Shi Wei's expression turned frigid in an instant. He thrust Su Yu into Sang Guo's arms, tore off his Beast Skin Skirt, and shifted into his beast form. With a low growl, he lunged at Jinwei.
No male would tolerate his female being insulted by another beastman.
A look of shock crossed Jinwei's face. He hadn't expected any male to stand up for Su Yu. He frantically shoved Hu Ya behind him and shifted into his beast form to meet the attack.
Jinwei's beast form was a short-tailed monkey. It was massive, standing nearly two meters tall.
There were many female beastmen at the gathering, so neither of them used their superpowers, fighting directly in their beast forms.
They fought their way from the gathering point all the way to the outskirts of Red Flower Valley.
The two beasts had started fighting so suddenly that several herbivore beastmen were nearly injured in the crossfire.
Ruer, who had just returned from trading for salt, saw Shi Wei viciously mauling a monkey. His heart skipped a beat. He shoved the salt he was holding into the hands of a male accompanying him, let out a furious roar, and shifted into his beast form to break up the fight.
The other leaders also transformed one by one to help break it up, the leader of the Bataang Tribe among them.
Shi Wei completely ignored the leaders who came to intervene. He focused solely on attacking Jinwei, tearing off several clumps of his fur and flesh and slashing multiple gashes across his face, beating him until he howled in pain.
Ruer grew anxious and moved forward to mediate. "Stop fighting, Shi Wei! You're going to scare your female!"
Without even looking back, Shi Wei threw out a single sentence: "He insulted my female!"
Huh?
He insulted his female?
Oh, never mind then.
Ruer silently backed away. 'If someone insulted your own female, killing them would be normal, let alone just giving them a beating.'
After all, a mated male thinks of nothing but his partner.
He puts his partner's every need first.
The leader of the Bataang Tribe panicked, afraid Jinwei would be beaten to death. He hurriedly shouted to Ruer, "Ruer! Make him stop!"
Ruer stayed put, squatting and licking his paws. "Can't be done. His female was insulted by this Monkey Beastman. He's settling the score!"
'If I go over there now,' Ruer thought, 'Shi Wei would probably attack me too.'
The Bataang Tribe's leader's expression darkened. Gritting his teeth, he had no choice but to step forward and intervene himself.
Shi Wei knew when to quit while he was ahead. After sending Jinwei flying with a powerful kick from his hind leg, he stopped his assault as the Bataang Tribe's leader blocked his path.
Both shifted back to their human forms. Jinwei's face was so bruised and swollen it was a mess, and he had several broken ribs.
Shi Wei's only injuries were some disheveled hair and a small scratch on his cheek. For a male, a scratch like that barely even counted as a wound.
Shi Wei's face was grim as he strode menacingly toward Jinwei, only to be blocked by Ruer. "Shi Wei, that's enough. Let it go."
Shi Wei's wolf-like eyes stared sharply at Jinwei, his voice cold and cruel. "Yu Yu has no interest in your Bataang Tribe. She is now a female of the Liaoshui Tribe, and she is *my* female!"
"If I ever hear you say another bad word about Yu Yu, I will kill you!"
Wincing, Jinwei wiped a smear of blood from his nose and yelled, "I wasn't wrong! Back in the tribe, Su Yu was always bullying Hu Ya! She's always been a vicious and cruel female!"
"What's more, she has no Fertility! Only clueless males like you would treat a worthless female like her as some kind of treasure! If she joins your tribe, she'll be nothing but a burden!"
Shi Wei sneered. "We're more than willing to provide for her! At least we don't do things like you—withholding a female's food to curry favor with another one!"
"You don't even deserve to be called a male!"
Humiliated and enraged, Jinwei tried to get up and fight again, but the leader of the Bataang Tribe stopped him, his eyes dark as he roared, "Jinwei! That's enough!"
The leader of the Bataang Tribe had also been surprised to hear that Su Yu wasn't dead, but he was even more stunned by the information in Shi Wei's words.
This was the first he'd heard about Jinwei withholding Su Yu's winter food. Even though he hadn't been fond of that "vicious female" Su Yu, he had at least kept up appearances.
The winter food allotted to her was less than that of the other females, but if she had been frugal, it would have been more than enough to survive the winter!
But he'd never imagined Jinwei would go behind his back and withhold her food. No wonder Su Yu had risked leaving the tribe in the middle of winter!
Shock and anger flared in his heart, and he subconsciously glanced around.
Luckily, they had fought in a remote area, and the other leaders hadn't bothered to come over after seeing Shi Wei and Jinwei stop.
Otherwise, the Bataang Tribe's reputation would have been ruined.
If the others had heard this, they would never be willing to let their females come to the Bataang Tribe again.
Seeing Jinwei being held back, Shi Wei was actually a little disappointed.
'He had thought he could use this as an excuse to kill Jinwei. But with the leaders present, it wasn't a good time to make a move.'
Shi Wei shot a cold glare at both Jinwei and the Bataang Tribe's leader, then turned and strode away.
Ruer, who had been watching the drama unfold from the side, hadn't expected a male from the Bataang Tribe to be capable of something so classless. He gave the Bataang leader a look that spoke volumes, tutted twice, and left, shaking his head.
'I'll have to warn the females in my tribe later,' he thought. 'Don't get involved with males from the Bataang Tribe, or you might not have any food to eat come winter.'
The Bataang Tribe's leader felt his face burn as if he'd been slapped twice. He stared grimly at the dejected, head-hanging Jinwei and gritted out, "You had better explain to me what this is all about."
Jinwei looked remorseful. "I'm sorry, leader. I was too impulsive. But it was because of that vicious female, Su Yu. She was bothering Ayala again, and I just couldn't stand it, so I..."
"It won't happen again."
The Bataang leader's dark expression eased slightly. He gave Jinwei an exasperated rap on the head. "Think before you speak next time. If it weren't for the gathering today, with so many beastmen around making it hard for him to make a move, you'd have been bitten to death long ago."
Jinwei nodded, still shaken with lingering fear.
His ribs were still throbbing in pain.
"So, what do we do now? That vicious female Su Yu... should we bring her back?" Jinwei asked, his face full of disgust.
"Bring her back? What for? Didn't you hear what he said? Su Yu is a female of the Liaoshui Tribe now," the Bataang leader said irritably.
"However, no matter what, Su Yu used to be a female of our Bataang Tribe. After her Father and Amu went to see the Beast God, we spent a lot of food raising her."
"If she wants to join another tribe now, she should have to pay us back for all that food..."
As the Bataang leader spoke, a calculating glint flashed in his eyes.
He had just been worrying about the food shortage in the tribe after the winter, and how they would be unable to provide for the cubs and females.
And just like that, the Liaoshui Tribe had handed him the perfect excuse.
-
While Su Yu and Sang Guo were waiting anxiously, Shi Wei and Ruer returned, and the somewhat chaotic gathering returned to normal.
Hearing Shi Wei's footsteps, Su Yu rushed over and cupped his face, checking him for injuries. "Are you hurt?"
Shi Wei held her, letting her hands roam over him as she checked, and mumbled, "I'm fine."
When Hu Ya saw that only Shi Wei had returned, she quickly asked, "How come you're the only one back? Where's Jinwei?"
Shi Wei sneered. "Dead."
Hu Ya's expression changed drastically. Instantly heartbroken, she clutched her chest, her eyes welling with tears as she accused Shi Wei, "You actually killed Jinwei! You're so cruel!"
A flicker of light flashed in Hu Ya's eyes as she tearfully said to Shi Wei, "He was my designated first Beast Husband! Since you killed him, you'll have to compensate me with yourself!"
"I'm stronger than Su Yu, and my Fertility is higher than hers. I can give you lots of cubs!"
Su Yu was stunned. '????'
'Wait, is this 'female lead' out of her mind??'
Sang Guo, however, didn't find it surprising at all.
In this world, it was perfectly normal for females to fight over powerful males.
Some of the more vicious females would even plot to kill the partner of a male they desired. They would then take advantage of the male while he was injured from the backlash of his partner's death and claim him for themselves.
Su Yu stepped in front of Shi Wei and snapped, "Lady, you should get that delusion of yours treated. Do you really think every male in the world revolves around you?"
"Listen closely." Su Yu enunciated each word clearly. "He. Is. Mine."