Lin Huahua stared at him. "Do you think I am a cub?"

Feng Yiren smiled. "Cubs have better river sense."

Lin Huahua inhaled deeply.

Mu Qingyi immediately put one hand over Feng Yiren’s mouth from behind.

Feng Yiren’s red eyes widened in outrage, but Mu Qingyi only smiled gently at Lin Huahua and said, "Look at the resin, Huahua."

Lin Huahua nodded with satisfaction and leaned closer to inspect it.

Hu Baiyu watched the resin with serious confusion, then looked at the hides, then at Lin Huahua’s feet, and finally his blue eyes lit a little as if he was slowly beginning to understand. Mu Qingyi also seemed interested, not because he fully knew what she was doing yet, but because he enjoyed watching her think. Her face was focused now, her eyes bright, her ears moving every time an idea formed or failed, and her tail kept swishing in small quick movements behind her like it was helping her brain work.

Feng Yiren, once Mu Qingyi finally released his mouth, muttered, "She is collecting trash."

Lin Huahua grabbed a dry leaf and threw it at him.

He let it hit his chest dramatically, then clutched himself. "I am wounded."

"You will live."

"Unfortunately for you."

"Unfortunately for you, because I am still making something and you are still annoying."

Feng Yiren’s fox tail swished faster. "See? This is why I should watch you. If I do not speak, you will become too proud."

Lin Huahua decided not to answer him, because if she did, the footwear would never be made.

Once she gathered everything she needed, she carried her single strip of fiber back to the furs while Hu Baiyu carried the actual supplies, Mu Qingyi carried a flat stone work board, and Feng Yiren carried the resin because he had appointed himself guardian of sticky things.

Lin Huahua sat down near the fire where there was enough light, folded her legs under her, then spread the materials in front of her.

The three males immediately sat around her.

Too close.

Far too close.

Mu Qingyi sat at her left with patient eyes and a stone blade already in his hand. Hu Baiyu sat at her right with the softness of a giant lion trying not to crowd a small creature while still crowding her anyway. Feng Yiren sat across from her, one knee raised, red fox ears forward, and a look on his face that said he was ready to mock whatever she produced.

Lin Huahua stared at the three huge males surrounding her and suddenly felt like she had become a tiny teacher in front of three enormous students who were too handsome and too distracting.

"You can all go play with something else," she said.

Silence.

Mu Qingyi smiled. "We will stay."

"I am doing this myself."

"We know." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"That means you do not help."

"We will not help unless you need us."

Feng Yiren snorted. "She will need us."

Lin Huahua pointed at him without looking up. "You are not allowed to speak unless spoken to."

Feng Yiren opened his mouth.

Hu Baiyu reached over and covered it with one big hand.

This time Lin Huahua almost laughed, but she held it in and began working.

First, she placed one foot lightly over a soft hide and traced around it with a piece of charcoal. Her foot looked small against the hide, pale and delicate, with faint redness still visible along the bottom from the rough ground. The moment all three males saw the marks there, their expressions changed. Mu Qingyi’s gentleness became quiet guilt. Hu Baiyu’s lion ears drooped. Feng Yiren’s teasing look vanished for one breath, his eyes narrowing at the tiny red spots as if the stones outside were personal enemies he planned to punish later.

Lin Huahua noticed their silence and quickly curled her toes. "Do not look like that. I am fixing it now."

Mu Qingyi reached out and carefully brushed one finger near her ankle, not touching the sore part. "Does it still hurt?"

"No."

Feng Yiren stared at her. "Liar."

Lin Huahua glared. "It hurts a little, but I am not dying."

Hu Baiyu immediately touched his own chest, then pointed at her foot, then at himself again.

Lin Huahua understood somehow that he was asking if he should carry her always from now on.

"No," she said quickly.

Hu Baiyu looked disappointed.

Feng Yiren leaned back and said, "I volunteer too."

"No."

"Why no to me faster?"

"Because you are you."

Feng Yiren looked deeply offended, but before he could start another fight, Lin Huahua picked up the stone blade and carefully began cutting the shape out of the soft hide.

The first cut was ugly.

Very ugly.

The edge wobbled like a drunk worm.

Feng Yiren’s mouth twitched.

Lin Huahua looked up slowly.

He immediately pressed his lips together.

Mu Qingyi, being smarter, said gently, "The first one only needs to show the shape. It does not have to be perfect."

Lin Huahua nodded solemnly as if that had been her plan all along. "Exactly."

Then she cut the second piece.

It was less ugly.

A little.

After that, she cut the tougher hide for the bottom, then tried to place the soft fur on top of it, fuzzy side upward so her feet would not suffer. The idea made sense in her mind, but the materials kept sliding apart, and the sticky resin was too stiff at first. Feng Yiren, unable to help himself, leaned forward and warmed the resin near the fire with quick clever hands, making it softer without burning it.

Lin Huahua watched him suspiciously.

He lifted his chin. "I am not helping. I am improving the behavior of the resin."

"That is helping."

"No, it is scolding the resin."

Mu Qingyi actually laughed, and Hu Baiyu’s shoulders moved with silent amusement.

Lin Huahua huffed but accepted the softened resin because she was not stupid enough to reject useful help just because the fox was annoying.

She spread the resin between the layers, pressed the soft fur onto the tougher hide, then used a bone needle and plant fiber to begin stitching around the edge. That was where the suffering began.

The first prick caught her finger.

"Ouch."

It was barely louder than a small squeak, but three males reacted as if someone had stabbed her through the heart.