This place the two of them had come upon by chance while out looking for mushrooms before, it was close to the middle range. Very few people set foot here. The dense woods all around were tall and the sunlight couldn’t get through, which made the whole place rather dim.
Now and then they would come across pheasants and rabbits, and seeing people they weren’t even afraid but went on unhurriedly looking for food.
Yan Xi thought to herself, they haven’t had a beating from society yet, they see people and don’t run. Down at the foot of the mountain, never mind a rabbit, you wouldn’t see a single rabbit hair, those animals had long since grown crafty, and ran off the moment they saw anyone.
Yan Xi didn’t mean to waste time either. Chasing a rabbit and she still might not catch one, better to gather mushrooms first, that was what mattered. The climate here was good and there would certainly be plenty of mushrooms.
They called out to one another and separated, but didn’t go far, if anything happened a shout would do.
Yan Xi went a little farther off, and seeing nobody was paying her any attention she decided to catch a few animals after all. Not having any tools didn’t matter, hadn’t she got the spirit spring? Since people who drank it had their bodies strengthened, there was no reason animals wouldn’t like it.
Yan Xi sprinkled some spirit spring water on the grass as she walked, and gradually she heard a rustling behind her, some animal had followed her. Yan Xi didn’t mean to turn round, for fear of frightening the quarry off, she meant to grab it in one go when it came right up to her.
At last the sound reached her feet, and Yan Xi felt something was off. Why was the sound a kind of grunting whimper? What animal called like that?
Yan Xi turned round abruptly and found a little white tiger following at her feet, walking rather unsteadily, looking as if it couldn’t keep its footing. Seeing Yan Xi turn round it began to roar in a babyishly fierce way, as if that would frighten off an enemy, little knowing that in Yan Xi’s eyes it looked all the more adorable.
The tiger in front of her looked less than a month old, all skin and bone, and even its cry sounded weak. If it weren’t for the conspicuous “王” mark on its forehead you really couldn’t have told it was a tiger, it was like a cat.
By rights tigers lived deep in the mountains and shouldn’t have appeared here at all. This place was only about an hour from the village, and if there had been any trace of a tiger the village would long since have reported it, nor would they have let the villagers go up the mountain with easy minds, you had to know a tiger was a fierce beast, and meeting one there was absolutely no coming back alive.
“Little thing, how did you turn up here? Where’s your mother?” Yan Xi crouched down and leaned close to the little tiger, never mind whether it could understand her or not.
Yan Xi guessed this white tiger had probably been abandoned. Normally, if there were traces of tigers living here there couldn’t be so many small animals, you had to know animals had a very strong sense for danger.
Whether it was fortune or misfortune that this white tiger had lived till now there was no telling. Say it was misfortune, and yet it hadn’t been eaten by another animal, say it was luck, and yet it had been abandoned by its mother. Yan Xi felt very sorry for it.
Generally speaking a tigress rarely abandoned her own cub unless food was scarce, or the cub was born weak and no match for the other cubs in strength, or else it was the tigress’s first litter and she lacked experience and didn’t know how to feed them, which led to abandonment.
“Little thing, it’s lucky for you that you met me today.”
Looking at the little tiger’s shrunken belly, she guessed it probably hadn’t eaten for a long time. Since it could smell out the spirit spring water and come to her, that proved the spirit spring worked on it.
Yan Xi picked a few leaves, folded them and skewered them together with a twig into the shape of a bowl, poured a handful of spirit spring water into it and set it in front of the tiger cub.
The little tiger first looked at Yan Xi warily a few times, and only when it was sure the person in front of it was no threat did it hobble over, lower its head and start drinking the spirit spring.
Perhaps because it hadn’t eaten for too long, the little tiger drank in a hurry and finished in no time. Seeing this, Yan Xi put some more in the bowl, and this time the little tiger slowed down.
When it had finished the cub called out at Yan Xi a few times, and whether it was her imagination or not, Yan Xi felt the cub’s voice was a little louder and its walking a little steadier.
Yan Xi was a sucker for anything furry to begin with, and looking at the little tiger cub in front of her she couldn’t help stretching out a sinful hand. One stroke and she found it felt wonderful, she could hardly keep from gathering it into her arms and mauling it thoroughly.
The cub was a bit tense at first, but on finding Yan Xi meant no harm it relaxed too, leaning against her side and rolling over to show its belly, letting Yan Xi’s hands go where they liked.
Having petted the tiger to her heart’s content, Yan Xi thought of what she had come out for today and didn’t dawdle. She set the cub down, got up and began looking for mushrooms.
Seeing Yan Xi about to leave, the cub scrambled up in a hurry and circled round her. “Why don’t you play here? I still have things to do, I’ll come and see you later.”
The cub tilted its head and looked at Yan Xi a while, and did stop, then turned round and climbed into Yan Xi’s back basket.
Seeing this, Yan Xi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It seemed this cub had latched on to her.
In the old days, how could Yan Xi ever have imagined she would one day be keeping a tiger? Meeting one in the wild, whether she could get away would have been a question, and failing that, the tiger would have earned her a bowl of the state’s rice.
Shaking her head, Yan Xi put the back basket on her back and walked toward the trees around her, a stick in her hand sweeping the grass left and right to keep snakes and poisonous insects from darting out suddenly.
Before she knew it it was noon, and hearing Yan Yu calling her to eat lunch Yan Xi realized her stomach was already rumbling.
There was no help for it, there were far too many mushrooms in this stretch, and no animals ate them, you had to know most mushrooms were poisonous eaten raw.
“Auntie, how many mushrooms have you gathered? Mom and I together have got half a back basket.”
“Not bad. Besides mushrooms I picked some wood ear too. When we get back I’ll make wood ear stir-fried with meat for you to try.”
“Auntie, wood ear can’t be eaten. There was a boy in the village before who went up the mountain and picked wood ear and ate it at home, and the whole family fell ill. They say the moment the sun shone on them they itched all over, and the whole family had the runs, and they only got better after calling a doctor.”
Afraid Yan Xi didn’t know and something would go wrong later, Yan Yu hurried to tell her.
“It’s all right. Wood ear is a fine thing. That boy you’re talking about fell ill because he ate fresh wood ear.”
“Wood ear that’s just been picked can’t be eaten. You have to take it back and dry it, and later when you want to eat it soak it again and wash it clean, and it’s fine.”
“And eating plenty of wood ear is good for the body! Especially for us women, it’s a great tonic.”
“What’s it good for, Auntie?”
“Then let me tell you about it.” Seeing her niece so eager to learn, Yan Xi couldn’t help beginning.
“First of all, wood ear replenishes the blood and boosts the qi, and it gives the body nourishment. When your bowels are out of sorts you can eat some wood ear too, to help digestion, and women who eat plenty of it get a better complexion.”
“Well then, don’t you think wood ear is rather good now?” Yan Xi said with a faint smile.
“It does sound quite good. Then in a while I’ll get Mom and the aunts to pick plenty too. If I’d known earlier wood ear could be eaten, we could have had another dish at home.”
“It’s not too late to know now. Wood ear is easy to find anyway, generally wherever there’s rotten wood you’ll find some. You just have to keep an eye out.”