Favorite of the Beast-world: I Got Rich Through Farming-Chapter 201 - 133: The Story of Mi Yin and Ling Hong’s Childhood, Part 3
But Gu Yin knew he didn’t want to see this hurt, vulnerable look on her face. His usually cold, hard heart couldn’t help but ache.
"I’ll always be by your side. I’m your family, Jin’er."
"And one day, we’ll have lots of cubs. We’ll be one big family..." As Gu Yin imagined their future, his eyes filled with joy. He couldn’t help but pull her a little tighter, his voice growing soft with happiness.
An Jin’s smile gradually returned. She buried her head in his chest and gave a muffled, "Mmm."
A fun idea suddenly popped into her head. She wriggled out of his arms and said excitedly, "The moon is so full tonight! Let’s make some mooncakes! They’re delicious!"
"Mooncakes?"
Gu Yin marveled at all the new words she came up with. He glanced at the night sky outside; he was actually quite sleepy, but it was rare to see her so happy, and he didn’t want to spoil her fun. "Alright. How do we make them?"
"Didn’t some of the curly-tailed rat beastmen gather a bunch of nuts from the trees a while back? If we pan-fry and roast them, they’ll be delicious in mooncakes!"
Deciding to act on the idea immediately, An Jin eagerly rubbed her hands together and pulled Gu Yin and Ling Hong into the kitchen to get to work.
Resources in the Beast World were scarce, so there was no salad oil or glutinous rice flour. An Jin did her best to find substitutes with similar properties.
She scooped out half a bowl of honey from a jar, added flour to some goat’s milk, and mixed it all together. After letting the batter rest for 30 minutes, she placed it in a steamer for about 15 to 20 minutes until it was cooked through.
Once steamed, she stirred the dough until it was smooth and set it aside to cool.
Ling Hong chopped and roasted all sorts of nuts. They wrapped the nut mixture inside the dough, rolled it into balls, and placed them into the mooncake molds Gu Yin had just finished carving, pressing them down firmly.
The three of them worked late into the night before they finally got to taste the first mooncake. While the flavor was relatively simple, its strength lay in the fresh, clean ingredients. The seven or eight different kinds of nuts had been roasted to fragrant, crispy perfection.
An Jin took a large bite of the flaky, crumbly mooncake, and her eyes instantly lit up. It was a wonderful surprise.
’This is so delicious.’
There were mooncakes in the 23rd century, but with natural ingredients being so scarce, they were all synthetic mooncakes made in food processing plants. The taste always felt like it was missing something.
"You two should try some."
An Jin gave a few mooncakes to both Gu Yin and Ling Hong.
Mooncakes could be rich if you ate too many. She planned to share most of the leftovers with the rest of the tribe tomorrow so everyone could have a taste.
"It’s very good," Ling Hong said after taking a bite and chewing thoughtfully for a moment. His praise was sincere.
Gu Yin nodded in agreement.
But neither of them ate much. After trying one, they saved the rest of the delicious mooncakes for her to eat over the next few days.
"When I was little, I lost my parents. The Old Beastman who adopted me, my grandpa, would often make me these kinds of special treats..."
An Jin didn’t know why she was feeling so sentimental and nostalgic tonight. ’Am I going crazy?’ She actually started telling Gu Yin and Ling Hong about her past.
Perhaps she just wanted someone to confide in.
And to reminisce about the old man who had taken her in.
"That’s strange. Why have I never heard either of you talk about your pasts?"
An Jin looked at Gu Yin and Ling Hong.
Gou Ni and her two mates had grown up in the tribe together like childhood sweethearts; they remembered every embarrassing little detail, right down to who wet themselves as kids.
An Jin wanted to get to know them, too.
’Gu Yin and Ling Hong are both outstanding beastmen. Their pasts must have been remarkable, right?’
But unexpectedly, the two males before her fell silent.
For as long as he could remember, Gu Yin had never met his Beast Father or Beast Mother. He had hatched from his shell alone and grown up in a small, dark, damp cave.
There were no other snakes around, and he had no idea where his siblings had gone. As a child, Gu Yin’s only companion was his own broken eggshell.
He was like an abandoned wild snake, not even knowing his own kind.
When Gu Yin was just a small snake, his every day was a bitter struggle on the brink of starvation.
He would sleep in the cave, wake up from hunger, go out to hunt and nearly be killed by some wild animal, eat, sleep again, and then wake up from hunger once more...
When he came of age, he suddenly decided he wanted a mate. He began scouting the surrounding tribes for a female who was easy on the eyes, obedient, and easy to provide for, planning to snatch one before his mating season began.
Before meeting An Jin, his life had been boring, tedious, and monotonous. There didn’t seem to be anything worth telling.
Gu Yin looked into her eyes, which were filled with curiosity and expectation, and felt a lump form in his throat. He suddenly realized how shameful and dull his past was; it held none of the wonder she was hoping for.
So, he wisely remained silent, ceding the floor to Ling Hong.
The temperature difference between day and night in the Beast World was immense. The days were as hot as a furnace, while the late night felt like an ice cave.
The bonfire in the room flickered. Ling Hong stared down, poking the flames with a branch. The warm, gentle firelight fell on his chiseled features, casting them in an aura of loneliness.
There was nothing much to say about his past, either.
His Beast Mother had abandoned his Beast Father early on, following a more powerful male to another tribe.
His Beast Father was depressed day in and day out, living like a walking corpse. He finally died in a hunting accident and went to see the Beast God.
The little wolf cub was weaned only a few days after birth. Within months, he was cut off from all sources of food. Like a pathetic hyena, he could only survive by scavenging the scraps and carrion left behind by other beastmen.
That was why Ling Hong learned to hunt and fight from a young age. He was more diligent and endured more hardship than anyone, eventually fighting his way to become the leader of the young wolf pack.
Before they met An Jin, both of their lives had been for survival and nothing more—primitive, bloody, and utterly unremarkable.
