Deep affection knows no origin; remember the polar bear's love for you.

Chapter 72 The Pain of Losing the Bear Design
Slok lay lazily at the cave entrance, gazing at the sky. Fishbone rested his head on Slok's buttocks, his eyes closed, emitting soft snoring sounds.

The little bear, having exhausted all its energy after a day of playing, is now fast asleep.

The salmon sat beside him, reaching out its claws to scratch at Laslock's ear. Its sharp claws grazed the tip of the ear, causing the ear to twitch before it immediately withdrew its claws. A moment later, it couldn't resist reaching out its claws again.

Slok spoiled the two bear cubs and played with them even more than Guo Mi.

After a day of companionship, even the salmon completely revealed the innocence and playfulness that the little bear should have.

The tranquil moment was broken only by a series of heavy, chaotic footsteps!

Slok, who had been dozing off and almost closed his eyes, suddenly opened them and hurriedly looked in the direction from which the sound came.

What comes into view is two bears charging wildly with their heads down!
Guo Mi charged ahead, and apart from her slightly disheveled fur, she didn't seem particularly special.

Looking further back.

...? ! !
Slok closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, confirming that he hadn't misread anything.

The bear that ran over looked like it had a bundle of grass in its mouth, and it was so dirty that it was unrecognizable!
That's Caesar?!
Slok could hardly believe his eyes, his mind filled with questions. What were they doing?!
The two bears rushed up to us in the blink of an eye.

Guo Mi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the cave entrance. She shook her fur vigorously, only to belatedly realize that her nose and ears were extremely itchy!

Even one of the claws was itchy!
She felt a wave of despair wash over her. The mosquito had even managed to get through the cracks in her claws?!

Then Caesar followed, and he was exactly like her, not only in his nose and ears, but even...

A hint of embarrassment flashed in the male bear's eyes. He put the bouquet of flowers he was carrying aside and secretly observed whether the other bears were paying attention to him. After confirming that no bears were noticing him, he suddenly sat down and rubbed his buttocks hard on the ground!

Slok greeted them, but the bears had no energy to pay him any attention. He could only watch helplessly as the two returning bears scratched their ears and wiped their noses.

Of course, Caesar's buttocks were also subtly rubbing against the rocks, but he was very skillful, so no bear noticed.

Guo Mi finally stopped when the itching subsided and greeted Slok.

Slok leaned closer, now filled with questions he needed Gomi and Caesar to answer:

"What's wrong with you? Why are you so itchy? And where did you go? Why is there mud everywhere?"

He only now noticed that Guo Mi's paws weren't very clean either, covered with a layer of black mud.

Guo Mi sighed and briefly described to Slock everything that had happened that day.

It was so captivating that the two little bears somehow joined in, sitting in a row with Slok, tilting their heads back and listening intently.

Only after Guo Mi finished speaking did Slok look at Caesar and ask loudly:
Why did you choose the flowerbeds by the water?

Caesar froze as he rubbed his buttocks, his paws braced on the ground, his body tilted in an unnatural position, and he wanted nothing more than to bite Slok to death.

That damned idiot bear! Why couldn't he have said it later? Why did he have to ask him in front of Guo Mi?!
Guo Mi looked at his indescribable posture, tilted her head in confusion, and then looked down, finally spotting the bouquet of flowers that Caesar had brought back. Her eyes lit up:
"You brought the flowers back?!"

The bears' attention immediately shifted to the conspicuous bouquet of flowers. Caesar breathed a sigh of relief, quickly corrected his awkward posture, walked to Guo Mi's side, and uttered a single word in a deliberately profound and simple manner:

"Ah."

His hind legs were even wearing those two mud-stained "black socks".

The male bear hasn't forgotten his desire to reconcile, but he can't let Guo Mi think he's a cold and aloof bear with no life at all.

However, his little scheme was destined to be shelved, as Guo Mi had no idea whether his words were long or short, many or few.

Even if they noticed, they would at most think he'd lost his mind.

However, Caesar's act of bringing the flowers back was the only commendable thing that went smoothly today; at least Guo Mi was very happy and even said something to Caesar, which was quite rare.
"Thank you."

Caesar was immediately flattered!

Today he heard Guo Mi say "I'm sorry" for the first time, and "thank you" for the first time.

Of course, he wished he hadn't heard the "sorry" because he didn't want to eat bugs!

That simple "thank you" was enough to make a male bear, who had been constantly beaten since they met, forget those unpleasant memories and unhappiness, and... his bear persona.

A simple "thank you" made a normally aloof bear lose its temper and throw itself into a muddy mess, rubbing its muddy body against Guo Mi with abandon!
How elegant!

This one brush made all of Guo Mi's careful avoidance all day go to waste!
This little rub turned the giant furball's rare kindness and tolerance into utter malice!
Seeing her once clean hair now covered in black mud, and a faint stench wafting into her nostrils, Guo Mi took a deep breath, her fingernails scratching a sharp mark on the stone. She told herself to endure it.

...but I couldn't resist.

The male bear, still basking in the afterglow of the "thank you," was stunned by an unexpected swipe of its paw!
Guo Mi calmed down a bit after slapping him. No matter what, Caesar had taken her to see the flowers today, and although she didn't know his purpose, she still didn't want to be violent towards him again.

Looking at the still-stinking mud clinging to her body, Guo Mi took a deep breath, composed herself, and asked Caesar:
"Where do we go next?"

Regardless, she had agreed to Caesar's two-day exchange, and Guo Mi still wanted to fulfill this promise properly.

Caesar was beaten again but felt no anger at all; in fact, he felt a sense of relief that had been absent for a long time.

After a moment of silence, the day's failures left him feeling utterly defeated. His intuition told him that if he didn't take a break now, Guo Mi might never want to see him again.

So the male bear wisely said:
"How about we rest for a while?"

Guo Mi was somewhat surprised, but she was still relieved.

It wasn't because Caesar had smeared mud all over him; although he was angry, he had calmed down after being slapped with his claws.

The main problem is that she's itchy all over, her ears and nose are itchy, and she's afraid she won't have the patience to go out with Caesar again.

Caesar was feeling a bit down and was about to tell Slok to leave when he turned around and saw the silly bear lying on the ground with its mouth wide open, the flower he had brought back right next to its mouth. His eyes twitched.
"Slok!"

Slok froze, awkwardly withdrawing his jaw from the bite, and said dryly:

"I...I just want to try it..."

Guo Mi turned around, completely bewildered by his words:

"What should we taste?"

Her gaze fell on the flowers on the ground, somewhat surprised:

Would you like to taste what the flower tastes like?

Then he honestly said:
"To be honest, it's not very tasty."

Many flowers smell very fragrant, but often taste bitter.

When Guo Mi used to pick and eat grass, she did wonder if the flowers would taste better, but after chewing them once or twice, she never wanted to try them again.

Slok was immediately disappointed and asked the question that had been on Caesar's mind from the very beginning:

"Why go through all the trouble of bringing it back if you can't even eat it?"

Guo Mi answered naturally:

"Because it smells so good and looks so pretty!"

Slok tilted his head, still not understanding.

Guo Mi explained:
"The dried flowers are laid in the cave, so you can smell their fragrance while you sleep, and it can also cover up your own smell."

Slok understood this time, but still didn't quite grasp it:

"Even if there is a fragrance of flowers, many scents can still be distinguished if you smell carefully. Besides, we often sleep wherever we go, so the flowers in the cave will soon be unusable."

A purebred polar bear would never understand the little touches of fun that Guo Mi wanted to add to her life.

Caesar, who was standing to the side, was moved by what Guo Mi said.

He slept in Guo Mi's cave, and it was very comfortable. Just imagine spreading flowers in the cave, it seems really nice.
but……

He stole a glance at Guo Mi, with no doubt that if he were to crawl into her hole now, he would be beaten and bitten and driven out!
(End of this chapter)