Long Ling’er could hardly believe it—her poor father was the one who was sleeping outside!

Long Yao nodded, exhausted from trying to explain.

“But isn’t Dad supposed to sleep with Mom? Why would he be outside unless she kicked him out?” Long Ling’er pouted, her fair little face scrunching into a scowl.

“I think so too. With that grumpy face of his, no one would want to sleep near him,” Long Zhong said with a serious nod.

“Achoo…”

In the tree, Long Mo sneezed.

“Dad must have done something to upset Mom again!” Long Ling’er huffed, cheeks puffed in anger.

The cubs might be young, but they understood enough to know that mates were supposed to sleep together.

Unexpectedly, Long Xiu spoke up, “Maybe Mom doesn’t know Dad is outside and thinks he’s sleeping with us?”

The others froze.

Good point!

That night when Dad tried to sleep here, maybe it was because he wasn’t sleeping with Mom?

“So what do we do?” Long Ling’er asked, worried.

“I have an idea,” Long Yu said with a flash of inspiration.

And so, that night, five cubs huddled together, whispering and planning their next move.

---

The next morning, while Hu Jiao Jiao and Long Mo were away, the cubs grabbed a hatchet and chopped every branch off the trees around their home.

Long Ling’er looked at the piles of branches doubtfully. “Big Brother, will this really work?”

“Of course! If all the trees are bare, Dad won’t have anywhere to sleep and will have to stay with Mom,” Long Yu replied confidently.

Long Yao, sitting atop Long Ling’er’s head, blinked in confusion.

“Ooh~ Something seems a little strange here…”

“Stop overthinking. We’ll find out soon enough if it works,” Long Zhong grumbled, cutting their conversation short.

The cubs nodded in agreement and busied themselves moving the branches, leaving no evidence behind.

When Hu Jiao Jiao returned from checking the potato plant, she was greeted by a strange sight: all the trees around the house were bare, stripped of every branch.

Her jaw dropped. “Who on earth would strip the trees like this?”

The ten or so trees surrounding their yard stood as bald as fence posts, with only a few tufts of leaves left at the very top.

“Who is so wicked as to chop down the tree like this…”

She muttered as she entered the yard, wondering if someone from the tribe had a grudge against her.

After all, with her past behavior, it wouldn’t be out of the question for someone to pull such a prank.

Inside, she saw her five cubs stacking wood.

The fresh, green branches scattered around left her speechless.

“Did you all chop those trees?” She forced a smile, trying to sound gentle.

Long Ling’er, noticing her return, dropped the wood and ran over, hugging her leg.

“mom! Big Brother said we didn’t have enough wood for the fire, so we chopped down more trees! Now we have enough!” she explained, looking at her expectantly. “You’re not mad, right?”

Her cubs were still young and curious, so punishing them might discourage their enthusiasm.

Hu Jiao Jiao patted Long Ling’er’s head, “Of course not. You’ve been a big help! Look at all the firewood you gathered—so impressive!”

Long Ling’er beamed, snuggled up to her hand, then dashed back to continue stacking the wood.

---

That night, Long Mo headed to the tree he’d been sleeping in, only to find its branches gone. He moved to another tree, but it, too, was stripped bare.

After a long silence, he sighed and simply lay down under one of the bare trees.

Inside the wooden house, five little heads peeked out from behind the door, observing this turn of events.

“Big Brother’s plan didn’t work at all!” Long Ling’er huffed, disappointed.

“Dad is really hopeless. Even now, he won’t go sleep with Mom,” Long Zhong muttered, exasperated.

Long Ling’er’s face fell. “Should we just go tell Mom?”

Father was as dense as a log and would never take the initiative.

Long Xiu shook his head. “No, if Mom thinks he’s avoiding her, she’ll get even more angrier.”

“Well, that would be the truth…” Long Ling’er whispered, but she didn’t argue further.

The cubs sighed in unison, worn out from worry.

Being a child shouldn’t be this exhausting, especially with a father who needed so much looking after.

---

A few days later, the final materials for the stone house had arrived. That morning, the tribe’s chief sent over ten beastmen to help build the new house.

Other than Hou Xiaotiao, Hu Jiao Jiao didn’t know any of the helpers. But she trusted the chief’s choice, as these beastmen were regularly by his side.

After quick introductions, they got to work.

Hu Jiao Jiao planned to build the stone house on a patch of empty land next to the yard. She marked out the house’s dimensions with the beastmen, and they began digging the foundation.

The beastmen the chief had chosen were skilled and worked quickly, following her instructions exactly. The progress was better than she’d expected.

Since Long Mo needed to hunt to stockpile food, he hunted in the morning and joined the building crew in the afternoon.

Every time he returned, the work seemed to speed up noticeably.

Normally, it would take about a week to lay the foundation for one floor. Hu Jiao Jiao planned to build a two-story structure, but the beastmen’s strength let them complete a week’s worth of work in just two days.

Once Long Mo started working in beast form, moving massive logs like they were feathers, the pace picked up even more. By the end of the day, they’d done almost three days’ worth of work.

Even Hou Xiaotiao couldn’t help but gulp as he watched Long Mo work.

Is it necessary to work so hard to build a house?

The beastmen silently cursed to themselves: who in the world called Long Mo useless? If he was useless, then what did that make them?

With news spreading that Hu Jiao Jiao was building a house, many beastmen stopped by out of curiosity.

Lu Mian’er and Hu Jing came too, hoping to lend a hand.

The crowd made it difficult to spot Hu Jiao Jiao, but when they finally found her, Lu Mian’er noticed Hu Jing glancing around distractedly.

“Hu Jing, what are you looking for? We came to see Jiao Jiao, remember?” she asked, puzzled.

Caught off guard, Hu Jing quickly turned back to her, looking guilty. “N-nothing… nothing at all!”