In her twenty-plus years of being single since birth, this was the first time Su Yu had been so close to a man… or rather, a male.
She couldn't see him, but her nose was filled with his scent.
It was a faint, clean scent, a bit like sunflowers—warm and sunny.
Su Yu's long, thick eyelashes fluttered. She leaned back slightly to put some distance between them and nodded honestly. "Mm, I'm not completely blind. I can still see a tiny bit."
Shi Wei was taken aback, and a hint of pity entered his eyes as he looked at her.
Shi Wei didn't even have to ask. He could already guess. For a blind female to appear in the wilderness during winter, there could only be one explanation.
'She had been abandoned by her tribe.'
Otherwise, given how precious females were in the tribes, they would never have let her venture out alone during winter.
Just then, the witch doctor, Granny Wu Zhi, came in, holding a worn wooden bowl filled with steaming meat stew.
Seeing the male and female facing each other in the somewhat intimate atmosphere, a smile touched her aged face. "It's good that you're awake. You were unconscious for three days. Shi Wei was worried sick."
Su Yu couldn't resist sneaking a glance at the black blob.
'Shi Wei… Is that his name?'
"Here, have something to eat first."
Su Yu hadn't noticed until she said that, but now she could feel how empty her stomach was. There was a faint burning sensation; she was so hungry she could eat a whole cow.
Su Yu groped her way to sit on the edge of the bed. Her voice was hoarse, yet carried a delicate softness. "Thank you, Granny."
Before Su Yu could touch the wooden bowl, Shi Wei took it first. Holding it in his hand, he said stiffly, "You can't see. I'll feed you."
Su Yu paused for a moment, but didn't refuse, thanking him in a small voice.
Under Granny Wu Zhi's beaming gaze, Shi Wei awkwardly scooped up a bit of the meat stew with his fingers to feed her.
Su Yu eagerly opened her mouth to eat.
Her soft lips brushed against Shi Wei's fingers, and the tips of his ears instantly turned red.
'The female's lips… so soft.'
Famished, Su Yu didn't notice what she was being fed with. All she wanted was to eat.
But the moment the stew entered her mouth, Su Yu's expression froze.
A lukewarm, rank flavor with a hint of blood exploded in her mouth.
'This meat…'
'It's not cooked!!'
Su Yu's face instantly contorted. She turned her head, about to spit it out, but she didn't want to soil Granny Wu Zhi's stone bed. She could only clamp her hands tightly over her mouth, trying to force herself to swallow.
She tried to swallow, but her throat rejected the rank-smelling paste, forcing her eyes to redden and well up with tears.
Shi Wei's expression changed abruptly. Frowning, he reached out and cupped her chin. "If you can't swallow it, spit it into my hand."
Su Yu pushed at him with her soft hands, but he didn't budge. She shook her head frantically, but Shi Wei held it steady.
Then, he gently squeezed her cheeks.
Su Yu couldn't hold it in any longer and wretched into his palm.
Su Yu felt like she was about to have a breakdown.
'She had been wrong.'
'With the Beast World's culinary standards, forget a whole cow—she couldn't even stomach a single speck of this mince.'
Granny Wu Zhi was also taken aback by this turn of events. She frowned, stepped forward, and tasted some of the stew herself. "The taste hasn't changed. This is the stew that females and cubs love the most. How could you not be able to eat it?"
"It's not the stew's fault. It's me. I… there are a lot of things I can't eat."
Once Su Yu had recovered, her eyes still red, she guiltily 'looked' toward Shi Wei. "I'm sorry. I dirtied your hand."
Shi Wei hadn't expected that she couldn't even stomach the stew that females and cubs loved most. He frowned at her, but when his gaze met her reddened eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say a single harsh word.
He held his tongue for a long moment before finally saying, "It's fine. If you can't eat the stew, I'll get you something else."
Su Yu nodded meekly. "Okay."
Afraid she'd get something half-raw again, she quickly grabbed Shi Wei as he was about to leave. "I want it cooked. Well-done."
The touch of the female's soft hand made Shi Wei's ears twitch, and a secret thrill bloomed in his heart. But what he said was, "I know. You're so picky. You were probably abandoned in the wilderness because you're so picky and hard to raise."
Su Yu: "…"
'If you'd just keep your mouth shut, we could still be friends.'
After all the trouble, Su Yu finally got to eat a meal of hot roasted meat, satisfying her grumbling stomach.
As for the bowl of meat stew, it ended up in the stomach of Granny Wu Zhi's grandson, Wu Xiong.
Granny Wu Zhi examined her, her brow deeply furrowed. "Your body is very weak. When your Amu was pregnant with you, she likely gave birth prematurely."
"Plus, you were freezing in the snow for so long. You must rest and recover well over the next few days."
Granny Wu Zhi then checked her Fertility, her brow furrowing again as she heaved an inaudible sigh in her heart.
She then observed Su Yu closely and asked, "You must be nearing adulthood, aren't you?"
Su Yu nodded meekly. "Yes, in five days."
Granny Wu Zhi hesitated, but finally said, "For someone as frail as you, it would be best to find several Beast Husbands after you come of age. Otherwise, you might not live for very long."
Su Yu froze for a moment, then she remembered. The premise of the book this world was based on was that females were few and males were many.
A single female could have countless male partners and held absolute control over them.
Furthermore, males had to rely on the Spirit Jade from the bodies of Wild Beasts in the wilderness for their Cultivation and innate talents, causing many impurities to build up in their bodies.
Beastmen who reached Nine Stars in their Cultivation could expel these impurities on their own. Those who hadn't reached Nine Stars had to rely on females to soothe the volatile emotions caused by the impurities, preventing them from losing control, going berserk, and harming their own people.
At the same time, these impurities also affected the beastmen's bodies; the more powerful a Beastman was, the more difficult it was for him to have children.
Some immensely powerful Beastmen died without ever fathering a single child.
The female-to-male ratio in this world had reached a staggering 1:100. Even if females took on as many partners as they could, some Beastmen were destined to remain single their entire lives.
Shi Wei, who was roasting the meat, secretly pricked up his ears. When he turned to look, he saw Su Yu's dazed expression.
'Is this little female worried that no one will want her?'
Shi Wei pursed his lips and spoke up. "Don't worry. I was the one who found you. According to the rules, that makes you my female."
"Once you come of age, we will become mates."
Shi Wei continued, "Don't worry about me not being able to provide for you. I'm the tribe's number one Warrior. I can support you."
'After all, the poor thing is weak and sickly, and seems so delicate and difficult to care for. It's unlikely any other Beastman would want her as a mate or to be her Beast Husband.'
'Besides, he was the one who found her, so he had a responsibility to provide for her.'
'And it wasn't like he'd ever met a female he was interested in anyway.'
'He might as well just settle down and make do with this poor little thing.'
It was the first time a male had ever confessed his feelings to Su Yu so boldly. She froze, and her face instantly turned beet red.
When she used to read Beast World novels from a reader's perspective, she had only found the straightforward Beastmen to be cute.
But now, being on the receiving end of such a blunt confession, she found it a bit overwhelming.
Granny Wu Zhi opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, a crisp and aggressive voice cut in. "No! I don't agree!"
Su Yu blinked, her gaze turning toward the cave entrance and the fiery red blob of color there.
The blob of color ran up to them huffing indignantly. "Shi Wei, you're supposed to be my first Beast Husband! How can you take another female!"