Beast World: A Fragile Beauty Blessed with Many Children-Chapter 162 - 161: River Melon Seeds

Ji Liang was definitely going to become a trader and form his own team. That was something they had agreed on long ago.

Gong You had mentioned last night that he wanted to open a Martial Arts Hall, while Xiao Cheng would manage the family’s small workshop with his kinsmen.

Yin Jiang was a squad leader and would have plenty of opportunities for promotion, so his focus would be on the Beast Soldier Camp.

Xu Chi, on the other hand, wasn’t in a rush. He had just become a Father and had his hands full taking care of a child!

Zhi Le chuckled and gently pinched her cheek. "Is my kitty starting to find me a nuisance? They all have their own business to attend to, but does that mean you don’t need company?

My Clone Ability is actually perfect for this. It at least guarantees you’ll never be short of a male by your side.

Someone has to stay and guard the home. My ambitions aren’t that grand. At least, until I level up and create another clone, I won’t be thinking about those things."

’That’s what he said, but what male didn’t have a competitive streak?’ His current focus was on leveling up. Creating a second clone would mean he had reached Level 10.

Once his cultivation improved, he would have the energy to think about what to do to give his little female a good life.

’One thing at a time, one step at a time.’

Si Shuo smiled and nodded, nuzzling against his chest and whispering, "How could that be? I love my big cat the most! I feel so safe with you all by my side."

She knew that Zhi Le and Zhi Qi would exist as separate individuals, but they shared memories and senses. Their distinct thoughts and personalities were the only things that allowed others to tell they were truly brothers from the same litter.

She cleverly used "big cat" to refer to both Zhi Qi and Zhi Le, saving herself from having the two of them bicker over which one she preferred.

"Then let’s just stay home. Besides, Xiao Cheng isn’t here every day, so you two can take turns overseeing the work in the west courtyard.

And in the meantime, we can thoroughly master the Beast Text!"

"Alright, I’ll do whatever my kitty says," Zhi Le agreed with a smile.

After a few laps around the yard, the sun began to beat down, so they headed back inside.

Si Shuo switched on the lamp, and the dim stone house instantly lit up. She took out a dictionary, redeemed some modern literacy workbooks, bought a new notebook, and started creating her own literacy guide with a gel pen.

Most of the Beast Text consisted of pictographs and ideographs. You could roughly guess a character’s meaning by looking at it in context.

However, the current Beast Text wasn’t yet systematized; the same character could have slight variations depending on which family taught it. The Beast Text in Si Shuo’s dictionary, however, was far more standardized, logical, and simplified than the existing version. It was no longer ambiguous, making it much easier to memorize and recognize.

She taught Zhi Le as she wrote.

Holding a pen and notebook, Zhi Le copied after her. He memorized simple characters after hearing them just once, marking the ones he didn’t know with phonetic notations.

After about twenty minutes, Zhi Le gently took the pen from Si Shuo’s hand, stopping her.

She had been sitting for a while, and the cubs in her belly were getting restless. Hearing Father Le’s voice, they seemed to shift with a little huff of approval.

Si Shuo stood up with a helpless smile.

Zhi Le, however, remained seated. He picked up the pen and began to practice the new characters from the two lessons Si Shuo had just written, one stroke at a time.

Si Shuo was knowledgeable about calligraphy, so she leaned over from time to time to offer pointers. In just half an hour, his writing was already looking quite good!

At noon, Gong You returned, bringing Si Shuo a large helping of river clams.

Si Shuo’s eyes lit up, and she immediately instructed Gong You to put the river clams in a bucket to purge them of sand.

Gong You smiled and placed the bucket of clams next to the poultry house. He activated his Time Rule, and after a few accelerated water changes, the clams’ muddy smell had all but disappeared.

He then scrubbed the clams vigorously with salt and flour, marinated them to infuse flavor, and let them dry slightly before pouring them into a wok of hot oil to fry.

The moment they hit the hot oil, the clams all popped open. The meat inside shrank and quickly turned a lovely golden-brown.

Gong You scooped the clams out of the wok with a strainer and set them aside to drain. Seeing his little female waiting with eager eyes, he chuckled. Undaunted by the heat, he picked up a clam, pried it open with a bit of effort, and popped the fingertip-sized morsel of meat into her mouth.

The clam meat was crispy, savory, and incredibly flavorful. Si Shuo’s eyes curved into crescents of satisfaction. "Delicious! This is so delicious! Gong You, didn’t you go to check out the Martial Arts Halls? How did you find the time to catch so many river clams for me?"

Gong You continued frying the rest of the clams while Zhi Le set to work shelling them for Si Shuo.

"The Martial Arts Halls in Beast City are all pretty similar. They’re divided into four levels based on a Beastman’s Combat Level, with two or three classes in each level.

The training is also rather simple and basic—just physical conditioning and sparring. Occasionally, the instructors lead students into the nearby forests to hunt.

I checked out four or five of them, so I have a good idea of how they operate. Then I happened to see the banks of the moat were covered in these things. I figured you’d like them, so I gathered some..."

The main reason was that he finally had a day off and didn’t want to waste too much of it outside.

Si Shuo smiled and nodded enthusiastically, patting her belly where the cubs, delighted by the delicious food, were stirring. "These are the river clams your Father Gong You brought, and your Father Le is shelling them for us.

When you’re born, you have to be good to them and show them respect!"

The cubs wiggled their little arms and legs in response.

Seeing the distinct bulge on their little female’s stomach, the males tensed up. Zhi Le gently caressed the spot and murmured with fond exasperation, "Your Mother is working so hard carrying you. Don’t be too rowdy."

As if sensing his touch, the cubs snuggled against his hand from inside Si Shuo’s belly.

The soft, small movement, full of affection, stirred a strange and wonderful feeling in Zhi Le’s heart. He couldn’t help but wiggle his fingers in response. ’Maybe it doesn’t matter so much whether they’re Snow Leopard cubs or not.’

After eating for a while, Si Shuo watched with longing eyes as Gong You packed up the large remaining basket of river clams.

"If you want more, just ask me," Gong You said with a smile, planting a kiss on her cheek. ’What can I say? I’m not very good at doting on my little female. The only way I can think of is to make sure she always knows I’m the one with her favorite snacks.’

Sure enough, now whenever he showed up, the sparkle in his little female’s eyes was the same one she had when she saw delicious food. Her eager expression was simply adorable.

"Gong You, are there a lot of those river clams in the river?"

’The clam shells, when calcined at a high temperature, would turn into lime powder.’

’Lime powder can be used to bleach pulp and remove impurities, allowing the paper to last for a long time. It greatly improves its longevity!’

’If they can control this step,’ Si Shuo mused, ’then no one in Guangshou City will be able to completely replicate our paper. We won’t have to worry about the business being stolen. At worst, I can have Ji Liang bring some back when he’s out on his trade runs.’

"Tons. The riverbanks are covered with them. If my dear likes them, I’ll catch a lot more for you when I have time. We can stock up and have them during the rainy season and the coldest season."

Whenever resources were mentioned, the conversation always turned to the rainy season and the coldest season.

’The world I came from had all four seasons, but spring and autumn were fleeting. We had air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. For someone like me, who was often stuck at home or in a hospital, passing the time wasn’t too difficult.’

The original owner’s memories were hazy, so Si Shuo didn’t yet have a deep understanding of the rainy and coldest seasons that everyone seemed to fear and tremble at.

"Zhi Le, Gong You, what do you two do during the rainy and coldest seasons?" she asked curiously.

Zhi Le and Gong You exchanged a look, a glint of understanding that only males would share flashing between them.