Zhao Xixi had a nightmare. In the dream, the little tiger's ears had fallen off, then the other children kicked his ears around, and later, they all laughed at him.
“A tiger… There's a tiger… He is so weird. He has no left ear and no right ear.”
“Don't play with a tiger who has no ears. If you play with him, your ears will be gone too!”
Then all the children ostracized the tiger cub. Zhao Xixi looked at the little tiger who was walking back, crying. She was so anxious and wanted to play with the tiger cub!
Something had startled the little tiger cub awake. It turned out that Zhao Xixi desperately hugged the tiger cub while sleeping. Her eyes closed tightly, and she was still mumbling in her sleep, “Tiger Cub, don’t cry. Look, I don’t have ears either. We both have no ears!”
The tiger cub was stunned for a moment. He could tell that the human cub was having a nightmare.
In fact, he was not afraid of not having ears. The tiger cub lay down, resting his fluffy chin on the human cub's chest, listening to the heartbeat inside.
Today, he knows he is not a mixed-race monster cub. He also knows that he is an experimental subject and that he has no parents.
He used to save money every day to find his mother, but his long-held wish suddenly came to nothing. However, he didn't feel empty in his heart.
The little tiger smelled the milky scent of the human cub and arched his head at the human cub, who was having a nightmare, then said, “Zhao Xixi, Zhao Xixi...”
Zhao Xixi slowly opened her eyes and saw the tiger cub with raised ears. She breathed a sigh of relief, hugged the tiger cub, and said, “Fortunately, it was a dream!”
The little tiger asked, “What are you dreaming about?” .
In a particularly uncomfortable tone, Zhao Xixi said, “I dreamed about your ears being missing, and then other children laughed at you… Fortunately, it was a dream.”
Zhao Xixi added, “But don't be afraid. If you don't have ears, I don't want ears either.”
The little tiger cupped Zhao Xixi's face, and in a brisk tone, he said, “My ears are still here. Do you want to touch them?”
Zhao Xixi acted immediately and touched the tiger cub's ears, then said, “The fur on the back of your ears feels so comfortable.”
Touching and touching, Zhao Xixi remembered the question that the teacher had asked just now. Then she asked, “Tiger Cub, Tiger Cub, how did we get back?”
A bit embarrassed, the tiger cub said, “The big dog we met before had saved us.”
Tiger Cub omitted the fact that he had saved Zhao Xixi from the Lion King and only said things related to the dog.
Zhao Xixi still remembered the big dog because that big dog was really enormous, and it even bit the tiger cub’s neck.
She remembered what she said before about that big dog being a bad dog, and then, with a bit of regret, she said, “Where did the big dog go? He had saved us. He is a hero! We still have to say thank you to him.”
The tiger cub also wanted to say thank you to that big dog, but he had passed out at that moment, and when he woke up, he was already at Teacher Tao Hua's house. He said, “I don't know. Let's look for him later.”
And at this moment, Teacher Tao Hua and the others already knew roughly the ins and outs of this matter.
About the things on the highway and the things that stray dogs had made before.
The police received news that happened on the highway: that the authorities originally transported those stray dogs for destruction, but suddenly those dogs rioted. They didn’t know what happened. All the dogs in the two cars had escaped and barked in the other direction.
When they drove to catch them up, they almost collided with the opposite vehicle. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but all the stray dogs had escaped.
The police issued a notice, hoping that the passing crowd would pay attention to safety and not stop and stay.
Teacher Tao Hua remembered that the dogs at that moment had guided them towards the small path. Those dogs caused a traffic accident that happened to be blocking Longteng Pharmaceutical Company’s cars. And they had found Tiger Cub and Zhao Xixi by chance on that small path. In this way, she speculated that it was probably possible that those dogs had helped Zhao Xixi and Tiger Cub.
But Teacher Tao Hua couldn't figure it out. Why did those dogs help them?
Dogs are indeed loyal, but they are only loyal to their owners. However, there is a saying that big dogs are very gentle toward children, but the problem is that the IQ of dogs is only the IQ of a few-year-old child. How could they stop the Longteng Pharmaceutical Company’s cars completely and unmistakably? And also led them to the small path!
There must be something there that she didn't know about.
Teacher Tao Hua couldn't figure it out, but she didn't plan to pursue this matter too much. Because if she wanted to find out about this matter, she must catch those stray dogs. They had rescued Zhao Xixi and Tiger Cub, so it would not be good if she caught them. It would bring disasters.
Although Teacher Tao Hua agrees with the authority's handling of the unrest, she also agrees that doing good things should get wonderful rewards.
Teacher Tao Hua relied on her ancestors' connections to ask the authority to give up catching those stray dogs and instead investigate the matter of Longteng Pharmaceutical Company. After all, the place where those stray dogs got lost was on the highway outside the city. With mountains and forests on both sides, and there were no people there, so it would not be too harmful.
After she settled on these matters, she looked at her mobile phone, and it was almost the end of the human kindergarten next door.
When school is over, Zhao Xixi's parents will come to pick her up and take her home.
Later, when Teacher Tao Hua went back to see Zhao Xixi, she saw several of her ancestors talking to the two cubs one by one.
“How old are you?”
“I'm going to be four years old. The tiger cub is also four years old. Grandma, how old are you?”
“Me? I'm one hundred and one years old today! These are grandma's parents; these are grandma's maternal grandparents…”
Among a group of elderly people, the youngest is the first to communicate. After all, she is younger, so the generation gap is not that big.
Great Grandma asked, “Little friend, Zhao Xixi, are you used to being in kindergarten? Are there any cubs bullying you?”
Maternal Great Grandma said, “When you have nothing to do, you can come to Grandpa Grandma’s house to play. Anyway, Grandpa Grandma has nothing to do.”
When Teacher Tao Hua looked at this scene, it was just like a picture of primary school students visiting lonely elderly people.
Teacher Tao Hua’s heart is full of flaws, and she thinks—Come on, I told you not to retire so early, but one by one you were rushing to retire. After retirement, you all were playing mahjong, dancing in the dance square, making tea houses, and traveling around the world. You were very busy. Are you not embarrassed to say that you have nothing to do now?
Teacher Tao Hua's biggest headache is that these are her grandpa, grandma and great grandpa, great grandma. Why did they call themselves grandpa and grandma to her students?
Zhao Xixi was very polite to old grandpas and grandmas and politely answered their questions.
Teacher Tao Hua came over and picked up Zhao Xixi. Then she said to her several ancestors, “Little Xixi’s parents are coming to pick her up soon. We’re leaving first. You all can just go play mahjong. It’s time to call the three missing ones.”
三缺一 (sān quē yī) Three missing ones is a term used in the mahjong game. Since the mahjong game requires 4 people to start the game, if there are only 3 people, it is called three missing ones. Nowadays, it generally refers to things or other activities that people cannot carry out due to a lack of people.
When the oldest grandma heard this, she remembered something. Holding a cane in her hand, she was walking with trembling to the side and took something wrapped in paper from the table. She handed it to Little Xixi and said, “(Paternal Ancestor) Grandma will give you some sweets, and you will come to play often later.”
Zhao Xixi took it over and said in a childish voice, “Thank you, Grandma.”
Although her mother said not to eat things from strangers, this is Teacher Tao Hua’s grandma, so she can definitely eat it.
Paternal Ancestor Grandma watched Little Xixi accept the candy she gave her. Her wrinkled face was smiling. The elderly always hoped that the junior would accept the candy or other things that she gave.
So, Teacher Tao Hua hugged Zhao Xixi. Zhao Xixi was holding candies from the elders in her hand, and Tiger Cub followed her. The little tiger also received the vegetarian jerky. But Great Grandma didn't know how to give it to the little tiger because the little tiger is not like Zhao Xixi, who can hold things with her hands.
After all, the little tiger is still a cub. Facing this kind of care from the elderly, he looked at the old man in front of him at a loss, not knowing what to do.
Zhao Xixi took it over and said, “Grandma, I’ll hold it for the tiger cub. I’ll put it in his schoolbag when I get to the classroom later.”
Paternal Ancestor Grandma: “You are really two good children. Later, you should always be good friends and take care of each other, you know?”
Zhao Xixi nodded fiercely.
Teacher Tao Hua took the two cubs and walked outside. When she got in the car, she saw several elders standing at the door and watching them leave. It was like the lonely nester elders watching off their working children in a public welfare advertisement. Teacher Tao Hua looked back and saw the reluctance in the eyes of this "empty nesters" group.
空巢老人 kōng cháo lǎorén = empty nesters
The term "empty nesters" refers to elderly people who are living alone after their children have grown up and become adults and then have left home either for work, study, marriage, etc. So, the parents have become empty nesters, just like the bird will leave the nest after it grows up and only leave the bird’s parents in the nest.
Although she knew the elders were doing well, Teacher Tao Hua was inexplicably sad.
The ancestors in the family have been teachers for generations, including her, but they all experienced the days of being hunted as monsters. In the past, monsters were heretics different from humans.
Later, the law passed the Monster Protection Laws, but the monsters still face some discrimination. Their family had taught and educated people for generations, hoping to change this concept and strive for a more equal environment for future generations of monsters.
Teacher Tao Hua actually knew it. She knew her ancestors had watched the relationship between humans and monsters deteriorate day by day. When they got old, they seemed to have become children and chose to escape from this world’s reality.
So when facing Zhao Xixi, they will be so enthusiastic.
Zhao Xixi and the tiger cub sat in the back seat of the car. Zhao Xixi sat in the child safety seat, and the tiger cub sat in the cub safety seat.
There is a difference between a cub safety seat and a child safety seat. Zhao Xixi opened her eyes wide. This was the first time she saw a cub safety seat, and she couldn’t help but touch it here and there.
Then Zhao Xixi sneaked up to the tiger cub’s ear and whispered, “Tiger Cub, Tiger Cub, can you go home with me?”
The tiger cub looked at Zhao Xixi: “?”
Zhao Xixi said, “There are bad people at your home. If they catch you again when you get home, what should we do?”
Tiger Cub still remembered that the human cub’s parents didn't like monsters. He had met other human cubs’ parents, so he believes that Zhao Xixi’s parents will not be good to him.
What if Zhao Xixi takes him—a monster—back home, and then she’ll get spanked?
So, the tiger cub said, “No.”
Although Zhao Xixi felt that her voice was very low, Teacher Tao Hua in the front seat had heard it. Of course, she did not agree with the tiger cub going to Zhao Xixi’s house because Zhao Xixi’s house still had two big risk factors. Although this risk factor is not dangerous for Zhao Xixi, it is very dangerous for Tiger Cub as a monster cub. So she said, “Today, Tiger Cub will live in the teacher’s house. It happens to be that the teacher’s grandparents, great-grandparents, and the others all like Tiger Cub.”
When Zhao Xixi heard this, for a while she thought, Everyone likes Tiger Cub. She was so happy, so she said, “Then… okay.”
Teacher Tao Hua had planned this from the beginning. She came out with the tiger cub because she had something to ask the tiger cub. It was uneasy to ask these things in front of the ancestors at home. So, she was going to send Zhao Xixi away first, and then she would ask him later.
Teacher Tao Hua sent Zhao Xixi to a place not far from the human kindergarten. Even though the kindergarten next door wouldn't be out for another half an hour, there was already a long line outside. The parents had lined up to pick the children up.
Zhao Xixi got out of the car and looked back at the tiger cub in the car. She feels so sad to be separated from her best friend again.
Then she saw her parents not far away. Because Zhao Xixi had told them that the cub kindergarten would end an hour earlier than the human kindergarten, Father and Mother Zhao came over early.
It was not easy for them to wait at the entrance of the club kindergarten, so they waited here.
Zhao Xixi ran towards her parents and then said, “Dad! Mom! Why are you two here together?”
Usually, one of them came alone when picking her up at school, and this was the first time the two of them had come together. Mother Zhao was already seven months pregnant, so usually it was Father Zhao who picked up Zhao Xixi.
Mother Zhao took Zhao Xixi’s small schoolbag and said, “Is it fun at school today?”
Zhao Xixi said unhappily, “It’s not fun today. Two bad uncles said they wanted to cut off the tiger cub’s ears…”
Children like Zhao Xixi sometimes can't grasp the key points of things. In their minds, the priority of things is determined by how much they care about them.
Just like when her former classmates bullied her before. If she were an older child, she should be able to file a complaint and say that those children called her a fat pig and treated her as if they were about to kill the pig. But Zhao Xixi felt that her hair was being pulled more painfully, so she kept talking about the pulled-hair thing.
Just like now, Zhao Xixi kept twittering, “But that blonde uncle is also very pitiful…”
At such a young age, she still doesn’t understand why most of the world is so complicated. She just felt that the blonde uncle was very pitiful, but even though he was pitiful, he also shouldn't bully Tiger Cub.
Father and Mother Zhao were confused when they heard it. Are the teachers at the cub kindergarten so unethical?
“Are those bad uncles, your teacher?”
“No, my teachers are good. Those bad uncles… I don’t know where they came from. Anyway, they just want to bully the tiger cub!”
That might be people from the surrounding community.
Zhao Xixi called them uncles, so Father and Mother Zhao naturally thought they were human beings.
If a human sees a little tiger and wants to cut off his ears, although this behavior is so bad, it is not non-existent.
So, Mother Zhao said, “How come there was someone from the surrounding community entering your school?”
She thought it seemed the school did not maintain its safety properly.
Mother Zhao looked at Father Zhao. Father Zhao understood what his wife meant and wanted to have a good talk with the school, but the problem was that they were now in a dilemma.
Father Zhao continued to ask, “What happened next?”
Zhao Xixi answered, “Then a big dog appeared. That big dog helped us drive away the bad guys, and then the teachers found us.”
At the beginning, Father and Mother Zhao thought that humans had gotten into the school.
Wait, their hearts suddenly aroused. Could it be people from the Anti-Monster Alliance who had sneaked into the cub kindergarten and wanted to attack Zhao Xixi?
Many things passed through the minds of the two adults, and Zhao Xixi, next to them, continued to talk.
Since her parents were willing to listen to her, Zhao Xixi wanted to tell her parents about everything she had done.
“That big dog is so big, much bigger than Ah Bao!”
In Zhao Xixi's mind, when she was a child, Ah Bao was a puppy. Now that she has grown up a little, Ah Bao must have grown up a little too, just like her.
“Mom, Mom, is Ah Bao a little older now? When can I go see Ah Bao?”
Mother Zhao did not dare to look into her daughter’s eyes. She said softly, “Can we go to see it later? When you already grow up, by then Ah Bao will also grow up too, and then you can play together.”
Zhao Xixi: “Okay then. When I grow up a bit…”
Just as Zhao Xixi finished speaking, she couldn’t help adding, “Then will I grow up next year?”
Mother Zhao: “Not really. You should have to wait until you go to college before we can consider you a grown-up.”
Zhao Xixi said, “Okay then.” (那好吧 nà hǎo ba)
Every time she said okay (那好吧 nà hǎo ba), she would pronounce the word "ba (吧)" with an accent, which gave people the feeling of a very helpless, compromising tone.
But soon Zhao Xixi started talking about the big dog again: “I met that dog before, and he bit Tiger Cub at that moment, but now he is a friendly dog, and he even saved us.”
She continued, “Mom, mom, I want to prepare something for the dog. I will give it to him the next time I meet him.”
Mother Zhao said, “Okay.”
When Father Zhao heard Zhao Xixi say this, he remembered the husky puppy, Ah Bao, that he had sent away. At that moment, Zhao Xixi was very fond of Ah Bao very much. She pestered Ah Bao every day and even talked to Ah Bao. In the past, Zhao Xixi talked inarticulately and sometimes babbled. Later, after the dog was sent away, Zhao Xixi crawled around the rooms looking for Ah Bao for several days.
Father Zhao felt a little sorry for Zhao Xixi, so he said, “Baby, do you want to get another puppy? Your aunt’s dog has given birth to a baby.”
In fact, they had discussed this matter before, and Zhao Xixi refused at that moment.
And now Zhao Xixi suddenly turned around and looked at her parents with bright eyes.
The couple felt a lot of pressure from this brief look.
Mother Zhao was the first to say: “Does the baby want to get a dog?”
Zhao Xixi shook his head: “No, those baby dogs all belong to the dog’s father and mother, so we don't need to raise them!”
She saw it the last time she looked at the photos.
“Besides, Mom and Dad don’t have time anymore to take care of the puppy. I also have to go to school every day, and I don’t have time to take care of the puppy.”
Every time Zhao Xixi talks about her principles, it’s all one mindset. In her mind, she never thought about raising the heroic big dog because, in her worldview, big dogs are adults, and they don't need others to raise them.
Father Zhao: “Then why are you so happy?”
It could be said that she was overflowing with excitement…
Her father held Zhao Xixi, but she immediately hugged her mother’s neck, who was next to her. And then, in a coquettish voice, she said, “Mom, do you want to raise a little baby who doesn't need to be taken care of during the day and sleeps obediently at night?”
Mother Zhao laughed and said, “Baby, are you praising yourself?”
Zhao Xixi shook her head, then said, “No, Mom. Just tell me whether you want to raise him or not. It's easy to raise and doesn't cost money. Also, you don't have to comb his fur; I’ll do it instead.”
Father Zhao suddenly thought of something and asked, “Baby, is what you would like to talk, about your best friend?”
Zhao Xixi nodded vigorously: “He’s very easy to raise, and he doesn't like to talk. He sleeps very well and doesn't kick the quilt. He also doesn't cost money at all.”
This is not about money.
Mother Zhao looked at her daughter and didn’t know how to explain to her the current relationship between humans and monsters.
Zhao Xixi said pitifully, “Now the tiger cub has no parents, and there are bad guys who want to cut off his ears…”
Zhao Xixi added, “When my brother comes out in the future, Tiger Cub and I will take care of him every day, so my parents won’t have to work so hard.”
Father Zhao sighed: “Baby, this matter…”
Zhao Xixi continued to beg: “Dad, Tiger Cub is really not scary at all. He only lives at our house at night, and we go to school during the day. He is also a good kid with 30,000 points, and I no longer needed my daily fifty cents, too. Dad… Please…”
If the tiger cub were human, then this would be no problem, but the problem is that he is not human.
Father Zhao shook his head firmly, but then heard Mother Zhao next to him say, “Okay.”
Father Zhao looked at his wife with a headache.
Mother Zhao: “I’m going to give birth in a while. Let’s plan to move. Move here to this community so that we won’t be in a hurry later.”
Mother Zhao continued, “If we move here, the little tiger can live in our house secretly. As long as we properly make the arrangements, the other won't discover him.”
After all, no one would have thought that their family would hide a little tiger, and more importantly,
“Baby, you should have to promise Mom one thing.”
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