A Cup of Wine Amidst the Mortal World: A Reflection on Life

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Chen Jue said nothing, supporting Wang Biao as he dragged him to the car outside. One hand patted Wang’s back, trying to calm him quickly.

“Huff… huff… I…” Wang Biao was gasping for breath. Once inside the car, he gripped the steering wheel with both hands, desperately trying to steady his turbulent emotions.

After catching his breath, Wang Biao shakily reached for the engine start button, intending to drive away immediately, but Chen Jue stopped him with a hand.

Normally, anyone not at a zoo behind glass or outside a cage who suddenly saw a wild adult tiger would react just like Wang Biao did.

They would be utterly terrified and stunned!

Unless one was accustomed to such beasts in the wild, they wouldn’t be so frightened.

“What… what are you doing? There’s a tiger at home!” Wang Biao grew anxious.

“Why run? Weren’t you just shouting about finding a little female cat?” Chen Jue teased.

“Well, you saw it yourself just now—it’s lying on the bed inside!” Chen Jue replied with a hint of mockery.

“That’s a tiger, damn it! How can you compare the two?”

“At a time like this, you still have time to joke? Let’s drive to report it to the forest police!” Wang Biao’s voice rose several notches as he tried to start the car, but Chen Jue’s grip held him back.

Suddenly, Wang Biao realized his roommate seemed like a different person from before. Encountering a tiger, Chen Jue remained so calm and surprisingly strong!

Back in the dorm, the six of them often played arm-wrestling. Chen Jue, being thin and not fond of exercise, was always the weakest, losing every time and having to bring breakfast to the other five lazy roommates on weekends.

“I told you before! No matter what you see inside, don’t panic.”

“Just think of that tiger as my pet! It won’t bite, very gentle. I cuddled it all night. Otherwise, why would I buy so much meat?” Chen Jue explained.

“You keep a tiger?”

“Old cat, who else would it be?” Chen Jue said.

“Can humans even keep tigers?” Wang Biao, unable to break Chen Jue’s grasp and afraid to get out, shakily pulled out his phone to call the police, only to find Chen Jue had already taken it.

“Give me my phone!” Wang Biao reached out to snatch it but couldn’t overpower Chen Jue’s strength.

After a few failed attempts, he was drenched in sweat.

Not sure if it was from being scared by the tiger or the physical exertion, his body felt hot.

After struggling in the car for a while, seeing the car wouldn’t start and unable to retrieve his phone, too afraid to get out for fear of being eaten, Wang Biao nervously lit a cigarette to calm his nerves.

He thought, at least inside the car with the doors locked, the tiger couldn’t get in.

…

“Hiss… huff…”

Inside the sealed car, Wang Biao smoked, trying to steady his nerves.

Chen Jue found the smoke unpleasant and opened the sunroof, also rolling down his side window.

This terrified Wang Biao even more.

“What are you doing? There’s a tiger outside! Close the windows quickly!”

“Fresh air! Secondhand smoke is scarier than a tiger!”

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“…”

The two exchanged a few words over time. When Wang Biao’s hands stopped trembling, clearly recovering from the shock, Chen Jue asked, “Feeling better?”

“A lot better!” Wang Biao nodded. After nearly half a pack of cigarettes, the fright had mostly subsided.

“Want to come in and see the tiger with me?” Chen Jue suggested.

“Are you really keeping it?” Wang Biao swallowed nervously.

“Why would I lie? If it wasn’t mine, I’d be the first meal—not you delivering food.” Chen Jue patted Wang Biao’s shoulder to calm him, then opened the car door and walked into the yard.

Seeing Chen Jue wasn’t joking, Wang Biao mustered courage and retrieved a crowbar from the trunk.

It was leftover from a construction site at his workplace, originally for prying out tires stuck in mud during off-road trips. He always kept it in the car for emergencies.

He hadn’t expected it to come in handy today.

Holding the crowbar, Wang Biao tiptoed into the yard, barely daring to breathe.

But upon entering, he was stunned.

The large tiger with orange, black, and white fur was purring contentedly under Chen Jue’s gentle strokes, rubbing its head into Chen Jue’s arms.

This incredible scene left Wang Biao speechless.

“Old cat, does it really… not bite?” Wang Biao swallowed nervously, clutching the crowbar.

“Come touch it! The fur feels amazing!” Chen Jue stroked the tiger’s head and beckoned.

Wang Biao hesitated a while, watching the tiger behave like a domestic cat under Chen Jue’s care, then teased, “Back in college, you were always petting cats. Now you’re petting a tiger! Old cat, you’ve really grown up. You’re the coolest in our dorm!”

He cautiously approached and quickly touched the tiger’s fur on its head before pulling back.

After several tries, seeing the tiger remain calm, Wang Biao relaxed and happily stroked it from head to tail.

Chen Jue fed the fresh meat he had bought to the tiger, which eagerly ate the food and gnawed on bones, basking in the afternoon sun.

Chen Jue sat with Wang Biao on a bench in the yard, sighing, “I have to take it back to the mountains tonight! If it keeps eating like this, my wallet won’t survive. Just this afternoon, I bought over 400 yuan worth of pork and beef, and it’s gone in a few bites.”

“Are you sure it’s yours?” Wang Biao asked, still curious. He was calm now but increasingly baffled by his roommate.

Growing taller and stronger, looking better, and now able to tame a tiger so obediently!

Such a strange transformation was like something out of those urban fantasy stories with protagonists who have superpowers.

“It’s not mine,” Chen Jue said. “It’s a wild tiger I met in the mountains yesterday. Don’t know what’s wrong with it—it just insisted on following me home.”

“I had no choice but to hide it at your place, so it wouldn’t scare anyone if it went out,” Chen Jue explained helplessly.

“A wild tiger? Maybe we should call the forest police. They handle these things…” Wang Biao suggested.

“No need to trouble them. I can handle it myself. Don’t overthink it—just treat it like a slightly bigger cat!” Chen Jue said.

…

The two chatted intermittently while watching the tiger finish its meal and happily gnaw on a pork bone. Chen Jue and Wang Biao petted it, and Wang Biao finally let down his guard completely.

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Many animals guard their food. Domestic dogs and cats, if not trained well from a young age, will growl or puff up if disturbed while eating.

But this tiger showed none of that wild instinct, as gentle as could be.

So after teasing the tiger a bit, Wang Biao fully calmed down.

Still, seeing it nap in the sun in the yard made him uneasy, so he went back to the car to smoke.

When Chen Jue finished feeding the tiger and came out to chat, Wang Biao put down his cigarette and said, “Old cat, you really have changed! You seem even more… formidable than before…”

Wang Biao struggled to find words to describe his remarkable roommate.

“Stop the nonsense! No matter how much I change, we’re still brothers! Are we opening the shop or not?” Chen Jue joked, then transferred ten thousand yuan to Wang Biao right in front of him.

“Bro! The shop’s definitely opening. I’ll get ready soon. Let me write you an IOU first!” Wang Biao cheerfully accepted the money, found a notebook and pen in the car, wrote an IOU with his signature, and even pressed a red ink fingerprint.

Chen Jue hadn’t planned to accept the IOU, but seeing Wang Biao’s sincerity, he couldn’t refuse.

Fifty thousand yuan was nothing to him—just half the price of a wild yellow croaker. He trusted the friendship of their dorm wouldn’t be broken over such a small sum.

…

They spent the entire afternoon chatting, petting the big cat for fun.

As dusk fell and the area cleared, Chen Jue led the tiger to the back mountain, then sprinted into the forest.

The tiger probably thought it was a game and followed him deep into the woods.

After running over ten kilometers through trees and hills, they reached a tributary of the Dulong River. Chen Jue finally exhaled and sat on a patch of weeds by the riverbank, stroking the tiger.

“Brother, you should go back! The human world isn’t really for you.”

“I’ll come into the mountains again in a few days. We can play together then, alright?”

The tiger seemed to understand. As Chen Jue gently nudged it, it glanced back several times, then disappeared into the dense forest, fading into the night.

…

After sending off this clingy companion, Chen Jue breathed a sigh of relief and ran swiftly back to Wazhai.

By the time he reunited with Wang Biao, it was nearly 9 p.m. Both were starving, so they hurried to a rustic restaurant in town, ordered a feast, and opened two bottles of beer, drinking and chatting.

The stories and friendships of older men often unfold over such drinks.

Back in college, their dorm of six had few worries and didn’t drink much. But after graduating, several reunions had them raising their glasses more often.

Though Chen Jue was a cultivator, at heart he was still an ordinary man, unable to avoid the bittersweet taste of the mortal world’s wine.

“Life… I hope after cultivation, you’ll bring me new flavors and scenery!” Gazing into the amber liquid in his glass, then glancing at his roommate whose hair had begun to gray from life’s struggles, Chen Jue felt deeply moved.

Fifth update! Let’s go! Thanks everyone—another chapter sponsor! Tonight, no rest until midnight! Let’s do this! Special thanks to the generous “Pig-like Bajie” for the sponsorship! Bowing in gratitude!

(End of chapter)