Chapter 245
Chapter 245
Following the tigress, Jiang Yunsui again saw the male tiger skulking along the edge of her territory.
The moment the tigress spotted him, she became furious. Dropping her cub, she charged over, pinned him down, and administered another thorough beating.
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes shone. Wonderful! She loved this. Hit him some more!
The male eventually fled like an aggrieved punching bag, growling under his breath with his tail tucked.
Jiang Yunsui desperately wanted to know their relationship and why they fought.
Unfortunately, while she could sense animals’ emotions and possessed far greater affinity with them, she still could not understand their language.
The tigress roared toward a cave on the slope.
One, two, then three furry little heads emerged.
“Wow! Four tiger cubs!”
The three cubs scampered forward and promptly rolled down the slope.
They stared at Jiang Yunsui with clear, foolish eyes.
“Aow, aow?”
They seemed to be asking who she was.
Jiang Yunsui squatted and cried back at them.
The cubs stared in confusion.
What was she saying? They could not understand.
Neither side understood the other, but that did not prevent them from playing together.
The tigress lay nearby and leisurely licked her paw, occasionally glancing toward Jiang Yunsui and her children.
At last, someone else was watching the cubs. They could stop bothering her. Wonderful.
Indeed, the tigress had brought Jiang Yunsui home to serve as free child care.
So far, it worked beautifully.
Tiger cubs this age possessed terrifying energy. They could not wander far, so their only toys were their siblings and their mother.
Every day, once they had eaten, the four cubs treated their mother’s body as a climbing frame. They crawled over her, biting her ears and tail.
If she growled, they quieted briefly, then soon resumed.
She could not even sleep.
This had made the tigress increasingly irritable. Merely looking at her cubs annoyed her.
Then there was her thick-skinned grown son, who refused to stay away.
That useless son had grown an enormous body but never claimed his own territory. Instead, he arrived punctually every day to freeload from her meals.
Was it reasonable for a mother already raising four cubs to feed a grown son as well?
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She roared toward the direction he had fled.
“Get lost! Go as far as you can! Come back again and I’ll bite your leg off!”
Her grown son, already some distance away, hunched his shoulders and ran faster.
Oh no. Mother was angry.
He would have to find his own next meal.
Sigh. Mother’s temper was becoming worse and worse.
Holding a cub, Jiang Yunsui blinked.
Had she just understood what the tigress said?
She cleaned out her ears, suspecting she had misheard.
After playing with the four cubs for a while, Jiang Yunsui became hungry. Her stomach growled.
The tigress herded all four cubs-and Jiang Yunsui-into the earthen cave, then left.
With four furry bodies climbing over her, Jiang Yunsui was debating whether to leave when two grown men suddenly appeared at the cave entrance.
The cubs retained some vigilance. They immediately bared their teeth.
Jiang Yunsui pressed down their little heads.
“Si Si! Liu Liu!”
Her childish voice rang with delight.
“You came to find me.”
Ji Lu folded his arms and studied her. “Judging by this, you seem to be living quite comfortably without us.”
Jiang Yunsui showed her little teeth. “Look! Baby tigers.”
“I’m hungry, Si Si.”
Ji Si handed her a roasted sweet potato and two cooked rabbit legs.
While Jiang Yunsui played with the tigers, he had estimated when she would become hungry and returned to fetch food.
“Are you planning to live with the tigers now? Aren’t you coming back?”
Jiang Yunsui shook her head. “No. When Tiger Mama returns, I’ll tell her and go back.”
The two men had heard Jiang Yunsui use the word “mama” before and understood that it meant mother.
“Be careful.”
Jiang Yunsui nodded and ate seriously.
The four cubs no longer saw Ji Si or Ji Lu. Their entire attention fixed upon Jiang Yunsui’s food.
They cried and climbed over her, trying to steal a bite.
“No, no. You can’t eat this.”
Jiang Yunsui rose and ran while eating.
“You need milk and fresh meat. You can’t eat this.”
Careless as Jiang Yunsui could be, she understood limits.
She was eating cooked food. If the cubs tasted it and later refused raw meat, what would happen?
To ensure they received none, she took enormous bites.
With all four chasing her, she darted back and forth around the cave entrance.
Ji Lu found the scene rather amusing.
He was about to grab a cub to play with when Ji Si caught his collar.
“She’s back.”
“You could simply say so! Why pull my collar? We brought few changes of clothes. If you tear it, will you compensate me?”
Ji Lu grumbled but followed Ji Si away.
They had dusted themselves with odor-removing powder before coming, so they did not fear the tigress detecting them.
Tiger Mama returned carrying a dead deer in her mouth.
It was quite large. She dropped it outside the cave, half lay across the still-warm carcass, and growled toward the entrance. Then she leisurely licked her paws and cleaned blood from her face.
The four cubs ran out crying and began imitating her by tearing at the prey.
Their teeth were far less sharp than an adult’s. After tugging for ages, they accomplished nothing except covering themselves in blood.
Their mother had to help.
She tore open the deer’s belly, making the meat easier for the cubs to eat.
“Roar?”
The tigress looked at Jiang Yunsui, who had not moved.
Under her gaze, Jiang Yunsui held her stomach, burped, and waved.
“I can’t eat anymore. My tummy is full.”
The tigress did not insist and lowered her head to eat.
Before long, distant howls sounded.
The tigress’s ears twitched. It was her grown son.
“Mother, have you eaten? I caught a boar.”
“Mother, I’ll visit tomorrow.”
The tigress roared irritably in that direction.
“Get lost!”
Jiang Yunsui burped again.
She could vaguely understand a little now.
But she wanted to hear more.
Jiang Yunsui smacked her lips regretfully.
Being unable to understand all the gossip was agonizing.
She told Tiger Mama she wanted to leave.
“I’m going now. If I have time tomorrow, I’ll come play with you again.”
She looked back every few steps as she departed. Once certain the tigress would not drag her back, she pumped her short legs faster.
The cubs were fun, but she still preferred staying with Si Si and the others.