Nuannuan

Biodata

Background / History

Separation and Abuse

Nuannuan became separated from the Su family following the calamity surrounding her parents. Su Mingfeng recalls that her parents were targeted by undercover spies and died protecting important scientific research materials. Nuannuan nevertheless grows up believing that the star medal left by her mother will help her find her father 1 11.

In Li Family Village, Liu Guifang presents Nuannuan as a foundling while secretly withholding money sent for her care. Nuannuan sleeps on moldy straw in a drafty woodshed, performs exhausting chores, and suffers beatings, burns, hunger, and exposure to freezing weather. Li Goudan and other village children also bully her 1 21 34 35 37.

During the winter of 1965, Liu Guifang steals Nuannuan’s medal and announces plans to sell her for fifty jin of dried sweet potatoes. Nuannuan fights to recover it despite being severely injured. The village secretary intervenes and orders its return, but Liu Guifang locks her in the woodshed afterward 1 2.

Awakening and Escape

While feverish in the woodshed, Nuannuan begins hearing animals’ thoughts clearly. She associates this change with her blood spilling onto the medal; previously, she could only guess what animals meant. A village dog warns her that dangerous strangers are approaching 2 25.

When traffickers arrive, Nuannuan directs mice to destroy Liu Guifang’s money pouch and mentally commands a guard dog to attack her captor. The accomplice kills the dog and abducts her. She awakens bound inside a freight carriage with other kidnapped children in the far northwest mountains 3.

Nuannuan contacts a snow leopard outside the train, offering the traffickers as food while insisting that it must not eat the children. As the leopard tears into the carriage, she takes a fallen trafficker’s knife, cuts her ankle restraints, and jumps from the moving train. The leopard catches her on its back 3 4 5 6.

Stopping the Military Train

Recognizing a red star on the locomotive, Nuannuan urges the snow leopard to overtake it. They block the tracks, and she uses her remaining strength to summon mountain animals. Wolves howl across the valleys, helping frighten the driver into stopping 6 7.

Su Mingfeng recognizes Nuannuan after she shields the leopard from armed soldiers—a gesture that recalls her mother protecting a kitten as a child. He takes her into his care, recognizes the bloodstained medal, and arranges emergency treatment. Despite her condition, Nuannuan tells him that other children remain captive at the rear of the train 9 10 11.

Reunion and Recovery

Su Mingfeng brings Nuannuan to the capital, where Su Zhenbang and Lin Wanyi meet her and rush her to Military Region General Hospital. Doctors find severe malnutrition, frostbite, burns, old and new injuries, and the effects of prolonged fear and hunger 14 15.

After stabilizing, she returns to the Su Family Compound and receives the room her mother prepared for her. Safety remains unfamiliar: she sleeps curled in a corner rather than in her bed and initially fears eating food that Liu Guifang would have reserved for Goudan 19 20 21.

Her family also protects Big Kitty. Nuannuan demonstrates his obedience and tactical movements before an assessment team, leading Su Zhenbang to order an application for a special-grade military posting and the highest meal standard 24.

Uncovering the Village Crimes

With Big Kitty’s help, Nuannuan retrieves a tin box hidden beneath her bedroom floor. It contains her mother’s diaries, a photograph, and a classified Project 713 mineral-vein sketch. The discovery leads Su Mingfeng and Su Mingzhe to question the reported flash flood surrounding Su Mingyue’s death 26.

Nuannuan’s conversations with mice reveal human bones beneath a pickling vat in Liu Guifang’s cellar. She accompanies her uncles back to Li Family Village and questions local animals, directing the investigation toward the cellar and firewood pile. Recovered letters and her account of a candy-giving postman help expose Liu Guifang’s theft and involvement in Zhang Jianjun’s murder 27 28 29 32 34 35.

Before leaving, Nuannuan retrieves the heart-shaped stone she treasured in the woodshed. On the return journey, she detects an armed observer on the mountainside and pinpoints his position, allowing Su Mingfeng to drive him away and divert the convoy toward a military airfield 40 41.

Animal Intelligence and the “Green Pine” Investigation

Further questioning of mice reveals that the murdered postman tried to swallow a secret letter and that a bespectacled man regularly waited in the village for a message. These clues help Su Mingzhe recognize that “Green Pine” refers to more than one person 38 39.

As her health improves, Nuannuan builds friendships with the compound’s animals, exchanging snacks for news. Su Mingzhe subsequently begins teaching her directions, landmarks, location reporting, and scent associations through games 44 46.

During Lin Wanyi’s hospital follow-up, Nuannuan notices a pharmacy worker with gold-rimmed glasses and a formalin-like smell. Hospital cats describe his regular visits to a secluded park and markings beneath its benches. She reports everything to Su Mingyuan, who identifies him as the suspected spy courier and calls Su Mingfeng 50.

Appearance

• Small and initially severely underweight: Her skeletal frame bears bruises, burns, frostbite, and cane-like marks across her back when she is rescued 11.
• Hair and eyes: Initially has sparse, yellowed hair; her eyes are described as dark and grape-like. After returning home, her hair is arranged in two braids tied with red cord 1 21 29.
• Early clothing: Wears thin, ragged clothes and a faded, patched red padded jacket; she previously stuffed straw into her clothes for warmth 1 5 49.
• Recovery: Her cheeks become fuller and her complexion rosier with regular nourishment. She is later described as fair-skinned, with large, bright eyes 47 49.
• Later outfits: Receives a tailored camouflage padded jacket and cap from Su Mingguo, followed by dresses and white leather shoes among Su Minglang’s gifts 48 49.

Personality

Nuannuan is fiercely protective of the few sources of affection and hope available to her. She refuses to surrender her mother’s medal despite repeated blows, shields Big Kitty from soldiers while nearly unconscious, and insists that the leopard must not harm the kidnapped children 1 2 4 9. Her determination also draws her into the investigation: she tells Lin Wanyi that she wants to help her mother fight the bad people 29.

Her courage coexists with deeply ingrained fear. She expects punishment for eating good food, seeks safety in confined corners, and murmurs pleas not to be hit in her sleep. When former bullies are forced to apologize, she reacts with bewilderment and fear rather than pleasure 20 21 37.

As she recovers, she becomes more playful and curious. She enjoys exchanging snacks with animals, takes readily to Su Mingzhe’s lessons, and becomes eager to meet the unconventional seventh uncle whom the family discusses with frustrated affection 44 46 47.

Abilities & Skills

Beast Language Ability

Nuannuan can understand animals’ thoughts and make her own thoughts understood by them 25.

• Receives clear mental speech from mice, dogs, and Big Kitty 2 3 25.
• Communicates mentally or alongside animal-like vocalizations, including squeaks used when gathering mice 3 38.
• Exchanges specific information—not merely emotions—including locations, numbers, and directions 46.
• Her clear understanding emerges after blood spills onto the medal; the passages establish this association without explaining the mechanism 2 25.

Animal Command and Coordination

Nuannuan can direct animals to perform protective, disruptive, and complex practical tasks 3 24 26.

• Orders mice to destroy Liu Guifang’s cash and grain coupons 3.
• Mentally commands a guard dog to attack a trafficker 3.
• Calls mountain animals while Big Kitty blocks the railway 7.
• Directs Big Kitty to sit, crawl, conceal himself, and frighten a sparrow without injuring it 22 24.
• Uses Big Kitty’s strength to lift a floorboard and open hidden containers 26 34.
• Heavy exertion has limits: contacting the leopard strains her while feverish, and stopping the train leaves her almost unconscious 4 7 9.

Animal Intelligence Network

Nuannuan gathers information from animals that can observe places unnoticed or inaccessible to human investigators 32 44.

• Questions mice about hidden remains, the postman’s death, and suspicious village visitors 27 38.
• Receives reports from dogs and sparrows about Liu Guifang’s courtyard 32.
• Builds a compound-wide network involving sparrows, cats, Black Wind, and a squirrel 44.
• Uses food as an incentive, distributing snacks according to the animals’ contributions 38 44.
• Collects hospital cats’ observations of the suspected courier’s movements 50.

Observation and Reconnaissance

Nuannuan combines animal reports with her own sensory observations and developing reporting skills 41 46 50.

• Detects an armed observer and identifies his mountainside position 41.
• Recognizes her mother’s faint scent on deteriorated belongings 36.
• Notices and reports the formalin-like smell associated with the gold-rimmed-glasses suspect 39 50.
• Studies cardinal directions, landmarks, map locations, and distinctive scents through two-hour daily games with Su Mingzhe 46.
• Initially cannot read her mother’s diary or write a reply, relying instead on remembered images and simple drawings 27 42.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• First-Class Combat Hero medal — A bloodstained five-pointed-star medal originally awarded to Su Mingfeng and given to Su Mingyue. Her mother leaves it to Nuannuan, who treasures it as the token that will help her find her father 1 11.
• Heart-shaped stone — An ordinary gray stone she slowly grinds smooth during hungry, freezing nights in the woodshed. It serves as a substitute for her mother’s “golden star” and a source of comfort 40.
• Su Mingyue’s tin box — Contains diaries, a photograph of her mother holding her as a newborn, and the Project 713 sketch 26.
• Biscuits and candies — Used to befriend animals and reward information 25 38 44.
• Folding knife, temporarily used — Taken from an unconscious trafficker to cut the rope around her ankles 5.
• Gifts from Su Minglang — Dolls, dresses, shoes, and a teddy bear taller than Nuannuan herself 49.

Relationships

Family

• Su Mingyue — Mother. Her medal, photograph, diaries, and scent remain important emotional connections for Nuannuan 1 26 36.
• Father, unnamed — Nuannuan initially searches for him in accordance with her mother’s dying wish; Su Mingfeng identifies both parents as fallen heroes 5 35.
• Su Zhenbang — Maternal grandfather. Comforts her in hospital and reassures her that she comes first in the family 17 21.
• Lin Wanyi — Maternal grandmother and daily caregiver. Nurses her recovery, alters clothes for her, teaches her characters, and comforts her through fear 19 21 22.
• Su Mingfeng — Eldest maternal uncle and rescuer. Recognizes her on the railway, arranges treatment, and accompanies her during the village investigation 9 11 29 47.
• Su Mingguo — Second maternal uncle. Helps investigate her abuse and arranges Big Kitty’s military assessment 15 24 47.
• Su Mingzhe — Third maternal uncle and tutor. Investigates her mother’s death and teaches Nuannuan to interpret and report intelligence while insisting that she is not a weapon 26 46 47.
• Su Mingyuan — Fourth maternal uncle. Reviews her injuries and receives her report about the suspected hospital courier 15 47 50.
• Su Minghui — Fifth maternal uncle, a South Sea Fleet captain. Is eager to return after learning she has been found 47.
• Sixth Uncle, unnamed — Away on a distant secret mission, with no early return expected 47.
• Su Minglang — Seventh maternal uncle, a businessman in Shanghai. Sends her gifts before they meet, increasing her curiosity about him 47 49.

Animal Companions

• Big Kitty — Snow leopard rescuer, mount, and constant guardian. Catches her after her leap from the train and remains close throughout her recovery 6 13 17.
• Mousey — A small, one-eared mouse that keeps her company in the woodshed and licks blood from her mouth after a beating 1.
• Xiao Hui — A mouse living in her room at the Su compound who remembers a kindly woman who previously occupied it 25.
• Black Wind — A military dog who becomes her loyal escort after initially being intimidated by Big Kitty 44.
• Snowball — A white cat who exchanges neighborhood information for milk candy 44.

Adversaries

• Liu Guifang — Abusive guardian who steals Nuannuan’s support money, mistreats her, and arranges her sale to traffickers. Nuannuan’s animal-derived evidence helps expose her crimes 3 34 35.
• Li Goudan — A favored child in Liu Guifang’s household who bullies Nuannuan. Her fear of eating before him persists after her rescue 21 35 37.
• Gold-Rimmed Glasses Man — Suspected enemy courier whose hospital employment and suspicious routine Nuannuan helps uncover 50.

Notable Quotes

“But Nuannuan won't trade it. Nuannuan wants to wait for Daddy.” 1

“Cubs... can't eat.” 4

“I'm not afraid of the cold. I want to go help Mommy fight the bad guys.” 29