Shen Miao turned her head away and remained silent.
The Gu Master had no choice but to shake his head, lamenting Shen Miao's bad temper, while preparing medicine to detoxify her.
Besides being bitten by insects and poisoned, Shen Miao encountered many other strange things while learning Gu techniques. Fortunately, with the help of Gu masters, she overcame them one by one.
When it was time to leave after completing her studies, Shen Miao felt a little reluctant to part.
She packed her things, walked up to the Gu Master, and asked again, "You're really not coming back to the Beast Realm with me? What's so good about this place? It's all desolate mountains and forests, there's nobody to talk to, it's so boring."
The Gu Master chopped wood without looking up: "I'm not going."
"Uncle Lin is there too. If you go to the Beast Realm, you can chat with him every day. There are also many old and young beastmen in the Beast Realm, as well as activity centers for the elderly. Are you sure you don't want to consider it?" Shen Miao tempted.
This time, the Gu Master finally raised his head, but he glared at her and urged her to leave: "I've said it eight hundred times, I'm not going and I'm not going, hurry up and go."
The Gu Master was pushed out by him, and had no choice but to say, "Alright, I won't try to persuade you anymore, but if you want to come over someday, just come find me."
After bidding farewell to the Gu Master, Shen Miao rushed back to the Beast Domain. By this time, more than a month had passed since she left home, and many rumors were circulating in the Beast Domain. Many people said that she had left Qing Chen and his son and run away with other beastmen.
Hearing these words, the children would fight with others every day, often returning home with bruises and swelling. They would then declare to Qingchen: "Mother will never abandon us. If those people say anything again, I'll beat them up!"
However, with so many rumors circulating, even the children are starting to have doubts: will their mother really come back?
When Shen Miao returned home, the little fox cubs had just gotten into a fight and were licking each other's wounds. The once clean and white little fox balls now had dirty fur, with occasional spots of blood.
Among the three white fox balls was a soft and cuddly little female beast, Xiao Sibao. Her face was dirty, and her eyes were red. Her little shoulders were shaking as she choked out, "Mother didn't come back today. Waaah, she doesn't want us anymore."
"Don't cry!" Da Bao transformed into human form, reached out and wiped away the tears from Xiao Si Bao's eyes, and said earnestly, "Didn't Daddy say that we can't believe those rumors outside? They don't know what kind of person Mother is, but we do, right? So be patient and wait, Mother will definitely come back."
The other two little foxes also turned into humans, and the four siblings huddled together, looking incredibly pitiful.
Shen Miao didn't hear the children's conversation, but seeing their disheveled appearance, she assumed they had been bullied. She immediately strode forward and called out, "Da Bao, Er Bao, San Bao, Si Bao, who bullied you?"
The little ones froze for a moment, then looked at Shen Miao in disbelief at the same time. Then, like four little cannonballs, they rushed into Shen Miao's arms.
The four babies were huddled together, and Shen Miao almost couldn't hold them all.
"Mommy, where did you go? Why did you only come back now? We missed you so much!" Little Sibao hugged Shen Miao's neck and cried loudly.
Shen Miao quickly comforted her, "Mother went to learn Gu magic. Didn't I say that no matter what, Mother will never abandon you? You must believe in Mother."
After venting their frustrations, the kids started complaining about Shen Miao's irresponsible behavior.
"You promised to tell us where you were going, but you left quietly by yourself. You broke your promise."
"Going out without the kids, just playing by yourself, hmph."
"It's irresponsible to make the kids worry."
"I don't miss the kids after being away for so long, I don't love the kids."
It was several hours later when Shen Miao finally calmed down the several tantrum-throwing children. Exhausted, she wiped her sweat and said with lingering fear, "Learning Gu techniques is much easier than taking care of children."
"What did you say?" The little ones, with their sharp ears, heard it and shouted in unison.
Shen Miao quickly shut her mouth.
After Shen Miao returned, the cubs swaggered out to find people to play with, boasting to everyone they met that their mother was back, and that their mother was not like what the people in the Beast Realm said, who had run away with someone.
"You can run away again even if you come back," the beastmen said with a knowing smile.
The children argued vehemently: "We won't run away again! You bad people, you're not allowed to say bad things about my mother!"
"Oh, she's angry, hahaha. Well, you'd better keep a close eye on your mother, because she might just secretly leave you behind and disappear again sometime."
Xiao Sibao almost cried in anger. How could these people be so annoying? Even though her mother was back, they were still saying such hurtful things. It was so annoying.
Erbao was about to rush in and fight again, but Dabao stopped him and said calmly, "They are adults, we can't beat them. Besides, Mom is back. If we fight, Mom will be unhappy."
"What should we do then? Tell Mother?" Sanbao blinked his big eyes.
Da Bao still shook his head: "No, Mother will be angry. These aren't nice things to say. It's best not to let Mother know."
"This can't be done, that can't be done," the children said dejectedly as they left.
Shen Miao, whom they thought knew nothing, actually knew everything all along. The person who told her was her former neighbor, the bird-beastman Li Qiu.
Seeing that Shen Miao was gaining more and more prestige and even had her own army, Li Qiu felt somewhat uncomfortable. She didn't have any bad intentions; she just wanted to annoy Shen Miao.
But Shen Miao wasn't angry as she had expected. Instead, she remained calm and said, "It's all just rumors. Whoever takes it seriously loses."
Li Qiu said unwillingly, "But they said you abandoned Qingchen and the cubs and ran off with other beastmen."
"That's just nonsense."
"Are you really not angry?" Li Qiu stared at her face.
Shen Miao smiled faintly: "There's nothing to be angry about."
Well, Li Qiu originally wanted to see Shen Miao get angry, but she ended up getting angry herself instead. She couldn't stay any longer, so she muttered something and turned to leave.
Shen Miao could naturally see through Li Qiu's intentions, but she didn't care about those who spread rumors, and of course, she didn't care about people like Li Qiu.
That evening, when she gave the babies a bath, they clung to their clothes and refused to take them off.
"Why are you being disobedient again?" Shen Miao asked suspiciously.
The children tugged at the clothes, saying, "Mommy, we're all grown up now. We can wash ourselves. You don't need to help us anymore. Go and do other things."
Shen Miao gave an "oh" and pretended to obey the children, but secretly peeked from outside the door.
The children, unaware of the adults' cunning, took off their clothes after Shen Miao left. Shen Miao then saw that their fair skin was covered in bruises and wounds.
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