The next morning, just as the sun rose, Ashi returned carrying a fat rabbit.
He came to Ayue’s side, but Ayue didn’t wait for him to speak.
She moved aside, revealing the three little ones nestled beneath her belly, all sleeping soundly.
The two of them watched the cubs for quite a while before reluctantly pulling their heads away.
Among the cubs, the eldest was the largest in size.
At that moment, he silently stretched his neck and opened his mouth wide, waiting to be fed.
Ayue immediately tore off a small piece of meat from the nearby pile and fed it to the eldest cub.
The eldest cub’s movement prompted the other two to open their mouths wide in anticipation of food as well.
Seeing this, Ashi hurried over to help, feeding each of the three cubs two pieces of meat.
Once full, the cubs obediently curled up together and fell asleep.
Ye Rongrong was half asleep and half awake, about to drift off when she suddenly overheard the two talking.
Ashi looked at the cubs, his excitement practically overflowing in his voice as he happily said, “Ayue, look at our cubs! Aren’t they adorable? Let’s give them names!”
They had discussed names for the cubs before, but since they hadn’t seen what the children looked like yet, they came up with a long list of names.
None of them felt right for the cubs, though.
Coming up with a bunch of names or not thinking of any in advance made no difference at all.
Ayue thought for a moment, then pointed to the eldest and second cub, hesitating as she said, “The eldest is called Damao, the second is Ermao, and the third…”
As the third cub, Ye Rongrong immediately perked up her ears.
She had already settled on a name in her heart—Sanmao.
Ayue continued, “The third will be Rongrong.”
Ashi quickly nodded, praising her without hesitation, “Ayue, you’re amazing! The three names sound so good.
I really like them. From now on, they’ll be Damao, Ermao, and Rongrong!”
Wait!
Ye Rongrong instinctively objected in her heart.
Why were the eldest and second called Damao and Ermao, but the third called Rongrong?
But… she liked that name.
Ye Rongrong kicked her leg subconsciously and accidentally nudged Damao beside her.
Damao stirred but went back to sleep.
Rongrong leaned against the side, listening to the faint conversation between the two adults.
The sounds of the world gradually faded away as she slipped into dreamland.
Ashi and Ayue were still talking, mostly Ashi praising while Ayue felt shy.
They exchanged a glance and affectionately nuzzled each other.
Noticing the cubs were asleep, they lowered their voices further, quietly discussing the cubs’ progress that day.
Ayue glanced at the weather outside—it was still a bright, sunny day.
She said with some concern, “Ashi, you’ll stay home to incubate the three cubs. Their feathers aren’t dense enough yet, so they still need to be kept warm. I’ll go hunting a little later.”
The cubs had all hatched, and after one night, their fur had long since dried.
They were full and mostly sleeping.
Ayue hadn’t let Ashi incubate the eggs before because she worried he might accidentally step on and break them, so she had been taking care of the incubation herself.
The first-time parents, the Owl Beastman couple, were a little uneasy inside.
They didn’t know if they could raise the cubs well.
Ayue had originally lived within her own tribe, but for Ashi’s sake—avoiding the other beastmen who targeted him—she had no choice but to leave, taking Ashi to a remote place in a distant mountain ring tribe.
They couldn’t stay out in the wild for long because of the frequent attacks.
The tribe provided a certain level of safety.
Ashi and Ayue hadn’t brought much with them.
To gain entry to this tribe, they had spent all their resources and moved into this Mixed Tribe.
Apart from Granny Ashan, they hadn’t interacted much with the other beastmen around.
Here, they were no longer targeted by other beastmen.
Ashi no longer saw those hostile individuals.
After leaving that oppressive environment, he was much better overall.
Now, he even dared to go hunting alone.
These were all very positive changes for them.
Ayue rested, waiting for the right time to go hunt.
She was already tired of eating rabbit every day.
…
With three cubs in the house, their daily food consumption increased greatly.
Despite their small size, the cubs grew quickly and ate a lot every day.
Their feeding frequency was very high; the cubs needed plenty of nutrients.
After resting well, Ayue left the nest and told Ashi to stay with the cubs.
The temperature in the cave was actually a bit hot for the two adult Owl Beastmen, but for the cubs, it was somewhat cold.
Ashi carefully nestled the cubs, occasionally glancing at them with a silly smile but saying nothing.
They chose not to live outside because the outside was dangerous.
It was safer for the cubs to stay in the cave.
As long as they were cautious, it would be fine.
Ye Rongrong’s days consisted of eating until full, then sleeping until rested.
The cubs’ fur grew thicker every day.
Originally covered with white fluff, they looked very cute.
As they plumped up and their fur grew denser, the chubby cubs became even more adorable.
Ayue and Ashi stayed by the cubs’ side daily, chatting and gently teaching them to speak.
The cubs felt enveloped by love and memorized the scent of the two adults.
Ayue had been out for quite a while and had not yet returned.
Ashi stretched his neck, repeatedly looking toward the cave entrance.
The cubs stirred.
Ashi moved aside a little and looked down at them.
He fed the cubs some meat, and they quieted down and went back to sleep.
He muttered worriedly to the cubs, “Why hasn’t Ayue come back yet? I hope she hasn’t run into danger outside. At worst, I’ll eat less. Next time she comes back, I won’t let her take risks…”
He talked to himself.
The cubs didn’t understand any of it, but Ashi didn’t mind.
When his thoughts darkened, he liked to relieve his stress by speaking out loud.
Fortunately, Ashi didn’t worry for long.
Ayue came back carrying a recently killed deer.
She spoke with some excitement, “I happened to catch a deer today. Quickly, drink the deer blood.”
Deer were hard to hunt, and deer blood was also good for a beastman’s body.
Ashi leaned forward and drank quite a lot of deer blood until he couldn’t drink any more.
“I can’t drink anymore,” he said.
Ayue wasted no time and quickly finished the remaining deer blood.
Fresh deer blood was best drunk immediately; otherwise, it coagulated inside the deer’s body, making the meat less tasty.
She ate one-fifth of the deer meat in one go.
Ashi ate about one-tenth.
The large deer was carefully handled.
Half the deer was saved as food, and the rest of the meat was cut into strips, salted, and hung in a cool place.
This was the only way they could preserve food at home.
Otherwise, in the hot weather, it would easily spoil and stink.
After watching for a moment, Ashi took the initiative and said, “Ayue, let’s switch places.”
Ayue thought about it and nodded, “Okay.”
She looked at the adorable cubs, her heart full of anticipation.
Ashi stood to the side, reprocessing the deer meat carefully and collecting excess salt grains.
He talked while working, smiling, “I fed them a little meat today. The cubs look energetic, but they still haven’t made any sounds or opened their eyes. They can’t leave the nest yet…”
Ayue watched Ashi’s movements.
Her gaze followed him, and she looked especially happy, occasionally responding to Ashi.
They lived here peacefully and felt especially secure.
There were no beastmen oppressing them or deliberately stealing their food.
No one left behind the psychological shadows that Ashi had suffered from before.
Life was a little hard, but very happy.
The neighbors weren’t easy to get along with, but most of the time they ignored each other.
The tribe was far enough from their original home to keep the hostile beastmen away from Ashi.
By the time those people found them, they would have already established themselves here.
With such distance, as long as the beastmen weren’t the ones Ashi had known before, he wasn’t afraid.
Ayue could handle those people if it came to a fight, but those individuals were especially unpleasant.
They always came looking for trouble when Ayue was out hunting.
She noticed Ashi’s situation worsening and decisively took him away from their original tribe.
And it was a sudden departure.
Those people would need quite a while to track and find this place.
Judging by the current situation, it would take them at least a month or two.
Ayue praised, “Ashi, you’re amazing. You took such good care of the cubs today and handled all the food so well.”
Ashi turned his head away and said softly, “I didn’t get much food before, so I had to find ways to preserve some. That way, I wouldn’t always be starving.”
In the past, he only received insults, abuse, and beatings.
Ayue was the only one who, no matter what, would praise him endlessly.
Ashi’s eyes filled with laughter.
Warm love slowly flowed from his heart, gently healing his battered soul.
If only things could always be like this.
“After a while, we’ll go to the market and exchange for some more salt. We need to prepare more dried meat,” Ayue said, her tone full of hope for the future.
Ye Rongrong woke from a nap and heard the two adults talking.
Their faces were lit with big smiles, and happiness filled her heart.
The adults’ joyful tones also lifted her spirits.
This time, her luck seemed very good.
After reincarnating, her family was especially warm.
After waking a bit, hunger made her instinctively open her mouth.
Ayue swiftly tore off several pieces of meat and fed them to the cubs.
Chunks of meat filled the cubs’ big mouths.
They swallowed after a few chews, filling their bellies.
Ayue held a piece of meat and gently rubbed each cub’s mouth with it.
Once the cubs were full and no longer opened their mouths wide, Ayue put the meat aside.
Ashi came over to watch the cubs eat.
He squatted nearby, turned his head to look at the three small, chubby cubs, and felt his heart fill with joy.
He looked at Ayue, their eyes meeting.
He lowered his head shyly but insisted on saying, “Ayue, thank you.”