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Chapter 329: Chapter 330: Can I hug you?
"No crying!"
Gaiyin froze in fright, his eyes widening as he attempted to stop the tears from sliding down his face, appearing pitiful beyond words.
Realizing the harshness of his tone, Gaiyin stumbled to explain.
"You are a Beastman, you need to be brave. Giving in to tears won’t solve the problems before you. You need to find ways to solve them. Will crying resolve the problem?"
Gaiyin’s lips were pressed into a tight line. He looked at Gaiyin anxiously, hopeful yet cautious, "Can, can I hug you?"
Gaiyin: "...."
In his heart, he wanted to refuse, but seeing Gaiyin’s tearful eyes and pitiful expression, he wavered.
A standoff ensued for a while.
In the end, Gaiyin conceded. He put down the ceramic bowl he was holding and awkwardly opened his arms, his voice devoid of any warmth.
"Alright, but only a brief hug!"
Gaiyin immediately cheered up and dove into Gaiyin’s embrace, his arms tightly holding on to him.
Gaiyin’s voice was choked with emotion, "Big Brother, I miss Father and Mother. Even though Mother’s cooking isn’t that good and she always scolded me, I still miss her... I should have listened to Mother back then and not sneaked out of the valley with Sanmao. We wouldn’t have been caught by the bad people..."
As Gaiyin spoke brokenly, Gaiyin listened just as brokenly.
"If Mother knew you were alive, she’d be so happy. Every warm season, she’d take me and Father to the Valley Forbidden Land to visit your grave. I don’t know what visiting graves means, but Mother always brings delicious food to place in front of a mound of earth. Mother told me I have an elder brother named Gaiyin who is sleeping in that earth mound."
"I don’t understand. You are clearly sitting here, why would Mother say you are sleeping in an earth mound in the Valley Forbidden Land? I also saw Mother secretly wiping away tears in front of that mound."
Gaiyin didn’t interrupt or comment.
"Big Brother, I miss the corn Mother used to bake. Although she often burned it, I still want to eat it. I also miss Father. He may look stern, but he truly cherished Mother and Yaya. Oh, and Father is really ticklish, hahaha..."
Only when he had exhausted himself with talk did he finally fall into a deep sleep in Gaiyin’s arms.
Delirious, he mumbled for Father and Mother in his sleep.
Gaiyin found some of the things he said hard to understand.
From the start of his memory, he had always lived in the Winged Tiger Tribe. Although he lacked a mother and father, there were many cubs in the tribe like him, so he never found himself different.
But suddenly, Gaiyin’s appearance told him that he too had parents. This made him feel strange.
He couldn’t pinpoint why, but after listening to Gaiyin, faint hope seemed to sprout within him...
...
By the firelight, Su Tang saw a tattoo-like pattern on Aunt Hua Mu’s finger. She quietly speculated whether this was the Beast Ring.
Aunt Hua Mu noticed Su Tang’s unabashed gaze quickly.
She held out her hand, adorned with the Beast Ring, to Su Tang with a jovial smile.
This made Su Tang somewhat embarrassed. Her face turned a slight pink as she asked delicately.
"Aunt Hua Mu, can you tell me about the Beast Ring?"
