"You're still in the recovery period; you can't move around too much."
"You need to rest well."
"As for food, I'll figure something out."
"But wild animals have to hunt on their own and mustn't become dependent."
"Your injury should heal in about a week; I'll feed you once every two days, and once you're healed, I won't take care anymore."
Xu Yang said to the Little Leopard while holding it in his arms, instructing the female leopard.
The female leopard lay on her side in the grass, resting with a lack of energy, her clear, dark eyes reflecting a semblance of relaxation, but she still looked a bit tired.
"She must be hungry," Xu Yang said.
Regardless of whether she understood or not, Xu Yang shoved the Little Leopard into her embrace, stood up, and prepared to leave.
"I'm going to buy you three pounds of pork, wait here."
"Such a big leopard, injured like this, can't hunt."
"I'll take good care of you first."
After explaining everything to her, Xu Yang turned and left.
He had planned to live stream today, but due to the sudden event, he didn't go live.
Moreover, taking care of a First-Level protected animal could easily cause controversy; there was no need to live stream it.
If someone with an agenda reported it, he probably would have been called in for questioning.
The online environment is very strict nowadays.
Xu Yang went back to the village, bought some pork, and once again headed up the mountain.
The round trip was exhausting.
Fortunately, he was physically strong and could handle it.
Soon, Xu Yang returned to the same spot.
However, he found that Leopard Mother and the Little Leopard were nowhere to be seen; they weren't in the spot he left them.
"Have they left?" Xu Yang wondered.
At that moment, Xu Yang heard a noise above his head, and when he looked up, he saw both leopards in a tree, peeking out of the leaves and curiously observing him.
"The two of you, time to eat," Xu Yang called out, shaking the plastic bag in his hand.
Upon hearing him, the female leopard carefully jumped down from the tree with the Little Leopard in her mouth.
The Little Leopard behaved very well in its mother's mouth, like a little ornament.
The two leopards approached Xu Yang, who fed pork to the female leopard and gave milk to the Little Leopard, becoming much like a nanny.
Things were heading in a ridiculous direction.
In the depths of the forest, Xu Yang got along well with the two leopards.
This story would be hard to believe if told.
As it grew late, Xu Yang decided not to start a live stream and went home early.
During dinner, Xu Hongshan asked about the Little Leopard's condition, and Xu Yang simply said everything was fine, with no issues.
And that topic was left at that.
The following day.
Xu Yang visited the forest again, and as usual, started his live stream.
With the system on board, he needed to start doing business quickly to get more rewards.
The drone rose high into the air.
Being summertime, the forest was a bit warm, and the sounds of birds and insects were continuous.
The birdsong was still pleasant to the ear, but the insect noises, making a "zzz" sound, were somewhat irritating.
Dressed in mountain climbing gear, Xu Yang wore a straw hat, carried an empty bamboo basket on his back, and held a long stick, looking very professional.
After the live stream started, the number of people in the live room quickly began to rise.
Xu Yang's live stream was popular for being genuine, and with the drone capturing footage, the quality of the live video was exceptionally good.
Soon, the number of viewers in the live room surpassed 300 people.
"Today, I'm heading up the mountain to continue looking for wild products," he announced.
"This walking stick in my hand isn't just for use as a crutch," he continued.
"It's summer now, and there are snakes in the mountains. When I come to areas with denser vegetation, I'll use the stick to tap around a bit."
"If there are snakes in the grass, they'll quickly slither away," he explained.
Xu Yang walked on while not forgetting to share some knowledge with the viewers.
There were some long-time fans in the live room who had watched Xu Yang's stream the day before yesterday. Seeing him go live, they immediately joined in.
[Host, are you sure the snakes will quickly slither away and not quickly lunge at you?] someone asked in the chat.
[I know this idiom, it's 'startle the grass and alert the snake', right!]
[Man, there are snakes in the mountains and you still dare to goof around like this?]
[This streamer is super brave, alone in the mountains, and he's even encountered a leopard before!]
Barrages of live comments continued to emerge.
"Today, I'm still heading into the mountains to look for mountain goods, hoping to find some good stuff."
"There are quite a few treasures in Changbai Mountain."
"In a couple of days, I'll be following a ginseng harvesting team into the mountains, at which time I'll live stream the ginseng digging in the Northeast for everyone."
Xu Yang continued at a leisurely pace with his narration.
He made his way further and higher into the mountains.
The mountain path was not easy to traverse, and with Xu Yang occasionally observing his surroundings, his pace wasn't fast.
He planned to walk a certain distance before using the Treasure Compass to locate rare mountain goods.
The trees were lush, and the grass was tall; in some places, the grass was even taller than a person, clustered together, brimming with life.
The atmosphere in the live stream room felt tranquil as well.
Just then, as Xu Yang was passing through a section of tall grass and came out from it,
suddenly, the grass in front started to shake rapidly. Next, a huge figure leapt out from the bushes and then took off running.
Xu Yang was startled.
"Damn it!"
Viewers in the live stream room were equally startled, with some even performing a five-whip combo on the spot.
[What was that?]
The audience was somewhat baffled.
After a brief shock, Xu Yang looked into the distance, he saw an animal with its white butt split in two hopping away.
This animal looked like a Sika Deer, but it was actually the genuine Northeast divine beast—the foolish roe deer.
"It's a roe deer, gave me a fright!"
"This guy, so panicky."
"Nowadays, with good environmental protection and ecological recovery, roe deer numbers are increasing. Sometimes you even get foolish roe deer running into the villages."
"Especially in winter, foolish roe deer would sneak into the village to steal corn."
"These guys are quite cute, but sometimes their expressions are so maddening, you just want to give them a smack."
Xu Yang explained with a smile to his viewers.
[Damn! That startled the hell out of me, so it was a roe deer!]
[I've heard of roe deer, they are creatures of immense curiosity, so dopey!]
[I heard that even if a hunter shoots them, they run away but will come back after a while to check out what the hunter is holding.]
[This guy is pretty dumb, almost went extinct once!]
[They should be thankful for the current animal protection laws.]
Xu Yang looked in the direction where the foolish roe deer had fled without interfering much and continued on his way.
About ten minutes later, Xu Yang saw the foolish roe deer tilting its head, facing him with a placid expression, peering in his direction constantly.
Xu Yang immediately laughed.
"Look, that foolish roe deer has come back; this guy is just like that, sometimes so wanting."
Xu Yang pointed ahead, addressing his viewers.
The drone's camera focused ahead, and the viewers saw a brown roe deer standing in front of Xu Yang with round, black eyes blinking, an overall silly air to it.
The viewers couldn't help but laugh, too.
Xu Yang called out to the foolish roe deer:
"Hey, what are you looking at?"
Hearing Xu Yang's words, the foolish roe deer's ears twitched, and it seemed to realize Xu Yang meant no harm, so it took a couple more steps towards him.
It cocked its neck, extended its head, its eyes clear yet stupid.
Many "looking at you, what's it to you?" comments floated across the live stream.
[I'm a nationally protected second-level animal, looking at you, what's it to you, you try touching me once?]
[Come on, here's my deer head, if you dare, kill me!]
The atmosphere in the live stream room instantly livened up.
The number of viewers also rapidly increased to 653.
Xu Yang was just joking with the creature; he hadn't seen a foolish roe deer in a while, and he was genuinely pleased.
Xu Yang took out a few round biscuits from his pocket and held them out towards the foolish roe deer.
The foolish roe deer's ears twitched with alertness, but it couldn't resist its curiosity and slowly approached Xu Yang.