A satisfied, lingering sigh quietly escaped from Ling Wanbai’s throat.
On her exquisitely sculpted face—usually as cold and unchanging as a glacier—a rare ripple appeared, like a stone dropped into a frozen pond: a faint wave named “pleasure.”
It was so subtle it was almost invisible, but it was real.
After a few hurried bites, the slight ripple on Ling Wanbai’s face dispersed just as quickly as mist blown away by a cold wind, returning to a state of icy, motionless calm.
She turned to Lu Qiancha, her tone flat and unruffled:
“Thank you for the treat.”
Lu Qiancha’s blue eyes widened, her little head shaking from side to side, as she scrutinized Ling Wanbai’s now emotionless, ice-carved face from top to bottom and left to right.
In the end, she deflated and pouted in disappointment.
What the heck, even Wolf Mint has no effect on this one.
Life is just unfair.
This thought inexplicably drifted into Lu Qiancha’s mind. In a fit of pique, she pulled out another stalk of Zhulan, intending to chew it herself.
“!”
A pale, slender hand stretched over—soundless, yet quick as lightning.
It didn’t snatch the plant away, but with a silent kind of yearning, the hand hovered in front of the fresh green Zhulan.
Ling Wanbai’s pale gray eyes remained cold and impassive, but her slight forward lean and the tightly pressed, expectant line of her lips silently conveyed one message: “Can I have another?”
Lu Qiancha:
“Take it, take it.”
With a generous sweep of her paw in her storage pouch, Lu Qiancha pulled out a small handful and stuffed them into Ling Wanbai’s slightly open palm as if doling out candies.
“Thank you.”
Ling Wanbai took the cluster of Zhulan, and then, as if eating sweets, she tossed them into her mouth one by one with incredible speed.
Her movements were so swift and fluid they left afterimages.
In the blink of an eye, that small handful of Zhulan had been completely devoured.
The speed was so astonishing that Lu Qiancha, who hadn’t even started on hers yet, was left petrified on the spot, her mouth agape in shock.
That was the way of someone starved for a hundred lifetimes.
It took Lu Qiancha a moment to recover and remember to chew on her own stalk.
She let out a little “Awoo” and bit down hard.
The familiar, feathery sensation danced across her nerves, gentle as a plume.
This time, a peculiar warmth and rich, fragrant aroma unfolded—soft, intoxicating.
“? “
Where did that scent come from?
Suppressing a strange urge to “get a little closer,” Lu Qiancha twitched her little nose, suspiciously searching for the source of the aroma.
Right beside her, Ling Wanbai—who’d just completed a whirlwind feast—was acting very oddly.
Her body seemed drawn by an invisible magnet, inching closer and closer to Lu Qiancha without her realizing.
But just as she was about to touch the warm body heat, she suddenly jerked back as if scalded.
Retreat!
Scoot closer!
Retreat again!
The originally ice-pale face was now twisted with struggle, her pearly teeth biting down hard on her lower lip, her brows knotted tight.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
Lu Qiancha fought down her own restlessness and looked at Ling Wanbai in concern.
A muffled sound squeezed out between Ling Wanbai’s teeth, as if forced painfully from the depths of her throat.
“Then, are you—”
Lu Qiancha’s blue eyes suddenly sparkled! She caught the flash of fierce, barely restrained fire in Ling Wanbai’s gaze.
A pure, “innocent” smile instantly bloomed across her face. “Is it that you feel, like, a weird, itchy, restless urge in your heart, wanting to do something, but you don’t dare?”
That nearly-extinguished Evil Little Wolf soul inside Lu Qiancha—
Whoosh!
Blazed to life again!
Ling Wanbai nodded with great difficulty, her face twisted with struggle and on the verge of collapse, sweat beading on her forehead. “How did you know?!”
“Because that’s the normal reaction after eating this plant.”
Lu Qiancha grinned slyly, her soft, sweet baby voice tinged with a sticky satisfaction.
Watching Ling Wanbai endure the torment, Lu Qiancha felt smug. So it was just the dosage—not that Wolf Mint was useless on her after all.
With a cheeky little laugh, Lu Qiancha extended her paw and said, “You don’t have to hold yourself back so much, this is totally normal.”
“Is it…really normal?”
Ling Wanbai felt so strange…
“Mmhmm, totally normal, do whatever you feel like! Really, honestly, I promise I won’t laugh at you!”
Lu Qiancha waved her little paw.
Her little wolf cub mouth couldn’t hide its grin, and laughter sparkled in her eyes.
Evil Little Wolf, plan a huge success.
At these words, the long-restrained Frost-Colored Blaze in Ling Wanbai’s eyes finally burst its bounds.
Her voice came out hoarse and ragged, but there was an odd sort of resolve to it.
Before she’d even finished speaking—
A surge of chill, tinged with warmth, crashed down.
Lu Qiancha: “?”
“Get off of me, don’t squash me!”
The little wolf cub struggled to break free.
Her answer was only the sound of heavy breathing.
The next second, an overpowering, nose-tingling scent of Zhulan filled the little wolf cub’s mouth.
“Uuuuuuuuuuu…..”
Lu Qiancha’s fragile dam of self-control finally collapsed.
Her consciousness drifted to the clouds, her body completely beyond her command.
She whimpered and moaned…
Fuzzy-headed…
Instinctively wriggling this way and that, she reached out her little paws, winding them around the other’s neck.
Completely lost in the thick, intoxicating aroma of Zhulan.
Ten minutes later.
“Pa-ta.”
Xun Xue pushed open the door and found two little wolf cubs locked in a scuffle.
Xun Xue: “?”
She hurried forward to separate the sticky pair.
As soon as Lu Qiancha left the “heat source,” her burning body hit the cool air and let out a long, lost whimper.
Her body instinctively clung to the equally warm embrace of Xun Xue, her blue eyes glazed and watery.
Ling Wanbai, also separated, didn’t look much better. Her face was just as dazed, her mind foggy.
With a soft thud, she collapsed to the floor.
Her chest heaved as she gasped for breath, utterly spent from the wild exertion.
Xun Xue massaged her forehead—her temples pounding.
Her eyes swept over the chaotic scene—clearly, the carpet was in need of a thorough cleaning.
She decided to wait until these two little ones woke up to ask what had happened.
Glancing at the two highly suspicious “patients” on the ground, Xun Xue’s mouth twitched.
She gently scooped up the blue-furred little wolf cub, who was still whimpering and dazed, placed her on the soft bed, and tucked her in.
Then she picked up the limp, boneless Ling Wanbai and laid her on the other bed.
And only then did she set about cleaning up the mess.
The next morning.
“Ugh……my head is spinning.”
Lu Qiancha’s head felt thick and heavy.
Her mouth was filled with a cloying, almost nauseating, sweet-and-sour aftertaste of Zhulan—
Dry, astringent, and carrying an odd, indescribable flavor.
It really felt like a hangover.