Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

Chapter 215: Chapter 215: Mendun’er, Returned in Disgrace

The local leopard tasted beef for the first time and, after chewing a few bites, seemed to think it wasn’t bad at all.

This farm-raised beef does, in fact, lack the chewiness of wild game by just a bit.

But the local leopard had never eaten it before, so anything new was always tasty.

The Carriage Captain brought over two small stools, one for himself and one for Chen Ying, and thanks to Chen Ying, he got to see up close what a healthy jungle predator looked like.

It couldn’t be said that he had never seen a flower leopard.

The jungle in Liang Mountain was vast with plentiful food, so leopards had never gone extinct there.

But the leopards he usually encountered were either injured or sick; there was a complete conceptual difference between those raised in captivity and those in the wild.

Moreover, caged leopards can only be observed behind bars, or else they are seen lying down, having been sedated.

After gobbling down the meat, the flower leopard licked up all the blood as well.

Then it sat down to clean its face and, while washing, its head moved closer to Chen Ying’s bowl, clearly wanting to try a bite.

Chen Ying made a stern face and pushed its head away.

“What are you looking at? Even if you look, you can’t eat it.”

He quickly finished off the rice and, without even time for the soup, set down the bowl and tugged at the flower leopard’s neck skin to drag it out.

If it didn’t leave now, there would be nowhere for the other diners to sit.

The staff at the Protection Station were fine, but among the interns, a few were so scared that their faces turned pale, and they dared not eat their meals and ran away instead.

He guessed the convenience store’s instant noodles would sell well today.

Taking the flower leopard to another spacious area of the Beast Garden, Chen Ying asked the Keeper to open the gate, getting ready for a serious talk with it.

The flower leopard wasn’t at all worried about being confined and leisurely strolled around the enclosure, took a liking to a fake crossbar tree, jumped up to test the feel of its claws, then lay down.

Watching its large tail swing so merrily, it seemed to be in quite high spirits.

Since the place was crowded, Chen Ying couldn’t let the leopard roam as freely as he did in Jiamu Gully.

He returned with a comb, and, while grooming and massaging the leopard, tried his best to persuade it to leave soon.

Annoyed by his nagging, the leopard even covered its ears, looking utterly impatient.

Chen Ying, grinding his teeth, raised the comb yet couldn’t bring himself to strike down.

“Alright then, wait here. I’m going to check on the Little Ape.”

Chen Ying locked the iron gate behind him, deliberately leaving Bao Bao without instructions.

He had to let it taste the treacherous human heart to learn to stay away from people.

Outside the observation room, the Baby Ape’s mother had shown up again.

The Ape Mother also brought several ripe fruits, wanting to feed her child, but the glass prevented her maternal love from being conveyed.

Chen Ying went over to stroke the Ape Mother, took the fruits from her paw, cleaned them, and brought them into the observation room.

The Little Ape’s recovery was going well.

With a special medication promoting healing and daily careful cleaning of the wound, there was not a trace of infection at the site of the stitches.

And starting from the second day after his departure, the Little Ape could eat liquid food properly.

Chen Ying split the fruit and fed it to the Baby Ape.

Except during IV fluid infusion when it had to be restrained, the Little Ape was otherwise allowed some movement.

It knew enough to avoid hurting itself, playing with toys on its sickbed without causing any mischief.

“Mr. Chen, today’s examination report is out. The Baby Ape’s recovery is better than expected. The medical team’s teachers all think we can try letting it return to the Animal Shed.”

“Alright. But its internal recovery will still take a while to stabilize, so keep a close eye on its feeding.”

“Okay, the center has assigned two keepers to take care of it specifically.”

Chen Ying wouldn’t interfere with the arrangements here.

Now that he could confirm both the Baby Ape and the young apes were on a successful path to recovery, his mission here was almost complete.

Feng Xin had just informed him that they had arrived at the Naban River Basin Nature Reserve, and Chen Ying was planning to wait another day or two. If the Baby Ape’s condition remained stable after returning to the Recovery Young Beast Garden, he too would prepare to leave.

After exercising the Little Ape for a while, he called over some interns responsible for its care and other gibbons, giving them a special class on “How to Rehabilitate Primates After Fracture Recovery.”

Once the lesson was finished, an hour had passed.

After demonstrating a full body massage on the Baby Ape, he let the interns divide into small groups to learn and practice together.

He hurried out the door to the Beast Garden where Bao Bao was staying, hoping it hadn’t started to get cranky.

Chen Ying underestimated Bao Bao’s composure; the creature was sprawled on the tree, sleeping soundly without a care in the world.

What a hot potato this was.

How in the world was he supposed to drive it back to the wild? Was he going to have to wander around again right after returning?

Unable to even dare to return to the dormitory to sleep, Chen Ying curled up with a pillow in the on-duty cabin next to the Beast Garden for the night.

The next morning, around five past five, Bao Bao finally became restless and rattled the iron door, wanting to get out.

Chen Ying came over with a stern face to open the door and, incidentally, gave its sturdy behind a slap.

Hmm, the touch wasn’t bad.

Bao Bao turned its head, feigned a pounce, then mid-turn leapt to the side, climbed a tree, howled twice—Chen Ying couldn’t tell if it was laughing or gloating at having scared him—and then disappeared without a trace.

When he got back to the area near the dormitory building, the Technical Department staff and the Carriage Captain came over to greet him.

“Why don’t we put a collar on the leopard? Why didn’t you say so earlier? It’s already gone.”

The Carriage Captain’s smile faltered, “Gone? How could it just leave?”

“Why would it stay? To enjoy a feast?”

Chen Ying took the collar and glanced at it.

“I’ll keep it with me for now. If it comes back this afternoon, I’ll put it on. If not, I’ll return it to you before we leave.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Yeah, I’ve got other work to do. The clouded leopards are waiting for me to come over.”

The Carriage Captain, anxious, grasped his hand, “But we need you more over here!”

Chen Ying was speechless as if he could really stay.

But leaving wasn’t something he could do immediately the next day.

He still had to observe the little ape’s activities, acclimate the students to the rehabilitation process, and adjust the medication.

It seemed like there wasn’t much to do, but when actually doing it, it was incredibly time-consuming.

Later, as expected, the leopard returned, not bringing any food, just casually strolling around.

As Chen Ying emerged from the recovery treatment area where the little ape was located, he immediately spotted Bao Bao perched on the exterior wall of the animal shed.

Inside, the young apes were screaming ┗|｀O′|┛ Oh~~, raging impotently at Bao Bao.

Bao Bao, wearing an expression that screamed ‘look at this idiot’, watched the young apes chasing their tails inside the park, eyes filled with disdain.

“Come down, I’ve got something to say to you.” Walking over, Chen Ying patted Bao Bao’s dangling rear leg, intending to fit it with the collar.

“What’s this? Can I eat it?”

“You can’t eat it, stop trying to nibble on everything, you’re Bao Bao not Cat, why so curious?”

He roughly put the collar on, adjusting its size and angle to avoid interfering with Bao Bao’s daily activities.

Uncomfortable with the newly fitted collar, Bao Bao shook his head and scratched his neck with his hind leg, but couldn’t get it off.

“Good boy, come on, have some meat.”

One must offer a reward for helping out with work.

A rabbit plus three pounds of beef was roughly the food requirement for a leopard for a day or two.

He gestured a success sign to the Carriage Captain, who immediately started collecting the signal.

While accompanying Bao Bao in his hearty meal, Chen Ying made a video call to Little Sen, wanting to check on the situation at the emergency station.

Upon connecting, Chen Ying was greeted with an assault from Leopard Sister.

Leopard Sister moved close to the camera, cursing loudly, her target being Mendun’er.

“Stop, stop, slow down. What happened to Mendun’er? Did it return to the mountains?”

Little Sen poked half his head into the frame to explain.

“Mendun’er beat up everyone at the Protection Center, but the male cat it fancied just wouldn’t mate with it. Pissed off, it broke half the trees in its enclosure overnight and even destroyed many enrichment toys.”

Little Sen’s face was filled with distress, “No choice, the center had to let it return to the mountains. The mating season is almost over again this year.”

“But aren’t all the males on our side not interested in breeding with Mendun’er?”

“Yeah, but it looks like this year there are a few young male cats from other areas. The center’s idea is to let Mendun’er try and see if it can spark up a romance with these young males.”

Chen Ying was helpless; the chubby girl Mendun’er was really starting to weigh on their hands.

Maybe there’s something wrong with the feng shui of its home.

Great Bai willingly became a son-in-law, taking care of the stepchildren with more dedication than their own father.

Mendun’er is a sucker for looks; just focussing on the face should be alright, but it ridiculously also demands both appearance and strength; wanting everything – why not just aim for the sky?

As for Sesame, the little bear that’s either lost or on the verge of getting lost, no clue if it’s wandered off this year too.

Not a single one of Cat Mother’s cubs is trouble-free.

Ah no, Cat Mother isn’t trouble-free either; Sesame getting lost must be partly her fault.

Seeing Chen Ying conversing with another two-legged beast and ignoring her, Leopard Sister became displeased and howled loudly.

This howl caught the attention of Bao Bao, who was eating nearby.

Bao Bao squeezed in front of the phone, sniffed around, but didn’t spot the female leopard.

Just as it was about to return to its meal, perplexed, Leopard Sister on the other side caught sight of Bao Bao’s head – and the whole leopard was enraged!

“Oh, you scoundrel. You said you were off to ‘work’, but behind our backs, you’re keeping another leopard.”

Leopard Sister roared furiously, “Is she prettier than me, or is her male leopard stronger? Are my two cubs not fun enough? If they aren’t, don’t we also have the little girl for you to play with?”

Chen Ying was bombarded by the tirade, pleading for mercy and insisting he wasn’t keeping another leopard – look, he was just fitting a collar on this one.

The camera focused on the black collar around Bao Bao’s neck, and the familiar sight finally calmed Leopard Sister down.

“Oh, whatever, you just better not be keeping another leopard on the side, or else…”

Leopard Sister’s gaze turned sharp. Chen Ying felt a chill down his spine and quietly pushed away Bao Bao’s head which was insistently nuzzling into his chest.

Bao Bao, whose voice had been heard but whose body remained invisible, circled around Chen Ying, then, utterly confused, returned to his meat feast.

This two-legged beast is so strange, he can hide leopards!

While showing off, he kept sizing up Chen Ying, wondering where on his body he could possibly be hiding a female leopard.

After a brief chat and just as he was about to hang up the video call, he faintly heard Lin Li’s cries coming through.

“Teacher Xia, Teacher Xia, that panda has come over again!”