Chapter 58: A Brief Reunion with Tiger Mom
A tiger’s roar exploded across the mountain, stunning every living creature in the forest—and the nearby residents as well.
In the next second, countless birds shot up from the woods, wings beating frantically as they fled in panic.
When Jiang Xin, Yu Anhe, and the others rushed to the gate clutching kitchen knives and wooden sticks, they just happened to see Lin Jiangye pinned to the ground by a huge tiger.
Jiang Xin’s face went white. He was about to charge in to save him—only to notice a black raven sprawled on the tiger’s back.
It was Tourmaline.
And standing at the gate was Shang Fuyan alone. He was busy texting the residents down the mountain, explaining that the tiger roar was fake…
Whether they believed it or not didn’t matter. He’d explained.
With both Shang Fuyan and Tourmaline present, they looked again at Lin Jiangye being pinned down. The young man’s face held fearlessness rather than terror—proof enough that the tiger wasn’t truly dangerous.
But then the question became—
Where the hell did this tiger come from?!
Jiang Xin and the others—humans and animals alike—stood there frozen, not knowing what to say.
Meanwhile, Lin Jiangye was cursing Shang Fuyan at the top of his lungs:
“Shang Fuyan! Captain Shang! You bastard!!!”
Hearing that, Shang Fuyan wore a bright, relaxed smile. “Mountain God—looks like he’s not convinced at all!”
That’s right. Shang Fuyan had deliberately taken two days off, taken Lin Jiangye’s car and raven, and gone up to Taibai Mountain to “invite” Tiger Mom over.
Why?
Because Shang Fuyan felt that in this world, the only one who could truly keep Lin Jiangye in check was probably Tiger Mom.
Anyone Lin Jiangye would call “Mom” clearly held enormous weight in his heart—weight far heavier than anyone else’s.
Whether this “mom” was human or not didn’t matter.
Tiger Mom, pressing Lin Jiangye down, let out a low roar at him:
[Not convinced? Don’t want to see me?]
“N-No… Tiger Mom, you’re so heavy… can you get up first, please~” The young man had no choice but to act a little cute. But Tiger Mom didn’t catch the “cute” at all—instead, it gave a cold little snort.
Still, it knew he was injured. After pinning him once, it stood up right away.
[If he hadn’t come looking, I wouldn’t even have known you…] Tiger Mom paused, then borrowed a human phrase Shang Fuyan had used before: […were actually this suicidal.]
Tiger Mom didn’t understand the exact definition of “suicidal behavior,” but it didn’t matter—it understood the gist.
Sure enough, the moment those last two words landed, Lin Jiangye’s expression collapsed.
“I wasn’t—”
[He and the little crow told me everything. If that isn’t suicidal, then what is it?]
[That’s walking straight into death!]
That final line came from Tourmaline on Tiger Mom’s back—shouted extra loud.
Lin Jiangye shot Tourmaline a vicious glare. The raven cawed once and immediately flew into Shang Fuyan’s arms behind him.
[Uncle, save crow!]
Shang Fuyan looked down at the raven wailing in his arms and asked, puzzled, “What is Tourmaline saying?”
Lin Jiangye didn’t respond. He didn’t want to respond. He didn’t want to deal with him at all!!!
What kind of person does this? When he couldn’t handle Lin Jiangye, he went into the mountains and invited a senior over?!
Too much. Absolutely too much. He was going to hate Shang Fuyan.
Lin Jiangye’s cheeks puffed out from anger. He wanted to explain—but the moment he met Tiger Mom’s eyes, every word died in his throat.
He didn’t want to lie to Tiger Mom.
Lying wasn’t what a good kid did.
Seeing Lin Jiangye finally lower his head, Shang Fuyan felt satisfied to the extreme, and was immensely grateful for his own decision.
Watching Lin Jiangye treat his body like it didn’t matter had genuinely infuriated him. Fearing that one day Lin Jiangye would “play” himself straight into death, Shang Fuyan had racked his brain until he finally found the perfect solution.
To bring Tiger Mom safely, he had deliberately taken Tourmaline with him and contacted the Taibai Mountain Forestry Bureau and the local station. After filing for permission, he entered the mountain with Tourmaline.
With Tourmaline there, the forest animals quickly helped them find Tiger Mom’s cave.
Then Tourmaline yelled for her to come out, while Shang Fuyan explained Lin Jiangye’s situation.
Shang Fuyan couldn’t understand animal speech, but that was fine—Tiger Mom could understand what he meant.
After speaking, he stated his purpose directly:
“Mountain God, I’m asking you to come over and talk some sense into Lin Jiangye… I don’t want to wake up one day and see his corpse…”
The moment Shang Fuyan remembered Lin Jiangye’s wounds, his eyes reddened.
Tiger Mom had listened expressionlessly at first, but the instant she heard Lin Jiangye had been hurt, she couldn’t hold it anymore.
She questioned Tourmaline; Tourmaline nodded, confirming Shang Fuyan was telling the truth. Then Tiger Mom’s gaze fell on the wrist cord Shang Fuyan deliberately showed—one of those “specialty gifts” the human cub had made. The fact he wore it meant the human cub valued him.
So this human’s words were real.
[Go.] Tiger Mom hadn’t expected that after only a month apart, her human cub had managed to stir up this much trouble.
“And then the Mountain God came back with me,” Shang Fuyan said comfortably—freshly showered, changed into clean clothes, sitting in the warm living room drinking tea.
To bring Tiger Mom back, he hadn’t dared stay in hotels along the way. He could only rest at highway service areas.
Jiang Xin and the others sat across from him, listening to the low roars outside and someone’s desperate pleading. Their mouths twitched.
But honestly—Shang Fuyan’s move was brilliant.
Especially Jiang Xin. The way he looked at Shang Fuyan now was full of admiration.
They hadn’t expected Lin Jiangye had truly “adopted” a tiger as his mom in Taibai Mountain. They hadn’t expected the tiger truly treated Lin Jiangye as her cub. And they hadn’t expected Shang Fuyan to strike so precisely at Lin Jiangye’s biggest weakness.
The humans stayed inside. The animals gathered in the backyard, watching the usually invincible young man get scolded by a giant tiger.
[If not for that human, I might never have known you’d do something this dangerous!]
[Revenge isn’t worth trading your life for. If you really died, the little crows would be heartbroken. Did you ever think about that?!]
Tiger Mom stared at Lin Jiangye. This was the first time she had ever scolded a cub like this.
In the past, her cubs weren’t free of fights and injuries, but she would at most lick them a bit. Once they reached subadult or adult, she would drive them out—after that, whether they were injured or died had nothing to do with her.
But this cub was different. In Tiger Mom’s eyes, this human cub was the weakest she’d ever had—and would stay weak like this forever.
So she had to keep an eye on Lin Jiangye properly.
The birds that had just fled returned too, landing on the backyard trees, staring down with curious eyes at the scene below.
The German Shepherd stood in front of the Border Collie. Even knowing this beast was someone Lin Jiangye trusted, the predator’s overwhelming aura still filled it with instinctive fear and vigilance.
For the first time, Opal and Diamond didn’t dare stay close to Lin Jiangye. At first the tabby was scared too—but it tilted its head and studied the Mountain God for a long while. Then it looked at its own coat pattern, and suddenly—delighted—it pounced forward.
It asked with shining eyes:
[Can I grow that big in the future too?]
Can I, can I? I want to be that mighty too!!!
Lin Jiangye fell silent. Tiger Mom fell silent too. Human and tiger exchanged a look—then both nodded, giving a perfunctory “mm-hm.”
The tabby immediately spun in circles chasing its own tail, so happy it could explode. Lin Jiangye watched, baffled—what kind of cat learned that from which dog?
Later, when he saw the Five-Red Dog also chasing its tail, he instantly understood.
With Tourmaline and the tabby setting an example, the other little ones gradually gathered closer too.
Lin Jiangye hugged Tiger Mom’s neck and asked in a muffled voice, “How long can you stay here?”
Shang Fuyan walked out and replied, “A week. Only a week. After a week, you’ll take Tiger Mom back yourself.”
Hearing it was only seven days, Lin Jiangye’s mouth drooped, his face full of wronged misery.
That expression made Shang Fuyan laugh.
He sat beside Tiger Mom, voice carrying the tiniest hint of “watching the drama” amusement. “Mountain God, have you talked to him properly yet?”
Tiger Mom rumbled a low growl. Her heavy paw pressed lightly on Lin Jiangye’s back.
[Will you dare do it again?]
Lin Jiangye sniffled in fake tears, burying his face in Tiger Mom’s thick fur. “I won’t…”
Ah—refreshing. Truly refreshing.
Shang Fuyan was very satisfied. He believed Lin Jiangye would keep his word. If he said he wouldn’t, then next time he acted, he’d be more cautious.
Tiger Mom stayed for half a day. Once the house gradually took on her scent, most of the animal cubs finally dared come close. Opal even copied Tourmaline and the tabby, crawling right onto Tiger Mom’s back.
Jiang Xin and the others still kept some distance, but their faces weren’t as stiff anymore.
After dinner, Shang Fuyan was preparing to leave when Lin Jiangye suddenly grabbed his arm.
“Can you stay tonight?”
That one sentence froze Jiang Xin and Tiger Mom on the spot.
Even Shang Fuyan stared at Lin Jiangye, stunned. Seeing their shocked faces, Lin Jiangye looked confused instead. “Why are you all making that face?”
It wasn’t like Shang Fuyan had never slept here. Hadn’t he stayed the night not long before going to Taibai Mountain?
Yes—but the way Lin Jiangye just said that… in the ears of anyone with thoughts, it could sound like something else entirely.
“Y-You… what are you trying to do?” For a brief moment, Shang Fuyan didn’t know what to do. The calm on his face cracked into visible panic.
But Lin Jiangye’s next line shattered all of his fantasies.
“I have something I want to ask you.”
Oh. So he only wanted help.
After one tiny moment of disappointment, Shang Fuyan quickly pulled himself together. “What is it?”
This time, Lin Jiangye’s expression was a little subtle—like someone annoyed at being disturbed, yet also wary and expectant.
He dragged Shang Fuyan straight up to the master bedroom on the second floor. Jiang Xin and Tiger Mom stared at their disappearing backs and fell into silence.
After a while, Jiang Xin sighed, then looked at Tiger Mom. “You… please come with me.”
Whether Tiger Mom was human or tiger didn’t matter. Since Lin Jiangye considered her an elder, she was one of the owners of this house.
And Jiang Xin had also heard about the Mountain God’s “deeds” from Shang Fuyan. He fully agreed that the people near Taibai Mountain calling her a Mountain God made perfect sense.
Tiger Mom flicked her tail and silently followed Jiang Xin.
Lin Jiangye had arranged a space for Tiger Mom beside the courtyard on the first floor. It used to be a small glass greenhouse, abandoned for a long time. Now it had been cleaned, lined with soft blankets—perfect as Tiger Mom’s den.
Upstairs, Shang Fuyan sat with a grim face on the balcony with Lin Jiangye, discussing the group of people who had suddenly appeared earlier that day.
“From the capital? I never heard anything about it. Did they say what they want you to do in the capital?”
Lin Jiangye sat cross-legged on the floor, lounging against the wall. “Who knows? They just said they want me to help with something. If I agree, I should call them.”
As for the reward, they had clearly investigated his preferences. They said that after his wildlife park was completed, they would help him apply to bring in several rare, top-level protected animals.
Shang Fuyan immediately let out a scoffing laugh. “I can help you with that too. Why would you need them?”
In fact, given Lin Jiangye’s relationship with the Yue City Forestry Bureau, even if he said nothing, once the wildlife park was completed and the environment met requirements, they would naturally help him apply.
Not to mention he also had a good relationship with the Taibai Mountain Forestry Bureau. Maybe in the future he could even receive several Siberian tiger cubs!
And even if those bureaus weren’t enough—wasn’t there still him?
As long as Lin Jiangye’s paperwork was legal and compliant, Shang Fuyan could guarantee his applications wouldn’t be maliciously blocked.
Lin Jiangye tilted his head, looking at him in confusion.
He knew Shang Fuyan couldn’t come from an ordinary family—otherwise he wouldn’t be able to live here and smoothly secure the thousand mu of mountain land behind them.
But the way Shang Fuyan spoke now… sounded like more than just a little influence.
“You—” Lin Jiangye had just started to speak when he saw Shang Fuyan message someone saved as “Big Brother,” directly asking whether something had happened in the capital.
Clearly, this wasn’t the kind of “small matter” ordinary people could even know about.
They waited quietly. Soon a message came back. The moment they read it, both their expressions turned ugly.
Lin Jiangye had imagined the capital inviting him might be for a case with no leads, or to use his ability to find someone or something in the wild.
But he never expected—
They wanted him to help locate a white-tailed sea eagle.
And after finding it… kill it.
The reason: it had scratched the breeder’s son.
Seeing that chain of messages, both Lin Jiangye and Shang Fuyan felt their brains stall for a second.
Then the final line landed, and Lin Jiangye let out a cold laugh. “I’m not going.”
The white-tailed sea eagle had indeed injured a human—but only because the breeder’s son had first smashed the sea eagle’s chick to death.
Right in front of it. Smashed it to death, alive, in front of its eyes.
To Lin Jiangye, that was karma—an animal’s justified revenge.
“I’m not going. What did the sea eagle do wrong? Its only mistake was not killing that child-killer on the spot. How could I ever help evil? Absolutely not.” Lin Jiangye rolled his eyes hard, his face full of disdain.
Even Shang Fuyan was speechless, so annoyed he almost laughed.
Lin Jiangye decisively sent them a “get lost” message and ignored them from then on, focusing on staying home with Tiger Mom.
Tiger Mom was only here for a week—he wasn’t going to waste a second.
A week wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short either. It was just enough for Lin Jiangye and Tiger Mom to spend their first New Year’s Eve together.
When he finally brought Tiger Mom back to Taibai Mountain, Lin Jiangye hugged her and took a deep breath.
“Give me one more year. By the end of this year, I can bring you over first.” The land was already bought, and the environment was being built.
A full wildlife park would take longer, but his private park could have animals moved in by year’s end.
By then—Tiger Mom, the little white deer, and the others—he could bring them over first.
Tiger Mom rubbed against Lin Jiangye. She had full confidence in this cub.
He might be the weakest-looking cub—but he was also the richest one.
Her cub was amazing.
After watching Tiger Mom leave, Lin Jiangye got back into the car to head home—only to receive a call from Shang Fuyan.
“He’s dead.”
“Who?” Lin Jiangye was full of question marks. Who died?
“The one who wanted you to find the white-tailed sea eagle. His son is dead.”
And that wasn’t even the key point. The key point was: the corpse was covered in raptor claw marks—looking as if that white-tailed sea eagle had returned to kill.
Now that family had gone completely insane.
