Rong Ye sat on the ground, silently chewing on a potato.
A huge bump decorated the center of his forehead like a shiny mountain peak. His usually handsome face was now twisted with pain and regret. He didn’t even dare to look at Su Qinglan, just stared at the potato in his hands like it had wronged him in another life.
He looked miserable. Utterly, hopelessly miserable.
Su Qinglan stood nearby, nonchalantly peeling a bowl of potatoes. Her expression was calm. She looked like she was preparing a royal feast...except the "royal guest" was a man who had barged into her cave without knocking and had seen... well, more than he should have.
"Here," she said finally, tossing another potato into his bowl. "Eat. Maybe it’ll heal that bump."
Rong Ye flinched slightly, then accepted it with both hands like a starving beggar. He didn’t even try to defend himself.
Silence.
Only the sound of him chewing.
He didn’t dare speak. Didn’t dare glance at her. Didn’t even dare breathe too loud.
Only he knew what exactly had happened.
One moment he’d been angrily storming into the cave, ready to scold her for making him starve. The next moment...BANG! Something had met his forehead before he could even blink. Then came Su Qinglan’s scream, and the next thing he knew, he was outside the cave seeing stars.
It was truly a tragedy.
But honestly, what was there to complain about? It was him who had walked in. He was her mate after all. And if fate was kind enough to let him catch even a glimpse of something before his life flashed before his eyes, that was already a blessing.
Sadly, fate wasn’t kind.
He hadn’t seen anything clearly. Just a blur. He didn’t even know anymore.
His luck was truly rotten.
If only he had seen more... maybe this bump wouldn’t hurt so bad.
Pitiful, so pitiful of him.
Su Qinglan, meanwhile, was pretending not to notice his suffering. She hummed softly as she cleaned the table, arranging bowls and leftover food like nothing had happened. Her movements were smooth and unbothered...as if she hadn’t just attacked him and almost ended his life.
After a long, awkward silence, Rong Ye finally spoke, his voice small and pitiful.
"I... brought a prey for you."
His tone was so timid it could melt a stone.
Su Qinglan didn’t even look up. "Outside?"
He nodded quickly, eyes still down. "Yes... just outside the cave."
"Mm."
That was all she said before turning and walking out.
Rong Ye sighed in relief. At least she wasn’t angry anymore... right?
Outside, Su Qinglan stretched her back and looked around. The cool breeze brushed her hair, and for a moment, she felt refreshed.
Until she saw the main scene.
Her eyes widened.
There, right in front of the cave, her prey...the one Rong Ye had proudly brought was being eaten by none other than her plant.
The lazy, half-dead plant that had spent the entire morning sleeping like a pig was now wide awake and chewing on the prey with loud, happy munch sounds. Its green vines had wrapped around the carcass, and its leaf-mouth opened wide to take another juicy bite.
Su Qinglan froze. Then slowly blinked.
"What the hell... are you?"
The plant paused mid-bite.
A drop of meat juice dripped from its leaf.
Then it turned its leaves slightly, as if embarrassed, and trembled under her gaze.
"Are you..." she choked out, voice shaking between disbelief, "...a man-eating plant now?!"
The plant’s leaves drooped instantly, looking like a child caught stealing cookies. It wiggled weakly as if saying, I didn’t mean to... it just smelled too good...
Su Qinglan stared, her face twitching.
The plant’s leaf-mouth gave one last guilty gulp and swallowed what was left of the meat.
Silence.
Even the wind stopped blowing.
Su Qinglan’s lips parted. "..."
The plant, realizing the gravity of its crime, began trembling even harder. Its once sleepy form now looked full of regret. But before it could start fake-crying, Su Qinglan crouched beside it and squinted.
"Wait... are you actually more energetic now?" she muttered, narrowing her eyes.
Indeed, the plant looked different. Its leaves were greener, its vines thicker, and its entire body seemed to radiate life. It had grown nearly half a size larger.
She poked it with a stick. "Did you... gain energy from eating meat?"
The plant tilted its head left. Then right. Then nodded slightly.
Even it didn’t know. But it felt stronger. And full. And somehow... happy.
Su Qinglan rubbed her chin, deep in thought. "Hmm... maybe that’s it. You’ve been looking half-dead lately. Maybe you need energy to survive. Either I feed it to you... or you have to find your own."
The plant tilted again, blinking innocently.
"But," she continued, smirking, "don’t you dare eat people, okay? If you start chomping on beastmen, I’ll pluck every leaf you have and feed them to the pigs."
The plant shivered violently, quickly shaking its leaves as if to swear eternal loyalty.
"Good."
Su Qinglan patted its head (or at least where she thought the head was). "Fine, since meat gives you energy, eat this prey properly. I’ll let it go this time."
The moment she said that, the plant brightened instantly. Its vines perked up like excited puppies, and it rubbed one of its leaves gently against her palm, as if thanking her.
Su Qinglan sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Go eat. Don’t act cute. You’re just trying to butter me up."
The plant happily returned to devouring the prey, this time with a polite nom-nom sound, as if pretending to have manners.
She rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable. I have a carnivorous plant now."
When she turned back, the plant had already finished the entire prey...bones, fur, and all. Not even a trace remained. It sat there looking satisfied, its belly slightly round and shiny.
"...Great. Now you’re fat too," she said flatly.
The plant gave a cheerful wiggle-wiggle in response.
Su Qinglan couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing. "Alright, fine. You’re forgiven this time. But next time you eat my dinner again, I’ll make you go on a diet."
The plant nodded obediently, still smiling.
But now she had another problem: what they would eat now. If Rong Ye found out that she had fed the entire prey to her plant, how would he react?
But it seemed her worries were heard, because from a distance Hu Yan was walking towards her with a prey.