The Cloud Beast heard it too. It took Little Wolf into the kitchen, skillfully turned on the stove, and took out the wontons they had wrapped earlier.

The wontons had delicate wrappers and generous fillings. It put in thirty of them, based on Little Wolf’s appetite.

’Right, fifteen for it, and fifteen for Zaizai.’

The wontons cooked quickly. The Cloud Beast brought two large bowls to the table and began to enjoy the meal with Little Wolf.

The wontons were filled with sweet corn and fresh pork. Paired with the chili oil Yu An had fried earlier, they were absolutely delicious.

Little Wolf was gulping them down one by one, seemingly immune to the heat. Seeing this, the Cloud Beast, which had been enjoying its meal, quickly told him to slow down.

’An’an said eating food that’s too hot will burn your throat.’

It spoke too late. Little Wolf had already finished the entire bowl of wontons, not even leaving the broth. The Cloud Beast stared at the empty bowl, dumbfounded.

"Zai... Zaizai, you ate so fast... Wait, wasn’t it hot?!"

’Those wontons were straight from the pot! Even it, a Cloud Beast, was afraid of getting burned. It had just carefully finished a single one!’

Little Wolf shook his head in confusion. "It’s not hot. I think the temperature is just right."

As he spoke, his stomach started to rumble again. He clutched his belly and looked pitifully at the Cloud Beast.

"Brother, I’m still hungry."

The Cloud Beast was baffled, but it couldn’t let the child go hungry, so it cooked another pot of wontons for Little Wolf.

Again, there were fifteen wontons. Again, he finished them in two minutes. And again, he cried that he was still hungry. By now, even the slow-to-react Cloud Beast could tell something was wrong with Little Wolf.

It was so alarmed it wanted to go get Yu An. But before it could float out of the kitchen, it caught sight of Little Wolf out of the corner of its eye. He had grabbed a cold steamed bun from the cupboard and was about to stuff it into his mouth.

The Cloud Beast was so shocked its entire cloud-form almost dispersed. It rushed over, wrapped itself around Little Wolf, and knocked the steamed bun out of his hand and onto the floor.

"You can’t eat anymore! You can’t! Something will go wrong if you keep eating!"

"I’m hungry," Little Wolf said, swallowing hard as he stared at the dusty steamed bun. "So, so, so hungry..."

He tried to break free from the Cloud Beast with such force that it could barely hold him down. "Zaizai, something must be wrong with your body! I’ll take you to An’an. Be good, okay? Let’s go find your Female Mother, alright?"

Hearing Yu An’s name, Little Wolf seemed to hesitate for a moment, but only for a moment. The strength in his arms surged, and he broke free from the Cloud Beast’s grasp in an instant.

Just as he was about to pick up the steamed bun from the floor, a slender, soft vine wrapped around him and pulled him into Yu An’s arms.

Little Wolf instinctively tried to struggle, but when he saw it was Yu An, he forced himself to stop.

"Female Mother, I’m hungry, so hungry..."

A stream of tears welled up in his eyes. Yu An quickly comforted him, "There, there. Female Mother will take a look and see what’s wrong."

While she was examining him, the Cloud Beast told her about Little Wolf’s strange behavior earlier. After checking him over, Yu An discovered a small stone fragment inside Little Wolf’s body.

Besides the stone fragment, there was nothing else unusual in his body. Yu An tried to use her superpower to envelop the fragment and pull it out, but it only trembled slightly and didn’t move.

What’s more, her superpower was being absorbed by the stone fragment!

Yu An had intended to withdraw her superpower, but seeing that Little Wolf had clearly calmed down a bit, she continued to channel it until he returned to normal.

She wasn’t sure if she’d imagined it, but after Little Wolf returned to normal, the stone fragment let out... a burp?

The recent bout of hunger left Little Wolf shaken. He buried his head in Yu An’s chest, clinging to her tightly and refusing to let go.

"Female Mother, I was so scared. It felt so awful just now. I felt like I was going to die..."

Yu An’s expression darkened. Any parent who discovered an unidentifiable object inside their child’s body—one that couldn’t be removed—would be deeply worried.

"Female Mother is here," she said, patting Little Wolf’s back and coaxing him. "Zaizai, rest for a while. It’s okay, trust your Female Mother."

Tears still clung to the corners of Little Wolf’s eyes. He nodded with a sob, his small hand clutching a corner of Yu An’s clothes, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Yu An carried him to a room in the manor and spoke tentatively, "You must be sentient. You can understand what I’m saying, right?"

After she spoke, she noticed the stone fragment tremble.

Yu An was delighted. As long as they could communicate, that was all that mattered. Her biggest fear was that it wouldn’t understand her.

"You don’t have any malicious intent, right? You’re just... very hungry? If so, move twice."

The stone fragment obediently moved twice.

Since it was being so cooperative, Yu An maintained a gentle tone, striving for a peaceful resolution.

"My child was extremely hungry just now. Was that because you were hungry? Do you want to eat food to fill your stomach, or do you want my superpower?"

"Move once for the former, twice for the latter."

The stone fragment decisively moved once.

The superpower could fill it up quickly, but it preferred food.

Yu An nodded. "I can provide you with lots of food. How about you come out of my child’s body?"

"I can make all sorts of delicious things. As long as you want them, I can make you something different every single day."

The stone fragment seemed tempted, but it didn’t move. It remained inside Little Wolf’s body. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Seeing this, Yu An couldn’t help but grow a little anxious. Her gaze fell on Little Wolf’s peaceful, sleeping face, and she forced herself to suppress her frustration.

"You want to stay inside my child’s body? Will you cause him any harm?"

She patiently coaxed the stone fragment to answer her questions. Fortunately, it was very cooperative. After a series of questions, the two of them reached an agreement.

The stone fragment would stay in Little Wolf’s body, but Yu An had to leave a ball of her superpower enveloping it, and it could not harm Little Wolf.

In return, Yu An would provide it with food. Little Wolf would no longer feel such intense hunger, and moreover, he wouldn’t feel full no matter how much he ate.

"You know, eating is a pleasure," Yu An said, not giving up as she tried to tempt it again. "Don’t you want to taste the food for yourself? By staying in my child’s body, you can only receive the food’s energy."

The stone fragment ignored her, remaining quietly in its place.

Yu An sighed. She had just tucked the corner of the blanket around Little Wolf when he woke up.

Little Wolf rubbed his eyes and said groggily, "Female Mother, I want to eat roasted chicken, roast duck, and braised pork..."

Yu An: "..."

What else could she do? She had no choice but to go and prepare the food.

Once Little Wolf was rested enough, he trotted behind Yu An and watched her busy herself in the kitchen.

Yu An gave him a few vegetables and asked him to help prepare them.

After preparing about half of them, Little Wolf suddenly looked up. "Female Mother, where’s Beast Father? Where did he go?"

Yu An’s chopping paused. She put down her kitchen knife and took out the Blood Crystal that Han Li had become.

"Zaizai, listen to what Female Mother has to say..."

She explained everything to Little Wolf in the simplest terms she could manage. When she finished, Little Wolf suddenly hugged her.

"Female Mother, I’m so glad you’re okay."

Yu An paused, stunned. She had Little Wolf look her in the eye. "Zaizai, your Beast Father has turned into a Blood Crystal. Aren’t you worried about him?"

’Why was his first reaction to be glad that I was okay?’

Little Wolf opened his big eyes wide and said, perplexed, "Female Mother, why should I be worried about Beast Father? Isn’t he right in here? He just got smaller and is cooped up in this little box. He looks pretty energetic to me."

"You, on the other hand, look exhausted, Female Mother," he said with dissatisfaction. "Really, Beast Father. He doesn’t even know how to protect himself, making Female Mother so worried and scared."

’I have to get strong quickly, so I can protect Female Mother and protect Beast Father too!’