Eat Mushrooms, Lie on a Board

Hearing what Yan Zu called her, Xiao Wu smiled. Her smile was pure and bright, like sunshine after rain, dispelling the gloom in the cottage in an instant.

The two little fang-like canines she showed no longer looked fierce. Instead, they made her look adorably innocent.

Su Qing rose, fetched a basin of hot water, and dug out some of Yan Zu's old clothes. "Xiao Wu, take a bath first and change out of those dirty clothes. You're covered in injuries, so we need to clean you up properly."

Xiao Wu looked down at her tattered clothes, a blush spreading across her face.

In all her life, she had never been in such a sorry state in front of humans.

"I... I can do it myself," she said softly.

"Your injuries haven't healed, so don't move around." Su Qing was gentle but allowed no refusal. "Mom will help you." Su Qing had called herself Mom out of habit at home.

"Mom?" Xiao Wu was stunned.

"What is it?"

"N... nothing." Xiao Wu lowered her head, her eyes reddening again.

She remembered that her own mother had already...

Su Qing asked no more questions. She simply helped Xiao Wu out of her tattered outer clothes. As the bloodstained garments came off, Yan Hu turned his head away, and Yan Zu turned and went outside.

"A-Zu, go fetch the chicken soup warming on the stove," Su Qing called from inside.

"Okay," Yan Zu answered.

"A-Zu, come in," Su Qing called.

Yan Zu carried the chicken soup inside. Xiao Wu had already changed into his old clothes. The oversized garments hung loosely on her small, thin frame, giving her a different sort of cuteness.

She sat stiffly upright on the bed, her hands resting primly on her knees, though her eyes wandered around uneasily.

"Here, have some soup." Su Qing scooped up a spoonful, blew it cool, and held it to her lips.

Xiao Wu hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth and drank.

As the warm chicken soup went down, warmth spread through her body, as though she had returned to the days when her mother was still there.

Her eyes grew hot, and tears spilled out.

"What's wrong? Did it burn you?" Su Qing panicked.

"No..." Xiao Wu shook her head, her voice choked. "I... I haven't had soup this delicious in so long."

In the Star Dou Great Forest, she had eaten raw fruit and drunk from mountain springs.

During the days she had spent wandering after her transformation, she had gone hungry as often as she had eaten her fill. No one had ever made soup for her.

Su Qing's heart ached as she listened. She handed the bowl to Yan Zu, then drew Xiao Wu into her arms and gently patted her back. "Good child, don't be afraid. There'll always be some from now on."

Yan Hu came over too. His burly frame crouched down as he tried to make himself look less frightening. "Xiao Wu, if you don't mind, think of this as your own home. I, Uncle Yan, may not have much ability, but I can still make sure you have enough to eat and warm clothes to wear."

Xiao Wu leaned against Su Qing, feeling a warmth she had never known before.

She thought of her mother.

When her mother had still been there, she had held her like this too, coaxing her to sleep.

"Can... can I stay?" she asked softly, uncertain.

Yan Zu pointed to a small bed beside his own. "This bed is yours from now on."

Xiao Wu nodded without speaking, but the sense of belonging in her eyes said it all. She knew she had found a harbor where she could rest for a while, and a group of people who truly treated her well.

Yan Hu and his wife were also deeply gratified to see that Xiao Wu had completely let down her guard.

They did not press Xiao Wu about her origins, nor were they curious about why she had appeared alone in the mountain woods. As they saw it, the child was too pitiful. As long as she was willing to stay, they would treat her like their own daughter.

The night grew deep, the oil lamp was blown out, and the cottage fell silent.

Xiao Wu lay on her little bed without a hint of sleepiness. She could clearly feel a warm, gentle energy lingering around her at all times. It was the presence coming from Yan Zu, and it made her feel utterly at ease.

She closed her eyes, and images rose in her mind: Yan Zu smiling as he handed her the spicy strips, Auntie Su Qing's gentle embrace, and Uncle Yan Hu's honest, good-natured face.

Yan Zu lay in bed, but he did not fall asleep right away. Through the Auspicious Beast Same-Heart Talisman, he could clearly sense the changes in Xiao Wu's emotions: from her initial fear and wariness, to curiosity and gratitude, and finally to the comfort and attachment she felt now.

The seasons turned, and summer gave way to autumn. Golden waves rippled across the rice fields of Five Souls Village, and withered leaves from the old locust tree in the courtyard corner carpeted the ground. Xiao Wu had been recovering from her injuries at the Yan household for more than three months.

During that time, the little girl's injuries had healed completely, nourished by the qilin's vitality and Su Qing's Green Grain. Her little face, once pale from her transformation and her brush with danger, had grown rosy and full. Her initially wary and timid nature had gradually given way to a lively, cheerful one.

She already possessed the purity and liveliness that came after a Soul Beast Transformation. Now that she had let down her guard, she was even more like a nimble little rabbit, following Yan Zu around all day and calling "Little Brother A-Zu" nonstop.

When Yan Zu cultivated, she would sit on the stone steps beside him, chin in her hands, watching quietly. Now and then, she reached out for a fallen leaf drifting onto his shoulder.

When Yan Zu went to the mountain behind the village to gather herbs, she followed close behind, using a Soul Beast's keen senses to help him locate them. Once, she pointed at a brightly colored mushroom and confidently declared that it could definitely be used as medicine. Yan Zu took one look-an extremely poisonous mushroom, the kind that would leave you lying on a board if you ate it.

He silently put the mushroom in his carrying basket, thinking, I might be able to use this thing to poison an enemy someday.

Beside him, Xiao Wu was still feeling pleased with herself. "Little Brother A-Zu, aren't I amazing?"

Yan Zu nodded. "Amazing. From now on, if anyone messes with us, feed them this kind of mushroom."

Xiao Wu: "?"

When they encountered low-level Soul Beasts, Xiao Wu would instinctively step in front of Yan Zu, baring her sharp little canines and looking both earnest and cute. The creature she was shielding him from was a thirty-year-old Timid Rabbit. Frightened by Xiao Wu's imposing presence, the rabbit promptly played dead, lying stiffly on the ground with all four paws in the air and its tongue lolling out.

Xiao Wu stared for a moment, then crouched down and poked the rabbit. "Little Brother A-Zu, is it... dead?"

No sooner had she spoken than the rabbit rolled to its feet and darted into the grass, vanishing from sight.

Yan Zu's face was expressionless. "Yep, it died very suddenly."

Xiao Wu: "..."

Yan Zu taught her to read Douluo characters, and she learned quickly. But whenever they finished a lesson, she would pester him for stories from "Grandpa Whitebeard." So Yan Zu adapted some Blue Star fairy tales and told them to her.

When he told her Little Red Riding Hood, Xiao Wu asked nervously, "Did the big bad wolf eat Grandma?"

Yan Zu said, "No, the hunter rescued her."

Xiao Wu breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "Was the hunter really strong?"

Yan Zu thought for a moment. "Yeah, the hunter had a very sharp axe."

Xiao Wu's eyes lit up. "Was the hunter's Martial Soul an axe? Like Uncle Yan's?"

Yan Zu: "...More or less."

When he told her The Three Little Pigs, Xiao Wu asked again, "What happened to the big bad wolf in the end?"

Yan Zu said, "He scalded his bottom with boiling water and ran away."

Xiao Wu nodded thoughtfully, then asked a question that left Yan Zu silent for a long time. "Did the fur on his bottom fall out?"

Yan Zu: "...Probably."

Xiao Wu: "Oh. Then will he get cold in winter?"

Yan Zu: "..." Why does this rabbit always focus on such strange things?