CH 20.3

Monkey Mother’s heart was already quivering, but she shut her eyes and held up her chest: “When Tiger King knows about it, he’ll not be happy!”

“Without me to give Tiger King massages, humph, humph, humph…”

The kitty was shocked, her mouth was wide open!

WTF! If you live enough, you’ll see everything! Monkey Mother is truly the quintessence of someone who uses their own position to bully others[1]!

She’s a living example of a cannon fodder follower that follows a hedonistic son of rich parents, who takes the side of an evildoer; that expression, that attitude, those movements, those words… amazing!

Astonished kitty face: Could it be, that this is the rumoured ‘monkey faking the prowess of a tiger’?

The fat tiger party that was being faked: …there seems to be something wrong.

The bear used its claws to scratch its round ears, it sullenly bared its teeth, really wanting to hit to death the monkey in front of it!

But… it’ll be very annoying.

Just thinking about it Bear feels annoyed, if I hit to death this monkey, then there’ll be a tiger looking for me. Then fight, fight, fight… it means that Bear won’t be able to leisurely bathe under the sun, steal honey, eat fruits… very annoying.

ò ó salted fish bear: Very annoying, it’ll be better for me to return to bask under the sun and sleep. Sniff, sniff, sniff, I’m so angry.

There’s nothing good about going out, in the future, I won’t go out even if there’s something good. The bear wilted while feeling wronged, it irritably pulled on its ears: Annoying! Monkey is annoying, tiger is annoying, finding a female is annoying, giving birth to children is annoying, living is annoying…

The dejected bear suddenly wilted, it drooped its head dispiritedly, put its claws down, thought about it, but was still angry! My honey sniff, sniff, sniff… It aggrievedly and enragedly sat on the ground, the bear tightly hugged the pitiful, weak, and helpless itself, feeling wronged. I want to fight, but it’ll be very annoying… should I fight? So annoying…

It was Bai Xia Xia’s first time seeing a bear that was like this; that bear’s face which looked very dejected at first sight had written on it: Perish, perish, let the world perish, a bear’s life is very hard.

“You and Da Hua’s relationship has become so close that you’ve become a family already? Why didn’t I know about that?” Bai Xia Xia emerged just in time; she could roughly guess the truth about this situation.

Monkey Mother was an astute one, ferocious too. When she fought for food with the monkeys, she had a bold and vigorous personality that was not afraid of death, because she protected her food, she had almost been stoned to death.

Monkey Mother Grandet[2] must have plotted the whole thing after seeing the honey[3], and then after seeing that this bear had the appearance of not being very smart, she took the opportunity[4] and decisively acted— —swindle, hike up prices, trick, deter with military force, all in one sequence.

She had to say, that the manipulation from Monkey Mother was incomparably nasty.

The price for Da Hua’s whole set service: a whole day’s worth of food.

The price for a whole set service for the pitiful, unknowing bear that was being slaughtered: three day’s worth of food.

Old. Self-interested Monkey Mother, her capability of serving plates of food depending on which bear she was dealing with was very smooth.

For animals, honey was very precious, difficult to get. Other than Black Bear who took the risk because he could depend on his own thick fur and because of his love for honey, other animals rarely got to eat honey.

Eating until full by only eating honey? You must be kidding!

The monkey raising the prices was already too much. But now, it even wanted a mile after being given an inch to extort some honey.

Black Bear’s personality was silly, and it was not eloquent at speaking, so it simply could not win in a battle of words against Monkey Mother who would dispute some things even if she was wrong, adding on its Buddhist salty fish attributes, it naturally was defeated.

Despite so, Monkey Mother was still unforgiving[5], the old unscrupulous businessman of the animal world!

The Persian cat walked in small kitty steps, elegantly and leisurely going over there.

Behind it, the striking tiger Da Ha was tightly following.

Monkey Mother’s monkey face stiffened, her heart freezing.

Just now, the fact that she had faked the prowess of a tiger was already something. But as it happened, she was avaricious and insatiable, a serpent that ate an elephant, before, she had pulled Da Hua’s sheep wool.

This timing was just right, both collided together.

An unscrupulous businessman had successfully overturned the car[6], Bai Xia Xia felt that it was exciting just by watching, she wanted to see what Monkey Mother would do.

Monkey Mother had the essence of an old, experienced person in society, her monkey face stacked up smiles, the rate at which her face changed was faster than flipping through a book, she very affectionately completely forgot about how she had made things difficult for Da Hua last time: “Tiger King has come ay! Why did you leave so fast last time, I didn’t even get to react, and Your Majesty was already gone! Aiyo, really.”

Da Hua ???

Shocked about the shamelessness of Monkey Mother: “Hm?”

“You two, scram down here immediately to work! Tiger King has come, bring up the good thing that we found, let us do something new for His Majesty.” Monkey Mother attentively recommended: “The kids found a thing that’s very useful, that’s used by those two-legged beasts, Tiger King will like it for sure, it’s very comfortable!”

Bai Xia Xia turned her cat head; she saw a baby monkey combing Da Hua’s fur with a comb that no one knew where it had been picked from.

Bai Xia Xia: So damn progressive, and they’ve even released the latest package…

“Teacher Xia Xia, I’ll flip your fur for you?” Monkey Mother had a guilty conscience: “When I’m the one moving my hands, I guarantee that I’ll be able to serve you until you’re comfortable and clean.”

— —It is exactly because you’re the one serving, that I can’t be at ease.

Bai Xia Xia callously rejected Monkey Mother’s service, she trotted to the side of the dispirited bear, “Bear.”

Black Bear’s back was hunched, his back figure emitted a dense air of depression, extremely grim. It turned back his head slowly, “Ah?”

“You, called me?”

Bai Xia Xia got a bit closer, maintaining a safe distance with the big black bear. The honest and salted fish bear that was extorted was an Asian black bear, with an adult body, its U-shaped, yellow-colored chest was like a big, beautiful towel that was wrapped around its chest.

Asian black bear

His two paws were placed like an old grandpa, dispirited Buddhist bear verified, it was no wonder that his temper was so good. Da Hua did not make a move against Monkey Mother because he was thinking about massages, otherwise, based on his explosive temper, he would have long ago hit the monkey to death. This bear… was simply lazy, so pacifist that it did not want to look for trouble.

“Monkey Mother, you’re too unreasonable, to bully honest people, that’s too over the top!” Bai Xia Xia’s right paw scratched out, leaving a deep scratch mark on the ground: “How difficult it is to get honey, don’t you know that?”

“What he brought, it’s enough to buy a one-month membership service.”

Monkey Mother was feeling so guilty that her eyes rolled around, she did not think that Bai Xia Xia would expose her right in front of the stupid bear.

Afraid of Black Bear eating her out of outrage, she gritted her teeth and invited the bear back, her attitude taking a turn of three hundred and sixty degrees.

Translator’s comments:

Isn’t three hundred and sixty degrees just returning to the same place? Shouldn’t it have been one-eighty?

Translator’s notes:

[1] Idiomatic expression ‘狗仗人势 (gǒu zhàng rén shì)’: lit. translation: ‘a dog threatens based on its master’s power’. It means ‘to use one’s position to bully others’.

[2] Grandet refers to the novel Eugénie Grandet from French author Honoré de Balzac that was published in 1833. It tells the story of the family Grandet, which becomes increasingly wealthy through acquisitions of lands through auctions and inheritances. The author makes a reference and adds ‘Grandet’ to Monkey Mother to imply that she is wealthy.

[3] The author wrote ‘见蜂蜜起意’, which is a variation of ‘见色起意’, which means to have bad intentions after seeing a beautiful woman. Instead of ‘beautiful woman’, the author wrote ‘honey’.

[4] Idiomatic expression ‘趁火打劫 (chèn huǒ dǎ jié)’: lit. translation: ‘taking advantage of a fire to loot’. It means ‘take an opportunity’ or ‘profit from someone’s misfortune’.

[5] Idiomatic expression ‘不依不饶 (bù yī bù ráo)’: lit. translation: ‘not forgiving until the request is fulfilled’. It means ‘unforgiving’ or ‘persistent’.

[6] Overturning the car is a Chinese internet term used to say that someone has failed to do something despite being good or claiming to be good at it.