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墨書 Inktalez
He Yu was amused by Xiao Yao and stepped forward to take the item into his arms. Xiao Yao exclaimed, noticing He Yu looking at her, "Just now when I was holding Yun Zhu, this little one was making a fuss and showing its claws. How come it's so well-behaved with you?"
"Who knows?" He Yu laughed along.
Xiao Yao poked the little creature's nose, and it sneezed disdainfully. Xiao Yao was amused, "So this thing is just picky about who it interacts with!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
He Yu held the little creature and asked Xiao Yao, "So, what do you think? Do you want to keep it?"
"Can we keep it?" Xiao Yao asked excitedly, then hesitated, "But this little one must have a mother, right? Where's the Clouded Leopard? I haven't seen it."
"This one was specially brought up from below for this hunt. The Mother Leopard was probably shot dead, leaving just this one behind," He Yu said casually.
"Ah? Then..."
"It’s likely that the leopard was pregnant when they brought it here; after all, it’s only been a couple of months. Let’s go check if there are any other cubs," He Yu suggested.
Upon hearing this news, Xiao Yao felt a mix of emotions but could only nod in agreement with He Yu. They soon found a cave-like area not far away. The Mother Leopard was no longer there, and the cave was stained with blood. Xiao Yao felt nauseous and quickly turned to leave. He Yu stayed behind to investigate and came out holding another cub that was dirty and had blood smeared on its glasses. He Yu said, "I estimate there were about four or five in total, but only these two were left. This one seems to be in worse condition; I don't know if it will survive. The other cubs were probably eaten by wild beasts since the Mother Leopard is gone."
Xiao Yao felt heartbroken upon hearing this. She tugged at He Yu's sleeve, "Can we keep them?"
"Of course! If you want to keep them, we will," He Yu replied with a smile. "The Clouded Leopard isn't very big; raising them at home will be no problem."
"Great!" Xiao Yao cheered at He Yu's agreement.
However, she didn't dare to hold them yet since she was pregnant and needed to take responsibility for her own child.
Back at the camp, He Yu handed the two leopards over to the guards and instructed them to clean the cubs before bringing them back. He then took Xiao Yao into the tent. Xiao Yao asked, "Aren't you going hunting this afternoon, Your Highness?"
"I'm not going anymore; it's about time as it is. It wouldn't be good to stay out too long," He Yu leaned back on the couch, planning to rest for a while.
"Oh," Xiao Yao nodded, "by the way, when I came out just now, I ran into Sun Ruoxue, and she actually greeted me."
"What's so strange about that?" He Yu scoffed, "As long as Sun Ruoxue isn't married to the Fourth Prince yet, she's still a lady of the Sun Residence. It's only natural for her to greet you."
"I know that," Xiao Yao nodded, but still pondered, "However, if it were just a casual relationship, a simple greeting would suffice. But after she greeted me today, she actually wanted to go shopping with me. It scared me to death!"
He Yu chuckled lightly, "You can't be that easily frightened. My Yao Yao isn't someone who gets scared easily." He flipped over and pulled Xiao Yao into his arms, laughing as he said this. After a moment of thought, he advised her, "If you encounter such situations in the future, just find an excuse to decline. After all, you're not on the same path."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too." Xiao Yao agreed with He Yu's words and nodded. "But I think compared to others, Sun Ruoxue should be considered the smartest one in the Sun Family."
He Yu also agreed quite a bit, "I think so too."
The two chatted casually until lunch arrived. Since they were outside, they skipped ordering and usually just ate whatever the Kitchen brought over. Most of it was steamed or boiled food. Xiao Yao found it somewhat greasy and even felt nauseous looking at the oil floating on top of the soup.
Seeing Xiao Yao hesitating with her chopsticks, He Yu knew she had no appetite and felt quite distressed. "Not feeling well?"
"Ah? Yeah, it looks a bit oily and isn't hot anymore; I feel like I can't eat it," Xiao Yao replied while pouting. After a moment of silence from He Yu, she suddenly felt anxious and looked up to grab He Yu's sleeve. "Am I... being too picky?"
"Not at all," He Yu gently pulled her closer. "It's my fault. If I had told the Emperor earlier that you were pregnant, there would have been special food prepared for you. This looks too greasy."
"I'm fine; it's just one meal or two," Xiao Yao said, relieved when she saw that He Yu wasn't angry.
He Yu held Xiao Yao and shook his head. "That won't do. You're not alone anymore; it's now about the nutrition for both of you. Who knows, it might even be for three people! We can't afford to miss out on you!"
Hearing He Yu's serious words made Xiao Yao burst into laughter as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Okay, I'm fine; I won't let myself go hungry anyway."
"Just bear with it and eat a little," He Yu said helplessly while coaxing Xiao Yao. "Tomorrow after noon we'll head back, and once we're home, let Li Pei prepare good meals for you."
"Alright," Xiao Yao smiled. "It's okay; I had Yun Zhu prepare some fruits in advance to bring along, so it's not too bad."
As they ate and chatted, they shifted Xiao Yao's focus away from her appetite issues. Before they knew it, Xiao Yao had eaten half a bowl of rice and sipped some soup as well. He Yu looked on with satisfaction.
At that moment, the guard came in holding two Clouded Leopard cubs. After cleaning them up, he stared with a pair of blue eyes at the two people in front of him. The adorable look instantly melted Xiao Yao's heart as she reached out to take one of them and held it in her arms. He Yu took the other one. Xiao Yao looked at the cub she was holding and said, "Oh? Mine is a male. What about yours, sir?"
"Also a male," He Yu replied calmly.
"Well, this way we can prevent inbreeding," Xiao Yao laughed to herself, examining the two cubs for a while before turning to He Yu and asking, "Sir, how old are they?"
He Yu looked closely and pondered for a moment before saying, "Mother Leopard brought them here three months ago, so these two cubs should be less than two months old."
"Oh, then what should we feed them?" Xiao Yao was puzzled. "Can we give them meat broth?"
"That should... be fine," He Yu said uncertainly. He decided to find someone knowledgeable about animal care to come to the residence. While He Yu was still contemplating, Xiao Yao had already instructed Yun Zhu, "Go check the kitchen and see if there's any freshly made meat broth. Don't add salt; bring some over."
"Yes," Yun Zhu replied and went to the kitchen.
He Yu was curious instead. "Have you raised these kinds of animals before?"
"I've never raised leopards," Xiao Yao said while scratching the leopard's chin, making it purr contentedly. "But I've raised their relatives, cats, so it should be similar."
After all, aren't they all felines? It's just that these two are different in size, Xiao Yao thought.
While waiting for Yun Zhu to bring back the meat broth, Xiao Yao asked, "Sir, where do you plan to keep these two?"
"In the residence," He Yu said matter-of-factly. "For now, we'll keep them in the western part of the Central Courtyard. When it's time to move to the East Back Courtyard, I'll connect part of my Western Courtyard and the back Western Courtyard to create a separate space for them to play."
He Yu had this planned out, but Xiao Yao thought of something else. "But there are still people living in the back courtyard. Is that really okay?"
"What does that matter?" He Yu said dismissively. "In a few days, isn't the Fourth Prince building his own residence? We'll send over that person who was given by the Eldest Prince to the Fourth Prince. The remaining one can be arranged easily; it doesn't matter where they go." He Yu said nonchalantly.
Xiao Yao was taken aback by this and couldn't help but sigh. In this world, she could only feel fortunate; this was not like her previous life where women's fates were often beyond their control. It was easy to imagine how Pan Yueliang, originally sent by the Empress to He Yu, would be treated once she ended up in the Fourth Prince's residence.
As a dancer, she would always have to rely on men for survival, with no autonomy whatsoever.
Thinking of this, Xiao Yao unconsciously leaned closer to He Yu and looked up, saying, "Sir, you are really good to me. I am so lucky."
He Yu smiled and said seriously to Xiao Yao, "It's not that you are lucky; it's that I am lucky."
Xiao Yao tilted her head, not quite understanding the meaning of his words. However, since it was clearly a compliment to himself, she felt a bit shy and decided not to pursue it further. Instead, she could only show a silly and adorable smile like a leopard, beaming at He Yu, making him wish he could just pull her into his bones and blood.
Yun Zhu soon returned from the kitchen, indeed carrying a food box. Inside was a large bowl of meat soup, even containing some shredded meat. Yun Zhu smiled and said, "Today many adults went hunting and brought back quite a few game, so there’s plenty of soup. I just casually took some freshly made wild boar meat soup."
"Someone hunted a wild boar?" Xiao Yao exclaimed in surprise.
He Yu watched as the leopard was ravenously hungry, devouring the food with great enthusiasm. He calmly replied, "Yes, I saw that the legitimate son of the Yun Family hunted a wild boar, and it was quite fat. I didn't expect it to be cooked right after returning."
"What about wolves? There won't be any wolves, right?" Xiao Yao asked. "That would be so dangerous."
"There might be wolves around, but with so many people here, they wouldn't dare come down easily. Besides, there are enough rabbits and mountain chickens in the forest for them to eat," He Yu said calmly.
"That's good," Xiao Yao said as she patted her chest but still felt a bit scared.
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