Chapter 455: Bodyguard

The fireplace inside the house was added by Xia Qing after she learned this year was a cold winter; there was one in the first-floor living room and one in the second-floor living room. The fireplace's openable chimney led outside—when heating was needed, the chimney was opened to vent smoke; when not needed, it was closed to prevent small animals or evolved insects from entering through the chimney.

Xia Qing's whole body ached and her mind was foggy, but she still forced herself to add a few lengths of dry pine wood to the fireplace, splash on oil, and light the fire. The temperature had dropped now, and the wool on Big Sheep was still damp; the indoor temperature needed to be raised to dry the wool, otherwise letting it sleep like this all night might catch cold.

After settling Big Sheep, Xia Qing set her alarm clock, then lay down on the recliner beside Big Sheep, covered herself with a thin blanket, and slept beside the warm fireplace.

The lead wolf, lying on the tatami on the other side of the living room, opened its rich-gold eyes and watched the leaping flames warily for a while. After confirming there was no threat, it got up, walked over to Big Sheep, and slept snugly.

The broken-legged wolf siblings were startled by the firelight, baring their fangs and whimpering softly. The sick wolf walked over, used its body to block the firelight, then touched the two wolves' noses with its own nose. The broken-legged wolf siblings were immediately soothed, and like when they were young, lay on their backs beside the sick wolf, playing and tumbling happily.

When the alarm clock rang again, the lead wolf flicked its ears; the playing broken-legged wolf siblings and the sick wolf raised their heads; Big Sheep still slept soundly.

Xia Qing slowly opened her eyes, turned off the alarm, dragged her aching body to the bathroom, and said, "Broken-waist, Big Black, time's up, you should come out."

The two wolves struggled to climb out of the tub, shook their bodies hard to fling off the water, and walked out of the bathroom on trembling legs. Then the sick wolf actually took the broken-legged wolf siblings and went into the bathroom together, climbing into the tub.

The tub was indeed quite large, able to comfortably fit two animals bathing at once, but with three wolves in together, it looked crowded. Still, this saved Xia Qing trouble—no need to add more spring water to the tub.

Xia Qing sat at the bathroom door keeping watch for a while, and noticed that whenever the broken-legged wolf siblings began to howl and struggle, the sick wolf would endure and let out two gentle howls, then nuzzle their heads with its own; the two siblings would quiet down.

This was the first time Xia Qing had seen the sick wolf caring for other wolves, as if the broken-legged wolf siblings were its own pups. Though the scene was quite rare, it still wasn't enough to hold up Xia Qing's heavy eyelids; she nearly crawled back to the recliner by the fireplace, threw the thin blanket over herself, and fell asleep.

After the black wolf came out, it naturally walked over to the lead wolf, lay down, and slept. The broken-waist wolf's gaze circled twice between the fireplace, the lead wolf, and the tatami, then with trembling legs dragged the straw mat from the tatami over to the fireplace by sheer force.

The lead wolf opened its eyes, looked, got up, lay down on the mat, and continued sleeping. The broken-waist wolf lay beside the lead wolf, stared thoughtfully at the fire, and slowly closed its eyes.

An hour later, Xia Qing was woken by the alarm again and felt her body pain had eased considerably. She went to the bathroom and let the three wolves, squeezed into a pile, come out, then added quite a bit of spring water to the tub and heated it to a suitable temperature.

This packet of medicinal liquid had already been used to soak one person, one sheep, and six wolves; its efficacy was already very low, but there were still two giant wolves outside, and Xia Qing didn't dare not let them soak. Especially that giant wolf with ice-blue eyes—Xia Qing was afraid it would be dissatisfied and lift a paw to tear her house apart.

After preparing the water, Xia Qing came out and looked at the pack of wolves sleeping in front of the fireplace. She first felt Big Sheep's now completely dry wool, then picked up the sick wolf that had just come out of the bathroom and placed it on her recliner, before waking the lead wolf. "Queen, my lord, the medicinal water is heated and ready; please call the two wolves outside in to bathe."

The lead wolf opened its rich-gold eyes, glanced at Xia Qing, then closed them again. The broken-waist wolf, snuggled tightly against the lead wolf, opened its eyes and gazed thoughtfully at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing asked the broken-waist wolf again, and seeing that it also didn't get up to call the two wolves outside in, she understood: those two wolves outside hadn't come to bathe, but had come to protect the wolf pack!

It must have been the intrusion incident during the last bath that made the lead wolf feel the human responsible for guarding the territory was useless, so this time for the bath, it brought two wolves over to protect the pack's safety after bathing.

"Queen, my lord, you're so thoughtful. With those two giant wolves outside, we can all sleep well tonight." Xia Qing reached up and rubbed the slightly damp fur on the lead wolf, then touched its forehead with her own, and gently lifted a corner of the curtain to look out into the yard.

Xia Qing's gaze met the handsome giant wolf's ice-blue eyes, and looking at this wolf now, Xia Qing found it extremely pleasing to the eye.

This really was a tall, handsome, and reliable good wolf... Xia Qing yawned, waved at it, dropped the curtain, and went upstairs to sleep.

It was now eleven at night, and Xia Qing, who had already slept twice, was finally able to walk back to the bedroom after the bath and burrow into the warm covers to sleep.

Past four in the morning, Xia Qing heard the surveillance cameras in the territory emit a beeping warning sound. She opened her phone and found that the two giant wolves had left the territory.

It seemed the lead wolf, which had bathed first, had already recovered its combat ability and no longer needed these two giant wolves to guard, so it had them return to the wolf pack's territory.

Xia Qing yawned, closed her eyes, and continued sleeping.

Near seven, the layered clouds in the eastern sky gradually brightened; the sun was about to rise. Xia Qing finished washing up and went downstairs, her steps light. She saw Big Sheep still sleeping, the broken-waist wolf squatting beside the bicycle, pawing at the pedals with its claws; the other wolves were not in the house.

Xia Qing was about to turn away, then turned her head back and noticed the bicycle, finally discovering the source of that nagging feeling from earlier: the bicycle seat was now just a bare wooden board—where was the thick cushion made of new cotton that had been tied on top?

Xia Qing's eyes swept around and found the cushion was actually on the bare tatami, the rope broken and the cloth torn. No need to ask—it was definitely the broken-waist wolf; the other wolves had no great interest in the bicycle.

Xia Qing walked over and rubbed the broken-waist wolf's head, opened the blackout curtain to glance at the empty yard, then took a sewing kit from the living room drawer, sat on the tatami that now only had the wooden board, and threaded the needle to sew the cushion.

The broken-waist wolf squatted beside Xia Qing, its gaze following the needle and thread in her hands, thoughtful.

Xia Qing explained softly, "This is a needle, this is thread; they can sew torn things back together. You can't do this work, because the needle is too fine."

After sewing the cushion, Xia Qing taught the broken-waist wolf how to hold the handlebars with its front paws and pedal the bicycle with its hind paws. The broken-waist wolf was smarter than Big Sheep and learned quickly.

Xia Qing stopped minding it, went upstairs, took a large piece of snake meat weighing over two jin from the fridge, and came downstairs to see the broken-waist wolf on the bicycle staring delightedly at the light that had come on the bicycle.

Seeing its expression, Xia Qing felt she should raise the price and make it pay an extra piece of yi stone, otherwise she wouldn't trade the bicycle to it!