Hu Qingyuan spun around to find a little black tail following him. His face darkened as he reached back to grab it.

“You little brat! Biting me on the butt? Do you want a beating?”

He tugged at the “tail,” but it wouldn’t let go. His face flushed red with pain and disbelief.

Who knew a bite to the butt could hurt this much?!

“Let go! Right now!”

Hu Qingyuan was almost certain the kid had taken a chunk out of him.

“Rrr-” Long Yao gave a muffled growl, letting go reluctantly. “Annoying Fourth Uncle, if it weren’t for stopping you, I wouldn’t have bothered biting you!”

He hadn’t even had a chance to flee when Hu Qingyuan grabbed him up, still fuming.

“So it’s you, you little rascal. That hurt like crazy-let’s see if I don’t spank the daylights out of you!” Hu Qingyuan growled, lifting Long Yao like a kitten with his other hand poised for a spanking.

Except…

“Wait, where is your backside exactly? I can’t even find it…”

Long Yao, realizing the danger, let out a series of panicked howls.

“Uncle’s gonna kill me! Big Brothers, Big Sister, save me!”

The others, running to catch up, heard his cries and sped up.

When Long Yu arrived, he saw Hu Qingyuan mid-swing, ready to land a spanking on Long Yao.

“Stop it! Don’t bully Xiao Wu!” Long Yu shouted, his young voice somehow carrying a commanding tone beyond his years.

“Xiao Wu! Mean Uncle, put him down!” Long Ling’er joined in, rushing forward and chomping on Hu Qingyuan’s leg.

“Hey!”

Hu Qingyuan winced, tossing Long Yao aside. Seeing his attacker was his niece, he couldn’t fight back and could only clench his fists, muttering in exasperation, “Who’s bullying who here?!”

Since when had his sister’s kids become so fierce?

Long Zhong rushed over, pulling Ling’er back before Hu Qingyuan could retaliate.

“Just because we’re cubs doesn’t mean we’re easy to bully!” he added, glaring.

Hu Qingyuan’s forehead veins throbbed, struggling to control his temper. These are Little Sister’s cubs… can’t hit them…

Only Long Xiu remained calm, sensing something was wrong. “Fourth Uncle, why were you going to hit Xiao Wu?”

Hu Qingyuan threw his hands up in frustration. Pointing to his sore, bruised backside, he shouted, “Hit him? That little troublemaker bit me first! Practically gnawed a hole in my side! All I did was pick him up!”

The three older cubs took a closer look, noting a rather large hole in his pants with two perfect rows of teeth marks, and even a faint trickle of blood.

“…Uh…”

For a moment, the cubs were speechless.

“And you, Little Miss, you chomped down just as hard! I’ve never seen such scrappy cubs in my life…” Hu Qingyuan grumbled, rolling up his pant leg to reveal a set of neat red bite marks.

He sighed, rubbing his injured leg and mumbling to himself about his rotten luck.

Long Ling’er offered a bashful grin, mumbling, “Sorry, Fourth Uncle, we thought you were really going to hurt him…”

Hu Qingyuan: You did it on purpose!

Long Zhong shot Long Yao a look, muttering, “We told you to distract him, not bite him. Did that female not feed you enough?”

“Hmph!” Long Yao turned his head, clearly still sulking from their argument yesterday and refusing to answer.

“Long Yao!” Long Zhong seethed.

“Fine, whatever. Just go play somewhere else and don’t come biting me again, or I won’t go easy on you,” Hu Qingyuan huffed, turning to leave.

Long Yu suddenly called after him, “Fourth Uncle, didn’t you want to know why Mother was upset?”

At the mention of Hu Jiao Jiao, Hu Qingyuan paused, turning back with genuine concern. “You know?”

Long Yu nodded.

“Then tell me!” Hu Qingyuan demanded, all annoyance forgotten.

“It was because dad refused to wear the new clothes mom made for him.” Long Yu recounted everything that had happened the day before.

The cubs were well aware of the tension between their parents, but they also knew the only adults who consistently stood up for Hu Jiao Jiao were the fox family.

Though they were not particularly fond of Hu Qingyuan, they knew he would always defend their mother. They trusted he would confront Long Mo on her behalf.

“What?!” Hu Qingyuan’s face turned red with anger. “Jiao Jiao let him stay at the tribe, and that’s how he treats her? Refusing to wear her gift, of all things?”

“It was my first time wearing something Jiao Jiao made herself, and he just turned it down? No way-I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind!”

Hu Qingyuan stormed off, shifting into his fox form, ready to hunt down Long Mo and set things straight.

The cubs watched him disappear in a puff of dust.

“Big Brother, do you think Fourth Uncle’s really gonna beat up dad?” Ling’er asked, looking worried.

Long Zhong rolled his eyes. “Weren’t you the one swearing yesterday you didn’t like dad anymore? And now you’re concerned?”

“I don’t want dad to get hurt; that would make mom sad,” Ling’er replied with a pout.

“Don’t worry, Fourth Uncle wouldn’t beat him to death. They’re more afraid of upsetting mom,” Long Yu reassured her thoughtfully.

“Just rough him up a bit,” Long Xiu added quietly. “They think he’s already a lost cause anyway.”

“Roar!” Long Yao’s tail swished happily, seeming quite pleased with the idea of his father getting a bit of a thrashing.

Meanwhile…

Long Mo had just left the chief’s place and was about to start his assigned tasks when he suddenly sneezed.

“Ah-choo!”

“Ah-choo!”

Just then, a large white fox burst out of nowhere, claws aiming straight for his face!