Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

Yu Rong found a cool spot to keep watch.

At first, he watched Xu Lingguang with great interest, curious about what he was doing. But after watching for a while, he realized that Xu was either cutting down trees or digging in the dirt, which was incredibly boring. He lazily yawned and lay down in the grass to doze off.

I dozed off and then fell asleep.

When it woke up, it was still a little groggy. It rubbed its eyes with its paws and remained groggy for a while before realizing that the person digging the soil was gone.

He scrambled to his feet in a panic and looked around, only to find that Xu Lingguang had already walked quite a distance back with his hoe. He was immediately startled and stumbled back as fast as he could.

Xu Lingguang was about to take a bath by the stream when he suddenly felt something fly over his head, bringing a cool breeze. But when he looked up, it was gone.

Without giving it much thought, he looked away and went into the stream.

Meanwhile, Yu Rong hurriedly rushed back, urging anxiously, "I'm back, I'm back!"

Yun Feng's ears perked up in fright, and she leaped up from the stone bench. Zhao Ling, who had been comfortably lying on her stomach, was caught off guard and fell to the ground. She rolled around a few times, dizzy and disoriented, before groggily getting to her feet: "What happened?"

Yunfeng and Yurong were already taking the chickens out of the stove.

The two cubs weren't afraid of getting burned. Each of them carried one in its mouth, and Yunfeng then scooped up Zhaoling, who hadn't even realized what was happening, and hurriedly ran away.

Xu Lingguang came back refreshed after taking a cold shower.

After a whole afternoon of physical labor, he was quite hungry. He first poured himself a large glass of fruit wine to quench his thirst, and then took the fire tongs to take the roasted chicken out of the stove.

But as he rummaged around, he discovered that only one roasted chicken remained buried in the pile of charcoal.

Xu Lingguang: ?

What about the other two?

He refused to believe it and rummaged around inside again, only to find that the other two roast chickens had vanished without a trace.

Xu Lingguang finally confirmed that a thief had broken into his house.

*

The three little ones were thieving for the first time, and they were very nervous. After running away from the yard, they were so scared that their ears were pressed to their heads, and it took them a while to calm down.

Yu Rong threw the large ball of dirt she was holding tightly onto the ground, spat twice, circled the ball once, and looked at Yun Feng with a puzzled expression: "How are you supposed to eat this?"

His hairy face looked worried, and he felt that the taste in his mouth was not very good.

Yun Feng poked at the soil ball with her paws, also feeling troubled. She thought for a moment and said, "The outer layer doesn't taste good. Let's peel it open and see what's inside."

So Yu Rong huffed and puffed as he peeled off the dry soil. The cracked mud was easy to peel off, and the rich aroma of lotus leaves mixed with the smell of meat wafted out. The three cubs swallowed their saliva in unison.

Yu Rong twitched her nose and said, "It smells so good."

Yun Feng licked her lips, then pushed aside another ball of earth and said, "We'll each have half, and take the other half back to Youyu."

Yu Rong nodded repeatedly.

The three chicks divided the chicken among themselves and couldn't wait to start eating.

Unfortunately, the chicks were too small, so they were divided into two portions. Yu Rong and Yun Feng only had a taste before they were gone. Zhao Ling, on the other hand, was small and ate slowly, squatting on the lotus leaf and pecking at the chicks with her tender yellow beak.

Yun Feng and Yu Rong looked at him with shining eyes.

Zhao Ling belatedly looked up, slowly pecked at a piece of meat, tilted her head, and asked, "Are you still eating?"

Yun Feng shook her head, and Yu Rong hesitated for a moment before shaking her head as well.

Of the four cubs, Zhaoling was the youngest and weakest. His eldest brother said he was a cub from the neighboring Phoenix Clan, but the Phoenix Clan had long been wiped out, leaving only an egg that no one cared for. His eldest brother took it back to Ailao Mountain.

I heard that he injured his head when he hatched, so he couldn't cultivate. He's also slow-witted and not very bright, so the three cubs take extra care of him.

Yunfeng and Yurong may argue and fight, but they will not bully Zhaoling.

Zhao Ling said "Oh" and went back to eating.

After Zhaoling finished eating last, the three little ones wrapped up the portion left for Youyu and went back satisfied.

Youyu was looking at the account books of Qianjinlou. His elder brother had already begun to teach him how to run and manage the shop, so whenever he had free time, he would flip through the account books and learn the knowledge that his brother had taught him.

Seeing the three little ones, all dirty and sneaking in like thieves, with a small package in their mouths, Yun Feng asked in confusion, "Where did you go to play? Why are you so dirty?"

He took the handkerchief, pulled Yu Rong onto his lap, and wiped his mouth.

Yu Rong was forced to roll over, her paws pointing skyward, kicking excitedly: "We found something delicious, we'll bring it back for you to eat."

Yun Feng, like a treasure to be presented, jumped onto the table with a lotus leaf bundle in her mouth and pushed the remaining half of the roast chicken in front of You Yu: "Try it, it's delicious."

He put Yu Rong down and opened the lotus leaf, revealing half a chicken still steaming with aroma inside. He frowned slightly and glanced at the three chicks: "Where did these come from?"

Yun Feng and Yu Rong nervously pursed their ears, exchanging glances.

Finally, Yun Feng said, "I found it on the road!"

Upon hearing this, Yu Rong also became self-righteous: "Yes, I picked it up on the road."

Zhaoling finally jumped onto Youyu's shoe, settled down contentedly, chirped, and said, "Found it!"

The three cubs were very confident, but Yu didn't believe them at all.

This is clearly human food, how could it have been found in the mountains? The most likely explanation is that the three cubs obtained it from a human cultivator.

I don't know if the other party gave it to me willingly, or if the three little ones stole it back.

Youyu looked helpless and said, "If my elder brother finds out, he will be angry."

The three little ones immediately looked guilty and flustered. Yu Rong and Yun Feng jumped into his arms and rolled around in his arms, saying, "Hurry up and eat it, or big brother won't know."

Having no other choice, Youyu divided the remaining half of the roast chicken among the little ones, adding, "There can't be a next time."

The little ones obediently said yes.

After calming the three cubs down, Youyu still felt uneasy, so she concealed herself and went to Xu Lingguang's courtyard.

He needed to confirm whether the roast chicken was given to him willingly. If it was, then the other party had likely already seen the three cubs, and if they had ulterior motives…

Yu's expression darkened for a moment, and he appeared outside the courtyard.

Xu Lingguang was setting up a trap and thinking that next time he went to Qingyu City, he should ask Manager Zhao if he had any anti-theft formations or magic treasures. He originally thought that he wouldn't be robbed in this deep mountain forest, but who knew that he would be robbed while he was out the door. He wondered what kind of animal was so smart.

Seeing that he was busy setting traps outside the yard, Youyu guessed that the roast chicken was probably not given to him by the other party. His expression softened a bit. After thinking for a moment, he disappeared into the woods. When he reappeared a moment later, he was carrying two struggling pheasants.

He threw the pheasant into the trap set by Xu Lingguang before turning and leaving.

That evens things out.