Gentle Beast

Gentle Beast Chapter 22

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu finally thought of a solution.

When Ryan wandered back over to her side, she held back the pain in her belly and grabbed his tail with one hand, closed her eyes, and searched for a corner in her space, where she then put him.

This entire action was done smoothly.

She was relieved to exchange the tampons, but the pain in her abdomen was still unbearable.

It felt like an invisible hand was tearing through her pelvis, crushing her entire body.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu wanted to burn some hot water. Whether it was to drink or warm her belly, it would be more comfortable than now.

Avoiding the trouble her leopard could came, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu did not release him from her space.

Outside it was still snowing and her body was uncomfortable. Instead of going out to collect snow to boil, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu took a large bottle of mineral water out of her space and poured half of it into an aluminum pot. She set it on the burner to let it boil.

The stove could be used for a long time, but the gas tank was limited and once it was exhausted, she wouldn’t be able to start a fire.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu did not know how long it could be used, but she had about 10 gas cans in her space.

When the water boiled, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu poured the hot water into a thermos. Drinking a few sips herself, she then tightened the lid and held the canister to her lower abdomen.

The heat seeped into her skin and spread across her hips, easing the constant pain a little.

Unfortunately, there was no brown sugar or ginger in the space, of she could have boiled it in to alleviate the dysmenorrhea*. Brown sugar and ginger water was much more effective than just regular water.

*Was anyone else aware that this is the scientific term for menstrual pain?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu slowly sighed.

Before, she had once heard someone saying that their period hurt so much that they couldn’t stand up.

At the time, the concept was vague, but now that it was really her turn to feel it, she only just realized how unbearable the pain really was.

Here, the winter was so cold. Without heating and brown sugar water, was her later periods going to hurt this much?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu could not imagine it.

After this winter, she must set out as early as possible to head east and find that turtle called Pat. . .

To find the way home. . .

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu laid down on the bed and stared in puzzled bewilderment at the ceiling.

When she returned to awareness, the hot water on her belly had long gone cold and she sat up suddenly, remembering that Táo Táo was still in her space.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu put the cup aside and quickly went to free the leopard from her space.

However, she looked around attentively but the place she had put the leopard was empty.

Where did he go? Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked around hurriedly. She clearly remembered, to avoid him getting into the clothes, she especially put him next to the milk and mineral water box.

But now, the area in front of the box didn’t have even a hint of his shadow.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu panicked a bit. He couldn’t be lost in the space, right?

This 'space” was very big, boundless and immeasurable, even Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu did not know where it ended.

If he was really lost in here, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn’t really know how to find him.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu narrowed her eyes and overlooked the entire space from above, and luckily, found her little leopard next to the barbecue grill.

Ryan was lying there quietly.

His eyes were closed, and his demeanor as if he had been asleep for a very long time.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu hurriedly pulled him out of the space and put him on the bed, at a loss on what to do.

“Hey. . .” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu raised her hands to poke his belly, gently, “Táo Táo, are you okay?”

Ryan gave no response.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn’t know what effect the space would have on him.

The time flowed very slowly in her space, but his body flowed at normal time. When the two encountered each other, would it cause a problem? Or rejection?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu had no experience to speak of.

After a while, she saw the leopard still didn’t wake up and thought that cats liked cat nip. Every time her beautiful shorthair saw it, she acted like she was on drugs. Though, the leopards told her that catnip had no effect on them after so many centuries of evolution, but. . .

What if?

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu tried holding up her positive attitude and removed the catnip from her sachet, putting it under his nose. . .

“Dōng, Dōng, Dōng!”

Suddenly a knock on the door sounded out.

It was accompanied by a familiar voice: “Ōu, are you in there?”

*

“Eric, how did you find this place?” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu let Eric into the room and asked in astonishment.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw Eric standing outside the door covered in snow and smiling brightly at him.

She was barely able to find this place and there was no one living here comfortably.

How did Eric know she was here?

Eric stroked the snowflakes from his head and explained, “In the morning, I went to the patriarch’s house and saw the firewood by his house. . .” Here Eric paused and looked up a little tense. Only after seeing the leopard asleep on the bed did he dare continue to speak, “His firewood had been stolen by a leopard, and George Patriarch said it was yours. I guessed you were still in the vicinity and followed the footprints this way for some time. I didn’t expect to actually find you.”

His smile was sincere, but Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was a bit dumbfounded.

Stole firewood? She unconsciously looked to the fireplace.

The fire she had picked up last night was burned, and this morning she had such a terrible stomachache she couldn’t get out of bed.

——That little leopard was so busy this early morning, going back to the Elk Village to 'steal firewood”?

“Ōu, I brought you something.”

Eric’s words interrupted Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s thoughts and he removed the bamboo basket on his shoulder. “This is the sweet potatoes I dug out the day before yesterday. I wasn’t sure you were really here, so I didn’t bring too much. I’m so happy you’re here. You can have these now, and I’ll bring you a little more tomorrow.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu looked at the basket full of sweet potatoes and she remembered Eric didn’t have a lot of food. When he went to dig potatoes, he was still worrying about his winter food was not enough.

“You give me all this and what will you eat?” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu refused to accept, she still had a lot of food in her space.

Eric smiled at her, his antlers dipping in laughter, “I’m a man, I can always find a way to survive.”

“But. . .” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu still refused to receive it.

Eric walked two laps around the house and switched topics, asking, “Ōu, how did you find this cabin?”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu replied, “I don’t know. I just walked around saw it. . .” She stepped forward, “Eric, this sweet potatoes. . .”

“The table is eroded away and it’s empty, so you can’t use it anymore.” Eric stopped at the table and seriously looked down at it.

Then he looked down at the floor of the cabin and the door and the cupboard.

——The bed he did not dare to approach because Ryan was lying there sleeping.

Eric said: “These furniture are all damaged. I’ll bring some tools tomorrow to do some repairs.”

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu said in surprise, “You can fix it?”

“. . . a little bit,” Eric said modestly.

The other things didn’t matter, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu could accommodate it.

But the door and the floor, she couldn’t. At night, the cold always seeped in through the door and the ground. She could handle the cold when not on her period, but now even a little cold made the pain unbearable.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu continued to thank Eric, but ERic smiled in good temper, “Ōu, you don’t need to be so kind to me.”

Eric didn’t stay long, but confirmed that tomorrow he would come back early with the tools he needed.

Sending Eric off, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu returned to the bed. The leopard still hadn’t woken up.

Lyin gon his side, his eyelids shut. It was, honestly, a bit abnormal.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was not relieved, and she reached out a hand, gently twisting his furry round ears between two fingers. She rubbed back and forth.

“Táo Táo. . .”

He did not respond.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu moved her finger down, sliding down his chin, and she used her middle and index finger to scratch under his chin.

Still no response.

Strange. . . he never liked it when she scratched his chin?

Every time she did this to him, he would look at her with displeased eyes and shake off her hand with a paw.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu did not give up and redoubled their efforts. She scratched up and down all over again, even his four paw pads were not spared.

But he still did not awake.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu felt a little discouraged. If not for investigating his nose, she would have probably thought he wasn’t breathing.

That evening, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s body hurt, but she had no appetite, but she used the rice in her space to cook a pot of sweet potato porridge.

After Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu drank the porridge, she watched and lied down to sleep but Ryan still didn’t wake up.

*

Early in the morning, light exploded across the sky and parted the umber over the mountains.

The snow outside the house stopped and the sun was shining on the snow, reflecting a silver-wrapped glass world.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu opened her eyes. The pain in her lower abdomen, compared to yesterday, was relieved a little.

She stretched and turned around, a pair of round blue eyes stared, leaving her stunned.

Ryan did not know when he woke up, but he lied beside Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s head and stared at her deeply in concentration.

The gauze wrapped around his hind leg had fallen away in disorder, revealing the place where he had been injured before.

Where the original flesh had been wounded so deep the bone could be seen, it was not healed and exposed the pink flesh.

“You’re awake. . .” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu sighed in relieve, and while sitting up, her eyes sagged inadvertently, “Why did you sleep so long yesterday, I thought. . .”

She saw the wound was healed and suddenly stopped.

Then, surprised, she said, “Your wound. . .  how?”

She remembered dressing it the day before and the wound was still very deep!

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was incredulous, but when she looked again, it was still the case.  She reached out her fingers and touched it carefully. The fresh skin was pink and there was a long wide scar exactly where her had been injured.

Did the beatmen have a stronger ability to heal than humans?

That wasn’t impossible.

But. . . if that were true, the beastmen of this world were too powerful.

The human constitution could not be compared to them at all.

As she was thinking about it, there was a knock on the door.

“Dōng, Dōng, Dōng——”

Three times, the sound rang clearly.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu thought it was Eric, since he had just set an appointment yesterday for this morning.

Looking at the time, it was before 7:30 in the morning.

Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu got out of bed and went to the door, pushing it aside, “Eric, why are you so early. . .?”

Halfway finished, the words died.

The man outside the door was not Eric, but a strange male beast.

He had black skin, and he looked like he stepped out of the dark, his temperament cold and threatening.

Skin dark, pupils yellow, smooth and slender body line but containing explosive power.

——Like an agile black panther.

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