TRT -Chapter 50 The Ladle

I don’t know whether it was because he was bored out of his mind, or because his suddenly healthy daily routine made him uncomfortable, but “White Hair” had been showing those eerie green-glowing eyes more and more often. Finally, while we were camping in the mountains, he attracted a group of his “kind”—a pack of wolves with glowing green eyes.

White Hair has two “pets.”

One is his Ferrari—high-performance, flashy, powerful, life-risking-at-top-speed four-hoofed snow-stepping steed: Yedao.

The other is his Motorola—stable signal, reasonable “fees,” stylish appearance, excellent accuracy and beauty: his messenger eagle Yecha.

Either of these beasts would be a king among their own kind. After being tamed by White Hair, they remained proud and loyal, submitting only to him and fawning over no one else.

As for me, Yedao the horse adopted a “see-no-evil” attitude. If he could ignore me, he would. If he couldn’t, he’d create conditions to pretend he couldn’t. I was basically air to him.

This made things peaceful.

But that majestic eagle Yecha was another story.

That thing took pleasure in bullying me.

On our journey north, White Hair often used Yecha to send messages. Once, when we escaped the city, Yecha even helped with a diversion.

Honestly, I quite liked its performance and looks—

If only it didn’t always land its iron claws on my ticklish, painful shoulders.
If only it didn’t keep bringing me dead rats as “gifts.”
If only it didn’t steal my clothes while I was bathing.
If only…

But White Hair said,

“I didn’t expect animals to like you so much.”

“Where do you see that?!”
I angrily rubbed my bruised shoulder.

“Yedao only lets me ride him. Even when I carried you, it was special. Now you can ride him alone, and he doesn’t resist. That’s rare.”

“Resist?” I scoffed. “He’s just ignoring me! He lets me sit there and then does whatever he wants, like I don’t exist!”

“That’s still good. My groom once climbed onto his back alone and got his neck broken…”

White Hair smiled darkly.

I shivered.

“Besides, Yecha’s behavior really shows it likes you. Eagles are proud and cautious. They don’t land on people casually. And…”

He paused, smirking.

“Since you arrived, its delivery speed has doubled.”

“What?!”

No wonder I’d been seeing it more and more!

I wanted to cry.

The reason I thought of all this today was because of the “family” of wild animals before us.

Gray-white fur.
Green eyes glowing in the dark.
Sharp teeth.
Powerful claws.
Deadly coordination.
Silent movement.

Wolves.

White Hair acted like he saw nothing, poking the fire with a stick. Yecha calmly groomed itself on his shoulder. Even Yedao kept munching grass at the cave entrance.

Hey! You’re a horse!
Could you at least panic a little?!

So I was the only one stiff with fear, inching closer to the fire.

White Hair glanced at me with a half-smile, opened his arms, and grinned.

“Come~ Minmin, be good and hide in here~”

Like hell!

I straightened up.

“I—I’m not afraid at all! When I watched Animal World, I thought wolves were cute! Uncle Zhao said they’re friendly animals and can be touched with love!”

(Uncle Zhao: I never said that.)

“I think using your meat would work better,” White Hair said lazily.

Then he suddenly grinned.

“How about a bet? Whoever deals with that pack first wins. The loser obeys the winner for a day. How about it?”

“No!”

Only idiots would bet with him.

But… making him listen to me for a whole day…

Tempting.

(Stop thinking nonsense, Minmin!)

I blinked.

“Let’s change the bet.”

“How?”

“Whoever finds their den first wins.”

“One word: deal!”

White Hair left first.

I stayed behind.

He knew I wouldn’t dare fight wolves head-on. He went first on purpose.

When I came out, the ground was a mess—bodies, blood, footprints leading into the forest.

He’d left a trail.

On purpose.

Was he letting me win?

How annoying!

I don’t need your pity!

Suddenly, something rushed out—

A wounded wolf!

We stared at each other.

I couldn’t bring myself to kill it.

So I tried to calm it.

I sat down, waved gently.

“Don’t be afraid. Come here.”

No response.

I threw it some dried meat.

It hesitated, then ate.

We repeated this several times.

Finally, it relaxed and even squatted beside me.

I felt sorry for its injured leg.

Suddenly, it perked up and howled miserably.

Then it limped into the forest.

I followed.

What I saw was hell.

Corpses everywhere.

White Hair stood there with a bloody blade like a demon.

I rushed up and grabbed his collar.

“Bastard! Why did you kill them?! I only said find the den!”

“You look carefully,” he said calmly.

“These are from another pack. They came to steal territory. If I didn’t kill them, they’d kill me—and these wolves. I was late. The cubs were already dead.”

I froze.

The wolf I fed mourned its cubs… then collapsed.

“It’s probably the mother,” White Hair said. “She won’t live long.”

I hugged him, burying my face.

Then—

“There’s one more cub.”

I looked up.

A tiny furry ball crawled out.

The mother struggled, eyes full of hope.

Then she looked at me—begging.

I ran and picked up the cub.

It scratched me, but I didn’t care.

I gave it to her.

She licked it… then died.

Tears blurred my vision.

I hugged the cub.

“I’m going to raise it! I will!”

“Fox-wolves are wild,” White Hair said. “No one raises them.”

“I don’t care!”

“It’s small… fluffy… has a tail… please…”

He stared helplessly.

Finally, he agreed.

But—

“You lost the bet, right? So tomorrow…”

“Fine, fine.”

“Then let me kiss you~”

“On the cheek!”

“Deal.”

Kiss.

“And you know how much meat it’ll eat—”

“Again?!”