Shao Nan was really angry. He had been looking for herbs the entire morning, and when he returned home, he found nothing to eat.
He raised his foot and kicked Shao Xia on the back. He had not awakened a beast form yet; thus, his hit was rather light, but it still woke Shao Xia up. She scrunched up her face and then opened her eyes. When she saw Shao Nan standing next to her, she frowned and said to him, "What’s the matter with you? Why did you wake me up?"
"Why did I wake you up?" Shao Nan was so angry that he laughed. He pointed at the bones and questioned, "The tribe must have given you mine and daddy’s share; where is it? Why did you eat everything!? Do you think Daddy and I don’t need to eat just because we don’t hunt?"
Shao Nan was fuming mad, but it was none of Shao Xia’s concern. She yawned and then said to her mer brother, "I was the one who hunted that beast, and I was hungry, so I ate a little more. Why are you yelling so much? When the evening hunting team goes out to hunt, I will go with them and bring you some meat. Alright?"
"Then what should I do till then? Starve? Have you forgotten? The salt team has gone missing, and I have no other choice but to collect more herbs for Priestess Yuan."
Priestess Yuan said that since going to the Black Tiger tribe was impossible, at least until they knew what went wrong with that tribe, they could only look for herbs that could help them to cure the meat. But Shao Nan had a feeling that they were wasting time. How could there be such a good thing?
But even though he had such petty thoughts, he didn’t voice them because he was relying on the tribe to take care of him. Thus, even though the work was hard and he had to look around the forest for new kinds of herbs every day until he was sweaty and tired, he was willing. At least it meant that he would be able to get in Nian Zhi’s good books and would get some meat.
But he never thought that Shao Xia would eat all the meat that was assigned to him. How was he going to survive this way?
"What are you yelling for?" Daddy Shao returned home. Just like his son, he was covered in sweat and mud. Because the tribe were running out of salt, they were like headless flies who were running around looking for a solution but getting none. He had collected more than twenty kinds of herbs today, but Priestess Yuan shook her head and told him that none of them could replace the properties of salt.
This really troubled him. But at least he filled his quota for the daily herb collection.
"Your precious daughter ate all the meat that was assigned to us. Now I need to go and collect the herbs in the evening as well. Tell me, how will I work hard when I haven’t eaten anything?" Shao Nan lost his temper with his father right away. Daddy Shao had often indulged his sister because she was a beast woman and he was not.
Because of this, her temper had become wilful and arrogant. Just look at this; she was treating their entire family like this.
Daddy Shao’s expression turned rather unpleasant as well. He had been looking forward to eating some meat after returning home but he never expected that his good daughter had already eaten everything clean. He looked at the bones that were lying in the corner of the cave and turned to look at her daughter.
"Ah Xia, you—"
He hadn’t even spoken a word when Shao Xia got to her feet and snapped, "Shut up. You two yell so much. Yell, yell, yell. All you do is yell every day. I go out to hunt and you two stay at home and do nothing. What can that collection of herbs even get you?"
"Just a little meat. So what if I ate that little bit of meat?"
"Since you look down on it so much, why did you eat it?" snapped Shao Nan. It was one thing that his sister ate his meat but she even looked down on it for being too little. It was really shameless.
Shao Xia was annoyed by the constant yapping of her brother. She turned around and headed out of the cave without looking back.
Shao Nan watched her leave and turned to look at his father. He said to him, "See this? See this? She is just getting more and more obnoxious! Continue pampering her; see how she will treat you very soon."
After speaking, he ran out of the cave with a huff.
Daddy Shao, who was left behind, sighed. In the past, he used to look down on Xie Daiyu. But now he hoped that the mer would return to his daughter’s life. Daddy Shao had no idea that the dream that he was looking forward to would never happen.
**
On the other side, Xie Daiyu finally agreed with his mother’s demands.
Xie Daiyu didn’t want to agree, but his mother didn’t budge. She didn’t want her son to be embarrassed in front of the tribe. She didn’t want to look down on Ruan Chanchan, but nothing could change the truth that the woman had been a fool for years. She was already past fifteen or sixteen years old, and yet her mind was like that of a five-year-old child just a few months ago. Maybe even worse.
Everyone had seen her commit foolish deeds. From chasing bugs to eating rotten meat. Her reputation was down in the dumps. If Xie Daiyu relayed the truth to everyone that Ruan Chanchan was his destined one, who would take him seriously? If anything, they would start looking down on Xie Daiyu as well. Thus, Chief Xia stayed adamant till the end, until Xie Daiyu agreed with her.