Chapter 436 The Power of Maternal Love: It's Only Special to You
The next moment, the howl of wolves echoed throughout the entire barracks.
"What's wrong with it?"
Chi Rui stared in disbelief at the scene before him.
The mother wolf howled at the wolf king in the cage, her howls urgent and fierce, the fur on her pointed face all bunched up.
Ji Qingwu covered her ears with her hands. As a mother herself, she knew what this she-wolf was doing.
What can she do? Of course, when her son does something wrong, she'll give him a good scolding.
The wolf's howl shook the dust off the roof of the barn, and the dark green in the wolf king's eyes began to clear, his eyes returning to a bright gray-green.
The wolf king crouched down, lowered its head, and gently pressed its nose against the iron bars.
It stared at the howling mother wolf and let out a soft, almost coquettish whimper.
Still confused, Chi Rui asked, "What exactly happened...?"
Ji Qingwu replied, "It is using maternal love to influence the child."
Zhao Mingyan nodded: "What a great motherly love."
Chi Rui: "......"
The mother wolf growled twice more, her curses becoming even more vulgar.
The wolf king curled himself up into a ball, opened his enormous, man-eating maw, bit his own tail, and looked at the mother wolf with a pitiful expression.
Only then did the mother wolf feel relieved enough to leave the wolf king's cage and tiptoe towards Ji Qingwu and the others.
Just as Chi Rui was about to lead his soldiers to protect the emperor, he saw Emperor Wusu raise his hand, signaling them not to approach.
The mother wolf kept pawing at the ground with her front paws. Every few pawings, she would glance at Ji Qingwu before continuing to paw.
Ji Qingwu asked, puzzled, "What are you doing?"
Zhao Mingyan shook his head, indicating that he didn't understand either.
Ji Qingwu stared at the sand pit dug by the mother wolf, then turned to get a better look.
The mother wolf's moist nose twitched again, sniffing her scent. Her drooping tail swayed as she slowly approached Ji Qingwu.
Everyone present could sense that the mother wolf was not hostile; in fact, she was unusually friendly towards Ji Qingwu.
Ji Qingwu had never been in contact with wolves, but he knew how to get along with wolf puppies.
She tentatively reached out her hand, palm facing the mother wolf, to let it get used to her scent and feel her friendliness.
The mother wolf's dark nose pressed against hers, its warm breath brushing against her palm with a strange intimacy.
Ji Qingwu felt a small patch of cool dampness in her palm, and her body relaxed. She tentatively stroked the mother wolf's head from the tip of its nose.
The mother wolf's eyes no longer held the same ferocity she had when facing the wolf king; instead, they revealed a hint of longing, as if she had seen her long-lost master.
“It recognizes you,” Zhao Mingyan’s voice came from behind, tinged with inquiry.
Ji Qingwu said with delight, "I don't know, but it seems to like me a lot."
To verify Ji Qingwu's statement, the mother wolf rubbed her furry head against her palm.
The wolf fur was thick and a bit prickly, making Ji Qingwu itch, and she smiled.
But as Zhao Mingyan took a few steps closer, the mother wolf immediately perked up her ears and let out a low growl.
Zhao Mingyan raised an eyebrow and said, "It seems it's only special to you."
He took a few steps back, and the mother wolf turned around and rubbed her body against Ji Qingwu's skirt, seemingly protecting her.
Ji Qingwu felt that this action was very familiar. She turned her gaze slightly and tried to pat the base of its tail with her hand. The mother wolf immediately wagged her tail happily.
Its fluffy, bushy tail smacked against Ji Qingwu's knees with a loud thud.
Ji Qingwu took a half step back, squatted down, and held the large wolf head in front of him with both hands.
"It's you?!" she exclaimed in surprise. "You're Little Wolf!"
Upon hearing the name "little wolf," the mother wolf exerted force with her front paws and excitedly lunged forward, about to knock Ji Qingwu down.
Almost simultaneously, the mother wolf's body was lifted into the air, about to pounce into the embrace of happiness, but was suddenly grabbed by the scruff of her neck and lifted up by the man who appeared suddenly.
The mother wolf struggled and flailed her limbs, and the wolf king in the cage also became agitated, starting to ram the iron cage.
Ji Qingwu pleaded, "Your Majesty, please put it down quickly. It won't do anything to me."
Even though the mother wolf was female and small in size, she still weighed eighty or ninety pounds, and Zhao Mingyan lifted her up in front of him with one hand.
He commanded, "Don't pounce."
The wolf's eerie green eyes met the man's cold gaze for a moment before looking away, and its tail tucked between its legs.
Seeing the mother wolf's fearful reaction, Ji Qingwu quickly stepped forward.
The translator explained, "The little wolf understands. It won't pounce randomly; it just wants to play with me."
Zhao Mingyan loosened his grip slightly, and the mother wolf was put down.
He said coldly, "Stay put."
But wolves are cunning. Taking advantage of Zhao Mingyan's momentary lapse in attention, it slipped under Ji Qingwu's skirt, leaving only its fluffy wolf head sticking out.
Ji Qingwu bent down and patted its head with amusement.
The mother wolf whimpered, her eyes looking up at her as if accusing the man of violence.
Zhao Mingyan's brow twitched. If it weren't for the fact that it was a she-wolf and Ji Qingwu was protecting it so fiercely, he would have thrown it out of the tent long ago.
Ji Qingwu exclaimed, "So you're a wolf after all..."
Zhao Mingyan asked, "You didn't know it was a wolf, so why did you name it Little Wolf?"
Ji Qingwu smiled as she recalled the past, explaining, "Back then, I thought it was a little wolfhound, and I hoped it would grow up to be as brave as a wolf and stop being bullied."
This happened when she had just come down from the mountain and was about to enter the military camp. She had encountered the wild boar on the way, and her body was covered in wounds from the boar's tusks.
Wolf cubs really look a lot like puppy puppies, with a layer of yellowish fur still on their bodies.
She rescued it and kept it by her side for a while. Later, the wolf cub ran away and got lost, and she was heartbroken for a long time.
It turns out that the wolf cub returned to its pack and even gave birth to a wolf king.
Ji Qingwu stroked its smooth, silvery-gray fur and said, "Girls really do change a lot as they grow up. The little wolf is really handsome now."
The mother wolf's tail also peeked out from under her skirt, wagging happily incessantly.
This fawning demeanor has no trace of a wolf's ferocity. Zhao Mingyan glanced at it sideways.
Ji Qingwu asked, "What does Your Majesty intend to do with the Wolf King?"
Now that the wolf king has regained his senses and will no longer be controlled by the Xijin people, returning the mother and child to the snowfield is the right thing to do.
Zhao Mingyan said, "Considering that its mother once protected the young master, we will not hold it against it."
Ji Qingwu's eyes suddenly lit up.
Did the little wolf smell her scent on Yuan Heng and know that the little guy was her child, so it nursed him instead?
Zhao Mingyan ordered, "Move the cage outside the camp and release it."
Chi Rui lowered his head and said, "Yes."
The cage was lifted by four soldiers, but Ji Qingwu said, "Wait!"
Her gaze, however, fell on the inside of the cage, at the wolf king's feet, where there was a small red dot.
Moving...
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