I Abandoned My Beast Cubs for the Protagonist... Oops?-Chapter 87: The Longest Night

The silence stretched for exactly three seconds before chaos erupted.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT." Zhāo Yàn’s tails puffed to triple size. "Mother, you cannot, she’s PREGNANT, she needs REST—"

"I’m not going to disrupt her rest," Gū Gū said innocently. "I’m going to monitor it."

"That’s worse!"

"Yòu Lín sleeps in my bed all the time. I’m an excellent bed-sharer."

"Yòu Lín is a FOX KIT. Bai Yue is a—a—"

"A what?" Gū Gū’s eyebrow arched dangerously.

Zhāo Yàn’s mouth opened and closed several times. No words came out.

Han Shān stepped forward, his expression carefully neutral. "Grandma Gū Gū. Perhaps my hut would be more comfortable. I have the largest bed. Extra furs. Complete silence."

"How do you have the largest bed?" Zhāo Yàn snapped. "You live ALONE."

"I like space."

"You’re not even USING the space for anything useful!"

"I use it for brooding," Han Shān said flatly. "It’s very efficient brooding space."

Yàn Shū raised a hand. "Statistically, my hut has the most even temperature distribution, which is optimal for—"

"No one cares about your temperature distribution," Hóng Yè muttered.

"I care about it! The scrolls care about it!"

Gū Gū watched the chaos unfold with the satisfied expression of someone who had thrown a rock into a beehive purely for entertainment purposes.

Then she stood up, carefully, so as not to wake Yòu Lín, and walked directly to Bai Yue.

"I’m sleeping with her."

"NO."

"NO."

"Absolutely not."

"Fascinating," Gū Gū observed. "Three husbands, zero votes. Good thing I don’t need your permission." She looked down at Bai Yue. "Well? Are you going to let an old woman freeze in the night air?"

Bai Yue, who had been watching the argument sighed.

"Fine. But if you snore, I am kicking you out."

"I don’t snore."

"Yòu Lín says you snore like a dying boar."

"Yòu Lín is a LIAR."

From Gū Gū’s lap, Yòu Lín murmured sleepily: "Grandma snores. It’s like thunder. Nice thunder."

Gū Gū’s face went through several interesting shades of red.

~

The walk to Bai Yue’s hut was......an event.

Han Shān insisted on escorting them, which meant he walked three feet behind Bai Yue at all times, glaring at shadows.

Zhāo Yàn insisted on "checking the perimeter," which meant he circled the hut seventeen times before finally retreating to his own dwelling.

Yàn Shū insisted on "preparing the bedding," which meant he had somehow produced a second set of furs from nowhere and arranged them with the precision of a five-star hotel housekeeper.

Hóng Yè insisted on "nothing," but he stood outside the hut until Bai Yue explicitly told him to go to bed.

"You need sleep," she said.

"I’m fine."

"The baby needs its grumpy big brother functional tomorrow."

Hóng Yè’s ears went pink. "That’s.....that’s emotional manipulation."

"Is it working?"

"...Yes." He stomped away, grumbling something about "unfair tactics" and "pregnancy brain."

~

Inside the hut, Gū Gū arranged herself on the spare furs.

"So," she said, once they were settled. "The bear king."

Bai Yue groaned. "Not you too."

"I am not going to yell at you. I’m going to observe." Gū Gū’s eyes glittered in the darkness. "He came back. After all these years. After you made a fool of yourself chasing him. He came back."

"To see if I’ve changed."

"To see if he still has power over you." Gū Gū snorted. "Men like that don’t change. They just find new ways to be pathetic."

Bai Yue blinked. "That’s... surprisingly insightful."

"I’m old, not stupid." A pause. "Also, I may have threatened to turn his favorite hunting grounds into a swamp if he bothered my grandson again. Years ago. Before you left."

"You WHAT?"

"He was being annoying. Following you around like a lost cub. Making you think you needed his approval." Gū Gū waved a dismissive hand. "I told him if he didn’t back off, I’d introduce his liver to my stick."

Bai Yue stared at the darkness where Gū Gū’s silhouette lay. "You......did that for me?"

"For Yòu Lín. You were just collateral." Another pause. "But also for you, I suppose. You were terrible, but you were still family. Terrible family is still family."

Bai Yue didn’t know what to say to that.

"Don’t get emotional," Gū Gū warned. "I can’t handle emotional. I’ll have to hit you with something."

"I’m not emotional."

"You’re sniffling."

"The baby makes me sniffle."

"Mmhmm."

~

Two hours later.

Bai Yue had almost, almost fallen asleep when—

"Your breathing is off."

Bai Yue’s eyes snapped open. "What?"

"Your breathing. It’s too shallow. You need deeper breaths for the baby."

"I was SLEEPING."

"You were breathing wrong. Fix it."

Bai Yue stared at the ceiling. Took a deep breath. Let it out.

"Better?"

"Marginally."

~

Three hours later.

"You’re too warm."

"I’m always warm. It’s called pregnancy."

"The baby doesn’t like heat. Move closer to the wall. It’s cooler there."

"I’m comfortable."

"You’re WRONG. Move."

Bai Yue moved.

~

Four hours later.

"You haven’t eaten in hours. The baby needs nutrients."

"I’m ASLEEP."

"Wake up. I brought dried meat."

"I don’t want dried meat."

"Eat it anyway."

Bai Yue ate the dried meat. It was actually pretty good. She refused to admit this aloud.

~

Five hours later.

"Your position is suboptimal."

Bai Yue didn’t even open her eyes. "What now?"

"You’re on your back. Bad for circulation. Roll to your left side."

"How do you KNOW these things?"

"I raised four children and approximately seventeen grandchildren. I know everything." A pause. "Well, sixteen grandchildren. One of them was a temporary foster situation. He went back to his birth mother. Nice woman. Terrible cooking."

Bai Yue rolled to her left side.

"Better?"

"Acceptable."

~

Six hours later.

"You’re thinking too loud."

"I’m not thinking at all. I’m trying to sleep."

"You’re thinking about the bear king."

"I’m not—" Bai Yue stopped. She had been thinking about the bear king. Just a little. In the back of her mind.

"Thought so." Gū Gū sounded smug. "Don’t. He’s not worth it. You have three idiots who would burn the world for you. Focus on them."

"They’re not idiots."

"They’re adorable idiots. There’s a difference." A soft sound that might have been a chuckle. "My son spent the last weeks building a nest for you. Did you know that? Behind his hut. He won’t show anyone because he thinks it’s not perfect yet. It’s covered in silk and feathers and the softest moss in the territory. He’s been collecting it for months."

Bai Yue’s heart did something complicated. "He... what?"

"He’s been preparing since you came back. Said he wanted you to have somewhere soft to rest. Somewhere that was just... his." Gū Gū’s voice softened. "He’s more like his father than he’ll admit. Terrible at saying things. Excellent at doing them."

Bai Yue blinked back sudden tears. "That’s..."

"If you cry, I’m leaving."

"I’m not crying."

"You’re definitely crying."

"The baby makes me cry!"

"Mmhmm." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

~

Seven hours later.

"Your feet are swollen."

"I KNOW."

"Elevate them."

"I’m TRYING to sleep."

"Elevate them or I’ll do it for you."

Bai Yue elevated her feet.

---

Eight hours later.

Dawn crept through the cracks in the hut, painting the interior in soft gold.

Bai Yue had survived the night. Barely. She was exhausted, emotionally raw, and somehow also weirdly... grateful? Gū Gū’s fussing was annoying, but it was also... caring. In a very aggressive, weaponized way.

"You’re still alive," Gū Gū observed from her furs. "Impressive. Most people don’t survive their first night with me."

"I feel like I’ve been trampled by the turkey-birds again."

"That’s the pregnancy. And my excellent monitoring." Gū Gū sat up, stretching. "Now. Breakfast. You need—"

A thunderous CRASH echoed from outside.

Then another.

Then a roar of pure fury that shook the hut’s walls.

Bai Yue was on her feet before she knew what she was doing, or trying to be, anyway. Her body moved slower than her brain these days. By the time she’d waddled to the doorway, Gū Gū was already outside, stick raised, eyes blazing.

The scene that greeted them was... absurd.

Mo Xiao, in his massive panther form, was locked in combat with a figure twice his size.

Dark fur. Massive shoulders. Amber eyes blazing with amusement.

Tiě Xióng.

The Bear King was wrestling Mo Xiao in the middle of the village clearing, looking for all the world like he was playing with an overgrown kitten. Mo Xiao’s claws raked across his chest, leaving shallow scratches that healed almost instantly.

"Little panther has spirit," Tiě Xióng laughed, dodging a swipe. "I like spirit. Makes the victory sweeter."

Around them, the village was in chaos. Cubs screamed. Warriors scrambled for weapons. Han Shān and Zhāo Yàn were sprinting toward the fight, faces twisted with rage.

And in the center of it all, Tiě Xióng caught Mo Xiao by the scruff and tossed him aside like a ragdoll.

The panther Alpha hit the ground, rolled, and was immediately on his feet again, but the Bear King wasn’t looking at him anymore.

He was looking at Bai Yue.

"Good morning, little pet," he called out, smiling. "I got tired of waiting."

Bai Yue’s hands curled into fists.

Gū Gū’s grip tightened on her stick.

And the entire village held its breath.