Panda Cub – Chapter 29

Crane Bear CP

Even though she was worried, being unable to get in touch with the person was of no use, especially since Hu Tu also mentioned her aunt was there, then there truly was nothing for her to fret about.

She sighed softly and turned back to her own home.

Just as she appeared in her own living room, she saw a pair of dark, glistening eyes quietly gazing at her.

He Ying: “…”

Why did she perceive discontent towards herself from those eyes? No, what had she done to provoke her, to deserve such dissatisfaction?

With a serene and profound gaze, Jing Dan watched her before jumping off the sofa and drawing a bit closer. She caught the scent of someone else on her, which made her pause for an instant.

Looking up at He Ying’s face, which didn’t seem too pleased, Jing Dan wondered, who did she just meet? It seemed to even make her a bit upset.

“What are you doing?” He Ying looked down from her higher position at this little rascal, puzzled by her current behavior.

Since when did she become so interested in her? Besides her milk bottle, what else could there be in her eyes?

Jing Dan halted in her tracks and simply sat down in front of her, feeling somewhat confused. Normally, by this time, He Ying would have already scooped her up and kneaded her in her arms, but now, there was no such action.

She didn’t move, which made her feel somewhat unaccustomed.

Seeing the little cub sit down right in front of her, He Ying sighed helplessly and bent down to pick her up. She then carried her into the kitchen, presuming she must have been hungry upon waking up, and probably got a little upset for not finding her.

Jing Dan, held in her arms, could now even more clearly smell the scent of someone else on her, making her shift uncomfortably.

“What’s wrong?” He Ying lowered her head, looking at the little rascal. Why did she seem even more displeased now?

Jing Dan huffed and struggled down from her grasp, then ran into the bedroom.

He Ying: “…”

However, before she could even articulate her thoughts, she felt a weight on her neck and quickly reached out to support it. To her surprise, the panda cub had reappeared in her arms.

He Ying: “…”

Her gaze fell on the bottle of perfume she was holding, and a multitude of huge question marks popped into her mind.

What was she trying to do?

“Do you, want to spray some perfume?” He Ying hesitated as she spoke. She hadn’t expected such a little cub to have a penchant for beauty.

Seeing that she had misunderstood, Jing Dan also seemed a bit anxiously to hum twice and pushed the perfume towards her.

He Ying: “…” It seems that the perfume was meant for her own use?

Realizing what was meant, He Ying took a careful sniff of herself and discovered, to her surprise, that she carried the scent of the black robed figure. So, did this mean that she was expected to cover up someone else’s scent with the perfume?

He Ying fell silent for a moment, then obediently took the perfume and sprayed it on herself twice before asking, “How about now? Is it okay?”

The little cub made no further moves, instead casting her gaze towards the stove, seemingly urging her to do something.

He Ying: “…”

How on earth did she, step by step, end up living in the position of such a tool? Yet, the person concerned seemed to take it all for granted…

He Ying felt disheartened, yet the movements of making milk for her were done with utmost naturalness, without the slightest hint of impatience.

Jing Dan, nestled in her arms with a baby bottle of milk, didn’t care one bit about He Ying’s thoughts; she was just focused on the four bottles of milk He Ying had promised her today. Currently, she was on the first bottle, with three more to go.

He Ying let her lie there with the bottle as she pleased, while she took some clean clothes into the bathroom, wanting to take an early shower to wash off any foreign scents from her body, lest the little cub suddenly take offence to her smell again.

While showering, she also pondered whether she should find time to go home for a visit. It seemed she hadn’t been back for some years now, hadn’t she?

He Ying, who planned to visit home once the show’s recording was done, emerged from the bathroom to see the little cub lying on the bed, kicking her legs and the empty milk bottle.

The milk in the bottle was gone, and upon seeing He Ying emerge, the cub looked at her with a deep, solemn gaze.

He Ying sighed in resignation, moving forward to take the bottle, yet in her heart she wondered: after the recording ends, will she still see her? What if she went to the panda base? Would she be able to see her there?

But without any answers, and watching the little cub continue to drink milk from the bottle she had picked up again, He Ying thought the child, with her carefree demeanor, probably wouldn’t miss her when the time came.

“By the way, how old are you, exactly?” He Ying leaned in close, propping her head up as she watched her. She knew that the Panda Race aged slowly; it was possible she was already mature, but in form, she still appeared like just a two or three-month-old cub, highly deceptive in her looks.

Jing Dan glanced at her, having no intention of answering her question. If she spoke up, wouldn’t she be recognized?

Seeing that she didn’t respond, He Ying’s mind began to wander. “You couldn’t be hundreds of years old, and still pretending to be a cub just to deceive me, right?”

Jing Dan: “…”

But then He Ying thought again and felt it was somewhat improbable. What kind of spirit would be hundreds of years old and still clutching a milk bottle without letting go? Wouldn’t they feel embarrassed about losing face as a spirit?

After Jing Dan finished her milk and seemed to want a third bottle, He Ying raised her index finger and shook it, “It’s too late now, drinking too much will bloat your stomach.”

Jing Dan let go of the milk bottle, and it rolled off her hand onto her stomach, then continued rolling onto the bed.

He Ying: “…” Is it necessary to throw a tantrum just because I won’t let you drink? And now you’ve thrown your milk-drinking friend away. What are you going to use to drink next time?

She was nearly driven to laughter by the antics of this little rascal. He Ying picked up the bottle, put it away properly, then casually picked up Jing Dan and headed to the washroom to carry out the routine of brushing teeth twice.

The next day, He Ying woke up again, feeling suffocated under the weight and dully stared at the ceiling. Despite it being only the second time they’ve shared the bed, waking up like this again gave her an eerie sense of getting used to it…

With practiced ease, she shifted the little cub who was sleeping on her stomach to one side, then got up to wash up and make breakfast. She needed to bring the little cub along to a recording session later.

Sure enough, the next scene unfolded just like yesterday. The little cub, once again enticed by food, sat atop the refrigerator.

He Ying prepared a bottle of milk and handed it to her to keep herself occupied, then proceeded to prepare the food she needed to bring along to the recording for the little cub to eat.

After breakfast, while changing clothes, He Ying took a small cloth bag from the wardrobe and then had the little cub sling it over her body.

Jing Dan had already adapted.

When she arrived at the program’s recording studio once more, holding the little cub, she noticed that all the other observers were gathered together, looking at a cellphone and laughing heartily.

He Ying, unsure of what had caused the commotion, walked over to take a look and found that they were watching a video that was edited from a screen recording of yesterday’s live broadcast by the production team.

She saw in the video how the little cub was startled by the program team’s unexpected visit, causing the milk bottle to fall. Netizens had turned the scene into a viral remix video, humorously repeating the bottle dropping paired with the little cub’s bewildered expression.

He Ying: “…”

She quickly raised her hand to cover the little cub’s eyes, to prevent her from getting upset and jumping up after seeing it.

Seeing He Ying’s action, the others laughed even louder.

“Teacher He, do you know which CP is the hottest online right now?” one of the female observers asked He Ying, trying to hold back her laughter.

“Hmm? Isn’t the show not on air yet? And there’s already a CP?” He Ying, holding the little cub, moved a bit away from them before setting her down on the table.

Hearing her response, the others laughed so hard they almost couldn’t straighten their backs.

Qiu Shuhuai, being more experienced and adept at controlling the situation, laughed before explaining, “Although the program hasn’t been broadcast yet, wasn’t there a live stream earlier? Now, the internet is shipping you and Daidai.”

Hearing this, He Ying was bewildered: “???”

Her and the little cub’s CP? If she wasn’t mistaken, during the live stream she was in human form, and the little cub in spirit form, right? Are those shipping CPs online so wild these days? They even ship human-animal pairings?

Jing Dan: “…” A CP with He Ying? What in the world!

Seeing that both He Ying and the little creature have quieted down, Qiu Shuhuai’s smile deepened, “It’s nothing serious, just that netizens find your interactions quite interesting and can’t help but hope for the best for you two.”

Jing Dan, He Ying: “…”

He Ying decided to let it be; they couldn’t stop people online from thinking what they wanted.

When the official filming began, Jiang Yan, who sat beside her, came prepared this time. The little cookies that Daidai had disdained the day before were gone, replaced by pickled bamboo shoot snacks—clearly aiming to please.

Observing the little cub whose gaze had already shifted toward the snacks, He Ying: “…”

She had no great expectations of her attaining any achievements.

Jiang Yan opened the package and brought a snack to the cub’s mouth. When she saw it actually open its mouth to eat, Jiang Yan’s face lit up with excitement. In a bargaining tone, she whispered softly, “Since you ate it, can I pet you? Just once, I promise!”

As she spoke, she extended a finger, her eyes brimming with eagerness as she watched the cub—how could anyone not find that pitifully cute?

The production team, savvy to these moments, instantly turned the camera focus onto Jiang Yan as she brought out the snacks, capturing their entire interaction.

On the day the episode was broadcast, the netizens who saw this scene couldn’t contain their excitement.

—Ahhh, too adorable! Can I lure Daidai away with a bamboo shoot?

—Just one bamboo shoot isn’t enough! She can have as many as she wants! Come to me, look at me!

—Don’t you guys think that the Movie Queen with Daidai also make a great pairing? Wuu wuu wuu, this is like a ‘Movie Queen spoils you’ plot!

—Ah yes, yes, yes! These two are also super ship-worthy!

—Have you all forgotten about Teacher He by the Daming Lake?

However, whether or not a new fandom CP has been derived, for now, Jiang Yan’s hand was tenderly stroking the little cub’s head, carefully rumpling her fur, and eventually even touching the tuft of hair on her head.

When she withdrew her hand, the look of sheer contentment on her face was almost spilling out of the screen.

—Suddenly I feel like the Movie Queen is not worthy of me anymore.

—+1, what’s with that worthless look? You’re a Movie Queen! Snap out of it!

—Quiet down up there! If you guys got to touch the little cub, you’d probably seem even less worthy!

—… seems like that’s true.

He Ying, watching from the side: “…”

She had not expected that this little rascal would really have no integrity, selling herself out just for that bit of food?

She, He Ying, how had she ever fallen short in providing her with food and drink!

Gritting her teeth slightly, she looked at the little cub’s butt, her hand starting to itch.

She felt like spanking it.