Chapter 18
Chapter 18: Marrying Into the Family
Su Yan woke to hunger so fierce it felt like claws scraping her insides.
Little Mei had warned her: the grain-avoiding pill was only for when she wasn’t pregnant. Once she carried a child, she had to eat normally.
“Little Luo,” she called hoarsely, “bring me meat.”
It was almost ridiculous. Beastmen really were born carnivores. The moment she suspected she was pregnant, yams made her stomach turn.
Only meat helped—and it had to be fresh, tender, the best cuts.
When she’d carried Little Black Panther, she’d never been this picky. This time, it was like her belly had declared war on her.
Little Luo hurried in with a plate of boar backstrap, still bright with freshness. He set it down and watched her with worry. “You’ve already eaten half a basin of meat. Are you sure your stomach’s okay?”
“I’m not the one deciding,” Su Yan muttered, swallowing another strip. “My belly is.”
Then, voice small and miserable, she added, “I think I’m pregnant.”
Oro entered at the same time with a plate of fresh fruit. He heard her and almost dropped it. “Yan Er—what did you just say?”
“Pregnant,” she repeated, rubbing her flat lower belly. “With an appetite like this, what else could it be?”
“Who knows they’re pregnant in one day?” Little Luo blurted.
He didn’t believe it, but he didn’t have another explanation either. Before, a bite of jerky or a cup of goat milk was enough.
Now she ate like she was trying to fill a bottomless pit.
Oro pressed the fruit into her hands and watched her tear into it. She looked exactly like every pregnant female he’d ever seen.
“Mouse clan females give birth in about a month,” he said slowly. “Whether you’re pregnant or not, we’ll know in ten days at most—five at least. And the boar Zulu brought is enough to feed you.”
“I don’t want jerky,” Su Yan said, almost whining. “I only want fresh meat. Preferably deer…”
She stared at her belly with helpless frustration.
People said cravings belonged to the pregnant woman. Su Yan was starting to believe the truth was worse: the cravings belonged to the baby.
Zulu arrived then, carrying a massive leather bag that sagged with weight.
“Then eat fresh meat,” he said, and his grin was bright with pride. “My female, I can feed you.”
Su Yan blinked at him, then at the bag. “What are you doing?”
“From today on, I’m marrying into the Mi Lu Te family.”
He said it like it was a victory parade.
Su Yan went silent.
Oro stared, mouth half open. “Th-this… is that appropriate? Will your old clan leader agree?”
Zulu’s eyes flickered, remembering the moment he’d tried to leave.
…
“Zulu!”
The rabbit clan’s old clan leader—hair gone mostly white—blocked his path like a wall.
“Where are you going?”
“Father.” Zulu’s voice held stubborn excitement. “I like the Mi Lu Te family’s daughter. I’m going to marry into their home.”
“Nonsense!” The old clan leader’s face went dark. “Mi Lu Te is mouse clan. His daughter has no fertility.”
“How do you know?”
“The mouse clan’s tribal shaman, Grom, told me herself. Plenty of people saw it at the coming-of-age ceremony. The fertility stone tested Mi Lu Te’s daughter—no fertility at all.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Zulu said without hesitation. “Even if she has no fertility, I’ll still live with her.”
“No!” The old clan leader snapped. “You’re going to marry the fox clan female I already agreed to—a beauty with high grade fertility.”
“Too late.” Zulu lifted his chin. “I’m already partners with Mi Lu Te’s daughter. We already mated.”
“You—you—” The old clan leader swayed, face turning gray, and collapsed on the spot.
Zulu cursed under his breath, dropping his bags to catch him.
His brothers came running, one after another, trying to block him, trying to force him to stay. But none of them could beat him.
In the end, they could only watch him leave.
…
Back in Su Yan’s cave room, Su Yan was still chewing fruit, but her hunger came in waves. “Marrying into the family is fine,” she said, bluntly practical. “But hunt more. I think I’m going to eat a lot this month.”
“This month?” Zulu repeated, catching the implication.
Su Yan patted her belly. “I think I’m pregnant. And it’s a baby that eats a lot.”
Zulu’s jaw dropped. “Already?”
They’d said she had no fertility.
If she conceived immediately, then her fertility was probably top-tier—so high that even Your Ladyship reincarnated wouldn’t be better.
Su Yan nodded, half grimacing, half laughing at herself. “I’m pregnant. And it’s picky. It only wants the most tender meat.”
“No problem,” Zulu said, turning on his heel at once. “I’ll go hunt right now.”
“Not now,” Su Yan stopped him. “Tomorrow morning. Go with Little Luo.”
Zulu paused, then nodded, forcing himself to settle. “All right. I’ll stay with you.”
He took a fruit from Oro’s plate, peeled it carefully, and fed her only the softest flesh.
Su Yan ate, then glanced at the huge leather bag again. “What’s inside?”
“Crystal coins. Clothes. Tools.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll put it in your cave.”
Little Luo finally caught up to what was happening. Zulu wasn’t a guest anymore. He was family.
“Go ahead,” Su Yan said, waving him in.
With a child already on the way, living together wasn’t strange. And this pregnancy felt nothing like the last one. She wasn’t sure she could manage it alone.
Zulu’s shoulders loosened with relief.
Su Yan wasn’t like ordinary females. She had a mind of her own. If she didn’t want him here, she really could toss him out without blinking.
“I’m thirsty,” Su Yan said, tapping her lips.
Zulu’s gaze flicked to her mouth, and memory hit him like a pulse.
“I’ll get you water,” he said quickly.
That day he hovered, attentive to the point of fussing.
That night, Su Yan barely slept.
She would doze for a moment, then jerk awake starving, sit up, and eat again. Her cheeks ached from chewing.
Finally, desperate, she reached for the system.
“Little Mei,” she pleaded, “what’s wrong with this pregnancy? I’m so hungry. I can’t stop eating.”
Little Mei’s reply came at once.
“The golden marrow pill is taking effect. Talent doesn’t rise for free—it needs energy. The fetus is upgrading.”
“Once the child is born, its talent will be locked in. It can’t be changed unless you use a heaven-mending pill.”
“One heaven-mending pill costs 10,000 points.”
Su Yan nearly choked. “That’s a robbery.”
“That’s why the golden marrow pill is the best bargain.”
“In your current situation, you can eat heavenly treasures.”
“Like what?”
“I’ll send you information on common ones.”
“Fine. Send it.”
A moment later, Su Yan’s system space gained a book so thick it looked absurd—half a meter of pages, wide enough to make her arms ache just thinking about lifting it.
She stared, amazed, then opened it.
The first page dissolved into a rain of words that poured straight into her mind.
Seven-Star Scarlet Fruit: a perennial spirit treasure. The plant stands seven inches tall with star-shaped purple leaves. The fruit is a flat red sphere, the seeds shaped like golden stars. The whole plant is edible. Before ripening, the fruit is yellow-green and highly toxic; once ripe, it is a great tonic that replenishes deficiencies of the Innate Stage… It often grows in shady places under forest trees, preferring airy, well-drained leaf-mold soil.
Su Yan gulped fresh goat milk and still felt hungry.
Zulu came in with a plate of fresh deer meat, his eyes bright. “I just hunted a deer. The most tender backstrap.”
As she ate, Su Yan looked up. “When you were in the woods, did you see a plant with star-shaped purple leaves and flat red fruit?”
“I did.” Zulu leaned closer. “You want to eat it?”
“Yes. I only want it when the fruit is red. Don’t bring the yellow-green ones.”
Zulu set the plate down like he’d forgotten it existed. “I’ll go pick it right now.”
He was already out the door before Su Yan could tell him to breathe.