"Sizzle... sizzle..."
A sound like fingernails scratching a blackboard kept echoing in the bamboo forest above, making Mo Qianshang's head ache slightly.
She had hated this sound since she was a child, but the sound showed no sign of stopping. Without thinking, she pulled the dagger from her sleeve and threw it towards the source of the sound.
She wanted to see what was hiding in the bamboo forest, playing tricks on her!
To her surprise, the expected scream of pain did not come; instead, the kitten's angry cry rang out.
"Meow! Meow meow meow!"
As if in a fit of impulse, Mo Qianshang cursed, "Bad guy! Big bad guy!"
However, Mo Qianshang felt that the cat's meow was a little strange, sounding more powerful than a normal cat's meow, which successfully piqued her curiosity.
To avoid frightening the kitten into not daring to come out, Mo Qianshang cleared her throat and called out softly in a gentle, spring-like voice.
"Meow~ Come out quickly, I have some delicious food here~"
Knowing that some cats are particularly clever and won't appear unless the food is actually laid out, she secretly redeemed a can of fish in the shop and opened it easily.
In an instant, the entire bamboo forest was filled not only with the gentle mountain breeze but also with the salty, slightly fishy smell of fish. The little creature hidden in the bamboo forest finally peeked out.
Upon seeing the black spots on its yellow fur, Mo Qianshang froze on the spot, her pupils shrinking sharply.
What incredible luck! She wanted to catch a cat to keep her company, but instead she ran into a little leopard!
The little leopard was incredibly clever; taking advantage of Mo Qianshang's momentary shock, it darted forward and snatched the can of food away.
All that remained was a yellow-black afterimage of Mo Qianshang.
Mo Qianshang came to her senses, but she wasn't angry. Instead, a confident smile appeared on her lips.
It's just canned fish! She's not short of money now; she can buy as much as the little one wants, it just depends on whether the little one's tummy can hold it all!
Unexpectedly, the little guy, perhaps because he didn't eat fish often or because he thought the canned fish was too salty, hid in the bamboo grove, took a few bites, kicked the can out, and made a very disgusted meow.
Mo Qianshang was speechless. So this was the picky little leopard?
Interesting, she likes it even more now.
A leopard that eats everything lacks personality; it might be easily lured away by someone else with delicious food. It's better to have some ambition.
Thinking this through, in order to completely win over the little leopard's stomach, Mo Qianshang took out a lot more meat, including fish, pork, chicken, beef...
This won't do!
In ancient times, when cattle were highly valued, she couldn't let her little leopard develop a habit of eating beef. If it went out and bit someone else's cow one day, that would be a crime!
However, Mo Qianchang had tried all kinds of meat, and even tried a couple of other seafood dishes, so the little leopard was no longer tempted.
After pondering for a while, Mo Qianshang suddenly thought of a possibility...
With a complicated expression, she exchanged a piece of tender bamboo shoot from the shop, covered her face, threw it away, and kept chanting in her mind.
Dear parents, grandparents, and ancestors of the little leopard, please take good care of it. This isn't me mistreating your offspring; it simply refuses to eat meat! Please don't blame me...
Before the prayer was finished, a crackling sound came from the bamboo forest, making Mo Qianshang anxious and eager to go and see what was happening.
But I was afraid of scaring the little one from eating, so I could only wait anxiously in place.
Perhaps it was because the bamboo shoots in the mall were of good quality, because after the little leopard finished eating, it poked out its furry little head, stared at Mo Qianshang with its round eyes for a while, and then carefully moved away.
They look incredibly cute.
It was half a cup of tea later before Mo Qianshang could see the little guy in full.
However, she is quite patient and doesn't mind waiting for the little one for a while.
In the dim light, Mo Qianshang seemed to see a small wound on the little guy's body, with neat edges, clearly cut by something.
The little guy was a wild animal, so it was normal for him to hurt himself in the wild. Mo Qianshang didn't think much of it and took out a small piece of tender bamboo shoot to try to attract the leopard cub.
The little leopard stuck out its pink tongue and licked its lips, swallowing like a human. After hesitating for a while, it finally couldn't resist and approached Mo Qianshang step by step, accompanied by the rustling of bamboo leaves.
But then he stopped a step away from Mo Qianshang, staring at her with his bright, round eyes.
Helpless, Mo Qianchang had no choice but to throw away the bamboo shoot in her hand, but immediately took out a new one and kept the little guy hanging like that.
After repeating this several times, the little leopard grew bolder and bolder, and was able to stop next to Mo Qianshang to eat bamboo shoots, which excited Mo Qianshang to the extreme!
Although she had close contact with leopards in her previous life, as they were nationally protected animals, she had no chance to keep them as pets.
Now...
She had observed that the little guy had most likely gotten separated from his pack, or that his companions had all gone to heaven, leaving him alone to accidentally fall here.
Eating bamboo shoots was probably a last resort, since she had only been to this group twice and all she could find to eat was bamboo; there was really nothing else to eat.
If that's the case, it's not unreasonable for her to raise the little one.
Perhaps it was because Mo Qianshang's gaze was too intense, the little guy felt very uncomfortable and hid back a bit.
Mo Qianshang chuckled softly, her eyes crinkling, but instead of pulling it forward, she acted as if she hadn't seen its fearful behavior. She got up, parted the bamboo covering the cave entrance, and prepared to go in and check on the little girl.
Unexpectedly, they came face to face with the little girl sitting on the stone bed, her eyes filled with confusion and fear.
"You, you are..." The little girl tried to recall, reaching out to rub her head, but touched the gauze on her head and quickly put her hand down.
She had seen it before: if someone in the village had a head injury, they would wrap it with cloth. Her mother said that the cloth should not be torn off, otherwise the wound would heal slowly.
Seeing that the little girl seemed to recognize her, Mo Qianshang became even more certain of her previous guess, walked up to the little girl, and handed her a wild fruit.
"Liu Xiaoyu, do you remember how you fell?"
Upon suddenly hearing her own name, Liu Xiaoyu's pupils twitched violently. She then grabbed Mo Qianshang's arm tightly, but quickly let go as she remembered something, turning her head away, unable to look at her any longer.
"It seems you do remember."
Mo Qianshang was not surprised at all by Liu Xiaoyu's reaction, and calmly explained some things that might change Liu Xiaoyu's mind.
"It's okay if you don't want to tell me, but there are some things I think you'd like to know. For example... why your parents still haven't found you."
The last sentence indeed piqued Liu Xiaoyu's curiosity. Although she didn't speak, the way she turned her head back revealed her true thoughts.
"If I'm not mistaken, it must have been your sister Liu Xiaolan who threatened you with something, which made you go up the mountain with her."
"It's a pity you're too naive. Liu Xiaolan doesn't have much affection for you. She's just worried about being scolded by your parents, so she deliberately delayed the search for you until near dusk."
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