Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

Jinya put the things down and stretched.

"You come down tomorrow," she said, "and I'll take you for a walk in the woods. Later, when you're free, you could help Elder Tiger hunt for prey. Little Jin and I have other things to do."

"I, I don't know how."

"You don't even know how to catch rabbits?" Jinya's voice was so shocked it almost cracked, "Then how did you feed yourself before?"

"No, wasn't it the two-legged beasts who brought us food? Sometimes they would throw live chickens or sheep or something for us to deal with. But I couldn't beat them."

Jinya tsked twice, paced around the doorway, and sighed, "Fine, your Sister Ya will take on the tough task of teaching you hunting."

Jinya tilted her head at it, "Come down early tomorrow morning. The game is tastiest just as the sun is rising!"

Big Tiger roared, and Jinya unceremoniously slapped its head with her paw.

"Don't make noise; if you wake the two-legged beasts, I'll beat you up."

Big Tiger's Northeastern large stature was no longer intimidating to Jinya.

Poor kid, no mother's guidance or protection, blinded, and now can't even catch prey, pitiful, too pitiful.

Confident she had organized the next day's tasks, Jinya and Little Jin went downstairs from the second floor and returned to their little house to rest.

Big Tiger had a restless night, excited and anxious, afraid it wouldn't even catch a rabbit and would be laughed at by the other animals and cubs.

Finally, at dawn's first light, Jinya softly called out in the forest.

Big Tiger mustered up the courage to step out of its animal shed.

The staircase from the second floor to the first leaned against the tree next to it for support, spiraling, and one could even jump directly onto the high wooden frame to rest.

After Big Tiger came down, he saw that besides itself and those two cats, two Little Tiger Cubs were also following along.

But Dong Sheng was not there.

Jinya saw Big Tiger looking around and thought for a moment, "Are you looking for your little buddy? It can't enter the forest to hunt. But you can bring the game back for it to eat."

Big Tiger gave a soft grunt and followed behind Jinya and Little Jin into the forest.

Old Gao, responsible for the surveillance, rubbed his eyes to make sure Big Tiger was following Jinya and not going to attack her, then he heaved a sigh of relief.

But then he got curious again, wondering how that Big Tiger could be so docilely following behind Jinya, like a well-behaved and honest double-door younger brother.

Little Sen had prepared the nutritional meals needed for the old and the young and, after sorting them, labeled them and placed them on the counter.

Then he went down to the first-floor treatment room to get the medicinal materials for decocting, soaked them in water first, and only half an hour later put them on the stove to cook.

While he was preparing, Chen Ying was also communicating today's work arrangements in the group.

This arrangement included tasks that needed to be completed by the Lynx Heart Disease Treatment Team that Xiao Song, Xiao Shen, and others led at River Source.

Before Chen returned, she had asked them to take the initiative to contact zoos and breeding centers nationwide to find felines with heart disease, to be sent to River Source Rescue Center for treatment.

But for now, only two economically strong zoos had reached an agreement with them.

In addition, three wildlife rescue centers had contacted Xiao Song, hoping for on-site treatment assistance.

After all, every transport of animals, not to mention the cost of transportation, also requires the originating entity to cover the food consumption during the quarantine period.

Xiao Song could offer to reduce treatment and surgery costs by using dedicated research funds.

"Do what you think is best, but it's still better to go, more practice means more skill improvement," she advised.

Xiao Song agreed and planned to take Xiao Shen and Professor Bai's little daughter, along with two veterinary medicine graduate students, to form a specialized disease treatment team to provide heart disease treatment at the zoos that needed it.

Chen Ying was right; only through handling more cases and gathering enough data samples could they produce a solid and replicable treatment process paper and ideally conclude this research topic.

After successfully arranging the work at River Source, Chen Ying took a notebook downstairs to the first floor, tore out a page, and stuck it on the treatment room's whiteboard.

"Here's a five-day treatment plan; I've written down everything needed for each day."

Chen Ying highlighted the essential parts with a marker.

"Book a CT for me for next Wednesday. I need to take Dong Sheng for a hip examination."

Little Sen logged this in his phone's memo app and took a picture, planning to study Chen Ying's treatment plan thoroughly that evening to learn something.

Chen Ying was never stingy in teaching them; as long as one was willing to learn, she welcomed everyone.

But when it came to technical skills, it really depended a bit on talent.

Like Little Sen, who had followed Chen Ying for quite a while, he had no problem with regular surgeries, but he dared not attempt some of the more delicate ones.

Yet, when it came to preparing nutritional meals, his brain was more active than others; he could tailor the most suitable nutritional supplements based on each rescue animal's individual needs.

On this aspect, even Ruan Mengmeng, who specialized in surgery and surrounding period management, couldn't match him.

Ruan Mengmeng had been off these past two days, saying she would return this afternoon and also pick up the quarterly emergency station supplies for the center on her way.

"Later, tell Mengmeng that she will be responsible for Dong Sheng's massages," Chen said.

"Sure, no problem," Little Sen replied. "Mengmeng has a real knack for massaging cats. Even Jinya loves it when Mengmeng gives her massages and brushes her fur."

They chatted casually as they prepared for the acupuncture session.

Little Sen finished setting everything up and went to the observation room next door to bring Dong Sheng in for the treatment.

He hadn't noticed anything unusual until he opened the door and saw Dong Sheng sitting up against the wall, which left him completely stunned.

"Brother Ying, Brother Ying, come quickly! Look at Dong Sheng, it—it can sit up now!"

Little Sen's shouting drew the attention of Old Gao's juniors and seniors from the upstairs and the adjacent building, and three of them crowded at the window, peering at Dong Sheng.

"One of its legs has regained sensation, but the other hasn't. Look at its sitting posture; it's still a bit awkward."

"That's stating the obvious," came an exasperated response. "It has congenital developmental issues. Managing to do what it's doing now means something—it means its legs might still be savable. With Brother Ying's skills, I'm sure that Dong Sheng will recover fully."

Old Gao gave his junior a slap on the forehead. "Your Brother Ying is a Veterinarian, not a Beast God. It's going to be tough for this little guy's legs to regain full functionality, but if it can walk on three legs, that's good enough. The other leg can regain some mobility with the help of a specially made unicycle support cart."

While they prattled on outside, Chen Ying was already doing a manual examination on Dong Sheng.

Its bones felt much firmer, and its muscles were gradually taking shape. When pressing on the acupuncture points on its leg, Dong Sheng's leg clearly responded.

However, the other leg remained limp and unresponsive, just like before, dangling lifelessly.

Just as Old Gao had said, having three functioning legs would satisfy most of Dong Sheng's needs. They would find a way to deal with the other leg later.

For doctors treating patients, nothing is more gratifying than witnessing improvements in their health condition—the visible signs of recovery.

The same goes for veterinarians.

By the time they finished the treatment on their end, the little hunting squad had triumphantly returned with its prey.

They had set out as three Big Cats and two Little Cubs, but they had returned with two more Big Cats in tow.

Chen Ying was momentarily taken aback, then ran over to embrace the beautiful Leopard Sister.

"Leopard Sister, when did you and Brother Leopard come back?"

Leopard Sister gave Chen a perfunctory nuzzle before leaping onto the bench below the loft, stretching out her body to lie down.

"What's going on?"

Chen could tell Leopard Sister was in a not-so-great mood and didn't dare to ask loudly. Instead, he whispered to Jinya.

Jinya also shook its head. It had run into Leopard Sister while catching a Small roe deer, and then they returned together.

Big Tiger's hunting trip had been quite successful today. Thanks to its size advantage, it had killed a full-grown Water Deer by the water's edge.

It ate gleefully until its belly was round and probably wouldn't need to eat again for the next two or three days.

Some deer meat was shared with the two Little Tiger Cubs, who had also caught rabbits. So, with plenty of deer meat remaining, despite many difficulties, Big Tiger managed—with Jinya's help—to bring the leftovers back.

Now, somewhat sheepishly, it placed the Water Deer beside Elder Tiger's Animal shed, which also served as Elder Tiger's dining area. Every evening, Chen Ying and Little Sen would rinse the stone platform clean with water.

Elder Tiger was very happy with the leftover meat, paying it full attention and utterly unconcerned about where the Flower Leopard had come from.

The Little Tiger Cubs seemed uncomfortable with Leopard Sister's presence and scampered off to seek protection from Elder Tiger.

With Big Tiger also nearby, the two Little Tiger Cubs nestled between the two big tigers, finally feeling secure.

After some hesitation, Brother Leopard lay down near Leopard Sister.

Leopard Sister glanced at him and turned her head away.

Chen saw a look in Brother Leopard's eyes that seemed to express helplessness and heartache.

Not rushing to chat with Leopard Sister, Chen went to check each of the cubs' bellies to make sure they hadn't eaten too much. Only then did he attach the wheelchair for Dong Sheng and let it play with the two Little Tiger Cubs.

Leopard Sister, curious about Dong Sheng's wheelchair, lifted her head to watch it running around the woodland, dragging its wheels.

"What's going on with it?"

"It's congenital. Its mother gave birth to it like this. But instead of abandoning it, the tiger took good care of it, until I discovered them."

Leopard Sister uttered a purring sound from her throat, jumped down, and slowly walked towards Dong Sheng.

Cautious not to startle Dong Sheng, Leopard Sister stopped when she was still a little distance away.

The three frolicking Little Tiger Cubs huddled together as if startled. Dong Sheng, playing the part of the big brother, shielded the two Little Tiger Cubs behind him.

Leopard Sister didn't speak; she just stared at Dong Sheng for a while before gracefully vaulting over it and leaving through the trees on the other side.

Brother Leopard didn't follow; instead, he lay down and let out a sigh-like sound.

"What's going on, did you two have a fight?"

Jiamu Gully's first model couple had a tiff? As Chen pondered the gossip, even Elder Tiger—busy gnawing on a bone—couldn't help but stealthily prick up his ears.