Chapter 117: The Days of Becoming a Little Tiger (Extra 8)
“Roar…? Roar? ROAR ROAR ROAR ROAR ROAR!!!”
One morning, after waking up, Lin Jiangye suddenly felt that something about his body was wrong.
At first he thought it was because he and Shang Fuyan had stayed up too late the night before and his body was overly exhausted. But when he tried to get up, he suddenly noticed his hand.
No… it couldn’t be called a hand anymore.
It should be called a paw.
His hand had turned into an animal’s paw.
Fluffy, covered with a layer of somewhat familiar yellow fur, and the entire paw looked less than half the size of his own palm.
For a moment Lin Jiangye felt dazed.
His first reaction was to suspect that a tiger cub had somehow sneaked into the room last night and slept beside him.
But that didn’t make sense either—Shang Fuyan had been in the room too!
After a while—or perhaps a long time—Lin Jiangye absentmindedly raised his… paw.
And discovered it was indeed the paw of a feline animal.
When he turned it over, he saw the paw pads were chocolate-colored.
Paw pads…
They looked quite plump.
If you squeezed them, the texture would probably feel really nice.
Wait! Something’s wrong!
Lin Jiangye suddenly snapped back to his senses.
Lying on the bed, he repeatedly tried lifting and lowering his paw. In the end, with utter despair, he confirmed that his hands had truly become paws.
[So strange…]
“Roar!”
Lin Jiangye instinctively covered his mouth, his face filled with shock.
Because he realized that not only had his hands changed—his voice and even his face were different too.
A terrible suspicion slowly formed in his mind.
Lin Jiangye stood up, looked at his front paws, then his hind legs.
And when he saw the long yellow tail with black stripes behind him, the suspicion became even clearer.
He hurriedly jumped off the bed and rushed toward the walk-in closet to look in the mirror.
But the moment he took a step—
Plop!
He fell flat onto the ground.
A mistake…
He had no idea how animals walked on four legs!
Lin Jiangye took a deep breath and carefully took a step forward, as cautiously as a baby learning to walk.
Good. Stable.
Then he moved his hind legs.
Wait wait wait—why are the legs moving on the same side?!
After struggling for quite a while to coordinate his limbs, Lin Jiangye finally managed to walk into the closet.
When he looked up, he saw—
A small tiger about three months old.
Its body was roughly the size of a Maine Coon cat, fluffy and warm-looking. At that age it should still be nursing.
If someone took a bite—wait stop stop stop!
That’s him!
Bite what? Bite himself?
Lin Jiangye felt like his brain might have broken for something so absurd to happen.
How did he wake up and turn into a tiger cub?
That made absolutely no sense.
Close eyes.
Open eyes.
Close eyes.
Open eyes.
Nothing changed.
The little tiger flopped onto the ground with a plop, its palm-sized face full of confusion and helplessness.
How did this happen?
Why would something so strange occur?
Could it be that he had been bound to another system again?
But no matter how much Lin Jiangye called out for a system in his mind, there was absolutely no response.
What should he do…
The little tiger lowered his head gloomily, unconsciously making soft whining sounds that made him look pitiful.
Just then, his round little ears twitched.
Footsteps were slowly approaching.
He was very familiar with those footsteps.
The thought of hiding immediately disappeared.
Since he had somehow turned into this, he had to find a way to turn back—and alone, he probably couldn’t figure it out.
As the footsteps drew closer, Lin Jiangye stumbled out of the closet and obediently sat beside the doorway.
When Shang Fuyan appeared carrying a tray, a mischievous thought suddenly crossed Lin Jiangye’s mind.
He quietly crept closer—
Then pounced!
Landing right on Shang Fuyan’s knee.
“Raa?”
Why had his jumping ability become so weak?!
Shang Fuyan had been about to wake Lin Jiangye.
Suddenly feeling weight on his leg, he lowered his head and saw a little tiger clutching his pant leg, staring up at him with big black eyes.
The cub looked so adorably silly that he blurted out without thinking:
“Where did this little tiger come from?”
They didn’t raise tiger cubs here.
The adult tigers hadn’t given birth either.
But the zoo did have tiger cubs.
When Tiger Mom and Tian Shu came back sometimes, a few curious cubs would trot after them. Lin Jiangye never stopped them, and the next day he would send them back.
So everyone had grown used to occasionally seeing animals wandering around the house.
Thus, when Shang Fuyan first saw the little tiger, he assumed it was one of the cubs that had followed Tiger Mom home yesterday.
With one hand he grabbed the cub by the scruff of its neck, and with the other he set the tray on the bedside table.
But when he turned his head—
The bed was empty.
“Where is he? In the bathroom maybe?”
Lin Jiangye’s eyes widened instantly.
Being grabbed by the scruff made his whole body go limp, as if he had been sealed by some mysterious power.
“Roar… roar roar!”
[Let go of me!]
Lin Jiangye struggled desperately.
Unfortunately, the man he could normally pin down with one hand now seemed to possess divine strength. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t break free.
Shang Fuyan originally intended to look for Lin Jiangye in the bathroom.
But the little guy in his hand kept wriggling so much he could barely hold onto it.
“What are you doing, little fellow?”
Shang Fuyan grabbed the cub’s front legs and lifted it high.
Just then—
A soft, slightly cool paw slapped onto his face.
“Roar!”
[It’s me!]
Shang Fuyan narrowed his eyes.
Then he held the tiger cub in one arm, grabbed its little paw with the other, and kissed the soft paw pads.
“So cute.”
After kissing the paw, he lifted the cub again.
A strange feeling suddenly rose in his heart.
Those eyes…
Lin Jiangye stretched out his paw again and pointed at the ground, signaling for him to put him down.
Surprise flashed across Shang Fuyan’s eyes.
He hadn’t expected the cub to be so smart.
Finally placed on the floor, Lin Jiangye hurried into the bathroom.
He jumped toward the sink—
Bang!
His head smacked straight into the stone edge.
The little tiger clutched his head and howled in pain.
[Damn it! Why can’t I jump?!]
That didn’t make sense.
Tigers had excellent jumping ability.
He couldn’t possibly be this bad.
Was it because he hadn’t gotten used to the body yet?
Surely it wasn’t because he was just clumsy?!
While Lin Jiangye was fuming, a pair of hands lifted him onto the sink counter.
The man’s voice carried a trace of amusement.
“If you need help, you can just say so.”
Lin Jiangye fell silent.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then angrily turned around and opened the faucet.
Behind him, however, Shang Fuyan was already struggling not to laugh.
Where had this cub come from?
Why was it so fun?
But very soon—
He stopped laughing.
On the mirror, written clumsily in water droplets, were several words:
I am Lin Jiang…
Why write “I am” instead of “I am (Chinese)”?
Because writing the Chinese characters was too troublesome.
Especially the character for “Ye”—it was far too complicated for a tiger cub.
For the first time in his life, Lin Jiangye felt his name was incredibly difficult to write.
Although the strokes were messy and incomplete, Shang Fuyan immediately reacted.
“Jiangye? Is that you?!”
The little tiger sitting upright nodded and gave a soft roar in response.
Shang Fuyan took a step back, covering his forehead.
For a moment he wondered if last night had gone on too long—long enough to make him hallucinate.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
The little tiger slammed his paws on the counter angrily.
When the man looked over again, he roared once more.
“Good heavens… how did you turn into this?”
Shang Fuyan had never been this shocked before.
He carefully picked up the tiger cub, brought it back to the bed, and asked again:
“How did you become like this?”
The cub flicked its tail impatiently.
How would he know?
He just woke up like this.
Even though the tiger cub said nothing, Shang Fuyan somehow understood.
Watching the three-month-old cub pacing in circles irritably, Shang Fuyan felt not the slightest bit worried.
Instead…
He felt a strange urge.
“Ahem! Since we can’t figure it out for now… maybe we should just wait patiently?”
Lin Jiangye stopped and looked at him in confusion.
But when he saw the man staring at him with sparkling eyes—
That was clearly the look of someone harboring ill intentions.
A sense of foreboding rose in Lin Jiangye’s heart.
The next moment—
Shang Fuyan pushed him onto the bed and buried his entire face into the cub’s soft belly, warm breath spreading through the fluffy fur.
For someone who spent all day petting cats and dogs, Lin Jiangye was finally experiencing what it felt like to be the one getting “absorbed.”
It felt a little strange, a little ticklish, but most importantly—
“ROAR ROAR ROAR!!!”
Lin Jiangye slapped Shang Fuyan’s head several times with his paw.
[Is this the time for you to be sniffing cats?!]
Fortunately, the man soon regained his composure. Looking at Lin Jiangye’s current state, he felt a headache coming on.
But very quickly, he thought of the most important matter.
Shang Fuyan picked up Lin Jiangye and rubbed his head against the tiger cub’s.
Smiling, he said, “No matter what caused you to turn into this, let’s eat first. I’ll go tell Jiang Xin and Bai Zhengwen. As for the others… for now we’ll just say you had something to do and left in the middle of the night.”
Among humans, Jiang Xin and Bai Zhengwen were the closest to Lin Jiangye besides him, and they were trustworthy. Telling them would also make it easier to divert other people’s attention.
Lin Jiangye climbed from his arms to his shoulder, huffing as he went, and rested his head there with a grunt of agreement.
[Damn man, you messed up all the fur on my belly… Wait, why do I suddenly want to lick it smooth?]
Lin Jiangye originally thought only his body had turned into an animal’s.
But now that he noticed his fur was messy, he actually felt the urge to lick it and tidy it up.
Shang Fuyan, of course, had no idea what he was worrying about. After thoroughly indulging in the joy of burying his face in the cub’s belly, he went downstairs in high spirits.
Once downstairs, he deliberately called Jiang Xin and Bai Zhengwen to the backyard.
After confirming that no one was nearby, he finally told them about Lin Jiangye’s unexpected transformation.
Just like Shang Fuyan earlier, Jiang Xin and Bai Zhengwen’s first reaction was:
“You’re hallucinating, right?”
No… this situation couldn’t even be described as hallucination anymore.
Jiang Xin pointed at his own head while looking at Shang Fuyan, his expression extremely complicated.
Shang Fuyan glanced at him and suddenly stuffed the cub into his arms.
“If you don’t believe me, let Jiangye explain it himself.”
Lin Jiangye glared helplessly at the man.
But he also knew how unbelievable this sounded. He really had to explain it himself if they were going to believe him.
Just like earlier, he wrote those few words on the ground.
Sure enough, Jiang Xin and Bai Zhengwen’s eyes immediately became dull with shock.
And then…
Nothing happened afterward.
After Jiang Xin accepted that this tiger cub was Lin Jiangye, the first thing he did was poke his little belly.
Lin Jiangye: !!!
“It’s flat. You haven’t eaten breakfast yet, right? I’ll make food first.”
Nothing was more important than eating!
Lin Jiangye was stunned.
Before he could react, Jiang Xin and Bai Zhengwen had already turned and walked inside, leaving only Shang Fuyan beside him.
The man didn’t look anxious or worried at all. Instead, he carried Lin Jiangye toward another direction.
“Come on, I’ll take you to see Tiger Mom.”
Tiger Mom!
The moment Tiger Mom was mentioned, Lin Jiangye suddenly felt nervous.
He didn’t know how she would react upon seeing him like this.
She wouldn’t… get scared and run away, right?
Shang Fuyan carried the little tiger to Tiger Mom’s room.
Before he even approached, Tiger Mom—who had been lying on a blanket—slowly opened her eyes.
But the moment she saw him, those pale golden tiger eyes widened dramatically, as if witnessing something unbelievable.
“Tiger Mom… cough! This is Jiangye. Can you recognize him?”
Shang Fuyan held the cub forward while speaking cautiously.
Tiger Mom stared for a long time.
Just when Lin Jiangye thought she couldn’t recognize him—
She suddenly charged forward.
The unexpected move startled Shang Fuyan so much that he instinctively hugged Lin Jiangye tightly.
But even so, Tiger Mom knocked him flat onto the ground. Her huge head kept pushing into his arms, trying to dig the cub out.
“Roar!”
Her voice was full of excitement.
Without Lin Jiangye translating, Shang Fuyan couldn’t understand her words. But seeing the cub trying to stick his head out, he finally released his grip.
Tiger Mom moved closer and sniffed Lin Jiangye again.
After confirming the cub was indeed the human cub, her bell-sized eyes trembled violently.
[You…]
She was so shocked she couldn’t even finish speaking.
Lin Jiangye sat on the ground and looked up at her.
It was his first time observing her from this perspective.
Strangely enough, even though he had turned into a tiger, his vision was still like a human’s—he could still see three colors.
Otherwise he wouldn’t have noticed the yellow fur on his paws earlier.
But his hearing and sense of smell had clearly become stronger.
[Mom! It’s me!]
The moment he opened his mouth, only soft babyish roars came out.
Tiger Mom’s ears flattened into airplane ears instantly.
The next second—
Slurp.
Tiger Mom licked him from head to tail.
When that wet tongue swept across his entire body, Lin Jiangye’s fur exploded outward.
It wasn’t the first time Tiger Mom had licked him.
But back then he was human, and she only gently licked his face.
This… this full-body licking was completely different!
“Meow roar! Meow roar!”
Lin Jiangye struggled desperately to escape.
Unfortunately, Tiger Mom pinned his back with one paw, leaving him unable to move.
After sitting up, Shang Fuyan saw Lin Jiangye being pinned down and licked repeatedly until he looked like a giant mango pit.
“Pfft.”
He couldn’t help lowering his head and laughing quietly.
But to Lin Jiangye’s newly heightened senses, that tiny sound felt like someone shouting right beside his ear.
“Roar! Roar!”
Lin Jiangye shouted angrily, hoping Shang Fuyan would rescue him from Tiger Mom’s paw.
However, whether Shang Fuyan truly didn’t understand or was pretending not to, he remained completely unmoved by the scene.
Worse yet—
He even pulled out his phone, clearly intending to record the moment.
[No! You can’t film this!]
Lin Jiangye panicked and roared furiously.
Tiger Mom, who had finally fulfilled her wish of grooming her cub, was in an extremely indulgent mood toward him.
She glared at Shang Fuyan.
Those widened golden pupils carried a cold warning that immediately triggered Shang Fuyan’s instincts.
He obediently put away his phone.
After Tiger Mom finished licking the cub clean, Lin Jiangye had become a large, soggy mango pit.
When Jiang Xin and Bai Zhengwen returned with food, they were shocked by the sight—but also found it irresistibly cute.
[Everything’s wet!]
Lin Jiangye glared angrily at Tiger Mom.
But she simply pressed her body down and stuffed him into the soft fur of her belly.
He had hugged Tiger Mom before.
But never like this—being completely wrapped in her embrace.
For a brief moment, he felt as if he were a child again, held in his mother’s arms.
That kind of warmth… the kind only a mother could give.
The only time he had ever felt it was with Tiger Mom.
[So warm…]
A tiger’s belly was warm and soft.
Before long, his fur dried completely.
Lying on Tiger Mom’s belly, Lin Jiangye stretched comfortably, all four paws blooming like little flowers.
Shang Fuyan and Jiang Xin’s eyes lit up instantly.
If Tiger Mom hadn’t been there, the three men might have rushed over to touch those blooming paws.
“Are you hungry? I prepared fresh chicken drumstick meat for you. I minced it and steamed it. There’s no salt—if it tastes too bland I can add some.”
Normally animals could eat raw meat, but Jiang Xin worried Lin Jiangye might not be used to it, so he steamed it instead.
Jiang Xin originally planned to feed him with a spoon.
But Lin Jiangye firmly rejected the idea.
As for how firmly—
Jiang Xin looked at the clear plum-blossom-shaped paw print on the back of his hand and forced a strange smile.
Ah, look at that paw print.
So clear. So perfectly shaped.
Meanwhile Lin Jiangye was devouring the food.
Jiang Xin was right—his belly had been flat earlier.
The chicken had been soaked to remove the blood, making it tender and not fishy.
Lin Jiangye finished it in just a few bites and even licked the plate spotless.
Seeing the dish empty, Jiang Xin finally relaxed.
The three men then crouched nearby, quietly watching Lin Jiangye lick his paws like a kitten and use them to clean his face.
Ah!
So adorable!
Not only the three grown men were captivated—even Tiger Mom lay nearby watching her cub, her eyes filled with unusual tenderness.
After eating, the tiger cub—about the size of a cat—yawned widely.
His eyes grew drowsy.
Clearly he was getting sleepy.
Tiger Mom immediately picked him up by the scruff.
His limbs curled up automatically, and his long tail wrapped around his body.
[Mom, what are you doing?]
Lin Jiangye felt something was wrong.
He had just eaten, yet overwhelming drowsiness suddenly hit him.
The kind he could barely resist.
Tiger Mom didn’t answer.
She carried him to her nest, curled herself into a circle, and protected him in the center.
The warmth, the familiar comforting scent, and the soft bedding…
Lin Jiangye’s eyes drooped.
Subconsciously he began kneading Tiger Mom’s belly while purring.
Soon the sleepiness completely overwhelmed him.
His eyes closed, his head drooped against Tiger Mom, and he fell asleep with soft rumbling snores.
Seeing him asleep, Tiger Mom lazily glanced at the three people guarding the door.
Just one look—
And the three men obediently left.
Outside, they looked at each other and sighed heavily.
“What should we do about Jiangye’s situation?”
None of them looked relaxed anymore.
Their worried expressions made it seem as if a major case had occurred.
Shang Fuyan held his forehead and thought for a long time.
He replayed everything from the previous night repeatedly, trying to find where something might have gone wrong.
Unfortunately, none of the important details came to mind.
Instead, certain unspeakable images became clearer and clearer, even making his body heat up slightly.
“Ahem! The most important thing now is to keep this secret from others… and observe Jiangye’s condition.”
What worried him most was whether Lin Jiangye felt uncomfortable anywhere.
Jiang Xin shook his head.
“If he felt uncomfortable, he would definitely say so.”
The three discussed for a long time but couldn’t reach any conclusion.
The situation was simply too unbelievable.
But to keep it secret, they couldn’t openly call someone to examine Lin Jiangye either.
“However… should we try a veterinarian?” Shang Fuyan finally suggested.
Taking him to a human hospital was impossible.
But if it was a veterinarian…
Examining a tiger cub would be perfectly normal.
