enter her space again

To no avail, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u did not know what was in Ryan’s heart and only say him acting spoiled, like a cat treating its own family, so she scratched under his head, “Well, you lie here. I need to go out for a while, I’ll be back soon.”

Eric’s face was full of bloody scratches. There shouldn’t be any rabies virus here, but it would be better to make sure.

But when Jǐ Xiǎo ??u found Eric, he was already asleep so she had to give up.

*

Early the next morning, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u woke from her sleep. The leopard was lying on the table next to the fireplace with his eyes closed in slumber.

The courtyard was silent, Eric had gone out even earlier.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u rembered that light night Eric said he was going to et the Elk Village patriarch but would co back around noon.

Eric had prepared breakfast before leaving and left Jǐ Xiǎo ??u so.

The room next to Eric’s was the kitchen. It was similar to the kitchen of rural areas in the 1970s or 1980s, with a stone brick stove hollowed out in the middle and a large wok set there, capable of making simple dishes.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u opened the bamboo lid and saw inside three pieces of steaming, fluffy, and golden corn cakes, along with a small dish of honey.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u scooped out so honey with a wooden spoon and spread it on the cakes. They were soft and tasted sweet and delicious.

Filling her belly, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u took so cereal and soaked it in milk, feeding it to the leopard as breakfast.

Shortly after, she heard Eric’s voice coming back from outside.

Eric’s cheeks were visibly scratched on both sides but, though it looked a little funny, he seed very happy.

“The sweet potato field behind the village is ripe and the patriarch has invited

to dig potatoes in the afternoon. He promised to give

so if the harvest is good.”

Because of the impending snowstorm, Eric had to spend more ti in the Elk Village.

There is very little food in winter and there was not much for the Elk to share with Eric. If Eric wanted to fill his belly, he had to go out and look for other ingredients.

Right now, with Jǐ Xiǎo ??u and the little leopard, the weight on Eric’s shoulders were not light.

——Though, he was very reluctant to feed the leopard.

If he could get so sweet potatoes this ti, then they would not have to worry about food for the next few days.

“Really? That’s great.”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u was happy for him and could not help but ask after a mont of thought, “Eric, can I go with you this afternoon?”

Eric said, “The snow outside has not lted and walking is very difficult. If you want sothing, just tell , ??u, and I’ll bring it back.”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u pondered it over but still insisted, “I want to go out and see for myself.”

Before, on the way to the village, she was in a hurry to find a place to stay and did not pay careful attention to her surroundings.

But now she wanted to go back and make sure.

*

That afternoon, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u and Eric went together.

Because she knew the beastn here were afraid of the carnivores, this ti Jǐ Xiǎo ??u did not bring the leopard with her and left it at ho alone.

The sweet potato field was located to the rear of the village and was about 78 acres, surrrounded by a low fence wall.

Once at the grounds, Eric raised his sleeves and helped the clansn of the village.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u turned away nearby.

She had gone out for two things this ti.

Although the fireplace here burned at night, it was ice and snow outside and Jǐ Xiǎo ??u only had a thin blanket that wasn’t warm enough.

If she could find cotton around here, making a quilt would make things much warr.

The other thing she wanted to do was to find sothing to cover up the scent of estrus.

Ovulation only lasted about a week in won and she could not always rely on the sll of pepper and spices. She had to find sothing else.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u rembered that on the way to the village she had seen sothing similar to cotton on the side of the road.

She had unfortunately been too anxious to take a closer look.

She followed the path back a ways and carefully watched the plants around her.

There were not many plants in winter and she could see the end in a single glance.

It did not take long before she saw a plant that looked like cotton with soft bits in it.

The cotton was white and it was the sa color as the surrounding snow.

It was easy to ignore if one wasn’t looking carefully.

Was there a difference between this flower and real cotton?

Would it make the quilt warm enough?

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u temporarily decided to hold onto the cotton and think about it again later.

The people here shouldn’t know the use of cotton and to see this piece of open space filled with it. No one was picking them and their buds bulged, unexpectedly thriving even in winter.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u filled a bamboo basket full but still felt it wasn’t enough, so she put a lot of it into her space.

Checking the ti, it was almost ti for her and Eric to et up.

On the road back, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u saw catnip covered in snow her eyes brightened. She quickly picked so and put it into her basket.

Finding the two things she needed most, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u was satisfied and her footsteps very relaxed.

Back at the sweet potato fields, Eric was just finishing his picking and they returned to the Elk Village together.

They hadn’t entered the village yet but could see a lot of the beastn standing inside, then a female scread.

Faintly they could hear them say, “Drive it out”, “Get it out of here”, “He’s going to bite us”, and so on.

Having been there for two days, Jǐ Xiǎo ??u understood the Elk race’s character.

They were gentle and friendly, and they rarely clashed with other races, much less shouting like this now.

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u’s heart sped up, and she suddenly had a bad feeling.

She quickened her pace and poked through the crowd to get to the front.

Still unsettled, she heard the deafening roar of the elk patriarch——

“Who brought this carnivorous species here?!”

Jǐ Xiǎo ??u looked up and saw that in front there was a rectangular wooden table covered with corn.

And on top, where the sun was warm, feeling imnsely pleased with itself, her little leopard was curled up on the corn.

Basking in the sun, he leisurely glanced around at the crowd.

Soon, the blue eyes turned and fell on Jǐ Xiǎo ??u.

His lazy and dismissive attitude contrasted sharply with the patriarch’s anger.

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