Free Web NovelChapter 443: Chapter 443: Rescue
"Find a place to hide." Ni Yanqing immediately grabbed Hua Yiran and issued the order.
Xu Ancheng pulled Yi Roujing behind a tree; Wu Guofang protected Ding Anmin, while Zhou Zeyuan and Jiang Bomeng also found places to hide with exceptional coordination.
"Give me the binoculars." Zhou Zeyuan reached out to Yi Roujing, who quickly tossed them over. Zhou Zeyuan caught them and climbed a tree to survey all directions, then signaled to Ni Yanqing.
"Everyone follow me." Ni Yanqing spoke in a low voice, preparing to lead Hua Yiran away first, but the roar of a tiger suddenly turned into cries of pain, and the fighting sounds ceased.
"Why does it sound like crying?" Ding Anmin suddenly felt a bit sad.
Zhou Zeyuan still hadn’t come down from the tree, staring intently through the binoculars in the direction of the tiger’s roar. After seeing clearly, he climbed down. "A cub seems to have died; it must be the mother and father tiger mourning."
Familiar with the routine, Ding Anmin immediately looked at Yi Roujing, eyes full of hope. Yi Roujing twitched the corner of her mouth, thinking, Sis, it’s a tiger.
What’s to fear about the tiger? There are just two of them, unlike the time with the wolf pack, which had a good dozen or so.
"Stop bickering." Xu Ancheng frowned and said, "Let’s retreat quickly, or the grief-stricken tigers might take it out on us, and we’ll lose more than just a bit of skin."
"It seems like they’re not crying anymore?" Hua Yiran listened closely to the sounds, and just after the crying stopped, two rapid noises were heard.
The group immediately started to move cautiously, and a minute later, Zhou Zeyuan climbed a tree again to confirm that the tigers had run off. Five minutes later, the sounds of fighting between the tiger and a bear came from afar.
"Is the little tiger still there?" Ding Anmin asked.
"Why are you asking?" Zhou Zeyuan frowned.
"Sister-in-law, can you save it?" Ding Anmin looked at Yi Roujing.
"No, it’s too dangerous." Zhou Zeyuan immediately refuted.
"Let’s just take a look." Yi Roujing didn’t want to see a small life disappear, so she quickly ran towards the cub’s location, which took two whole minutes.
"The reality is clear at a glance." At the scene, it was obvious the cub had just been born and succumbed.
Yi Roujing squatted down to examine it closely, determined it was likely amniotic fluid asphyxiation. She immediately opened the cub’s mouth, cleared the remaining amniotic fluid and mucus from its throat, repeated the effort multiple times, and didn’t forget to stimulate the cub by patting its hips and limbs. Seeing no reaction, she took out a water bag to further clean the airways and stomach before lifting the cub’s head downward and tapping its back.
"Awooo——"
"Quick, the tiger is back." Ni Yanqing’s expression changed as he urged everyone to retreat swiftly.
"Aw, aw, aw, aw, ooo." A very weak sound arose, which made everyone pause for a moment. Yi Roujing remained the calmest, immediately placing the cub down and getting up to leave.
It took a moment for Ni Yanqing and the others to react. They started running with all their might until there was no sound behind them.
"Huff, huff, huff——" Ding Anmin was the worst in terms of physical strength; she couldn’t run any further.
Having distanced themselves by at least a kilometer, Ni Yanqing personally scouted around. Although no activity was observed, they only rested for half a minute before continuing forward.
Upon reaching the edge of the dense forest, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. When they returned to the farmhouse, it was clear to see, as Xu Ancheng and the rest were empty-handed without any wildlife, Ding Anguo and the others at the farmhouse were greatly surprised, but more concerned because several people had leaves hanging from their heads and faint red scratches on their faces, indicating that they returned in a hurry.
"What happened? Is everyone okay?" Huang Xiaobao addressed everyone, but his eyes were fixed on Ding Anmin, turning her around to inspect her thoroughly, only then relaxing once he saw she was merely exhausted from the run with no injuries apart from sweat on her face.
"There was a fight between a tiger and a bear in the mountains, very dangerous. We shouldn’t go up the mountain again. Anyway, that wild boar we have is enough for us to eat." Ding Anmin recounted the happenings on the mountain, emphasizing Yi Roujing’s miraculous rescue of the newborn tiger cub.
"It’s just that the mother tiger returned too quickly. We only heard the cub cry a couple of times and don’t know if it can survive." Ding Anmin said with some regret.
"Are you out of your mind?" Huang Xiaobao was so startled his face turned white, immediately pulling Ding Anmin aside for an earnest lecture.
After such a harrowing interlude, going up the mountain was out of the question, and furthermore, the men began taking shifts for night watch. Ni Yanqing personally went down the mountain to inform Daihe Village of the situation, asking them to alert neighboring villagers not to venture into the mountains, even the periphery could pose some risk.
A tiger and a bear fighting in the deep forest makes other animals avoid the danger, possibly leaving the deep forest; risking anything at such times is not safe.
Wu Guofang, about to take the position of a police officer, directly went to the county police station to report the situation, having the law enforcement to make the announcement would carry more weight.
In the quiet of night, Xu Ancheng was on watch, taking the second half of the night. Yi Roujing, who slept early, woke up when Xu Ancheng got up, and after checking on the peacefully sleeping Baozi, she joined him.
Sitting by the fire in the courtyard, brewing a pot of strong tea, roasting a few Mantou, and burying some yams in the fire, when the tea was ready, Yi Roujing poured Xu Ancheng a mug.
"Are you really not going to sleep?" Xu Ancheng asked helplessly when he saw Yi Roujing pouring herself a cup too.
"Isn’t it nice for me to keep you company?" Yi Roujing glared at Xu Ancheng and said.
"I’m worried you’ll be tired." Xu Ancheng leaned closer, reached over, and gently placed Yi Roujing’s head on his shoulder. "Lean on me."
"So mushy." Yi Roujing teased, then contentedly found the most comfortable position, sipping tea occasionally, looking at the star-filled sky, taking a deep breath—the air was indeed wonderful.
"I’ll go check." Every half hour Xu Ancheng took the binoculars up to the watch post to scan the distance; the torches around the farmhouse made it possible to see clearly within a certain range.
At three in the morning, Yi Roujing was wide awake from the strong tea and took over the watch, climbing up the post with Xu Ancheng’s binoculars, which, though not as good as modern ones, could still see fifty meters away.
When Yi Roujing went to put down the binoculars, she thought she saw a figure flit past. Raising them again, she was startled—a pair of tigers were indeed leisurely heading towards the farmhouse.
"Cheng, Tigers are coming." Yi Roujing’s face turned a bit pale as she looked down at Xu Ancheng, whose expression changed drastically as he quickly scrambled up, taking the binoculars to peer into the woods.
The two tigers weren’t coming empty-handed; one had a deer in its mouth, while the other seemed to have a silly deer. Xu Ancheng was puzzled. Typically animals eat their prey on site or carry it back to a safe place to feast, not venture into deeper territory like this.
As the tigers approached, it dawned on Xu Ancheng as he spotted a wobbly little cub trailing behind.
"We need to inform..."
"Wait." Xu Ancheng stopped Yi Roujing. As expected, the tigers didn’t walk to the farmhouse’s gate, instead stopping at the fork, placing down their prey, and leaving.
