CHAPTER 162: BUBBLING FEELINGS

Chief Xie watched the elders leave one by one and turned to look at the rest of the crowd with a sombre expression. "I don’t want to hear any more about Ruan Chanchan being a jinx or an evil spirit. You all better watch your mouths, or else don’t blame me for being rude." She had had enough of the drama.

The tribesmen immediately lowered their heads and went on to do their usual day-to-day work. Though they were really curious about the instant noodles and the fine salt that Ruan Chanchan received from the beast goddess as blessings, they knew that this was not the time for them to question her about these things.

Chief Xie scoffed. She then turned to look at her son, who had calmed down a little, and said to him, "Go and kneel in front of the holy flame. No matter what, you shouldn’t have attacked an elder." She understood why her son lost his bearings like that, but Chief Xie also knew that she had to condone the actions of her son or else he would get into more trouble.

Xie Daiyu was breathing heavily. A part of him wanted to quibble with his mother, but when he saw the stern look in the eyes of his mother, he knew that he was the one who had done something wrong. He lowered his head and accepted his punishment. "Yes, mother."

Though Ruan Chanchan was a bit far from where Chief Xie and Xie Daiyu were standing, she was, in the end, a beast woman as well; even if she couldn’t shift into her beast form, her senses were sharp enough to hear that Xie Daiyu was being punished.

"That—"

"Don’t," before she could stop Chief Xie, Nan Wu interrupted her.

She turned to look at the woman in confusion and then heard her say, "You need to calm down and think things through thoroughly. Though it seems like Chief Xie is supporting the elders, she is trying to protect Daiyu. He was really impulsive just now. Even though what the elders did was wrong, he is a junior and cannot raise his hand at them. If others learn from him, there will be chaos. Anyway, this punishment might sound really serious, but it’s nothing for someone as strong as Xie Daiyu. So let the chief take care of this matter. She is only trying to protect her son."

Nan Wu understood Chief Xie’s actions better than Ruan Chanchan.

When Ruan Chanchan heard that Chief Xie was punishing Xie Daiyu to protect him, she pursed her lips and didn’t say anything. However, inwardly in her heart, she couldn’t help but feel upset.

"It’s because you are in love~"

"Shut up," Ruan Chanchan hissed as she turned her attention to Xie Daiyu. She felt sorry for him; the mer only stepped in because of her, and he was punished to kneel.

On the other side, Shao Xia punched her fist in the trunk of the tree next to her. She raised her head and looked at Ruan Chanchan with a complicated look in her eyes. She couldn’t understand what was happening. Nothing seemed to be correlating with the past that she knew. In her past life, nothing like this happened. Ruan Chanchan remained a fool, and she was never blessed by the beast goddess. There was no such thing as refined salt or instant noodles.

Even in her death, she didn’t see such things in her past life. Because of this, she believed that what Chief Xie said was indeed the truth. Ruan Chanchan was really blessed by the beast goddess. At first, Shao Xia panicked, but then she turned really angry and envious. Why did the beast goddess allow her the chance to be reborn and then give all of her blessings to Ruan Chanchan? What was going on? She thought that with the knowledge of the past, she would end up becoming the ultimate winner.

So why was Ruan Chanchan taking all her shine!?

Shao Xia stared at Ruan Chanchan hatefully. She hated Ruan Chanchan, she hated Xie Daiyu, and she hated the elders of the tribe. They were really useless; they couldn’t even deal with a little woman, one who couldn’t even shift into her beast form. What use were they? She then turned to look at Lang, whose expression was just as ashen, and spat on the ground. She thought that this girl was smart enough to deal with Ruan Chanchan, but alas, she overestimated her way too much.

Taking another glance at Ruan Chanchan, she turned around on her feet and then walked away, her face hidden in the shadows, which made it difficult for anyone to decipher what she was thinking.

Ruan Chanchan had no idea that someone was determined to make things difficult for her.

"You shouldn’t have done that." At that moment, she was standing in front of Xie Daiyu, who was kneeling in front of the holy flame. She was looking down at the mer while holding a pot of peeled moon nuts. "Now look at you; you are getting punished because of me."

Xie Daiyu simply smiled. "It’s not because of you. Elder Lin had it coming; she was the one who had been causing trouble in the tribe for months now. It was bound to happen." He didn’t feel sorry for what he did; if anything, if he hadn’t stepped in, then he would have felt much worse because Ruan Chanchan was his destined one. How could he not protect her when she needed him?

Ruan Chanchan watched the foolish mer and shook her head lightly. She knelt down beside him and picked up a moon nut from the pot that she was carrying. "Come on, eat it. This will give you the energy to kneel for the night." She knew that Chief Xie had been relatively kind to Xie Daiyu by making him kneel only for the night, but she still felt sorry for the mer and couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty.