Epilogue
I am not Dayu who passes his home three times without entering.
Home is so close. I should go back and see what Dad is doing lately.
Since Xie Yu came over, I finally have money for a taxi.
I no longer need to run back miserably on four legs or squeeze onto a crowded bus.
He charters an off-road vehicle. We sit in the spacious back seat and watch the jungle outside the window grow denser.
We see gray rabbits, long-antlered deer, and eagles flapping across the sky.
I press against the car window and swallow.
It has been so long. I really want to eat.
"Venison is not as good as Venison. It is stringy. They do not grow fat."
I list them one by one.
"Wild bison is not as good as supermarket Wagyu either. Wagyu has a milky aroma. Wild bison only has tendon meat."
Xie Yu asks me, "Buy some Venison when we get back?"
I yawn. "You catch one for me."
We chat on and off.
From deciding to hunt a little deer to me saying I also want lizards and snakes, the driver in front finally cannot stand it.
"Little girl, you cannot harm animals in the reserve. You will go to jail if they catch you," he says with a troubled face. "And lizards cannot be eaten."
They can.
When Dad raised me before, if he could not catch big prey, he caught lizards for me.
Although lizards do not taste very good, I have not eaten any in a long time. I want them.
I have even forgotten their flavor.
The driver is human. He does not understand at all.
I lean on Xie Yu’s shoulder. "Fine. Then I will eat them behind your back."
The driver: ...
He looks at Xie Yu, wanting to speak but stopping.
Along the road he holds back again and again. After we reach the destination and he drops us off, he still cannot resist.
"Young man, do not let your girlfriend eat random things. This is a nature reserve."
Xie Yu thanks him politely and sees the driver off.
By the time we reach deep into the jungle, it is already dusk.
The sky darkens. The last light filters through the leaves and breaks into scattered patches.
In the fine light and shadow, I smell the air.
Dad’s scent is very strong. He should be nearby.
There are also many scents of my own kind.
Walking on two legs is too slow.
I turn back into a wolf and bite Xie Yu’s pant leg.
"Awoo~"
Turn back too, or I will not take you with me.
Xie Yu transforms into a wolf with me.
After he fully changes, his fur is glossy and his limbs are thick and powerful.
He looks like a handsome wolf.
No wonder so many people call him handsome when he is human.
I used to think he only looked a little bigger than other humans.
Human taste is strange.
Now that he has turned back, I can see he really is handsome.
He looks much better than in human form.
I awoo and bite his head.
Xie Yu shakes his head and dodges.
It seems he has been human too long and forgotten he is a wolf.
This will not do.
I bite again.
I get a mouthful of fur.
Ptooey. Ptooey. Ptooey.
I stop biting him.
Then Xie Yu pounces and bites me instead.
We roll on the ground biting each other until I pin him down and clamp my jaws around his whole head in victory.
I howl triumphantly.
Before I can bite him again, a howl echoes from deeper in the jungle.
I freeze.
I forgot.
I came back to find Dad, not to play with Xie Yu.
I get off him, bite the back of his neck, and drag him up.
We run toward Dad’s scent.
Surprisingly, it is not far.
I hear Dad’s cry.
"Daughter awooooooo your dad lost another fight."
A wolf with whitening fur runs toward me.
"That damn new Wolf King thinks being young is impressive! If I were a few years younger, he..."
I cut in. "You could not beat him either."
Dad breaks down instantly and rushes to bite me.
"Say that again! Dead girl, see if I do not beat you to death!"
We chase each other around the trees for a long time.
In the end Dad crashes into a tree.
The wound from the Wolf King splits open. He howls in pain.
Dad sits pitifully under the tree, licking his wound alone.
I sit beside him and think. "Why don’t you come to the city with me? I will support you in your old age.
"There is lots of food in the city, and you will not have to see the Wolf King. Out of sight, out of mind."
Dad looks shocked. "You will support me with the 320 bucks you earned from Factory Line Work?"
I: ...
Can he stop mentioning that!
I say righteously, "Isn’t that because you did not send me to school? If I had gone to university, would I have ended up doing Factory Line Work in a Shady Factory?"
Dad is even more shocked. "You mean a wolf like you attending a human university?"
I am unhappy. "What about it?"
Xie Yu attended school.
I pull Xie Yu forward. Dad narrows his eyes.
"Who is this?"
"The dad of the Little Wolf in your daughter’s belly."
Dad: ?
Xie Yu says politely, "Hello, Dad."
Dad: ?!
The next second he pounces forward, wound still bleeding.
He chases Xie Yu while howling in pain.
"I thought you were just making excuses not to make money, but you actually brought a wolf back for me!"
I turn back into human form and secretly take out a pack of Venison from my bag.
It is Venison.
So good.
When Dad finally gets tired from running, I speak.
"He is very rich."
"How rich?"
"Rich enough that we can eat meat every meal—Venison, rabbit meat, beef, all of it!"
I list them to tempt him.
Persuading him all night is not as effective as letting him taste one piece of jerky.
He agrees immediately to leave the forest with us.
On the way back to the city I throw up a victory sign.
Yay! Now the cub has someone to help raise it!