The tourists were so excited they couldn't stop taking photos, all captivated by Ice Cake's cuteness!
"Ahhh, the little White Tiger is so cute, such a high face value! Its eyes are actually blue!"
"It's like a chocolate ice cream, now I kind of regret eating the ice cream I'm holding!"
"It's too cute, I really want to touch it!"
"The pads on its palms look so soft, all fluffy. I wonder what it feels like to the touch? It must be really warm!"
"I want to be an animal keeper! I want to play with the little tiger!"
The children happily tugged at their parents' sleeves, calling out incessantly, "Small tiger! Big tiger!"
A tourist, who looked like an office worker with slightly thinning hair, lamented, "I regret it, why did I study software engineering? Playing with little tigers is so much more interesting than writing code, and I have to work overtime until late at night."
His companion joked, "Heh, you've got no chance to be an animal keeper. Why not become cat food instead?"
"Sure, watch me slide tackle right into the tiger's mouth."
Another companion patted his belly and struck mercilessly, "Look at all these people here, all lined up for a chance to be cat food. Us big guys who don't exercise, with our soft and loose flesh like cotton, we don't even have a good chew to offer and are greasy to boot. I bet the tigers wouldn't even glance at us."
"Damn it, bro, don't put me down like that!"
Ice Cake let go of the hanging ball and squatted back on the ground, looking up at the wooden ball swinging with the size of a small pumpkin, her mouth open in a threatening gesture, her eyes fierce o( ̄ヘ ̄o#), as if imagining the wooden ball as an imaginary enemy: "I won't let you get away with this!"
Then she made a leap!
She jumped up 20cm high, hugged the wooden ball with her front limbs while her hind feet dangled in mid-air, and started to gnaw on it enthusiastically.
But how easy could it be to hold onto a round wooden ball?
After barely two seconds, her paws slipped, and she fell from the air, landing back-first to the ground, in a rather ungainly manner.
Undiscouraged, Ice Cake immediately stood up, only to be greeted by the swinging ball as it swung back and hit her right in the face, causing her to sit back down on the ground again.
This time she was more cautious; she didn't immediately stand up, but rolled over and got into a prone position, shaking her head and looking around with a puzzled look, as if asking, "Where am I? What just happened?"
The tourists laughed heartily at Ice Cake's bewilderedly cute predicament: "Small tiger is just too cute!"
Ice Cake seemed a bit weary, partly because the weather was hot, and also because the small tiger hadn't fully developed yet, spending less time awake and more time sleeping. After playing for a while, he began to feel drowsy, leaning against Jiaojiao's neck and squinting as he dozed off, and then fell sound asleep.
Jiaojiao lowered her head to sniff, feeling Ice Cake's breathing, and found that he had fallen asleep.
This won't do!
The tourists here were noisy and it wasn't cool; how could he sleep comfortably?
She stood up, lowered her head to the side, opened her mouth wide, and directly bit the back of Ice Cake's neck, lifting him up.
Ice Cake, being hoisted into the air, opened his eyes dazedly, his four paws stretched in front of him, his tail drooping below, immobile like a jumping zombie suppressed by a talisman, looking very funny.
Jiaojiao blinked her eyes, turned around, and started walking, carrying Ice Cake away.
"Hey, he's caught by the nape of fate!"
"I've seen a cat mom carrying her kitten, but this is the first time I've seen a tiger mom carrying a little tiger!"
The man with a worrying amount of hair loss gazed wistfully at Jiaojiao's retreating figure: "Why does she have to take the little tiger away?"
"Maybe she thinks we're too noisy?" his companion guessed, rather accurately.
The overworked man said enviously, "I want to be carried by the tiger mom too!"
"The tiger mom says, 'Scram, I don't have a child that fat!'"
"The tiger mom really worries herself to pieces for the little tiger!"
Ice Cake's body swung back and forth in the air, occasionally stretching his little legs.
Once they reached the forest near crescent moon pond, Jiaojiao finally opened her mouth and set him down.
It was cooler here, quiet, and the scenery was nice!
Jiaojiao herself liked to nap here.
After being set down, Ice Cake maintained his rigid, straight-limbed posture, rolling half a turn on the ground like a gourd, until Jiaojiao licked him five or six times with her tongue, which seemed to lift the immobilizing charm, letting him regain his mobility.
Shaking his head, his white belly turned, with one paw resting on his chest, he lay in the shade of the trees, fanned by the cool breeze, and quickly closed his eyes, drifting into a sweet dream.