Chapter 32
Chapter 32: The Female Everyone Envies Most
Behind the beast god temple, wine stash cave stayed cool even when the outside air warmed. The scent of fermented fruit hung thick and sweet, clinging to stone and skin.
Jia Lian Wa Er Tuo poured fruit wine from a huge stone jar into gourds and bamboo tubes, one after another. Her hands moved on habit alone—steady, fast, but too thin, knuckles sharp under taut skin.
Ashley watched her, heart tightening. They’d gone through the coming-of-age rite together. Now Jia Lian lived in breeding den, and every time Ashley saw her, she looked more drained than before.
“Jia Lian,” Ashley said gently, “cub nursery is short-handed. I’ll arrange for you to go there.”
“No.” Jia Lian didn’t look up. She packed the filled gourds into a vine basket. “I still want to get pregnant. But no one will marry me, so I can only stay in breeding den. Su Yan’s mother was a breeding den low grade female, wasn’t she? She got pregnant. I can too.”
“Everyone’s body is different.”
“We’re all mouse clan,” Jia Lian insisted. “Su Yan didn’t even test her fertility at the coming-of-age rite, and she still gave birth to two females and one male.”
“That was her luck,” Ashley said, voice soft but firm. “You can’t use someone else’s luck as your standard.”
“I just want to get pregnant. I want cubs.” Jia Lian’s voice roughened like something scraped raw. “But no male will marry me. My fertility is low grade, I’m not pretty, and the only place left to me is breeding den. I can’t think of anywhere else that would let me get pregnant.”
A knock sounded.
Su Yan leaned into the doorway with an easy smile. “Hey. What are you beauties talking about?”
“Su Yan, you’re here.” Ashley’s face brightened immediately, as if the cave itself warmed.
Jia Lian’s expression tightened for a heartbeat, then she lifted a hand in a stiff greeting.
Su Yan went straight to Ashley. “Zulu’s doing my work, so I slipped over to beg for something to eat. The berries you sent this morning.”
At the sound of Zulu’s name, Jia Lian’s eyes dulled—like someone had pinched out a flame. She lowered her head and kept working.
Ashley laughed. “That’s easy. Eat as much as you want. Come, I’ll get you some.”
“Aren’t you saving them for tomorrow’s banquet?”
“There’s plenty. It’s the ripening season. The hills are covered in them.”
“Which hill?” Su Yan asked. “I’ll have Zulu pick them.”
Ashley blinked. “You’re making our great hero go pick wild berries?”
“Hero or not, if he can be used, then use him,” Su Yan said breezily.
Ashley shook her head, amused. “Only you would dare order him around like that.”
“Because I’m the wife lord.” Su Yan didn’t even hesitate.
Then she noticed Jia Lian’s silence and turned. “Jia Lian?”
Jia Lian lifted her head at last. “Yeah?”
“You look pale,” Su Yan said. “Do you want to rest?”
Ashley sighed. “That’s why I brought her here. She’s exhausted over there.”
Su Yan knew Jia Lian lived in breeding den. She’d even told Little Luo and Oro that if they ever saw Jia Lian buying jerky, they should waive the price if they could.
But Jia Lian hadn’t come to their stall again.
“I’m not like you,” Jia Lian said, head bowed. “You have a father, brothers, and a grandmother. You have high grade fertility. In my family I’m the one earning money, my fertility is the lowest, and I’m not pretty. I can only scrape by in breeding den—the place you all look down on.”
The words landed like a slap in the cool cave air.
Su Yan froze.
Ashley froze too, caught between anger and pity, unable to find the right shape for her reply.
In the end, Su Yan’s voice softened. “Jia Lian… what you become isn’t decided by others. It isn’t handed to you. It’s you. Before the coming-of-age rite, I lived in the senyu beast forest. No father. No brothers. I lived like a wild beast—never sure there’d be a next meal. And I still survived. You can survive in breeding den too. As long as you can support yourself, what ‘high’ or ‘low’ is there?”
Jia Lian let out a sharp laugh—and then she laughed harder, the sound breaking strangely at the edges, half-mad with fatigue and bitterness. “Right. You have Zulu. You have a pretty face. You can give birth. In mouse clan tribe, the female everyone envies most is you. Even Ashley’s sister is the same. In Brother Lin Lang’s heart, you’re an irreplaceable presence. If anyone says one bad word about you, he’ll flip his face and fight on the spot.”
Ashley’s expression turned cold, the warmth snapping clean away. “Jia Lian. Are you drunk? What nonsense are you saying?”
Then she turned to Su Yan at once. “Don’t take it to heart. She’s just talking drunk. Come—I’ll get you berries.”
She tugged Su Yan toward the exit.
Su Yan glanced back. Jia Lian had lowered her head again, shoulders caving inward, as if the darkness inside her had weight. “I’m fine,” Su Yan said quietly. “She’s probably just tired. Go take care of her.”
Zulu appeared as if summoned. He nodded to Ashley. “The hide scrolls are all sorted. I’m taking Yan Yan home.”
“You’ve both worked hard,” Ashley said, gratitude plain on her face. “You helped so much. Later I’ll personally pick the best fruit and send it over.”
“No, no,” Su Yan hurried to refuse. “Save it for tomorrow’s banquet.”
“There’s plenty,” Ashley insisted.
“Just tell me where it grows,” Zulu cut in smoothly. “I’ll pick it myself. Lately her appetite changes on a whim—she’s hard to cater to.”
Su Yan shot him a sharp look. “Stop talking.”
Zulu only smiled, eyes bright with an almost shameless delight. “Let’s go.”
He lifted her into his arms like she weighed nothing.
Su Yan reflexively looped her arms around his neck. “What are you doing—”
Zulu dropped his head and kissed her.
Not a quick kiss. Not a careful one. He took her mouth like no one else existed, like he couldn’t be bothered with who was watching.
Su Yan went soft in an instant, face flushing hot and bright, heat blooming under her skin.
Ashley watched them leave and stood there for a long moment before turning back into wine stash cave.
Jia Lian was curled up on the ground, arms locked around her knees, trembling as if she were crying.
Ashley crouched beside her and patted her bony back, gentle despite everything. “If you want to go to cub nursery, tell me anytime.”
She stood to leave, then paused after a few steps without turning around. “You weren’t wrong. I used to be jealous of her too. But now I don’t care. I realized she matters more to me than Lin Lang. Being friends with her brings far more benefit than being enemies. Our coming-of-age rite is over—we’re not little children anymore. You said you’re the pillar of your family. Life isn’t just about romance. It’s survival. It’s the strength of the tribe. Stop being willful. Look at reality, and choose what’s better for you.”
Jia Lian didn’t move until Ashley was gone. Then she lifted her head, eyes burning with jealousy and hate. She grabbed a gourd of wine and gulped it down, throat bobbing hard. “All of you stand up high, carried and pampered by everyone, so clean and pure. How would you know the pain in the filth? I hate you!”
…
Su Yan was carried through open ground, under countless eyes, until the beast god temple was finally behind them and the noise faded.
Only then did she snarl, “Put me down. If you don’t, I’ll starve your cub.”
Zulu stopped immediately and set her down, expression turning careful. “What do you want to eat? I’ll make it.”
“The berries Ashley sent. Sweet and sour.” Su Yan’s stomach twisted again. “And roasted meat—charred and dripping with oil.”
Zulu’s smile turned wickedly beautiful, like moonlight on a blade. “Alright. I’ll roast it for you.”
Su Yan blinked, momentarily caught by that smile. “You can roast meat?”
Zulu pinched her cheek, gentle but possessive, as if he couldn’t help himself. “For you and our cub, I can do anything.”
Su Yan exhaled through her nose.
Her mother had always said sweet-talking men were the least reliable.