The Domineering Cultivator Farmer

Chapter 34: The Animals Return Home

During dinner that evening, Niuniu kept teasing Xiao Bai, picking out pieces of meat from her own bowl to feed it. To her surprise, Xiao Bai actually seemed to enjoy cooked food. When Xiao Bai opened its mouth, Fang Yun noticed that, unlike other snakes, its mouth was full of tiny white teeth. Seeing that Fang Yun had been staring at it the whole time while it ate, Xiaobai grew shy and slithered over to hide beside Niuniu, leaving only its little tail wiggling back and forth. Early the next morning, after the three of them finished breakfast, they got ready to leave the mountain. “Niuniu, let’s go.” Seeing Niuniu sticking out her little bottom and fiddling with something, Fang Yun hurriedly urged her on. “Oh, Dad, do you think this looks nice?” Niuniu handed Xiaobai—whom she had all dressed up—to Fang Yun to look at. Fang Yun couldn’t help but laugh when he saw it. Niuniu had tied one of her own hair bows onto Xiaobai’s tail, making it look absolutely adorable. It seemed Xiaobai really liked the bow on its tail too, holding its tail high in the air and wagging it back and forth. “Niuniu, put Xiaobai down. We have to go home, and we can’t take Xiaobai with us.” Fang Yun really didn’t want to take Xiaobai home—who knows, his house might end up becoming a battlefield between an eagle and a snake. “But Xiaobai doesn’t want to leave Niuniu. He wants to go home with her.” Niuniu pouted, unwilling to put Xiaobai down. Fang Yun glanced at her daughter with a chuckle—it was really her who didn’t want to part with Xiaobai, wasn’t it? But seeing how much Niuniu truly cherished Xiaobai, Fang Yun decided to let her have her way. She was confident that with her keeping watch, those eagles and snakes wouldn’t dare cause trouble at their home. Given Niuniu’s natural affinity for animals, she was sure no eagle would attack her while she was carrying Xiaobai. Still, on the walk home, Fang Yun couldn’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed as she watched the giant python and the white eagle trailing behind the wild boar family, making the boar couple look nervous as hell. The giant python was following him because Xiaobai was tucked away in Niuniu’s pocket—it needed to stay close to protect its “Snake Emperor.” But was the white eagle following them perhaps intending to strike at Xiaobai when no one was looking? Whether it was planned or not, only one of each—the largest of their kind—had followed. Fang Yun could imagine the panic that would ensue in the village if the giant python and the white eagle followed him back. The white eagle was one thing—such a majestic bird would surely be admired by many, especially falconers. But when a giant python capable of swallowing a whole cow in one gulp appeared before people’s eyes, Fang Yun could picture the utter chaos that would ensue. Several times, Fang Yun had thought about talking to Niuniu and asking her to put Xiaobai back. But whenever he saw Niuniu stroking Xiaobai in her pocket with a delighted expression on her face, he’d push the thought to the back of his mind. Finally, Fang Yun gritted his teeth and thought, “To hell with it—as long as my precious daughter is happy, I’ll carry it back even if the sky falls. For the smile on my daughter’s face, it’s all worth it.” When they reached the small gorge they’d come across on their first day in the mountains, they found that the Chinese giant salamander had been waiting for them by the stream all along. Whether herding one sheep or two, Fang Yun didn’t wait for Niuniu to say a word—he simply picked it up. Once they arrived at the reservoir, Fang Yun first released the salamander into the water, planning to dig a small pond by the reservoir the next day to bring it home. It was already dark by the time they got home, and they hadn’t encountered a single soul along the way—Fang Yun breathed a sigh of relief. As they passed Sanfeng Village, Fang Yun herded the giant python, the white eagle, and the family of wild boars into an air-raid shelter dug at the foot of the mountain during the Liberation War. It had been excavated to accommodate the entire village back then, so it was very spacious—there was plenty of room for these creatures to settle in. After sternly warning the whole bunch of birds and beasts not to fight among themselves, Fang Yun took the mother and daughter home. “Grandpa and Grandma, Niuniu’s back!” Niuniu started shouting even before she entered the courtyard. Hearing the commotion, Fang Changsheng and Wang Jiu hurried out. “Oh my, our precious Niuniu is back! Let Grandma and Grandpa see if you’re exhausted from going into the mountains.” Wang Jiu scooped Niu Niu up in her arms, gave her a big, wet kiss, and shot Fang Yun a fierce glare. The fact that Niu Niu had gone into the mountains with them had kept the elderly couple on the edge of their seats, terrified that she might trip or fall. Not to mention the wild beasts lurking in the mountains. That day, when Fang Yun and the others went into the mountains, Wang Jiu had happened to be visiting Fang Yun’s maternal grandmother’s house. Upon returning and learning that Fang Yun had taken Niuniu into the mountains, she gave Fang Changsheng a severe scolding, blaming him for not stopping them. Niuniu was now the apple of her eye. “Let’s all go inside and eat first,” Fang Changsheng said hurriedly, giving Fang Yun a discreet nod when Wang Jiu wasn’t looking—essentially telling him to fend for himself. Sure enough, at the dinner table, Wang Jiu lectured Fang Yun incessantly, telling him he shouldn’t have taken Niuniu into the mountains—she was still so young, and what if she got scared or something happened to her out there? Fang Yun could only eat in silence with a wry smile, his face splattered with spit. If he said a word now, a storm would surely follow. Over the years, Fang Yun had long grown accustomed to his mom’s temperament. If he didn’t talk back, it was fine—she’d just give him a scolding and move on. But if he did talk back, that was when things really got out of hand. Wang Jiu could lecture him nonstop for hours, giving him a full-on taste of what it meant to be in agony. “Grandma, the mountains were so much fun. Niuniu really loved eating bamboo tube rice.” “Oh, really? Then why don’t you tell Grandma all about what you ate while you were in the mountains, Niuniu?” Just then, Niuniu spoke up, interrupting Wang Jiu and saving Fang Yun from drooling over his words. As soon as Niuniu opened her mouth, Wang Jiu had no time to pay attention to Fang Yun anymore, allowing him to escape unscathed. Relieved, Fang Yun gave Niuniu a wink, which made her giggle. It really hadn’t been in vain to spoil this little girl—seeing her get scolded by Grandma had taught her to be considerate of her dad. The whole family listened with smiles on their faces as Niuniu vividly recounted her adventures in the mountains, bursting into laughter from time to time. When Wang Jiu heard Niuniu talk about the delicious bamboo tube rice and wild chicken stewed with snake mushrooms, his face turned pale. “Is Niuniu okay? Fang Yun, how could you let Niuniu eat poisonous snake mushrooms?” “Mom, snake mushrooms aren’t poisonous. We were all wrong before. This is actually bamboo fungus—it’s edible and extremely nutritious. Wild bamboo fungus is worth its weight in gold,” Fang Yun hurriedly explained. “Who would’ve thought that the ‘snake mushrooms’ we used to think were poisonous actually sell for as much as gold?” Hearing Fang Yun say that what they’d called “snake mushrooms” were actually worth their weight in gold, the elderly couple couldn’t help but marvel. Who in the village hadn’t done something as foolish as stepping on a snake mushroom spore cluster when they were kids? Listening to Niuniu recount her amazing adventure in the mountains, the elderly couple actually began to feel a bit tempted. The baby, the wild boar, the giant snake, and the massive eagle all filled them with wonder. When they heard that a huge snake, an eagle, and a whole herd of wild boars had been brought back, the elderly couple couldn’t sit still any longer and immediately wanted to go take a look. “Xiao Yunzi, is it really okay to keep a python this big in the village?” Wang Jiu and Fang Changsheng looked utterly stunned at the sight of the giant python, though they couldn’t stop grinning at the sight of the family of wild boars—those boars were worth a pretty penny. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t let its size fool you—it’s actually very timid.” As he spoke, Fang Yun gave the giant python a kick, causing it to retreat deeper into its hiding spot, looking aggrieved. On the way back, Fang Yun had already warned the python and the white eagle not to cause any trouble in the village. Seeing how the giant python behaved, the elderly couple finally felt at ease. Still, they were a little afraid of such a massive snake, so after watching it for a while, they left, simply instructing Fang Yun to keep a close eye on it.