People who live off the mountain, aside from hunters, also include medicine collectors.
This old man didn't have the fierce temperament of a hunter, but he also didn't have the temperament of the ordinary mountain folk.
From his ability to freely enter the deep mountains and his knowledge of treating injuries, one could guess his background.
Because of the medicine collector, Chen Ying and Old Gao decided to stay another night.
That evening, Little Jin came to report that the old man indeed had wandered around the cave where the female tiger was with her cubs for several rounds.
"But I didn't sense any malice from him; he just had a very strange expression when looking at the tiger, I can't really describe it."
After all, Little Jin wasn't human, simple expressions he could manage, but complex ones he truly didn't know how to articulate.
However, he could still sense whether there was malice or not.
After thinking it over for a night, Chen Ying decided to have an honest talk with the old man.
But before he could look for him, the female tiger came directly to him.
"That two-legged beast, the one from yesterday, he's fallen halfway down."
Led by the tiger to the bottom of the cliff, Chen Ying looked up and felt his scalp tingle.
The cliff was at least twenty meters high, and about two-thirds of the way up from the ground, there was a large tree growing out of the sheer cliff face.
The forest patrol officer, the old man, was hanging motionless in the tree.
"Uncle, hey uncle, can you hear me talking?"
After yelling from below for a good while, he finally saw the person hanging in the tree lift an arm.
Thank goodness, he was still alive.
Chen Ying and Old Gao pulled out the rescue rope, preparing to climb up to find something to secure it to and lower themselves down to rescue the man.
Chen Ying also called Jiamu Gully Protection Station on the satellite phone, asking them to notify Dumb River Protection Station to come and rescue the man.
As he climbed up, Chen Ying felt the old man must have been quite bold.
The angle of cliff face was nearly ninety degrees; they had to go around to an oblique angle to ascend, sometimes feeling like there was nowhere to place their feet.
It was with Little Jin leading the way that they managed to clamber to the top of the cliff with difficulty.
Halfway up, Chen Ying understood why the old man had risked so much.
There was a large patch of Bone Healing Herb at the top of the cliff, it is a type of Chinese medicine, effective for sprains and fractures.
Chen Ying's Chinese Veterinary Medicine recipes used this herb.
Wild herbs are more potent than cultivated ones, and the quality of this patch of Bone Healing Herbs on the cliff was superb.
People die for money; birds die for food.
In many cases where it's illegal to harvest rare wild herbs, this type of herb - not on the list of precious herbs and with specific medicinal properties - is highly sought after in the mountain regions.
If one also had the skill to set bones and combined it with their own ointments and pills, they would certainly earn much more than by farming.
Carefully moving at the top of the cliff, Chen Ying was on edge.
After moving about three meters, there was a large tree growing at an angle from the cliff.
On the trunk of the tree, there was also a broken hemp rope.
Chen Ying muttered a curse under his breath.
Old Gao's face also didn't look too good.
They both went up to check the stability of the tree trunk, then figured out how to secure the safety rope to the trunk and another large tree slanting behind.
"Old Gao, I'll go down to see if I can secure him; you stay up here. Make sure there's no problem with the rope."
Old Gao nodded his head, instinctively reaching out to hold onto the rope.
A group of animals all ran over, wanting to help pull the rope.
"Alright, no need to rush; he hasn't come up yet. Don't add to the chaos."
Leopard Sister grabbed his clothes with her mouth, pulling him to one side, and then bit the rope herself.
Old Gao was both touched and amused. He stretched out his hand to tentatively touch Leopard Sister's back, then lay down nearby, carefully poking his head out to check on Chen Ying.
Chen Ying had received professional training and was somewhat stronger than Old Gao.
But Yin Li was even better at rescue.
Chen Ying had descended to the big tree, hanging in mid-air, and carefully examined the old man's condition.
The blood on his forehead had clotted, indicating that the bleeding might just be a superficial wound. However, he was still unconscious, which could mean he had suffered a blow to the head, raising concerns about the possibility of internal bleeding in the skull.
Given the current situation, Chen Ying was indeed hesitant to move him rashly.
Approaching tentatively, supporting himself against the trunk, he moved the man's limbs. There were signs of injury to the hip bone, and on the same side, the ankle was abnormally swollen, likely the result of a dislocation combined with a muscle strain.
There were torn spots in the clothing, but overall not much blood was evident, breathing was very slow, and the pulse felt weak and thready. Without timely rescue, the prognosis was quite specific, and grim.
Chen Ying put a safety rope around him, making sure he wouldn't slide down the tree.
"Can we pull him up?"
"It's a bit tricky," Old Gao tried and found it challenging to start, "I'm not very good with this, tell me what to do, and I'll give it a try."
Chen Ying was also of limited expertise, but at least he had seen animal rescue a few times, so he could only ensure that the man would not fall into greater danger.
Not recognizing other people well, Chen Ying hung in mid-air and called Yin Li on the satellite phone to ask what he should do next.
Yin Li was riding on the grasslands when he heard Chen Ying's situation. He yanked the reins abruptly and nearly threw himself off the horse as the animal let out a loud whinny.
"What the hell are you rescuing for? Find some people. That area might only be accessible by aircraft. Or else you try to carry him down the cliff with a rope ladder."
There was no rope ladder, and carrying him was not really an option.
Considering his current state, he might just need to be carried down the cliff on a stretcher.
The Dumb River area was even more challenging than Jiamu Gully, and the Protection Station might not be able to afford this expense.
After some hesitation, Chen Ying bit the bullet and called Miss Dao for help.
Nothing else mattered—human life was at stake.
After listening to his description, Miss Dao immediately said she would help him contact the emergency command center, then contact the rescue organization, to see if they could dispatch a rescue airplane as soon as possible.
The Dumb River Protection Station also called soon after, saying they were contacting rescue services and would do their utmost to save the staff member.
Chen Ying gave the Protection Station head Miss Dao's contact information and asked him to get in touch with her.
Meanwhile, he used a jacket to fashion a makeshift pouch to cradle the old man's body, so the rope wouldn't constrict him too tightly.
He managed to move to the man's ankle and, after confirming that it was just a dislocation and sprain, he immediately administered some simple first aid, applied medicine, and secured it with a bandage.
There was no way to deal with the hip at the moment, so he used a stick to make a simple splint, ensuring that the old man's struggles wouldn't worsen the bone injury.
He did have emergency Animal Medicine, but unfortunately, it was not intended for human use.
After hanging in mid-air for almost four hours, the helicopter finally arrived.
Chen Ying asked the animals to take cover and, while dangling in mid-air, he described his assessments to the emergency doctor.
Upon hearing that the man had been unconscious and couldn't be roused, the doctor risked the descent to the injured man's location and administered first-aid medicine.
The preliminary judgment was indeed that there was a high possibility of bleeding inside the skull.
With the help of professional rescuers, the old man was successfully brought to the ground, his external injuries were swiftly treated, and he was quickly airlifted to the hospital for treatment.
After coming down, Chen Ying saw that Miss Dao was also present, talking and signing paperwork with someone.
"Uh, thank you. If you hadn't helped, I wouldn't have known what to do," he said.
Of course, he could have called for rescue directly, but it definitely wouldn't have been as fast as Dao Meihua's personal intervention.
The cost issue would naturally be negotiated and resolved between the Dumb River Protection Station and the rescue organization.
"It's nothing. You mentioned over the phone that there are Huanan tigers here. Can I take a look?" Dao Meihua knew it was best to be straightforward when dealing with Chen Ying, so she made her request without beating around the bush.