Chapter 215 - 217: The Suspicious Hong Shuang

Chapter 215: Chapter 217: The Suspicious Hong Shuang

When Xi Yi saw the cracks that appeared on the turtle shell, his face lit up with joy. He turned to tell Su Luoluo, "The Heavenly God says we will soon..."

He was only halfway through his sentence when he realized Su Luoluo was no longer in the room.

He shook his head. ’She’s a fast runner!’

However, seeing the auspicious sign on the turtle shell, his delight wasn’t much diminished by Su Luoluo’s absence. Instead, he cheerfully used a wooden stick to pull the turtle shell out of the charcoal fire.

He gazed at the turtle shell, his face filled with satisfaction.

’Since the Heavenly God has given a sign, it must be coming soon.’

After getting the address, Su Luoluo returned to her wooden house and rested for a while.

When she woke up, she went to the plaza to find Cai Xia.

She had never sent a letter before and wanted to ask Cai Xia how to do it.

In this Beast World, every tribe had its own method of communication; there was no unified system.

For instance, Fu Feng and his kind—the avians—preferred to use birds.

Xi Yi had mentioned his people used bats, but she didn’t know what the Wolf Clan used.

Since she’d never sent a letter, her only option was to ask Cai Xia.

When Cai Xia heard she wanted to send a letter, she said enthusiastically, "The Wolf Clan mostly uses marmots to deliver letters. You give the letter to one, pay it one Crystal Stone up front, and then when a reply is brought back, you give it another Crystal Stone."

’Crystal Stone?’

This was the first time Su Luoluo had heard of Crystal Stones being used on the Beast World Continent. They sounded like a form of currency.

However, she rarely saw anyone in the tribe use them. Even when Su Zhao went to the city-state to trade for salt, he had used hunted game.

Hearing this, she asked in confusion, "Where do you get these Crystal Stones?"

At these words, Cai Xia gave her a strange look. "Don’t tell me you don’t have a single Crystal Stone, Luoluo."

Su Luoluo shook her head. "I’ve never even seen one."

"How can that be? Your Beastmen are so powerful, yet they haven’t given you any Crystal Stones."

Su Luoluo caught the implication. "Are you saying your Beastman gives you your Crystal Stones?"

"That’s right. I don’t have any Beast Ability, so of course, I only have them because they give them to me."

"Besides, the higher someone’s Beast Rank, the more Crystal Stones they get."

"That’s why I thought it was so strange when you said you didn’t have any."

If she hadn’t heard this from Cai Xia today, Su Luoluo would have remained completely in the dark about the existence of Crystal Stones.

’Fu Feng and the others have never given me a single Crystal Stone.’

Seeing Su Luoluo standing there in a daze, Cai Xia thought she had misspoken and quickly changed the subject. "So, Luoluo, have you written your letter yet?"

Su Luoluo wasn’t as upset as Cai Xia imagined. She was simply plotting how she was going to ask them for some later.

’They’ve eaten my cooking so many times, and they kept this from me so thoroughly. Not a single Crystal Stone.’

Snapped out of her thoughts by Cai Xia’s question, she replied, "I don’t understand the Bear Clan’s language, so I just drew some pictures on a leaf."

Cai Xia nodded. "That’s how I write to my close friends, too. But Crystal Stones are so precious. I only contact them during festivals; I can’t bear to use them otherwise."

Su Luoluo was lost in her own thoughts and wasn’t really listening to Cai Xia, merely nodding along.

’The Beast World has Crystal Stones... does that mean I can cultivate on my own?’

The thought suddenly popped into Su Luoluo’s head.

Before she could explore the idea further, she saw Lan Ya strutting happily across the plaza in a new Beast Skin Skirt.

A few females saw her new Beast Skin Skirt and called out, "Leader’s Wife, is that a new skirt you’ve made? The style is so beautiful."

"It really is! I love it. Did Luoluo make it?"

Su Luoluo was known for being clever and dexterous, always creating novel things, so when the other females saw Lan Ya’s beautiful Beast Skin Skirt, they naturally assumed Su Luoluo had made it.

Hearing this, Lan Ya snorted. "Her hands aren’t nearly this skilled. Hong Shuang made this."

The woman who had spoken fell into an awkward silence. After a moment, she turned to Hong Shuang and Su Zhao, who were standing nearby. "Hong Shuang is very skilled, too. Su Zhao, you’ve found a good female."

Hong Shuang glanced shyly at Su Zhao. "I can only make Beast Skin Skirts. I’m not as good as Sister Luoluo in other areas."

Lan Ya replied coolly, "You’re far more filial than she is. All she knows are a few unorthodox tricks."

"Mother," Su Zhao interjected, "aside from not making Beast Skin Skirts, Luoluo is actually quite good at other things."

Although Su Zhao didn’t like Su Luoluo, after the plague incident, he had begun to see her in a new light.

’I never expected my little sister to be so capable. If she hadn’t saved Father in time, he would have died.’

’It’s just that her attitude toward Mother is terrible. I need to have a word with her.’

His gaze swept the area and landed on Su Luoluo, who was standing nearby.

’She’s so close and doesn’t even come to say hello!’ Su Zhao’s anger flared instantly. He strode over to her. "Have you no respect? You see Mother and don’t even come over to say a word."

Su Luoluo couldn’t be bothered to deal with him and turned to leave. Su Zhao reached out and grabbed her, but Hong Shuang, who was beside them, stopped his hand. She smiled at Su Zhao and said,

"Let’s talk things out calmly. Luoluo is your sister, and she’s pregnant with a little cub. You shouldn’t be grabbing her all the time."

Hearing this, Su Zhao pulled his hand back and looked at Su Luoluo. "Did you hear what I said?"

"I heard you," Su Luoluo said flatly.

"If you heard me, then go say a few words to Mother."

"I don’t want to."

"Su Luoluo! Is that any way to speak to our mother?"

Su Luoluo gave him a cool look. "And you’re hardly a model older brother."

’Lan Ya just insulted me to my face. Why on earth would I go talk to her? It’s not like I’m a glutton for punishment.’

"Su Luoluo, you—" Su Zhao’s anger flared. He reached for her again, but Hong Shuang grabbed his arm. "Little Sister Luoluo is right," she said to Su Zhao. "Your attitude as an older brother really isn’t good. That’s no way to talk."

Then, she added in a fair-minded tone, "And while the Leader’s Wife just praised me, I have to admit that Luoluo is much more capable than I am. It’s only normal that she’d be upset and not want to go over after hearing her own mother speak about her that way."

Su Zhao said angrily, "No matter what, she’s our mother! So what if she criticizes her a little?"

At this, Su Luoluo simply rolled her eyes.

Hong Shuang, however, let out a small laugh. "You’re all talk. On the day I arrived in the tribe, didn’t you also get angry and argue with the Leader’s Wife? Why weren’t you telling yourself not to be angry with her back then?"

Su Zhao faltered. "That was different."

Hong Shuang shook her head. "It’s no different at all."

Su Zhao was left momentarily speechless by her words.

Seeing that he had calmed down, Hong Shuang began to pull him away. After a few steps, she glanced back and gave Su Luoluo a wink.

Then she led both Lan Ya and Su Zhao away from the plaza.

After the three of them had left, Cai Xia commented from the side, "Hong Shuang is really something else. With just a few words, she pointed out Su Zhao’s double standards and made him listen to her completely. Luoluo, with a sister-in-law like her, things in your family should get a lot better."

’Get better?’

’It’s impossible for my relationship with Lan Ya to get better. Things are fine as they are now. She doesn’t bother me, and I don’t have to deal with her. It’s peaceful.’

’Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean Hong Shuang is a good person.’

’She hasn’t done anything wrong, but my intuition tells me she’s trying a little too hard to get on my good side.’

’People who go out of their way to cozy up to you are usually bad news.’

’Yesterday, I might have thought she was normal, but after today, I’m not so sure.’