4. A Taste for the Unconventional
In the pitch-dark bedroom, the delicate, snow-white face twitched slightly beneath thick raven lashes as crystal-clear, glassy eyes slowly opened in the darkness.
Lion Jue met those eyes without surprise.
For a moment, his mind went blank.
“What just happened?” Ruan Li asked softly, having just come to from a haze, her mind still foggy.
Her clear voice snapped Lion Jue back to reality. His gaze darted aimlessly around the room, a burning heat spreading from his neck to his ears, as if even the sound itself was being seared by flames. “N-nothing. You just treated me earlier. I fainted from exhaustion.”
“Thank you, Ruan Li.”
Lion Jue pushed aside the shyness that had just crept in and looked at her earnestly. His emerald eyes were like a lake reflecting the green shade of summer, pure and bottomless.
He repeated her name over and over in his mind—Ruan Li, the female master.
“Haven’t you already thanked me once?” Ruan Li’s lips curled into a faint smile, though inside she was already captivated by the handsome young man with golden hair, deep-set eyes, and a shy, grateful expression.
The newly lit light in the bedroom cast a glow over Lion Jue.
With a sudden “whoosh,” he sprang to his feet, stammering, “You haven’t eaten yet—I’ll go check if the food downstairs is ready.”
In his flustered escape, his legs tangled once, but luckily, as a beastman, his limbs were exceptionally coordinated—otherwise, he might have performed an embarrassing fall right in front of Ruan Li.
Ruan Li rubbed her slightly aching temples. After a brief rest, the growling of her stomach urged her downstairs.
“Why are you down here?” Bai He sat in the living room, fingers tapping on an invisible screen.
“The female master is awake,” Lion Jue scratched the back of his head, his cheeks faintly flushed.
Hearing a second set of footsteps on the stairs, Bai He put away the smart device and looked up at Ruan Li. “Female master, the Star Network shows your fourth beast husband will arrive tonight. The fifth, due to special living conditions, will arrive seven days later.”
Ruan Li paused mid-step but replied casually, “Understood.”
Bai He continued, “I’ve organized the information on the two beast husbands and sent a dossier to your smart device.”
Ruan Li went downstairs, quietly rubbing her belly. “Mm, I’ll look at it soon.”
Xu Mo brought dishes from the kitchen to the table, thoughtfully pulling out a chair with a smiling fox-like charm. “Female master, please sit here.”
Ruan Li was momentarily stunned. Only when she saw the red-haired, smiling, foxish youth looking at her did she realize “female master” was referring to herself.
She sat down in the chair Xu Mo pulled out, then awkwardly said, “You can just call me by my name from now on. No need to call me female master.”
The air suddenly froze for a moment.
---
Ruan Li even wondered if she had misspoken or if her sudden transformation was so drastic that it made them suspicious.
Her mind raced rapidly.
“I know I’ve done many terrible things before,” she cleared her throat softly, gathering her words. “I apologize for my past behavior. I will change. Whether you believe me or not, I won’t insult or mistreat you anymore.”
“If you’re injured, you can tell me. I’ll provide treatment. Though my healing skills are only level one, and may not be very effective, I’ll work hard to improve.”
Silence.
Still silence.
After all, even she didn’t quite believe a person could suddenly change for the better without reason.
A pang of disappointment struck her heart.
“I believe in Ruan Li,” a calm, cool voice spoke.
Ruan Li turned her gaze.
It was the white-haired, white-eyed young man—the very one who had shouted and scolded her the moment she opened her eyes.
“I believe in Ruan Li too,” Lion Jue followed quickly, inwardly regretting his slow response.
Xu Mo’s narrow red eyes narrowed slightly. Sitting to Ruan Li’s right, he could see the expressions of the others clearly. A small smile tugged at his lips.
“Of course—I believe in Ruan Li as well.”
The fox’s voice always carried a drawn-out tone, adding a hint of ambiguity, the trailing note seeming to tempt and awaken hidden desires within.
Seeing the family of four happily gathered at the table, Ruan Li finally smiled.
“Eat quickly, eat quickly.”
She was nearly starving.
The four dishes and one soup before her looked appetizing—
“Ptooey! Ptooey, ptooey!”
She spat out every bite of meat she had just chewed.
The meat had entered her mouth too quickly for her to savor it before she realized it tasted like rotten, foul-smelling zombie meat—soft, tender, and slimy—in a state of decay lasting several months under the scorching summer heat.
The stench was so deeply fermented that Ruan Li even doubted her own taste buds had mutated. She never imagined meat could smell this atrocious.
---
The three men at the table looked at her with inscrutable expressions.
It was as if they were saying, “Finally, her taste buds are normal!”
Ruan Li ignored their thoughts, rushing to rinse her mouth. Each second the foul taste lingered, it felt like her mouth and taste buds were being violently assaulted.
After the thirty-eighth retch in the bathroom, Lion Jue anxiously asked, “Could Ruan Li be pregnant?”
Xu Mo and Bai He exchanged glances—one amused, one indifferent—their eyes saying, “Pregnant with yours?”
Lion Jue quickly denied it. “No, it’s not mine!”
...
“If she keeps vomiting like this, it’ll be dangerous,” Bai He said, wiping the corner of his mouth with a tissue.
“I can help call for medical assistance,” Xu Mo propped his chin on his hand, eyes fixed on the closed bathroom door.
“You tell me, what could cause a person to suddenly improve, even changing their tastes?” He raised an eyebrow.
Among the four dishes on the table, two were meat dishes made from ferocious beasts.
Due to alien radiation, some animals on the planet had contracted a mysterious virus and gone mad, their bodies turning gray-blue. These were classified as ferocious beasts.
No one had ever eaten ferocious beasts—except for this uniquely flavored female master.
Ruan Li was rinsing her mouth with plain water for the one hundred and eighth time, yet the foul taste clung like a strong, pungent perfume—indecipherably sweet or rotten, and impossible to wash away.
She felt as if she was about to vomit her very soul.
“There’s mouthwash on the sink. It might help,” Bai He reminded from the doorway.
After rinsing three times with strawberry-flavored mouthwash, Ruan Li finally felt saved.
She opened the door, utterly exhausted.
Her pale face had lost all desire for food; the reddened eyes and lips only added a fragile, heart-wrenching beauty to her delicate, haggard features.
Xu Mo’s smile deepened. His fingers curled slightly, tapping the table in a rhythmic pattern.