Qiao Xixi felt a pang of shame. In her memory, the harsh environment meant food on the ice plains was extremely scarce.
The four of them, weak and young, were completely unable to catch any large prey. Their only option was to catch fish-beasts in the ice caves.
But they often came back empty-handed, living a miserable life where they starved more often than not.
Just yesterday, Qiao Qiao and the others had managed to catch two fish-beasts, but before they could even eat, she—their mother—had snatched them away and hidden them.
A mother stealing food from her own children, watching them starve... she wasn't the least bit surprised that these cubs grew up to be major villains.
Qiao Xixi let go of his hand. Her expression softened, and she looked at Qiao Ang seriously.
"If you're hungry, just tell Mother. I'll give you food."
The moment Qiao Xixi finished speaking, she saw Qiao Ang roll his eyes.
"Stupid female, all you do is steal our food. You'd never give us any."
Qiao Xixi fell silent. 'The original owner of this body certainly wouldn't have.'
In the original novel, because she had repeatedly stolen the cubs' food, they had come to hate her with a passion.
After they grew up to be major villains, they personally stuffed food into her mouth until she burst, and then threw her corpse to wild beasts to be devoured.
Thinking of her own fate, Qiao Xixi's brow furrowed. 'Tragic, but she kind of deserved it.'
'Thankfully, the cubs are still young. There's still time to fix my relationship with them.'
Qiao Xixi firmly grabbed Qiao Ang's hand and picked up the remaining fish-beast head from the ground.
"It's not that I won't let you eat. It's that our food is limited right now. If we eat it all at once, what will we do when we get hungry again?"
Qiao Ang tried to pull his hand free, but Qiao Xixi's grip was just too tight.
Hearing her words, Qiao Ang looked at her with curiosity in his light-brown, fox-like eyes.
'Why is this stupid female telling him all this? Since when does she explain herself when she steals their things?'
'Hmph, she's obviously trying to trick him. He's not going to fall for this stupid female's lies!'
"Stupid female, what are you really up to?"
His mother stopped and looked back at him. "Call me Mother."
Qiao Ang just snorted.
Qiao Xixi didn't press the issue, instead leading him to the front of an ice cave.
"Go into the ice cave and get that strip of animal hide for Mother."
Qiao Ang's fine little brow furrowed, and he didn't move. "Stupid female, what are you doing?"
Qiao Xixi dangled the fish-beast head in her hand and smiled. "You'll see in a minute. Be good now, go on."
Qiao Ang stared at her smiling face, stunned.
'This stupid female... she'd never smiled at them before. The way she looked at them was always filled with disgust, because she thought they were a burden.'
"Help Mother out, and once I catch a fish-beast, Mother will let you eat."
Qiao Ang wanted to refuse, but looking at Qiao Xixi's gentle smile, he inexplicably let out a little huff and ran into the ice cave.
While he was gone, Qiao Xixi looked towards the ice hole. Faint sunlight fell on her face, and her reflection appeared on the surface of the ice.
She had long, silver hair. On closer inspection, a single strand of snow-white hair and a single strand of crimson hair could be seen mixed within it.
In the beast world, this was a symbol that a female had mated with a male; the female's hair would retain a strand of the male's hair color.
Some females with many mates would have a head of multicolored hair. Hers was considered a very small number.
However, she hadn't noticed the two different-colored strands hidden at the back of her head.
She had a delicate, oval-shaped face, but because of long-term starvation, her cheeks were so gaunt they were sunken.
This actually made her eyes look bigger. A small, red mole graced the corner of one eye, adding a touch of allure to her otherwise innocent face. Her delicate nose was paired with a small, cherry-like mouth.
She had no doubt how beautiful her face could be if she were properly nourished.
It was just that her face was a little dirty, looking like it hadn't been properly washed in a long time.
But she didn't have the courage to wash her face or bathe with ice water. If she got sick from the cold, all she could do was wait to die.
Qiao Xixi didn't study her reflection for long before the layer of ice over the fishing hole brought her back to reality.
A layer of ice had already formed over the frigid fishing hole. To fish, she had to break through it.
Qiao Xixi picked up a large chunk of ice from the side and started smashing it against the hole.
She didn't stop until her hands were nearly frozen stiff, finally breaking through the layer of ice over the hole.
Gritting her teeth against the biting cold, Qiao Xixi scooped the broken ice out of the hole, nearly crying from the chill.
A moment later, Qiao Ang returned with the strip of animal hide.
It was a scrap piece cut from the hide of a bear-beast they had scavenged on the ice plains. It looked like a rope.
Qiao Xixi tied the fish-beast's head to the hide strip and tossed it into the ice hole.
Qiao Ang immediately grew anxious.
"Stupid female, how could you throw away food!"
With a flick of his large, snow-white tail, Qiao Ang reached toward the ice hole, trying to retrieve the fish-beast head Qiao Xixi had thrown in.
Qiao Xixi quickly grabbed his tail and pulled him to her side, stopping him from moving around and scaring off all the fish-beasts.
"Don't move. I'm fishing for fish-beasts."
Qiao Ang's fluffy ears twitched, his little face full of confusion.
"What's 'fishing for fish-beasts'?"
In the beast world, beastmen had no concept of fishing. If they wanted to eat fish, they went into the water to catch them alive, which showed just how difficult it must have been for the cubs to catch those few fish-beasts a few days ago.
"It means putting bait that fish-beasts like to eat into the water. When one bites the bait, we catch it."
Qiao Ang seemed to only half-understand, looking uncertainly at Qiao Xixi.
As they spoke, a cold gust of wind blew past. Qiao Xixi quickly hugged Qiao Ang to shield him from the chill.
Qiao Ang suddenly found himself in Qiao Xixi's arms. Feeling the warmth of her embrace, the little beastman froze.
'What's wrong with the stupid female today? She actually hugged him?'
Qiao Ang's expression suddenly changed, and he forcefully pushed Qiao Xixi away.
"You stupid female! Are you trying to catch me off guard and throw me into the ice hole to freeze to death?"
Qiao Xixi was speechless and put a hand to her forehead.
"I was just trying to shield you from the wind."
Qiao Ang didn't believe her at all. He snorted, "Stupid female, I'm not falling for your beast-tricking lies."
After speaking, he turned and ran as if afraid Qiao Xixi would grab him.
Qiao Xixi sighed in resignation. 'Building a good relationship with the cubs is going to be a long road. I should focus on filling our stomachs first.'
She stared intently at the ice hole, waiting until her legs went numb, but there was still no movement from the hide strip in her hand.
But she waited patiently. Just as her face was about to go numb from the cold wind, the hide strip in her hand finally moved!
Qiao Xixi tightened her grip on the hide, following the pull from under the water and slowly hauling it up.
After a little while, she finally saw a fish-beast break the surface.
Qiao Xixi immediately grabbed a nearby chunk of ice and smashed it hard into the ice hole.
She only stopped after striking it several times in a row.
Qiao Xixi walked over to the hole and looked in. A smile finally broke out on her stiff face.
"This is great! We won't have to go hungry today."
The fish-beast's head had attracted several other fish-beasts, and her smashing had stunned them all.
Qiao Xixi pulled the stunned fish-beasts out.
The resources in the beast world were actually quite abundant. Each of these fish-beasts weighed about ten pounds and was not small at all.
There were five fish-beasts in total, enough to ensure they wouldn't go hungry for at least two days.
Qiao Xixi was freezing. Fearing frostbite, she could only drag the fish back to the ice cave to store them for now.
Just as she had put the fish-beasts away, she heard the sound of a dispute outside.
Worried something had happened to the cubs, Qiao Xixi rushed out of the ice cave.
She ran some distance in the direction of the sound.
In a flash, she saw a small, crimson python coiled around a white bear cub.
The bear cub was being squeezed so tightly that its face was flushed red, and it looked like it was about to stop breathing.
The crimson snake's head rose slowly. Its blood-red pupils narrowed into slits as it opened its fangs and lunged toward the white bear cub.
Qiao Xixi's expression changed dramatically.