Xiao Hua

When Shitou had almost finished talking, Cheng An slowly advised him.

“Hey Shitou, don’t worry about it! Anyway, if I say there is meat, there is meat, just follow me! Follow me, Cheng An, I promise to make sure everyone has a good meal!” Cheng An patted his chest confidently and promised, then lost his balance and almost rolled down.

Fortunately, he finally stabilized and didn’t plunge into the snow.

“Be careful.” Yu raised his claws to support Cheng An.

Shitou’s mouth was dry, “Forget it, I can’t argue with you.”

It’s been a long time since he went out to stretch his muscles, so Shitou stopped and stretched his body.

Just think of it as accompanying Cheng An out to get some fresh air. After all, what cub doesn’t like to move?

When he was as young as Cheng An, he often made a fuss about going out to play, but he was thrown out of the cave by his parents and left to freeze in the snow for a long time. Shitou was frozen and became obedient. He never asked to go out to play during the snowy season again.

Fortunately, the beastmen were tough and Shitou didn’t freeze himself into a fool.

“Since we’re out now, I’ll call Xiao Hua and take a walk together. I’m bored sleeping in the cave these days.” Shitou thought of Xiao Hua and mentioned it by the way.

“Wait for me, I’ll go call him, his cave is nearby.” After saying that, Shitou ran away.

“Xiao Hua?” Cheng An was a little confused, he hadn’t heard that Shitou had a good friend.

“You’ve met him.” Yu reminded him at the right time.

Cheng An searched carefully in his mind and seemed to find some clues. “Oh! I remember, Xiao Hua’s beast form is a black bear, right?”

“Mm.”

“Let’s go and take a look?”

“Okay.” Yu quickly followed Shitou.

 Xiao Hua’s reaction was slow. After a long while, when Yu had reached the cave entrance, some small sounds came from inside.

Shitou was afraid that Cheng An would get impatient waiting, so he explained: “Black bears are like this. They like to sleep all winter long and are slow.”

Cheng An lay on Yu’s head, feeling warm under his belly. He didn’t mind waiting too long, but he was a little confused, “Don’t bear beastmen hibernate in winter?”

“Hibernation? What is that? Does it mean they sleep a lot in winter?” Shitou tilted his head.

 Cheng An nodded, “Yes. Bears don’t go out in winter, they just sleep. They don’t eat.”

Shitou called Xiao Hua a few more times to urge him to hurry up. After urging Xiao Hua, he turned to look at Cheng An: “I don’t know what bears are like. It seems that there are no bears in our area. Bears and bear beastmen are still a little different. Just like there are leopards nearby, but they are not beastmen. When there is no meat to eat, we can still eat potatoes. They will get sick if they eat potatoes.”

Cheng An nodded to show that he understood.

He calmed down and lay on Yu’s head obediently waiting for Xiao Hua to come out. He hadn’t seen Xiao Hua’s human form yet.

He didn’t know whether Xiao Hua’s human form is more in line with his name or his beast form, but no matter how you look at it, the name Xiao Hua and his appearance will form some contrast.

The stone was moved away, and a small head popped out from inside. The black and bright eyes looked outside vigilantly, and then relaxed.

 Cheng An took this opportunity to take a good look at Xiao Hua. He had a round face and big eyes. Hmm, he looked like an underage kid! However, Xiao Hua’s beast form was actually a tall black bear!

Cheng An really found it hard to connect the slightly petite and timid beastman in front of him with the tall and mighty black bear in his impression. It was true that appearance was not the best guide.

“Shitou, Yu, why are you here? Do you want to come in and sit?” Xiao Hua rubbed his eyes and looked like she was still asleep.

“Oh, Xiao Hua, don’t sleep! An said that the beast god gave him guidance to find meat. Let’s go out and take a look.” Shitou stretched out his claws and moved the stone away.

“An?” Xiao Hua walked out and found that Cheng An was lying on Yu’s head.

Cheng An raised his claws and waved at Xiao Hua, wondering if the bear beastman’s eyes were not very good?

 When Xiao Hua saw Cheng An, she immediately became energetic and agreed excitedly without listening to Shitou’s words. After walking a few steps in the snow, he realized that he was still in human form and hurried back to the cave to take off his fur. When he came out again, the petite Xiao Hua had turned into a strong black bear.

“I’m ready! Let’s go, where are we going?” Xiao Hua followed Shitou closely, lowering his head from time to time to smell the smell.

Perhaps because he had seen Xiao Hua’s human form, he was not so scared even when facing the tall and oppressive black bear, but thought he looked silly and cute.

Xiao Hua moved closer and asked Cheng An: “An, is what Shitou said true? Did the beast god really give us meat?!”

At this, Cheng An swallowed his saliva. Xiao Hua, you’d better not get too close, I’m still a little nervous.

However, Cheng An felt a warm and fluffy touch under his claws, and he calmed down. He was still on Yu’s head, so he was not afraid!

“Mm! I dreamed of the beast god yesterday, and he told me there was meat nearby.” Cheng An said calmly, then stretched out his claws to scratch Yu, asking him to walk a little faster.

 “Beast God!” Although Xiao Hua still has a fluffy bear face, Cheng An can see some admiration and yearning from his admiring tone.

“When can I dream of the Beast God?” Xiao Hua’s yearning tone was a little regretful.

Shitou used his tail to hit Xiao Hua, “Get lost! I also want to see the Beast God. If I had white hair like An, maybe I could dream of the Beast God.”

Shitou looked at An, then at Yu. The two overlapping white snow leopard and white wolf cub were twice as cute.

Shitou saw that Yu had not participated in their conversation, and suddenly asked curiously: “Yu, have you dreamed of the Beast God?”

Yu paused, then returned to his natural state and said: “No.”

Cheng An was looking around at the terrain and did not notice Yu’s slight pause just now.

Shitou and Xiao Hua felt more balanced. It seems that the Beast God doesn’t just like white beastman. Just like Yu, although he is white, he has not seen the Beast God. 

Perhaps only priests can see the beast god. Grandma Cao is right. It is their tribe that has taken advantage of An being the priest of their tribe.

There are not many times to go out in the whole winter. Cheng An wants to seize the time to understand the territory of the entire tribe. After all, what you hear with your ears is not as real as what you see with your eyes.

“Yu, let’s go faster! I want to see how big the territory of our tribe is.” Cheng An said while lying next to Yu’s ear.

“Okay, sit tight.” This is not a difficult thing to do. Yu asked Cheng An to sit tight, and then speeded up, intending to take him around the territory of the tribe before dark.

However, this speed increase is only relative. If Yu really runs at full speed, he can complete a circle in more than half an hour, but Cheng An will be left behind.

Shitou and Xiao Hua also speeded up to prevent themselves from falling behind.

“Wait, is that a river?” Cheng An spotted the traces of a suspected river with his sharp eyes and hurriedly stopped.

 Yu slowed down his pace and looked in the direction of Cheng An’s claws.

The river had been frozen solid, almost blending in with the snowy scenery on the surrounding banks.

“Yes, it’s a river. In the summer, everyone loves to come here to bathe. The mud we use to plant seeds is also dug here. But now the snow has fallen, and there is no trace of it.”

Thinking that Cheng An has always been interested in these things, Yu slowed down and walked towards the river. He explained to Cheng An as he walked: “Remember the potatoes in our cave? Many potatoes are dug by the river. Every year when the snow melts, they grow out. There are a lot of them. If you like, we can dig more potatoes next year.”

Yu took Cheng An to the river bank.

Cheng An carefully poked his head out and looked into the riverbed. The river water seemed to be frozen very solid. It was impossible to tell how thick the ice was, and it was unknown whether there were any fish underneath.

 Shitou and Xiao Hua came up breathlessly, “Why are you stopping here? Didn’t you say you were going to walk around the territory?”

Cheng An asked, “Xiao Hua, have you ever caught fish in the river in winter?”

Cheng An thought that Xiao Hua’s beast form was a bear, so he should have retained some of the characteristics of a bear, and maybe he would have some talent in fishing.

“Fish?” Xiao Hua was a little confused, not knowing why Cheng An asked this, but he still answered honestly, “I have caught fish, there are still a lot of fish in this river. But how can I catch fish in winter? The river is frozen.” After saying that, Xiao Hua went down and walked around the river twice, indicating to Cheng An that the river water was really frozen solid.

 “Fish?” Shitou couldn’t help interrupting when he heard about fish, “Why are you talking about fish suddenly? Is the meat given to us by the beast god fish?”

Shitou was slightly disgusted, “Fish is the most unpalatable! Pah pah pah!” As if he was reminiscing about the taste of fish, Shitou’s whole leopard face was tangled up. It can be seen that he really disliked fish.

Yu also looked embarrassed, “Fish is not as delicious as other meats.”

Xiao Hua scratched his head and smiled innocently, “I like fish very much. An, I will share one with you when I catch a fish in the future.”

Cheng An nodded, “Okay, okay.” Fish meat indeed smells fishy if it is not cooked well, but aren’t Yu and Shitou both cats? Do big cats also dislike the fishy smell of fish meat? Cheng An was a little confused.

“Xiao Hua, how do you eat fish?” Cheng An decided to ask.

“Fish? I always eat it directly, or cook it into soup, or roast it.” Xiao Hua carefully recalled how he ate fish.

 “Eat it directly?!” Eating raw fish! Will there be parasites? Cheng An was a little worried, but he saw Xiao Hua was lively. Maybe parasites are useless to beastmen.

Cheng An was relieved a little.

“By the way,” Cheng An suddenly remembered something, “Xiao Hua, you don’t put the whole fish in to cook fish soup, do you?”

Xiao Hua nodded, “Yes, if there are big fish, they will be cut in half.”

“No… you don’t remove the scales and internal organs?” Cheng An was so shocked that he stuttered.

“Scales and internal organs? Do I have to remove them?” Xiao Hua scratched his head.

Cheng An was in a dilemma. If the scales and internal organs were not removed, it would be a miracle if the fish was delicious!

No wonder Shitou and Yu didn’t like eating fish very much. Cheng An loved them again.

 “It’s okay. When we catch fish later, I’ll make you something delicious. Don’t worry! It must be delicious, even better than meat and potatoes!” Cheng An patted his chest and promised.

Shitou’s face was wrinkled, but he still decided to give Cheng An face: “Okay.”