Chapter 113

Chapter 113

Ye Qing hung a lock on the kitchen door, but it wasn’t to guard against thieves.

Although the cellar was filled with plenty of grain, meat, and wine, the villagers were still quite simple and honest, so there weren’t usually any burglars breaking into homes.

Moreover, Ye Qing had two wolf cubs at home, which had grown quite fierce and had a much stronger bite than regular native dogs. As a result, no one dared to break in at night.

The reason she locked the door was mainly because a few months ago, a weasel had snuck into her cellar to steal sweet potatoes.

It wasn’t that she was worried about the weasel eating the potatoes, but that it might carry germs and contaminate the food. If people unknowingly ate the tainted grain and fell ill, it would cause a lot of trouble.

So, after that incident, Ye Qing made sure to tightly close and secure both the kitchen door and the kitchen windows at night.

But she never expected that, on the New Year’s celebration, a tiger would come down the mountain to visit.

During the cold winter, Ye Qing didn’t dare leave the two wolf cubs outside in the yard, so she brought them into the house to sleep. At that moment, the cubs were sound asleep inside, completely unaware that a tiger had entered the yard. It was unclear whether they hadn’t noticed the intruder or if they knew they couldn’t beat the tiger and chose to play dumb on the heated brick bed. Either way, Ye Qing hadn’t received any warning that a tiger had entered her yard.

Looking at the big tiger’s behavior, it seemed very eager to get into her kitchen. The wooden door had deep scratches from where the tiger had pawed at it several times. Seeing the obvious marks, Ye Qing couldn’t help but feel her mouth twitch.

Fortunately, the big beast was patient and polite. After discovering the door was locked and couldn’t be opened, it simply lay down quietly in the yard, waiting for the owner to wake up. It didn’t forcefully smash the door open, which was a relief since her fragile wooden door might not have withstood such an impact.

Ye Qing studied the tiger’s appearance. Though she couldn’t remember the exact features of the tiger she had seen near the cabin during the hunt, she had a strong intuition that this New Year’s visitor was the same beast that had bitten Liu Zhiqing.

That tiger cub had been attracted by the sweet white rice porridge she cooked in the cabin. But Ye Qing thought carefully—last night, her family had prepared a big New Year’s feast with many dishes, but they hadn’t made any white porridge.

The grain stored in her cellar was mostly grown in the village, and the more spiritual ingredients were carefully bundled and hidden in large jars, sealed with lids. Even if a tiny bit of scent had leaked out, it couldn’t have drifted far enough to attract a big cat from the deep mountains, right?

So, Ye Qing was puzzled about why the big tiger had come down the mountain at night and ended up in her yard. She racked her brain but couldn’t think of any ingredients with wood spirits that she had used recently.

Deciding not to dwell on it, she cautiously approached the door and unlocked it.

As she approached, the tiger didn’t act aggressively. Instead, it moved aside like a cat, sniffing and rubbing against her legs.

Seeing this, Ye Qing smacked her forehead, realizing what had happened.

While the radishes and carrots were grown by the production team, she had secretly added fine white flour from wheat she had planted herself. This made the fried radish balls crispier and sweeter than others.

It was the same as the white porridge from the cabin. There had been too many delicious dishes the previous night, and the radish balls were quite filling, so they were left in the pot to be served as snacks for guests during the New Year.

The smell of the fried radish balls must have carried far and wide.

Yesterday, when Ye Qing came back from the military farm, she noticed the yard was filled with the smell of the radish balls, but she didn’t think much of it.

The tiger must have smelled the sweet scent from the mountains and followed it down to her yard, where it found the large enamel dish of fried radish balls.

No wonder it had lingered in her yard.

Watching the big cat munch on the balls with its eyes closed in enjoyment, Ye Qing was almost speechless.

Wasn’t this practically a home invasion?

And the tiger was being a bit of a brute. Finding the stove too high for easy access, it reached out a paw and tried to knock the whole pot of radish balls onto the floor.

Upon seeing the situation, Ye Qing immediately grew anxious and rushed forward to stop it.

Hey, you naughty brat, you’re eating, so why are you wrecking the house?

The radish meatballs weren’t worth much, but the enamel basin was brand new. She had used ration coupons to buy it in town with great difficulty, and it was quite precious.

The main issue was that the basin wasn’t durable. If it hit the ground, it would chip, making it both unsightly and prone to rust. Ye Qing couldn’t bear the thought of that.

She quickly stabilized the enamel basin, grabbed an old, tattered basket hanging on the wall, and poured all the meatballs into it. Then she placed the basket on the ground and gestured to the big cat:

“Here, eat! It’s all yours!”

The big tiger, just having been stopped from smashing the basin, thought Ye Qing was going to prevent it from eating. It immediately became a little unhappy, constantly swishing its tail, indicating that its patience was wearing thin and it might lose its temper at any moment.

However, when Ye Qing placed the entire basket of meatballs on the ground, the tiger’s tail instantly dropped. It continued eating the meatballs while rubbing its body against Ye Qing’s ankle and sneaking glances at her, conveying with its eyes:

I, the great king, am very happy. My feeder is doing a great job!

The tiger’s smug and playful expression made Ye Qing both frustrated and eager to act.

Feeling bold, she grinned slyly and cautiously reached out to touch the big cat.

*You eat my meatballs, you pay the price!* This golden tabby was right in front of her—when else would she get the chance to pet it?

At first, the tiger tried to dodge Ye Qing’s advances, but no matter where it hid, Ye Qing followed. Soon, the big cat gave up struggling, focusing entirely on the basket of delicious radish meatballs, not resisting no matter how much Ye Qing harassed it.

With her fears gone, Ye Qing first rubbed the big cat’s head, then its butt, thoroughly enjoying the chance to pet the golden tabby all over.

As she Rua’d it, she couldn’t help but marvel at how much more satisfying it was to pet a big cat compared to an ordinary kitten.

The big tiger truly didn’t expect that this biped would be so shameless, taking advantage of its mealtime to invade its personal space, pinching its face and even daring to pinch its butt! This was too much to bear!

The tiger bared its teeth at Ye Qing, but as soon as it acted tough, she threatened to take away the basket of meatballs.

How could the tiger give up the food in its mouth? Its previously fierce demeanor instantly fell, and it obediently submitted to Ye Qing’s tyranny, allowing her to take full advantage without resistance.

Once Ye Qing had her fill of petting and withdrew her hands in satisfaction, the big tiger finished off the basket of radish meatballs in no time.

The tiger shook its body to smooth out the fur that Ye Qing had messed up, then stood tall and gave her a condescending glance before striding out of the kitchen. A few leaps later, it had jumped out of the yard and quickly disappeared into the mountain forest behind the house.

After seeing off the golden tabby, Ye Qing snapped back to reality and realized that there were dozens of people standing in her yard and outside.

At that moment, all of them were frozen in place, staring at her with wide-eyed astonishment.

The people inside the yard were, of course, Song Chunhua, Meng Jia, and a few others staying at her house.

Those outside were villagers from the village, drawn by the children’s cries, eagerly preparing to help fend off the tiger.

But now, an eerie silence fell over the crowd.

The sight of Ye Qing calmly petting the tiger had been too bizarre and shocking, leaving a huge impact on those who had come to “rescue” her.

Who in their right mind would dare touch a wild northeastern tiger’s ears, let alone its butt? No one would believe this story if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes.

The old hunters who had previously hunted in the mountains had confidently claimed that Ye Qing was protected by the Changbai Mountains, and even the mountain’s fox spirits and local wolf kings bowed to her. This story had spread with great detail, and while some people in the village believed it, others scoffed.

But now, the fact that Ye Qing had pet a tiger was witnessed by the men, women, and children of the village. This couldn’t be faked, and those who had previously been skeptical of the legend about her being protected by the Changbai Mountains were now deeply shocked, trembling inwardly, almost ready to kneel before the young lady in the yard.

They stood frozen in shock for what felt like an eternity before someone finally broke the silence.

"Um, Ye Qing, we’ve fried up a bunch of meatballs too. How about I bring them all to you?"

The moment he said that, the onlookers immediately reacted, with everyone chiming in, offering to bring their own fried meatballs as well.

Before Ye Qing could even respond, they bolted back home, afraid that if they were too slow, Ye Qing wouldn’t accept their meatballs.

Who would’ve thought a fierce tiger would have a thing for fried radish dumplings? Now that the golden tabby had eaten its fill and left, what if it came back down the mountain looking for more food tonight? Ye Qing’s house was out of radish dumplings, but the rest of them still had plenty. Who knew if the big guy would show up at their doors in the middle of the night?

Unlike Ye Qing, who could get the tiger to sit still and let her play with it, they didn’t stand a chance. If they messed up and pissed off the tiger, it could swipe at them and send them straight to the afterlife! It wasn’t worth risking their lives over a few dumplings. Better to just hand them all over to Ye Qing and let the tiger eat its fill!

Soon, one basket after another of fried radish dumplings piled up in Ye Qing’s home, until there was barely any space left to stand in the large kitchen.

Ye Qing’s mouth twitched, barely able to hold back her laughter at these foolish and cowardly villagers. Faced with this unbelievable scene, she was momentarily at a loss for how to react.