Chapter 161 – The Wolf King’s Naughty Little Wife – Tang Tang is a Beastman ? (07)
When the Priest Mana arrived with three sub-beastmen and two females, Bai Tang was sitting properly on a rock.
“Bai Tang, are you feeling unwell? Why is your face red?” the Priest Mana asked with concern. Even if he was the Beast God’s messenger, he was still just a slightly stronger sub-beastman than a female—he could get sick too.
Bai Tang glanced at Kyle, who was moving logs, and fanned himself with his hand. “It’s just a bit hot, really hot.”
The Priest Mana looked up at the lush green leaves. It did seem like summer was approaching. Since Bai Tang and Kyle were building a house and doing physical labor, feeling hot was normal.
What the Priest Mana didn’t know was that Bai Tang’s heat wasn’t that kind of heat.
Among the people following the Priest Mana was Ran Xiayue. She held some vines gathered by the beastmen from the forest, found a good spot, and sat down next to Bai Tang.
Ran Xiayue carefully observed the sub-beastman in front of her—pointed ears, long golden hair, a large fluffy tail—all matching the image of sub-beastmen in her memory. But compared to her memories, he seemed less timid and had more smiles.
“Heavenly dragon subdues the tiger,” Ran Xiayue whispered near Bai Tang’s ear, using the vines to shield her mouth.
To a foodie, the female protagonist’s line almost made Bai Tang blurt out, ‘Chicken stew with mushrooms’. Even though he didn’t like meat, he did love the mushrooms in it.
Bai Tang looked at Ran Xiayue in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
So he wasn’t from the same hometown after all. Ran Xiayue felt a little disappointed. “It’s nothing. Let’s start weaving the basket.”
Bai Tang nodded. The other sub-beastmen and females sat in a circle around him, making sure everyone could clearly see his weaving motions.
“First, like this—put three vines together, twist them a bit, and pull them into a loop…”
The seating arrangement had been carefully planned by the Priest Mana to avoid anyone touching Bai Tang. It was meant to show respect to the Beast God’s messenger. Bai Tang appreciated it as well—though there were many people, it didn’t feel crowded or overwhelming.
“Wow, so that’s how it’s done!”
“Bai Tang, how do you tie this part?”
“My basket looks so ugly…”
The beastmen were simple and sincere—they said what they meant. The sub-beastmen were also friendly and eager to learn. If they didn’t understand something, they asked right away. Before long, they had all warmed up to Bai Tang, laughing and chatting while learning how to weave what looked like a complicated basket.
“I did it! I really did it!” one of the blue-haired sub-beastmen exclaimed excitedly, holding up a basket with uneven gaps. Although it was a little ugly, it was still a success—at least it was usable.
“Wow~ how did you finish the edge? I don’t know how to do that part…”
“It’s just like this. You take this vine and that one, tuck them in, then tie it…”
It was Bai Tang who had taught them how to tie knots—it felt almost magical. The messenger had explained that they could roll up unused animal hides and tie them with dried vines. That way, they wouldn’t need to wash them constantly. After all, sun-dried hides could become stiff and uncomfortable to sleep on.
One by one, the sub-beastmen successfully completed their baskets. Several pairs of eyes turned to Bai Tang, full of anticipation.
“They want you to praise them,” the system said proudly. It glanced over at the female lead, who was still struggling with the vines. She was holding… something unrecognizable in her hands.
“You all did great. Really impressive. After a few more baskets, you’ll become even more skilled and they’ll look even better,” Bai Tang said with a smile.
The sub-beastmen cheered at his praise, and Bai Tang couldn’t help but smile along. They weren’t nearly as difficult to get along with as the original host’s memories had suggested.
Ran Xiayue, frustrated, threw aside her half-finished basket. She was a modern woman. She’d been to rural farm experiences with friends before and had even tried basket weaving as a leisure activity. At first, she’d dismissed Bai Tang’s basket as too plain and resolved to weave an exquisite one that would wow everyone.
If Bai Tang wasn’t a transmigrator, then finding food and weaving baskets must’ve just been dumb luck. From her perspective, the Beast God’s messenger should be someone like her—someone with a modern education.
Ran Xiayue had high hopes, but reality hit hard. Her memory of weaving techniques had long since faded, and while all the sub-beastmen around her had managed to finish their baskets, she was the only one who failed. To make matters worse, the sub-beastmen, with sincere goodwill, began pointing out her mistakes.
“Xiayue, this part’s wrong. Not like that—you should twist this vine with that one…”
The one kindly offering her advice was the first to finish their basket, but in Ran Xiayue’s eyes, they were blatantly mocking her.
Furious, she kicked over the pile of vines at her feet. “Fine! You’re all so amazing, okay?!”
The others paused and looked at her, confused as to why Ran Xiayue had suddenly gotten so angry when everything had been going just fine.
The sub-beastman who had been helping her was standing quite close. Caught off guard by her sudden outburst, he reached out to catch the vines she flung, but his arm was scratched in the process, and blood began to flow.
The Priest Mana frowned and said sternly, “Xiayue, Arthur was only trying to help. If you didn’t want to weave baskets, why did you volunteer to come?”
In truth, Ran Xiayue had already regretted her actions the moment she saw Arthur get hurt. But the Priest Mana’s angry scolding, combined with the disapproving looks from the other sub-beastmen, only further bruised her pride. Even Bai Tang was looking at her with clear disapproval.
Frustrated, she blurted out, “So I can’t learn it, okay?! Is it that funny that I didn’t manage to finish a basket?!”
As she said that, she reached out to push Bai Tang. “What are you pretending for? It’s just a few lousy baskets…”
But before she could touch him, Kyle had already pulled Bai Tang aside.
“Did she push you?” Kyle asked with concern.
“No,” Bai Tang shook his head.
Stepping out of Kyle’s arms, Bai Tang looked seriously at Ran Xiayue and said, “Everyone here meant well. You got angry and hurt someone. You should apologize to Arthur.”
Bai Tang really couldn’t stand Ran Xiayue’s behavior. He had lived in the modern world too, and most people there were decent and well-mannered. Why did this transmigrated heroine act like she’d never even gone to kindergarten?
Ran Xiayue glared at Bai Tang, but when her eyes fell on Kyle cracking his knuckles behind him, she shrank back. She was just a weak girl—how could she possibly fight a tall, strong beastman?
Forced into submission, Ran Xiayue turned to Arthur and muttered, “Sorry.”
Arthur, clutching his wound, hurriedly shook his head. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I know it was an accident.”
“Alright, Xiayue, you should head back for now. Arthur, come here—I’ll treat your wound,” said the Priest Mana, putting an end to the farce.
Ran Xiayue didn’t want to stay and further embarrass herself, so she left the back mountain alone.
Arthur’s injury wasn’t serious—just a gash on his exposed forearm. The Priest Mana pressed a leaf against the wound for a while, and the bleeding stopped.
The back mountain was full of plants, and the Priest Mana had been gathering herbs here earlier. He asked Arthur to sit and rest while he went to collect more herbs.
Although sub-beastmen couldn’t go out hunting like beastmen, they weren’t idle either. The Priest Mana told the others to return to the tribe and teach basket weaving to more people. Then he went off to gather herbs, leaving only Bai Tang behind to tidy up the messy area.
“I’ll help you,” Arthur said as he ran over to help pick up the vines.
“No, no—you’re injured. Sit down quickly,” Bai Tang said, hurrying to support him into a sitting position. If the wound that had just stopped bleeding reopened, it would be bad.
“Huh? Your leg is healed?!” Arthur looked at Bai Tang’s left leg in surprise.
Everyone in the tribe knew that a lame sub-beastman lived in the back mountain. He didn’t like interacting with people and would only come to the tribal square every few months to trade large amounts of fruit and other goods for a single animal hide. Arthur had once seen Bai Tang, after completing such a trade, dragging his leg and limping back to the mountain.
“Yeah.” Bai Tang replied dryly, trying to come up with an excuse.
He had healed his leg that morning, but Kyle had accidentally witnessed it, which forced him to admit he had supernatural abilities. It was fine that Kyle knew—he could be trusted not to say anything. But the others didn’t know, and Bai Tang didn’t want them to. How was he supposed to explain it?
“Just say it was a blessing from the Beast God,” the system suggested. “They all believe you’re the Beast God’s messenger anyway. If more people find out you used powers that don’t belong to this world, who knows how many points we’ll lose. The world might even collapse after the mission is completed. I still want to save up energy to take physical form!”
“I get it.” Arthur suddenly spoke up, eyes wide. “It must’ve been the Beast God who healed you!”
Seeing Bai Tang’s troubled expression, Arthur had recalled what the Priest Mana had told them: Bai Tang was a messenger sent by the Beast God to lead the Winged Wolf Tribe to a better future and to teach them knowledge. So of course he would be blessed by the Beast God.
“Mm-hmm, that’s right…” Bai Tang nodded, going along with it.
Arthur had already filled in the blanks himself, so Bai Tang didn’t say more. Instead, he let Arthur drag him into a stream of questions—all about how to survive the winter.
Before long, the Priest Mana returned. He treated Arthur’s wound and then stood to apologize to Bai Tang.
“It’s nothing. This is something I should be doing,” Bai Tang replied. He wanted to do his part for the tribe that had raised Kyle.
The Priest Mana left with Arthur, and since the construction work was on hold due to a shortage of bricks, the site was temporarily abandoned.
“I’m going hunting.”
“I want to go too.”
Bai Tang jumped onto Kyle’s back. “I want to go into the forest too—might as well look for some materials to build the house.”
Since Kyle already knew that Bai Tang was different from the average sub-beastman, Bai Tang no longer insisted on sticking to the original character setup and completely let himself go.
“No. Hunting is very dangerous,” Kyle said firmly, unwilling to let Bai Tang come along. After all, beastmen fought wild animals in close combat—how could he possibly bring Tangtang with him?
“I can stay in the trees. And if anything happens, I can run faster than you.” Bai Tang jumped off Kyle’s back. Seeing that Kyle didn’t believe him at all, he simply turned back into a little squirrel.
“Squeak squeak squeak—”
The fluffy little squirrel hugged a pine cone the system had brought out. As he nibbled on it, he looked up at the towering beastman. “Squeak squeak squeak—” Believe me now?
Kyle froze. Tang Tang is a beastman?
Only beastmen could shapeshift, but Bai Tang still smelled like a sub-beastman.
“Squeak squeak squeak—”
Seeing Kyle ignore him, the little squirrel climbed up his body along the animal hide he wore. The hide only reached Kyle’s waist, so the squirrel dangled in the air, his tiny claws hooked onto the knot securing the hide.
The soft fur brushing against Kyle’s bare skin made him feel ticklish. Realizing that the little squirrel was about to loosen his hide and expose him, Kyle helplessly scooped him up. After tying his upper body with more hide, he tucked the squirrel into the cloth over his chest.
“When we go hunting, you’re only allowed to watch from the trees. You can only come down when I call you—got it?”
The little squirrel poked his head out from the folds of the hide. “Squeak squeak squeak—” Got it. Let’s go!