CH 1.2

At the fork in the mountainside, there was a little soldier confusedly looking all around without finding anything. When he turned around wanting to leave, a furry cat paw extended from the side, the claw tip hooking onto the dark green military pant legs: “Meow!”

Lu Jianhua’s heart burned with anxiety, In what state is the search for Captain Qin right now? Captain Qin suffered from a gunshot wound, and he even went into the mountain by himself, I’m so anxious that I can’t relax.

Everybody is extremely worried.

He glanced at the snow-white Persian cat that was sitting by his leg, but that also took the initiative to press onto his trousers, not letting him go.

This Persian cat was born extremely beautiful. White and clean, and its fur was as fluffy as a cloud. Noble and elegant, the long and fluffy tail was waving around leisurely.

The heterochromatic pupils seemed to express that it[1] could understand humans, and it had a smart air about it. In this moment, the snow-white Persian cat fancily lifted its head, vigilantly looked at him with its big eyes, and did not let him go.

Heterochromia Persian cat (photo from litter robot blog)

“Meow!” Bai Xia Xia heavily called once, the tip of her claws hooked Lu Jianhua’s trouser legs, and she heavily used her paws to pat his calve, not giving him permission to go.

You must be kidding, there’s still a heavily injured soldier gege[2] over there, kay?

Pity me, who’s a weak and helpless cat, hooking onto a human and running all the way from the base to here, do you think that was easy?

And you’re still not waiting here obediently. The human that I brought here through tremendous effort[3], if you were to run away, I would be losing out greatly.

Soldier gege was hurt too badly, so I couldn’t tell Da Hua[4] to carry him too far. It was better to call someone here.

Looking for a doctor would have been the best. However, the distance was a bit far, otherwise, Bai Xia Xia would not have been busying until now before being able to find someone to come here.

These two days, Bai Xia Xia had been loitering by the entrance of the base.

She knew, the base troops stationed by the mountains had sent two to three hundred people into the mountains, covering the whole place[5] to find that soldier gege that was heavily wounded.

Coming and going, each with hurried steps, solemn eyes, and passing through the wooden weapon warehouse. Bai Xia Xia had thought about communicating directly with the searching troops.

However, she was a cat that did not know how to speak human language, and she also did not dare to do anything that defied human logic. After hooking a few times, she was almost stomped into a broken-boned cat by the running searching team.

Thankfully, she was clever and ran fast.

There was no other way, so she could only retreat and go to the base.

There, it was also difficult, she was a natural beauty that was hard to give up and was almost caught by others to be a house cat.

This Lu Jianhua was an honest baby that Bai Xia Xia had chosen after careful and meticulous selection. He did not feel that the distance was too far and leave half-way. He followed her the whole way until here, and he was deserving of this meritorious service.

He was young, and his heart was soft. Since he was already here, she could not let him run away. Da Hua would soon be carrying the person over.

“Meow!” Bai Xia Xia anxiously called two times; the meowing sound was very soft. A snow-white paw steadily stepped on Lu Jianhua’s pant leg, Don’t be in a hurry, they’ll be here soon.

Lu Jianhua was someone with a good temperament. He was sixteen this year and had just joined the army recently.

“There’s nothing here, why did you call me over?” Lu Jianhua squatted and made eye contact with Bai Xia Xia. He also did not know why. He just felt that this cat was different. Its gaze was different from other cats, there was just a special feeling.

When he was in the countryside, he always heard his grandmother say that black cats understood humans and warded off evil spirits. He never saw them, so he did not know.

However, he believed, that was why, these two days when he was on duty, when he saw that Bai Xia Xia loitered by the entrance of the base, he was not able to hold back from paying attention.

He watched as Bai Xia Xia hooked people, walked some steps, and then turned to look back, as if it wanted to tell them to follow it.

Unfortunately, there was no one willing to care about it. Occasionally, there were some who went, but they would return after a moment.

After all, it was just a cat, who would be willing to think that a cat had a serious matter? Was that not just teasing people?

Lu Jianhua had already wanted to go and look around on the first day, who knew if the cat had something to tell them?

He spoke about this matter to a comrade, and his comrade had made fun of him saying that he was being jumpy and to not think too much. Animals understanding humans are just tales, don’t be superstitious, we’re people who believe in science.

If you have the time to think about those things, you should use it during training to learn instead, don’t daydream all the time.

Today, when Bai Xia Xia once again came, Lu Jianhua was not able to resist and found someone to replace him on duty.

He followed behind the butt of the Persian cat that had unstoppably lingered by the entrance of the base and ran until here.

Now that he looked around, there was dense foliage on all four directions and messy, fallen leaves and mud were stepped below his feet.

The big road was completely empty, there was something my ass.

Lu Jianhua moved away Bai Xia Xia’s paw and stood up to leave. He also laughed at himself in his heart, I was really thinking too much.

When Bai Xia Xia saw that Lu Jianhua wanted to leave, she got anxious. She hurriedly jumped in front of him, blocking his way to prevent him from leaving, and bared her teeth, meowing relentlessly.

Don’t leave, don’t leave, I have a soldier gege here that’s about to die soon! We’re relying on you to call people for help!

The Persian cat was just a tad bit big. Lu Jianhua bypassed the Persian cat that was moving around chaotically, not even sparing it a glance, and strode back with big steps. He was even thinking internally, I can’t be so stupid in the future anymore.

Right now, the base is busy sending people out to work, to find the Captain Qin’s whereabouts. Everybody’s as busy as a bee[6], and I was reasoning with a cat, simply stupid.

The more Lu Jianhua thought, the bigger and faster his strides became.

Thinking about the fantasy that he had come up with while coming here, he hurriedly shook his head to throw it out.

What kind of delusion[7] was I having!

How could miracles happen so easily? Everybody hasn’t been able to find Captain Qin.

I placed my hopes on a cat, truly a fool.

It’s just a cat, nothing more than an animal.

“Meow~”

“Roar!”

Bai Xia Xia’s anxious meowing calls were buried by a terrifying low-pitched roar.

Lu Jianhua practically turned his head at the same time as Bai Xia Xia. Surprise appeared in the Persian cat’s different colored blue and green eyes, while Lu Jianhua felt as if lightning struck him. He stood stiff on the spot, his hair bristled, and his whole body became hard as ice.

With teeth that were clenched until rattling sounds were emitted, a colorful tiger paced and charged at him. The distance was but a mere ten or so meters. Its fur was bright, and its teeth were sharp.

“Meow~” Da Hua, you’re finally here.

Bai Xia Xia’s heart that was hanging finally returned to her chest.

Translator’s comments:

Cat understands humans. Cat knows something that you don’t. Listen to Cat! Don’t underestimate Cat!

And Da Hua arrives just in time…

Translator’s notes:

[1] The pronoun used for the cat (Bai Xia Xia) will be ‘it’ and ‘she’ interchangeably. ‘It’ will be used in scenes where other characters in the story still don’t know that Bai Xia Xia is a female appear, and ‘she’ will be used when it’s a scene where only Bai Xia Xia appears and when she is talking and thinking.

[2] ‘哥哥 (gē gē)’: means brother, the way it’s used sounds weird in English, so it was left in its pinyin form without the tones.

[3] Idiomatic expression ‘九牛二虎之力 (jiǔ niú èr hǔ zhī lì)’: the power of nine bulls and two tigers, used to express that a lot of energy and effort has been spent.

[4] 大花 (dà huā): the tiger’s name, literal translation is Big Flower, but sounds better when left in Chinese. The name makes more sense in Chinese, since the character 花, when used as an adjective, describes something that is colorful or has a fancy pattern. So Big Flower would be equal to Big Fancy Pattern, alluding to the tiger’s size and skin.

[5] Idiomatic expression ‘漫山遍野 (màn shān biàn yě)’: covering the mountains and the plains, means encompassing everything.

[6] Literal translation was ‘so anxious that they ran in circles chaotically’.

[7] Idiomatic expression ‘异想天开 (yì xiǎng tiān kāi)’: to indulge in whimsical fantasies.