Chapter 234: Question

"Do you want to whip me? The kind that draws blood? If it can't draw blood, then when I beat them next time I'll still beat them."

Leng Xiao said, grabbing Yun Li's hand and sliding it to his own chest; at that moment Yun Li almost thought her Beast Husband had suddenly awakened a masochistic kink, but even so, she didn't have a habit of abusing her Beast Husband.

"Behave normally."

Yun Li, unable to bear it any longer, said, "Don't say you look excited when you're being beaten."

Normally, indeed no beastfolk likes to be beaten, but Leng Xiao's attitude merely exploits the fact that she wouldn't take harsh action against her Beast Husband.

"After all, his skin is rough and his flesh thick; A Li, even if you whip him, you probably can't hurt him. So if you want to punish him, let me do it—after all, I'm his brother."

Whatever wrong he did before, I also have to share the burden with him.

Saying that, Leng Xiu placed his hand on his younger brother's shoulder, but Leng Xiao pushed it away without hesitation.

"Stop it! Every time I do something, you have no idea what's in your heart?"

He was almost about to point at Leng Xiu's nose and say that if that beastfolk is the one who made a mistake, then he's the mastermind behind it.

Leng Xiu, looking as if he had a headache, rubbed his temples, "Fine, I already have a clear idea in my mind, right?"

Seeing him like that, Leng Xiao burst into a bitter laugh, about to say something.

Ji Xuan interrupted at that moment, "Recently the Tribe has received some beastfolk from outside Heiyan Shanmai; you should have Xiao Ao and the others keep a closer watch on the other cubs."

Hearing that, Leng Xiu and Leng Xiao both frowned.

"Weren't we told we hadn't found anyone?"

Leng Xiao didn't hide the fact they had just eavesdropped, and also that Moluo—his brother was so wary of an outsider beastfolk; could he have feelings for A Li?

"And can we trust what Moluo said? Didn't your Patrol Team send anyone to keep an eye on him?"

Upon hearing Leng Xiao's words, Ji Xuan and Leng Xiu hadn't said anything yet when Yun Li spoke up, "He's not weak; even if you send people to watch him, they won't discover anything."

It could also cause some unnecessary misunderstandings.

But she didn't say that in the end; after this morning's incident, she naturally knows her Beast Husband already sees Moluo as a rival.

However, she feels that Moluo only admires and is curious about her, probably not expecting a beastfolk from a remote place to possess advanced ideas that other nearby beastfolk lack.

She is still limited by her surroundings; even though she has been baptized by modern civilization, some words would seem wildly fanciful and unrealistic to a beastfolk like Moluo who has seen many sights and endured great storms.

Just as ancient people couldn't imagine humans later inventing the steam engine, let alone generators and producing all kinds of electrical products.

Yun Li might accept to Moluo the idea of taming beasts to pull carts, but if he talks about achieving a large city on Heiyan Shanmai through planting, breeding, trade, etc., Moluo can't even imagine that he himself could ever accomplish such a thing.

Yet that male, even if he doesn't believe Yun Li in this regard, isn't cruel enough to say anything that would shatter Yun Li's illusion.

Therefore Yun Li knows clearly in her heart that she actually has a certain fondness for Moluo.

And Leng Xiu probably sensed this, which is why he selfishly treated Moluo as a rival.

Yun Li admits she was at fault, failing to give her Beast Husband enough security; otherwise she wouldn't be so on edge when a male who grew close to her appears.

"Is that so?"

Leng Xiao, who had never met Moluo face‑to‑face, glanced at Ji Xuan and Leng Xiu.

Leng Xiu lowered his eyes to think, saying nothing, while Ji Xuan gave a slight nod, "A Li once told us that Ke Si also feels very wary of Moluo when facing him."

"She told you about Moluo?"

But how come he hadn't heard of it? Leng Xiao crossed his arms, staring at the three of them, "When did you three say this? How come I didn't know?"

"Once, while discussing matters, the conversation happened to turn to that person; you weren't there at the time."

Leng Xiu glanced at Leng Xiao, then said to Yun Li, "Isn't he going to meet the Tribal Chief for a trade tomorrow?"

"Yeah, right!"

Yun Li turned to her Beast Husband, "But we still don't know what he'll bring to trade with us. The Tribal Chief is probably reluctant to trade away those techniques."

Whether it's garment‑making techniques or sugar‑producing techniques and so on, they are vital economic supports for the Tribe's development; giving up any of them would pain the Tribal Chief immensely.

Of course, more importantly, when Yun Li once outlined a future blueprint before the Tribal Chief and the Priest, she mentioned that besides weapons and pottery, clothing, shoes, sugar and the like are the things that most open the hearts of outside beastfolk when establishing contact, while weapons, pottery, furniture, etc., should be saved for the most critical moments of external trade.

Thus every such item became an indispensable part for the Tribe.

Recalling the words she uttered back then to win Jicheng's and the Priest's support, Yun Li felt a pang of guilt.

In fact, venturing out is far from as simple as she said; first, finding a path whose risks the Tribe can control is already hard, and then after leaving, encountering other Tribes—these all have to be figured out bit by bit.

Since the Tribe used to send people out only by luck, both going and returning, now that they aim to formally establish external ties, they must do it properly; they can't make contact today and have a mishap tomorrow that reverts everything.

Otherwise, what's the difference from before?

Thus, for every step Yun Li now guides the Tribe, she already has the fifth, the tenth steps planned behind it.

"Then we'll first listen to what he wants; if he can present something that moves the Tribal Chief and the Priest, even if they're reluctant, they'll be swayed."

"Then we'll watch from the side; this transaction shouldn't have major problems."

Ji Xuan's words immediately made Yun Li nod, "Tomorrow A Xiu and A Xiao should go too. Let's see what good things they can bring out then."

At that moment, Yun Li suddenly recalled that she and A Xiu had run into Moluo and the beast he was with setting up a stall at the Market today.

"…Strangely enough, when they first arrived at the Tribe we didn't see any beast‑skin bags in their hands, nor know where they put their stuff then. We've been here so long and never realized they actually brought quite a few things here."

Yun Li truly found it odd; those stone chunks were small and seemed not to take up space, yet it took three or four beast‑skin bags to fill them.

Around the Tribe, people came and went, and tribal beastfolk constantly patrolled tightly, yet not a single beastfolk knew that Moluo and his group had brought items into the Tribe.