16
“Dahuang!”
He Tian quickly stepped forward and hissed at Dahuang, who was still grunting with effort, his little butt stuck up in the air as he strained.
Dahuang’s small body, tense from exertion, clearly paused for a moment.
But soon he turned his head, staring at He Tian with round, clear, utterly foolish eyes, delighted to see her.
He Tian’s brows drew together, and she shot him a stern glare.
Dahuang tilted his head, then bit again at the clothes on the young man’s shoulder, laboriously dragging him towards her, his intent to offer a gift quite obvious.
He Tian had never had a headache over any person or matter before, but now, watching the extraordinary busy Dahuang, she vaguely felt a twinge of pain at her temple.
“Stop, stop, stop right now!” She frowned slightly, calling to Dahuang.
Dahuang understood, released his grip, and turned back with the same expression of showing off and seeking praise, head tilted, tail wagging and wagging.
He Tian crouched down, turned Dahuang’s head to make him look at the person he had retrieved lying on the ground, and said to him very seriously. “You are not allowed to pick up this kind of thing and bring it home anymore, understand?”
The wagging of Dahuang’s tail hesitated for a moment, changing from a frantic, fluttering wag to a hesitant, slow one.
Hadn’t he just picked up a few live ones during the day, and she praised him for it?
This one was alive too, so why couldn’t he pick it up?
Seeing his still foolish expression, He Tian couldn’t help but give him a light tap on the head. “Anything like this, you’re not allowed to bring home, got it?”
Though the hit wasn’t painful, Dahuang’s slowly wagging tail did finally stop. He looked at He Tian, then at the person he had retrieved on the ground.
Dahei and Xiaohui, hearing the commotion, ran out from the house one after another.
Spotting the stranger lying in the yard, the two little ones excitedly crowded over, sniffing here, and nudging there…
Dahei, foolishness written all over his face, was busy vigorously nuzzling the young man’s face.
He Tian: “….”
Whether to save him or not was secondary, they mustn’t bite him. she quickly pushed Dahei away.
Xiaohui was gnawing on the boy’s sleeve, tearing at it with fierce shakes of his head.
Dahuang immediately regained his enthusiasm, continuing to bite the clothes on the young man’s shoulder, dragging him towards He Tian.
Dahei made a detour and went back to continue nuzzling.
He Tian tried to stop them, but couldn’t hold them back at all. When the three little ones got together, they went crazy. Push this one away, and that one immediately resumed what he was doing. They were her own cubs, and still small; she couldn’t hit them too hard, but if she didn’t use force, they just wouldn’t obey. With no other choice, she had to give up on correcting her cubs for the moment and instead turned her attention to the young man lying motionless on the ground.
“Shoo, shoo, shoo…” She shooed away the three little ones, who didn’t know what they were so busy with, like they were flies, preparing to do as she did last time – grab the person and throw him back the way he came.
Her hand was only halfway extended when the unconscious young man suddenly opened his eyes.
The cold, wet sensation on his face and his sensitivity to beasts caused him to wake with a start. The first thing that came into his view was a furry little head.
The cold, wet sensation came precisely from its nose, which was nuzzling towards him.
Had he fallen into a wild boar’s den?
Just as he was about to assess his surroundings, he looked up and found himself staring directly into a pair of clear yet utterly indifferent eyes.
Rong Yan was stunned for a moment.
He Tian was also slightly taken aback.
But as she usually didn’t experience strong emotional fluctuations, it wasn’t noticeable.
She had never seen a human who looked so beautiful, not even when genetic technology was highly advanced during the apocalypse.
It’s just that…
“Hey, Dahei, stop nuzzling!” Seeing Dahei about to nuzzle the boy’s nose, He Tian reached out to stop him, and also slapped Dahuang, who was desperately tugging at the boy’s shoulder. “You, stop it too!”
Rong Yan’s eyelashes trembled slightly.
So it was her, the voice from last night.
Immediately after, he saw a two-to-three-month-old tiger cub pad over to her feet, watching him quietly, just like her.
Having lived two lives and experienced life and death twice, Rong Yan was still startled by this scene.
Xiaohui also stopped his tugging and gathered with Dahei, staring at Rong Yan.
The yard suddenly became very quiet, with only the rustling sound of wind blowing through the leaves.
He Tian stared at him for a good while before finally speaking. “You can hear me, right?”
Rong Yan’s eyelashes trembled again, as a response.
He Tian: “My cubs were naughty and brought you back, but I can’t save you. I have to send you back the way you came.”
It was a statement, not a question.
Rong Yan’s eyelashes trembled once more.
He didn’t speak, not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t. He just looked at her with calm eyes.
He Tian: “Can you stand up and walk by yourself?”
Rong Yan lowered his gaze slightly.
Only then did He Tian remember that his leg was broken.
For some reason, even though she had done nothing, nor wronged him in any way, seeing him like this suddenly made her feel a bit embarrassed.
“Then I’ll use my method to send you back the way you came.” She paused, then said.
Rong Yan kept his eyes lowered, his long lashes casting a shadow. He still didn’t speak, nor make any move.
But He Tian had already reached out, preparing to grab him around the waist and drag him out, just like last time.
Her hand had just extended and was about to touch his waist when the young man suddenly looked up towards He Tian.
His gaze was sharp as a cold arrow; even without looking at him, He Tian keenly sensed it. She stopped her hand and turned her head to look at him.
She didn’t know if it was an illusion, but she seemed to see a trace of astonishment in the young man’s eyes.
In the cool moonlight, his clear, bright eyes stared straight at her, wordless. Whether he was trying to express something or was just feeling the cold, his long lashes trembled and trembled in the chilly wind.
Suddenly, He Tian hesitated.
She had never been an indecisive person, and this sudden reaction felt very novel to her as well.
She stared at him for a long while, then came to a conclusion – no, that wasn’t it.
She just found him a bit strange.
As for what was strange, she couldn’t quite say yet.
Just as she was about to probe further…
“Tiantian?”
Liu Erniang woke up and saw no one in the room, not even the cubs. She panicked slightly, calling out as she hastily got out of bed to go check.
Afraid she might fall in her hurry, He Tian quickly replied, “Mother, I’m in the yard. Everything’s fine.”
What was she doing awake in the yard in the middle of the night? Liu Erniang didn’t believe nothing was wrong and stubbornly went out to check.
“Really, it’s nothing,” He Tian had to support her. “I’m going back to bed now.”
Although it was only a half-moon, the moonlight was exceptionally clear. Liu Erniang immediately spotted the person lying in the yard and was genuinely startled. Her finger trembled as she pointed. “Th-that… what is that?”
Not moving at all. Dead? Had someone been killed?
She was terrified.
Afraid she might really frighten herself into a state, He Tian quickly explained that Dahuang had gone out to play while she was sleeping and brought someone back. To spare her from fear, she omitted the fact that Dahuang had already brought this person back once the previous night.
“This…” Liu Erniang hadn’t expected such a thing.
Not that she was surprised by the act of retrieving someone, Fengshui County was at the crossroads of several small states, with many traveling merchants passing through. Nestled between mountains and a river, people were often found in the small stream at the village’s edge.
Some alive, some dead.
She was just surprised that Dahuang, a mere two-month-old tiger cub, would go to the riverbank to fetch someone in the middle of the night.
She had her daughter help her walk over.
To be honest, the moment Liu Erniang saw the young man on the ground, her heart went out to him.
If her son were still alive, he would probably be this age too.
“Saving one life is better than building a seven-story pagoda,” she sighed. “Since Dahuang brought him back, let’s do our best to save him.”
If they didn’t, with the night so cold, judging by his state, he probably wouldn’t survive.
He Tian, who had already been hesitating, nodded upon hearing this. “Alright. Whether he lives or dies depends on his fate.”
Life and death were predetermined; Liu Erniang had nothing to say about that.
He was a stranger. If they saved him and he didn’t make it, it had nothing to do with them, nor would it negate their good deed.
Liu Erniang added, “He can’t speak right now, and we can’t ask him anything. Let him stay here for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll see if we can find his family, or ask if anyone has come looking for him.”
Liu Erniang originally wanted He Tian to drag him inside first. It was late autumn, cold at night. Spending a night outside would be unbearable even for a healthy person, let alone a frail young man with a broken leg and possibly other injuries.
“Then let him sleep in the kitchen,” He Tian said. “There’s no bed in the house anyway.”
Liu Erniang understood her daughter’s concern. He was a stranger after all, with unknown origins and temperament. If he harbored any ill intentions, the two of them, mother and daughter, could be in danger.
“Do as you see fit,” she said.
He Tian actually hadn’t thought that far ahead. She just found the young man quite suspicious and strange. If she dragged him inside, she’d keep staring at him, pondering, and definitely wouldn’t sleep well – and right now, she needed to sleep properly to regain her strength.
After being helped back into bed, Liu Erniang added, “He probably hasn’t eaten either. Find him something to eat.”
Since they were keeping him, He Tian naturally wouldn’t begrudge a bit of food. “Okay, you rest now. I’ll handle it.”
Liu Erniang instructed her quietly, “Wait until his condition is better before asking about his family.”
She had seen his clothes. If his whole family had met with misfortune, asking now might cause unbearable grief and lead to accidents.
He Tian nodded in agreement.
When she came out again, Dahuang, Dahei, and Xiaohui, the three cubs, had formed an encircling formation, squatting around the young man’s head from three directions, staring at him.
Like guards watching over a petty thief.
After securing the main door, she specially changed it into a thick door bolt and fastened it with a tight knot to prevent Dahuang from opening the door and running out again in the middle of the night. Only then did she walk over to the young man.
This time, ignoring his reaction entirely, she directly reached out, wrapped an arm around his waist, and headed towards the kitchen.
Suddenly having a slender arm encircle his waist and abdomen made it difficult for Rong Yan to remain calm.
Especially since this girl looked thin, small, and not very old, yet possessed such immense strength, lifting him effortlessly. Remembering her keen perceptiveness from moments ago, Rong Yan restrained his impulse to look up at her.
But his continuously twitching eyelids still betrayed his inner thoughts.
He Tian noticed but paid it no mind – well, it was understandable. Anyone on the verge of death, saved by a kind-hearted person, wouldn’t remain unmoved, right?
The kitchen wasn’t very spacious. He Tian stacked some firewood, spread a thick layer of dry grass and tinder kindling on the ground, and only then placed the young man on top.
“You probably haven’t eaten,” He Tian said. “We only have roasted chestnuts at home, but they’re cold. I doubt you can manage them. I’ll cook something for you.”
Having said that, without even looking at him, she added water to the pot and started the fire.
Rong Yan knew that her words just now were, once again, a statement, not a question.
The warm, blazing firelight hit his face, dispelling the chill that radiated from within him. He stared at the flames in the stove for a while, then his gaze suddenly fell upon the girl tending the fire in front of the stove.
She had her back to him, her silhouette clearly outlined by the firelight.
After a long moment, Rong Yan withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyes, shielding the obscure darkness within them.
He Tian didn’t care what he was thinking. Once the fire was steady, she began stirring flour paste, she planned to make the egg noodle soup she’d had during the day.
Simple, nutritious, and filling.
Mainly, it was hot and easy to digest, suitable for his current state.
Before pouring the flour paste into the pot, she first used a bowl to scoop out a bowl of boiling water and set it aside. Only then did she pour in the paste, crack an egg, and drizzle in the egg liquid.
After the soup came to a boil twice, He Tian swiftly extinguished the fire. Her gaze inadvertently fell on the young man; she hesitated for a moment, then re-lit the unburnt embers, added a few pieces of just-burned charcoal, and built a small fire in front of the stove. It was for warmth as well as light.
“Eat this to tide you over first.” She held the bowl of egg noodle soup out to the young man.
The young man didn’t move. He just looked at her with those beautiful, clear, bright eyes, without blinking.
He Tian waited for a while, finding it a bit strange. “Not hungry?”
His body had barely any flesh on it, his complexion was awful, devoid of any sign of life, and he wasn’t hungry?
The young man still didn’t speak, just looked at her, only occasionally fluttering his eyelashes.
Whether it was because of the firelight or something else, He Tian inexplicably sensed a hint of pitifulness on his face.
She twitched her eyebrows slightly. “You can’t speak, and you can’t move either?”
The young man blinked his eyes.
Now He Tian was in a quandary.
Because as she crouched in front of the young man, Dahuang, along with Dahei and Xiaohui who loved excitement, also crowded in front of him and crouched down.
He Tian was silent for a good while, then suddenly kicked Dahuang, who was tilting his head staring at the young man. “You picked him up, you feed him.”
Dahuang, not understanding why he got kicked again, looked back with eyes full of bewilderment and innocence. “…”
Rong Yan: “………………”
**