Panda Cub – Chapter 1

Digging Up Bamboo Shoots to Eat

A greedy little panda!

At this moment, Jing Dan stared ahead with dark, round eyes, her expression entirely listless. Her four little paws were being repeatedly kneaded, treated completely like a lump of dough.

            

The panda cub, small enough to be picked up with a single hand, was being cradled in the arms of a stunningly beautiful woman. The little stray tuft of hair on the cub’s head seemed to sense its owner’s listlessness, drooping lifelessly.

With features that danced with lively grace, the woman’s bright, dark eyes shone with deep affection. She gently stroked the panda’s soft fur over and over, completely unable to let go.

“Little guy, whose cub are you? Did you come out here to find food all by yourself?” He Ying looked down at the panda cub in her arms with a beaming smile. The dark circles around the cub’s eyes, looking as if she had pulled countless all-nighters, were set against her soft, white face in a stark contrast of black and white.

            

She couldn’t understand how a creature with only two colors, black and white, could combine them to look so incredibly adorable.

Jing Dan didn’t speak. She stretched out her short, stubby paws, trying to break free from the woman’s embrace, but it was in vain.

The woman was holding her far too tightly.

            

She squirmed even harder. She couldn’t understand why her luck was so terrible today; how had she run into such a strange woman?

With a deep, warm smile playing in her eyes, He Ying tightened her hold on the struggling panda cub. Remembering the scene she’d just witnessed, her previously gloomy mood instantly brightened.

Pandas really brought joy just by being looked at.

            

A tiny panda cub sticking its rear end in the air as it dug up bamboo shoots was a sight she could laugh at every single time, making her find them more and more clumsily adorable.

He Ying looked down at the bamboo shoot that the panda had managed to scrape a bit of dirt off of, and said with a smile, “Is it hard to dig with those little paws? Do you want some help?”

Jing Dan paused her struggles and immediately stopped resisting altogether. Staring at the bamboo shoot in the hole with her round, dark eyes, she let out a couple of soft squeaks.

            

The cub’s soft voice seemed to tickle the very depths of one’s heart.

He Ying opened her mouth in a silent laugh. Cradling the panda cub in her arms, she found a small stick, squatted down, and began scraping the soil away from the bamboo shoot bit by bit. As she dug, she said, “It’s a good thing you ran into me. Otherwise, with those two tiny paws of yours, who knows how long it would’ve taken you to get something to eat?”

She could sense a trace of spiritual energy inside the panda, which meant this panda was a demon¹. A panda demon was a rare sight indeed.

            

Jing Dan didn’t answer her. If she weren’t currently unable to transform into her human shape, would she have to suffer this woman’s mockery?

But seeing how the woman was on the verge of pulling the bamboo shoot free, she had no mind to care about her mockery anymore.

Her eyes were practically glued to the bamboo shoot.

            

He Ying naturally noticed her wide-eyed, expectant gaze. Once she’d dug it out most of the way, she grabbed the bamboo shoot and plucked the entire thing out with a gentle twist.

The little panda’s eyes grew even brighter. Wherever the bamboo shoot went, her gaze followed.

Seeing this foodie behavior of hers, He Ying felt a sudden urge to tease her. Holding the bamboo shoot out of reach, she waved it left and right, pleased to see that little head turning back and forth. In the end, perhaps growing anxious, the cub opened her mouth and let out a few urgent squeaks.

            

Hearing those anxious squeaks, He Ying felt as if the little panda were truly vexed. The cub’s tiny paws flailed about. If she weren’t still being held, He Ying truly suspected this little panda would jump up and thump the ground in anger.

He Ying’s mood improved even further. She wiped her hands, peeled the bamboo shoot, and handed it to the little panda, saying, “Why can you only make squeaks? Can’t you speak yet?”

“This shouldn’t be the case. How could a panda that knows to come out and forage for food on its own still be unable to speak?”

            

“You’re not a mute, are you?”

Jing Dan had absolutely no interest in paying attention to her. Clutching the bamboo shoot with both paws, she simply nestled comfortably in the woman’s embrace and munched away. After all, this woman’s embrace was fragrant and soft—incredibly comfortable.

Seeing how the cub only cared about eating and completely ignored her, He Ying gritted her teeth and gave her little head a good rub. What an ungrateful, bridge-burning panda.

            

But watching her eat, with those crisp chewing sounds echoing in her ears, He Ying burst into a hearty laugh. “Why do you take one bite on the left and one on the right? Are you worried that chewing on one side for too long will make your face asymmetrical?”

As she spoke, she lifted the little panda up in front of her face to closely inspect her cute little mug. Honestly, her face shape was indeed symmetrical and adorable, so much so that He Ying could barely resist the urge to lean in and give her a couple of kisses!

Helplessly, she had to abandon the idea in the end. This was a demon, and an underage one at that. If word of this got out, wouldn’t she, He Ying, be branded a rogue crane?

            

Held up in the air, Jing Dan kicked her legs in annoyance and opened her mouth, about to roar at her.

Yet He Ying seemed to have found something highly amusing. She brought the little panda closer to examine her teeth, marveling, “You’re quite clean, aren’t you? Your teeth are brushed so white!”

The roar Jing Dan was about to unleash died in her throat. She froze, staring at the woman in front of her with wide, dark eyes.

            

Being so close, she could feel the other’s breath brushing against her, which felt very bizarre.

She twitched her ears and squirmed in displeasure.

A tiny panda cub simply couldn’t escape the hunter’s palm no matter how she struggled. He Ying pulled her back into her arms. Seeing that the cub still clutched the bamboo shoot tightly in her paws despite all that squirming, she felt she’d grasped her true nature.

            

A greedy little panda indeed!

Since she was a glutton, dealing with a glutton was simply too easy.

By satisfying her stomach, she could hold her firmly in her grasp!

            

“Do you want more? Do you need me to dig up more for you?” He Ying asked with a smile. As long as she satisfied this little guy’s stomach, she’d probably leave a decent impression, right? If she wanted to pet the panda in the future, she’d probably let her, right?

Jing Dan, who had returned to comfortably munching on the bamboo shoot in her arms, perked up visibly upon hearing that the woman was willing to dig up more. She nodded her head eagerly, letting out a series of enthusiastic squeaks.

The cries of a panda really didn’t match their size at all, especially these small panda cubs. Their soft squeaks pierced straight to the heart; even when they tried to look fierce, it was just a cute, baby-fierce look with absolutely zero threat.

            

And so, in the dead of night, she squatted on the ground, huffing and puffing as she dug up bamboo shoots while cradling a constantly munching panda in her arms. Moreover, she had to be very particular about how she dug.

Or rather, the little guy was the particular one.

She insisted on eating only the tender shoots. She would eat the older ones too, but she’d look a little disgruntled while chewing on them.

            

He Ying indulged her, which meant digging up those tender shoots was a lot more troublesome.

By the middle of the night, He Ying was surrounded by a scattered pile of peeled bamboo husks. Looking at the little panda in her arms who was still clutching a shoot but already beginning to doze off, she let out a quiet sigh.

She was way too much of a glutton.

            

“Little guy, where’s your home? Should I send you back?” She gently nudged the little panda in her arms, coaxing her like a child. Who could look at that sleepy-eyed little face and not call it adorable?

Still, to be in this area in the middle of the night, she probably lived nearby, right?

Upon hearing her words, Jing Dan instantly went on high alert. She wriggled out of her embrace and leapt to the ground, stepping onto the discarded bamboo husks with a soft rustle.

            

The moment she left the woman’s arms, deprived of the light fragrance that had constantly enveloped her and that warm, soft embrace, she felt slightly dazed for a moment. This woman’s embrace really was quite comfortable.

However, she quickly snapped out of it, shaking her head to fling those strange thoughts out of her mind before staring warily at the woman.

The Clan Leader had said that when she was away from home, she couldn’t carelessly expose her identity as a demon.

            

Since she already knew she was a demon, then reasoning in reverse, did it mean she absolutely couldn’t let her find out about her human form?

That way, she wouldn’t be able to link her human form to her demon form, which meant she wouldn’t count as having exposed her identity, right?

Jing Dan felt her logic was completely sound; that was exactly how it worked! Therefore, she absolutely couldn’t let this woman know where she lived, lest she trace it back to her human identity!

            

He Ying naturally noticed her wary little gaze. After a brief freeze, she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You really are an ungrateful bear. I dug up bamboo shoots for you for half the night, and this is the look I get?”

She shook her head with a bit of helplessness, yet she could understand the cub’s behavior.

            

These days, humans and demons lived side by side. Although the two sides had achieved a balance, it didn’t mean no problems would ever arise, especially among the demon races, where some issues remained unresolved.

Just as there were good people and bad people, demons were no exception.

Some wicked demons would harm their own kind to practice essence harvesting². Thus, demons had to guard their identities not only from humans, but also from malicious fellow demons.

            

Pandas were national treasures in the human world, and the same naturally held true in the demon realm. Moreover, because they were born with far denser spiritual energy than other demons, they became the number one target for those looking to perform essence harvesting.

“Alright, alright. I won’t ask anymore. Go on home by yourself in a bit.” Having understood, He Ying didn’t press further about her home. However, before turning to leave, she still felt a little unwilling to let it go.

She squatted in front of the little panda, lightly tapping the space between the cub’s brows with her index finger. “I’ve fed you so much,” she grumbled in dissatisfaction, “so surely you can at least tell me if you’re a boy or a girl?”

            

Gender shouldn’t be some classified secret, right?

Yet, upon hearing her words, the little panda seemed suddenly startled. The bamboo shoot in her arms dropped as she hastily curled herself into a tight ball, looking as if she were terrified the woman would reach over and inspect her.

He Ying: “…”

            

Did she really look like such a pervert?

The gorgeous crane beauty fell into a deep, silent sulk.

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The author has something to say:

            

He Ying: Since you misunderstand me like this, don’t blame me for taking action to live up to your misunderstanding and make it a reality~

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