Ever since Anâan was in her stomach, she had been unbelievably quiet. After she was born, she didnât cry or make a fuss. As Anâan never asked for anything, Bai Qingqing hadnât detected any abnormality till now.
This was the first time Anâan showed such stubbornness towards something. Yet, even after she lost it, she didnât kick up a fuss, merely persistently looking for it herself, not occurring to her to ask the adults for it.
âIs she searching for that big luminous ball?â asked Parker.
âYeah.â Bai Qingqing lifted Anâan, who was still persistently staring at her sleeping spot, into her arms. Bai Qingqing felt a mix of heartache and amusement at this sight.
Bai Qingqing thought, if Anâan asked her for it, she would go borrow it from Bluepool again.
Alas, Anâan didnât make any sound. After that, she appeared dispirited for the entire day.
When night fell, Bai Qingqing deliberately took out the luminous ball-embedded wooden rod for Anâan to see.
Her eyes lit up at the sight of it, and she reached out her arms and circled them around the wooden rod, revealing the same satisfied smile on her face as when she just drank her fill of milk.
This teeth-grinding rod that once belonged to the leopard cubs was now passed on to Anâan.
...
Winston had already been gone for a month, and now that the village reached the scale of 2,000 males, it started bustling with life.
Hope and merry laughter emanated throughout the entire village, but Bai Qingqing and her family couldnât bring themselves to smile.
Because the full moon night was here again.
A depressed vibe filled their home. Bai Qingqing, who didnât have much of an appetite, simply ate two mouthfuls, before asking Parker to take the food away.
Parker felt heartache for both Anâan and Bai Qingqing. He stroked Bai Qingqingâs head and said, âWhen you get hungry later, just ask me to heat up the food.â
âMm,â Bai Qingqing answered softly.
After he cleared the dining table and returned to the living room, she was nowhere to be seen.
It was already the hot season now. Basked in sunlight, the interior of the stone castle was very cool and breezy, but the eaves were still scalding hot, especially that of the top story.
With Anâan in her arms, Bai Qingqing stood under the eave of the top story and looked around for Winston.
Parker anxiously ran up. When he caught sight of her, he heaved a big sigh of relief. âYouâre indeed here.â
âThe venom is going to act up again tonight.â
As Bai Qingqing spoke, two strings of tears slipped down from her face and fell upon Anâanâs chubby little face.
At six months old, although Anâan couldnât speak, she seemed to understand the words âvenomâ and âacting up.â She started pouting, and her tender little face started crumpling into a bun.
Bai Qingqing hurriedly cradled her and coaxed her, feigning happiness as she spoke to her, âWhatâs wrong with you, Anâan?â
Anâan opened her mouth and revealed two tiny teeth glistening with saliva.
Pretending to just only discover that, Bai Qingqing exclaimed in a shocked tone, âOh look! Anâan has started teething. Your front teeth are so pretty!â
With her chin crumpled, choked sobs escaped from Anâanâs throat. This went on for a while, but under her mommyâs pretense that everything was going well, she held back those sobs.
Anâanâs obedience made Bai Qingqingâs heart ache terribly for her. She planted a few kisses on her babyâs face, then secretly wiped away her tears.
Bai Qingqing suddenly felt a hot body press against her back. It was Parker, who had circled his arms around her waist and said softly, âYou should stop crying too.â
She let out a long exhale. âWinstonâs already been gone for a month.â
Lowering her head to see Anâanâs face which resembled Winstonâs so much, Bai Qingqing felt a mixture of anxiousness and worry.
âBy right he should already be back by now. Moreover, todayâs such a special day, so if he can make it back, he definitely will. Iâm very worried about him.â
Parker cast a glance at the clearly tattooed tiger spousal mark on Bai Qingqingâs arm and said, âThe spousal mark is still there. You donât have to worry.â
Bai Qingqing shook her head. âWe should have gone with him.â