Clumsy Beast, Keep Your Paws Off - Chapter 285

Chapter 285: Chapter 285: A Real and Fake Spiritual Plant
Lan Yue leaned in closer, dropping her voice to a whisper as if sharing a royal secret.

“There are rumors that my mother’s health isn’t very good. My fathers love her so much that they actually restrain themselves. They don’t want her to be pregnant too often because it exhausts her spiritual energy. That’s why she doesn’t have many mates or many children. They protect her like she is the most precious treasure in the world.”

Su Qinglan felt a pang of sympathy. In this world, a female’s health was tied so closely to her fertility.

She thought of her own husbands…the protective tiger, the stoic snake, the calm wolf and the mischievous fox. They, too, treated her like a treasure.

“Your mother sounds like a very brave woman,” Su Qinglan said softly.

“And your child will be strong, carrying the blood of the East Sea and the Dragon City. You must eat more of this fish stew for the baby.”

Lan Yue nodded, her eyes moist. “I will. I have to be strong to get back to them. I have to tell my mother that I survived.”

Su Qinglan tilted her head, a look of genuine curiosity crossing her face. She looked at Lan Yue’s stomach and then back at her face.

“Since your husband was a mermaid, does that mean you are going to give birth to an egg? Or will it be a baby?”

Lan Yue nodded slowly, her expression turning bittersweet. “Yes… it will be an egg. My husband’s bloodline is very strong. But that is why I am so worried.”

She gripped the edge of her wooden bowl, her knuckles turning white.

“In the Dragon Beast City, we have special birthing pools, but for a mermaid’s egg, the best place is the East Sea. If the egg isn’t kept in the right temperature of salt water immediately after it is laid, the shell might become too brittle, or the little life inside might not survive.”

Her voice trembled as she continued. “I have to go back. I have to see my mother and my fathers. Only with their help and the sacred waters of the sea can I give birth safely. If I stay here in the mountains… I don’t know if I can protect my child.”

The mood in the room suddenly turned heavy and sad.

Lan Yue looked out the window toward the direction of the distant ocean she couldn’t see.

The joy of talking about her family had been replaced by the cold reality of her situation. She was a pregnant female, thousands of miles away from the water she needed, trapped in a forest where she was a stranger.

Su Qinglan felt a pang of sadness in her heart. She looked at her own round belly. She was lucky; her tiger cubs would be born right here in the warmth of her home. But for Lan Yue, every day away from the sea was a day of risk.

“Don’t be sad, Lan Yue,” Su Qinglan said, reaching out to squeeze her hand firmly.

“We won’t let anything happen to you or the egg. My husbands are very strong, and I am a witch doctor. We will find a way to get you back to the East Sea, or we will bring the sea to you. I promise.”

Lan Yue looked at Su Qinglan, her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t know how a small fox tribe could help her reach the distant ocean, but looking at Su Qinglan’s determined face, she felt a tiny spark of hope.

“Hmm” she nodded with tears in her eyes.

***

Su Qinglan had just stepped out of Lan Yue’s house, her mind still heavy with thoughts of mermaid eggs and distant seas, when a green blur suddenly streaked across her vision.

THWACK!

Before she could blink, Stove had launched himself through the air like a leafy cannonball, wrapping his thick, unruly vines around her waist and rubbing his main stem affectionately against her shoulder. He let out a series of happy, vibrating hums that shook Su Qinglan’s entire chest.

“Stove! You’re back!” Su Qinglan laughed, her mood instantly brightening as she patted his broad, waxy leaves.

“I was so worried about you! You’ve grown so much, you naughty plant!”

Stove’s leaves rustled with pure ego. He did a little wiggle, practically purring under her touch.

But then, he remembered he had something to show her. He had brought back a “trophy” from his forest adventures, and he wanted his master’s approval.

With a quick, jerky motion, he reached behind his back with a secondary vine and yanked something out into the open.

The Little Flower Wife: “!!!”

One second, the tiny spiritual flower had been tucked away in her pot, peacefully dreaming about a nice, quiet sunny day.

The next second, the “Monster Plant” had uprooted her without so much as a polite rustle and dragged her through a window.

Now, she was being dangled in front of a very round, female beastman.

The flower plant’s petals shriveled in absolute horror. Is this it? she thought miserably. Is the monster plant offering me as a snack to the Great Fat One?

Is she going to eat me to satisfy her pregnancy cravings? I’m too young to be fed alive!

She tried to struggle, her tiny leaves flapping pathetically, but Stove’s grip was like iron. He held her up proudly, waving her in front of Su Qinglan’s face as if to say,

“Look, Master! I found a wife! Isn’t she small and pathetic? I’m going to feed her until she’s as big as a tree!”

Su Qinglan’s eyes widened. She stared at the delicate, trembling flower plant hanging helplessly in Stove’s vines. “Stove… is this… a spiritual plant?”

Stove hummed a “Yes!” and shoved the flower even closer, nearly poking Su Qinglan in the eye with a petal.

The flower plant wanted to cry, but she didn’t have tear ducts.

“My life is a tragedy,” she thought, dangling upside down. First, I’m left behind by my family. Then, I’m kidnapped by a carnivorous plant with no manners. And now, I’m being presented as a garnish to a pregnant fox. Oh, Great Beast God, just let it be a quick death!

Su Qinglan reached out and gently took the tiny flower from Stove’s vines, cradling her in her palm. “Oh, you poor thing, you’re shaking so much! Did this big bully scare you?”

The flower plant froze.

The “Fat Female” had a very warm, soothing energy. In fact, it was the purest spiritual energy the little flower had ever felt.

Instinctively, her shriveled leaves began to relax and unfurl.

Wait… she’s not eating me? The flower thought, suspicious but hopeful. She feels… like a forest goddess. Maybe she can protect me from the Monster Plant?

Stove, seeing his master holding his wife, became incredibly jealous.

He immediately wrapped a vine around Su Qinglan’s arm and tugged, trying to get her attention back. He pointed at the flower, then at himself, and did a proud “muscle” pose with his leaves.

Su Qinglan burst into laughter. “I see, Stove. You actually kidnap a real spiritual plant, right? Are you not afraid that your cover of a spiritual plant will be blown up?”