Don't Be Afraid, Little Dog—Your Mother Is Here - Chapter 3

The next day, I brought the dog home. Master looked at it with disdain. “Where did you pick up this filthy thing?”

I gave it a kick. Tail wagging merrily, it pressed itself against my leg once more.

“See?” I said.

He laughed. “This silly dog is rather entertaining. Keep it and raise it for fun.”

I lowered my eyes and thought, Am I nothing more than a silly dog to you too? Something you keep when it amuses you and kick away when it does not?

I crouched to stroke the dog’s head, unable to understand.

Why did the little dog have no mother either? Were all the mothers in the world equally cruel?

Perhaps my heart had chilled. For several days, I stopped pestering Master.

Fine. The truth was that Senior Brother had come to settle accounts with me in private. He slapped me twice, and I lay in bed crying from the pain.

I could not tell where Master stood. I did not know whether our promise still counted, or whether he would side with Senior Brother instead of me. I dared not complain, but deep down I kept hoping he would seek me out, stroke my injury with aching tenderness, gently apply medicine, and avenge me.

Three days passed, and he never came. He was not my mother after all. Whenever the sect opened its gates for family visits, I secretly watched Senior Brother’s mother treat him with that same gentleness. I often wondered whether Senior Brother could be so arrogant and overbearing, so certain that he stood above everyone else, because he had a mother—a mother who loved him and stood behind him, giving him the confidence to act that way.

I had no mother. That was why everyone bullied me.

After three days hiding in my room, the food I had hoarded was no longer enough for both me and my dog-son.

I could endure hunger. But its round, glossy eyes fixed on me so pitifully that strength rose in me from nowhere.

Before leaving, I checked the mirror. Only when I saw that the marks on my cheek had faded did I breathe easier. Then I carried my dog-son out, one girl and one dog with matching hollow bellies.

My feet took me straight to Master’s courtyard. By long practice, I slipped through the window. The little dog’s paws clung tightly to me, and it was so frightened it did not make a sound.

A plate of pastries stood on the table. I hurried over, and the dog and I divided them bite by bite.

Then I heard movement outside. I pinched the dog’s muzzle shut and hid behind the wardrobe in a particularly unconvincing attempt at concealment.

Senior Sister’s voice approached. “Master, why did you call me here?”

Master answered with faint delight, and I froze. “Naturally, your master wishes to teach you a technique or two.”

My heart sank. Senior Sister was one of the few decent people in the sect, and she cared deeply about her cultivation. Having an incubus drain her vital essence would make her cultivation regress and damage her foundation.

Jealousy twisted inside me too. I did not want Master so close to Senior Sister.

So when they entered and Master raised a hand to knock her unconscious, I shot from hiding, grabbed his wrist, and pleaded, “Master! I’m hungry!”

If Master meant to feed on someone’s vital essence, then he was already hungry. Announcing my own hunger now was certain to provoke him, but I had no other choice.

He stared at the hand restraining his, stunned. Then his gaze swept across the open window and the empty plate, and he understood everything at once.

With a smile born of fury, he waved Senior Sister away. He intended to discipline me for my unruly behavior.

Senior Sister shook her head at me in disapproval, disappointed that I refused to learn, and turned away.

Master lounged against a bamboo chair, tapping the table again and again. Every tap landed squarely on my trembling heart.

I twisted my fingers, then forced out, “M-Master, please let me make up an excuse!”

Chin propped in one hand, he smiled. “I’m listening, aren’t I? Go on.”

“Master, I was worried about you. If you drain vital essence too often, you might expose yourself. What if they find out…?”