Chapter 592: Chapter 592 Little Tiger Chapter 592: Chapter 592 Little Tiger “Sister, I got tripped by a vine and it hurts like death,” Chuner said, picked up by Xuexue, stretching out her little hand to rub her knee, a mournful look on her face.
Xuexue reached down to roll up her pant leg and saw a dark bruise on her knee, “Oh no! The skin is scraped off, what should we do?”
Xuexue looked around, they had already walked deep into the mountains, and if they headed back now, today’s effort would have been for nothing.
“Chuner, your foot is hurt, maybe we should go back,” Xuexue said, plucking a few common herbs from the roadside, stripping the leaves, crushing them, and rubbing them on her knee.
Normally, when villagers were injured in the mountains, this was the usual treatment.
“It’s okay, sister, I’ll rest for a while and it’ll be fine. We’ve come all this way, we can’t go back empty-handed,” Chuner said, easing up a bit, her foot’s pain subsiding considerably.
The two sat on a nearby stone to rest, Xuexue took out a bamboo tube filled with water from her basket, opened the plug, took a drink, and handed it to Chuner, “Chuner, have some water, quench your thirst.”
Chuner took the bamboo tube and drank a few sips, then wiped her mouth with her sleeve, “Sister, do you think we can catch a rabbit today?”
This little girl just couldn’t stop thinking about catching rabbits.
Xuexue smiled, “You’re injured, and you’re still thinking about catching rabbits?”
They sat on the stone, drinking water and chatting.
Suddenly, a faint sound came from the grass beside them.
Chuner perked up her ears for a moment, then cautiously tugged at Xuexue’s hand, whispering, “Sister, did you hear that noise?”
Xuexue had already heard it and was on full alert, standing up while quietly saying to Chuner, “Be good, Chuner, stay here and don’t move; I’ll go check it out.”
Xuexue had a grave expression on her face, causing Chuner to feel a sense of inexplicable tension.
Indeed, Xuexue had once encountered wolves on the outskirts of the mountain; it’s no wonder she was so nervous.
Walking on tiptoes, Xuexue approached the source of the sound, carefully parted the pile of grass, and peeked inside…
She saw a majestic tiger lying in a pool of blood, with a newborn Little Tiger beside it, its eyes still unopened, its bare little head fiercely nudging at the big tiger’s belly, its small mouth sniffing around as if looking for something, making a kitten-like meowing, very weak.
It was a newborn Little Tiger, just come out of the womb, completely bare without a single hair, still bloody. It was hungry, nudging around, trying to find milk.
The mother tiger lay motionless on the ground, beneath her was a large pool of fresh blood. It looked like the mother had died from excessive blood loss while giving birth, with a pile of delivery remains and placenta behind her, a bloody mess that was rather distressing to look at.
Growing impatient with Xuexue’s prolonged silence, Chuner asked loudly, “Sister, what is that sound?”
“It’s a Kitty,” Xuexue told a white lie, not wanting to frighten Chuner.
She was about to turn around and leave when Little Tiger somehow crawled to her feet, biting down on the hem of her skirt and refusing to let go.
No matter how Xuexue shook her skirt, Little Tiger kept its grip, refusing to release it.
Chuner, tired of waiting, was shuffling over.
Xuexue, not wanting the situation to frighten Chuner, didn’t think twice, bent down, picked up Little Tiger, and tossed it into the basket she carried on her back. She also swiftly took the mother tiger into her space. After all, such a creature was too valuable to waste.