Marrying the Soft-hearted Villain

After Ruan Qiuqiu finished speaking, she saw the child shake his head vigorously. "It was my own carelessness. It's not Sister Qiuqiu's fault."

Mo Yu gripped his bone club and looked at Ruan Qiuqiu. "Thank you, Sister Qiuqiu, for taking me back yesterday."

Ruan Qiuqiu smiled. "It was my oversight. I covered you with the animal hide my husband used. Wouldn't it have been too much if I hadn't taken you back?"

Hearing her mention Mr. Big Bad Wolf, Mo Yu's face changed slightly. He still seemed a little scared and hesitant to speak. "Sister Qiuqiu…"

Ruan Qiuqiu knew he was about to ask her how she was unharmed, but the explanation was a bit complicated, so she skipped the topic, straightened up, and interrupted Mo Yu. "Alright, Xiao Yu, it's getting late. Take me to find the herbs, okay?"

Mo Yu was very smart and didn't pursue the matter further. He nodded without hesitation.

The purpose of his visit today was to find herbs with Ruan Qiuqiu. He hadn't forgotten this.

…

The two left the vicinity of Mr. Big Bad Wolf's cave and walked into the forest.

Mo Yu led the way, and Ruan Qiuqiu held her spear, vigilant against any prey that might appear.

After about seven or eight minutes, Mr. Big Bad Wolf's cave was almost out of sight, and they had completely left the edge of the forest, officially entering its depths.

The surrounding giant trees were covered with ice crystals, and there were many dead branches broken by the accumulated snow.

The further they went, the quieter it became. Ruan Qiuqiu tried to lighten her footsteps as much as possible, but Xiao Mo Yu didn't seem worried about any sudden attacks from wild beasts.

Looking at his confident steps, Ruan Qiuqiu couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Yu, aren't you afraid of wild beasts rushing out?"

Mo Yu touched his head and smiled at her. "Sister Qiuqiu, the surrounding area within a fifteen-minute radius is… um, your husband's territory! Large animals that have lived in this forest for a long time generally don't come near."

Ruan Qiuqiu "…"

She didn't know that Mr. Big Bad Wolf was so powerful.

Realizing that she had misunderstood Mr. Big Bad Wolf, Ruan Qiuqiu followed Mo Yu and asked him some questions about Mr. Big Bad Wolf and the Flame Wolf Tribe.

Mo Yu answered everything. "Our Flame Wolf Tribe has more than four hundred wolf demons and more than one hundred humans."

"The previous chief came to our tribe more than ten years ago. The previous Wolf King seems to be the older brother of the current tribe shaman."

Hearing this, Ruan Qiuqiu's curiosity about Mr. Big Bad Wolf grew. He had only arrived at this tribe more than ten years ago. Where was Mr. Big Bad Wolf before that?

Come to think of it, she didn't even know Mr. Big Bad Wolf's name or age…

Mo Yu continued, "In our tribe, the wolf demons usually patrol and hunt. Our humans have a gathering team. When the weather is good, they will follow some wolf demons to pick fruits or help with chores in the tribe."

Speaking of the gathering team, Mo Yu seemed a little indignant. "I'm already ten years old, but they won't allow me to join the gathering team. The food they allocate to us during the winter is also very little. If it weren't for my brother luckily hunting a small wild boar before…"

As Mo Yu spoke, he realized that Ruan Qiuqiu hadn't joined the gathering team either, and quickly said, "Sister Qiuqiu, that gathering team isn't anything good. It's no regret not joining…"

Ruan Qiuqiu smiled and shook her head. "It's okay."

She and Mr. Big Bad Wolf were not well-received. It was perfectly normal for the humans of the Flame Wolf Tribe not to invite her to join the gathering team.

However…

Ruan Qiuqiu looked at Xiao Mo Yu with some surprise. "Are you already ten years old?"

Seeing how small and thin he was, she thought he was only seven or eight.

"Mo Yu is already a man!" Mo Yu breathed a sigh of relief seeing that she didn't care too much about the gathering team. "Xiao Bohua is already eight years old!"

Ruan Qiuqiu "…" What? Xiao Bohua was already eight years old? She thought Xiao Bohua was only five…

"…" Looking at her shocked expression, Mo Yu asked, "Sister Qiuqiu, then guess how old my brother is."

Ruan Qiuqiu hesitantly said, "Thirteen?"

Mo Yu "…"

Mo Yu "My brother is fifteen."

Ruan Qiuqiu "…………"

During their conversation, the two arrived near what Mo Yu called the "safe road."

"Sister Qiuqiu, this way." Mo Yu beckoned to her and came to a giant tree about nine meters tall, nestled against the base of the cliff.

Many slightly withered vines grew beneath the giant tree, hanging all the way to the ground, with some snow on them.

Mo Yu knocked on the vines with his bone club, knocking off the snow, then reached out and lifted the vines, revealing a hollow about one meter wide and long, blocked by a few small stones.

Ruan Qiuqiu was a little surprised. She walked to Mo Yu's side and saw the hollow clearly—

About two meters above the ground, hidden by the vines, the cliff was recessed inward, forming a passage, just hidden by the giant tree.

There was also a tree hollow in the giant tree, about 1.5 meters high and nearly one meter long, with traces of digging around it. It should be a naturally occurring tree hollow that had been enlarged.

Considering that Mo Mao had discovered this place, Ruan Qiuqiu thought that Mo Mao must have scratched it out with his cat claws.

"Sister Qiuqiu, I'll go up first and move the stones in the passage." Mo Yu said, grabbing the vines and climbing a few steps along the cliff face before getting into the tree hollow.

Ruan Qiuqiu looked up and watched the child bend down and move the stones blocking the passage into the tree hollow before poking his head out and looking at her. "Sister Qiuqiu, let's go. I'll go in first."

Ruan Qiuqiu didn't hesitate. She grabbed the vines, climbed a few steps along the cliff face, and got into the tree hollow.

The inside of the tree hollow was quite large, enough to accommodate many stones and a stooped adult.

Mo Yu had already climbed into the recessed hollow, and his voice came from afar. "Sister Qiuqiu, be careful not to hit your head."

Ruan Qiuqiu responded, fastened her spear to her backpack, and crawled into the hollow, stooping.

The hollow was narrower than it looked, but fortunately, Ruan Qiuqiu wasn't particularly tall or fat, and with her animal hide backpack, she could just barely pass through.

She thought it would be very dark inside the hollow, but after crawling about five or six meters, she could faintly see light. After crawling for more than twenty meters, she reached the outside.

But it wasn't an open area, but a crevice in a small valley, with a path less than two meters wide and mountains on almost all sides.

Mo Yu said very softly, "Sister Qiuqiu, you must not speak loudly here. After walking for another ten minutes, we can go out."

Ruan Qiuqiu nodded to indicate that she understood.

This was clearly a natural passage formed between the cliff walls. Shouting loudly could easily cause an avalanche.

It couldn't be used during heavy rain if there were too many falling rocks, as it would be easy to be crushed to death…

Ruan Qiuqiu followed Mo Yu and walked for five or six minutes, crawled through another hole, and climbed another tree before finally arriving at their destination—

The upper reaches of a very narrow river near the center of the forest.

To Ruan Qiuqiu's surprise, there was also a giant tree at the exit, which just blocked the exit, but there was no tree hollow in this giant tree.

The two climbed down the withered vines around the giant tree and stood on the soft snow, undisturbed by any demons.

"Phew." Ruan Qiuqiu took a deep breath. She really didn't expect such a path to exist.

Mo Yu looked at her expression and revealed a childish smile befitting his age. "My brother discovered it!"

Ruan Qiuqiu praised, "Mo Mao is really amazing."

Xiao Yu's smile widened, and then he pointed to a row of giant trees across the small river. "Sister Qiuqiu, if you climb up, you can see the herbs on the other side."

The two didn't waste any time, bypassed the frozen river, and walked to the row of giant trees near the cliff.

—Half a month ago, these trees hadn't lost their leaves and weren't covered in thick snow, so Mo Yu could climb them.

Because the branches were now covered with snow and ice crystals and were very slippery, Ruan Qiuqiu didn't let Mo Yu climb. She asked him to wait under the tree and keep watch for her while she took her spear and chose the tallest tree to climb.

Ruan Qiuqiu had climbed trees quite a few times, but this was the first time she had climbed such a tall tree. However, this tree had many bends, so it wasn't too difficult for her to climb.

It was just a little slippery, and she almost lost her footing several times.

When she held onto the trunk and stood at the very top, she looked up and saw several tall trees two or three meters away.

From this height, she could just see the roots of those evergreen giant trees.

Ruan Qiuqiu vaguely saw a small patch of plants poking out, but it had snowed heavily a few days ago, so she couldn't see clearly.

Ruan Qiuqiu's heart stirred, and she drew a wisp of spiritual energy from her dantian, tentatively probing towards the cliff.

But her current strength was limited, and her detection range was no more than three meters, so the spiritual energy withered just as it reached the edge of the cliff.

Ruan Qiuqiu originally wanted to swing over like Tarzan using a rope, but how to get back became a problem.

Directly climbing a nearly ninety-degree, more than ten-meter-high cliff was also unrealistic.

Could it be that she couldn't get those ginseng and herbs?

Ruan Qiuqiu didn't want to go for nothing. Snowless days like today were not common.

Unwilling to give up, her spiritual energy slowly swept across the edge of the cliff and suddenly touched a protruding, sharp stone.

An idea vaguely formed in Ruan Qiuqiu's mind.

She didn't waste any time and quickly climbed down from the tree.

Seeing her come down so quickly, Mo Yu guessed that she couldn't get them either, so he gritted his teeth. "Sister Qiuqiu, why don't we do it the way I said? You throw me over there. The snow over there is very thick, and I…"

Ruan Qiuqiu "…………"

She curved her lips. "Don't worry, I've thought of a way."

…

—While Ruan Qiuqiu and Mo Yu were trying to figure out how to climb the opposite cliff to pick herbs,

The lion demon Lu Ziran, who had set off at dawn, was also approaching the Flame Wolf Tribe.

As a third-tier, almost fourth-tier lion demon, his speed in demon form was much faster than Ruan Qiuqiu's walking speed.

The big lion only ran for about four hours and had already arrived in the forest near the Flame Wolf Tribe.

However, the path he chose was different from the one Ruan Qiuqiu had taken. It was closer to the Flame Wolf Tribe from another direction.

Because he was almost there, Lu Ziran didn't maintain his demon form and transformed back into his tall human form.

"I wonder if Ruan Qiuqiu is really dead." Lu Ziran muttered. "She should be dead, right?"

The fierce reputation of the former chief of the Flame Wolf Tribe was widespread. If Ruan Qiuqiu wasn't dead, there were only two possibilities. One was that she was being kept as food reserves by that wolf demon, who would tear off pieces of her flesh to eat every day.

The second was that the wolf demon was dead, and Ruan Qiuqiu had luckily survived.

If it was the first case, he wouldn't care about her.

If it was the second case, he would still take her away. Ruan Qiuqiu would definitely be very grateful to him, and then things would develop as he remembered.

Lu Ziran planned things out, and a smile appeared on his handsome face.

He touched his somewhat hungry stomach, thought for a moment, and hunted a small wild boar nearby, roasting it with the flint he carried with him.

Male demons had large appetites, and a lion demon like him, whose demon form was over two meters tall, ate even more. Therefore, by the time Lu Ziran finished eating, there wasn't much left of the entire wild boar.

After he had eaten his fill, he remembered Ruan Qiuqiu. He hesitated for a moment, then cut off the pig's trotters from the boar's carcass, the part he didn't like to eat and had left over, with little meat on them, and carried them in his hand.

Ruan Qiuqiu, who was like a fool in the tribe and had barely eaten meat a few times, would be very moved when she saw this pig's trotter, right?

The somewhat foolish expression on Ruan Qiuqiu's face appeared in his mind again, and Lu Ziran couldn't hide the disgust in his eyes.

Ruan Qiuqiu was just a woman without talent, unable to cultivate, thin and foolish. Although she looked good, she exuded an aura of stupidity from the inside out, not at all as beautiful as Rou Yue Rao.

To be honest, he felt it was a bit of a waste to give this pig's trotter to her.

Lu Ziran slowly carried the pig's trotter and walked towards the Flame Wolf Tribe.

He planned to just find a random wolf and ask where Ruan Qiuqiu's current cave was.

…

At this time, in the cave, Mr. Big Bad Wolf gradually woke up.

Perhaps because he had actively accepted a trace of demonic energy yesterday, the demonic energy hidden in his bloodline was now obedient and didn't try to immediately devour all the demonic power in his body and assimilate him, as it had in the past two days.

This made his wounds less painful.

His dark eyelashes trembled, and Yuan Jue opened his narrow eyes.

The scent of her in the air had faded a lot, and Yuan Jue immediately knew that Ruan Qiuqiu had probably gone out.

The cave was very quiet, but it wasn't as desolate as it had been when he had first moved in, severely injured.

The wind, much smaller than in previous days, blew into the bridal chamber through the tattered animal hide curtain. Water that hadn't completely boiled dry was still simmering on the stone stove. Everywhere bore traces of Ruan Qiuqiu.

Yuan Jue endured the slight pain in his body and slowly sat up. His large, bony hand slowly groped on the stone bed, as if searching for something.

Soon, his fingertips touched a slightly cold, round wooden cup.

A faint smile slowly appeared on his pale lips, and Yuan Jue carefully picked up the small wooden cup.

It contained half a cup of water droplets filled with spiritual energy that she had prepared for him.

She had been chattering in his ear from time to time these past few days, and he already knew that her talent was a mutated water element with powerful healing effects.

He would carefully finish the things his little wife left for him.

Yuan Jue swallowed a mouthful of the water droplets, which had no taste but were strangely sweet, and felt a warmth slowly spreading in his chest.

The pain lessened again, and the demonic energy in his body didn't fight for those special spiritual energy, remaining dormant, while some demonic power gradually gathered near the shattered demon core.

Yuan Jue counted the dozen or so strands of demonic power, calculating how long he could move.

—Even though he was now a big bad wolf whose hunting ability was far less than before.

But he still wanted to go out and hunt once while he could still move.

Regardless of whether Ruan Qiuqiu had the Tianluo gray wolf in her heart, or what special feelings she had for him.

To her now, he was her husband.

In the past, he could have easily given her endless food, beautiful furs, a warm dwelling, and the right to despise all people and demons.

But now, he struggled even to protect her and provide her with food and clothing.

Thinking that Ruan Qiuqiu might have been bullied by those wolf demons yesterday, a gloomy look flashed across Yuan Jue's cold, spring-like eyes.

Killing intent surfaced on his originally gentle and handsome face, and a sneer appeared on his lips.

Did those wolf demons think that he really couldn't recover?

Yuan Jue lifted the animal hide covering him, moved his intact right leg and the left leg with only mangled flesh and bone below the knee, and stood on the ground.

He endured the dense, bone-piercing pain, supported himself with demonic power as he walked to the stone table, picked up the animal hide clothes Ruan Qiuqiu had made for him, and slowly put them on.

When he put on the animal hide pants, his large hand touched the obviously specially designed, overlapping opening in the front of the pants, and Yuan Jue froze.

He had seen many animal hide pants, but he had never seen one like this—

There was an overlapping opening near a certain special area of the pants, wrapped with two animal hide ropes, seemingly for the convenience of tying it up to cover something.

Yuan Jue, this big bad wolf who had never seen modern men's zippered pants, didn't recognize that this was specially designed by Qiuqiu for his convenience as a male demon.

He touched the opening, initially thinking it was for his tail, but if it was for his tail, why leave such a large opening and tie two animal hide ropes?

And…

Yuan Jue felt that there was also a small opening at the back of the animal hide pants, obviously left for his tail…

Then this one in the front…

After a two-second pause, Yuan Jue suddenly seemed to understand what this design was probably for.

Yuan Jue's originally icy, stern expression instantly cracked, his long eyelashes fluttered rapidly, and the tips of his ears suddenly became hot.

A faint blush spread across his cheeks, and the image of Ruan Qiuqiu smiling at him with bright eyes appeared in his mind. Mr. Big Bad Wolf gritted his teeth slightly, his deep, hoarse voice filled with lingering shyness. "Ruan, Qiu, Qiu."

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

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