Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Vying for Favor, Who to Sleep With Tonight?

"An’an," Han Li said, walking a few steps faster to catch up to Yu An. "I feel like someone’s watching us from behind."

"Really?"

Yu An glanced back but didn’t see anything.

She looked at Mo Yan, who also shook his head. "I don’t sense anyone. Han Li must be mistaken."

Han Li frowned. "Your spiritual power hasn’t recovered yet, so of course your sensing ability can’t compare to mine."

"An’an, listen to what he’s saying."

Mo Yan immediately looked aggrieved. "Is he deliberately humiliating me just because my spiritual power is weaker than his right now...?"

Han Li was stunned. ’What did I even say?’

"That’s not what I meant," he said angrily. "Mo Yan, stop talking nonsense!"

’Right, right. Not only is that damn snake’s body black, his heart is black too!’

"Alright, alright," Yu An said, a headache coming on. "We’re almost home. Both of you, just drop it."

The moment she spoke, the two of them shut their mouths, no matter how reluctant they were.

Zhu Qingqing looked at Yu An with admiration. ’If only I could be a female like Boss Yu!’

Although they had hired someone to help, the main labor force was still the three men. Zhu Qingqing felt bad about this and offered to do the heavy lifting, but Yu An refused.

"What are males for if not to do work? All you need to do is keep me company and watch the Zaizai."

But seeing Zhu Qingqing was at a complete loss, Yu An thought for a moment and said, "Then how about you help me cook?"

After being tasked with washing the rice and vegetables, she visibly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, she began to wash them meticulously, not missing a single speck of dirt.

Da Hu and Xiao Yu wanted to help wash the vegetables, but Zhu Qingqing stopped them. "You two go play. This is what I should be doing."

’Getting paid without doing any work really makes me feel uneasy.’

After finishing that, she also swept the cave until it was spotless. A spider that was attempting to build a web inside had only gotten halfway done before it was swept out of the cave, web and all.

Yu An had only been gone long enough to cook a meal, but when she returned, she found her cave looked brand new.

"Alright, alright, you don’t have to sweep anymore."

She stopped Zhu Qingqing, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "It’s clean enough. I’ve finished cooking. The sun is about to set, so you should take this home to eat."

Worried that Zhu Qingqing would be scared going home too late, and also that she might feel uncomfortable eating with them, Yu An packed some of the food into a lunchbox.

Zhu Qingqing looked at the meat, vegetables, and rice inside, the aroma wafting straight into her nose.

She gulped hard and quickly waved her hands. "No, it’s okay. I won’t eat."

"Is it not to your liking?"

"No, that’s not it," Zhu Qingqing said, lowering her head in shame. "It smells too good. I’m too fat. I’m afraid I’ll gain even more weight if I eat it."

"Actually," Yu An said, her gaze falling upon her, "there’s a question I’ve been meaning to ask."

"You said before that you keep gaining weight even if you only drink water or eat nothing at all. Have you never suspected that the weight gain isn’t your fault?"

In her free time, she had made many little snacks for Da Hu and Xiao Yu. The two little ones had generously offered to share with Zhu Qingqing, but she hadn’t eaten a single bite.

So the two little ones wouldn’t overthink it, she had told them her story as if it were a joke.

Zhu Qingqing gave a bitter smile. "Of course, I’ve suspected it. But I went to see a witch doctor, and she said there was nothing wrong with my body."

"A witch doctor? From the Qingyan Tribe?"

"No," Zhu Qingqing shook her head. "It was the witch doctor from the Giant Stone Tribe. The witch doctor from my tribe doesn’t really like me. Only the one from the Giant Stone Tribe was willing to treat me."

Yu An raised an eyebrow. "She was that kind-hearted?" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Zhu Qingqing shook her head again. "She wanted me to help her test some new medicines she was developing, but for some reason, they all failed. They had no effect at all."

Yu An estimated Zhu Qingqing’s weight. ’Could it be because the dosage was too low?’ she wondered.

She made an excuse that she also knew a little bit of medicine and asked Zhu Qingqing to hold out her hand so she could diagnose her.

’My consultation fees are usually very expensive, but I’ll waive them this time for the chance to freely pet a panda.’

Her superpower entered Zhu Qingqing’s body and roamed around. Just as Yu An expected, she found something.

It was a worm, as thick as a little finger, lying quietly on Zhu Qingqing’s stomach.

Yu An didn’t know if this worm was the reason for Zhu Qingqing’s weight gain, but it was the only foreign object in her body.

She crushed the worm with ease, then used her superpower to drag its corpse slowly up through the esophagus.

Seeing the worm, Zhu Qingqing felt a wave of nausea. She wanted to vomit but couldn’t.

Yu An tossed the worm into the trash can. "I found this inside you. Let’s do an experiment. First, weigh yourself, and then tomorrow we’ll see if your weight has gone down."

She took out a scale and had Zhu Qingqing stand on it. A glance at the number showed it was three hundred and eighty-five pounds.

Yu An pressed the lunchbox into her hands. "If that worm was the cause, then you won’t gain any more weight even if you eat."

Before Zhu Qingqing could refuse, she quickly said, "It’s getting late. You should hurry home. Remember to find me at the stall tomorrow."

After she left, Mo Yan and the other two men finally entered the cave.

Feng Xuan complained, "The three of us are doing all the work anyway. Why did you hire someone?"

It had resulted in them all being kicked out of the cave, forced to wait outside for a long time.

Yu An replied righteously, "Because she’s cute! And so fluffy! I absolutely adore it!"

’If I weren’t afraid of scaring the poor girl, I would have buried my head in her fluffy belly and taken a huge whiff!’

’Yeah, she’d probably think I was a creep.’

Mo Yan was about to die from jealousy.

’Not only do I have to guard against Han Li trying to win her favor and worry about Feng Xuan changing his mind, but now I have to guard against other females, too?!’

Han Li had the same thought, though in their eyes, their rival suitor was still the bigger threat.

After dinner, a problem that had never existed before arose—

Mo Yan and Han Li asked in unison, "An’an, who are you sleeping with tonight?"

Han Li stared at her eagerly, fluffy ears popping out on top of his head as his tail emerged to hook around Yu An’s wrist.

"An’an, I’m fluffy too. You can touch me anywhere you want."

Not to be outdone, Mo Yan transformed his lower body into a snake tail, the tip slowly slithering up Yu An’s calf.

"An’an, my spiritual power hasn’t recovered yet. And yesterday, in the stone room, you really liked my two..."

Yu An’s face flushed bright red. "Shut up!"

’Keep your voice down! Is this something to be proud of?!’

Mo Yan shut his mouth, but his snake tail didn’t stop. It probed under Yu An’s clothes and only behaved after she slapped it away with a stern look.

Han Li gloated, "You must not have pleased An’an properly. That’s why she told you to shut up."

"An’an, I may not have any experience, but I can learn. Give me a chance to practice, and I’ll definitely be better than Mo Yan."

"If you want, I can even maintain my beast form while we do... that. You’ll definitely like it..."

"You shut up, too!"

’Oh my god, what is with these people!’

Mo Yan twitched the corner of his mouth and shot Han Li a disdainful look.

Han Li, not backing down, met his gaze with daggers in his own eyes.

Yu An ignored their standoff and made a decision. "You two will sleep with the Zaizai. Feng Xuan and I will go to the cave next door."

Feng Xuan hadn’t wanted to live in the same cave as Yu An, afraid he’d see something he shouldn’t, so he had dug a separate cave for himself.

At this, his face went completely blank. "Huh?"

’With me?’