Chapter 362: Are You Really Our Mother?

Chapter 362: Chapter 362: Are You Really Our Mother?

She had absolutely no memory of the cubs.

She felt incredibly guilty.

Holding the cub, she gazed at it again and again, not feeling the slightest bit sleepy.

Yin Ze sensed that the female in his arms was still awake and murmured, "It’s getting late. Go to sleep... I’ll make the cub stay tomorrow. You can talk to him when you wake up."

"I’m not sleepy. I just want to look at him a little longer."

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the cub in her arms.

The tiger cub was no longer a baby, but a half-grown cub, nearly as long as she was when he lay down.

Yet he still burrowed into her embrace like a little cub, seeming to crave her touch.

Though she didn’t want to wake him, she couldn’t resist pulling him closer and burying her face in his fur.

Bai Wanwan stayed up watching the cub, her excitement keeping her awake until the wee hours, when she finally started to feel drowsy.

In a daze, she sensed the male beside her wasn’t asleep either.

She reached over, grabbed his hand, and mumbled, "Yin Ze, tomorrow, you must... you absolutely must help me keep the cub here. I want to hold him when he’s awake."

Yin Ze gently patted her waist. "Okay. Just rest now."

Sleep came for her in an instant; she was just too exhausted.

When she opened her eyes, she noticed something was missing from her arms.

She was instantly wide awake and shot up in bed.

"Yin Ze, where’s the cub?"

As soon as she spoke, she saw Yin Ze sitting on a stone stool in the room. Beside him on the ground, a cub was crouched low.

The instant she spoke, the cub leaped up and clamped down on Yin Ze’s leg, pulling and tugging while a low growl, GRRRRR, rumbled in its throat.

It seemed to be part-demonstration, part-tantrum.

But it only bit down for a second. The moment it heard the female’s voice, it immediately let go.

It shrank back, looking guilty.

When he’d woken up this morning, he hadn’t been as terrified of the strange surroundings as he was on the first day, so he didn’t just run off.

He’d woken up more relaxed today, unwilling to leave the female’s embrace, and had greedily stayed nestled there for a little while longer.

’And then... I was discovered by that detestable male beside her.’

’If I weren’t still growing, I would never lose to this male!’

Sensing the female’s gaze, the tiger cub turned to run.

Unfortunately, just as he leaped up, he was yanked back by Yin Ze.

Bai Wanwan quickly came over and soothed the tiger cub. "My sweet cub, don’t run, you’ll hurt yourself."

But now that he was fully awake, the tiger cub was resistant to the female’s approach.

He kept backing away, guiltily avoiding her gaze.

When Bai Wanwan noticed this, her heart twinged as if pricked by a needle.

’Was I a bad mother? Is that why my cub pushes me away, only daring to come close when I’m fast asleep?’

’But that can’t be right!’

’Knowing myself, I don’t believe I could ever do anything terrible to my own child.’

She approached step by step, stopping about three feet away from him.

With a smile fixed on her face, she squatted down and wrapped her arms around her knees, as if to shrink the distance between herself and the cub.

"Sweet cub, I’m your Mother! Why won’t you let your Mother hold you?"

The tiger cub’s eyes went wide as saucers when he heard the word "Mother."

’Is this female my Mother?’

As he grew and began to understand the world, he saw other cubs being raised by both a Mother and a Father Beast.

But they only had Uncle Qiu to look after them.

He’d never seen his Mother for as long as he could remember, and his Father Beast only came to visit occasionally.

As he got older, he saw other cubs being held in their mothers’ arms. He didn’t want to admit it, but he yearned to have a Mother, too.

’What would my Mother be like?’

The more he longed for one, the more disappointed he became.

Eventually, he told himself to stop thinking about it. ’What’s the big deal about not having a Mother, anyway?’

He didn’t know why, but when this female appeared, he was drawn to her scent.

So... this was his Mother.

As he kept looking, the tiger cub’s eyes began to brim with tears.

He tore his gaze away, refusing to look at her.

Seeing him act like that made Bai Wanwan’s heart ache.

"Sweet cub, your Mother has forgotten so many things. I’m sorry... but I’ll never leave you again."

The tiger cub whipped its head around, a hopeful light shining in its round eyes. "You... you really won’t leave us?"

Hearing the childish voice, Bai Wanwan’s eyes curved with joy as she nodded repeatedly. "That’s right, Mother won’t leave you. Now come over here and let your Mother hold you, okay?"

He had been so standoffish just a moment ago, but now he was acting all shy, wanting to come closer but seemingly too proud to make the first move.

Bai Wanwan’s heart melted into a puddle. ’My cub is truly an angel.’

’It seems I’m the one who failed them, who let them down.’

’And yet, he’s forgiving me so easily.’

Just as the tiger cub was about to reach her with hesitant little steps, the window covering was pushed aside, and three heads poked in at once.

One was as big as the first tiger cub, while the other two were much smaller.

They seemed startled by the scene inside and immediately pulled their heads back out of sight.

But, apparently worried about the tiger cub inside, they quickly poked their heads back in again.

The new tiger cub was in the front. It bared its teeth at Bai Wanwan and Yin Ze. "Who are you? Let my brother go right now, or I’ll bite you to death!"

He had just finished speaking when two small, perfectly synchronized voices piped up from behind. "That’s right, let our brother go, or we’ll... we’ll bite you!"

The two little ones were far too small to be the least bit intimidating, but they still puffed out their chests just like their older brother, putting on their most ferocious expressions.

It was incredibly cute.

Bai Wanwan quickly stood up from the ground, her heart filled with relief and pride as she watched the cub who would brave danger to save his brother.

"Brother... come on! Jump up here!"

The Cat Cub prompted the tiger cub on the ground, acting as if Bai Wanwan and Yin Ze couldn’t hear.

Bai Wanwan couldn’t help but let out a PFFT of laughter.

"Wh-what are you laughing at? I told you to let my brother go!"

The tiger cub on the ground quickly said, "You guys, stop it. She... she’s our Mother."

The cubs had actually already smelled their Mother’s scent on her.

It was a scent that felt familiar, one that put them at ease.

But their eldest brother was in danger, so they had ignored the scent’s effect on them.

"Big brother... what did you just say?"

The tiger cub on the table stood with its mouth hanging open.

Its eyes shifted to Bai Wanwan, and it stared without even blinking.

Bai Wanwan instinctively moved closer to them.

But all three cubs instinctively shied away, backing up at the same time.

Bai Wanwan had no choice but to stop.

"You three, come down. She has to be our Mother. Just smell her scent."

The three cubs had smelled it long ago; they had just been trying their best to ignore it.

But after their big brother’s reminder, their wariness and resistance toward Bai Wanwan noticeably diminished.

The first to move was a Cat Cub.

It hopped down from the table and walked right up to Bai Wanwan.

It pawed at her leg with its little claws and looked up at her. "Are you really our Mother?"