"Leopard Sister, what brings you here so late?"
The knocking on the window was neither hurried nor slow. Chen Ying opened it and saw Leopard Sister.
Her pose was a bit odd.
Her head rested on the balcony railing, her tail rhythmically tapping on the glass.
Seeing Chen Ying emerge, she turned her head and flashed a set of white teeth.
"Come quick, that stinky cat brought a fox back, and now another cat is throwing a temper."
Jinya? Wasn't she patrolling the territory with Little Jin?
He wrapped himself in a coat and went downstairs, at the door of the observation room sat a cluster of fluffy animals.
Each furry face could hardly contain their excitement for the spectacle.
"What are you all doing here?"
The room was full of nocturnal creatures, even the Big Spirit Cat Mother, who hadn't shown herself for a long time, was squatting with her kittens on the wooden bridge to watch.
At the entrance of the warehouse were Great Bai and Jiaojiao, watching while munching on bamboo shoots.
The only one missing was Old Monkey, but Chen Ying's eyesight was good; Old Monkey seemed to be lying on the platform, though the light reflecting off his eyes couldn't fool anyone.
Jinya and Little Jin stood on either side, Little Jin's squatting figure carried a touch of melancholy, his eyes not on the ground, but cast towards the shadowy forest.
Jinya's little furry face had a huffy appearance, continuously scratching the floor, becoming increasingly agitated.
Between Little Jin and Jinya on the floor lay a fox with messy fur, motionless.
The fox lived at a slightly lower altitude; Chen Ying, having been in the mountains for two years, had never seen a fox before.
The fox's right hind leg had been bitten off, the two penetrating blood holes looked shockingly gruesome.
"Was this fox your prey?"
Chen Ying rubbed Jinya's head, opened the door, put on protective clothing, and then came out to lift the fox onto the examination table.
The fox was unconscious and being a wild animal, without protection he couldn't just handle it; if the fox suddenly awoke and bit him, he would be devastated.
After examining the wounds, he realized that the fox was likely not hurt by Jinya and Little Jin.
"A group of annoying creatures," Jinya followed in and jumped onto the side of the table.
"A group with dark red fur, stinky, always likes to follow others and snatch their food."
Hyenas? Are there hyenas here?
Years ago, he had heard of hyenas entering the village to steal domestic animals, but since the reclamation of the forest and hunting, he hadn't seen such creatures for a long time.
Hyenas usually move in groups of two or three, a clan mostly consisting of about seven or eight, with large clans reaching up to twenty or thirty.
Once assembled, they're nearly unbeatable in their territory.
They don't have any spirit of fairness; regardless of whether the opponent is strong or weak, they attack in packs.
If this fox was hurt by hyenas, then it was indeed very lucky.
He quickly treated the fox's hind leg wounds, applied some anti-inflammatory medication, then set up an IV drip, and placed it in the cage previously occupied by Big Baby.
Little Baby's observation period had ended; tough little guy, his uncle's beatings were for nothing.
After treating the Red Fox's wounds, Chen Ying shooed away the onlookers and pulled Jinya and Little Jin into his room for a chat.
"Tell me, what's the big fuss about?"
He brought out some snack jerky for them to try, while Chen Ying made himself a cup of coffee.
Prolonging life, at this rate, he'll drop dead sooner or later.
Little Jin turned his head away in silence, Chen Ying realized the problem might be serious.
Ever since Jinya had helped Little Jin with his rehabilitation, Little Jin had never treated her .
Even when Jinya left him and Little Gold to go to her brother and didn't come back for ten or fifteen days, Little Jin's first reaction on seeing Jinya was always to smile.
Ah, this just proved an old saying.
The more you fawn, the more you lose!
Jinya was a bit at a loss, glanced at Little Jin and then at Chen Ying, and stretched her head over to rub back and forth on Chen Ying's arm.
"Ow, Jinya doesn't know, Little Jin is ignoring me and not talking, I don't know what's wrong with him."
The soft voice was full of grievance.
Little Jin didn't want to stay here any longer, he jumped off the table, dropped a line that he was going out to find food, and then didn't look back.
Jinya lay down listlessly, her entire lynx fur drooped.
From a psychological perspective, it was certain that Jinya had done something to upset Little Jin, but given Little Jin's character, being so fond of Jinya, why would he be angry?
Chen Ying had a sudden inspiration, recalling that when he had checked the body of the Red Fox earlier, he had found that it was male.
Could Little Jin be jealous?
That couldn't be possible.
Jinya and Little Jin were already explosive enough, and with the Red Fox...
They weren't even from the same species!
Golden Cats belong to the Felidae, and Lynxes to the Lynx genus, they could still barely be considered the same kind of creature.
But what about foxes, from the Canidae family?
You foxes could stand being friends with dogs, but with the Felidae, isn't that asking for trouble?
Chen Ying looked at Jinya, this lynx girl just liked golden red objects, Little Jin's fur was that color, and she really liked it.
And that Red Fox down there, its fur was also a reddish-brown, one could imagine how charming this fox must look under the sunlight.
So was it Jinya's collecting habit acting up again, this time over a mature male, that made Little Jin jealous?
After analyzing the possible feelings of Little Jin, Chen Ying felt that Jinya needed a lesson.
"Jinya, do you really like that fox?"
"Well, not really, just think its fur is pretty."
"Is Little Jin pretty?"
"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have..." Jinya stopped abruptly, burying her face in her forepaws.
"So will Jinya look for a mate of the same species in the future?"
Jinya thought for a moment, her expression blank.
"No, I don't know. But I haven't seen any of my kind that makes my heart flutter yet, their fur isn't as beautiful as Little Jin's."
Mendun'er is a beauty dog, and this lynx girl is no less outrageous, even more so.
After all, Mendun'er's choice of a mate is still limited within its own species.
Jinya, on the other hand, was different; love was boundless, a sea woman!
Chen Ying didn't say too much. Jinya was still young, and it was good not to think about having babies for now.
The relationship between her and Little Jin could naturally dissipate some sunrise day, and in the future, when they passed each other in the jungle, not harming each other was the greatest tenderness between them.
Thinking about it, damn, that's heart-wrenching!
Chen Ying shook his head, tossing out the invasive background music from his mind, and patted Jinya's back.
"You go out and think for yourself, I'm going to sleep."
Little Monkey dared not come close and kept watching him from the bedside.
When Jinya saw Little Monkey on the bed, she was furious.
"No, I want to sleep with you."
The single small bed next to the wall, with a row of bookshelves built in, definitely couldn't accommodate both Jinya and him, so he could only pull out an old blanket for Jinya to hold his pillow and sleep under the bed.
The next morning, upon waking up and hearing Little Sen and Dr. Gao downstairs talking, the topic was about the beautiful, aloof Red Fox in the cage.
(Granny Hu Santai's number one handsome fox)