Jin Ling walked in carrying a wooden basin.
"Xixi, wash up first. The food will be ready in a little while."
Qiao Xixi snapped back to reality, her eyes filled with lancholy.
Jin Ling quickly noticed sothing was wrong. "What is it? Are you feeling unwell sowhere?"
Qiao Xixi shook her head. For a fleeting mont just now, she thought Langqi’s retreating figure looked very familiar.
"How are things on Xijing’s end? Has he not co back yet?"
Jin Ling said, "He ca back the day before yesterday, and I took his place. I’ll be going to rotate with him again in a bit."
Qiao Xixi frowned upon hearing this. "The poisoner still hasn’t shown up?"
"No. But don’t worry, it’s only a matter of ti. He’ll definitely co back."
"Right. I’ve already given the order to use the water in the tribe for watering plants for now. I told them to fetch drinking water from the river."
"Mm."
At that mont, a group of people arrived outside the tribe’s gate.
Seeing that they wanted to enter the tribe, the beastman on guard duty reached out an arm to stop them.
"Who goes there? This is the Black Panther Tribe. No entry without permission."
The one in the lead was an elderly black panther male. He shot the guard a displeased glance and said, "We are beastn of the Black Panther Tribe. What right do you have to stop us?"
The guard sized him up from head to toe, certain he had never seen him before.
"You’re not from our tribe. Leave at once."
The black panther male flew into a rage. "I’ve lived in the Black Panther Tribe for decades! How am I not a beastman of this tribe? You, on the other hand—I’ve never seen any of you in the tribe before. You’re the ones who should leave!"
"Don’t cause trouble here, or we won’t be so polite."
The beastn behind the black panther male were furious at this, and a fight was about to break out. The guard imdiately told the yellow fox male behind him to send a ssage.
"Go, tell Lord Feiyan what’s happening here."
"Right."
Inside the inner city, Qiao Xixi played with the cubs for a while after she finished eating.
Seeing that Qiao Xixi was truly alright, Feili and the others took the cubs out of the inner city to continue their training.
Qiao Xixi didn’t plan on being idle, either. Today, she intended to visit the hos of the females Gu Man had told her about to see how they were doing.
Jin Ling headed to the tribe’s entrance to relieve Xijing, so Feiyan accompanied Qiao Xixi.
"If you have things to do, go do them. I’ll be fine by myself."
Feiyan shook his head without a second thought. "No way. I don’t feel safe leaving you alone." As soon as he finished speaking, he shoved a piece of fruit into Qiao Xixi’s hand.
"Eat this. I picked it when I was patrolling the back mountain yesterday. It’s sweet."
Qiao Xixi looked at the yellowish-green fruit in her hand. It looked a bit like a citrus fruit, and it gave off a faint sour sll after being peeled.
She peeled one and popped it into her mouth.
Mmph!
So sour!
But when she saw Feiyan staring at her expectantly with his foxy eyes, she swallowed the pulp without a change in expression.
"Is it good?"
Qiao Xixi smiled and nodded sincerely. "It’s delicious."
The fox was so happy his ears twitched. "Of course it is! Just look who picked it."
Qiao Xixi peeled a piece of the fruit and brought it to his lips. "You try so too."
The fox happily opened his mouth and ate it. The mont the juice burst between his lips and teeth, his fluffy fox tail poofed out.
"Sour! It’s so sour!"
Qiao Xixi laughed at the sight of him hopping on the spot. She took a piece of candy from her pocket, popped it in her mouth, then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
The tart juice mixed with the sweet fragrance, instantly calming the fluffed-up fox.
He turned the tables on her, pulling Qiao Xixi directly into his embrace and savoring the sweet aroma.
Only when Qiao Xixi’s breathing beca ragged did he reluctantly release her.
"Next ti you have a sour fruit, feed it to again."
Seeing his foxy eyes sparkling, Qiao Xixi stuffed all the remaining fruit pulp into his mouth in one go.
"I’ll give it to you right now."
With that, she pushed his hands away, turned, and ran, leaving the silly fox hopping on the spot.
"Xixi, wait for !"
Qiao Xixi hadn’t run far when she saw the beastman who had co to deliver the ssage.
She slowed her pace, and he quickly approached her.
"Clan Leader, a group of beastn has arrived outside the tribe. They say they’re from the Black Panther Tribe and want to return. We weren’t sure what to do, so we’re asking you to co take a look."
"Didn’t all those beastn from the Black Panther Tribe go to Tiger Beast City? Why are they back now? I’ll go take a look."
Feiyan also ran over quickly. He had overheard their conversation and imdiately changed into his beast form, letting Qiao Xixi ride on his back.
Qiao Xixi didn’t refuse. It would take a while to walk from here to the main gate.
By the ti Qiao Xixi and her party reached the tribe’s main gate, Ma Qing had already arrived with a patrol team of beastn.
The atmosphere between the two sides was tense, on the verge of a fight.
"Stop."
Feiyan bellowed, and the quarreling beastn fell silent, all turning to look at Qiao Xixi.
The black panther male in the lead looked at Qiao Xixi and reined in his anger slightly.
"Clan Leader Qiao Xixi, I believe you should rember us."
Qiao Xixi looked at him and nodded. She had indeed seen him in the Black Panther Tribe before.
Seeing her acknowledgent, the black panther male continued, "We want to return to the Black Panther Tribe."
Qiao Xixi glanced at the beastn behind him. Their faces were etched with exhaustion, and their eyes were full of hope as they looked at her.
But Qiao Xixi wouldn’t soften so easily before she understood the full situation.
"Didn’t you all go to Tiger Beast City? Why have you co back?"
"Clan Leader, you don’t understand. Those beastn in Tiger Beast City clearly lied to us! After they picked out our strongest males, they completely ignored the rest of us. We’re weak and often couldn’t catch any prey, so we could only go hungry."
"That’s right! Although you can buy food with Crystal Stones in Tiger Beast City, w-we... where would we get so many Crystal Stones? We didn’t even have a place to live."
"Those beastn in Tiger Beast City even bullied us! Clan Leader, we had no choice but to leave back then. Please, please let us co back."
The beastn all knelt down, begging.
"Please, Clan Leader, let us co back."
Qiao Xixi’s brow gradually furrowed. ’These beastn left the tribe for Tiger Beast City. Given their situation at the ti, there was nothing wrong with that decision.’
’She didn’t bla them, but she distrusted them more than anything.’
’However, if she didn’t let them in, they would just linger outside the tribe. If they didn’t leave or tried to force their way in, it would be a problem for her people too.’
After a mont of contemplation, Qiao Xixi made her decision.
"Alright. I can agree to let you return to the tribe."
Joy spread across the beastn’s faces. "Thank you, Clan Leader."
"But let make things clear. After you left, the stone houses you used to live in have very likely been occupied by other beastn. Therefore, I will arrange new living quarters for you. If anyone causes trouble because their new ho isn’t as good as their old one, I will exile them imdiately."
The beastn looked at each other, not daring to show any dissatisfaction.
"Also, the tribe has many new rules now that every beastman must follow. I will have soone inform you of the details."
After giving these simple instructions, Qiao Xixi had soone lead them to the vacant stone houses.
Only after all those beastn had left did Feiyan speak.
"Xixi, are you planning sothing?"
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