However, there are indeed many more men than on the mountain.
My stomach hurts a little, but I can bear it, so I curl myself up tighter.
As I was drifting off to sleep, something reached in from outside. Still half asleep, I reflexively bit it. Upon biting, I realized the texture was off. Opening my eyes, I saw that it was actually a hand, with long, slender fingers, distinct knuckles, and rounded nails.
I quickly let go, licking my palm ingratiatingly; this pervert is hard to get along with. The hand stiffened for a moment, then gripped my neck and pulled me away.
Hua Cijing held me in his arms. I looked up in confusion. He pinched my face and turned me outside, pointing ahead with one finger. I looked in that direction and saw a bulging purse hanging from the waist of the man in green.
Hua Cijing lifted me up a little higher and affectionately rubbed his chin against the top of my head. I dodged, and then I heard him say softly, "See? Bite that thing off and give it to me. Remember to be quick and don't let anyone notice."
I was placed on the ground and carefully took a few steps forward. Looking back, I saw Hua Cijing's expressionless face. I took two more steps and looked back again. Hua Cijing lowered her eyelids and her gaze swept over me like sharp knives.
I instantly mustered my courage and forged ahead, crossing the shoe mountain and stepping on the stone slabs, enduring the humiliation of crawling between someone's legs several times.
Crouch, jump, perfect mid-air turn...
I heard the man scream, as if he had bitten the wrong place. It was alright, I quickly let go and grabbed the purse hanging beside me. Just as I was about to jump off him, the man grabbed my not-so-flexible body.
When he realized he was holding me, he got angry. I saw his eyes were blazing. Wait, why am I falling so fast? I froze, still holding the purse in my mouth.
By the time I realized what was happening and cried out to Hua Cijing for help, I had already been pulled into his arms by the silver whip. I watched as his calm face grew darker and darker, and he stared coldly at the person whose money had been stolen.
The man, holding a stick he'd picked up casually, hesitated to give chase, seemingly intimidated by Hua Cijing's cold expression. He said weakly, "It bit me and stole my wallet. Let me teach it a lesson."
What if we've been discovered?
Noticing that I was trembling, Hua Cijing reached out and touched my head. I looked up, and there was a fleeting tenderness in his eyes.
I shook my head, and his gaze toward that person turned icy again: "My things are mine, only I can bully them."
Enraged, the man charged at me with a stick in his hand. I quickly burrowed into his robe, climbing up his inner garment and lying motionless on his back.
"Alright, you can come out now," Hua Cijing said after some time had passed.
I kept climbing and climbing until I reached Hua Cijing's shoulder and poked my head out from his collar.
Hua Cijing lifted me out of my mouth, took the purse from my mouth, and poured the silver inside into his palm. He patted my head with satisfaction and nodded.
"Very good, very good." It was as if that scene had never happened.
Hua Cijing entered an inn and placed me on the table. I slumped over it with my head hanging down, my stomach starting to hurt terribly, as if a spiky ball was churning inside.
A knock came at the door, and a tall, thin man with a white towel draped over his shoulder walked in carrying a plate: "Sir, here is what you ordered."
Hua Cijing pushed the plate of food in front of me. I looked up at it, then leaned back down.
(Four)
"Even if you go on a hunger strike, I won't let you go." Hua Cijing sat down opposite me and stared at me, his slender fingers tapping the table intermittently.
Bah! You're the one on a hunger strike, your whole family is on a hunger strike! I glanced at the plate of neatly arranged raw meat slices.
I can't be bothered with you.
Hua Cijing remained expressionless; he seemed angry. The atmosphere was somewhat heavy, and the churning pain in his stomach was becoming unbearable.
"Meow—" A very soft sound.
Look at me! You're still looking at me! It wasn't me who called you that...
A chubby tabby cat climbed in through the window facing the table, looking down at me arrogantly, and pointed its fat paw at the plate of meat.
Even if I can't eat it, I won't let you get away with it! A paw slams down on the meat—"Meow (No way!)!"
The big tabby cat swatted me down with its paw, snatched the meat, and flew out the window. In a few leaps, it landed on the opposite rooftop, pressed the meat under its paw, and licked its paw at me menacingly, its mouth twisted in a smirk, probably grinning evilly.
I stood on the edge of the table, dumbfounded.
"You acted very well this time." Hua Cijing shifted his gaze from me, slowly pulled a chopstick from the bamboo tube on the table, breathed lightly on the tip of the chopstick, and flicked it out without looking at it.
A gust of wind swept past beneath its paws, and the big tabby cat stared blankly as the slice of meat was pierced through by the chopsticks, flew away, and embedded itself in the wall in front of it. Its long fur flew wildly in the night wind. Suddenly, a sense of desolate loneliness, like that of a peerless master seeking defeat, arose within it.
Suddenly a sharp pain struck, and everything went black. I fell off the table, only to be caught by Hua Cijing mid-air.
"What's wrong with you?" Hua Cijing asked anxiously, lifting my chin with one finger while holding my hand in front of him. I pushed his hand away and hugged myself tightly into a ball.
It hurts so much, it really hurts.
Later, I probably fainted. When I woke up, everything was pitch black.
A bolt from the blue! A thunderbolt from the blue!
I've gone blind!
"God, why? Why are you doing this to me?" I roared at the endless darkness that was about to swallow me whole. "Why? You made me a tiger, but now I get a stomachache every time I eat meat! Why? Why are you taking away my eyes now! What did I do wrong? God, you are so unfair to me... Gaa!... Uh?!"
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