The hug startled Houtu, and her face instantly flushed red.
Du Yu froze too, then hurriedly let go of her.
Things were exactly as he had suspected.
Houtu was no little boy. She had been a girl all along!
The body he had felt in that embrace definitely wasn't a man's, but that of a girl already going through puberty.
"Y-you..." Houtu stared blankly at Du Yu. "What are you doing?"
Her subordinates were startled as well. Thinking Du Yu was attacking Houtu, they crowded around him.
"Please don't misunderstand, everyone. This is just a welcoming ritual in our tribe. It's called a 'hug.' I didn't mean anything else by it," Du Yu hurriedly explained.
Though Houtu had been startled, on reflection, the man before her really hadn't done anything. She could only wave her subordinates away. "I'm fine, damn it. No need to make a fuss."
Her subordinates all backed off.
Houtu composed herself and said, "Since you're my subordinates now, come back to the tribe with me. From now on, you're members of the Jiang Tribe."
Du Yu nodded and led the Seven Outstanding Disciples of the Sage after her.
Things had gone far more smoothly than he had imagined. Just like that, he had slipped naturally into the Flame Emperor's tribe.
Along the way, many people greeted Houtu. She seemed to command considerable respect within the tribe.
What caught Du Yu's attention was that the tribespeople all addressed Houtu as "Young Chieftain." Only after asking Dong Qianqiu did he learn that "Young Chieftain" in this era was similar to what later generations would call "young master."
From the look of things, the whole tribe seemed to think Houtu was male. Or rather... she had deliberately concealed her sex.
But Du Yu knew that before long, Houtu's figure