"It's her..." Xinxin turned her head and glanced at Hajimi, "We ran into another big guy, and before we could win the fight, we ran away."
So, they had lost a fight and come back for reinforcements?
"What are you two planning to do now, come back to reclaim your territory, or are you thinking of asking Aunt Er Niu to back you up?"
"We don't need Aunt Er Niu, she's not that great in a fight. We're planning to come back and spend the winter here until we grow a bit bigger, then we'll take our territory back."
Xinxin clenched her paws and howled for quite a while. Brother Bo Gu, watching from the car, was itching to get involved and approached tentatively.
Seeing him come closer, Hajimi immediately went into alert mode, her front paws starting to unconsciously scratch the ground, ready to attack. Xinxin was a step slower but also made the same defensive gesture.
Chen Ying reached out and patted both of their heads.
"Let's go, first we'll get back and I'll give you a check-up."
Xinxin was not pleased, she didn't like the feeling of those cold machines sliding over her body.
But Chen Ying didn't care whether she liked it or not, he simply picked her up and called for Hajimi to follow.
Hajimi truly was Hajimi, he grabbed Chen Ying's trousers, trying to get him to put Xinxin down.
He clung to the trouser leg, making a whining noise, and even stretched out a paw to grab Xinxin's paw hanging by his waist.
Brother Bo Gu was laughing uncontrollably, snapping several photos with his phone, and captioning them before posting to the group.
[Some veterinarian abducts a young lynx, a bamboo horse snow leopard begs bitterly.jpg]
Three seconds later, the group neatly lined up with a chorus of "hahaha."
[Is it a distortion of human nature or the fall of morality, poor Hajimi suffers a blow as the ruthless veterinarian breaks up the lovebirds!]
Below were a few more accompanying pictures, all old photos from when Hajimi and Xinxin first met and were cuddling together in their sleep, sneakily taken by team members.
Chen Ying's phone wouldn't stop buzzing. Taking it out to see, he pursed his lips and sighed, then gave an exasperated side glance at Brother Bo Gu, who was still messaging, and helplessly dragged the two animals up into the car.
"Brother Bo Gu is leaving," Chen Ying said as he sat in the driver's seat, started the car, looking like he would leave him behind if he didn't come quickly.
Brother Bo Gu chuckled, put away his phone, got into the car, and turned to look at the two creatures in the back seat.
The two dutifully lay down on the rear seats.
But Hajimi was a bit more curious, sticking out half of his little head and staring at the scenery outside the window, unblinkingly.
Once back at the Protection Station, a group of weird uncles and aunts were already waiting. Seeing Hajimi and Xinxin get out of the car, everyone raised their phones.
Xinxin was frightened and clung tightly to Chen Ying's leg, while Hajimi made the "king's threat" gesture at the two-legged beasts.
Ignoring the comments about how cute Hajimi was, Chen Ying took the two of them to Xiao Song's place for a basic check-up for Xinxin.
Hajimi also needed a check-up, but not for cardiopulmonary functions; just a blood draw and measurements like weight and head circumference would suffice, and if they could collect some fecal matter, even better.
Anyway, since these two had come back, they weren't going to leave right away. Xiao Song didn't press the Little Snow Leopard to poop.
"Every time I hear them calling the Little Snow Leopard 'Hajimi,' it just doesn't feel right. He's so big and strong, a future Snow Mountain King, and you call him 'Hajimi'? Dropping the 'mi' and just calling him 'Hajimi' yeah, that sounds better."
These two names had not been officially recorded in their files; currently, their files still used coding designations as their names.
After the check-up results were out, Chen Ying read them carefully and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Her heart and lung development is pretty good, better than I envisioned. This year's life in the wild has had a positive impact on her individual development. However, her skeletal system is a bit behind; if she doesn't leave this winter, we need to find a way to supplement her. Send these data to Little Sen, he's an expert in animal nutrition."
Chen Ying could do it too, but maybe due to a talent boost, the effects were always not as good as Little Sen's.
Based on the data in the report, Chen Ying discussed the follow-up monitoring plan with Xiao Song and her assistant, and also wrote up the results in a report to send a copy to Young Junior Sister at Sanjiang, as well as to the higher-ups for the record. For the later project performance assessment, the relevant data are an extremely important part of the subject report.
After the check-up, Chen Ying let them stay at the Protection Station, or they could go back and then come over tomorrow morning; he would take the two cubs to see Aunt Er Niu's children and Jinya's foster child.
Hearing that Er Niu had kids, Hajimi became emotionally unstable, pacing in circles frequently inside the room.
Chen Ying tried to feed him, but he wouldn't eat.
"You silly leopard, surely you haven't fallen for your Aunt Er Niu, have you? Watch out or you'll get a beating."
Hajimi gently bit Chen Ying's arm.
It was a bite without any force, just wetting the sleeve with saliva.
After being restless for quite a while, Hajimi finally managed to utter, "My auntie has her own cubs now, will she drive me away?"
Chen Ying was taken aback, burst into laughter, and hugged and rubbed Hajimi's head fiercely.
"Of course she won't, but for now, you can't get close to the Snow Leopard Cubs because they're too small and can easily get hurt or scared."
Hajimi's eyes immediately lit up, he lifted his head proudly, his voice filled with excitement, "I can teach them how to hunt; that way, that way... I can still protect them, just like Auntie did for me before."
He was like he had taken an excitement potion, hopping left and right in the observation room, unable to stop even for a moment.
Xinxin, on the other hand, lay calmly on the mat watching his antics. She took the news of Jinya having a foster child well; it's more typical animal behavior.