The beastly cries faded into the thick black fog, and the long night fell silent once more.
Occasionally, she could hear the chirping of insects, but Sun Miao'er felt that it was far away from her. She dared not go out of the cave and could only follow her master's instructions to stay here and guard it. She had no idea what awaited her once she went out.
How can the weather in the mountains be so unpredictable? It had been pouring rain for most of the day, with lightning and thunder at midday and dark clouds looming overhead. Now, a silver crescent moon hangs high overhead, its light spilling into the cave and reflecting off the burning fire, creating a dazzling interplay of red and white.
Sun Miao'er's hands warmed up, and she no longer needed to wear her master's outer robe for warmth. She simply took off the outer robe, folded it neatly, and placed it on the stone next to her. Just as she was thinking about mustering her courage to go outside and check on her master's safety, a tall and slender figure was already standing outside the cave entrance.
Fu Yuchi bent low as he entered the cave, carrying two bloody wild rabbits in his left hand, which had already been skinned and cleaned. In his right hand, he held a pile of dry branches. His yellowish undergarment was stained with scarlet blood, which he had accidentally come across while processing the rabbits.
"It's so late, how could Master still catch a rabbit?" Sun Miao'er asked, puzzled. When Fu Yuchi went out earlier, there were clearly no candles. You know how alert wild rabbits are. If you could see their tracks during the day, that would be fine, but in the dark of night, it's like groping in the dark. Catching a wild rabbit is as difficult as climbing to the sky.
Fu Yuchi deftly pierced the rabbit's body with a branch, placing the two side by side on the fire. He ate the water-soaked flatbread, which had lost its flavor. "Hunters in the mountains often set traps to hunt animals. In weather like today, hunters usually have to wait until the next day to go up the mountain to collect their nets. I often stay in these mountains and know where they usually set their traps. Isn't that how I pick up the scraps?"
Sun Miao'er lowered her head, her gaze falling on Fu Yuchi's black boots, which were covered in damp soil, indicating that he had treated the wild rabbit by the stream. "I thought Master only knew how to cure illnesses and heal people, but I didn't expect him to have this kind of skill."
"To save others, you must first save yourself. If you can't even protect yourself, how can you save others? Don't worry, I will teach you these things slowly in the future." He said this with the same calm as usual, but there was a hint of helplessness in his calmness.
As they spoke, the rabbit's skin was already charred and fragrant from the fire, glistening enticingly in the flames. Sun Miao'er stared at the rabbit, swallowing hard. She finally understood Xiaoman's usual feelings: with delicious food in front of her and hunger pangs, she couldn't even wait for the rabbit to be cooked.
"Don't just stand there like an idiot, hurry up and add some firewood. If you keep looking at it like that, the fire will go out. I don't have any more tinderboxes on me." Fu Yuchi urged, his gaze also fixed on the rabbit. The helplessness he had just felt seemed to be Sun Miao'er's illusion. When she looked up at him again, the corners of her mouth were still slightly upturned.
Upon closer inspection, Sun Miao'er noticed that he had a delicate cupid's bow on his upper lip, giving his lips an exceptionally beautiful shape. No wonder she always felt that he had a naturally smiling face.
His words abruptly interrupted her thoughts. Sun Miao'er snapped back to reality, hurriedly picked up firewood, and haphazardly piled it into the campfire. With her fiddling around like that, the fire suddenly burst into flames.
Sun Miao'er's mind wasn't on adding firewood to begin with, so she was quite startled. She hurriedly dropped the firewood in her hand, leaned back, and only then did she truly come to her senses.
Fu Yuchi witnessed her flustered state before him, yet remained unperturbed. "Slow down the firewood, lest you burn yourself. Your clothes already have several patches; do you want to add more?"
Not only was her daydreaming embarrassing, but she also got teased by her master. Sun Miao'er couldn't say anything back. She pouted and broke the tree branch in her hand into pieces, throwing them haphazardly into the fire, hoping that the rabbit would cook quickly to ease the awkward atmosphere.
“It’s ready to eat.” Fu Yuchi took a sharp twig and pierced the rabbit meat easily through it.
Sun Miao'er took one, but the freshly roasted wild rabbit was too hot to handle. However, she was hungry and cold, so she endured the heat and tore off some rabbit meat and put it in her mouth. She had to admit that wild rabbit was the best. No matter how she cooked the pork at home, she always felt tired of it.
Fu Yuchi didn't touch it. He preferred the sesame seed cakes his apprentice made. Although they were soaked in water and softened, they still had flavor. After all, he had almost gotten sick of eating wild rabbits in the mountains before.
Sun Miao'er was savoring the delicious rabbit meat when a soft groan from outside the cave broke the tranquility inside. She became alert, but for a moment she couldn't tell what animal's cry it was.
It doesn't look like a wild beast, nor is it poultry. Could it be some kind of cub?
Sun Miao'er approached the cave entrance, waiting for her master to respond. However, Fu Yuchi remained unmoved, taking out medicinal herbs from the bamboo basket and sorting them as he pleased.
Silence is permission, Sun Miao'er thought, as she poked her head out of the cave. In the dim moonlight, she could see something moving in the grass under a tree not far away, and the humming sound was coming from there.
Sun Miao'er carefully approached, and when she could see clearly, she realized that what was moving was a fluffy little cub. It was too dark outside for her to see clearly, so she simply put it in her arms and quickly scurried back into the cave.
When the firelight shone on it, it turned out to be a bear cub.
This was something Sun Miao'er never expected; she had found a bear cub in the mountains.
"Aren't you afraid the mother bear is nearby?" Fu Yuchi didn't even bother to lift his eyelids, not even glancing at the bear cub, completely unconcerned.
Sun Miao'er hadn't considered this. Yes, this bear cub looked to be only a month or two old, and its appearance here meant the mother bear must be nearby. A chill ran down her spine as she realized the consequences of her impulsive action. "Master, I'll take it back right away."
"You actually believed that?" Fu Yuchi was picking up the herbs, and had almost finished. He finally took a look at the bear cub, but then shook his head. "It was abandoned by its mother and won't survive."
As they were talking, the bear cub whimpered even more loudly in Sun Miao'er's arms, its fluffy head rubbing against Sun Miao'er's palm, tickling her, and its pair of dark eyes, like two small black beans, shining with tiny points of light.
Sun Miao'er's heart melted instantly. She couldn't reconcile the bear cub with the man-eating beasts in the mountains. She said aggrievedly, "Master, but when it stays outside, the small animals in the mountains can eat it, and there are also eagles and vultures flying in the sky. It can't even leave a complete corpse."
"I'm just telling you, you can't raise it. Believe it or not." Fu Yuchi didn't expect that he wouldn't have collected many herbs from the mountains this time, but instead, this girl picked up a bear cub. Whether this was a blessing or a curse was hard to say.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
