Chapter 48: I already said I can roast the meat and I know what I am doing
Meanwhile, Lin Huahua was still glaring at Mu Qingyi with her hands on her hips.
Her little white rat tail had begun flicking behind her in annoyance, and her small pink lips were pressed into a pout that only made her look more like an angry dumpling than a fearsome princess.
"You are not going anywhere," she declared. "It is already dark, and we already have food. So why are you all acting as if I am dying of hunger and need ten beasts to run around the whole world for me?"
Mu Qingyi stared at her, then blinked once as if he needed that one blink to confirm he had heard her correctly.
Feng Yiren watched this scene and felt something in his heart quietly loosen.
Only a little.
Very little.
He was still not the type to trust easily, and he was even less the type to admit when his thinking might have been too harsh. Still, the fact remained that if this had been the old Lin Huahua, Mu Qingyi would have already been halfway to another tribe by now.
But now?
Now she was standing there scolding him for even thinking of it.
This was enough to make the fox begin checking himself a little in his own mind.
Maybe he really had been wrong just now.
Maybe this little rat had truly changed more than he wanted to admit.
Lin Huahua, of course, knew nothing about the small storm moving through Feng Yiren’s head.
She was too busy being annoyed.
So after scolding Mu Qingyi, she turned sharply and looked at Feng Yiren too, because if she was already angry, then everyone could receive their portion equally.
Her brown eyes met his red ones, and she said with a firm face, "I already said I can roast the meat and I know what I am doing."
Feng Yiren almost smiled right there.
Almost.
Because the problem was that he knew she did not know what she was doing.
He knew it very well.
He knew so well that it was almost painful.
The way Lin Huahua’s eyes had gone blank earlier, the way she had stared at Mu Qingyi with that huge smile while clearly waiting for him to magically understand her thoughts.
To him his little female was bluffing shamelessly.
And the funniest part was that she looked extremely cute while doing it.
Feng Yiren leaned slightly against the stone wall and watched her, his fox ears twitching once with amusement while his tail gave a slow wave behind him. He did not say anything, but that look in his eyes alone was enough to make Lin Huahua feel as though he were laughing at her inside his heart.
And he probably was.
That was what made it even more annoying.
Lin Huahua immediately felt the urge to prove him wrong.
No.
She had to prove him wrong.
Even if she had no idea what she was doing, she had already spoken so confidently. If she backed down now, then would Feng Yiren not spend the next hundred years using this against her?
Impossible.
So Lin Huahua took a deep breath, turned toward the meat and the leaves and the little pile of spices she had brought back, and forced herself to look like someone who had long mastered this art.
Inside, however, she was screaming.
What the heck should she do?
She had no salt.
She only had some pepper-like spice, some leaves, and a few other things she had picked because they smelled promising.
Back in the sci-fi world, she had never needed to know what any of them were actually called, let alone how to cook with them.
For a brief second, Lin Huahua wanted to curse the heavens again.
Then she saw Feng Yiren still watching her from the side with that lazy fox look in his eyes, and her little pride immediately straightened up.
No.
She could not lose.
Even if she was only surviving on confidence and luck, she still could not lose.
So Lin Huahua pointed at one of the spices and said the first thing that came to mind. "Rub this one on the meat."
Mu Qingyi obediently picked it up.
Lin Huahua quickly pointed at another. "And mash this one. Grind it. Yes, grind it."
Mu Qingyi did exactly that.
At first, the males all thought she was probably just saying things.
To be more exact, Feng Yiren was almost certain she was just saying things, and even Mu Qingyi, though willing to trust her, could not fully tell if there was a real plan behind those little pointed orders of hers.
Hu Baiyu also watched quietly with his lion ears slightly lifted, as if he wanted very much to believe in her but also looked ready to run and save the situation if needed.
Lin Huahua, on the other hand, was trying her best to look very calm.
The kind of calm that said she definitely knew exactly what would happen next and was in no way praying to the heavens for help.
Her cheeks were still a little puffed, her lips still held that stubborn pout, and her little fluffy white rat tail swayed now and then behind her in a way that exposed her tension more honestly than her face did.
Then Mu Qingyi followed her instructions and rubbed the first spice into the meat.
After that he mashed the second one and added it too.
And then, all at once, a smell began to rise.
At first it was faint.
Then it became clearer.
Then it spread through the cave in a warm and rich wave that made the whole place seem to change.
It was no longer only the smell of plain roasting meat.
Now there was something sharper, fuller, and much better mixed into it. The meat smell grew heavier in the air, but in a good way. It became mouth watering, the kind of smell that drifted around like a hand tugging at a person’s stomach and saying, come here, come here, come here.
For one second, no one spoke. Mu Qingyi slowly looked at the meat. Then at the crushed spices. Then at Lin Huahua.
Hu Baiyu’s blue eyes also lifted fully now, and his lion ears twitched in open surprise.
Even Feng Yiren’s fox ears tilted up sharply, and the amused look in his eyes paused because he had truly not expected this.
The cave suddenly became very quiet.
All three males turned to stare at Lin Huahua.
And that mouth-watering smell was still drifting through the air.