Before Song Wei could step in, little Lin Ping’an was already buzzing with excitement.
“Sister, let me do it—I’ll carry it!”
He dashed over and picked up the clumsy little bear, which had managed to trap itself after knocking over the bamboo basket.
Holding the bear cub really was like holding a child. The little thing, panicked, clung tightly to Lin Ping’an.
“Awoo, awoo~”
“Sister, it’s so adorable like this!”
“Let me check if the meat broth is ready. It seems hungry.”
Though still young, Lin Ping’an had plenty of experience caring for animals and could interpret some of their cries.
Seeing him even more attentive to the animals than she was, Song Wei couldn’t help but laugh.
“At this rate, our home could practically open a zoo.”
“What’s a zoo?” Lin Ping’an asked curiously.
Song Wei: “It’s a place specifically for keeping wild animals. They have large predators, snakes, birds, and even bigger ones like aquariums…”
Song Wei drifted into memories that had long grown hazy.
When she was very young in her previous life, her parents had taken her to the zoo.
But now, she could no longer clearly remember what her parents even looked like.
Sensing her low spirits, Lin Ping’an moved closer and leaned against her.
Song Wei patted his head and smiled. “Let’s check how the stewed meat is coming along.”
The meat wasn’t quite ready yet.
After a moment’s thought, Song Wei remembered that bears love honey.
She mixed some honey with warm water.
The little bear, whimpering from hunger, caught the scent and immediately began pawing and scrambling toward it.
The moment Song Wei set the bowl down, the cub nearly plunged headfirst into it.
Luckily, she reacted quickly and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck.
“Slow down!”
The cub, now lapping up the honey water, was too engrossed to care about slowing down.
Honey water splattered all over its chest fur, leaving it sticky just from holding it.
Song Wei was utterly disgusted.
Well, time to heat some water.
This bear definitely needed a bath!
After its honey water, the cub’s cries became less desperate, but it still stared eagerly at the stewing meat.
“Uncle Lei said there aren’t any nursing goats in our brigade, but other brigades have some. He asked Wenwu to help us inquire.”
Song Wei replied, “If it really doesn’t work out, we’ll have to go into the mountains and see if we can find any nursing animals.”
Just like with the spotted deer.
Once the meat broth was ready, they scooped out some broth to test.
The little cub wasn’t picky—it happily lapped up the meat broth too.
The meat itself was given to the wolves.
But these things still weren’t as nutritious as milk.
Fortunately, on the third day, the brigade leader brought good news.
“The Hongqi Brigade has goats. Two nanny goats gave birth last month. I’ve discussed it with them—we can bring the nanny goats and their kids here to raise. We’ll just take the milk, and once the goats stop producing milk, we’ll return them. We have to ensure the goats aren’t any thinner when we give them back.”
Their brigade had greenhouse vegetables, and among the picked leaves, there were always some old, dry, or rotten ones that would be discarded.
Those leaves were perfect for feeding livestock.
Whenever there were leaves available, everyone would take some home to feed their chickens, ducks, and geese.
Lin Zhen and Song Wei’s household already had two spotted deer and a silly roe deer, so they needed even more vegetable leaves.
But this year, the greenhouse vegetable cultivation had expanded quite a bit, so there was enough for them to eat.
Now, in the depths of winter, goats had limited food options. Bringing them to Ping’an Brigade to eat vegetable leaves was naturally the best solution.
Song Wei: “No problem!”
Jiang Wenwu helped with the errand and eventually brought back the nanny goats and their kids.
However, with so many meat-eating animals in the household, the two goats trembled with fear when they first arrived.
After Song Wei led them to the deer shed and tossed in some vegetable leaves, they soon calmed down.
The goats weren’t afraid of the spotted deer.
Once the nanny goats had settled, Song Wei began milking them.
Meanwhile, Jiang Wenwu and Lin Ping’an were playing with the little bear cub.
“I never thought bears could be so huge, yet their cubs are this tiny.”
Jiang Wenwu had seen full-grown bears before—massive creatures that could make your legs go weak just by standing up.
“If Sister raises this bear, she’ll be able to strut through the forests without a care in the world!”
Jiang Wenwu was utterly envious.
Song Wei walked over with a bowl of goat milk and said, “How about you take this cub and raise it yourself?”
Jiang Wenwu quickly shook his head. “No way, I couldn’t afford it! Once it starts eating meat, how much would it need in a day? Our family can barely afford meat for ourselves as it is.”
He was just admiring the idea—actually raising it was beyond his means.
Sister’s household kept all these wolves and could bring back prey every time they went into the forest. His family couldn’t manage that.
“Sister, when spring comes and your wolves go hunting in the mountains, could you take our Xuehua along?”
Song Wei: “Sure.”
The little bear, catching the scent of milk, was beyond excited.
It squealed and lunged toward Song Wei.
To make feeding easier and avoid waste, Song Wei had specially bought a baby bottle.
The bottle was made of glass, with only the nipple being soft rubber.
The bear cub latched onto the nipple and guzzled noisily, drinking with great enthusiasm.
“This is so much more convenient. No more wet fur.”
Jiang Wenwu was eager to try. “Sister, let me feed it.”
Song Wei handed both the bear and the bottle to him.
After getting his fill of feeding the cub, Jiang Wenwu prepared to leave.
As he was about to go, Wolf One grabbed a piece of meat in its mouth and tugged at his pants.
Jiang Wenwu grinned. “I get it—this is for our Xuehua, right?”
He was quite pleased. “Wolf One, you’re treating our Xuehua like your wife, huh? Well, I approve of this marriage! But you’ve got to step up your game—try to have a litter of beautiful cubs with Xuehua soon.”
From a human perspective, Wolf One was handsome, and Xuehua was pretty.
Who knew what their cubs would look like?
To be honest, Song Wei was looking forward to it too.
But for now, Xuehua was still too young.
Dogs reach sexual maturity early—they can have pups by the age of one.
By that calculation, if Xuehua and Wolf One really got together, it probably wouldn’t be long before there were cubs.
With two more mouths to feed, Song Wei couldn’t help but feel resigned.
“Might as well set up a proper farm in the future, or else we won’t be able to afford keeping all of you.”
And indeed, once policies allowed later on, Song Wei really did plan to contract some forest land and start a farm.
One reason was to provide food for all these mouths at home, and the other was to make money.
She didn’t care about earning much—as long as it didn’t operate at a loss and could keep running, that was enough.
Song Wei mapped out the future, even deciding what to farm.
Spotted deer, silly roe deer, pheasants, ducks, pigs—all could be raised. They could also plant orchards. Since bears liked honey, they could keep bees, and there was also goji berries…
“Tch, I’ve basically thought up an entire farm.”
She stopped herself—the more she thought about it, the more tempted she became, but it wasn’t time yet.
Still, it didn’t dampen her good mood. Humming a tune, she went to feed the eaglet.
She didn’t need to worry about the wolf king—Wolf One and Wolf Two would bring it food themselves.
Wild animals healed quickly. In just a few days, the wolf king was already able to walk around the yard on its own.
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