The Power of Cuteness

The bamboo shoots were finally ready. Hana closed the lids happily once the boiled bamboo shoots had sufficiently cooled down. She then cling-wrapped the opening part for spillage prevention. She was very satisfied with her work. It gained her five canisters of bamboo shoots, ready to be cooked anytime. The bamboo shoot brought back by the kids was after all, quite large. The best thing was, these pre-treated bamboo shoots' shelf-life has extended to about six months.

Hana took her sweet time to gut the fishes to remove their intestines and grime on a banana leaf while humming the Punjab song. It seemed that the aftereffect of the song was still prevalent.

Kuro and Shiro were bewildered from Hana's actions of keeping the spiritual herbs after cooking. They thought she was going to eat them soon. Instead, she went about to clean the fishes.

[Mommy, why are you not eating the herbs?] Kuro watched Hana intently.

"Oh dearies, that is not considered cooking. That's just prepping!" Hana smiled and talked aloud without lifting her head. Her hands were still busy doing their jobs. She was still unaccustomed with talking in her head. So, she would just spoke aloud to all of the kids' queries.

It turned out these boys were quite chatty. They were eager to strike a conversation with her at every turn. Once she truly listened, she realized, they might truly be boys. True to being boys, Hana could even detect quite an intense 'sibling rivalry' going on with the two.

[Too cute!] She loved becoming the center of attention to her kids. It made her felt so loved.

"I am going to make a nice dish with this bamboo shoots. But I need some additional ingredients tomorrow. Help me find them okay?" She implored while making a cute face and winked at her pets.

[Sure, mommy.] Both of them replied with gusto while nodding vigorously.

"Before anything, Shi-chan, go and get me some clean water by the river. Ku-chan, get the water bottles and accompany your brother." Hana nonchalantly flung out instructions after instructions like how a mother should be.

Sensing their reluctance, she asked, "Is it hard to work together? Or won't you let Mommy wash these fishes with clean water before Mommy marinated them? Who's going to eat them later hmm?"

[..But, but, it's dangerous leaving you alone here.] Shiro replied timidly after a short pause.

[Yep, yep.] Kuro nodded readily.

"Nonsense! I've been here for four days, nothing has happened..." Hana's words trailed off. She then realized Kuro or Shiro had been with her all along every single moment. She had never been truly left alone. Were they actually guarding her 24/7 silently…

She sighed and conceded. Maybe what they said have a grain of truth in them. Who was she to question them? They were the real inhabitants of this place. "Alright, Kuro can stay. Shiro, come over." She unscrewed both water bottles and tied two vines attaching both bottles to each other and slung them on Shiro's neck with her bloody hands. The actions made the bottles bloodied with fish blood. Hana was quite unhappy.

[Tskkk, now, the bottles will smell fishy. Where is all the free hotel soaps when you need one?] She grumbled in her heart.

"Sorry to trouble you so much, Shi-chan." She stopped herself from rubbing his head but gave a kiss to his nose dotingly. "Off you go now. Please return as soon as possible okay. Don't forget to rinse the bottles a little. They're icky when they're bloody."

...

Half an hour later, Hana was already napping in the embrace of her fluffy fox happily while hugging the black snake in front of the still burning potteries. The fishes were attached to strong rattan vines and were hung on a makeshift simple rack (1) made from thick bamboo planted into the cave floor, just a bit further away from the fire. However, the smoke touched the fishes directly when it was on its way upwards.

Once a while, Shiro bowed a little and used his antlers to push more wood into the fire without needing to move away from his mistress.

Currently, his heart was full, and he felt a slight fluttering in the pit of his heart. Hana's request of snuggling together caught him by surprise. However, he then realized he really loved the feeling.

Shiro's rest had never felt so heartwarming as this.

Kuro was wondering in silence while snuggling in Hana's arms. [What about dinner...]

...

A new day has begun as Hana reluctantly opened her eyes in the dark and habitually tried to reach her phone to check what time was it. Her charging smartphone showed a Sunday, 5.30 am; it was the fifth day already. She stretched her arms and neck a bit before trying her best to drag herself out reluctantly; the blissful feelings from a fluffy cozy bed was too appealing. It was so much better than memory foam.

From today onwards, this sleeping arrangement must be permanent! She somehow must coax the lovely bushy fox to let him serve her every night! How should she bribe him so that he will serve her willingly?

While Hana was thinking, she added more wood to the dimly lit campfire. Surprisingly, the fire kept on burning a low orange color, adequately warming her up slightly due to its proximity. She realized Shiro was not warm at all as a mammal should be. The fox was actually slightly colder than her, while Kuro's body heat mimicked the surrounding, just like a normal reptile. Hence, the fire was quite important to warm her up.

The raging bonfire consuming the dried clay pots had already gone out. Hana was not sure for how long, but it might already be a few hours. This was because no heat radiated from the leftover ashes. Hana tried to touch the pots gently. They were slightly warm to the touch.

[Great! Once the sun is up, the treatment for the pots can take place!] Hana was full of positive vibes today.

The catfishes from last night had been sufficiently smoked. Seven of them altogether. Hana poked the body gently and found the external skin had formed a hard leather-like skin and were glistening with oil, most probably from the fishes themselves. Catfishes' flesh was known to be quite fatty. It was a good indication showing that the moisture content had reduced. The fishes could be kept a few extra days without getting bad.

[Mommy..hungry..] Hana was startled by Kuro's voice in her head as she routinely pumped out the leftover milk from her body into an empty bamboo canister.

She turned around and saw the cheeky little snake as he tried his hardest to act cute. [No dinner last night. Please?]

Kuro was eyeing the hanged fishes the whole night but didn't dare to steal some. He knew Hana would've reprimanded him and might disregard him out of anger. So, he had sneakily went out to hunt for food once he was sure Hana was sleeping deeply. He also didn't forget to generate a tiny amount of electricity and placed his horn on a tiny silver square attached to a thick rectangular-shaped box for half an hour as per Hana's instruction before he went out to hunt.

He had done the same thing two days in a row already as he found that Hana placed a very high importance on that particular task. Hana had told him to perform the 'charging session' gently on her black powerbank every night once he had finally mastered the art of high precision, low voltage he diligently practiced on the cave wall before.

Although Kuro knew his acting might not yield anything, he persisted. The cheeky little snake still tried his luck, just incase. Who knows if he might actually get rewarded? He was absolutely sure that Hana didn't know he already ate quite well outside.

Shiro was in a worse condition. He didn't dare to move since Hana used one of his limbs as a pillow. [Pity the hungry fox.] Kuro laughed naughtily with a trace of schadenfreude in his heart.

"Awwww…", Hana started to fawn over Kuro's cuteness as her heart melted like cheese over fire.

She then realized she had done something wrong! A wave of guilt colored Hana's mind as she smacked her own head. She had totally forgotten about dinner! She didn't understand how she could forget something so important in her life!

What she didn't know was, she had sipped some of the water boiled with the Primordial Spiritual bamboo shoot last night. She had even sampled a few pieces of the boiled spiritual shoot. Her intention was very evident as a cook. She just wanted to make sure the boiled 'soup' was not too salty since it will affect the overall taste after fermentation. She tried the shoot pieces to make sure they have been cooked sufficiently and didn't have the raw taste anymore. If overcooked, the crunchy texture will be gone, and they will become too soft. The small amount of energy from the Primordial Spiritual herb had nourished Hana's body in its entirety and rejuvenated her well until she didn't feel hunger anymore. Her body's condition was even below an entry level martial artist, hence, the sudden boost really fill up the aunty's appetite well.

Hana's first time consuming spiritual herb was as anti-climactic as that.

"Ohhhhhhh..So so so sorry guys!" Hana scooped Kuro up and caressed his head guiltily. As the little snake slithered to her arms and curled itself there, Hana went over to hug the pitiful limpid eyed fox and gave him a good rub on his head. Kuro had forgotten Hana was a sucker with cute animals acting pitiful. She will fall for the act 99 % of the time. Once her fear for snake diminished, she found that Kuro was extremely adorable.

She chose two biggest and juiciest catfishes for the kids and plated them on a banana leaf each. "Have a go, dearies."

As the two 'brothers' ate voraciously, Hana said, "Let's go to the stream together. There's so many things to do today." She patted Kuro's and Shiro's head intermittently with doting eyes. She didn't plan to eat anything. Somehow, she still felt slightly full.

[What miraculous catfishes!] Hana kept on praising the catfishes.

Hana's misunderstanding continues...

...

Author's Note:

(1) The fishes were attached to strong rattan vines and were hung on a makeshift simple rack …= attached to strong rattan vines and were hung on a makeshift simple rack = This is not the same shelf Hana made from previous chapters. It's just a simple one. Mrs Mooncat will illustrate this shelf for patrons in Patreon.