Song Wei never expected that the first thing the wolf king would do after recovering was to take its son and daughter back to the mountains to fight the wolf pack.
Out of curiosity, she followed along.
Then she witnessed the father and his two children dominating the wolf pack.
Well, not exactly.
In a showdown between wolf kings, the other wolves couldn’t intervene.
“No wonder it left alone—it must have lost the fight for the position of wolf king.”
The father of Wolf One and Wolf Two was actually in its prime. Having ruled the pack for so long, it was undoubtedly highly capable.
Last time, it was probably driven out because it was injured and weakened during a hunt, allowing another wolf to seize the opportunity to challenge and take its position.
Now, the healed wolf king had returned for revenge.
With its strong and vigorous son and daughter by its side, the wolf king fought fiercely.
After a series of intense clashes, the newly ascended wolf king was defeated, injured, and fled.
This wolf king reclaimed everything that belonged to it.
This is how the animal world generally works—submission to the stronger within the group.
So, the other wolves didn’t get involved in this battle for leadership.
Once everything settled, the wolf king stayed.
After all, it was a pure wild animal and couldn’t live with Song Wei’s family indefinitely.
Wolf One and Wolf Two also decided to stay for a while.
After some thought, Song Wei packed up the half-grown wolf pups at home and brought them to the mountains, leaving them to the wolf pack to properly teach them hunting skills.
The wolf king didn’t reject the little wolves. The pack already had wolves around the same age as them, and driving out one wolf or a few made little difference.
Thanks to Wolf One and Wolf Two, the little wolves weren’t driven away by the pack.
After sending off the wolves, Song Wei and Lin Ping’an felt a bit unaccustomed to their absence.
As time passed, the snow quietly melted, and spring was about to arrive.
“When will big brother be back?”
Song Wei replied, “I’m not sure either.”
In the yard, the little bear was crawling around everywhere.
Bears can climb trees, and they climb quickly.
This one, having drunk goat’s milk for so long, was in excellent health.
Every day, it clung to the pillars in the house and the trees in the yard, climbing up and down.
The little thing was easy to raise and grew fast.
With strong teeth, it now enjoyed munching on tomatoes, cabbage, and radishes in addition to drinking goat’s milk and honey water.
“Sister-in-law, the eaglet is shedding! It’s losing a lot of feathers!”
As spring approached, the eaglet, which had seemed to be wearing a fluffy coat, began to change.
It was shedding a lot of down from its nest.
Song Wei collected the down—it was quite soft and warm.
“Let me see. It’s molting.”
The eaglet was growing up.
Where its snow-white down had fallen, hard wing feathers were growing from the red skin.
It looked a bit ugly.
Lin Ping’an muttered, “It’s not as cute as when it was fluffy.”
The process might be unattractive, but this little one would eventually grow into a very handsome eagle.
Although the wolves had gone to the mountains to integrate into the pack and learn, they often returned.
Especially now that the snow had melted with the arrival of spring, prey that had previously hidden away emerged to forage, making the mountains feel alive again.
Wolf One and the others rarely came back empty-handed, but today’s catch was the largest one yet.
It was actually an elk.
Elks are even larger than sika deer.
And this was a fully grown adult elk.
The wolf king had carried it here itself, though given its size, it had help from other wolves.
“Is this for me?”
Carrying such a large prey had left the wolf king exhausted, and it lay on the ground panting with its tongue out.
“Awooo~”
Wolf One and the others nuzzled Song Wei’s leg.
“This is quite an extravagant thank-you gift.”
The wolf king looked at her with its deep eyes, as if insisting, “This is for you. You must accept it.”
Tsk…
Song Wei didn’t refuse. She went inside to prepare some honey water, brought out a basin, and placed it in front of the wolf king.
“Have some honey water.”
Honey water is sweet and nutritious—the wolf king immediately buried its face in it and started drinking.
The little bear cub whimpered and tried to sneak a sip, but the wolf king swatted it away with a paw.
“Knock, knock…”
“Sister-in-law, open up! My mom asked me to bring you some pickled vegetables.”
The person outside was Jiang Wenwu. With the snow melted and spring arrived, Song Wei had taken a net and gone to the river with Lin Ping’an and the Jiang Wen brothers to catch some fish.
Now that her pond was ready, she could plant lotus roots and raise fish in it.
The pickled vegetables were for stewing fish.
Their stock of pickled vegetables had run low during the wedding festivities, and now there were none left at home.
“Coming!”
Hearing Jiang Wenwu’s voice, Song Wei went to open the door.
When Jiang Wenwu stepped inside, he gasped in shock.
“Sister-in-law, your place is getting more and more crowded with animals!”
Song Wei hummed in agreement. “The wolf king isn’t one of ours. It’s just here to repay a favor and bring gifts.”
Jiang Wenwu spotted the elk lying in the yard and gasped even louder.
“That’s huge!”
Song Wei thought the same. “It’s still fresh. Take some back with you later.”
“No, no! If I keep bringing meat back from your place, I’ll get beaten to death when I get home.”
“It’s not just for you. Xuehua needs to eat too, and I also plan to send some to Great Grandpa’s family. Wild game from the mountains has a strong flavor—I still prefer the taste of domestic pork.”
Unable to persuade Song Wei otherwise, Jiang Wenwu eventually left with some meat in his basket.
Song Wei quickly butchered the elk.
The wolf king had already left, but this time, Wolf One and the others stayed.
After eating, Wolf One and Wolf Two took the five half-grown wolves, the fat fox, and the bear cub out to patrol their territory.
That’s right—in Wolf One’s eyes, the entire Ping’an Brigade was its territory, and the village dogs and cats were its subordinates.
Its territory had even more underlings than the wolf king’s!
Though the variety was a bit… eclectic.
Leave a Reply