Chapter 113: Squirrel Washing Face

  Chu Jiaqiang and Wu Shu Gong held their breath for a while, and there was no more movement. They should have wanted to wake up Professor Wen and the others. However, Chu Jiaqiang stopped them.

  "Shouldn't we wake them up? Didn't we come into the mountains this time to find tigers?" asked Fifth Uncle.

  "It's better not to call them now, you haven't heard any movement. If you wake them up, according to their personalities and style, they'll definitely go to see the tiger in the dark. Do you think it's suitable for us to look for the tiger at this time?" Chu Jiaqiang said.

  The fifth uncle was stunned for a moment, and then thought it was right, it's too dangerous to go see the tiger at this time.

  "Uncle Wu, you go rest first! Tomorrow I'll let Xueying lead the way to find the tiger's tracks, it should be much easier." Chu Jiaqiang suddenly thought of a method, no need to search all over the place.

  The old man's eyes lit up and he nodded: "That's best, I'll go to sleep first."

  Seeing Wu Shu gone to sleep inside, Chu Jiaqiang wanted to go and take a look. But he couldn't bear to leave these sleeping people, so he didn't go out in the end. He also didn't call back Xue Yao, letting Xue Yao continue to follow the tiger, making it easier to find tomorrow.

  A person spends a sleepless night, staring at the sky, reminiscing about the various moments of this time. People are like this, when one becomes quiet, they will recall many things, happiness and sadness will flash through their mind.

  The easy and leisurely life in the countryside is not wrong, but sometimes it is also lonely and desolate. This loneliness and desolation have nothing to do with the relationship between villagers and their elders, but rather another layer of meaning. Humans are emotionally rich animals, always hoping to find their other half to fill the emptiness in their hearts.

  Chu Jiaqiang was no exception. As a normal man, in his spare time, he would think about this issue. He thought, should he find a wife to warm up the bed and have two kids?

  He nodded his head and muttered to himself: "It's better to follow the natural course of things."

  Chu Jiaqiang knew that now Er Shu was looking for a girl everywhere for him. In fact, he didn't dislike this kind of arranged marriage. Some people might say that such a marriage has no emotional foundation and is destined to be unhappy. But that's not true, emotions are cultivated, two people walking together for a long time, even if they don't speak, will still spark.

  The moon is bright and the stars are sparse, the sky is gradually getting brighter, some early-rising birds start to chirp in the mountains and forests. Early-rising birds have worms to eat! This saying is not false either. A new day has arrived, whether it's humans or other living things, the hustle and bustle of a new day has also begun.

  Everyone might have gone to bed early last night, so everyone got up very early today, no one was lazy and didn't want to get up.

  Miao Huo walked out of the wooden house, stretched his waist and found that the sky was gray. He greeted Chu Jiaqiang and said: "Younger brother, good morning! I slept too much last night, nothing happened?"

  Chu Jiaqiang saw that everyone was getting up one after another, so he started to busy himself reheating the wild boar meat from yesterday. Hearing Miao Huo's question, he smiled and said: "A tiger came last night."

  The words were astonishing, and everyone suddenly woke up, with no sleepy imagination.

  "Really?" Miao Huo didn't quite believe it, thinking that Chu Jiaqiang was joking with him. How could a tiger just appear out of nowhere? That thing Professor Wen said was even more pitiful than a panda.

  The professor realized that he had gotten a bit too excited and now that he had calmed down, he also discovered that most of what Chu Jiaqiang said was just joking around with everyone.

  Everyone was stunned at first, and then thought he was fooling around. Chu Jiaqiang nodded to Wu Shu: "Ask Wu Shu if you heard the tiger's roar last night?"

  Fifth Uncle saw everyone looking at him and nodded: "Indeed, I heard a tiger's roar, it should be Jia Qiang's Snow Sculpture facing off against the tiger."

  "Good heavens! Why didn't you wake me up?"

  "The tiger only roared once last night, and it was from the direction of Shan Zhuang Gou. Not to mention at night, even during the day we have to be careful about the wild boars there, let alone with an apparently enraged tiger, going there would be absolutely no good." Chu Jiaqiang shook his head and said.

  "Alas! What a pity! What a shame!" Professor Wen exclaimed in disappointment.

  "Big brother, you should wake me up, I'm not afraid of tigers," Chu Jiaxiong said.

  Old Li suddenly scolded with a smile: "You were the one who slept the most last night, and you even talked in your sleep, scaring me. You snored all night like thunder. If it were someone with a bad temper, they would have thrown you out to keep watch long ago."

  "There's nothing to regret, since Snow Sculpture has already found the tiger last night, just let Snow Sculpture lead the way later." Chu Jiaqiang said.

  The professor's eyes sparkled again as he thought for a moment, and his face lit up with excitement, eager to set off immediately.

  "Look quickly, it's a shooting star!" Liu Yang suddenly shouted, pointing at the eastern sky with some excitement.

  Everyone looked back, and indeed a small meteor streaked across the sky, leaving a faint long mark in the still somewhat chaotic morning.

  "Hmm! The meteor shower is not that spectacular." Wu Shu Gong explained. This phenomenon was something he often saw, and while a meteor shower might be a rare sight, individual meteors were not uncommon, and one could possibly catch a glimpse of them unintentionally in the early morning hours.

  This is a rural phenomenon, it's actually harder to see in cities. The city sky is not always clear, and in some heavily polluted areas, you can't even see the blue sky and white clouds, let alone these tiny points of light.

  "Is it 'heavenly star fire'? Isn't it a shooting star?" Wen Qiu asked in confusion, this term was something she had heard for the first time.

  Chu Jiaqiang laughed and explained: "It's a meteor, but rural people are used to calling it 'heavenly stars falling fire', don't you think this expression is also very apt?"

  Ye Xiaoshuang still retains some of her childlike innocence, and immediately clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, probably making a wish! There are many legends circulating among the people in China that making wishes while looking at shooting stars is especially effective.

  "Hmm! This little guy is washing his face, haha!" Wenqiu suddenly saw the squirrel's action of washing its face and felt it was very funny, bursting into loud laughter.

  Everyone looked back and saw the little squirrel licking its paws with its tongue, then constantly wiping its mouth, eyes and even ears. It was just like a person washing their face, it was really cute!

  "Squirrels and felines both love to wash their faces, not only because they like cleanliness but also to keep their whiskers in the best condition. A cat's whisker is a sensory organ, and to maintain its sensitivity, it must be cleaned from time to time," explained Xu Hao.

  Professor Wen added, "In addition to this function, cats also use their front paws to apply saliva to their faces. The saliva can dissolve the micro-vitamin D in the cat's fur, and then they re-ingest the vitamin-rich saliva from their paws, which serves as a kind of 'hand' for transmission."

  "Hehe! Little squirrel washed its face, we should go wash our faces too." Ye Xiaoshuang said with a giggle.

  "Those who want to wash their faces follow me! Brushing teeth is out of the question!"