TFBAT – Chapter 24

When Hu Jin returned to the stone house, he looked as if he had already recovered his usual self on the surface.

“Hu Jin, come eat quickly!” Chi Yuyang heard movement, lifted her head, and glanced over.

Freshly bathed and in human form, Hu Jin was staring at the meat in her hand, lost in thought.

“Hu Jin!” Seeing his appearance, Chi Yuyang walked over and took his hand. “Go sit by the fire and dry yourself.”

Although she knew Hu Jin wasn’t afraid of the cold, the sight of him dripping wet still sent her mind astray.

Water trickled down his chest, soaking the animal skin wrapped around his waist until it was nearly useless.

And yet his eyes remained so clear and bright that Chi Yuyang seemed to catch her own flustered, heated expression reflected in them.

She quickly lowered her head.

It must be because she was hungry!

“Hurry up and eat.” Chi Yuyang repeated herself, as if persuading herself as much as him, or perhaps covering up something else.

Because of that, she forgot to wonder why Hu Jin had bathed in human form this time, or why he had been doing it so frequently lately.

“Alright.” With that, Hu Jin quickly sat down beside her, though he didn’t pull her into his arms like usual.

Thanks to the animal skin Tigresshu had given her, Chi Yuyang didn’t feel cold.

She tilted her head to look at Hu Jin, who was staring blankly into the fire. Then she picked up a piece of roasted meat and lightly brought it to his lips.

Catching the scent, he instinctively opened his mouth and pulled the meat in.

The whole time, Hu Jin’s eyes never left the flames.

It was an act carried out purely by habit.

Hu Jin never refused food placed at his lips.

That made Chi Yuyang find it amusing. She picked out a few larger pieces and fed them to him one by one.

As expected, every piece ended up in his mouth.

But his gaze remained unfocused, and throughout being fed, he didn’t say a single word.

Seeing this, Chi Yuyang suddenly stopped her hand.

Hu Jin’s lips were still slightly parted, waiting for the next piece to arrive on its own.

At that sight, Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

As expected of a carnivore—no matter when, he could never resist meat’s temptation.

“Hu Jin, what are you thinking about so deeply?” She saw his body had dried and squeezed herself into his arms.

Sure enough, Hu Jin’s embrace was still warmer than anything else.

At the same time, she stuffed a piece of meat into her own mouth.

The chunk was large. She had only bitten off a small piece and hadn’t swallowed yet when the man beside her moved.

“Hu Jin!” Chi Yuyang cried in surprise.

Holding her, Hu Jin leaned toward the source of the meat’s fragrance and bit down on the piece at her lips.

At first, he was only licking the meat.

But once the meat was gone, his tongue moved to her lips.

“…” She regretted feeding him meat now.

Because in the end, what was eaten wasn’t just the meat.

After a long moment, Chi Yuyang touched her burning red face and sighed.

This tiger’s ability to learn had its downsides—for example, his kissing skills grew more practiced each time.

Luckily, Hu Jin seemed back to normal now.

It must have been that he was simply too hungry earlier.

Chi Yuyang convinced herself of that.

After all, she was hungry too.

“Hu Jin, when are we going back to the tribe?” To ease the sultry air between them, Chi Yuyang brought up another topic.

She still needed to examine the suspicious substances taken from the ape tribe.

“We’ll leave after eating.” Seeing Chi Yuyang pick up her rice, Hu Jin finished off the rest of the meat.

Truthfully, they hadn’t needed to return to the stone house at all. But on the way back from the apes, Hu Jin’s will had been disturbed, and he had unconsciously brought Chi Yuyang here.

Because deep down, what he truly longed to do… was something forbidden by the tribe’s rules.

If the female was not in heat, the male could not mate with her.

Chi Yuyang couldn’t have guessed what was on Hu Jin’s mind, nor did she know the tiger tribe’s rules about mating.

Although Hu Jin often brought up the word “mate,” she deliberately chose to ignore it for various reasons.

What she could sense, however, was that lately Hu Jin often seemed distracted, as though something weighed on his thoughts.

“Hu Jin, your brothers’ matter has nothing to do with you.” Chi Yuyang thought for a moment. “Since Yuan Wu can control the mind, maybe they were under his influence when they leaked information about the tribe.”

“Mm, I know.” Hu Jin nodded. “Even if they’re dead, it has nothing to do with me.”

His tone didn’t change, as if he were commenting on the weather, without a trace of emotion.

A gust of wind blew, and Chi Yuyang glanced toward the bamboo door.

Through the cracks, she could just make out the raging cold wind outside.

But Hu Jin wasn’t afraid of the cold, so the weather held no effect on him.

He was telling the truth.

And Hu Jin had never lied to her.

“Only, since they died… Mother might feel sad.” Hu Jin added.

“Mother?” Hearing that word, Chi Yuyang froze for a moment and turned to look at his expression.

“Mm. Their mother, and mine.” His eyes dimmed slightly, but he went on. “In her whole life, she only gave birth to the four of us.”

Chi Yuyang had once wanted to ask about his family background, but she sensed it was something he held close.

So she waited for him to speak of it on his own.

Now she learned his mother was still alive, yet he had been raised by the chief.

That meant…

“Hu Jin…” Seeing his expression grow darker, Chi Yuyang’s heart tightened.

Before she could finish her words, Hu Jin’s face shifted back to his usual playful smile.

“But I met you, so now I’m happy.” He paused, then whispered lightly in her ear, “So when you go into heat next time, let’s mate, okay?”

“…” The comforting smile froze on Chi Yuyang’s lips.

But when she looked up, she saw the serious look in Hu Jin’s eyes.

She took a deep breath.

“…Alright.”

—

After the meal, they returned to the tiger tribe.

The tigers had already gathered near the chief’s cave, studying the items brought back from the apes.

When Chi Yuyang arrived, she saw Hu Yu, the tribe’s healer, surrounded by the others as they all discussed noisily.

“This red thing looks so strange—it must be the most poisonous.”

“This cone-shaped one is weird too!”

“And these tiny round ones don’t look edible either.”

“Hu Jin!” Hu Yu, who hadn’t joined in the chatter, waved at him. Then he nodded to Chi Yuyang. “Chi Yuyang, I heard from my brother—you’re Hu Jin’s mate.”

At the sound of Hu Jin’s name, the noisy beastmen suddenly fell silent. All turned to look at him, their gazes filled with fear and dissatisfaction.

Chi Yuyang instantly felt uncomfortable, but Hu Jin’s face betrayed nothing.

Back at the ape tribe, Hu Jin had acted separately, so this was her first time seeing him among so many tribesmen.

His human form looked slightly different from the other tiger beastmen. Most obvious was that all the others had yellow-brown hair and ears.

From Chi Yuyang’s point of view, not a single one of them could compare to Hu Jin’s looks.

And according to Hu Zhuo, Hu Jin was the only beastman to reach fourth rank upon adulthood.

She remembered that the tiger beastmen who had gone with them to the ape tribe had all looked much older than Hu Jin.

She also noticed that unlike Hu Jin, their animal skins covered their entire bodies—as though their human forms weren’t as resistant to the cold.

Meanwhile, the tiger beastmen were also staring at the figure beside Hu Jin.

“So that female is his mate? She doesn’t look like our tribe’s females at all. No wonder he never sought a mate after adulthood—his tastes are different from ours.”

“Hmph, he’s an outcast anyway. No female from our tribe would ever want him.”

“I bet he’ll live his whole life without a female ever mating with him!”

“I heard the chief say his mate is some kind of human… Can they even mate?”

Their voices weren’t loud, but just enough for Chi Yuyang to hear every word.

And in all of their scattered comments, she caught a unified sourness.

Chi Yuyang looked at Hu Jin. He stood there, an existence impossible to ignore.

These beastmen, who seemed around their twenties, must have been his peers.

Thinking back to what Tigresshu had once told her, she finally understood the real source of their hostility toward Hu Jin.

Jealousy. Pure jealousy toward the strong.

His outstanding looks only gave them more reason to exclude him.

Not one of these beastmen had been chosen to take part in the ape mission.

Their strength clearly lagged far behind Hu Jin’s.

Hu Yu shook his head at the sight.

“Enough. Get back to your business. If you’ve got time to gossip, use it to get stronger—leveling up means more than anything else.”

Just then, Hu Zhuo stepped out of the cave.

At his words, the beastmen dispersed.

With them gone, Chi Yuyang finally got a clear view of what lay on the ground.

“These are…” Hu Yu began, but was cut off by Chi Yuyang’s sudden shriek.

“Heavens!” Chi Yuyang couldn’t believe her eyes.

Chili peppers, star anise, sesame seeds…

All the things she had long dreamed of were right there.

She had never imagined she’d live to see them again.

At that moment, she almost felt as though she could smell dishes sprinkled with spices wafting through the air.

“Wife?” Seeing Chi Yuyang staring intently at the things on the ground, silent for a long time, Hu Jin squeezed her hand.

Chi Yuyang finally pulled herself back from the temptation of a grand feast.

“These were all found in the ape tribe?”

Hu Yu and Hu Zhuo both nodded.

Chi Yuyang thought for a moment. She felt that the poison they were looking for wasn’t among these items.

Spices were stimulating for feline beasts, but not lethal.

If Yuan Wu’s hatred toward the tiger tribe was really as strong as he showed, then the poison he used had to be one that could kill in a single strike.

That gave Chi Yuyang a suspicion.

But she still needed to confirm it.

So, she only said that none of these things were the poison they were searching for.

“Mm, this old man thinks the same.” Chief Hu Zhuo nodded in agreement.

The ape tribe wouldn’t have handed over such poison so easily.

“Then, can I take these things with me?” Chi Yuyang was already thinking of how she could improve their meals once she had spices.

“Of course.” Hu Zhuo didn’t object—after all, keeping them would be useless to him.

“Thank you, Chief!”

Hu Jin didn’t understand why Chi Yuyang wanted these strange, pungent-smelling oddities.

But seeing the joy on her face, he didn’t ask further.

While the others were still talking, he quietly wrapped the items up in lotus leaves and tucked them into Chi Yuyang’s cloth bag.

Hu Zhuo then said that his plan was to send people to the ape tribe again after some time.

Mainly because he hadn’t expected the new ape chief to be so troublesome.

“Mind control, huh…” Hu Zhuo searched through his memories.

“When I was young and passed through a snake tribe with inherited memory, I heard them say that hundreds of years ago, there had once been an ape chief with this ability. But he only awakened it after reaching the fifth rank…”

“I didn’t ask in detail. Maybe I’m just old and my memory’s fuzzy.” Hu Zhuo sighed.

As a fourth-rank beastman himself, Hu Zhuo should have joined the expedition to the ape tribe, but his legs were no longer strong, so he had to remain in the settlement.

“Then why don’t Hu Jin and I go to the snake tribe once more to ask?” Chi Yuyang suggested, but then remembered that snakes hibernated in winter, so the snake beastmen would also…

“The snake tribe should all be hibernating right now,” Hu Yu confirmed her thought.

“Then we’ll wait until spring.” Chi Yuyang caught Hu Jin’s hand as it slid across her waist. “Hu Jin, stop messing around.”

Before that, she also wanted to check once more with the sheep tribe.

…

“Awoo—”

Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin hadn’t even left Hu Zhuo’s cave before it was time for lessons again.

“Let’s stay and listen!” Chi Yuyang wanted to learn more about this world.

Listening to Hu Zhuo’s lectures was the most direct way.

“Alright.” For once, Hu Jin didn’t resist the idea of attending class.

When he led Chi Yuyang to sit in the back row, there was a faint excitement on his face.

Once Hu Zhuo’s voice came from the front, Chi Yuyang understood the reason for Hu Jin’s excitement.

“The estrus period of tiger beastmen usually comes in winter.”

“It lasts for a week. The fourth day, the midpoint, is when the desire is strongest.”

“Of course, it varies between tigers. Some may have strong desire throughout the entire period.”

“When the estrus of male and female doesn’t overlap, the male must accommodate the female’s.”

At this, Chi Yuyang noticed a strange gleam in Hu Jin’s eyes.

Then Hu Zhuo went on—

“Mating is as important to a tiger’s life as ascending ranks.”

“Hu! Jin!” Chi Yuyang pinched his waist hard.

He must have known what Hu Zhuo was going to talk about, which was why he insisted on bringing her here.

Hu Jin’s body had no excess fat, and to her surprise, it felt unexpectedly good to squeeze.

His smile only grew bolder at her little action, so she pinched harder.

“Wife, that tickles.” He even rubbed his face against hers. “Is this for bonding?”

“…”

Just then, Hu Zhuo’s voice rose.

“So, after finding a mate, the most important thing is to mate!”

“Cough, cough, cough…” Chi Yuyang finally understood why Hu Jin was so obsessed with this matter.

With such a chief who had been instilling this idea into the cubs since childhood, it would be a wonder if they didn’t grow up skewed.

Thinking of it this way, she was sure her Hu Jin, as she had always believed, was still a pure tiger deep down inside.

But that “pure tiger” was currently imagining things that were far from pure.

Just a little longer through spring, summer, and autumn, and then he could…

…

After class, Chi Yuyang and Hu Jin returned to his cave in the tribe.

She had brought a week’s worth of rice, planning to stay here for a while.

At the same time, she waited for the chief’s arrangements concerning the ape tribe.

Chi Yuyang noticed that there were more animals around the tiger tribe settlement compared to near the stone house.

Now that she had spices, she could experiment with cooking to pass the time.

When word spread that she had returned, Hu Shu came over to visit.

“Hu Jin’s out hunting?” She saw Chi Yuyang alone in the cave and asked.

“Mm.” Chi Yuyang nodded lightly. “How’s Hu Ya?”

“Thanks to you, she’s lively these days. I even let her go hunting with other cubs.”

Speaking of this, Hu Shu couldn’t resist gossiping again. “I heard you’re human. When is your estrus period?”

“…” Chi Yuyang thought Hu Shu’s ability to change topics was amazing.

But faced with her bright, curious eyes, she could only vaguely reply, “Maybe once a year too.”

Although humans didn’t actually have an estrus period, to avoid suspicion she echoed what the chief said during lessons—tigers had it once a year.

“Ah, then your estrus should be coming soon!” Hu Shu said excitedly. “If you give birth to a cub this winter, later on when it looks for a mate, you must consider my Hu Ya!”

With Hu Jin’s strong genes, the cubs he fathered definitely wouldn’t be weak.

So for the sake of her daughter, Hu Shu decided to act early.

Chi Yuyang was startled by such bold words.

How had the topic jumped straight to cubs?

“We haven’t really thought that far yet…” she tried to deflect.

“Eh?” Hu Shu scratched her head. “Don’t tell me you’re not planning to mate?”

Chi Yuyang opened her mouth. Instantly, Hu Jin’s smiling face flashed in her mind, and she sighed.

“When the time comes, we’ll see.”

“That’s right!” Hu Shu’s smile returned. “But you need to hurry up! Only a few days left!”

Her words left Chi Yuyang confused.

She wanted to ask more, but Hu Shu didn’t bring it up again.

After all, matters between husband and wife should be left at that.

“Then I’ll go now!” Hearing footsteps outside, Hu Shu shifted into her tiger form and padded out.

When she brushed past Hu Jin, she gave a “Awoo.”

It meant: good luck.

“Wife, what did Hu Shu just say to you?” Hu Jin asked curiously.

“Nothing.” Chi Yuyang felt she couldn’t discuss such impure topics with him.

But still…

“Hu Jin, when’s your estrus period?”

At the mention of the word, Hu Jin’s tail tip suddenly trembled.

Seeing his hesitant expression, Chi Yuyang grew suspicious.

“I… I’ll go take a bath!” Hu Jin fled out of the cave.

“Bathing again?” Watching his flustered figure, Chi Yuyang shook her head.

Men… the thoughts of males were hard to guess. The thoughts of tigers were harder to guess. And the thoughts of tiger beastmen males were the hardest of all.

“But I want a bath too.” When she fetched water from the stream that day, she tested the temperature.

It was freezing, bone-chillingly cold.

The moment her hand touched the water, every thought in her mind vanished.

All she could feel was cold.

How could Hu Jin possibly bathe in such icy water?

—

The next day, Chi Yuyang went with Hu Jin to class again.

That day, Hu Zhuo’s lecture was still about mating.

“Now we’ll talk about how to recognize estrus.”

“First is the scent.”

Chi Yuyang sniffed the air.

She only smelled the fresh fragrance of plants.

“Next is the roar.”

The cubs lying on the ground all cried out “Awoo, awoo.”

“Finally, each tiger may show different unusual behaviors, and it’s up to their mate to recognize them.”

Because the cubs’ cries were still echoing in her ears, Chi Yuyang leaned forward a little, trying to catch what the chieftain was saying.

At that moment, she felt the tiger holding her suddenly stiffen.

“Wife, don’t move.” Hu Jin steadied her by the waist.

His voice was already low, but now it carried an odd rasp. To Yuyang, that sound instantly drowned out the cubs’ yelping, tickling her ears.

That tickle spread from the tips of her ears down to the corner of her lips.

“Hu Jin! You kissed me again!” Yuyang hadn’t expected him to steal a kiss in front of so many cubs.

But Hu Jin’s kiss only lingered for a moment.

He licked his lips, the corners of his mouth curving into a bashful smile.

“……” She firmly believed her Hu Jin was still a pure, innocent tiger.

He must be.

After Hu Zhuo’s lesson, the cubs’ mothers came to pick them up.

Yuyang happened to overhear their chatter.

“I heard from my tiger that he saw a stream giving off steam.”

A steaming stream?

Yuyang’s ears twitched.

“Yes, he saw it near a mountain on his way back from the ape tribe’s territory. It was magical!”

Could it be… a hot spring?

Yuyang’s eyes lit up.

“Hu Jin, did you hear that?” She shook his arm. “It’s a hot spring!”

“Hot spring?” Clearly, Hu Jin had never heard of the term.

“I want to go see it.” The temptation of a bath was too great for Yuyang to resist.

“Alright.” Seeing her smile, Hu Jin nodded at once.

Whatever his wife said was right.

After asking for the exact location, the two of them quickly made their way there.

“It really is a hot spring!” Yuyang exclaimed.

She watched the mist rise from the bubbling water. The spring was surrounded on three sides by mountains, and on the fourth by a bamboo grove.

“Wife, there are no other beastmen nearby.” Hu Jin flared his nostrils, confirmed it was safe, then shifted into his tiger form and stood guard at the bamboo entrance.

He lay down with his back facing Yuyang.

“You’re not coming in with me?” Yuyang blinked.

“Awroo!” The white tiger didn’t turn his head.

Seeing how still he remained, Yuyang understood—he was keeping watch for her safety.

“Thank you, Hu Jin.”

With that, she took off her clothes and slowly sank into the hot spring.

The moment she entered, she felt refreshed and utterly at ease, her worries melting away.

The tiger clan’s senses were unusually sharp; Hu Jin could imagine every move Yuyang was making in the water.

He buried his head in his paws, but he couldn’t banish the images in his mind.

“Hu Jin, you really won’t come in?” Yuyang recalled how often he’d bathed these past few days and asked again.

“Awroo.” The white tiger still didn’t turn.

Soaking in the hot spring, Yuyang suddenly felt deeply content.

“Hu Jin…” She thought he would love it here too.

Unexpectedly, she saw the white tiger scoot even further toward the bamboo grove.

“Awroo!”

After bathing, Yuyang felt light and relaxed.

“Hu Jin, let’s go back to the stone house.” She suddenly remembered the extra bamboo tubes she had left there and decided to return.

The white tiger rubbed her with his head—his way of saying “alright.”

However, once they returned to the stone house, Hu Jin went back out to the stream.

Lying on the furs, Yuyang stared at his departing back, pondering.

His behavior was too strange.

With that thought, she decided to follow him and see what was going on.

“Hu Jin?” What she saw made her freeze.

It was Hu Jin in human form, and… he was holding himself.

A thought flashed across her mind.

Hu Jin was focusing hard, trying to suppress the desire in his heart, so he hadn’t noticed her approach.

Yuyang quietly snuck back into the house.

Staring at the bamboo tubes in the corner, her mind was in turmoil.

Hu Shu’s words echoed in her ears again.

No wonder.

There was a reason for Hu Jin’s odd behavior lately.

She closed her eyes, recalling the other tigers’ gossip from that day. She nearly choked on her own breath.

Back then, she had only complained about their hostility toward Hu Jin, never thinking she herself would be implicated.

Who said no female would ever mate with Hu Jin!

Taking a deep breath, Yuyang steadied herself.

Just then, Hu Jin walked back in.

He shook his ears, about to shift into tiger form, when Yuyang suddenly said: “Hu Jin, are you in heat right now?”

Hu Jin froze.

Looking up, his lips pressed tight, his gaze evasive.

“Come here! And don’t you dare turn into a tiger!” Yuyang ordered.

The next second, she saw her usually obedient Hu Jin not only shift back into a white tiger but even prepare to head outside.

He was planning to go back to the stream again!

Yuyang realized his intent and quickly got up to chase after him.

“Hu Jin, get back here or else…”

Her mind flashed back to when she had agreed to mate with him. Gritting her teeth, she shouted: “Or else I’ll break off our partnership!”

Sure enough, the white tiger stopped in his tracks.

Yuyang walked up and wrapped her arms around his head.

“Now I’ll ask, and you’ll answer. One ‘awroo’ means yes, two means no.”

“Awroo.”

“Are you in heat right now?”

“Awroo.”

“Then why…” Yuyang recalled the chieftain’s words. “Is it because I’m not in heat? You’re holding back for my sake?”

“Awroo.” The white tiger paused, then gave another “awroo.”

“Then… do you want to mate with me?”

“Awrooo…” Hu Jin’s “aw” lifted upward, but by the time he reached “roo,” it had dropped low.

“Hu Jin, can you change back into human form first?” Yuyang said softly.

It was too difficult to communicate like this.

And besides, there was no way she could with his beast form…

The white tiger hesitated a while, then finally gave an “awroo.”

He was waiting for Yuyang to turn away.

Yuyang walked back into the house, sitting on the furs to wait.

She had barely sat down when she was pulled into a warm embrace from behind.

“Wife…”

“Why aren’t you wearing any furs!” Yuyang glanced down and blushed furiously.

That size…

Was it too late to regret now?

Before she could think further, Hu Jin shifted his hold, cradling her from another angle.

“Wife, this isn’t your heat cycle.” Hu Jin’s mismatched eyes dimmed, as though drained of all color. “I missed your last one.”

“I’m human, not a beastman. We don’t have heat cycles.” Yuyang explained, seeing his aggrieved expression. “What you smelled—it’s different. That’s called a period.”

“So, as a human, I can… be with you anytime.” She spoke slowly, so slowly that by the end her voice had trailed into silence.

But Hu Jin understood her meaning.

His eyes lit up instantly.

Even though it wasn’t dark, they seemed to glow.

“Wife!”

“Wait…” Yuyang thought he would hesitate a little longer.

But he immediately pressed her down beneath him.

The tiger clan’s thinking was always straightforward.

Since his wife said she could, and had even promised before, that meant she could!

“I told you to wait…” Yuyang caught sight of his tail slowly moving forward. “Your tail?”

“Wife, let me try it with my tail first.”

As he spoke, that “tail” slowly approached a certain place.

…

Yuyang wanted to cry out, but the moment his “tail” reached her, his lips covered hers.

This lying tiger!

It hurt.

To ease the pain, she reached up to grab his ears.

The instant she touched his round ears, his body froze for a second—

—but the next moment, his “tail” moved even faster.

She no longer believed he was a pure, innocent tiger. Where had he learned such things on his own?!

Hu Jin’s “tail” didn’t stop the whole night.

Yuyang grew so exhausted that she fell asleep halfway through. As she lost consciousness, her last thought was—

Books were all lies.

Didn’t they say tigers lasted no more than a minute?

But beastmen, evolved from tigers, had inherited both human and beast strengths.

Their time wasn’t as short as tigers’, but their number of rounds remained the same.

And as the chieftain had said—it varied from tiger to tiger.

The stronger the beastman, the stronger the desire.

Which meant Hu Jin’s number of rounds was a little higher than the rest of the tiger clan’s.

When Yuyang woke again, it was still pitch-black outside.

“Wife, I was wrong…” Hu Jin blinked up at her, his mismatched eyes full of innocence.

“It’s still night?” Yuyang couldn’t believe it. She felt like so much time had passed.

And she no longer trusted his “innocent” look. Her whole body ached.

“We mated last night already.” Hu Jin handed her some roasted meat. “You must be hungry.”

Last night?

Yuyang’s eyes widened—at the same moment, her stomach growled.

She glared at Hu Jin before biting into the meat he offered.

“Wife, once you finish eating, can we continue?”

“Cough! Shut up!”

This was not the attitude of someone admitting fault!

And he wasn’t pure at all!