Song Wei was just about to point at their noses and scold them when the third wolf, tail tucked between its legs, wagged ingratiatingly and nuzzled her foot with its head.
Seeing them like this, Song Wei couldn’t stay angry.
“You’re still so small, yet you’re running around everywhere. Don’t you know there are plenty of fierce beasts in these woods? If you run into a tiger, a bear, or some other large predator, with your tiny bodies, you’ll be waiting to die!”
After scolding them, she was about to leave when the two wolves grabbed hold of her pants with their teeth.
“Awoo, awoo…”
Having lived with wolves for so long, she had some understanding of their actions and calls.
They were trying to lead her somewhere.
Could they have found something good?
Thinking this, Song Wei actually followed them.
And then…
Pinching her nose, Song Wei emerged from a foul-smelling cave carrying a small bear cub.
Bears usually give birth in winter.
This cub looked like it had been born less than a month ago—it wasn’t even as big as a dog.
The territories of top predators are quite large, and judging by the distance, this was undoubtedly the cub of the bear that had been killed by the tiger.
Holding the squealing bear cub, Song Wei felt a headache coming on.
So, what should she do now?
She had no psychological burden killing an adult bear, but she couldn’t bring herself to harm one this small.
Whether in the animal world or the human world, people ultimately have emotions—even the coldest and hardest hearts hold some tenderness.
She couldn’t bring herself to kill it, but should she take it back with her?
“There are already so many meat-eaters at home, and now here’s another one that needs milk and meat.”
Actually, bears are omnivores—they eat both meat and plants.
But once the bear grows up, how much would it need to eat in one meal?
And she already had enough animals at home.
Song Wei tossed the cub back at the cave entrance, hardened her heart, and turned away, pretending she hadn’t found it.
But whether it was hungry or not, the little bear cried out pitifully and stumbled toward Song Wei.
Song Wei said, “Don’t follow me—I can’t afford to feed you.”
Somehow, the little bear accurately latched onto her leg, clinging to her and whimpering.
It looked utterly pitiful.
Song Wei picked it up and set it down on the snow.
“If you can keep up with me, I’ll take you in.”
With that, she started walking.
She looked back and saw the little one stumbling and falling in the snow, then getting up and whimpering as it tried to follow.
But it was too small, still unsteady on its feet, and it hadn’t eaten for most of the day.
After a while, it fell into the snow and no longer had the strength to climb up.
As the bear cub struggled and cried out miserably, a hand picked it up.
“Fine, I’ll buy a ewe when I get back.”
Brushing the snow off the little cub, Song Wei held it in her arms.
The little bear’s dark, shiny eyes stared at Song Wei, its tiny paws clinging to her as if it were terribly wronged.
Song Wei sighed. “Why isn’t there a zoo around here?”
She didn’t know if there were zoos elsewhere in this era, but there certainly weren’t any here.
Holding the bear cub was just like holding a small child.
The little cub was probably exhausted from running. Now that it was being held, although still hungry, it couldn’t resist sleepiness and dozed off on her shoulder.
With one arm cradling the bear cub and the other dragging the prey, Song Wei made her way to the sled.
She tossed the prey onto the sled and harnessed the wolves to the pulling ropes.
“Let’s go, time to leave the mountains!”
Carrying the prey, she took a different route this time—more remote and longer.
But it avoided most of the households in the brigade, and she preferred taking the detour.
The wolf pack was already quite familiar with the terrain.
They skirted around areas where they might run into people and finally headed straight back to Lin Zhen’s house.
Song Wei efficiently unloaded all the prey.
The bear cub was also placed in a basket lined with old clothes.
“Sister, what’s this?”
Lin Ping’an squatted by the basket, curiously eyeing the little bear cub curled up asleep inside. It was a fluffy little ball.
“Take a closer look?”
Lin Ping’an leaned in to examine it, then his eyes widened. “It’s a bear! Sister, you actually brought back a bear’s child!”
“Yeah, the mother bear was killed by a tiger. If I didn’t bring this one back, it would have died on the mountain.”
Hearing this, Lin Ping’an felt sorry for the cub. So it had lost its mother too.
“What about the father bear?”
Song Wei: “There is no father bear.”
“Why not?”
“Because in the animal world, many male animals are… not great. They run off after mating. Female animals have strong territorial instincts, especially after giving birth—they become very aggressive and will drive away any potential threats, including male animals.”
Lin Ping’an frowned. “That’s so strange.”
“Go ask the brigade leader if we can buy a nursing goat. This little thing is still at the milk-drinking stage.”
The powdered milk they had brought back from the northwest was all gone now.
After all, there had been five mouths to feed before, plus Hei Dan made six mouths drinking milk powder.
With a new furry addition to the family—and a famous bear at that—the cub was adorable, and Hei Dan quite liked it.
So, after tidying up the sled, he hopped on and headed straight to the brigade leader’s house.
Now that he had a sled as transportation, Hei Dan was happy to go anywhere.
Finding a lactating goat wasn’t easy.
After some thought, Song Wei decided to cook some meat broth first.
Without any seasonings, just plain boiled meat—surely that would be okay for it, right?
No sooner thought than done. She took one of the small prey animals she’d caught, a rabbit, and prepared it.
She lit a small stove, placed a pot on it, added water, and tossed in the chopped meat to boil.
By the time Hei Dan returned, she hadn’t paid attention to the heat—the fire was too strong, and the water in the pot had nearly boiled dry while the meat was still undercooked.
Hei Dan added more water and couldn’t help chiding her: “Sister, from now on, leave this kind of thing to me. Stewing meat requires a low flame to simmer slowly until it’s tender. Otherwise, the water will boil away before the meat is fully cooked.”
Song Wei’s face flushed with embarrassment.
She was worse at this than a child.
She really hadn’t thought the fire was that strong.
The bear cub woke up—awakened by hunger.
It squealed in the basket, thrashing about and overturning the nest they’d prepared for it.
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