Madam Xu had been hiding in the woods all along, keeping her eyes fixed on Jinjin on the mountain slope to bide her time.
Before long, her chance arrived. She saw Jinjin actually leave that broken bowl and the small basket on the mountain slope to climb toward the mountain peak.
Thrilled, she yanked off a handful of leaves from a small tree.
*What a fool—so adorably stupid! Isn’t this just handing me an opportunity on a silver platter?*
What delighted Madam Xu even more was that after reaching the mountain peak, Jinjin actually climbed up a tree.
At ease now, Madam Xu stealthily avoided Jinjin’s line of sight, crouching low as she scrambled up the mountain slope to steal the bowl.
Just as she was about to grab the bowl, she heard Jinjin’s shout from behind. Turning her head to look, she saw that Jinjin had already come down from the tree and was running downward.
Madam Xu let out a light sneer. With those tiny arms and legs, could the girl possibly catch up to her?
Quickly picking up the bowl, she raised her foot and gave Jinjin’s small basket a harsh kick before turning around to dash down the mountain.
She had wondered how they hadn’t starved to death—turns out they were digging up and eating wild vegetables every day!
The small basket tumbled down the mountain slope.
Running a few steps, Madam Xu heard Jinjin’s crying shouts. Glancing back, she saw Jinjin rolling down the mountain slope like a ball.
Madam Xu almost burst out laughing in delight.
*Little brat, it serves you right! Who asked you to take the family’s treasure? You deserve to be dashed to death!*
Quickening her pace, she ran down the mountain slope and darted straight into the woods toward the village without looking back.
And so, she missed the most miraculous sight.
Fearing that someone might see her holding a bowl, Madam Xu shoved the bowl inside her skirt in the woods, pressing it against her lower abdomen, and held it from the inside with her hand as she walked home with broad strides.
Sinister and malicious, Madam Xu wished Jinjin were dead and didn’t care about her life or death at all.
To sever any connection with Jinjin falling down and out of fear that someone might see her visiting the back mountain, she took the small path behind the village when returning home. This caused her to miss Jin Yao, who was returning from outside the village and walking all the way west along the main village road to get home.
“Ahhh, waaah! Help, Little White, save me!”
“Father, Mother, Liuliu, save me!”
As Jinjin rolled downward, she shouted in panic for someone to save her.
“Jinjin, grab that grass, quick!” Little White shouted in anxiety, rolling alongside her.
Hearing Little White’s voice, Jinjin frantically reached out to grab the wild grass, but the grass couldn’t support her weight and tumbled down right along with her.
“Jinjin, Jinjin!”
Seeing that the wild grass couldn’t save Jinjin either, Little White grew desperately anxious. Suddenly, it felt a surge of power burst forth from within its body. In an instant, a golden glow erupted across its entire frame, and its body expanded dozens of times larger in a flash.
Little White froze. *What’s going on?*
*How did this one grow up so fast?* Blurred images seemed to flash across its mind, featuring the voices and faces of many people.
However, having no time to dwell on those extra memories and seeing Jinjin about to fall into a pile of stray tree branches in the ditch below, Little White quickly whipped out its long tail to wrap around Jinjin, shielding her completely.
The next moment, both of them landed simultaneously on the open ground beyond the pile of rotting leaves.
“Jinjin, are you alright?” Little White asked anxiously, its voice changing from a child’s tone to that of a youth.
“Huh? Little White, how did you suddenly turn into Big White?”
Hearing Little White’s voice change, Jinjin realized she hadn’t been dashed to death—she had been protected and saved by Little White’s long, thick tail.
After Little White brought her to stand steadily on the ground, it slithered before her, looked back at its own long tail, and shook its head.
“This one doesn’t know either. Just now, seeing that you were about to be dashed to death, this one grew up in a hurry!”
Amazed, Jinjin reached out her tiny hand to gently stroke Little White’s scaled body, letting out a low wow.
“Wow, Little White, you’ve become so handsome!”
“Wow, Little White, you even have scales! They look like dragon scales!!”
Praised by Jinjin, Little White felt a bit embarrassed and squirmed its body gently. “Jinjin, do you want this one to carry you to chase down that bad woman?”
Little White felt that its current self could slap that bad woman to death with a single flick of its tail.
“Okay, okay! Let’s scare her to death! That bad woman dared to steal my bowl—what a big bully!” Jinjin swore angrily as she tried hard to scramble onto Little White’s back.
Unexpectedly, her palm was cut open by a scale, making her hiss in pain.
“What’s wrong, Jinjin?”
Little White was recalling those blurred memories in its mind when it heard Jinjin’s voice and turned its head to look.
“Scratched! It hurts!”
Jinjin pouted pitifully and raised her hand for Little White to see, only to catch sight of the blood on her palm first.
Startled, she quickly looked toward Little White’s back, seeing a smear of blood being absorbed by Little White’s scales.
Jinjin’s mouth rounded into an ‘O’ in surprise. “Little White, your scales ate my blood…”
Before Jinjin could finish her sentence, Little White shrank back into its original thin, tiny snake form with a *swoosh*.
“Huh? Little White, why did you shrink again?” Jinjin gasped.
Little White also looked back in confusion at its slender, small body, utterly speechless for a moment.
It actually turned back again!
*Hiss, my head hurts so bad!*
A sharp pain suddenly struck Little White’s head, and the next moment, it actually heard Jinjin’s inner thoughts.
‘Oh dear, what happened to Little White? Could it be that my blood caused it to shrink?’
‘Waaah, it hurts so much! Bleeding again!’
Looking at the blood on her palm, Jinjin muttered in confusion in her heart, wailing over bleeding again.
“Jinjin, are you thinking that your blood caused me to shrink?”
“Huh? Little White, how did you suddenly become so smart?”
Hearing Little White actually know what she was thinking, Jinjin froze in astonishment once more.
By now, those previously blurred memories in Little White’s mind grew clearer and clearer, and it also saw a golden contract mark appear between Jinjin’s eyebrows.
Having recovered its memories, Little White remembered who it was!
It understood—so that was how it was!
“Jinjin, your blood bound me in a contract just now. From now on, I have become your natal beast. Wherever you go, I must follow!”
It really liked the aura in Jinjin’s blood, which was also why it could sense Jinjin coming up the mountain and enjoyed making friends with her.
“Yay, awesome, awesome! Does that mean Little White will be my inseparable best friend from now on?” Hearing this, Jinjin instantly forgot about the blood and pain in her palm, overjoyed.
Looking at her tiny smiling face, Little White couldn’t help but smile along, giving a soft “Mm.”
A contract was fine. Fortunately, human lifespans were short—merely a few decades. Besides, Jinjin carried the light of merit on her body, so following her would bring only benefits and no harm to itself!
“Little White, climb onto my shoulder! Let’s go find that bad woman!” Jinjin declared angrily, intending to go reclaim her bowl.
Earlier, she had seen that woman turn around to look at her and recognized her—it was Bad Eldest Aunt.
Turns out Liuliu was warning her to watch out for Eldest Aunt stealing the bowl back then. But why did Liuliu stop making a sound halfway through?
Jinjin couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
“Jinjin, you are still too small to go alone; you will get hurt. Let’s go home and find your parents, and have them take you to demand the bowl. There’s no rush for this moment!” Little White climbed onto Jinjin’s shoulder and quickly spoke up to stop her.
“Alright then!” Thinking that made sense, Jinjin saw her small basket lying nearby and ran over to pick it up.
The herbs had all spilled out, but she couldn’t bother gathering them now. Hastily putting her small basket on her back, she climbed back up the mountain slope along the small path.
Jinjin walked toward home in a huff. Once her father returned, she would complain to him and let him beat that bad woman up.
“Jinjin, what happened to you?”
Just as Jinjin and Little White turned from the northern slope to the western slope, Jin Yao and Liu Dujuan came running over anxiously from ahead.