Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl
Chapter 396 - 393: Became a Father, Heart Has Softened (Seeking Monthly Pass)_2

Chen Ying wasn't too keen on raising a dog, with so many felines around, he was unsure whether a puppy could survive under the intimidation of Big Cat.

But he remembered that Yin Li was very fond of dogs.

Back when they were still in school, there was a dog tied up next to an iron gate at a household on their way, and Yin Li would stop by every day to buy a sausage to feed it.

That continued until the end-of-semester crunch, when their workload increased and they were only allowed to go home once every two weeks, ordinarily not permitted to return home. When they went back for the holiday and visited again, the dog was gone. Later, they heard that someone had poisoned the dog with a drugged bun.

After that, Yin Li never fed it again. He always felt that it was because he fed the dog that it picked up the habit of eating food given by strangers, which eventually led to its death at the hands of a malefactor.

Moreover, the time he would spend at River Source would surely be long, and if he had to leave for some reason, the dog could help keep an eye on the rest station.

"Alright, do I need to prepare anything?"

Unclear about the local process of adopting a dog—they just gave money for it where he came from—he asked.

"No need, just go there when the time comes, and if you see one you like, bring it back, if not, just leave," Chen Ying was somewhat unsure if the words of Ci Ren were genuine, and planned to have Yin Li bring Uncle Tashi over when the time came to help pick out a puppy.

After a simple lunch at the rest station, Ci Ren helped fix a leak in the corner of the room.

"Next time I come over, I'll bring a roll of waterproof cloth to cover the roof, and then put glass tiles on top of it; that should keep it from leaking."

He patted the dust off himself, "Dr. Chen, if you're going to stay here for a long time, it's best to renovate the roof after the rainy season. With such a thin roof, I don't know how cold it's going to be in the winter."

The rest station was also a temporary solution at the time, and the stationed personnel here were on rotation, with no one living here during the coldest part of winter.

Last winter, Yin Li's father couldn't stand the cold and moved to the village. That was one of the reasons why he followed Yin Li's suggestion to dispose of the sheep.

To change the condition of the too-cold house in winter, adding thermal insulation to the house was the most fundamental solution.

But the house here wasn't their own, and they couldn't make any significant changes, at most adding one more layer of thermal insulation to the roof, which would also cost quite a bit.

Fortunately, Chen had enough money in his account, and when the thermal insulation was removed, it should still be usable elsewhere.

After talking it over with Ci Ren, asking him to help contact a villager who does construction and decoration to come over and measure the size later, Ci Ren was happy to say that his family could do it.

"My brother works at a construction company in the county and has his own construction team. Whenever there's a job in the villages, my brother can take it."

Chen Ying didn't hesitate and directly entrusted this task to Ci Ren.

"And over at the sheep pen, have your brother bring some windproof materials, I need them."

Ci Ren knew there was a Snow Leopard there, and he also knew that Chen Ying and the others were staying here because the Snow Leopard was pregnant and the situation wasn't ideal.

"No problem, I'll have my brother contact the material supplier as soon as I get back, and it can be delivered within this week."

After waving goodbye to Ci Ren as he rode away, Sun Qihai put away the tools for fixing the roof and returned to the middle room that served as the living room.

Chen Ying had just boiled water and was planning to make tea.

Good tea with supreme milk skin was the greatest enjoyment in cold weather.

Er Niu sauntered in, and after entering the room, lay down beside Chen Ying's feet, rested her head on her front paws, and fell asleep.

Sun Qihai hurriedly closed the half-door, afraid the wind would blow on Er Niu.

"There's no need to be so cautious. As weak as Er Niu may be, she's still a Snow Mountain Elf; there's not a Snow Leopard that fears cold."

In fact, that was not entirely true; Snow Leopards also feared the cold, and in the coldest times, they would hide in caves, sleeping soundly on the fur pads they had accumulated year after year.

Only when very hungry would they come out to catch a Rock Sheep to fill their bellies.

Of course, not every pursuit resulted in a catch.

If they couldn't get a Rock Sheep, they would have to settle for rabbits, ground squirrels, or foxes, and if even these were nowhere to be found, then they'd have to broaden their search.

Those close to human activity areas would set their sights on livestock raised by humans.

Those cows and sheep, one by one, simply couldn't run fast, and still could afford to pick and choose to eat a fatty one.

The two people and a leopard sat inside the warm room reading books and writing things. Before long, a little leopard rushed in, howled at Chen Ying a few times, then started biting his trousers, seemingly wanting to take him somewhere.

Chen Ying's expression darkened as he casually picked up the first-aid kit from the table and ran outside.

"Little Sun, you stay behind, keep the walkie-talkie on you, and if anything happens, I'll call you directly."

Before Sun Qihai could reply, Chen Ying had already driven around the house, following the Little Snow Leopard into the wild.

They went for about seven or eight kilometers to the foot of the mountain, where the Snow Leopard and Yellow Fur were confronting a scavenging Vulture.

Between them lay a Tibetan Fox that had been dead for some time.

And under the belly of the Tibetan fox mother were two Little Foxes still suckling hard.

Chen Ying rushed over, checked the Tibetan fox mother's condition, then shook his head.

The Tibetan fox had wounds on its body, clearly caused by wolf claws.

Moreover, Tibetan foxes are monogamous animals that live together, hunt, and raise their offspring until their old age.

But at the scene, there was only the Tibetan fox mother without the Tibetan fox father, evidently, the Tibetan fox father had sacrificed his life so his wife and child could escape.

Sadly, the Tibetan fox mother was too severely injured to survive.

Chen Ying scooped up the two little cubs from under the Tibetan fox mother's belly and put them into his coat pocket, then gestured for the Snow Leopard and Yellow Fur to leave.

He couldn't understand why the Snow Leopard and Yellow Fur would send the Little Snow Leopard for help or why they would protect the dead Tibetan fox mother and two little cubs. Based on local customs and other factors, he chose to respect the laws of nature and left there with the three snow leopards.

"They must have encountered wolves. I just don't know whether it was a lone wolf or a pack."

In theory, wolf packs should not lack food this season and wouldn't typically go after Tibetan Foxes. After all, Lynxes love to dig up fox dens the most, followed by birds of prey in the sky.

Without disputes over food or territory, wolf packs wouldn't go after foxes.

After all, the meat is scant and not tasty, hardly enough to fill an entire pack of wolves' stomachs, making them an inefficient and energy-consuming prey.

The three snow leopards followed Chen Ying's car towards the rest station. Little Snow Leopard, tired from running, jumped onto the passenger seat and lay down.

"That fox was discovered by me. At that time, it wasn't dead yet, and the cubs were so hungry they were crying, but it still tried to nurse them."

Little Snow Leopard's voice was different from Er Niu's, a bit childish.

"Brother told me to find you; he said you definitely wouldn't bear to see the little cubs taken away by the big bird."

The Little Snow Leopard licked its paw, then added, "I think my brother has become much gentler since Er Niu got pregnant. He used to not care about those fox cubs at all, if he didn't eat them all on a good day."

Listening to Little Snow Leopard's banter and its grumbling about its brother's past indifferent actions, Chen Ying's mood improved slightly.

He reached out to touch the little fox cubs asleep due to warmth and began to plan where to place these two cubs.

So young, and not yet weaned, it was definitely not possible to keep them at the rest station, nor at the River Source Protection Station. Without a mother fox, being raised purely on artificial feeding would be worse than sending them directly to a rescue center or a Wildlife Park.

While listening to Little Snow Leopard's prattle and contemplating where to settle the Little Tibetan Foxes in his mind.

When they got back to the rest station, Sun Qihai came to meet him, and a few minutes later, he had two Little Fox cubs in his hands.

"First put them in a box, make it a bit warm inside, and I'll go get some milk powder for young animals. Then I'm preparing to go into the village to see if anyone's dog is lactating, to see if it can nurse the Little Fox cubs."

They are canines, so they should be able to drink dog milk, right?

Hadn't many zoos previously employed Dog Wet Nurses to raise cubs? Whether it works or not, we could try it first.

While mixing the milk powder, Chen Ying also made a video call to Little Sen, asking if this could be done.

After all, when it came to rearing cubs, Little Sen was the professional Daddy.