Chapter 197: Outsider Beastfolk

"Didn't you leave the Market matters to my brother to handle? If you want to investigate the workshop handicrafts issue, just have him arrange someone to look into it — isn't that enough? Is it really necessary for you to come to the Market in person?"

Leng Xiao followed beside Yun Li, but couldn't understand at all why she had come in person.

Ever since she took over the Tribe's management, she had endless tasks to busy herself with every day.

Investigating something as minor as someone privately selling workshop handicrafts — whether it was Ji Xuan or her brother, both had suitable beastfolk under them. As long as she said the word, would they really not help her?

"Of course it's necessary. After all, I didn't come here today just to investigate that one matter."

As soon as Yun Li finished speaking, she pulled Leng Xiao down to squat in front of a stall.

This stall sold beast tooth and beast bone jewelry, as well as carved wooden combs, wooden hairpins, wooden bead bracelets, and so on...

Because the styles were novel, even though the materials used were all very common woods, beastfolk still stopped to browse from time to time.

What Yun Li had taken a fancy to was the stall owner's craftsmanship. She picked up a polished, gleaming wooden bead from the stall and asked, "Do you have a bracelet with beads smaller than this one? This small."

She gestured to show the stall owner. The stall owner was a young beastfolk who looked to be only in his teens; he looked at Yun Li's gesture and shook his head honestly, "No one would want a bracelet with beads that small, so I don't have any here. But if you're not in a hurry, I can go home and make them, then deliver them to you."

Yun Li glanced at Leng Xiao. "That works too, but in that case I just want the beads with holes drilled — I'll string them myself with cord. If you pack them in boxes, I'll take five boxes."

When the young beastfolk saw clearly the jewelry box Yun Li had picked up, a surprised expression appeared on his face. "That many?"

"Yes, there are a lot of people at home."

When she mentioned having a lot of people, Yun Li suddenly thought of the several cubs at home, and another idea quickly surfaced in her mind. "During the cold season, the cubs can only stay indoors and can't go out. If we can arrange something for them to do, they won't be so restless."

But this time she didn't place an order for beads with the young beastfolk — instead, she asked for his home address.

"My home is at..." Yun Li gave him her location. "Once those boxes of beads are done, deliver them to that place. Both patterned and unpatterned ones — all polished to this same degree."

The young beastfolk knew this without Yun Li needing to remind him.

After that, Yun Li used a Crystal Core at the stall to buy a wooden comb and several fairly exquisite beast tooth jewelry pieces, then led Leng Xiao to sit down in a corner.

As soon as she sat down, she pulled the bone hairpin from Leng Xiao's head, and the high ponytail originally secured by the bone hairpin instantly came loose.

Leng Xiao sensed what the female wanted to do, his brow lifting slightly as he said in a teasing tone, "So my hairstyle today wasn't good-looking?"

Leng Xiao and the others usually styled their own hair. When Yun Li did it for them, she liked more elaborate styles — like putting in dreadlocks, or doing a half-up style, then putting effort into the decorations.

Wearing beast tooth forehead ornaments, inserting bone hairpins when tying high ponytails or half-up styles — these hairstyles that were now very popular among males actually all originated from Yun Li's household.

"No, it's just been a long time since I did your hair. I happened to see the things at that stall and thought I could give you a new hairstyle."

At home, only Leng Xiao didn't hold a position in the Tribe's management. It wasn't that his ability was insufficient, but rather that there always needed to be one beastfolk staying home — otherwise, when the others got busy, no one would watch the cubs at home.

So the reason Yun Li insisted on coming to this Market today, apart from investigating the leaked workshop handicrafts and observing what new goods the Market had, was a very important one — she wanted to spend time with Leng Xiao.

After all, making a beastfolk who loved freedom stay home frequently for the family's sake — Yun Li always carried a sense of guilt and heartache about it.

Braiding his hair at the Market this time was also, in a way, to satisfy Leng Xiao's desire to show their affection publicly with her.

In this beastfolk world of one wife with multiple husbands, males protecting, indulging, and doting on females could be said to be a common sight — but a female showing a gentle and considerate side toward a male was exceedingly rare.

Because of this, even though Yun Li and Leng Xiao's location was completely unremarkable, it still drew sidelong glances from quite a few beastfolk.

When a sturdy male beastfolk with a full beard caught a glimpse of the female and male pair in the corner from the corner of his eye, his footsteps stopped abruptly.

The male's gaze fell on the female's face, full of a gentle smile. But compared to that face, what drew his attention more was her hands reaching toward the male — very gentle movements, not so much like she was combing that male's hair, but rather like she was enjoying her time with the male.

She must really like that male.

"City Lord?"

Seeing the bearded male stop abruptly, a beastfolk behind him flashed a look of confusion in his eyes and followed the male's gaze.

A very beautiful female. But the City Lord had traveled to so many places across the continent — what beautiful female hadn't he seen? That female's face alone shouldn't be enough to attract the City Lord's gaze.

So that beastfolk observed Yun Li's clothing, jewelry, and so on. Upon discovering that her attire and bearing were far superior to those of the other beastfolk in this Tribe, he said to the bearded male in front of him:

"City Lord, that female's clothes are much better than the other beastfolk here. Should we try approaching them? Maybe we can figure out where all those things come from."

"Call me Chieftain. How many times have I told you — don't call me City Lord when we're away from home."

When the bearded male spoke, his voice was a mature, slightly raspy deep bass — and more importantly, this was not a voice a middle-aged male should have.

A flash of embarrassment crossed that beastfolk's face, and he said in a low voice to the bearded male, "Yes," then added, "Yes, Chieftain. I won't do it next time."

The main thing was that he'd gotten so used to calling him City Lord, City Lord. And on this trip, he hadn't expected that they would end up following behind a nomadic Tribe halfway and arrive here — a place that seemed to have no connection to the outside, where everything felt backward.

If they hadn't entered this Tribe, he would still have thought that the nomadic Tribe's claims about there being many novel things here were false.

So the things that nomadic Tribe had talked about all came from this Tribe!

"Then Chieftain, should we really..."

Before he could finish, the bearded male interrupted, "No need. That female probably doesn't have time to deal with us right now."

This of course didn't mean that Yun Li and Leng Xiao were enjoying such a fine atmosphere that they didn't want to disturb the pair's pleasant moment, but rather...

The bearded male's gaze had at some point shifted from Yun Li to several beastfolk not far away.

The leading male beastfolk's expression was clearly not very good upon seeing how Yun Li and Leng Xiao were interacting — it seemed a drama of two males competing for one female was about to unfold.