Chapter 85: Surprised or Not?

If Bai Xi knew, she would surely purse her lips. She simply thought that, since the villagers were pooling their fish to sell together, it was just best to keep the accounts straight, so there would be no mistakes when the money was divided and no one would feel wronged. Keeping things orderly was far better than having trouble arise and forcing her to use her status as the Young Mistress to pressure others.

At this moment, it was just past midnight.

Suddenly, as Fang Ya was listening to her husband and the village chief talking, she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. She instantly grabbed her husband’s hand and signaled for him to look toward the grass by the roadside.

“What is it?” Chen Weiguo asked, confused.

Before Fang Ya could answer, Chen Daliu in the front hurriedly turned up the kerosene lamp hanging from the shaft of the cart, his tone suddenly panicked.

“Hold on tight, both of you, and sit still—don’t fall off the cart. We’re being stalked by a wild beast.”

“What? A wild beast?” Chen Weiguo’s expression changed immediately. He’d lived in the city his whole life and had only ever heard stories of wild beasts attacking people in remote rural areas, but he’d never actually encountered such a thing.

But Chen Weiguo was no fool; how could people possibly fend off wild animals?

“Then… what should we do?” he stammered.

Chen Daliu didn’t answer him. How should he know? He was regretting things himself. If he’d known, he would have just spent the night in a corner of the city. Why did he have to rush home? He’d wanted to share the good news with the villagers and bring the meat buns to the Young Mistress as soon as possible. How could he have known they’d run into a wild animal?

Fang Ya had never experienced anything like this before; terrified, she flung herself into her husband’s arms, trembling uncontrollably.

“Could it be a wolf?” Chen Weiguo held his wife tightly, too panicked to comfort her, and asked anxiously.

Chen Daliu was focused intently on driving the ox cart, making sure the ox didn’t panic and veer off the path or bolt in fear—if that happened and they fell off the cart, the three of them would be in real trouble.

Without turning his head, he replied, “I don’t know. I didn’t see clearly. Let’s hope it’s not.”

Wolves rarely hunt alone. If it was another kind of wild animal, they might still be safe, but if it was a wolf, there would surely be a pack following behind the leader. In that case, their situation would be dire.

Just as the three of them were so tense that every pore stood on end, the wild beast that had been following them for some time could no longer restrain itself. It leapt, aiming straight for Fang Ya, who was sitting on the ox cart—after observing them for a while, it had decided she looked the easiest to attack.

But just as it launched itself, another beast of similar size crashed into it at lightning speed, knocking it aside in midair.

This sudden turn of events brought the ox cart to a jolting stop, nearly throwing all three passengers off. It wasn’t Chen Daliu who reined in the cart—the ox had been so frightened it wouldn’t move.

The sight of the two fierce beasts colliding so violently terrified Fang Ya into a shrill scream, but Chen Daliu’s own shout was even louder.

Chen Weiguo was stunned. Following the direction of Chen Daliu’s astonished cry, and by the dim light of the kerosene lamp, he could just make out that the beast pinning down a gray figure was covered in snow-white fur.

White?

“It’s Little Black!” Chen Daliu exclaimed excitedly. “It’s Little Black! The Young Mistress must have sent it to meet us!”

Thank heavens—they were safe now.

With Little Black around, they needn’t fear any wild beast.

The Young Mistress had said before that Little Black was the fiercest animal in these mountains, and that one day it would be even stronger.

No one thought Bai Xi was just a boastful child showing off her pet; after all, the hunters who’d gone into the mountains had often told tales of Little Black’s hunting prowess when they returned.

Besides, Little Black was a tiger—the king of the mountain. And though not yet fully grown, it already hunted in the mountains alone every few days and could drag back prey larger than itself. The villagers knew this well and had no reason to doubt it.

Little Black had intercepted the wolf in midair, and before the wolf could even react, it was battered by two heavy blows from the tiger’s paws, then another as they landed. The wolf barely had time to howl before life left its body.

Hearing his words, Little Black turned its head to look at Chen Daliu and let out a few low growls. That’s right—surprised? Pleased? It’s me, Lord Little Black!

Though no one understood the tiger’s language, its tone of pride was unmistakable.

Chen Daliu waved his hand joyfully, exclaiming, “Little Black, you’re incredible! Thank you! Did the Young Mistress send you to meet us?”

Little Black grumbled—of course. Did you think I’d come out here just for fun if she hadn’t?

While Chen Weiguo was still dazed and Fang Ya hadn’t yet recovered from her fright, Little Black picked up the dead wolf in its jaws, leapt onto the ox cart, and set the carcass down to one side. It glanced at both Chen Weiguo and Fang Ya, then looked at Chen Daliu and gave a low growl, signaling him to get the cart moving again.

The ox cart set off once more, and only then did Fang Ya begin to recover.

She swallowed hard, too nervous to look directly at Little Black. She cast a quick glance at the wolf’s torn throat before turning her eyes away, her body rigid, pressing even closer to her husband and unconsciously slowing her breath.

She’d seen Little Black in the village a few times before, but Bai Xi had always been present. Now, with the girl gone, who knew if Little Black might suddenly turn savage?

Chen Weiguo, though braver, was still frightened to be this close to Little Black without Bai Xi there. Who wouldn’t be? A wolf about the same size as Little Black had just been killed with ease—they themselves wouldn’t last a second under its claws.

But Chen Daliu had seen Little Black often; otherwise, he wouldn’t have recognized it so quickly.

As he drove the cart, he chattered away happily: “Little Black, when did you get here? Have you been waiting all this time? Lucky you were here—otherwise, we’d have been in real trouble. You have no idea how close it was just now...”

Little Black couldn’t be bothered to respond and simply rolled its eyes in annoyance, closed them, and began to doze. Chen Daliu ended up talking to himself, but neither Chen Weiguo nor Fang Ya found him bothersome; with him speaking up front, the couple felt much less afraid in the back.

Once he’d calmed down, Chen Weiguo joined in the conversation from time to time.

Back in the village, having sold their goods, few people had gone to bed yet, so news of the ox cart’s return spread quickly.

As the villagers followed the cart to the treehouse, many were astonished when they saw the dead wolf on the cart.

“Chief, did you run into a wolf?”

“Didn’t we just! If Little Black hadn’t shown up, the three of us would have been in real danger.”

“Are you all right? No one was hurt, were they?”

“We’re fine—Little Black arrived just in time. You should have seen it, how easily it dealt with that wolf...” Chen Daliu recounted Little Black’s bravery to the villagers without the slightest reservation.

As soon as they entered the village, Little Black jumped off the cart and ran off. At that moment, it was following Bai Xi down from the treehouse. Hearing Chen Daliu’s praise and the villagers’ exclamations, it let out a pleased growl to Bai Xi: “Master, that Daliu fellow really does know what’s what.”