Inside the stone hut, everyone's gaze was drawn to the bowl of white rice porridge on the table.
Amy looked at her mother with expectation in her eyes. In the past, her mother had always saved the rice porridge for her to eat, and surely it would be the same this time.
"I'll go get another bowl." Taylor was about to move, but a soft little hand landed on his shoulder.
"Don't you dare go. She doesn't deserve to eat my porridge." Ophelia's tone was icy, her eyes casting a side-long glare at Amy.
Don't think she didn't know; in the past, all the rice porridge she couldn't bear to eat had been handed over to Michelle by Amy, sharing the porridge in a display of deep "mother-daughter" affection.
Now, this little ingrate needn't expect to get another single bite of food from her.
"Ophelia, you're going too far. Mothers in other households always save their rice porridge for their cubs to drink. Why are you so selfish, and how could you say Amy doesn't deserve it?" Michelle pulled Amy into her arms with a look of distress, speaking out in sharp reproach.
Loki's temples throbbed with veins bulging from anger. "Being this selfish, no wonder Amy doesn't like you as a mother and prefers Michelle instead, wanting to take her as her mother."
Such words could no longer pierce Ophelia's heart.
With a blank expression, a disdainful look in her eyes, and a casual tone, she retorted, "Right, right, right. Everything you say is right. To let a little female cub be reduced to staring at the rice porridge in someone else's bowl—you playing the role of a father is truly a failure, and utterly useless!"
"You are her mother, not just anyone."
"Ha, did you bring this rice? Or did you cook this porridge? As I recall, when I was going through my confinement period, you didn't even manage to get me a single mouthful of rice porridge."
"Even my food and drink for the past five years were never handled by you; Taylor has always been the one taking care of me. For a male to require another male to look after his own mate is truly spineless."
"Loki admits his own incompetence—there's no shame in it." Every single word of her speech struck Loki's face like a slap.
Loki's face turned beet red, but he could find no grounds for rebuttal.
For the past five years, he indeed had never taken care of Ophelia's food and drink, because he had given all the prey he hunted to Michelle.
The amount of prey he could claim from group hunting parties was limited; he simply had no surplus prey to give to Ophelia. Since she hadn't starved to death, he had just chosen to act as if he didn't know.
Amy listened from the side, dumbfounded. She had always thought that the endless stream of food and the occasional fresh fruit appearing at home were brought by her father, never expecting them to have been hunted by Taylor.
Young as she was, she knew that once a male and a little female formed a pair, they had to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of their mate. But her father's actions...
She found it hard to understand.
Having her face stripped bare in front of the person she loved, Loki clenched his fists until they cracked.
A trace of impatience crossed Ophelia's face. "Out with it. What are you here for?"
Thinking of her face, Amy stepped forward, putting on a pitiful expression. "Mother, Father has already found that Aloe herb, but we can't tell which ones are non-toxic. We want you to help take a look."
"Ophelia, you are Amy's mother after all. Surely you can't bear to watch her keep suffering, right?" Michelle offered a gentle smile, looking like a pure, flawless white lotus, yet the words she spoke carried the heavy weight of moral blackmail.
"I can't tell either; every time, I had to test them myself to know. Since you're so worried about her, why don't you try it on your own face and find out? One of them is bound to be non-toxic anyway—it all depends on your luck."
"Or you could do it, Loki. After all, you can't bear to watch your daughter keep suffering, and even less can you bear to see your beloved get hurt, right?" Ophelia blinked, then put on the expression of someone waiting to watch a good show.
Ha, who couldn't play the game of moral blackmail?
Loki frowned deeply, but at present, he truly had no face left to force Ophelia into testing the medicine.
The three of them had come full of eager anticipation, only to slink away in defeat and disappointment.
"I'll go heat up some porridge for you."
Ophelia stopped him. "I need some animal skins. Taylor, do you have any left?"
She rubbed her nose with a guilty conscience.
"I have a wolf pelt left. Are... are you going to make a fur skirt for Loki?" He had originally intended to save this wolf pelt to get through the winter.
Sure enough, no matter how much fuss the princess kicked up, deep down she still loved Loki.
He lowered his head, not letting the other person see his disappointment.
"As if! Make a fur skirt for him—have I gone mad? Rest assured, I have my own use for it. In a couple of days, I'll pay you back." A single wolf pelt could be exchanged for 200 points, securing the points she needed for her next wave of rice planting.
Once she harvested all the rice, she could easily trade for animal skins at the Trading Market.
"Mm, I'll go get it right now." Taylor's tone was brisk, and even his eyes brightened a fraction.
"Good." Ophelia smiled sweetly.
After finishing dinner, she returned once more to the Farm Space to harvest the rice.
Finally, by noon the next day, the 200 catties of rice were completely harvested.
The Farm Space proved reliable; the harvested rice was directly shelled and transformed into plump, white grains of rice.
Inhaling the fragrance of the rice, she felt that everything had been worth it once again. Afterward, she exchanged the wolf pelt for 200 points and seized every available second to plant a hundred square meters of rice.
Before Taylor arrived to deliver lunch, she took 50 catties of rice out of the System Space, wrapped it in the remaining animal skin blanket in the room, and placed it inside a back basket woven from rattan vines.
"Princess, this is..." As soon as he entered the hut, Taylor keenly caught the scent of rice. He was very surprised to see a basket filled to the brim with rice.
"Shh, it's a secret." Ophelia placed her index finger against her lips and blinked at him.
"Let's finish eating quickly, and later we'll go to the Trading Market to trade for things."
"Princess, you should keep this rice to eat. Whatever you want, I'll go hunt for you."
Ophelia shook her head. "Listen to me. No arguing."
After lunch, guided by Taylor, Ophelia arrived at the Beast World Trading Market.
The so-called Trading Market was actually just an open space on the edge of the forest, where people casually spread animal skins on the ground, placed the items they wished to trade upon them, and waited for those in need to come and barter.
Food was a hot commodity in the Beast World. Without needing to shout, Ophelia simply displayed the rice, instantly drawing the attention of the "merchants" and "customers" present.
"This isn't the season for rice to mature, either. Little female, where did you get so much rice?" A short-haired black male asked, intensely excited.
"Secret." Faced with the male's excitement, Ophelia wore a casual and breezy expression.
"My name is Gavin. My mate just gave birth and is going through her confinement. Can I trade some crystals with you for some rice?"
Rice matured in autumn; it was still only summer, and he had guarded the Trading Market for half a month without encountering any rice.
Now that he had finally run into some, no matter what, he had to get his hands on that rice.
"I'm willing to pay double the reward." Thinking of his weak mate recovering at home, the corners of Gavin's eyes turned red.
"No need, normal trade: ten pieces of prey or one Red Crystal for a one-catty bag of rice, unlimited quantity." Ophelia quoted the standard trading price, refusing to raise it despite the summer food shortage.
As for the unlimited quantity, it was because she needed to rapidly recoup funds to exchange for points.
Once some time passed, she would set limits to prevent anyone from maliciously hoarding and driving up prices.
"I—I have an orange crystal here. Can it really be traded for ten bags of rice?"
"Of course, but you need to bring your own animal skin bags; I don't have any here." Animal skins could be exchanged for points; she wouldn't bear to turn them into pouches just for carrying grain.