Chapter 83: Da Mao Mao's Playful Coquetry

Lin Manzhi: "……"

The other's single arm wrapped around the waist, holding her tightly; the arm strength transmitted through the clothing was long and powerful, and Lin Manzhi felt she couldn't match Mo Lie's force.

Since bonding, the two have been sleeping in the same room on the same bed; Lin Manzhi's sleeping posture isn't that obedient, and she often wakes up to find herself rolled into Mo Lie's arms without knowing when.

She hasn't fully accepted the embrace in her heart, but her body seems to have gotten used to Mo Lie's slightly cool yet secure hug.

Anyway, it's not her passionate phase now; Mo Lie lacks a female pheromone lure, and because of injury to his Spirit Core he also won't spontaneously enter a passionate phase for the time being.

So… if she loves hugging, she'll just keep hugging, Lin Manzhi said, blushing as she comforted herself.

When he felt Lin Manzhi didn't resist his embrace, the violent murderous intent that the males of his tribe had directed at her gradually faded from Mo Lie's heart.

He squinted his eyes contentedly; even his heart, usually calm even in life‑or‑death battles, beat a fraction faster than usual at that moment.

After being held from behind by Da Mao Mao for a while, Lin Manzhi grew a bit weary and whispered, "Alright, you can let go of me first."

Mo Lie fully knows the female before him has limited patience; having finally achieved the intimate action he desired and seeing that she doesn't mind.

He understood the principle of letting the other get used gradually, so he let go of Lin Manzhi in his arms, but kept holding her hand, and said, "You don't like eating Small Exotic Beast's Meat Jerky Zhizhi, so I use it to collect Exotic Beast Skin to make that kind of Vegetable Greenhouse you mentioned."

Lin Manzhi slowly opened her eyes wide, turned to Mo Lie, excitement flashing in her gaze, "Ah!"

The growth of Lettuce has high environmental demands; the Lettuce she recently cultivated in water has been growing slowly, as if it can't adapt to the high temperature here, and when she placed it on the windowsill it withered even on rainy days.

At that time she complained to Mo Lie, saying she wanted to build a large greenhouse with sunlight, temperature, and humidity control, but didn't know what material would be both breathable and shade‑blocking.

Mo Lie's expression didn't change, but she saw a hint of confusion on his cold face, as if he were saying, "Why build a house for vegetables?"

A vegetable greenhouse is hard for Beastfolk without any planting concept to grasp, but unexpectedly, even though Mo Lie didn't understand, he kept her words in mind.

And today, Mo Lie finally found it for her!

Lin Manzhi looked at Mo Lie with starry eyes and said, "When they bring Exotic Beast Skin over to exchange for Meat Jerky, we'll set up a trial in that little courtyard behind the kitchen."

Because the houses here consider the Beast Form of the male beasts, they are built two to three times taller than modern houses; a single‑story building here is roughly equivalent to two and a half modern stories.

Lin Manzhi immediately chose the spot: "The little courtyard behind the kitchen has no door; one side of the courtyard wall is the house, one side is the kitchen, and the rocks on the other two walls are about as high as the house. We rarely sit in the courtyard to eat, so it's perfect for trying to grow Lettuce."

Mo Lie's blue eyes were full of amusement, the outer corners slightly upturned, his handsome features flawless, his voice a low, slightly husky tone: "Exotic Beasts grow in the desert; their skin can resist the scorching sun, so I think it will be very suitable."

Lin Manzhi nodded and murmured, "I hope it can be successfully cultivated; I didn't expect Lettuce to be so hard to grow here, the watering is still insufficient."

Mo Lie subtly held Lin Manzhi's hand, leading her toward the kitchen; the kitchen cabinet was half finished when a noise sounded and someone went out.

He now went back to continue the cabinet, wanting Lin Manzhi to stay where he could see her.

Mo Lie's voice was low and calm, reassuring: "No rush; if it doesn't work, we'll just keep looking for other ways."

Lin Manzhi thought that made sense; growing Lettuce is the simplest, and she believed that by trying a few more times they'd find a suitable method.

If hydroponics fails, they'll move to a more distant, fertile land; soil cultivation will work.

She is alive, not trapped dead in the desert, so she can find a deep mountain forest to plant.

Lin Manzhi brushed away days of anxiety about growing Lettuce, and when she came to herself she realized Mo Lie had let go of his hand; only then did she notice that his hand had been guiding hers all the way to the kitchen.

She looked up; Mo Lie was in the open space in the middle of the kitchen, sorting the removed planks, cutting them into uniform lengths.

She sat on a cushion made of Exotic Beast Skin beside the Mud Stove, idle, turning her head toward the semi‑open courtyard attached to the Mud Stove, her thoughts shifting to the business plan for Lettuce cultivation.

Rainwater washed the courtyard; the wet rocky ground, untouched, looked very clean, half the size of the front yard, about forty plus tsubo, perfect for planting vegetables.

The kitchen, being where food is stored, is more important to Beastfolk than the bedroom; Beastfolk generally never go into someone else's kitchen to look.

The scent of male beasts in human form is far weaker than in Beast Form, so there's no worry about the Lettuce being detected; a keen‑nosed male beast can smell the Lettuce here through several layers of protection and distance.

With Mo Lie's aura deterring in the house, even if they in Beast Form smell the vegetable scent, they wouldn't dare sneak in to look.

Unfortunately, the Small Exotic Beast skins Mo Lie hunted, she didn't keep many; she found tanning too tiring, so aside from the ones kept for making carpets, the rest were sold, leaving no extra Exotic Beast Skin at home.

Lin Manzhi is impulsive; once she thinks of something she wants to act on immediately, so she applied the idea to the two skin rugs in the kitchen and living room.

Now there are only a dozen or so Lettuce in a few water jars; using a skin rug to set up a small vegetable test greenhouse of about two square meters in the backyard is sufficient.

Lin Manzhi waited for Mo Lie to finish the cabinet, place it against the kitchen wall, then saw a long rod and two thick planks left on the floor, and asked him to split the rod into thin strips to use as the frame for the vegetable greenhouse.

Even the thinnest wood lacks bamboo's resilience, so in the end what they built in the courtyard was a square little house wrapped in Beast Skin.

Stepping inside, the brown‑red Beast Coin glowed faintly; raindrops hit it without leaking, the interior was a bit dim, but everything else seemed fine.

The two Exotic Beast Skin panels opposite the vegetable greenhouse could be opened for ventilation in the mornings and evenings; Lin Manzhi immediately brought the Lettuce she kept in the bedroom and placed it on the ground.

Then, after carefully observing for several days, she found that the withered Lettuce's two leaves had grown taller and turned a bit greener.

Lettuce without added nutrient solution grows slowly in water; now ten days after sprouting, it has produced four or five leaves, development is clearly poor, but it has been successfully cultivated.

Lin Manzhi gleefully pulled Mo Lie over to see, proving that the vegetable greenhouse she mentioned is indeed useful for cultivation, a great help.