Clumsy Beast, Keep Your Paws Off Chapter 717: Kneeling in the Snow

The journey back to the house was completely silent. No one spoke a single word, as everyone was deeply lost in their own thoughts.

Once they finally arrived home, Su Qinglan immediately helped Han Jue and Shi Feng tuck all the shivering cubs into their warm beds.

Even though the little ones had been fully covered in the baskets during the walk, the biting winter air had still chilled them to the bone.

Su Qinglan hugged them tightly under the heavy furs, trying to share her warmth with them until they finally stopped shivering.

As she tended to the cubs, Su Qinglan realized she was also trembling. The terror of the afternoon, combined with the freezing weather, had drained her energy completely.

Seeing her pale face, Shi Feng stepped up behind her. His large, warm hands gently rubbed her shoulders, trying to bring some warmth back to her body and ease her stiff muscles.

"Lanlan, why don’t you go take a warm bath?" Shi Feng suggested softly. "It will help you warm up."

It was already almost night, and the freezing wind outside was howling fiercely like sharp swords. Su Qinglan nodded tiredly. "Alright."

She stepped out of the bedroom to prepare her bath, but the moment she walked into the hallway, she froze in absolute shock.

Right there, kneeling flat on the hard wooden floorboards near the cold outer gate, was Hu Yan.

Su Qinglan’s heart leaped into her throat.

She screamed, "Hu Yan! What on earth are you doing?!"

Hu Yan sat there on his knees, his head lowered in complete dejection. His massive, powerful shoulders were hunched, and his hair was dusted with a freezing layer of white snow that had drifted in from the courtyard.

He looked like a frozen statue. Su Qinglan suddenly realized with a jolt of horror...he had been kneeling out here in the freezing cold the entire time she was inside tending to the cubs!

He hadn’t even stepped inside the warmth of the house.

Without thinking, Su Qinglan rushed toward him. She was barefoot, and the freezing cold of the floorboards and the drifting snow bit painfully into the soles of her feet, but she didn’t care.

"What are you doing here? Get up! Let’s go inside; it is freezing out here!"

Hu Yan slowly looked up at her, his golden eyes filled with deep, pitiful sorrow.

"Lanlan, don’t," he whispered, his voice hoarse and trembling. He gently reached out, trying to push her back toward the warm inner room.

"Go back inside. Your feet are cold. I... I did not fulfill my responsibilities well today. Because of my carelessness, our cubs were almost killed by those evil, ferocious beasts. I failed as a father. Let me atone for it."

He refused to stand, keeping his knees firmly pressed against the freezing, hard wood, determined to punish himself for his mistake.

Looking at his stubborn, miserable expression and the freezing snow melting on his hair, Su Qinglan’s eyes welled with tears. Her lips quivered uncontrollably.

She didn’t know if she was shaking from the biting cold of the floor or from the sheer heartache of seeing her powerful, proud tiger mate look so broken and defeated.

Her heart literally ached for him. Seeing how stubborn and consumed by guilt he was, she bit her lip and suddenly said, "Then alright."

Hearing her words, Hu Yan’s entire body stiffened. He did not dare to look up at her face, but his massive shoulders sank even lower, weighed down by an even heavier wave of guilt.

The biting winter wind whistled through the gaps of the courtyard, carrying with it a flurry of white snow that dusted the wooden floorboards of the outer hallway.

Inside, the house was warm and quiet, but outside the gate, the atmosphere was frozen in a tense, painful standoff.

Hu Yan remained on his knees, his broad chest rising and falling slowly as he stared at the floor. He had braced himself for Su Qinglan’s anger. He had braced himself for her tears, her scolding, or even her complete silence.

He expected her to turn around, walk back into the warm bedroom, and leave him to freeze in his guilt. It was what he deserved. His feet were cold, but his heart was even colder.

But instead of hearing the heavy thud of the bedroom door closing, Hu Yan heard a completely different sound.

Clack.

It was the distinct sound of a heavy wooden plank being placed flat onto the freezing floorboards right beside him.

Hu Yan’s golden eyes widened in shock.

Before he could even process what was happening, he saw a pair of small, delicate knees...already slightly red from her bare feet touching the snow...preparing to lower themselves onto the hard wood.

His heart instantly leaped into his throat.

In a flash of pure, instinctual panic, Hu Yan’s massive arms shot out. Before Su Qinglan’s knees could even brush against the wood, he scooped her up in one smooth, powerful motion and pulled her directly into his lap.

"Lanlan! What on earth are you doing?!" he roared, his voice cracking with sheer panic and desperation.

He held her tightly against his chest, trying to block her bare skin from the biting wind with his broad frame. His heart was hammering wildly against his ribs.

He was willing to kneel in the snow until his bones turned to ice, but the mere thought of his female touching the cold wood made him feel like his soul was being ripped apart.

Meanwhile, hidden in various corners of the dark house and behind the adjacent doors, the other beast husbands were silently watching the entire drama unfold.

Rong Ye, Shi Feng, Han Jue, and even Xuan Long...who had quietly slipped out of the bedroom...were all hiding in their respective spots.

They had known all along that Hu Yan was kneeling outside.

In the beast world, males possessed immense pride. When a male beastman felt he had failed his family, his guilt was a sacred, private matter.

The other husbands knew that if they went out to comfort him or tell him to get up, it would only wound Hu Yan’s pride even further and make him feel more miserable.

Out of respect and pride, none of them had dared to show their faces.

They had expected Su Qinglan to comfort him, but they never, in their wildest dreams, expected her to actually bring a wooden plank to kneel beside him in the freezing snow.

The moment Su Qinglan had walked out with that plank, every single beast husband hiding in the shadows felt their hearts leap straight into their throats.

Their eyes widened, and their bodies tensed, ready to burst out from their hiding spots and violently snatch her away from the cold.

Fortunately, Hu Yan was incredibly fast. The moment he pulled her into his lap, a collective, silent sigh of relief swept through the hidden corners of the house.

Hu Yan wrapped his large, warm hands around her stiff, cold shoulders, rubbing them frantically to bring the circulation back.

"Go inside, Lanlan! It is freezing out here. Why would you do something so foolish?"

Su Qinglan sat firmly on his lap, refusing to budge.