Clumsy Beast, Keep Your Paws Off-Chapter 352: The Rich Xuan Long

Su Qinglan woke up feeling amazing. The headache was completely gone, and her body felt full of energy.

She noticed she was alone in the large bed, so she quickly got up and headed for the hole to go down stairs.

She climbed down the vine ladder with quick, light movements.

When she was still four steps from the bottom, she didn’t wait...she just jumped directly onto the ground.

"Lan Lan!" Hu Yan and the others cried out, their hearts jumping into their throats.

They rushed forward, afraid she might hurt herself, but she landed perfectly on her feet like a graceful fox.

She looked up and her eyes brightened when she saw the tall figure standing by the basket.

"Xuan Long! You’re back!" she said with a wide smile, immediately walking toward him.

But before she could reach him, she was swamped. The three cubs saw their mother and went into a frenzy.

"Grrr!"

"Awoo!"

"Hiss!"

Three small shadows slammed into her legs.

"Ah...!"

Xiao San wanted to climb up on her, but his father caught him.

Xiao Yi latched onto her robe hem, tugging hard.

Xiao Er grabbed the other side and started chewing like it was food.

"Wait...wait...HEY!"

Su Qinglan looked down in horror as little teeth attacked her clothes from all directions.

"Babies!" she cried. "That is your mother’s clothes!"

Rip.

A small tear appeared. Her soul left her body.

"NO...! Stop! Don’t make holes!" She gently tried to pry them off. "Your momma will look like a beggar, okay?!"

The cubs ignored her completely. They tugged harder.

Rong Ye leaned over, watching with great interest. "Don’t worry, Lan Lan," he said cheerfully. "Even if you become a beggar, you will be a very beautiful beggar."

Su Qinglan froze.

Slowly, she turned her head and looked at him.

"...Do you even know what a beggar is?"

Rong Ye scratched his head, fox ears twitching. "I don’t know," he admitted honestly. "But anything that comes out of your mouth must be good, right? So beggar must be something beautiful."

Her lips twitched.

Then she smiled. It was a very dangerous smile.

She stepped closer and raised her hand.

Smack.

She smacked the back of his head.

"If I become a beggar," she said sweetly, "you will be the one begging. I’ll sit there and enjoy the fruits of your labor."

Rong Ye’s eyes lit up.

He nodded eagerly. "Yes yes, Lan Lan! You can enjoy the food and enjoy me too!"

Su Qinglan stared at him.

"...You are impossible."

She rolled her eyes and turned away, ignoring his proud smile. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Behind her, the cubs finally released her clothes and climbed up her legs instead, demanding hugs and attention.

She turned back to the cubs, but then she stopped. The light from the fire was reflecting off something bright. She narrowed her eyes and leaned down, picking up Xiao Yi to look at his neck.

"Wait a second..." she muttered, her jaw slowly dropping. "What is this? Since when do my babies have jewelry that costs more than this house?"

She looked at the glowing orange crystals on the tigers and the mysterious green jade on the snake.

She looked at the four men, her expression suspicious. "Did you guys rob a treasury while I was asleep?"

Hu Yan coughed into his hand, feeling a bit awkward. "Lan Lan, it wasn’t us. Xuan Long brought these."

Su Qinglan’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. She immediately turned to the big snake man, her face full of worry.

"What? Xuan Long, did you really rob someone? Tell me the truth! We should go back and return them right now. It isn’t right to take someone’s hard-earned treasures. They must be cursing you behind your back!"

Xuan Long’s lips pulled up into a rare, genuine smile. He realized that being with this female really brought brightness to his world.

When she was sleeping, the house was cold and tense, but now that she was awake, it was full of life and her sweet, rambling voice.

He was also relieved. She didn’t ask him why he had run away earlier or demand answers about the fight.

It seemed she was giving him space to heal his own emotional wounds, and he appreciated that more than anything. He wasn’t ready to talk about his parents yet; they were still a very sore point for him.

Without a word, he reached out and pulled her into his arms. Because of the huge height difference, he had to bend down awkwardly to nuzzle his face into the crook of her neck, but he didn’t care. This was his favorite position.

"Lan Lan," he whispered against her skin, "don’t you trust your beast husband?"

Su Qinglan pouted, though she didn’t push him away. "I want to trust you, but you have bad credit! Last time, you stole that mountain of rice from the Fat Bull tribe!"

Xuan Long stiffened for a second before letting out a low, vibrating chuckle. "Don’t worry, these are really mine. I have many shiny things like this. It’s the one thing I don’t lack. If you like them, I will go back and find you some other colors, okay?"

The other three men stood there with their jaws hitting the floor. They whispered among themselves in total shock.

"Does he even know how rare those are?" Rong Ye muttered, his tail drooping. "He talks about them like they are just worthless colorful pebbles from a river."

Han Jue narrowed his eyes. "I think... I think he only chose the orange ones for the tiger cubs because it matches their fur. And green for Xiao San because it matches his scales."

The realization hit them hard. While they fought and bled to find even one high-level crystal for their female, Xuan Long was picking them out based on color coordination.

It made them feel incredibly "poor" all over again.

Xuan Long ignored them and tightened his grip on Su Qinglan, enjoying her soft scent. "Anything you want, Lan Lan, I can give you. Just don’t look at me in a bad light again."

Su Qinglan sighed and patted his muscular arm. "Fine, fine. But if a group of angry beastmen shows up at our door asking for their jewelry back, I’m pointing at you first!"