"Ancestor? Are you talking about your parents?"
"Of course not. Parents are just parents. Ancestors are much, much more powerful yellow weasels."
The eldest sister turned and whispered to her brother-in-law.
"These humans don't seem very smart. Is it safe to leave Er Mao with them?"
"It's better that they're not smart. If they're a bit slow, they'll be easier to handle. Otherwise, they might bully our Er Mao!"
The eldest sister felt that her brother-in-law made a lot of sense.
Putting aside her doubts, she happily led them underground.
The tunnels dug by the yellow weasels were quite difficult to navigate.
Fu Yunting slightly modified the path, making it suitable for humans to walk.
The yellow weasel hopped to a large cave entrance and nervously told them, "Shush, be quiet. The Ancestor has a bad temper. Don't make him angry."
After issuing her warning, the eldest sister respectfully entered the cave.
"Ancestor, I've brought them. Can I bring them in for you to see?"
A moment later, Fu Yunting and An Nuan entered the cave.
Both of them instinctively recoiled and frowned slightly with disgust.
An Nuan: "This is your Ancestor?"
Although he looked a bit strange, he was clearly human!
A human being the ancestor of yellow weasels...
Seeing the two of them, the man was overcome with emotion and began to cry profusely.
"Oh, my dear mother, I've finally met humans!"
"You're here to save me, right? I never want to eat worms, lizards, or mice again."
"Please, please take me away quickly. I can't stand another moment here!"
The eldest sister said, looking confused, "Ancestor, what are you talking about? You're just old and your mind is getting muddled again!"
Everyone quickly jumped around the man, checking on him with concern.
The little cousin picked up some cherries: "Ancestor, have some of these. They're fresh fruit!"
The man's soul was shaken when he saw the cherries. He unbelievably picked one up and put it in his mouth.
"It, it really is a cherry! Oh my god, this is so fresh and delicious. It's a 4J, no, definitely a 5J large fruit!"
"Do you like it, Ancestor? Eat more if you like it."
"Yes, they have more. We'll ask them for some later!"
"Ancestor, do you want some water? I'll get you some water. You look a bit thirsty."
The group of yellow weasels surrounded the man, some massaging his shoulders, others bringing him food and drink.
These creatures truly treated him like an ancestor.
The man ravenously ate two or three handfuls of cherries, and then suddenly remembered these little creatures.
He grabbed a handful and held out his hand, allowing them to take some.
"Can we, Ancestor? Can we really have some?"
"Yes, yes, eat up."
The yellow weasels happily each took one and crunched on them.
Fu Yunting said, "You seem to get along well with them. Why not just live here?"
The man's smile looked as if he was about to cry.
"Actually, life with them is quite good. There's food and drink, and I don't have to do any work."
"And it's warm in the winter and cool in the summer underground. During extreme heat and cold, it's very comfortable to stay with these yellow weasels, but..."
The man suddenly burst into tears: "I really don't want to eat lizards and mice anymore! I'd rather gnaw on tree bark than eat these things again!"
In the yellow weasels' understanding, these were the most delicious things.
Offering the best things to their ancestor was only logical.
The man sniffled.
"I, I'm actually very afraid of mice. But I've told them many times, and these guys just don't understand. They think I'm saying I don't like them just to save the food for them. But I really don't like them, I'm scared!"
Some fears can be overcome.
But some fears are not just etched in DNA; they are etched in the soul.
The man's disgust for mice was profound.
Just the thought of seeing a few mice every day, and these mice were the ones the yellow weasels painstakingly saved for him from their own portions.
Not eating them would be ungrateful!
The man's heart ached.
He pleaded, "I really can't explain it to them. I'm not a yellow weasel that has gained sentience! Can you help me explain?"
Little animals are stubborn, even more so than humans.
An Nuan could relate to this deeply.
Especially these yellow weasels, their sense of group consciousness was much higher than others, and they valued their racial community greatly.
It would not be easy to make them yield.
However, An Nuan's specialty was deception.
Her greatest skill was her "mouth-fu."
An Nuan immediately found the eldest sister and a few elders.
She gently and persuasively cajoled them.
"Your ancestor has eaten mice and lizards for thousands of years. He's had enough. The delicacies you consider delicious won't work for him."
The eldest sister looked very surprised.
Then she felt self-reproach and hung her head in remorse.
Yellow weasels were usually creepy and one wanted to avoid them.
But when so many yellow weasels looked pitifully wronged at the same time, they looked quite cute.
An Nuan smiled: "He doesn't blame you. On the contrary, he thinks you're incredibly filial, and it has moved him beyond words!"
The grandchildren perked up again, looking at him with joy.
The man smiled sheepishly.
An Nuan continued, "However, your ancestor has stayed here for too long. For your sake, he's almost been demoted."
"The immortal realm has its rules. This time, he was sent down to train and be promoted again. Staying in one place for too long is not good."
"If the leaders in the immortal realm found out, he would be punished."
The eldest sister tilted her head in surprise: "The immortal realm has leaders?"
"Of course! There are so many gods and deities in the heavens, so someone has to manage them!"
"You see how many gods there are in the temples? The Jade Emperor and the Tathagata are the heads. One manages the immortal realm, and the other manages the Buddhist realm. Your ancestor is under the Jade Emperor's jurisdiction."
"He's a two-faced person. He's very strict with the assessment of the deities who have ascended from the lower realms."
"If your ancestor is caught by him, he'll be in a lot of trouble!"
The brother-in-law shrieked in fear: "Oh no, will they stop feeding Ancestor forever? That would be too pitiful for Ancestor."
"Yes, they might not feed him for hundreds of years, and he'll starve to skin and bones!"
Tears like beans poured down the yellow weasels' faces.
They threw themselves into the man's arms and cried.
"No, Ancestor is already too thin. He can't get any thinner!"
"How can that bad leader do that? It's inhumane!"
"Ancestor, you should go somewhere else. Travel to a few different places and don't let that bad guy catch you!"
The man was deeply touched.
In his thirty years of life, this was the first time he had felt such profound emotion, and it came from a group of yellow weasels.