Eva hesitated to speak, but Ye Tang truly lacked the energy to deal with her anymore.
She changed into clean home clothes, freshened up briefly, and lay down on the sofa in Eva’s house, falling asleep with even breaths.
In truth, her changes were not as exaggerated as Eva believed. The original host had a good foundation; otherwise, she could not have given birth to such a beautiful little angel like Angeline. It was just that, as a village woman, the original host neither knew how to take care of herself nor thought to spend the family’s extremely limited resources on herself.
Bread and grains were all carbohydrates. Though they contained other nutrients and trace elements, they ultimately lacked protein and amino acids. Protein was an essential nutrient for forming all the cells, organs, and tissues in the human body. Even someone with natural beauty could not escape cellular degradation and loss of facial collagen without it.
The original host did not eat meat, believing that soup had the same nutrition as meat—only meat was more filling and suitable for men. What she did not know was that only a small amount of protein dissolved in water. Even if she drank a basin of soup, the protein she absorbed was less than what her husband got from a small piece of meat.
Over time, the original host’s appearance naturally became like an old painting covered in dust, losing its former fresh vibrancy and beauty.
Ye Tang was not the original host; she would not hold back on herself. She ate meat when she needed to. In the mornings, she always drank a large cup of warm Rooibos Tea. Whether doing mental work or physical labor, she always took a few minutes after several hours to drink a cup of dandelion coffee.
At the same time, Ye Tang did not quit alcohol cold turkey—wine was not entirely harmful to the body; it also had antioxidant effects. Alcohol could temporarily dilate blood vessels, accelerate blood circulation, and improve metabolic efficiency.
The original host drank excessively and then passed out immediately after. Alcohol greatly reduced sleep quality and damaged the body’s organs in various ways. She enjoyed none of wine’s positive effects and even developed an alcohol addiction.
Transmigration was not a miracle cure that could heal the original host’s physical ailments. Alcohol addiction could not be simply and brutally quit on a whim.
News often reported cases of longtime alcoholics who suddenly died after quitting. This was no coincidence.
In fact, the bodies of these old alcoholics had long adapted to regular external stimulation signals. Their aged blood vessels and nerves needed periodic alcohol stimulation to function normally.
Once that stimulation stopped, their blood vessels and nerves would constrict or stall, and the person would drop dead.
Though Rosemary Jennings was young, Ye Tang could not guarantee her body did not need a withdrawal buffer period. Thus, Ye Tang paired dinner with a small half-glass of wine.
Food mitigated the alcohol’s effects, and the antioxidants in the wine entering the stomach with food were better absorbed. After finishing the warm, cozy meal and cleaning up the dishes and kitchen, the alcohol’s buzz had mostly worn off.
At that point, Ye Tang would lock the doors and windows and check everywhere in the house and yard. Once confirming everything was secure, she draped on her cloak and walked from Abe Village to Eva’s house.
By the time she walked that stretch, her food had digested, and her metabolism had sped up.
With faster metabolism, the old waste in her body was expelled. Plus, after bathing, Ye Tang used olive oil mixed with coarse salt as a hair conditioner for a quick, effective spa treatment on her hair. The original host’s haggard appearance soon became a thing of the past.
Ye Tang improved bit by bit each day. To the villagers of Abe Village, her changes did not seem abrupt. Eva had not seen Ye Tang for nearly a week, which shocked her into thinking her daughter had been swapped.
The next day was a clear, sunny one. Eva, who had barely slept the night before and planned to talk with her daughter again in the morning, nearly fainted on the spot when she clearly saw the “person” coming to pick up Ye Tang was a burly Big Gray Wolf.
“Mother, this is Mr. Lang. He is my business partner. The ones behind him are Mr. Lang’s younger brothers and sisters.”
Eva, scared out of her wits and with legs gone soft, could not make a sound. She nodded subconsciously, not expecting three fluffy little heads to pop out in a row from beside the Big Gray Wolf’s legs.
The little wolf pups’ eyes were big and round, filled with innocent curiosity. Lang patted Ben and the twins’ little heads. The three little ones immediately remembered their big brother’s instructions and politely raised their paws toward Eva in greeting.
“””Hello!”””
(Hello, Grandma)
“Today, Mr. Lang and I will be quite busy with work. We cannot free up time to look after the children. Mother, could you please help watch Ben, Mimi, and Kiqi?”
The thought of being in the same room with a Big Gray Wolf… even if only knee-high pups… made Eva’s hair stand on end.
Lang did not want to force her. Eva’s reluctant expression was all too readable.
“No problem is fine—”
“How could it not be possible?!”
A golden figure came flying down from upstairs.
It was Angeline, who had just woken up and was still in her nightgown.
“Mom! Leave Mr. Lang’s little brothers and sisters to me!”
After days apart, seeing her mother again excited Angeline until her little face flushed red. She patted her chest, guaranteeing Ye Tang, her expression full of: I want to help Mom too!
Ye Tang smiled. She squatted down to meet Angeline’s eyes at her level, then stroked Angeline’s head and hugged her.
Feeling her mom’s warmth, Angeline’s blue eyes widened, growing misty, her nose turning red. She wanted to grab Ye Tang’s clothes but forcibly held back.
“Then Mom entrusts Ben, Mimi, and Kiqi to Angeline.”
“Mm!”
Ye Tang treated it solemnly, not like asking a child. Angeline was equally serious, making her promise with gravity and steadiness.
Seeing Ye Tang and her daughter had more to say, Lang—who had once pried information from Angeline’s mouth to burglarize Eva’s house—felt full of guilt and rubbed his nose.
He did not interrupt but turned to his teenage brother.
“Xiu, you too—”
Werewolf stamina and endurance far exceeded humans’. Truth be told, he did not think the mere six-year-old Little Red Riding Hood could care for the twins, who were so curious and ran like little whirlwinds. He could not count on Ben or the woman who was probably Mary’s mother—Ben had the timidest personality in the family, and a woman like Mary’s mother who feared their whole family would be powerless before the twins.
Most importantly, Lang worried that Xiu could not yet face the upcoming work calmly.
“I want to go to work.”
Standing some distance from Eva’s house, Xiu coldly cut off his brother before he finished.
He clearly did not want to waste more words. After speaking, he turned his back, in a “no discussion” stance.
Helpless with his teenage brother, Lang could only sigh at the cloudless blue sky.
Over there, Ye Tang had finished instructing Angeline and comforting Eva a bit. Seeing her step outside, Lang pushed the handcart he had fetched from the blacksmith early that morning.
The blacksmith was already familiar with the Big Gray Wolf brothers who always entered and exited his shop with Ye Tang. Seeing the Big Gray Wolf brothers come for the handcart instead of Ye Tang did not surprise him. He even tossed a pair of cowhide fingerless gloves to Lang, saying, “You’re the one pushing it anyway, right?”
The blacksmith’s fingerless gloves were indeed very useful. For Lang, whose paws were full of fur that slipped when sweaty and matted when wet, they made pushing the cart much easier. He even had spare energy to chat idly with Ye Tang while pushing.
Hearing the human and wolf ahead chatting animatedly like old friends, Xiu—realizing as he followed Ye Tang and Lang that they were heading toward his former home—could not suppress his inner agitation and shouted, “Hey, what is today’s work!?”
His brother’s rudeness gave Lang a headache. “Xiu, mind your language.”
Xiu ignored his brother and just looked toward Ye Tang.
Unknowingly, Ye Tang had become the pillar of their family. She arranged their work and influenced their lives through it.
Xiu had thought of resisting Ye Tang the human’s control but was unwilling to admit his family was dominated by a mere human woman. Yet the fullness in his belly and the decreasing hostile stares made him question: Do you really call this life “being dominated”? Is this life merely “being dominated”? Or are you unknowingly submitting to a human because survival has become easy?
Ye Tang turned around. She stood on the mountain path, the morning light outlining her in a golden halo.
Her hand emerged from under her cloak, pointing toward the coal mine below the path where work had already begun.
“Starting today, our job is to sell food and drinks to the people working there.”
Xiu’s throat bobbed, the biting mountain wind chilling him to the bone.
“…What did you say? Say it again?”
“Xiu—”
Lang approached his brother to explain but was shoved away.
Awoooo—!!
The wolf howl echoed through the entire mountain path, even reaching the workers in the coal mine below.
The workers shuddered in unison, more than one looking toward the mine’s entrance.
Enraged, Xiu fully bared his immature fangs and claws. He shoved his brother aside and lunged at Ye Tang.
His fangs might not be long enough yet, his claws not sharp enough. But for an unarmed, frail woman, those fangs and claws were enough to tear her trachea, rip her arteries, and kill her in three seconds.
“It was those people who burned down our village! Those people who slaughtered our neighbors!! I shouldn’t have believed you… I shouldn’t have thought there were humans ‘different’ from those people! You dare make me serve food and drinks to those despicable, shameless, evil humans…!! You humans will disregard anything for profit! Humans are despicable! Disgusting!!”