Chapter 15: Tiger’s Chase
He nimbly knocked out the fangs of the five wolves; those were the most valuable.
He only skinned one wolf, rolled it up, and cut the wolf meat into large chunks, stringing them together with vines.
He regretfully looked at the remaining four wolves, which he had to abandon.
“Quick, let’s go to the stream to roast wolf meat!” Grandpa Ling pulled Jin An along.
Jin Sui also walked quickly, looking back to see that quite a few hyenas were already circling.
She hesitated for a moment, then made a decision and said to Grandpa Ling:
“I dropped something. Grandpa, you guys go ahead, I’ll catch up soon.”
She turned back to the wolf carcasses and put all four wolves into the space laboratory.
Damn it, this young lady put in so much effort to kill these wolves, why should these hyenas get them?
After catching up with Grandpa Ling, they arrived at the stream. She took over breakfast, while Grandpa Ling quickly cleaned the wolf skins, and she stewed the wolf meat.
She found wild onions and several wild vegetables that could be used as seasonings nearby, but there was no cooking wine, star anise, or other ingredients to remove the gamey smell.
The stewed wolf meat wasn’t very tasty; the gamey smell was too strong, and the meat was tough.
But for the three of them, who hadn’t eaten meat in a long time, this was much better than roasted grasshoppers and silkworm pupae!
Jin An’s little mouth was greasy from eating. Grandpa Ling said with a chuckle:
“Eat slowly, this meat will be enough for us for several days!”
Jin Sui quietly used salt to marinate the remaining meat. Fearing that Grandpa Ling would discover she had an inexhaustible supply of salt, she cut the meat into small pieces, wrapped them in reed leaves, and carried them on her back.
In reality, she put most of it into the space, only carrying a few pieces for the journey. When it was time to eat, she would take them out of the space in advance, saving a lot of effort.
After this ‘battle’ of killing wolves, Jin An’s courage grew significantly. He laughed, saying he was no longer afraid of wolves chasing them, and if they dared to come, they would kill them and eat their meat.
From then on, he carried the bamboo pole long saber from Jin Sui’s hand to clear the path, and Grandpa Ling taught him how to use the saber to strike the wolves’ vital points.
The third time they encountered a wolf pack was in broad daylight.
No one expected the wolf pack in the deep mountains to be so bold, daring to surround people in the middle of the day.
Unfortunately, there was no dry firewood nearby to start a fire immediately. Grandpa Ling lit his flint and threw it into the wolf pack, but it wasn’t very effective. The wolf pack circled around but refused to leave.
It was clear that the Wolf King had already decided that these three ‘fat sheep’ were their dinner.
The three could only resort to the most primitive method to save their lives: run!
They ran incredibly fast, with Jin Sui leading the way with her saber, not only dodging wolves but also trying not to fall into pits.
It was truly a thrilling race, one that Jin Sui never wanted to experience a second time in her life!
Seeing a fork in the road ahead, with the wolf pack about to catch up, Grandpa Ling again used a tree branch for divination to ask for directions, pointing towards the valley on the right:
“Run that way!”
Jin Sui didn’t doubt him. Grandpa’s divinations were sometimes accurate and sometimes not, but whenever it was a matter of life and death, they were quite reliable.
As soon as they entered the valley, they smelled a strong, foul odor, not like fish, but like the scent emitted from a fierce beast’s breath.
As soon as the three entered the valley, they noticed the wolf pack was no longer pursuing them.
Jin An was still surprised: “Grandpa’s divination was really accurate, the wolf pack didn’t dare to chase us.”
Jin Sui, however, had her heart in her throat: “Why do you think they didn’t dare to follow us in?”
Before Jin An could figure it out, a tiger’s roar provided the answer.
The wolf pack scattered and fled. The three were also terrified out of their wits, not daring to look into the bushes to see what the tiger looked like, and then ran desperately.
Jin An rashly suggested: “Let’s climb up a tree, tigers can’t climb trees.”
Grandpa Ling said as he ran, “Tigers are very agile climbers! Climbing a tree will only lead to a quicker death!”
Jin An said anxiously again: “I hear water, let’s jump into the pool.”
This time it was Jin Sui’s turn to explain: “Tigers are better swimmers than you!”
The little brat was now so scared he was about to cry: “Then what should we do? I don’t want to be eaten by a tiger!”
Fortunately, the tiger went after the wolves.
This gave the three a brief chance to escape. Unfortunately, there was more than one tiger in this area.
Another, smaller tiger, rushed out from the bushes, roaring and pursuing the three.
Jin Sui glanced back at the tiger’s movements while thinking about what in her space could defeat a tiger.
She also had to keep an eye on Grandpa Ling and Jin An so they wouldn’t fall behind. In one moment of inattention, her saber didn’t clear the path, her foot slipped, and several loose stones fell.
Her body instantly became airborne, and with a few loud ‘plops’, the dislodged stones fell into the deep pool below.
Fortunately, she grabbed a vine by the cliff edge. Grandpa Ling, with quick hands, reached out to grab her hand, and Jin An also lunged forward, tightly gripping her sleeve.
Just then, the fierce tiger leaped through the air. Its huge head was right in front of her, and Jin Sui could clearly see its orange-yellow eyes.
Its massive claws were clearly aimed at Jin An. Could it distinguish which of the three had tastier meat?
Jin Sui reacted instinctively, pulling her younger brother towards her. The vine couldn’t support both of them and instantly snapped.
Along with Grandpa Ling, the three let out a collective scream and fell off the cliff.
Fortunately, quite a few vines grew along the cliff edge. The three managed to hang on by gripping and hooking with their hands and feet.
The tiger was at the top of the cliff, roaring and pacing back and forth, but it didn’t dare to jump down.
Grandpa Ling grabbed the long saber that had fallen with them and began cutting the tangled vines at their feet, then went to cut the ones at Jin Sui’s and Jin An’s feet.
They cut little by little, moving down bit by bit, and actually managed to reach the bottom of the cliff.
Apart from some wounds from thorns and Grandpa Ling spraining his ankle, the three were surprisingly not seriously injured.
Grandpa Ling pressed Jin An’s head, making him kneel and kowtow in thanks, thanking Madam Jiang.
He said it was Madam Jiang’s blessing that they were able to escape the wolves, then the tiger’s den, and even fall off a cliff unharmed.
This made Jin Sui also feel that there was divine protection, and who would believe it if she told anyone.
With the old, the young, and a weak woman, they managed to survive such extreme survival.
She also knelt by the pool and prayed, whether it was Madam Jiang or any passing gods, please bless us to safely leave the Xiaohan Mountain Range.
The bottom of the cliff was a hidden paradise. The cave was dry and windproof, the fish in the pool were foolish and fat, even Jin An could catch them, and the mushrooms in the grassland grew to be enormous.
From the water-soaked grassland, they found ground mushrooms, and from rotten wood holes, they collected wood ear mushrooms. Combined with the wolf meat, their meals visibly became more abundant.
Grandpa Ling’s foot needed rest. Jin Sui, after confirming that the tiger wouldn’t jump off the cliff to chase them, decided to rest here for two or three days.
Grandpa Ling performed a divination with the solemnity of someone who had narrowly escaped death, declaring it to be extremely auspicious, and that their future path would be very smooth.
The siblings let out a sigh of relief, lamenting: “We don’t ask for much smoothness, just no more encounters with tigers and wolves!”
Jin Sui felt that the experiences of this period of mountain travel were more exciting than her entire twenty-plus years in her previous life.
She never dreamed that one day she would be fleeing for her life from wolf packs and tigers in a primeval forest.
In her past life, she often watched wilderness survival shows. Compared to her own experiences, those shows were like a younger brother.
Young Jin An was initially scared, but once he was sure they were safe, his childlike nature made him find the experience quite thrilling.
He repeatedly said that compared to being escorted by constables and exiled, he would rather kill wolves and dodge tigers in the deep mountains.
After speaking, the excitement in his expression faded, replaced by sadness and resentment:
“But I want to return to Chang’an as soon as possible to seek vindication for Father.”
Jin An and Grandpa Ling exchanged a look, and neither of them responded.
Jin Sui changed the subject, asking him to fetch water, while she prepared to apply medicine to Grandpa Ling’s foot.
The medicine was from her space, but she mixed it with herbs found nearby.
Grandpa Ling couldn’t tell the difference at all and was still marveling, surprised that there was such good medicinal material in this valley for fall injuries.
