Chapter 23

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You are a country bumpkin[1] panther

Nannan was arrogantly sitting on the back of the black panther. His small hands raised towards the passerby and peddlers as he waved at them, in a loud voice saying: “Hello, comrades, Comrades you are working hard!”

The pedestrians and bystanders whispered between each other after taking a step back: “Just which family is this child riding on that panther from? Don’t they care about him at all?”

“Right, right! What if it bites someone? Let’s go take a walk over there to that other side of the street instead.”

“Looking at the clothing he is dressed in, he must be a child of a good family.”

“At such a young age he is riding on a panther to get around. His courage isn’t small!”

Everyone’s words fell entirely into Nannan’s ears, making him sit even straighter.

“How is it? Isn’t the outside a lively place?” Nannan lowered his head, patting the panther lightly on its back, while excitedly chattering: “Aren’t you supposed to be thanking me for taking you on a stroll? It’s so refreshing! Look at that over there, that’s a restaurant. And that over there, it’s a stone lion. Oh, and that! Those are glazed lanterns. Of course, they are more beautiful at night.”

The black panther shook its head, feeling impatient.

Nannan took it as a sign of agreement, though. “Are you also very happy in seeing so many new things? Aren’t you very excited right now? You must love me, if it weren’t for me bringing you out to see the world, you’d still be like a country bumpkin[1] locked inside that room.”

You are a country bumpkin, your whole family is a bunch of country bumpkins! Just who doesn’t know what glazed lanterns and restaurants are?

The black panther had a hard time communicating that, and it started to miss its owner back at the Mo Residence. This kid’s chatter, by the way, seemed to be endless. From morning until now, he didn’t show a single sign of being tired and also didn’t seem to have a specific destination in mind. Not knowing when it was time to rest.

At this moment, Mo Xian was also following their steps silently. After watching Nannan walk through this street for the third time, he already felt he was being tricked. Isn’t what he was doing basically just ridding a black panther around? Why is he that thrilled and excited about wandering the same street 3 times that he didn’t get tired at all?

Mo Xian massaged his forehead, continuing to follow them as he understood his mission. The little guy’s speech flowing through his ears again.

“Bumpkin Panther, don’t you now think that following me gives you a certain sense of accomplishment?”

Only you think that way. Owner, I beg you to rescue me!

Perhaps Nannan became tired from all the shop seeing, so he finally stopped and happily added, after letting out a sigh: “Ok, we’ve walked around enough. Let’s go back to searching for my mother.”

Mo Xian felt like crying out of joy as he heard those words. Finally, the god up in the sky must be blessing his faithful following. After trailing them around shops for such a long time he could finally meet Nannan’s legendary mother.

Mo Xian took some more steps forward.

But, as he was just mentally preparing himself to go and meet Nannan’s mother, the kid and panther duo in front of him came to a still.

Nannan’s small face seemed to be involved in a daze, the sound of gulping and drool pooling on his mouth could be heard faintly even from distance.

Mo Xian’s heart skipped at the sight, seeing that the little guy’s sight had been focused upon a bun shop right in front of him. ‘It seems that the kid hasn’t eaten a single bite since they left early in the morning, and now he must be hungry.’

Mo Xian sight was also cast downwards, towards his empty belly. It seemed that he was also a little hungry.

The owner in the Bun shop saw the big panther walking towards him and his face immediately paled in fright. Especially when he found out that the big animal had stopped right in front of his stall. He was so frightened that he could almost see his soul fleeing away from his body.

Nannan wiped off the saliva dripping from his mouth and raising his bright eyes to look at the frozen still owner of the stall with a flattering smile: “I’m hungry.”

“… B-bun, 1 for a c-cooper c-coin, uh, 2 for a coin.” the owner’s legs were shaking, his scalp was tingling as he opened his mouth to speak.

Nannan turned his pockets with a pitiful look, seeing that they were empty. There was not a single speck of dust inside of them, let alone a cooper coin. “My money is all in my mother’s hands. Since she’s not here, boss, what should be done about it?”

The stall owner opened his mouth and wanted to tell him to forget about eating any buns, but he felt himself yielding to fear. The people in neighbouring stalls laughed at the sight. But the bun shop owner thought nervously to himself ‘What if other people tried to get free buns from him in the same fashion in the future, then what would he do then?’

However, he only thought so with his mouth shut, not daring to voice opposition.

Nannan sighed, touching the panther’s back with his small hands he said in a small voice: “Both the panther and I haven’t eaten for an entire day. But don’t worry boss, I’m not some kind of scoundrel that eats without paying. My mother taught me the basic rules of etiquette – You don’t eat other people’s things for free. Don’t worry, I won’t steal it either.”

The stall owner let out a relieved breath in his mind, becoming grateful to the mother the kid was talking about. That is certainly a wise mother figure.

He was feeling quite fortunate but wasn’t expecting Nannan to open his mouth once again: “Boss, don’t be afraid. I won’t rob you, and I won’t let my panther grab it from you. Although my panther goes into a frenzy when it is hungry and likes to go around biting people, without discriminating who, pull out their innards and bite their heads off. Still, you can be most assured that I’ll be able to hold it down. Although I’m small I should be able to hold it with this little strength of mine.”

The stall owner felt like crying. You are saying that this panther gets out of control when hungry and you said your strength is small. So how would you be able to hold it down?

(TL: We don’t condone robbery!)

The black panther under Nannan’s body felt embarrassed by the situation, wanting to immediately drop the kid down and go back to the Mo residence.

Mo Xian silently turned his head to look away, not knowing what to think about what was happening.

The owner of the steamed bun stall found himself in a stalemate. After Nannan opened his mouth to say such a horrible thing, how could he not hand him some buns for free? He immediately packed 5 buns and passed it to him: “Here, you take and eat it, Hah, hahaha… Consider this me inviting you for a meal. Seeing that you are such a poor child, and children are still developing… children should eat more. Come, eat up.”

Nannan’s eyes brightened, stretching his hands to pick it up: “Boss, you are such a good person! Lil’ panther, you thank the boss too. Let’s go!”

The panther felt like it was finally free, so, it turned its body and moved away from the vendor without another sound. Such a shameful act, it would never cooperate with this kid again in this life.

Nannan felt comfortable, with the two little legs dangling from both sides of the panther’s back. Eating the buns in his hand.

“Hm, this steamed bun is delicious. Lil’ panther, would you like to have some too? Oh, true enough, you seemed to like carrots best. It’s a bummer that there are none around.”

Even if there were some around, you’d have no money to buy them at all, right? Oh, wait. That’s incorrect! It didn’t like to eat carrots in the least!! That’s it, you bastard!!

“Lil’ panther, don’t you think I am too cute? The stall’s owner just gave me this many big buns. Actually, there’s no other way around, who told me to be such a beautiful sight to behold? You, follow me in the future. I’ll surely give you many benefits.” Nannan bit into the bun, munching it with his cheeks filled like a hamster’s, saying those words in a vague manner.

Mo Xian was astounded by the display, forget about being too cute. That was 100% a threat, alright. Also, the black panther already has an owner capable of showering it with benefits, ok?

That weird kid, he suddenly got even more curious to see what his parents looked like.

Mo Xian shook his head, sighing inwardly. But unbeknownst to him, when he wasn’t paying attention to the kid. Nannan jumped off the panther’s back all of sudden and entered a small alley ahead.

Translated by C, The Apostle of Coffee

Edited by NoveLeo, Life is a Drama

Translator’s Notes

[1] – 土包子 – Literally means ‘Earth Bun’, and it has the same meaning as the slang ‘Country bumpkin’ in english. It is used to refer to someone who hasn’t seen the world since he has come from such a secluded place. The title basically makes a wordplay with this ideogram ‘土’ that refers to dirt, earth and instead of keeping the ‘包子’ (bun), it changes to ‘Panther’. It is normally used as an insult, to say that someone is still ignorant of the world or that ‘lives under a rock’.