Chapter Summaries

At breakfast, Nuannuan hid the egg Su Mingfeng gave her because she feared being punished for eating before Goudan. The Su Family comforted her and vowed to investigate Liu Guifang, who had abused her in Li Family Village.

• Lin Wanyi brought Nuannuan to breakfast, but Nuannuan hesitated to eat despite being hungry.
• Su Mingfeng gave Nuannuan a boiled egg, and she secretly hid it in her sleeve for little brother Goudan.
• Nuannuan explained that Liu Guifang had taught her to give good food to Goudan and threatened to beat and burn her if she ate it.
• Su Zhenbang and the family reacted with fury and grief as Lin Wanyi embraced Nuannuan.
• Su Zhenbang reassured Nuannuan that she came first in the family, shared the egg with her, and ordered Su Mingguo to intensify the investigation into Liu Guifang.

The Su family faced a security squad sent to remove the snow leopard from their compound, but Nuannuan showed that she could control it. The guards and neighbors were left stunned as Su Mingfeng challenged the security chief to reconsider.

• Deputy Chief of Staff Zhang's wife, Auntie Wang, complained to the security section after her grandson saw the snow leopard outside the Su home.
• Section Chief Wang arrived with guards, nets, and tranquilizer guns to take the leopard into custody.
• Su Mingfeng returned and stood between the guards and the snow leopard, declaring it part of the Su family.
• Nuannuan approached the leopard and told it to sit, and it immediately obeyed.
• Su Mingfeng asked Section Chief Wang whether he still believed the leopard could not be controlled.

Auntie Wang visited the Su family to gossip about Nuannuan and criticize their snow leopard, but the animal frightened her into fleeing. Nuannuan revealed that the leopard disliked Auntie Wang because she smelled of stolen pork, and Su Mingfeng decided to use the snow leopard to deter future gossips.

• Auntie Wang visited Lin Wanyi and Nuannuan, pretending to offer congratulations while criticizing Nuannuan and the snow leopard.
• Su Mingfeng told Auntie Wang not to meddle, but she refused to leave and warned that the snow leopard could turn dangerous.
• The snow leopard rushed into the living room, growled at Auntie Wang, and scared her into collapsing and wetting herself.
• Nuannuan said the snow leopard thought Auntie Wang smelled of stealing state-owned pork, prompting Su Mingfeng and the housekeeper to laugh.
• Auntie Wang fled the house, and Su Mingfeng decided he would unleash the snow leopard on anyone who came to gossip.

Su Mingguo arranged a military assessment to secure Big Kitty an official identity, and Nuannuan’s commands revealed the snow leopard’s remarkable tactical abilities. Su Zhenbang declared it the Su Family’s meritorious leopard and ordered a special-grade military posting with the highest rations.

• At a family meeting, Su Mingguo proposed registering Big Kitty as a military experimental subject, with Nuannuan demonstrating its abilities for an assessment team.
• Su Mingguo brought two animal research experts and a staff officer to the Su Family Compound to evaluate Big Kitty.
• Nuannuan commanded Big Kitty to lie down, crawl, and conceal itself behind a rockery, impressing the experts with its obedience and tactical use of cover.
• At Su Zhenbang’s request, Nuannuan had Big Kitty scare a sparrow without hurting it, and the snow leopard leapt several meters up a wall to flush the bird away.
• Su Zhenbang declared Big Kitty the Su Family’s meritorious leopard and ordered Su Mingguo to apply for a special-grade military posting with the highest meal standard.

The snow leopard received the military code name “King of the Snowy Mountains” and special treatment, while Nuannuan continued struggling with nightmares. A mouse named Xiao Hui told her that her mother had hidden an iron box beneath a floorboard, and Nuannuan considered asking Big Kitty to help open it.

• The military district registered the snow leopard as “King of the Snowy Mountains,” and the Su Family gave it a heated den and special meals.
• Nuannuan woke from a nightmare and befriended a mouse that came out of a hole in her room.
• Nuannuan learned that the mouse was called Xiao Hui and that a pretty woman who had lived in the room used to feed it.
• Xiao Hui told Nuannuan that her mother had hidden an iron box beneath a floorboard under the bed.
• Nuannuan rewarded Xiao Hui with a biscuit and wondered whether Big Kitty could use its claws to open the floorboard.

Nuannuan used the snow leopard to uncover a tin box her mother had hidden beneath a floorboard, finding diaries, a photograph, and a mysterious drawing. Her uncles recognized the drawing as a top-secret Project 713 sketch, leading them to suspect Su Mingyue’s death had not been an accident.

• Nuannuan brought the snow leopard upstairs and had it pry up a floorboard beneath her bed.
• Nuannuan opened the tin box with the snow leopard’s help and found her mother’s diaries and a photograph of Su Mingyue holding her as a newborn.
• Su Mingfeng came home, recognized the diary, and read Su Mingyue’s message on the back of the photograph.
• Su Mingfeng found a detailed pencil drawing at the bottom of the box and unfolded it.
• Su Mingzhe recognized the drawing as Project 713’s top-secret mineral vein sketch.
• Su Mingfeng and Su Mingzhe recalled Su Mingyue’s death in a flash flood and suspected it had not been accidental.

Su Mingzhe and Su Mingfeng secretly investigated suspicions surrounding their sister’s death and faced obstruction from Liu Guifang in Li Family Village. Nuannuan pointed to a diary drawing and said mice had told her that human bones were hidden in Liu Guifang’s cellar.

• Su Mingzhe locked away the mineral-vein sketch and decided with Su Mingfeng to investigate their sister’s death in secret.
• Su Mingzhe received a telegram reporting that Liu Guifang had stirred up Li Family Village against the investigation team and trapped them at the village committee office.
• Su Mingfeng proposed sending troops, but Su Mingzhe refused and insisted they needed decisive evidence against Liu Guifang.
• Nuannuan found a diary drawing of a cellar and identified the woman in it as the bad granny.
• Nuannuan told Su Mingzhe and Su Mingfeng that mice had said human bones were hidden in Liu Guifang’s cellar.

Nuannuan told Su Mingfeng and Su Mingzhe that mice had revealed bones beneath a cellar vat, apparently belonging to someone in a green uniform. Convinced Liu Guifang was hiding a murder as well as abusing Nuannuan, the brothers prepared a forceful nighttime operation, leaving their grandparents stunned by the revelation.

• Nuannuan relayed the mice's account of bones beneath Liu Guifang's cellar vat and said the victim had worn green clothes.
• Su Mingfeng concluded Liu Guifang had committed murder and ordered the guard company to assemble for an operation.
• Su Mingzhe secured the diary and mineral vein map in a locked cabinet while Su Mingfeng prepared to leave with Nuannuan.
• Su Mingguo approved a show of force, arranged logistical cover for the operation, and urged Su Mingfeng to take the snow leopard along.
• Su Mingzhe insisted on joining Su Mingfeng, and the brothers headed downstairs with Nuannuan.
• Nuannuan told Lin Wanyi and Su Zhenbang about the person buried in the cellar, shocking them with the revelation.

Su Mingfeng took Nuannuan and a fully armed guard company to Li Family Village so she could identify the place where she had been harmed. As the convoy headed into the night, Su Mingzhe raised the possibility that Liu Guifang had intercepted Su Mingyue’s letters and that they might reveal a connection to the siblings’ deaths.

• Lin Wanyi reluctantly agreed to let Nuannuan go and bundled her in an old military overcoat, while Su Zhenbang urged Su Mingfeng to show no mercy and promised to protect the family.
• Su Mingfeng departed with Nuannuan, Su Mingzhe, and Zhang Li’s armed guard company in a convoy bound for Li Family Village.
• Big Kitty leaped into the jeep and settled beside Nuannuan, obeying her command to stay quiet before she fell asleep against his fur.
• Su Mingzhe suggested Liu Guifang might have intercepted Su Mingyue’s letters, possibly including information about Project 713.
• Su Mingfeng remained silent and clenched his fists as the convoy sped toward the village, determined to force the truth from Liu Guifang.

Su Mingfeng arrived at Li Family Village with armed soldiers and found the investigation team surrounded by villagers defending Liu Guifang. He ordered Zhang Li to handcuff Liu Guifang, leaving the villagers stunned.

• Liu Guifang and Li Goudan incited villagers to block Team Leader Wang and the investigation team from leaving the village committee compound.
• A convoy of military vehicles arrived at the village entrance, and armed soldiers formed up on the grain-drying ground.
• Su Mingfeng covered Su Mingzhe with his military overcoat and gently gathered Nuannuan into his arms.
• Liu Guifang saw Nuannuan’s improved appearance and prepared to claim she had missed her niece.
• Su Mingfeng ordered Zhang Li to handcuff Liu Guifang for obstructing military duties.

Su Mingfeng arrested Liu Guifang and ordered soldiers to search her cellar after Nuannuan revealed that she had buried bones there. As Li Goudan tried to stop the soldiers, Nuannuan called for Big Kitty.

• Li Goudan charged at the soldiers when they arrested Liu Guifang, and a soldier struck him down with a rifle butt.
• Su Mingfeng asked Liu Guifang what else was in her cellar, but she denied hiding anything and tried to turn the villagers against the soldiers.
• Su Mingzhe cited emergency authority to search the property, warning Li Laosi not to obstruct the military.
• Nuannuan told Su Mingfeng that the mice had seen Liu Guifang bury bones beneath the pickling crock.
• Su Mingfeng ordered Teams Two and Three to search the cellar and dig three feet down, while Liu Guifang and Li Goudan tried to stop them.
• Nuannuan asked Su Mingfeng to put her down, then called for Big Kitty.

Nuannuan used the animals in the village to investigate Liu Guifang and uncovered evidence hidden in her courtyard. She pointed Su Mingfeng toward the firewood pile as the villagers began to suspect Liu Guifang.

• Nuannuan summoned Big Kitty, a snow leopard, and sent it toward Liu Guifang's courtyard.
• Nuannuan questioned a guard dog and sparrows, who told her Liu Guifang had hidden something near the firewood pile and described a cellar containing a vat and bones.
• Nuannuan told Su Mingfeng that Big Kitty had detected a bad smell from the firewood pile.
• Liu Guifang trembled when Nuannuan named the firewood pile, and villagers began doubting her claims.

Su Mingfeng’s soldiers uncovered a postman’s remains buried beneath a pickling crock in Liu Guifang’s cellar, exposing the truth behind the village’s suspicions. Nuannuan then identified a lunch box from the firewood pile as the postman’s and revealed that it held undelivered letters.

• Li Goudan tried to stop the soldiers, but the snow leopard frightened him into fainting and cleared the way into the courtyard.
• The snow leopard smashed open the cellar entrance, and Su Mingfeng ordered the soldiers to search beneath the pickling crock.
• The soldiers dug up human bones wrapped in a straw mat, along with army-green fabric and a badge identifying the victim as a postman.
• Liu Guifang claimed the postman had fallen to his death, while Su Mingzhe warned her that a forensic examiner would investigate the skull wound.
• Nuannuan pointed to a lunch box found in the firewood pile and said it belonged to the postman and contained undelivered letters.

Su Mingzhe and Su Mingfeng uncovered proof that Liu Guifang had stolen Su Mingyue’s support money and murdered postman Old Zhang, while a letter from the highly classified Northwest Base 713 raised new questions about Su Mingyue’s death. The soldiers took Liu Guifang and Li Goudan away as Su Mingfeng vowed to seek justice.

• Nuannuan had Big Kitty open a rusted lunch box, and Su Mingzhe found Su Mingyue’s letters alongside a letter addressed to “Green Pine” from Northwest Base 713.
• Nuannuan revealed that the dead postman had given village children candy and that Liu Guifang had denied her any, prompting villagers to recognize him as Old Zhang.
• Liu Guifang broke down and confessed that she and her husband attacked Old Zhang, buried him in the cellar, and stole the money, mailbag, and belongings.
• Su Mingzhe identified Base 713 as a highly classified facility, and Su Mingfeng suspected that Su Mingyue’s death was connected to a larger conspiracy.
• Su Mingfeng ordered the soldiers to take Liu Guifang and Li Goudan away, determined to hold them accountable for their crimes.

Su Mingfeng announced Liu Guifang’s suspected murder of postman Zhang Jianjun and her abuse of Nuannuan, the orphaned daughter of fallen heroes. He left with Nuannuan as Liu Guifang and Li Goudan were thrown into a military truck to face punishment.

• Liu Guifang tried to make Nuannuan stop the soldiers from taking her, but Su Mingfeng ordered Zhang Li to gag her.
• Su Mingfeng told the villagers that Liu Guifang was suspected of murdering Zhang Jianjun, whose remains had been found in her cellar.
• Su Mingfeng revealed that Nuannuan’s parents were heroes and that Liu Guifang had stolen her benefits, abused her, and planned to sell her.
• Nuannuan asked Su Mingfeng whether Liu Guifang could ever steal her dried sweet potatoes again, moving him and the soldiers.
• Zhang Li ordered the soldiers to throw Liu Guifang into the truck, and they threw Li Goudan on top of her before locking the tailgate.

Su Mingzhe opened the mailbag and revealed the ruined baby clothes, toys, and tiger-head shoes Su Mingyue had prepared for Nuannuan, items lost for five years. Su Mingfeng broke down at the sight, then held Nuannuan close, knowing the reckoning for those who hurt them had only begun.

• Su Mingzhe carefully cut open the old mailbag and removed the letters and the ruined baby belongings inside.
• Su Mingfeng recognized the tiger-head shoes as the pair Su Mingyue had sewn for Nuannuan and remembered her hopes for her daughter.
• Su Mingfeng roared in grief and rage as he saw how cold and poorly dressed Nuannuan was.
• Nuannuan comforted Su Mingfeng, while Big Kitty sheltered the ruined belongings beneath his body.
• Su Mingzhe told Su Mingfeng that it was all in the past, but Su Mingfeng held Nuannuan tighter and resolved that the reckoning had only begun.

Su Mingfeng held Li Family Village accountable for ignoring Zhang Jianjun’s disappearance and Nuannuan’s abuse, ordering an investigation and punishment for the villagers. He left with Nuannuan, while Su Mingzhe remained troubled by the letter marked “Green Pine.”

• Su Mingfeng questioned the villagers about failing to search for Zhang Jianjun or intervene in Nuannuan’s abuse, and they admitted nothing.
• Su Mingfeng accused village Party secretary Li Laosi of negligence and possible complicity in embezzling the martyr’s pension and relief grain, then ordered his removal and investigation.
• Su Mingfeng comforted Nuannuan as the parents of children who had bullied her begged her to forgive them.
• Su Mingfeng ordered Zhang Li to recommend that Li Family Village lose eligibility for future collective honors, including Advanced Brigade and Model Village.
• Su Mingfeng left Li Family Village with Nuannuan, while Su Mingzhe looked again at the letter marked “Green Pine.”

Su Mingzhe investigated the suspicious letter addressed to Green Pine, and Nuannuan asked the mice in Liu Guifang’s house what they knew. Their account revealed that the postman died trying to swallow the letter and that a bespectacled man regularly waited for a message, leading Su Mingzhe to realize Green Pine was not one person.

• Su Mingzhe concluded that the letter from Base 713 had been delivered through a secret channel, disguised among Su Mingzhe’s sister’s mail.
• Nuannuan squeaked in her sleep, prompting Big Kitty to growl, and Su Mingfeng suggested she might help solve the mystery.
• At the mountain guesthouse, Nuannuan summoned mice with pieces of biscuit and asked them about the letter.
• The mice told Nuannuan that Liu Guifang’s husband had killed the postman, who tried to swallow the letter before dying.
• The mice also described a bespectacled man in a clean Zhongshan suit who returned each month to wait beneath the village pagoda tree.
• Su Mingzhe connected the clues and realized that Green Pine was not a single person.

Su Mingzhe deduced that Green Pine was an enemy spy organization using the Li Family Village committee office as a dead drop, and Nuannuan’s clue about a formalin smell narrowed the search toward medical workers. The Su brothers classified the discovery and Nuannuan’s ability, then prepared to return to the capital and report to their father.

• Su Mingzhe concluded that Green Pine was an undercover spy organization and that the man in gold-rimmed glasses had collected letters from the village committee office.
• Su Mingfeng ordered a level-two silence status and classified all evidence from the Li Family Village operation as top secret.
• Nuannuan told Su Mingzhe that the man with glasses smelled like a hospital, and he identified the scent as formalin, suggesting the spies posed as doctors or researchers.
• Su Mingfeng and Su Mingzhe agreed to protect Nuannuan’s ability as a highly classified secret.
• Su Mingzhe locked the letter and the belongings found in the mailbag in a secure case, and the brothers decided to return to the capital the next morning to report to their father.

Su Mingfeng returned to Liu Guifang’s courtyard so Nuannuan could retrieve the heart-shaped stone she treasured from the woodshed where she had been imprisoned. After she took it, Big Kitty brought the rotten woodshed roof crashing down, and Su Mingfeng left with Nuannuan for home.

• Su Mingfeng asked Nuannuan what she wanted to take from Li Family Village, and she pointed to the woodshed.
• Su Mingfeng had Zhang Li break the padlock and carried Nuannuan into the woodshed.
• Nuannuan retrieved a smooth, heart-shaped stone she had made and treasured as a reminder of her mother.
• Big Kitty shoved a rotten wooden post, collapsing the woodshed roof into rubble.
• Su Mingfeng brushed dust from Nuannuan, told the villagers he was renovating an unsafe building, and carried her to the jeep.