Ruan Chanchan was not aware of the little thoughts that were running rampant in Ruan Zeqiu's head. She watched the mer finish his meal and then silently closed her eyes and lay down on the floor to sleep.
When Ruan Zeqiu saw that his sister was already asleep, he slowed down his actions. He first applied the salt to the meat and cured it. But just as he was halfway through the bowl, he frowned and looked down at the salt in the stone bowl.
'This? Just what is going on? How come the salt is not running out? I am sure that the bowl yesterday was already half full. How come it's full once again?' thought Ruan Zeqiu while looking at the bowl of salt in front of him. He was confused, but shook the unusual thoughts in his head.
How could salt magically increase? He must have remembered it wrongly.
He threw the bones to one side and then went to sleep on the dried leaves and animal skins that he had gotten from his hunt. He needed to wake up early and join the hunt tomorrow. Even though his sister had brought such a big piece of meat home, he couldn't just rely on his sister alone.
He needed to work hard and make sure that they got a fresh supply of meat. His sister was not eating meat for the time being
With such thoughts, Ruan Zeqiu fell asleep.
Once his breathing turned even, Ruan Chanchan opened her eyes and sat up straight. Just now, she was really scared when Ruan Zeqiu stopped fiddling with the salt bowl.
"Maybe he is getting suspicious. You should be careful in the future," said Xiao Xi.
"You are right. Next time, I will only fill half of the bowl," said Ruan Chanchan. Anyway, she wasn't stealing, and the salt was coming from legitimate but hidden sources. She wished to use the fine salt instead of rock salt, but it seemed like it was still a long journey. She first needed to make Ruan Zeqiu trust her.
For that, she needed to get better.
She frowned and asked, "How much longer do I need to act as an idiot?"
"A bit more, I think," replied Xiao Xi with a hint of a frown on his face. "Your predecessor was hit hard on the head when she was a child and had been a fool for ages; thus, she could never become normal. If you suddenly get better, the beastmen would definitely become suspicious, and if they don't get suspicious, they will think that it's a miracle of the beast goddess. You will never get peace after that."
Ruan Chanchan shuddered. Even though she knew it was going to happen sooner or later, she hoped that it would happen a bit later. She was never a fan of attention. Especially not after the life that she lived as Mo Qiang.
She glanced at the mer who was fast asleep and then jumped to her feet before heading out of the cave.
The river where Ruan Chanchan asked Xie Daiyu to come was not far from the cave dwellings. But at the same time, it was not close either. Unless a person knew the shortcut, they would certainly take the long path and lose themselves in the forest.
Fortunately, Ruan Chanchan had Xiao Xi, who knew how to lay out a simple map in front of her, and she never had to worry about losing herself in the forest. Soon, she walked out of the forest. However, as soon as she stepped out of the thick stack of leaves that were covering the river, Ruan Chanchan saw Xie Daiyu taking a dip in the water.
Completely naked at that.
Startled, she turned around and tried to run, but she didn't see where she was going and ended up running into a thick trunk.
"Oww!"
Xie Daiyu was watching everything that was happening and was quite amused when he saw Ruan Chanchan running away. If there were another beast woman, she would have definitely taken off her clothes and tried to mate with him here and now. This was the first time he saw a beast woman running in the opposite direction when she saw him naked.
He had to say that it was quite a refreshing sight.
Wanting to tease Ruan Chanchan a bit more, he stepped out of the river. Anyway, Xie Daiyu was used to showing off his body as a beast mer. Thus, he walked over to where Ruan Chanchan was crouching and rubbing her throbbing nose.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes—I….. Why are you not wearing anything?!" Ruan Chanchan shrieked as she turned her head to another side. Just now, when she opened her eyes, her gaze landed on the monster that was tucked between Xie Daiyu's legs. Though she had quite a bit of fun when she was Mo Qiang, she had never done anything past kissing and blowing others off.
After that, Ruan Chanchan never had any time to date, much less have any fun with mers or men. Thus, she was still a bit shy about certain things. It could be said that due to a lack of fun, she had reverted to her shy self.
When Xie Daiyu saw her face turning red, he became even more amused. He tilted his head to one side and questioned her, "What's wrong? You are acting as if you have never seen a mer naked."
She had seen many naked, but that was not the point, was it?
She rolled her eyes and looked at the dark sky before saying to the mer, "You'd better cover your important bits if you want to eat the worms. I cannot cook with that thing dangling in my face."
Ruan Chanchan paused and added, "It's a bit ugly to look at."
**
A few months later.
Xie Daiyu, as he thrust his length within Ruan Chanchan: "What was ugly again?"
"My words. I am sorry; please let me come."