By the time they finally returned to the stone cave house, Lin Huahua looked less like a proud rat princess and more like a soaked little rice ball that had been dragged through a river, wrapped in a hide cloth, and carried home under the combined terror of three angry beastmen.

Mu Qingyi carried her the whole way back and did not put her down even once, no matter how many times Lin Huahua quietly said that she could walk now.

His broad bare chest was warm against the hide wrapped around her, his strong arms held her steady beneath her knees and back, and every few steps he looked down at her face to make sure her lips were no longer pale and her breathing was normal.

His large antlers brushed against low leaves once or twice as they passed through the forest path, but he did not even care. His whole focus was on the small female in his arms, because to him, she had gone underwater once and that was already enough to make every river in the world look suspicious.

Hu Baiyu walked on one side with his lion ears still pressed low against his wet white hair, and even though he had already shifted back into his human form, the tension in his body still made him look like a lion preparing to pounce at any second.

His hide beast skirt clung damply to his powerful thighs, his broad shoulders were scratched in a few places from the underwater fight, and every few breaths he reached out and touched Lin Huahua’s foot, hand, or the edge of the hide around her as if he needed to keep proving to himself that she was still there.

Feng Yiren walked behind them with the worst face Lin Huahua had ever seen on him.

His red fox ears were sharp and stiff, his red tail kept lashing behind him, and his lean muscular chest rose and fell with a fury he had been forcing himself to swallow ever since Mu Qingyi told him to stop scolding her.

He looked like he wanted to bite the river, bite the merman, bite the fish that had lured her, and maybe bite Lin Huahua too, though in his case the last one was always a little suspicious.

The moment they stepped into the cave house, Mu Qingyi carried Lin Huahua straight to the thick pile of furs and sat her down carefully.

He did not release her right away. He first touched her forehead, then her cheeks, then her neck, checking her warmth with the back of his fingers. His deer tail flicked once when he found her skin colder than he liked, and without wasting time he turned his head toward Hu Baiyu.

"Hot water," Mu Qingyi said.

Hu Baiyu had already moved before the words fully left his mouth.

That was how fast he reacted.

The huge white lion went to the back of the cave where the clay pots and hollowed stone basins were kept, and Lin Huahua heard the splash of water, the clink of hot stones being lifted with wooden tongs, and the soft heavy sounds of a large male moving through a primitive home with careful speed.

He poured water, added heated stones, crushed a handful of warming leaves with one big palm, and kept glancing back toward the main room every few seconds as if Lin Huahua might disappear if he looked away too long.

Feng Yiren stood near the entrance for one breath, arms crossed, face dark.

Then he snapped, "You are never going near water again."

Lin Huahua, who had just been trying to look pitiful and weak so nobody would scold her too much, immediately raised her head.

"I was dragged in," she said.

"You walked in first."

"The fish tricked me."

"The fish tricked you because you followed them."

"They looked cute."

Feng Yiren stared at her like she had taken a stone and thrown it directly at his sanity. "Cute? Little rat, if something in the wild looks too cute and starts leading you away from safety, that means it is either bait, poison, or somebody’s dinner pretending to be friendly."

Lin Huahua hugged the hide cloth around herself and huffed, her damp white rat ears twitching with offense. "You are saying that because you are a fox and you see evil in everything."

"I see danger in everything because unlike you, I have survival instincts."

"I have survival instincts."

"You followed jumping fish into deep water."

Lin Huahua’s mouth opened.

Then closed.

Then opened again. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

She pointed at him with one small finger, looking so wronged and wet and pink-cheeked that the serious effect she wanted did not arrive at all. "That does not count."

Feng Yiren’s red eyes narrowed. "It counts more than anything else."

Mu Qingyi, who had gone to pick up dry hides and fresh furs, paused for a moment and looked between them. He knew Feng Yiren was scared. Anyone could see it. The fox’s anger was only covering fear, and his fear was only covering the terrible memory of watching their female vanish beneath the water. But Lin Huahua was still shivering slightly, her hair was damp, her ears were drooping from tiredness, and even though she was arguing with him, her small hands were clenched too tightly around the hide cloth.

So Mu Qingyi looked at Feng Yiren and said gently, "Enough for now. Let her warm herself first."

Feng Yiren’s jaw worked.

He wanted to argue.

He truly did.

But Hu Baiyu returned at that exact moment carrying the steaming water basin with both hands, and the huge white lion’s blue eyes landed on Feng Yiren with a warning so quiet and heavy that the fox swallowed whatever sharp words were still inside his mouth.

Lin Huahua noticed.

Naturally, she noticed.

And because she was Lin Huahua, the second she realized Feng Yiren had been silenced by the other two, her little spirit recovered enough to be annoying again.

She peeked at him from behind the hide cloth, then stuck the smallest bit of her tongue out again just to annoy him.

Feng Yiren froze.

His fox ears lifted with outrage.

Lin Huahua immediately tucked her tongue back in and lowered her head, pretending she had done nothing.

Feng Yiren pointed at her. "She just mocked me."

Mu Qingyi turned around with folded hides in his hands and looked at Lin Huahua.

Lin Huahua instantly widened her brown eyes, let her wet ears droop, and leaned back into the fur pile like a fragile little flower that had just survived great suffering. "I did not do anything," she said softly, her voice small and innocent. "I am still so cold."

Feng Yiren nearly choked on air.