Chapter 253: Chapter 252: Personal Bamboo Garden

It hadn’t even been that long, but not only were there two new Iron Beast Cubs in the house, Little Ye could fly now, and Youyou was toddling around and even starting to form clear words.

Ji Liang smiled, holding a cub in each arm. “Little Ye, Youyou, did you miss Father?”

“I missed Father!” Youyou chirped, rushing to answer first. She even gestured, “I missed you *this* much! More than Mother did!”

Si Shuo sighed playfully. ’This little girl really knows how to throw someone under the bus.’ Amused, she pinched the chubby girl’s cheek. “So smooth and juicy… You’re so good with words. Should I carve you up and have you for barbecue?”

Youyou froze, then quickly rescued her face with her two chubby paws. She clutched her cheeks and buried her face in Ji Liang’s chest, wiggling her butt toward her mother. “Here. Lots of meat. Doesn’t hurt. Mother… if you like… and don’t mind that it’s stinky… Youyou… Youyou will give it to you…”

Si Shuo immediately burst out laughing at her eldest daughter’s conflicted tone, torn between reluctance and filial duty. She clung to Ji Liang’s arm, shaking with laughter.

Seeing this, Xu Ye also presented his little bottom and gave it a wiggle. “Lots of meat! We can hurt together!”

Si Shuo swatted him playfully. “Yours is too stinky. Youyou’s smells nicer. I’ll take a bite of hers first…”

She was just a little cub, after all, unable to tell if her mother was serious. Terrified, Youyou shrieked, “Father, help me!”

The fathers turned a deaf ear, simply watching Si Shuo’s roguish, un-motherly display while smiling and shaking their heads. But the two little cubs on the bed grew anxious, whimpering and inching their way over.

Looking at the lively, joyous scene before him, Ji Liang’s heart swelled with a poignant warmth. This was home. This was the kind of happiness he had always wanted but could never have imagined.

He smiled and kissed both cubs on the forehead, then gave Si Shuo a kiss as well. “Gubei had a lot of good things, and the North Head Tribe had plenty in storage. I put the heat-storing stones in the public planting area.”

“Mhm, I saw them. There are so many! You just stuffed them in there without a word. Weren’t you afraid of scorching the plants inside?

You know that shallow pond not far from our cave? We ended up burying a controlled number of the stones at the bottom and turned the little ponds into hot springs!

Those stones have a strong heat-storing capacity, and you brought so many. In the dead of winter, just two hours of sunlight will be enough to heat the pools for a whole day. And even if there’s no sun, we still have Gong You, don’t we?

You won’t have to hibernate the whole time then!” Si Shuo said, nodding and smiling.

Gong You’s face darkened. ’After serving our female and helping with the cubs, now I have to take care of a Couple Brother, too?’ He snorted.

Si Shuo turned her head to look at him, then couldn’t resist walking over to hug him. She loved burying her face in his chest and nuzzling him, rubbing away every last bit of his annoyance and igniting a different kind of fire.

“Alright, little one. I know you care about your Big Snake Beast. I didn’t say anything, did I?” Gong You said, helplessly ruffling her hair. His voice had turned a little hoarse.

Si Shuo smiled and said, “You’re my Big Fish Beast, too!”

Gong You understood immediately. The unspoken words were that she cared about him, too! A smile touched his lips, but before he could say a word, a large face crowded in next to them.

Wei Ce asked urgently, “What about me? Does Shuo care about me, too?”

Si Shuo pressed her lips together and gave him a hug as well, nuzzling him happily. “You’re our family’s Big Tuanzi! You’ve worked so hard these past few days.”

“What’s so hard about taking care of my own cub? Zhi Le and Gong You help out, and I’m great at looking after cubs now!” Ever since meeting his female, Wei Ce had been so happy every day he couldn’t tell which way was up.

Si Shuo then looked toward Zhi Le, who had been watching with a faint smile. She grinned and ran over to hug him, too. ’Alright, I guess the males of the house haven’t seen me for five or six days,’ she thought. ’They must really miss me. But I was so focused on the cubs that I ignored them for a bit, so they’re probably feeling down.’

“Zhi Le, I brought Ji Liang back,” she said, looking up at him with a smile. “Our family isn’t whole if anyone is missing!”

Zhi Le held her tightly. “Yes. We’ll all protect you, together.”

Now that Si Shuo and Ji Liang were back, Gong You deactivated the Time Array, and life at home returned to normal.

The valley night was cool and still. The males had nearly finished excavating their cave home. The entrance opened into a massive living room. From this central hub, seven separate caves branched out along the mountain wall, arranged like the petals of a blossoming flower. Each of these smaller caves had stone stairs leading up to it and contained three or four rooms, all of which connected back to the main living room below. Within the living room itself was a sizable, open-plan storage area.

Ji Liang returned to his own cave. It was clean and fresh. The Beast Skins on the stone bed had been treated with Gong You’s Light Ability and were still warm to the touch.

’The more you lack something, the more you fixate on it,’ he thought. ’None of my past efforts were wasted!’

Sensing a ripple in space, he knew his female would come to form a Contract with him tonight, yet his heart still couldn’t help but give a violent tremor.

He smiled as he caught her, simultaneously putting up a Protective Shield. The female in his arms was unexpectedly dressed in form-fitting cotton clothes that traced the lovely lines of her body. Her hair was pinned up, revealing a long, fair neck. Her features under the moonlight, the soft curls of hair at her temples and behind her ears—it all filled him with the thrilling excitement of knowing she was his alone.

Si Shuo was dressed in the style of Little Qing tonight, a collision of modesty and Charm. Who could possibly resist?

After ten days apart and all that had happened, Ji Liang felt like he could give his very life to her tonight.

Si Shuo slept until noon. Finally, Zhi Zhan, who was home, couldn’t take it anymore. He placed the four cubs beside her, letting them paw her awake.

After giving each of them a loving kiss, she also pulled the nearby Zhi Zhan in for a playful nibble. Then, Si Shuo got out of bed to eat.

“We know you worked hard. Ji Liang sent the others out at just the right time,” Gong You said, setting down a plate of dried little fish and shrimp. Si Shuo, Xu Ye, and Youyou immediately dug in, picking them up with their paws.

Although Xu Ye and Youyou were Horned Deer, some of their tastes were just like their Cat Beastman mother’s—they were especially obsessed with fish and shrimp.

Si Shuo touched the Black Snake Beast Mark that had reappeared behind her ear, a faint smile on her lips. ’So the rewards the system took back have been reissued.’

Suddenly, she smacked her forehead. ’I still haven’t checked my rewards for giving birth to Tuanzi and Yuanyuan!’

Twenty thousand Beast Coins, a case of milk powder, a Superpower Awakening Pill, a Personal Five Square Meter Bamboo Garden, and the chance to learn two designated talismans!

’A Personal Bamboo Garden?’ She took it out in astonishment. It was a Glazed Bead imprinted with a symbol of vibrant green bamboo. It turned out to be a special drop from the system. After all, the Iron-eating Beast Clan was an incredibly rare existence on the Beast World Continent. To ensure the cubs’ survival, the system had granted them special treatment.

This wasn’t a garden like their public planting area, which needed to be planted and tended. Instead, the bead could be bound to a real bamboo forest, allowing the cubs to access bamboo anytime, anywhere, no matter where they went.

It was essentially a one-way portal for a specific object. In other words, the Iron Beast Cubs were no longer restricted by access to bamboo and could travel anywhere on the Beast World Continent.

Having just finished absorbing a Level 16 attributeless Crystal Stone, Si Shuo beckoned to Zhi Zhan and had him take her halfway up the valley slope to a flat piece of ground. Clutching the Personal Bamboo Garden, she began the replication process.

After absorbing Level 16 Crystal Stones for two months, both Si Shuo’s Spiritual Power reserves and the precision of her control had improved by leaps and bounds.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep