Chapter 22: Your Face Is Thicker Than a Cow’s Hide
Chi Qian’s mood instantly lifted. “Thank you.”
The bear, seeing her accept the food, nudged her hand with its snout, then reluctantly walked away, turning back every few steps.
It was worried that the cub-like Chi Qian would go hungry outside, so it had specially come to deliver food.
[Why are all these animals spoiling her? One by one they’re all feeding Qian Qian!]
[Stop calling her Qian Qian, put some respect on her name—she’s clearly the Forest Princess! <doge>]
[No one’s going to feel sorry for Qin Yue clinging to that tree for dear life? My crotch hurts just watching. Hope it won’t affect his future sex life.]
Chi Fengxiao returned from fetching water at the river and sensed the odd atmosphere. Qin Yue and Qin An sat off to the side with ugly expressions.
Chi Qian and Yuan You’er ignored them completely, sitting side by side eating honeycomb.
“Where did you get the honey?” Chi Fengxiao asked as he sat beside her.
“The bear gave it to me.” Chi Qian licked her lips, sticky with sweetness. “Uncle, want a piece?”
Chi Fengxiao: “…” Could that bear actually be in love with her?
He clapped his hands, sat down, and copied her, breaking off a golden chunk of honeycomb.
The honey the bear loved was truly delicious—pure, wild, and fragrant enough to make anyone dizzy with delight.
Qin An drooled nonstop, beating his chest as he howled, “I want honey! I want honey too! Give me honey!”
Qin Yue pretended to be busy with his gear.
Chi Qian deliberately bit into a huge chunk in front of Qin An. “So sweet and refreshing! Absolutely delicious—makes the neighbor’s kid die of envy.”
The “neighbor’s kid,” Qin An: “Waaaahhh!!”
Gu Hua and Ling Qian returned, following the sound of crying. “What happened?”
When they saw the honeycomb and fish on the ground, Gu Hua’s eyes lit up. “Who found all this food? It’s incredible!”
“The bear brought it for Qian Qian,” Shen Jiashu explained with conviction. “An offering for the princess.”
Gu Hua froze. Chi Qian? How could it be her? Since when did she have this kind of ability?
Ling Qian narrowed his eyes and withdrew coldly. “We also found food. No need for this stuff. Let’s go, Hua Hua.”
“Alright.”
Chi Qian couldn’t care less about them. Looking at her sticky hands, she turned to Yuan You’er. “I’m going to the river to wash up. Want to come?”
“Yes!”
“Okay.”
The two girls went down to the river, squatted on a stone, and dipped their hands into the cool water.
“Qian Qian, thank you for stepping in to save me today.” Yuan You’er blushed shyly. “You’re so kind.”
Chi Qian turned her head, smiling. “You’re kind too.”
“But Qin An says I have princess syndrome, that I’m bad-tempered and always causing trouble…”
“Do you think Qin An’s a good person?” Chi Qian asked.
Yuan You’er shook her head angrily. “He’s always stealing my food, and Yuan Yaya keeps telling me to give things to him. Otherwise, she says I’m immature.”
Hearing those things over and over, especially with everyone around her saying the same, Yuan You’er had begun to wonder if she really was that awful.
Chi Qian brushed the water aside and told her, “You just need to be yourself. Don’t worry about other people’s opinions, especially not from people you don’t even like.”
Yuan You’er’s eyes lit up. “Then I’ll listen to you, Qian Qian!”
By evening, the rich smell of fish spread across the entire camp.
From the food sent by the black bear, Chi Fengxiao took one fish to make soup, another to roast, and shared half with Shen Jing and his son, as well as Yuan You’er.
On their side, there was not only a proper meal but even dessert afterward.
Meanwhile, the others gnawed on overly sour wild fruit. Technically edible, but compared to the other side’s feast, it might as well have been nothing.
After dinner, everyone sat around the campfire chatting.
With no phones or computers, this was their only way to kill time.
When the conversation shifted to romance, Gu Hua and Ling Qian exchanged a quick glance—pink bubbles practically floated in the air.
Anyone with eyes could tell something was going on.
Chi Fengxiao turned to glance at Chi Qian and found her yawning again.
Seriously—wasn’t twenty-four hours a day already more than enough for her to be sleepy?
And he really wondered if she had actually gotten over that pretty-boy from the Ling family.
“Chi Qian,” Chi Fengxiao said sternly, “someone like Ling Qian—when you’re grown, Uncle can find you ten, twenty guys more handsome than him. You can pick whichever one you like, play however you want. But right now, you are absolutely not allowed to date early!”
Playing around with twenty handsome guys…
Just the thought was tempting!
Chi Qian put on an equally serious face. “Uncle, that love-brained version of Chi Qian is already dead. Standing before you now is Niuhulu·Qian!”
Chi Fengxiao: “…You’d better be.”
After Shen Jing finished recounting his own love story with his late wife, the turn fell to Yuan Yaya, who had been quiet all afternoon.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said shyly, “My family’s really strict. My parents don’t let me date casually, so I’ve never really liked anyone.”
But no sooner had she said that—
“Not necessarily,” Chi Qian cut in with a ghostly smile. “When you like someone, you can’t hide it. Even if you’re hiding in a closet, his wife will still find you.”
Yuan Yaya’s smile froze. What did she mean by that? Was that directed at her?
No—impossible.
“You’re so funny, Qian Qian,” Yuan Yaya forced a smile, striking back, “Why don’t you tell us who you like? You’re always picking fights with Hua Hua—could it be because you’re interested in Ling Qian?”
Ling Qian frowned and looked over.
“At your age, how could you already be so blind?” Chi Qian propped her chin in her hand, smiling lazily as she dropped a bomb: “No wonder you’d sneak around with a married man and even get caught by his wife.”
[Whoa! Shocking bombshell! Is Chi Qian saying Yuan Yaya’s the one hiding in the closet?]
[Chi Qian needs to shut her mouth, she can’t just spray accusations everywhere. Our Yaya is pure and innocent, nothing like that.]
[Innocent? Please. You mean the same “innocent” Yaya who tried to push her little sister to her death?]
Chi Qian’s words left everyone stunned.
Yuan You’er’s eyes widened.
Yuan Yaya snapped, “You’re spouting nonsense…”
“Isn’t his wife still searching everywhere for you? And you can just sit here on this show, pretending nothing happened?”
“I didn’t—”
Chi Qian lifted her thermos toward the moonlight. “At a moment like this, I can’t help but recite a verse.”
“Beyond the mountains, more mountains still, beyond the towers, more towers grow—
But none as thick as your skin, Yaya, thicker than a cow’s hide!”
Chi Fengxiao was the first to crack. “Hahahaha! What a poem, what a poem!”
Yuan Yaya’s face burned crimson as she shot to her feet. “Chi Qian, stop making baseless slander! What did I ever do to you for you to smear me like this?!”
Chi Qian: “What, you can morally blackmail and disgust me, but I can’t spit the truth and piss you off? Double standards much?”
“You—you…”
“Qian Qian, don’t talk nonsense without evidence. I believe Sister Yaya isn’t that kind of person,” Gu Hua frowned, trying to defend her.
“And you—where the hell did you crawl out from? A half-covered sewer? Spitting trash straight into my ears?” Chi Qian dug at her ear with a finger.
Gu Hua nearly burst a lung in rage.
[Chi Qian really dares to say anything. Isn’t she afraid of Yaya’s studio suing her?]
[Defamation costs nothing. She’s just relying on being the Film Emperor’s niece, not afraid of offending people.]
[Chi Qian’s nothing, just good at slandering my sister!]
[What about Yuan You’er? Won’t she stand up for her sister?]
