Chapter 490 - 461: Sudden Fame

After meeting Yun Jiao at the island villa that day, the Clouded Leopard refused to leave.

It shamelessly stayed at the villa every day, mooching food, drinks, and lodging.

Yun Jiao even had her fourth brother help build a nest for it.

Now, it was time for the leopard to give birth.

So, for the next two days, Yun Jiao and her third senior brother, Ying Chengye, stayed on the island.

While keeping an eye on the Clouded Leopard, Yun Jiao would also go into the sea each day, occasionally bringing back an injured animal or two.

Today, she brought back another fish—and a rather special one at that.

A massive Chinese Sturgeon.

Its tail was injured, and it had multiple bite marks on its body.

The Chinese Sturgeon is a migratory fish, living in both the ocean and freshwater.

This species of fish can also grow very large.

The Chinese Sturgeon Yun Jiao brought back was nearly four meters long and probably weighed around a thousand pounds.

She had hauled it onto the island by herself.

Upon seeing it, Ying Chengye asked, "Where did you go and find another patient?"

"Oh, this fish is actually quite good-looking!"

That was true. The Chinese Sturgeon had an armored appearance, unlike many other fish in the sea.

How should one put it? It was the kind of fish that looked rather handsome by human standards.

"This tail was almost completely severed."

"Senior Brother, can you treat it?"

Ying Chengye replied, "I’ll give it a try. By the way, the Clouded Leopard seems to be giving birth. I don’t dare go near. You should go take a look."

Yun Jiao quickly agreed.

"Then I’ll leave this Chinese Sturgeon to you."

With that, she quickly ran towards the villa.

She didn’t dare get too close right away either.

Wild animals have a strong sense of territory, especially those that are pregnant or have just given birth. They are very fierce.

Fortunately, Yun Jiao was very familiar with this Clouded Leopard by now.

She approached cautiously, and in the end, the Clouded Leopard just glanced at her before continuing to give birth.

Yun Jiao peeked over and saw that a little reddish Clouded Leopard cub had already been born.

The mother Clouded Leopard licked the afterbirth off her cub.

The little one was all pink and ruddy, its eyes still closed. Its thin, soft fur was damp and stuck to its body.

Mewling softly, it was nudged toward its mother’s belly by her head. It only quieted down once it began to nurse.

Yun Jiao watched quietly as the Clouded Leopard gave birth to a second, a third, a fourth, and a fifth cub.

A total of five little Clouded Leopard cubs!

Five cubs at once; that was a huge litter.

A single mother leopard raising five cubs in the wild would have an incredibly tough time.

If she managed to raise them all, she would work herself to the bone.

Yun Jiao quickly went to make a nutritious ’cat meal’ for the Clouded Leopard.

After all, she had learned some cooking skills from Sixth Brother.

Several kinds of nutritious meat were mashed into a paste and mixed together, with some goat’s milk added.

A postpartum recovery meal set, sponsored by Yun Jiao.

The mother Clouded Leopard was exhausted and panting after giving birth, and she was hungry too.

Just then, Yun Jiao arrived with the postpartum meal set.

The mother leopard lay in her den and began to gobble it down.

She was so clever. She must have sensed this litter would be a big one. Last time, she’d had three cubs but only managed to raise one, and it had nearly killed her from exhaustion.

This time, she had secured a backup plan before even giving birth.

As it turned out, her choice was the correct one.

Five cubs. Even though they were her own flesh and blood and she loved them, the thought of the days to come made the mother leopard despair.

’Thankfully, I found a ’feeder’ in advance.’

Right when she was weakest after giving birth, food was delivered right to her.

Yun Jiao waited for the mother Clouded Leopard to finish eating and only left to find her third senior brother after confirming there were no issues.

"You’re back. How’s the Clouded Leopard?"

Yun Jiao replied, "She’s fine. She gave birth to five cubs in one go."

Ying Chengye drew in a sharp breath. "Five? That’s a huge litter."

What a coincidence. He was thinking the exact same thing as Yun Jiao.

"How’s its tail?"

Yun Jiao glanced at the Chinese Sturgeon’s tail. It had been bandaged and secured with gauze.

"I’ve stitched it up. Let’s get a bigger basin to put it in. Don’t put it back in the lake for now."

The two of them settled the Chinese Sturgeon together.

Ying Chengye had other things to do, so he left in his boat.

Yun Jiao stayed on the island for another two days, bringing food to the mother Clouded Leopard every day and checking on the chubby, fluffy little cubs whose eyes had not yet opened.

The Chinese Sturgeon’s wounds had all been treated. Although it still looked a bit listless, its life wasn’t in danger.

It still couldn’t move its tail much.

"Just hang on for a few more days, and I’ll put you back in the lake."

After getting these two and the horses on the island settled, Yun Jiao made a trip back home.

She had no idea until she went back, but her village was now swarming with people!

And today, the killer whales happened to come over to play. Several people immediately appeared on the shore, throwing balls for them.

Because there were too many people, the current village chief—the old chief’s son—had to send out villagers to strictly control the numbers.

Groups of ten were allowed to play with the killer whales at a time, and each group only got five minutes.

Otherwise, others wouldn’t get a chance.

Yun Jiao also saw many metal boats. They weren’t for fishing but had been modified into passenger boats to take tourists for a closer look at the killer whales and for sea fishing trips.

A dollar for adults, fifty cents for kids.

It was a bit expensive, but many people were still scrambling to get on the boats, especially when the killer whales were around.

If the killer whales didn’t show up, the boats would take them sea fishing nearby.

The fish population here was increasing because of Yun Jiao, and since the villagers had found a more profitable business than fishing, very few people fished anymore. As a result, the fish here became even more abundant.

The shore was so densely packed with people you could barely see. Yun Jiao was quite worried that the amount of trash would increase.

But a quick look showed things were fine.

The village’s sanitation workers were always around picking up trash, and someone was carrying a megaphone, reminding people not to litter.

Because of the importance Yun Jiao placed on it, the village chief also paid great attention to environmental protection.

Yun Jiao found a quiet corner to come ashore and then ran home.

"Dad, Mom, I’m home."

"Jiaojiao!"

Shen Yunlian’s face was full of pleasant surprise.

"I was just telling your dad I wanted to go to the island to see you today."

"Hehe, the Clouded Leopard had five cubs, and we’re almost out of meat over there, so I thought I’d come back and get some more."

"Why are there so many people? Was it broadcast on TV?"

Shen Yunlian immediately pulled her over. "You bet! Jiaojiao, you and Little Nine are famous now. Most of the tourists here came after seeing your video on the news."

As she spoke, she turned on the TV.

"Let me see if there’s a rebroadcast. I’ll show you. The video of you two dancing on the sea is on so many channels."

"Found it."

Yun Jiao looked over.

The TV set was a square, blocky, and very heavy lump.

Their family’s TV was a color set and could receive many channels.

At that moment, the TV was playing the clip of Yun Jiao dancing with the killer whales at sea.

Just the dress alone—the one Yun Jiao wore was vastly different from many dresses of this era, with its bright colors and beautiful style.

The person was beautiful, the dance was beautiful, and there were whales in the sea as backup dancers.

Shen Yunlian said gleefully, "Everyone says that video of you, Jiaojiao, is even more beautiful than a movie."

"You have no idea how many people love it now."

"Oh, right, some director came looking for us. Said they wanted to cast you in a movie or something. They asked your Brother Nine too, and he’s already agreed to give it a try. What do you think?"

Yun Jiao shook her head. "I’m not going. I don’t have time."

Shen Yunlian nodded. "I figured you wouldn’t have time. As for your Brother Nine, he can give it a shot. He wants to go in that direction anyway. We’re just a little worried, so we plan to go with him to see how things are and help out if needed."

Yun Jiao nodded while eating a fried dough twist. "That’s a good idea. When is Brother Nine going?"

"In a few days. I heard the film crew is still in pre-production, so they won’t start filming for a while. It’s a martial arts film, too."

Yun Jiao was actually a little excited.

She had seen martial arts TV shows and movies before. She had to admit, the effects were pretty good. Watching all that kung fu used to make her think that people could really perform Naxie’e’s magical martial arts.

The impact of the video Yun Jiao and her brother shot wasn’t limited to just that.

First, regarding Yun Xiaojiu’s goal of promoting traditional opera, it really did bring a lot of traffic to the opera world.

Even if it was only temporary, it made more people aware of this aspect of opera culture.

In music, young people nowadays mostly listen to pop. Yun Xiaojiu’s opera-style singing injected a new force into the music scene—one that was unique to their own country’s culture.

Yun Xiaojiu was brought in to professionally record the song, and it was now incredibly popular. If Yun Jiao were to go out, she would find that many places were playing the song her Brother Nine sang.

At the same time, Yun Xiaojiu himself became a big star at his school.

He was already quite popular before, and now he was even more so.

Of course, for Yun Xiaojiu, this was also a bit of a nuisance.

After all, who likes being stared at by so many people every day at school?

The song Yun Jiao sang was impossible for others to imitate, but many knockoffs of her dress appeared on the market, and many girls started styling their hair like hers.

All one could say was that after becoming famous, many people would really try to imitate you.

But the main reason was that it genuinely looked good.

After Yun Jiao went to school, she received the same treatment as her Brother Nine.

Yun Jiao: ...

’I can’t even keep a low profile when I want to.’

However, she spent little time at school.

The material in the textbooks was relatively easy for her, especially the liberal arts subjects that required memorization.

Even in science, her learning progress was fast. If she didn’t understand something, she would ask. There were plenty of people with good grades around her, not to mention the tutors Mr. Qin had hired for Brother Qi. These tutors taught much better and in greater depth than the school teachers.

So now, the Yun siblings were basically just registered at the school; they only needed to show up for exams.

The rest of the time, they didn’t attend classes, and the teachers and principal all turned a blind eye.

After being surrounded and stared at a few times, Yun Jiao found it too troublesome and simply took a leave of absence to continue studying at home.

She then split her time between her master’s place and the island, occasionally going to Teacher Xie’s to practice dancing and exercise.