111: Chapter 111 "Hurry up, or I'll kiss you."

Tang Ruan hesitated for a moment.

She stretched her neck and planted a kiss on Yan Qing's cheek.

Turning around, she ran toward the outside of the palace.

Yan Qing took a deep breath.

"What must come will eventually come."

He had always known that she couldn't belong to him alone.

But when that day truly arrived, he still wished her other Beast Husbands—would all just die!

A flicker of red light flashed through his eyes.

---

Tang Ruan asked around along the way.

All the beastmen told her the same thing.

The City Lords' teams had already headed back.

Had she and Hu Che missed each other just like that?

Every time she watched idol dramas where the male and female leads missed each other,

she would scold the female lead for not staying a bit longer,

and scold the male lead for not running a bit faster.

But in reality, Hu Che truly hadn't waited for her, and she really couldn't catch up!

Perhaps they would have another chance to meet the next time he came to find Yan Qing.

Thinking this, Tang Ruan walked back dejectedly.

Suddenly, a small ball of flesh appeared in front of her legs.

Startled, Tang Ruan jumped back and landed hard on her bottom.

It hurt so much!

Wuwu...

She felt even more miserable now.

The little ball of flesh waddled on its short legs over to her.

"Hello, Auntie Tang Ruan."

Tang Ruan looked up.

"Hua Hua?"

Hua Hua reached out a chubby little hand. "I'll help you up."

As soon as she spoke, a round object in her mouth almost fell out.

With a quick slurp, it went back in.

Tang Ruan: !

Wasn't that...

"What are you eating?"

"A honey crystal, Uncle Hu Che gave it to me." She opened her small cloth bag, generously offering one to Tang Ruan.

"Where is he?"

Hua Hua thought Tang Ruan was going to ask Hu Che for candy directly, so she pulled the candy back.

Her little hand pointed in a certain direction.

Tang Ruan scrambled up. "Quick, go home and find your mother!"

"Oh!"

Hua Hua watched the direction where Tang Ruan disappeared.

She didn't expect honey crystals to be so popular!

She had to hide them well; she couldn't let the other Cubs see them.

---

Tang Ruan ran in the direction Hua Hua had pointed.

At the end was the Beast Cub School.

Next to the Beast Cub School, there was a very narrow path leading to the other side of the school.

There were only a few abandoned caves over there.

After the beastmen learned to build houses, they rarely lived in caves.

But since she was already here, Tang Ruan decided to go take a look.

She walked through the lush green path.

Looking back at the dark caves, she saw nothing special.

She sighed.

As expected, while children might not lie, they certainly talk nonsense!

Suddenly, her eyes lit up.

She seemed to see a flash of red in front of a small cave entrance.

Her feet moved toward it involuntarily.

A row of bright roses was planted at the cave entrance.

They were sparse and not very neat, just like back then...

She looked up and saw a slender hand bracing against the cave ceiling.

Hu Che stooped slightly as he walked out of the cave.

In his other hand, he held a bunch of roses.

"I really didn't expect the cave we used to live in to be so low."

He smiled, his tone sounding a bit like a complaint.

Tang Ruan instinctively walked toward the cave entrance.

It was indeed the height she remembered; she didn't think it was low.

For the Hu Che of the past, it was also just high enough to pass through.

He had grown taller.

Seeing him looking at her with a beaming smile,

Tang Ruan asked somewhat shyly, "Why haven't you left?"

"For now... I don't want to leave yet."

He deliberately kept her in suspense and stepped aside to let her in.

"Do you want to come in and see my home in Wan Shou City?

Of all the caves and houses I've lived in, this one I shared with you back then is still the most comfortable."

Tang Ruan sat down on the soft couch on 'her side'.

He sat on the other side,

resting his hands on his knees.

He was much sturdier than before.

In the past, when Hu Che sat across from her, she didn't feel the sense of pressure she did now.

The atmosphere became a bit awkward for a moment.

"Have you been doing well in Red Fox City?"

"Pretty well."

"Mm."

"It's just that I often think about the time I spent with you."

Tang Ruan pursed her lips.

Her fingers unconsciously picked at the soft couch beside her.

"And you?"

"The same as you..." Tang Ruan lowered her eyes.

Hu Che shouldn't be unaware of her feelings.

Her feelings were practically plain for all to see!

She had even asked him in a dream if he was willing to be her Beast Husband.

If that really was just a dream.

Tang Ruan later learned from a Red Fox Tribe beastman that some Red Fox Tribe supernatural abilities could make a beastman forget things that had already happened.

But a beastman with a Healing Ability would remember part of it.

So, did she ask him in a dream?

Or did she ask him in reality?

Did he deliberately make her forget because he was afraid of the awkwardness of rejecting her?

"Did you used to dream a lot?"

Seeing Tang Ruan lost in thought, Hu Che suddenly asked with a face full of expectation.

He had learned from his tribesmen

that beastmen with Healing Ability have a certain immunity to Mind Control.

So, Tang Ruan should still remember that she had confessed to him!

She should remember that he had secretly kissed her!

She should remember that she had loved him...

Every time he thought of this, Hu Che's heart would thud wildly.

It turned out Tang Ruan might remember everything.

But she hadn't looked down on his behavior back then.

"Back then, I often dreamed about the Cubs and Lang Lie." Tang Ruan gave a bitter smile.

Bad memories flooded back.

The days when she and Hu Che depended on each other were her most difficult times.

Fortunately, he was by her side, always making strange noises to interrupt her stray thoughts.

"Mm."

Hu Che suddenly stood up and walked over to her.

"I'm not talking about those, but other dreams."

"Other..."

Flashes of every lingering kiss with Hu Che crossed her mind.

The tips of Tang Ruan's ears turned red.

"I don't know which one you're talking about..."

Hu Che squatted down.

He tilted his head to look at her profile.

He had wanted to kiss her once openly while she was awake for a long time.

His lips slowly approached her cheek.

The area around his heart began to heat up.

It was as if a fierce fire was boiling the blood in his chest.

It hurt so much...

That was good.

This pain would help him remember forever.

He must never leave Tang Ruan a second time.

"Thump!"

A crisp sound suddenly came from outside the cave.

Tang Ruan looked up.

Their eyes met.

Her lips and Hu Che's were less than a centimeter apart.

So...

Was he trying to steal a kiss just now?

Tang Ruan's eyes widened.

Suddenly, a burnt smell wafted over...

Tang Ruan twitched her nose.

She looked down.

"Hu Che! Your gauze scarf is on fire!"

Hu Che: ...

This damned contract, it didn't burn him to death, but it set his clothes on fire first!

Hu Che raised his hand and threw the gauze scarf out.

His forehead was full of black lines...

Tang Ruan watched as Hu Che stood there bare-chested, hands on his hips in anger.

That part of him... was indeed pink.

How could someone grow more and more delicate as they got older?

She suddenly found his appearance a bit funny.

Other beastmen going shirtless was natural.

Hu Che going shirtless felt like he was streaking.

"Tang Ruan, have you laughed enough?" Hu Che deliberately pulled a long face.

Tang Ruan clutched her stomach, laughing non-stop.

"I've laughed enough, I just suddenly thought.

What if I wrapped a piece of beast skin around your upper body to cover it up?

Suddenly, it just felt even funnier."

"Stop laughing!"

Hu Che suddenly stepped forward and grabbed her hand.

He had already draped another orange gauze scarf over himself.

"Let's go! Come out and play with me?"

"Where to?" Tang Ruan stumbled as he pulled her, deliberately slowing her steps.

"Walk faster, or I'll kiss you if you're any slower."