Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Bad Peach Blossoms Everywhere

“I’m a normal person too,” Su Yan said, and reached for another fruit.

Zulu didn’t stop her this time, but his eyes stayed on her—steady, watchful, as if she were balancing on a cliff edge. Under that gaze, the fruit suddenly seemed heavier.

“Fine, fine. I won’t eat it.” She lowered her hand with a sigh. “You’re staring like I’m trying to poison myself.”

Rona watched their effortless closeness, the way their space left no room for anyone else. Her expression tightened, then turned ugly.

“Zulu’s Brother!”

She shouted it like she meant to shake the entire garden.

Zulu finally turned as if he’d only just noticed her. His tone was politely distant. “Miss Lei Shi.”

Rona pushed forward. “Why are you ignoring me? Isn’t my outfit pretty?”

Zulu’s gaze flicked across her skirt. “Pretty. How much is it? I’ll buy a few for Yan Yan.”

Rona’s eyes went wide. “Zulu’s Brother… what did you just say?”

“Aren’t you selling skirts?” Zulu asked, perfectly serious.

“I—I’m not selling them.” Her voice wavered with wounded pride. “And it’s two hundred crystal coin each. Who can even afford that?”

She hadn’t come to sell anything. She’d come to stun him—make him choose her, make him discard Su Yan like yesterday’s bones. If he wanted power, she could have her father hand him the clan chief seat. And she had high-grade fertility, a strong body. She could give him offspring even stronger than Su Yan’s.

Su Yan stared at the skirt. “Two hundred crystal coin for that?”

Rona snapped her chin up. “It’s from the East District. Of course it’s expensive.”

“Oh.” Su Yan’s mind drifted to the supplies she’d gotten from the System’s big gift pack. If she traded them for beast world currency… how much would they be worth?

Too bad she had no good excuse to find an East District merchant. Unless—

Her eyes slid to Zulu. He’d mentioned friends in the roc clan who could transport goods from the East District.

Zulu misread her look as doubt. “How many do you want?”

“None.” Su Yan answered without hesitation. The System had already rewarded her with clothes—pregnant outfits, yes, but far prettier than this.

“Rona!” someone called.

Rona turned. One of her father’s people. She didn’t dare ignore them. “I’m coming.”

She forced sweetness back onto her face and looked at Zulu. “Zulu’s Brother, I’ll come find you again later.”

She lifted her skirt to leave.

Then—

Rip.

The seam at her waist tore open with a vicious, embarrassing sound. A few nearby heads turned sharply. Someone sucked in a breath.

Su Yan moved without thinking. She slapped a hand over Zulu’s eyes and yanked him aside.

Even as she dragged him away, she muttered, “The moment I saw it, I thought it didn’t fit. I kept wondering when the waist would give out. I didn’t think it’d happen right then.”

“Still don’t want a skirt?” Zulu asked, amusement curling under his words. “I think it’s fine.”

He caught her wrist and pulled her hand down. As it brushed his mouth, he kissed her knuckles—light, lingering, shameless.

Su Yan froze, heat rising to her cheeks. “No. I don’t want it.”

This man was getting worse by the day.

“Wait here,” she said, taking a breath. “I’ll go see if I can help.”

She didn’t like Rona, but Rona was the clan chief’s daughter. Letting her humiliate herself in front of three clans wasn’t wise. Besides, Su Yan had children. For their future, it was better to keep peace where she could and avoid making enemies.

Zulu pointed toward Oro and Little Luo. “I’ll go check over there. When you’re done, come find me. Be careful. Don’t trip. Don’t bump yourself.”

“I’m not that fragile. When I was pregnant with my first—” Su Yan stopped abruptly, the words catching in her throat. After a beat, she forced herself onward. “I fell off the bed once. Nothing happened.”

Zulu didn’t miss the slip. “Is that so? When we get home, you’ll tell me exactly where you fell from. I’ll block it off.”

“…Alright,” she said, too quickly.

After Zulu left, Su Yan didn’t go straight to Rona. She found Ashley first and quietly explained the situation.

Ashley’s expression sharpened. She immediately brought Shava—who was good at stitching—over to help.

But Rona’s skirt wasn’t easy to mend. Forget the fabric; even thread was a problem.

Ashley studied the skirt strained across Rona’s body. “It’s pretty, but if it doesn’t fit, it won’t look good. Why not change into something else?”

“No,” Rona snapped. “My dad spent two hundred crystal coin on this. I’m wearing it.”

Ashley held her patience. “But the seam burst. If we patch it with rough hemp thread that doesn’t match, it’ll look like a scar on a beauty’s face. It won’t just dull it—it’ll make it uglier.”

Su Yan stepped in and held up a long strand of pink-orange thread. “What about this? Would it help?”

It wasn’t cotton thread. It was brocade silk, glossy in the light.

Ashley took it, startled. “This is beautiful. Where did you get it?”

“Out of a bird nest,” Su Yan said easily. “Back when I was alone in the Beast Forest, I rummaged everywhere—caught fish, stole bird eggs, whatever kept me alive.”

Shava nodded as if it made perfect sense. “Some birds collect shiny things and stack them in their nests like trophies.”

“Exactly.” Su Yan shifted, scanning the nearby crowd. “You work here. I’ll keep people from coming over.”

From the moment Rona saw the thread, her gaze toward Su Yan turned sour and sharp. Su Yan had no intention of lingering under it.

Ashley watched Su Yan walk off and intercept curious onlookers with calm, firm words. Kind, clever, always thinking ahead. No wonder Zulu had married in for her. If Ashley were a male, she might have fallen too.

She turned back to Rona. “Fox clan sent people earlier—the clan chief’s son and daughter. When your dress is fixed, go take a look. Especially that male. He’s not worse-looking than Zulu.”

Shava threaded the brocade silk through a bone needle and began stitching. With thread like this, even a jagged tear could be worked into a neat little pattern, like a small flower blooming in the wrong place.

“I heard that fox clan female is Zulu Ge’s old fiancée,” Shava blurted.

Ashley’s eyes snapped up. “That never happened. Zulu didn’t agree. Don’t say it again.”

Shava wilted and focused on sewing.

Su Yan stopped several beastmen from wandering into the area. After a while, the crowd caught on, and people gave them space.

With nothing else urgent, Su Yan opened the System map to see what Zulu was doing.

The moment it unfolded, a sweet, coaxing voice drifted from his direction. “Zulu’s Brother, why did you marry into a mouse clan?”

Zulu’s reply was impeccably polite. “Sorry—who are you?”

Su Yan stared at the map, deadpan. Rotten peach blossoms really did grow everywhere around him.

She shut it and looked toward Rona’s side instead, just in time to hear Rona lash out at Ashley.

“That aphrodisiac of yours doesn’t work at all! Zulu’s Brother drank it like water—nothing happened. Did you give me fake medicine?”