Chapter 34: The Pregnant Beasts’ Shock

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: The Pregnant Beasts’ Shock

After returning home, Feng Si grilled two pounds of meat and served it with two bowls of yellow grain rice, eating her fill with the little cat.

She also left a heaping bowlful for Mao Qiu.

Mao Qiu was a diligent and meticulous worker. She handled the heavy items for the stall, and whenever Feng Si was too busy, Mao Qiu would stay by her side and help greet customers.

When purchasing ingredients, Mao Qiu always picked large, fresh green potatoes. She also had her two younger sub-female sisters wait at the first-floor collection plaza every morning to buy green mustard greens.

Meat was expensive, but it was just for one lunch to treat her helper.

Now that she was making money, she wouldn’t be stingy with her household help.

Mao Qiu came up carrying large and small baskets of ingredients. As she moved them into the room one by one, her eyes kept darting secretly toward the kitchen.

She watched as Feng Si emerged from the kitchen with a large bowl. The top was covered with golden-brown grilled meat, and minced pickled cabbage was mixed in with the savory fats. The entire bowl radiated an intensely rich, sour, and salty fragrance.

Mao Qiu, who was carrying a large basket with both hands, felt a pang of ravenous hunger...

In her twenty-odd years, she had never eaten grilled meat with such a unique flavor. The taste from earlier had been a revelation. Wild mustard greens were usually slightly bitter raw, but in Feng Si’s hands, they had become sour.

’The awful taste of that vegetable... Seriously, I’d never have imagined it could become a delicacy I’d crave this much!’

The lingering flavor in her mouth had made her salivate uncontrollably while she was out shopping. It wasn’t as if she’d never had grilled meat; she’d eaten cuts far more tender and expensive than pork.

But she had never craved grilled meat like this. ’This is the sub-female who managed to become a legendary figure in the Thirteen Mountains—a place where everyone loves vegetables—by selling meat!’

The bowl was placed on the bar between the kitchen and the living room. Mao Ge, carrying the chopsticks in his mouth, set them neatly beside it. Steam gently rose from the bowl, and two loud GULPS echoed from the living room and the bar.

"Your belly is already round as a ball. No more for you," Feng Si said with a smile, carefully picking up the little orange cat and booping its greedy little forehead.

The kitten drooped its head in disappointment, its four furry little paws dangling. The tiny cat tried to suck in its breath to hide its little belly, making Mao Ge look pitiful and weak.

Mao Qiu’s focus shifted to the little brother she’d brought with her. ’Mao Ge is a Beastman, he can still eat more!’

Feng Si said, "This portion is for Mao Qiu."

Mao Qiu: "!!"

Feng Si glanced over gently. "What’s wrong? You don’t want it?"

With her eyes fixed on the food at the bar, Mao Qiu’s face lit up. "I do!"

She immediately dropped the large basket, scurried over to the table, and picked up the bowl and chopsticks with both hands, trembling slightly with excitement.

Mao Ge looked up from Feng Si’s arms. In the dim light, his pupils were dilated, dark and shimmering. He strained, stretching out his tiny body and reaching a small, furry paw toward Mao Qiu. His voice was a melodious trill. "Meeeow~~ I wanna eat~~ Feed me~~"

Feng Si placed the little chubby cat on a high stool.

Mao Ge immediately twisted around to face Mao Qiu, then hopped onto her lap. He placed his two little paws on her knees and began to knead appeasingly, a deep PURR rumbling in his throat.

Mao Qiu held the bowl high, craning her neck to quickly shovel a piece of meat into her mouth. Then, under Mao Ge’s wide-eyed stare, she said shamelessly, "You finished your food. This bowl is from Feng Si to me. You can’t have any."

Her gentle, big-sisterly sub-female demeanor vanished, replaced by that of a ruthless adult sub-female. When it came to food, she was about to teach her own Beastman brother, not even two months old, a harsh lesson.

For a Beastman, food is the most important thing.

Mao Ge tilted his little head back, his eyes following the bowl. After a quick calculation with his current level of intelligence, he realized that he couldn’t reach the delicious food even if he jumped. A look of utter disbelief filled his big eyes.

He tilted his head and looked toward Feng Si, the most powerful sub-female in the house. He was at the perfect age for tattling and immediately meowed his complaint: "Meow! Look at her! She’s eating all the yummy food by herself and won’t even let me have a sniff!"

Feng Si happened to turn around at that moment.

She avoided Mao Ge’s gaze, pretending not to notice. Not wanting to get involved in the siblings’ squabble, she headed for the hallway by the main entrance, saying, "I’m going to go move the rest of the things. There’s so much food to make today."

Mao Ge’s eyes welled with tears. "..."

’When I’m bigger, I’ll help you work, too! Then I can eat two big bowls of yummy meat!’

...

Mao Ping came by in the afternoon to buy some Green Potato and found Feng Si jarring fresh pickled cabbage. Seeing Mao Qiu praise it as incredibly delicious and recommending it so highly, she bought three jars on the spot without even a taste.

Right away, Mao Ping took the pickled cabbage to visit her sister-in-law, Yang Yan. "This is the most popular food among pregnant sub-females in the South District right now. You can chop it up and boil it with meat, fry it with meat, or just eat it straight."

Yang Yan eyed the unremarkable jar on the table. She was pregnant with a Beastman cub, and the little one in her belly was causing such a fuss that she couldn’t even stomach the tenderest of grass leaves. How could she possibly eat the vegetables from this jar?

’It’s been preserved for so long. Who knows how spoiled it is.’

Yang Yan was inwardly disgusted but didn’t let it show on her face. Giving her sub-female sister-in-law some face, she said with a smile, "Just leave it here. Thank you for visiting. Why don’t you stay for dinner? My Beastman caught a donkey-deer, and we have wheatgrass from the north."

’Pickled cabbage? No way I’m eating that. I wouldn’t even eat canned vegetables!’

Yang Yan was very confident in her family’s prosperity. Her Beastman was related to the Lord of the Green Bull Clan from Nantong City, and she had even tasted the delicacies of Pan Mountain City.

’Food from the slums of Nantong City’s South District has no place on my menu.’

However, amidst a table laden with roasted meat and tender greens, Mao Ping insisted on opening the jar and putting some of the pickled cabbage onto a plate.

"I don’t want—"

"This is amazing! Eating this between bites of roasted meat is just perfect!" Holding a large joint of meat, Shui Ye of the Water Buffalo Clan was practically inhaling the pickled cabbage. He spoke as he chewed, "Mao Ping, what do you call this stuff you brought? It really opens up your appetite!"

The moment the words left Shui Ye’s mouth, a pile of the brownish pickled cabbage landed on the plate of Yang Yan, who was sitting beside him. He didn’t forget to serve a large helping to his own sub-female as well.

Mao Ping wanted to get some more too, but the pickled cabbage dish was whisked away. The other three cubs at the table were each given only a small slice, which they wrapped in meat and devoured in one big GULP.

Instantly, three cries of astonishment came from the cubs, their eyes wide just like their Beastman father’s. "This is so delicious!"

The sub-female, Yang Yan, swallowed hard.

Smelling the aroma wafting from her plate, she couldn’t control herself. Her chopsticks darted out, picking up a piece along with some meat and bringing it to her mouth.

"Oh my! Th-this... what is this deliciousness! It has the sourness of fruit and the crunch of fruit, but none of the bitterness!" Yang Yan, the sub-female who just moments before had been the picture of a wealthy matron, lost all her previous arrogance. Her voice became shrill with excitement.