Chapter 163: Chapter 163: A Long-Awaited Intimacy

The cracks on the eggshell widened as a group of people gathered around it. Some even placed bets, guessing the zaizai’s gender.

After about five minutes, the eggshell cracked completely open.

A pure-white wolf cub lay inside the broken shell, gazing at the crowd in a daze.

His gaze swept over each of their faces before finally settling on Yu An. "Female Mother," he called out in a sweet, childish voice.

Then he jumped out of the shell and into Yu An’s arms.

Yu An kissed his forehead. "My good Zaizai."

After an inspection, his father, Han Li, solemnly announced, "He’s a male zaizai."

Following the family’s naming tradition, the little wolf cub was named "Little Wolf." Da Hu and the others gathered around their new little brother, looking at him with endless wonder.

Little Serpent was the happiest of all, because he wasn’t the youngest anymore!

The Golden Egg still hadn’t shown any movement, but Yu An had a feeling it would be any day now.

She held Little Wolf in her arms, letting the dumplings cool before feeding them to him.

The little guy had a good appetite. He ate three in a row before contentedly snuggling into Yu An’s arms to doze off.

Han Li was afraid he would disturb Yu An’s meal and wanted to take him, but the little guy refused, his paws clinging to Yu An’s clothes as if he were being snatched away by a villain.

Yu An chuckled. "That’s your Beast Father, not a bad guy."

Little Wolf buried his head in her chest, his voice muffled. "Want to stay with Female Mother, not Beast Father."

’Female Mother’s arms are soft and smell so good. Beast Father’s arms look really uncomfortable.’

Han Li: "..."

Ao Wu laughed shamelessly, but after the meal, Han Li still managed to coax and trick Little Wolf back to his room.

Da Hu and the others also obediently returned to their own rooms. Ao Wu followed behind Yu An, entering the castle’s master bedroom with her.

Once the door was closed, he saw Yu An leaning against the bed, a teasing smile on her face. "What, did you and Han Li come to an agreement?"

"We have," Ao Wu said, undoing his collar as he walked. "An’an, I’ll be with you tonight."

He swept Yu An up by the waist and strode toward the bathroom.

The bathtub was filled with hot water, large enough for two people, though some of it sloshed out when they got in.

His large hand slid over her shoulders and back, tracing a path down to her waist and sending shivers through her.

Yu An tried to dodge, but couldn’t. She had to squirm to resist his touch. "Stop fooling around, it tickles..."

"Don’t move," Ao Wu’s voice grew husky, his breathing quickening. "An’an, you’re not allowed to fidget. Otherwise, don’t even think about finishing this bath anytime soon."

The implication in his words was obvious. Yu An blushed and simply let him wash her.

Amidst the rising steam, the bathroom’s temperature climbed. Her once-pale skin took on a light pink hue, looking exceptionally... alluring.

Ao Wu’s eyes burned with desire at the sight. He peppered her shoulder with soft kisses, occasionally nipping at her skin and drawing a gasp from Yu An.

She said irritably, "What are you, a puppy?"

’Now he’s learned how to bite!’

Ao Wu mumbled, "I can be, if that’s what An’an wants."

The bath went on for quite some time. When he felt the water gradually cooling, Ao Wu lifted her up in one motion, dried the water from her skin, and laid her on the freshly made bed.

Against the backdrop of the pure white sheets, Ao Wu’s throat bobbed.

Yu An adjusted her position and beckoned to him with a finger. The dragon sidled up to her like a puppy.

The bed curtains fell at some point, and as moonlight streamed in, two shadows intertwined, inseparable.

...

Having abstained for a long time, tonight had been a veritable feast. Yu An didn’t stir until the following afternoon.

The culprit was still asleep, a satisfied smile on his lips as he held her waist, sleeping soundly.

Yu An shifted, only to feel a wave of soreness wash over her body.

Her movement caused Ao Wu to groggily open his eyes halfway. He pulled her closer into his embrace, closed his eyes again, and mumbled clingily about sleeping a little longer.

"Sleep? What do you mean, sleep? Look at the time!"

Yu An patted his cheek irritably. "Get up."

Ao Wu reluctantly opened his eyes and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"It’s still early," his large hand automatically found her waist, kneading it gently. "It’s not even light out. An’an, rest a little longer. You worked hard last night."

With the curtains drawn, it was indeed hard to see the sky outside, but the faint sound of voices was a clear indication of just how long they had slept.

A glance at the clock confirmed it was already afternoon.

’Well, so much for setting up the stall today.’ Yu An decided to laze around a little longer, which was just what Ao Wu wanted. He held her contentedly, demanding a kiss every now and then.

’Mm, a pleasant day.’

But a trace of worry still creased Yu An’s brow. And last night, after she had fallen asleep, Ao Wu had heard her call out their three names.

An almost inaudible sigh escaped from her, and he held Yu An a little tighter.

"An’an, don’t worry anymore."

Ao Wu smoothed her slightly furrowed brow and kissed it gently. "I know you’re worried about them, but they’re not young cubs. Every one of them can protect themselves. They’ll definitely be fine."

He continued in a soft voice, "If they knew that you were so worried while they were gone—so worried you couldn’t even eat—they would surely blame themselves." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Yu An didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "What do you mean I couldn’t eat?"

"You did," Ao Wu said, seriously counting on his fingers. "You only ate ten dumplings last night, and the day before, you only had one bowl of porridge. That’s a lot less than you usually eat."

The corner of Yu An’s mouth twitched. "Did you see how big that bowl of porridge was? And yesterday’s dumplings were huge! I was stuffed."

’Thanks to those two, it was the first time she’d ever eaten dumplings half the size of her fist.’

Ao Wu pretended not to hear. "Anyway, we’ve already figured out a way for them to find us. They’ll probably show up in a few days. No more worrying, and no more sighing, you hear?"

"Alright, alright," Yu An said helplessly. "I’ll listen to you."

Only then was Ao Wu satisfied. After lingering for a while longer, the two of them finally got out of bed.

Yu An had said yesterday that she wanted to set up a stall to sell dumplings. Seeing that they hadn’t come out even after so long today, Chun Nuan had organized the others to start chopping meat for the filling.

By the time Yu An and Ao Wu came out, several basins of meat filling were already laid out on the ground.

"You’re awake?"

When Chun Nuan saw them approach, she introduced the fillings one by one. "This is pork, this is beef, and that one over there is mutton..."

Yu An thought for a moment and decided to make pork and green onion, green pepper and beef, and mutton and radish dumplings, as well as a vegetarian option with chives and egg.

There were enough people in the "space" to form a lively production line: some rolled the wrappers while others filled the dumplings.

After an afternoon and an entire evening of work, the "space" was piled high with dumplings.

Yu An rubbed her sore wrists, looking forward to the next day.

After leaving the Mist Forest, they had searched city by city. The city they were currently in was called Su City.

Early the next morning, the food cart was freshly built. Yu An rented a courtyard and then drove the cart out.

The cart was beautiful, but also jarringly out of place. The moment it appeared in the Beastmen’s line of sight, it instantly drew a great deal of attention.

"What is that thing? A carriage?"

"But there’s no horse pulling it! If there’s no horse, why is it moving?"

"What a strange cart. Come on, let’s go follow it and see..."