After leaving the Federation, Wen Shilan didn’t go straight home. He drove to a farm in the south, in the opposite direction from the one he had visited a couple of days earlier. Once again, he bought steak and vegetables. He didn’t know how to cook much else, but those ingredients had no strange flavors. As long as he cooked them through, the result would be edible.
The vegetables here were even fresher than at the last farm. Every plant was a vivid green, without a single tiny hole in its leaves.
On the way home, he stopped at a supermarket for a few tubes of nutrient solution. He chose matcha flavor for Lu Yan, who had always liked it.
By the time Wen Shilan arrived home, it was dark. Not a single light shone in the enormous villa. From outside, it looked utterly deserted.
The house was just as quiet within. Wen Shilan switched on the lights and spotted a silver-white ball of fur curled up on the black sofa. Hearing the door, the wolf cub lifted his head and looked over. He seemed listless. After one glance, he lowered his head again, making it clear he had no interest in Wen Shilan.
The little wolf was still holding a grudge.
Wen Shilan left him alone and put the vegetables and steak in the refrigerator. He didn’t feel like cooking today, so he drank a tube of nutrient solution in another flavor. Then he opened a matcha one, settled beside the cub, and held it out for him to drink.
Qi Yan ignored the first poke. When Wen Shilan poked him again, he raised his head in annoyance. Before he could even look at Wen Shilan’s face, he noticed the alarming red mark encircling his wrist.
Wen Shilan was fair-skinned, and in his casual clothes, his slender wrist made him look like a sheltered young gentleman from the picturesque waterways of Jiangnan. The bruise spoiled the effect.
“Awooo…”
Qi Yan nuzzled Wen Shilan’s wrist. He couldn’t speak in this form, but the gesture made his meaning clear.
“It doesn’t hurt. The communicator left a mark, that’s all. It’ll fade in a few days.”
It did hurt, though not badly.
And a mark that deep wouldn’t disappear in a few days. It would probably take ten days, perhaps even two weeks.
Qi Yan tilted his fluffy head, looking impossibly cute. Wen Shilan found the sight amusing and rubbed it. “Hurry up and drink. My hand’s getting tired.”
His wrist was already uncomfortable, and the cub kept staring at it.
Qi Yan was so small in this form that the rub made him stagger. He gave an indignant little “awoo,” then obediently stuck out his tiny pink tongue and lapped up the nutrient solution. Soon only a little remained. Qi Yan suddenly shook his head and accidentally knocked the rest onto Wen Shilan’s hand.
The cold, sticky feeling made Wen Shilan frown. Before he could get up to wash it off, something soft and faintly ticklish brushed his wrist. The cub was carefully licking the solution from his wrist and palm with his warm little tongue.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but the pain in his wrist seemed to ease considerably wherever the cub licked.
Only when Wen Shilan’s wrist and palm were clean did Qi Yan flop back onto the sofa.
Seeing how content the cub looked after his meal, Wen Shilan thought nothing of it. He assumed it was simply a wolf’s instinct and got up to wash his hands.
He disliked the nutrient solution on his skin, and he disliked wolf-cub drool just as much.
“Awoo! Awoo!”
The moment Wen Shilan turned on the tap, Qi Yan cried out in alarm.
What was that awful Wen Shilan doing? How dare he wash off this prince’s saliva?!
It wasn’t ordinary saliva. It could heal Wen Shilan’s injury!
Damn it!
All that effort, washed straight down the drain!
Qi Yan was furious. He lay on the sofa without moving, and when Wen Shilan picked him up by the scruff, he kept his eyes shut, refusing even to look at him.
Wen Shilan put Qi Yan on his “bed” and went to shower. By the time he came out, the cub still hadn’t managed to coax himself out of his sulk.
“That’s enough. You got mad when I called you Puppy, and now you’re mad because I washed your drool off my hand.”
Fresh from the shower, Wen Shilan had no intention of touching Qi Yan again. He was worried about the fur shedding, so he sat cross-legged and looked down at the little wolf curled into a ball.
“Lord Shiqing, werewolf saliva can heal wounds! The Lord God is a prince with the purest werewolf bloodline, so his healing ability is especially strong. If you hadn’t washed your hand, the mark on your wrist would be gone by tomorrow morning~”
Balala popped up, anxious on the Lord God’s behalf. He couldn’t even speak in this form, and Wen Shilan had rejected his help!
Wen Shilan paused, his expression turning complicated. So that was why the cub had been acting strangely, even making a mess of his food. He had been trying to heal Wen Shilan’s wrist.
Well…
It was thoughtful. But even if Wen Shilan had known, he still would have washed his hand.
He could put up with a little pain. Sleeping with saliva on his skin, however, was out of the question.
“How much longer until he can turn human?”
He really did have a deep aversion to animals. If this cub weren’t Lu Yan, he wouldn’t have given him a second look, however cute he was.
“There’s no way to know for sure. If he’s lucky, about a week. The werewolves’ protective form doesn’t have a fixed recovery time.”
“…”
“Could you send him home for now? We’ll meet again eventually.”
A few days wouldn’t matter. He truly couldn’t handle looking after him like this.
Balala glanced at the Lord God in his animal form with pity.
Poor Lord God. His own husband couldn’t stand having him around.
Lord Shiqing was such a heartbreaker!
He only didn’t want to look after him for the next few days!
“Nope, Lord Shiqing~ I’m going offline. Bye-bye~”
Wen Shilan sighed and stared at the cub. “Try not to shed, all right? Otherwise, I’m afraid I really might throw you out.”
“Awoo! Awoo!!! Awoo!!!”
Qi Yan jerked his head up. Stupid Silan native! He wasn’t going to shed!
He was in his smallest form, not molting!
And so what if he did shed? He was a werewolf. Losing a little fur was perfectly normal. How could Wen Shilan threaten to throw him out over that?!
Outrageous!
Once he could turn human again, he was going to tie Wen Shilan up and make him apologize!
“Stop howling. I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Go to sleep. I’ll take you out to get some sun tomorrow.”
Well, that settled it. Tomorrow he would buy a cleaning robot. At most, this would last another two weeks. He could endure it until then.
No one had lived in this room before, so it lacked a few necessities. He would pick them up at the mall tomorrow.
Wen Shilan switched off the light. He didn’t see Qi Yan briefly grow larger, only to shrink back into his smallest form at once.
P.S. He turns human in the next chapter, hehe~
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