The baby seal was found on the coast near the Arctic, lying alone on a piece of floating ice, making little "yaha, yaha" sounds.
The area of the floating ice was not large enough for lying down, and the baby seal's tail was constantly immersed in water, looking very pitiful.
Residents living nearby discovered and rescued the baby seal, but because it was too small for ordinary people to care for, it was sent to the seal rescue center.
Chen Ying had previously sought help from the center for a small seal of his own; now, after the center had tried for a long time and failed to calm the motherless baby seal, they turned to Chen Ying for help.
Since he had taken good care of a similar-sized baby seal before, it was believed he could take care of this baby seal too, right?
In the short video sent by them, the baby seal lay by the edge of the pool, refusing to eat or drink, occasionally making some sounds. Others couldn't understand it, but Chen Ying could; the little guy was looking for its mom, complaining of hunger, yet unwilling to eat the food offered.
Normally, a baby seal is weaned after about a month and then starts eating fresh fish and shrimp. Judging by the color and size of this baby seal, it probably hasn't been weaned yet and has no idea how to eat fish and shrimp.
The seal rescue center currently didn't have a ringed seal available for milk collection, and after asking several neighboring partner units, they couldn't provide enough milk either. After all, besides nursing rescued baby seals, mother seals still have to nurse their own pups.
The rescue center considered collecting seal milk in the wild, but it was risky, and with no other options, they decided to reach out to Chen Ying.
After understanding the specifics, Chen Ying readily agreed.
"I'll first go to the coast to check out the situation; if there are enough lactating seals, I will try to collect some milk beforehand."
Back then, although his own baby seal didn't get to use breast milk, Chen Ying specifically learned how to collect seal milk. Three years on, he had somewhat forgotten and needed to review the process.
Luckily, the university's library had videos on collecting seal milk, with detailed notes on various considerations listed.
He watched the videos repeatedly, chanting while moving his fingers through the motions, simulating the entire process in the air.
After repeating this three or four times until he memorized it, he took his tools and headed to the seaside.
Fortunately, there were quite a few ringed seals giving birth recently, and when Chen Ying arrived, those mother seals with pups just glanced at him before continuing to rest lying down.
There were a few more ringed seals on this beach compared to three years ago, about just under one-fifth more.
But since their numbers were previously low, although the increase wasn't much, it was quite noticeable.
Chen Ying carried his box along the shore, searching for a suitable target, when unexpectedly, he saw his well-known ocean hero, Hai Bo, play-fighting with another seal.
The seals' fight was more accurately described as roughhousing.
From a distance away, they noticed their two-legged beast approaching, and Hai Bo immediately abandoned his wrestling partner, racing over to Chen Ying with a pattering motion.
Just then, Chen Ying had found a "quality nanny" and was about to squat down for a chat to see if it could be the foster mother for the baby seal. Before he had the chance to speak, his own reckless little seal knocked him onto his back.
The nearby mother seal took great pains to wait for her gentle two-legged beast to notice her, only to have her chance ruined before he could even touch her.
The mother seal visibly grew agitated, "ლ(′◉口◉｀ლ) You deserve death, child! How dare you disrupt your mother's moment!"
In a fight, a not-yet-fully-grown seal is certainly no match for a protective mother seal, and without having been on guard, it got pinned down and bitten hard by the mother seal.
Chen Ying didn't step in to stop it; after all, Hai Bo's behavior was provocative to the mother seal, and losing in a fight when outmatched seemed pretty normal.
If the little one wants to reproduce in the clan in the future, he will have to abide by the clan rules. Besides, an adult male seal that can't even beat a mother seal isn't up to talking about reproduction.
The mother seal didn't pound Hai Bo mercilessly; she released him after hearing his wailing pleas for mercy and then turned to slide into the water.
The pup of this mother seal watched them from not far away and slid into the water after its mother.
Chen Ying rubbed Hai Bo's head in annoyance, treated his wound briefly, then let him play on his own, turning to continue his search for a seal nanny.
This time, Hai Bo didn't interfere further and instead went into the water, trying to find the tastiest fish to gift to his two-legged beast.
After walking about a dozen meters, Chen Ying found another mother seal whose pup looked very healthy, and she herself was quite plump.
With three codfish, he persuaded the mother seal to become the baby seal's nanny. However, the mother seal mentioned that her own pup was about to be weaned, so she probably didn't have much milk left. Feeding two pups would be a challenge, hence Chen Ying should find another mother seal to help out.
Furthermore, she didn't shy from nepotism and recommended her sister, another mother seal of similar size.
When found, this seal was enjoying a big fish, and her pup was learning from her, fiercely tearing a piece of meat from it.
Chen Ying negotiated payment with fish and reached an agreement with this mother seal; subsequently, he collected enough milk from both mother seals.
He needed to rush to the rescue center to feed the baby seal and then bring it back.