Are You Pushing Your Luck?

As she cried, Feng Rumeng encouraged herself again. She had to be strong.

She ate a bowl of fish slices left over from yesterday, washed the bowl clean, and lay down on the bed. If she wanted to live well here, she still had a lot to do.

The moon had just risen when Feng Rumeng woke again. As expected, the beasts' whooshing sounds were even more intense tonight than they had been the previous two nights. Even stuffing scraps of cloth in her ears did no good.

She put on her coat and went out of the cave. The moon shone brightly in the night sky.

She chose her first patch of ground not far from the cave and followed the steps from videos she had watched before: she took out her leaf bucket, watered the ground, dug up the soil, mixed mud, and made mud bricks.

Once the bricks had dried in the sun, she could use them to wall up the cave entrance, leaving an opening to come and go through and fitting it with a door. Then she could rest with peace of mind and stay warm in the depths of winter.

She got straight to work. Without a mold, the finished bricks were crooked, but she was very pleased with them.

In the second half of the night, the sounds stopped, and she went into the cave to rest.

At noon, Jianyue came into the cave carrying a stone bowl of mushroom soup. She felt Feng Rumeng's forehead. "She's not sick. Why isn't she awake yet?"

Feng Rumeng stirred, rubbed her eyes, and yawned. "You're here, Jianyue."

"Get up." Jianyue sat on the edge of the bed and handed her the bowl. "Here, I saved this especially for you. How can you sleep so much?"

Feng Rumeng gave an awkward chuckle. She couldn't very well say that Jianyue had helped keep her awake, could she? She sat up, took the mushroom soup, and had barely taken a sip when, "Pfft!" She sprayed it three meters away!

Jianyue jumped. "What's wrong, Rumeng? Hu Feng picked these early this morning. I drank some and had no problem."

Feng Rumeng wiped her mouth and got out of bed. "I haven't had soup in so long that I got a little excited."

Jianyue said, "Is that so?"

"Absolutely." Feng Rumeng took a sip with an apparently blissful expression. "Jianyue, did you trade beast hides for this stone bowl?"

"Yes, we traded for it at the market. Do you want one?" Jianyue asked.

Feng Rumeng's eyes lit up. "There's a market here too?"

"Yes, there's one last gathering before the cold season. Do you want to go?" Jianyue counted the days. "It's in ten days."

"Ten days? Is it far? Are you going, Jianyue? Could you take me with you? Um..." Feng Rumeng watched her expression. "Once I've hunted some prey, I'll pay you."

Jianyue laughed at her. "I don't lack anything, so I don't want your payment. I'll have Batu carry you there."

"Jianyue, is that really all right? A male who has a female mate won't carry another female."

"Batu is very obedient. We're friends. If I tell her to carry him, he won't disobey."

Feng Rumeng said happily, "Then thank you so much!"

Jianyue looked at the banana slices on the leaves. "Why did you cut all the yellow-yellow fruit into little slices?"

"To dry them and save them for the cold season."

Jianyue pointed outside the cave. "Then what are those mud blocks for?"

"They'll be very useful. I'll tell you in a few days," Feng Rumeng said with a smile.

She would have liked to build the wall with stone, but first, she had no tools; second, she had no beast claws to cut it with; and third, she had no beast hides or beast crystals to pay someone to do it.

"All right. Let me know if you need any help." Jianyue waited for her to finish the mushroom soup, then left.

Feng Rumeng watched Jianyue walk away and clicked her tongue twice. "Marks from four tigers in one night. Females in the beast world really do have strong waists."

She shook her head and carried all the banana slices outside the cave to let them continue bathing in the sunlight. The sunshine in the beast world was especially strong; she figured they would be about ready by evening.

That afternoon, she was busy inside the cave when she heard people whispering.

It was Lina, Qingqing, and the others. They were about to pour excrement over the banana slices she had laid out to dry.

Feng Rumeng picked up stones from the ground and hurled them at the group. "Fuck! When a tiger doesn't show its might, you take it for a sick cat, do you? I'll stone you heartless, wicked females to death!"

The group immediately screamed and fled in disarray. Before long, many beastmen had gathered to watch.

Hu Yang and the others also came running at the sound. Seeing their female mates covered in bruises, their eyes flashed with malice, and they strode over to Feng Rumeng.

They ordered her around arrogantly. "You thing, as ugly as a Fanged Beast. Are you pushing your luck?"

They surrounded Feng Rumeng. "Ugly female, apologize to Qingqing!"

"Apologize to Lina!"

"Apologize to Hu Hua!"

"Apologize to Hu Yin!"

A fierce light appeared in Feng Rumeng's eyes. "Who should be apologizing to whom?" Her imposing presence bore down on them. "Don't think I'm easy to bully just because I don't have a mate."

"What are you doing?" Hu Feng's fifth-rank pressure descended instantly, pinning everyone in place.

Lina, Qingqing, and the others burst into tears. "That damned, vicious, ugly female tried to kill us!"

Hu Yang and the others glared. "Hu Feng, my female has been bullied again and again. I can't stand by and do nothing."

"Is that so?" Jianyue, who had just arrived, climbed down from Batu's arms. "Why don't you ask your female what she went to Rumeng's cave to do?"

Hu Feng withdrew his pressure. "Jianyue, weren't you mating with Batu? Why did you come out?"

Just then, Hu Yu walked over and threw Lina and the others' tools onto Hu Yang and his companions. A foul stench immediately rose:

"Does that smell good? This is the fine thing the females you claim were bullied did."

The beastmen watching the spectacle covered their noses and ran off. Several of the females retched on the spot.

Hu Yang and the others' faces burned at his words. They knew their females were mischievous, but they had never expected them to disgust someone with excrement.

"My life is hard enough already. I finally managed to get a little food to fill my belly, and you're clearly trying to drive me to my death." Feng Rumeng's eyes reddened. "If you don't apologize and compensate me for this today, it won't end here."

"You beat us up like this, and you still want compensation? I want compensation too!" Qingqing said, her face contorted.

"That's right. You have to pay for the beast hides we'll need to see the witch doctor," Lina chimed in.

Feng Rumeng sneered. "Fine! I can pay."

"Rumeng, don't bow your head to them." Jianyue walked to her side. "I'll stand up for you and beat those wicked females to death."

Feng Rumeng grabbed Jianyue's arm and raised an eyebrow at Lina and the others. "Eat the yellow fruit that got excrement on it, and I'll compensate you."

Lina, Qingqing, and the others stiffened at her words.

The watching beastmen stirred again.

"This female outsider is ugly, and her heart is black too!"

"Yeah, making them eat... Isn't she just trying to disgust them?"

Not one person spoke up for Feng Rumeng.

It seemed these beastmen had turned heaven and earth upside down! Feng Rumeng's voice rang out, full of force:

"Four wicked females: two high-quality beast hides and one Grunting Beast each. If we can't come to an agreement, I'll go straight to the chief. With so many witnesses, make all the excuses you like."

"How dare you?" Qingqing's face and neck turned red with anger.

Hu Yang and the others fell silent. They were in the wrong, and if this really reached the chief, it would no longer be a matter of beast hides and prey.

Hu Feng's gaze turned stern as he warned them, "Hu Yang, you and the others bring the things over by sunset tomorrow."

Hu Hua was displeased. "It was all Lina and Qingqing's idea. Why should we have to pay?"

Hu Yin pointed at them too. "I didn't do anything. I was just watching."

Lina's expression changed. "Bullshit! It was your idea, and you said to starve her to death."

Qingqing raised her voice. "It had nothing to do with me. Don't think you can pin it on me."

The more the four of them spoke, the tenser things became, until they were all quarreling.