“That shameless Old Liu! How dare she openly extort us? That old hag really needs to be taught a lesson! Hope the strong wind blows her tongue away! Four cartloads of firewood – she’s not afraid of scorching her own backside!”
After hearing her husband recount the incident, Old Mrs. Xu was so furious she felt like flames were shooting from her throat.
She unleashed a torrent of curses toward the Liu family’s direction.
Even though the two households were too far apart for the Liu family to hear any of her shouting.
But that didn’t matter – other things could wait, she needed to vent her anger first.
Old Mrs. Xu felt much better after her outburst, and the Little Dumpling who had just finished her milk and the little Hu Zai lying nearby seemed to enjoy it too.
The ever-vigilant Hu Zai noticed his master had finished her milk and was now idly swinging her little feet.
His tiger tail swatted against Li Shi’s arm, reminding her to take away the milk bowl so his master wouldn’t get tired.
Feeling the fluffy swat on her arm, Li Shi looked down at her little daughter and indeed saw the milk was all gone.
This seemed to have become their unspoken understanding.
Picking up her milky-scented daughter to pat her back for a Milk Burp, Li Shi’s movement caught Old Mrs. Xu’s attention, cutting short her next stream of curses.
Heavens! What had she been doing in front of her little granddaughter!
Would her precious little granddaughter think she was a terrible grandmother?
In response, Xiao Tianbao stretched out her arms toward Old Mrs. Xu, gifting her with a big, toothless smile.
“Ah ah!!”
That was quite satisfying to listen to!
Hearing his master’s words, the little Hu Zai let out a soft “ha” and stood up to stretch.
Just venting wasn’t enough – Tiger Dad had taught him that you must make your enemies hurt and afraid, so they wouldn’t dare come looking for trouble again.
Shaking his fur, the little Hu Zai gave an “ao” toward Xiao Tianbao’s direction before stepping out of Lao Xu Jia’s courtyard, leaving behind paw prints.
Watching the little Hu Zai skillfully leap over the wall and leave the courtyard, the Xu family was puzzled.
This was the first time since this little bodyguard came to their home that he had left their Xiao Tianbao!
Where was he going?
Of course, though full of questions, none of them dared to speak or ask, could only watch anxiously as their Xiao Fu Bao struggled to turn her little head toward where Hu Zai had left, waving her chubby little hand.
“Ah ah!”
Come back soon!
Responding to her came another distant “ao!” from far away.
That night, Li Shi couldn’t sleep.
Although her first meeting with Hu Zai hadn’t been very pleasant.
She had to admit, this little fellow gave her a great sense of security.
It seemed that as long as he was around, she didn’t need to worry about her little daughter being in danger.
Tonight with Hu Zai not back, Li Shi kept feeling panicked that Xiao Tianbao might be taken away while she slept.
Pulling Xiao Tianbao’s little blanket closer to herself, she poked her daughter’s chubby cheek, but still couldn’t feel the slightest bit sleepy.
Finally, Xiao Tianbao had enough of her mother’s mischievous habit of poking her awake every time she was about to fall asleep.
When Li Shi reached to poke her cheek again, she struggled to free her hand from the blanket and grabbed her mother’s finger.
“Ya! Ah ah!”
Dear mother! Please go to sleep properly!
The chubby little hand seemed to possess a magical power.
The moment Li Shi’s finger was grasped by her precious daughter, a wave of drowsiness washed over her. Before long, Li Shi truly fell asleep.
With her mother finally no longer causing trouble, Xiao Tianbao let out a soft sigh and slowly closed her eyes.
She was still just a baby, and babies desperately needed their sleep.
While everyone in Lao Xu Jia was immersed in dreamland, three groups of creatures from different directions simultaneously approached the Xu family’s location.
One group, naturally, was the Zhao Brothers, who had spent half the night planning to raid the Xu family and steal the pork.
As for the other two groups…
One consisted of two tigers, one large and one small, both plump and robust. The other was an equally sturdy Snow Wolf Pack.
Strictly speaking, only two groups were heading toward the Xu family. The Snow Wolf Pack’s target wasn’t Lao Xu Jia but Old Liu’s house, the closest dwelling to the Xu family in Fu’an Village.
Their main purpose this time was to vent their master’s anger.
Due to hunger and having only two legs, the Zhao Brothers moved slower. While they were still on the road, the Snow Wolf Pack had already reached the front of Old Liu’s house.
One by one, the snow wolves with glossy fur and strong, sturdy builds sat orderly at the entrance of Old Liu’s home, not making a single sound.
One of the two most robust snow wolves at the front twitched its nose toward Old Liu’s house.
Confirming it was the right place, the wolf king lifted its neck and let out a long howl toward the sky.
“Awooo!”
At this command, the more than thirty carefully selected followers behind the wolf king immediately stood up and, following orders, swiftly leaped into Old Liu’s courtyard.
The Liu family was jolted awake from their sleep by this heart-stopping wolf howl. They hurriedly lifted the straw mat covering the window to look outside.
This glance was startling—dozens of pairs of gleaming green eyes were fixed intently on them.
Noticing that the Liu family had woken up, the wolf king roared again.
Instantly, the wolf pack charged toward the windows.
The windows were simple in structure, with only a few wooden frames and wind-blocking straw mats, completely unable to withstand the wolves’ gnawing.
In just a few bites, the wolf pack tore the Liu family’s windows to shreds, leaving them unrecognizable.
The snow wolves burst into the house, not heading for the people but first tearing the quilts covering them to pieces. Then, they began shredding the clothes placed nearby. After finishing with the clothes, they started gnawing on the cabinets.
In short, they destroyed every object in the room completely.
By this time, the screams from the Liu family and the sounds of the wolves’ activities had awakened the surrounding neighbors.
Households with torches came out holding lit torches to investigate, but they were also terrified.
“Wolves! The Snow Wolf Pack! The Snow Wolf Pack has come down from the mountains!”
People shouted, and more and more households emerged from their homes, glanced in the direction of Old Liu’s house, and then retreated back inside.
There was no other way—they didn’t want to die either.
Among these people, the most frightened were the Liu family’s neighbors.
The rough panting sounds from the wolves’ throats as they tore things apart seemed to be right beside their ears.
It felt as though they would soon become the next Old Liu family.
After destroying nearly all the useful items, the wolf king spotted Old Liu crouching in the corner of the room.
The sharp wolf fangs gleamed with a terrifying light under the moonlight as the Snow Wolf King pounced on Old Liu, sinking its teeth into her right leg.
With a crisp crack, Old Liu’s leg was broken by the wolf king.
After letting out only a brief “Ah,” Old Liu completely passed out from the pain.
Old Liu, who was also hiding in the corner, showed no intention of saving his wife. Instead, he kept praying to the gods in heaven, hoping that after the Snow Wolves finished eating Old Liu, they would leave quickly and not come back for him.
In fact, the Snow Wolves did not eat Old Liu.
The wolf king merely bit off her leg and released its grip, even shaking its head vigorously to fling Old Liu’s blood from its mouth.
Ptooey! Ptooey! The blood of this filthy human tastes awful!
Looking at the mess in the Old Lius’ home, the wolf king felt it had accomplished the “simple lesson” that Tiger Boss had mentioned.
Finally, with one last ptooey, it spat out the bits of flesh from its mouth and let out another long howl.
“Awooo!”
The other Snow Wolves, who were still causing destruction in the other rooms of the Old Lius’ house, heard the wolf king’s command and withdrew from the house in an orderly manner, gathering in the courtyard.
By the time the wolf king emerged from Old Liu’s room, the Snow Wolves had each picked up a bundle of firewood, waiting for it.
They had just torn these from the Old Lius’ woodpile.
Seeing the woodpile reduced to a mere stump, the wolf king nodded in satisfaction.
“Awooo! Awooo!”
Well done, comrades!
Then, led by the wolf king, over thirty Snow Wolves agilely leaped out of the Lius’ courtyard.
The wolf pack left the Old Lius’ home and headed straight for the back mountain.
The wolves moved in perfect order, like a well-trained army.
Only then did the other villagers dare to come out of their houses and check on the Old Lius’ situation.
When they saw the devastation in the courtyard, they thought the entire Old Liu family had been killed by the wolves.
But as they checked room by room, they discovered that, apart from the household items and food being completely destroyed and Old Liu having a broken leg, the rest of the Old Liu family had miraculously escaped unharmed.
“Old Liu was falsely accusing Uncle Xu of breaking her leg just this morning. Well, now it’s really broken.”
Someone in the crowd muttered these words, and the faces of several elders who had witnessed the incident earlier that day turned stern.
It seemed the Old Lius’ encounter with the wolf pack was not merely a case of bad luck!