Chapter 41 part 3

Kong Bi opened the cage car, and Miaomiao immediately stepped out, looking around.

Tigers are solitary creatures, but their lives are not boring. The birds flying in the sky and the animals moving within their territory can all be toys to alleviate their boredom. Although Kong Bi’s presence prevents Miaomiao from feeling lonely, the small territory does feel somewhat oppressive, but this place is different.

The ground undulates rhythmically, and a gentle breeze carries the complex scents of nature. A sparse forest stands with trees scattered throughout, and not far away, there’s a clear pond!

Is this Mom’s territory?

Miaomiao curiously looked around, restraining the urge to mark this territory, and didn’t even bother looking at the starry sky around her, anyway, Kong Bi was there!

She roared and excitedly dashed towards the pond.

Water!

A water source where she can swim!

Miaomiao was very excited, and a surging roar burst out of her wide throat. The soft grass was trampled heavily by her. She stretched her strong body, and her beautiful orange-red fur shimmering in the sunlight. In the blink of an eye, the pond suddenly erupted with a huge splash. Miaomiao stood upright, her two front paws striking the water’s surface, sending up sprays of water.

Which tiger wouldn’t want to play in the water in summer?

Tigers are one of the few all-around athletes among felines. They can climb trees and swim. Especially when it comes to swimming, they can swim twenty to thirty kilometers a day in rivers and over ten kilometers in the sea, making them swimming champions among cats.

Furthermore, they often suffer from summer heat. In the wild, their only way to cool down is to submerge their bodies in water.

Xinghe curiously watched her mother making such a commotion. The splashes of water blooming like lotus flowers on the surface lured the little tiger over. She tentatively dipped her paw into the water,  to test it, and then impatiently plunged in with a loud ‘splash’.  

“Aww aww!”

As soon as she was in the water, Xinghe panicked.

What’s going on?

Why can’t her paws touch anything?

Why is her fur sticking to her body?

“Aww! Aww!”

Mom! Mommy!

Xinghe’s limbs thrashed in the water, creating large splashes. Miaomiao, who was enjoying herself, was startled by this sight and quickly swam over. A cub less than a month old is not suited for water. Generally, the mother tiger will start introducing them to such things at least after three months. After all, even though they are born knowing how to swim, there are some things they shouldn’t be exposed to so soon after birth.

Bur, before Miaomiao could swim over, Xinghe suddenly discovered that her limbs were paddling through the water with surprising ease. Her head and back were exposed above the surface, and her still-narrow tail looked even longer and thinner because it was wet.

Realizing she could swim, Xinghe immediately stopped panicking. Instead, she became curious about the underwater world and promptly lowered her head and dipped it beneath the surface.

Xinghe was very clever. Almost instinctively, she flattened her ears against the top of her head to keep water out of them. Her eyes, still with a hint of blue from the nictitating membrane, curiously observed the murky underwater world she had stirred up. But before she could see everything clearly, she suddenly felt a tightening on her scruff, and the entire cub was lifted from the cool pond water into the warm sunlight.

Mom!

Xinghe let out a loud, indignant yowl, limbs flailing uselessly in the air as she seethed with helpless fury against Miaomiao’s overwhelming dominance.

The place where she swam was actually on the shore, barely covering Miaomiao’s limbs, but it was still very dangerous for the tiger cub. Miaomiao walked directly to the shore, put Xinghe down, and growled at her.

This was to warn her not to enter the water again.

If Xinghe didn’t obey, Miaomiao wouldn’t hesitate to smack her with a solid thwack.

“Rawr! Rawr!”

Xinghe immediately protested from the shore, grumbling loudly. But though she was bold, she wasn’t stupid—she had no intention of needlessly provoking Miaomiao’s wrath. After a few more disgruntled yowls, she finally gave up, shaking the water from her fur and abandoning any thought of diving back in.  

Kong Bi watched with an amused smile. She never interfered when the tigress disciplined her cub. After all, inconsistent parenting could easily undermine authority in front of the little one. The Cubs were clever, if they sensed their parents weren’t a united front, they’d start dismissing their own misbehavior, thinking, “No big deal, I’ll just do it again next time.”

Besides, if she stepped in, what if Miaomiao roared at her too?

Though Miaomiao had never actually roared at her, Kong Bi had a strong feeling that if she ever interfered with her parenting, she’d end up in trouble too.  

Kong Bi still vividly remembered her childhood days when she and her brother came home covered in mud, only for their mom to scold them—only for their dad, grandparents, and even their grandpa to get dragged into the mess as well. Ironically, she and her brother ended up escaping punishment because of it.  

But Kong Bi had absolutely no intention of sacrificing herself for Xinghe’s sake. A reckless cub who didn’t know its limits needed to be taught a lesson. It had to learn what was safe to mess with and what wasn’t.  

Once the little troublemaker was properly disciplined, Miaomiao immediately trotted over to Kong Bi, nudging her with its head and rubbing its damp, dripping cheeks against her.  

“Stop that, Miaomiao—you’re soaking wet! Ugh!” Kong Bi sighed helplessly as her freshly changed clothes were promptly sacrificed to the cause. Once the tiger’s excitement finally settled, she picked up the fishing rod and a tub of worms nearby.

The earthworms were all diligently dug up by Huajiao. Creatures like grasshoppers, crickets, termites, and earthworms are also part of the green peacock’s diet. After all, fruits aren’t abundant year-round, so they’ve had to diversify their menu. That said, they still prefer fruit over insects, which is why Huajiao wouldn’t normally bother hunting earthworms for fun.  

But since Kong Bi needed them, Huajiao’s exceptional hunting skills made the task effortless.  

Though green peacocks primarily feed on fruit, they are also capable hunters. Prey like frogs and lizards aren’t easy to catch without some skill, and during leaner winter months, Huajiao leads its flock in searching for hidden small animals to fill their bellies.  

This brings us to the bottom-dwellers of the food chain: mice and rabbits. Which are hunted by everything from birds in the sky to predators on the ground. These, too, are part of the green peacock’s diet. Since food doesn’t spoil as easily in winter, Huajiao often opts to hunt larger prey to ensure the flock has enough to last through the cold season.

However, despite this, green peacocks are generally not very interested in these foods. They will not eat unless they have to. After all, they have a wide range of diets. Even in winter, small insects are still easy for them to catch. In comparison, larger animals are not only difficult to hunt, but also difficult to eat. Obviously, they are not as time-saving and labor-saving as small insects.

Kong Bi picked up an earthworm and put it on the hook. In fact, compared with earthworms, the bait sold on the market is more suitable for fishing, because the high protein contained in earthworms makes many small fish like to eat it, while big fish are relatively less interested.

For fishermen, fishing is naturally aimed at catching big fish, so earthworms as bait are gradually eliminated by the market, but it doesn’t matter to Kong Bi. After all, if you really catch a big fish, if it suddenly sheds tears when you are about to eat it, should you eat it or not?

Miaomiao watched curiously as Kong Bi sat down, then immediately flopped beside her, perfectly positioned for easy petting, truly a big cat with impeccable feline virtues.  

Xinghe tried to mimic her mother, lying down as well, but her patience quickly ran out. Soon enough, she was back on her paw, chasing after any little insects or butterflies she could spot.  

Despite Kong Bi’s presence, Miaomiao didn’t let her guard down when it came to Xinghe. The moment the cub wandered off, she let out a warning growl, telling her not to stray too far.  

Xinghe responded with a playful “Awoo!”—though whether it actually heeded Miaomiao’s warning was anyone’s guess.

When it comes to fishing, Kong Bi is no novice. When she was little, she could often catch many fish with just a tree branch, a fishhook, and fishing line. She wasn’t one to come back empty-handed or just lose bait. Moreover, the pond was formed by the convergence of streams, and fish eggs would come in with the water flow every year. No one had fished here for many years, so there wasn’t a shortage of fish; in fact, the resources were quite abundant.

It’s just that perhaps because it’s been so long since she last fished, she’s a bit rusty, and hasn’t caught anything yet.

Miaomiao didn’t urge her, because she didn’t know what Kongbi was doing. It looked like hunting? Although she didn’t understand why there was such a strange way of hunting, Miaomiao knew that hunting required patience, and it often took a long time to eat sweet and delicious prey.

Even the king of beasts has only a 30% success rate in hunting, so patience, lurking, and sneak attacks are qualities that every predator must learn, otherwise they will starve to death in the wild!

Kongbi also stared at the water patiently. She originally brought Miaomiao and Xinghe out to play. She didn’t have much desire for how many fish she could catch. It was good enough for them to have fun.

Thinking of this, Kongbi said to Miaomiao: “Miaomiao, you go play too, you don’t have to follow me.”

“Roar!” Miaomiao shouted immediately, indicating that she didn’t want to play.

As a mature and stable big cat, Miaomiao is not that interested in playing.

“Then go stay in the water,” Kong Bi ruffled the tiger’s head. “It’s sunny outside, and that fur coat of yours must be so hot to wear.”

“Roar!”

This time Miaomiao didn’t refuse. She really liked water. In the summer, the place tigers like to stay the most is in the water. They are relatively heat-sensitive felines, so they have a special fondness for water.

However, even though they get so hot that they have to go into the water every summer to cool off, it doesn’t stop them from shedding every year. Big cats are just like little cats, they start shedding every spring, and then they shed for the entire year at once.

Miaomiao didn’t stay in the water for too long. Although the water in the pond made her feel very comfortable, she didn’t forget that her children still needed milk, so staying in the water for too long would also affect her body. Miaomiao knew how to restrain her desires.

Kong Bi relaxed after seeing this. The water here was certainly not polluted, but the body of a lactating tiger was definitely not the same as usual. Kong Bi was also afraid that it would be infected. Although this possibility was small, it could not be ignored. So after Miaomiao entered the water, Kong Bi kept an eye on the time to prevent it from soaking for too long.

Miaomiao lay down next to Kong Bi again, squinting her eyes and licking her fur comfortably.

Hua Jiao and Wang Tianba stood on the tree and watched secretly.

When Kong Bi cleared the scene, she not only cleared out the people, but also the animals. After all, although the green peacock was not in the tiger’s staple food, it was not impossible to eat it. What’s more, even if they could live in peace, a lactating tiger would refuse any creature to get close to her children, which could easily cause unpleasantness.

For a tigress who gets pregnant every few years and can stay with them for nearly three years, and her own life span is no more than twenty years, the cost of giving birth is extremely high, and this cost also makes their maternal instinct very strong, especially for Miaomiao, who has a cub with problems. She is more nervous about her offspring than ordinary tigers, and it is difficult for her to accept other animals approaching.

It was also because of this that Kong Bi did not rush to let the little monsters meet Miaomiao. She had to wait at least until the tiger cubs were three months old. At that time, the tiger cubs had begun to understand the world, and it was normal to see other animals. Miaomiao should not be too repulsive to Huajiao and the others.

However, the little monsters who had become spirits were certainly not as well-behaved and sensible as ordinary animals. Although Kong Bi asked them not to come, they still came over secretly.

“Guuu?!”

Wang Tianba looked at Huajiao, whose feathers suddenly exploded, and moved aside without knowing why.

“Duhu!”

The moment she saw Miaomiao, Huajiao understood why Kongbi had been sneaking around lately and why she smelled strange. The king was just like the previous king, secretly raising a mistress outside! Even the breed was exactly the same!

Are domestic peacocks so less fragrant than wild cats? !

It’s too much!

How can this be!

How can ugly things without feathers compare to them? !

Kongbi didn’t notice the two little monsters watching in secret. When she found that the fishing rod moved, she immediately pulled it up happily. She saw a crucian carp enthusiastically shaking its tail to greet her in the sun, which was particularly beautiful.

“Roar!——”

However, before Kongbi pulled the fish ashore, Miaomiao suddenly stood up and roared fiercely behind her.

“Ah! My fish!”