[No, your eyes were playing tricks on you!]
Oh, sure, everyone's eyes were playing tricks on them!
Zhou Yunshen tugged at his clothes and said, "This is blood from a few mongrels. On our way back, we ran into some mongrels trying to play dirty. Luckily, your husband was strong enough to send them all packing. Happy?"
Happy wasn't quite the word. There seemed to be another strange emotion mixed in.
Jiang Shuyue had lived among humans for a long time, so she knew that humans called this feeling heartache.
What she didn't understand was why her heart should ache when Zhou Yunshen was clearly fine-and had even won.
The inexplicable emotion gave Jiang Shuyue a headache.
Zhou Yunshen crooked a finger, and Qi Ye, who was even dirtier, emerged from somewhere carrying a cage woven from bamboo and rattan.
"Madam, this little tiger's mother was badly injured by a wolf pack. By the time we arrived, she was down to her last breath."
"We took the little tiger with us. We couldn't move the mother, so we put her out of her misery there. This little tiger is yours now, madam."
Qi Ye spoke matter-of-factly, as though describing something that had nothing to do with him.
He glossed over a few minor details, such as the fact that those mongrels' underhanded attack had partly caused the mother tiger's injuries. She had been caught in the crossfire.
Jiang Shuyue reached her fingers toward the cage. The little tiger inside was adorably goofy.
Perhaps because of everything that had just happened, the cub lay inside with both paws draped over its head, leaving only one eye exposed.
But it didn't dare look at Jiang Shuyue either.
Only after catching a faint fragrance did its trembling body settle down, and it slowly