"Ying ying ying—"
Ansheng, who had just woken up, lay on the bed with a contented expression, stretching lazily and smacking his lips.
"Master Fox is awake? We'll need to get ready to leave in a bit."
Lin Ying, sitting by the window of the suite's bedroom, had already changed into her casual outdoor attire. On the table was a cup of black tea and an untouched plate of snacks. Seeing Master Fox rolling around on the bed, she said with a smile.
"By the way, Tour Guide He asked us if we need breakfast. I saw Master Fox was still asleep, so I ordered you the local specialty: cured beef buns and vegetable buns..."
"Aren't you eating?"
Ansheng jumped out of bed and looked at the items on the table with a hint of confusion—just a cup of tea and immobile pastries, not at all resembling breakfast.
"I just had some nut chocolate; I'm having tea to digest now..."
Lin Ying said with a helpless smile.
She actually doesn't like sweets, possibly because during her studying abroad, she had nearly gone into anaphylactic shock from eating too much peanut butter chocolate.
However, under the current situation, a fixed amount of sweets had become an essential part of Lin Ying's daily meals.
When Lin Bingyun is around, she oversees this.
And if Lin Bingyun is not around, she'll inform Lin Shu to pry open Lin Ying's mouth and give her medicine and sweets.
"Is that so?"
Ansheng looked at Lin Ying with slight suspicion.
Seeing the familiar expression on Master Fox's face, Lin Ying nodded with full confidence.
Whenever it's mealtime, Master Fox's cheeks wear a skeptical look, which... surely means someone's going to eat their fill, needing at least two bowls of rice.
Although Lin Ying said she had eaten, when they met He Ying to get breakfast, Ansheng still shared half of his cured beef bun with Lin Ying.
...
They got into a newly delivered black business car and headed to the Xinxing Agricultural Science College to meet Wang Qiqi.
He Ying drove her own car ahead to lead the way. The campus address of Xinxing Agricultural Science College doesn't show up on any civilian navigation system for reasons unknown to everyone, but locals say it's part of a panda ecological protection area.
A unique Qinling ecological panda subspecies occasionally appears there, so the local authorities intentionally block navigation maps of the ecological protection area to prevent tourists and photography enthusiasts from disturbing the Qinling pandas.
Pandas belong to the bear family, not the cat family.
If a person got slapped to death by a panda, it would be like the sky falling for the local forestry bureau.
To prevent the animals from developing a path dependency, any wild animal that's tasted human blood is inevitably hunted down by the local authorities, without exception.
Blocking the navigation around Xinxing Agricultural Science College is beneficial for both people and animals.
Without anyone disturbing them, incidents can be drastically reduced.
Modern people are not directionally challenged because humans have evolved to sense magnetic fields but because high-precision navigation maps have become widespread. Closing their navigation maps gives the relevant departments a break.
He Ying, fully prepared for this trip with much enthusiasm, had even memorized some urban legends and related folklore overnight.
However.
"Holy crap! Lucky Seven!"
Upon reaching the internal roads of the Xinxing Agricultural Science College, He Ying confidently got off the car to submit an application to visit the college during its lockdown period.
But as she got out of the car, her eyes widened, staring at the entrance checkpoint where a young woman sat by the roadside, petting a brown panda.
The panda squatting by the roadside was unlike the usual black-and-white pandas. Although the black parts had no differences, the areas that should have been white, namely the belly and back fur, were a light brown color.
Compared to the pandas in the Sichuan-Chongqing region, its head was more round and full, like a peanut dumpling.
.......
After a brief daze at seeing the giant panda, He Ying discreetly sat back in the car, unlocked the child lock on the car door, and prepared to call the forestry bureau to rescue the unfortunate young woman.
The panda appeared to weigh no less than 200 pounds.
With such a large bear pressing down on her, that young woman's ribcage might have several broken ribs, right?
"Hey! Over here!"
But Wang Qiqi, who He Ying deemed heavily injured, saw Lin Ying through the front windshield of the business car, stood up, and waved her hand, calling from across the street:
"Just park the car by the roadside. The school is under lockdown right now, and vehicles are prohibited inside. We can only use internal electric cars."
"Woof woof woof—"
The Qinling panda beside Wang Qiqi, seeing her stand up, suddenly got anxious, tugging on her pant leg and letting out a series of dog-like barks, holding onto her leg and refusing to let go.
"I've told you I'll give you something to eat later. For now, let go of my hand, alright?"
Seeing the panda holding onto her leg, Wang Qiqi, eyebrows furrowed, grabbed the panda's ear and scolded it.
The pandas near Xinxing Agricultural Science College had completely lost any bear-like dignity. Their eyes only held a desire for food and a longing for a soft place to sleep.
Wang Qiqi, with an exasperated look, dragged the panda clinging to her leg toward the street.
"It's alright, there's a panda protection research institute on the mountain behind the adjacent College of Animal Sciences, so it's not unusual to see pandas begging along the street or playing the rascal here..."
The panda protection policy in Chang'an doesn't interfere with the pandas' normal life; it creates a suitable living environment for them and drives away harmful predators.
During the partial closure of the campus, seeing a giant panda is quite normal.
"Ying?"
Seeing the panda rolling about, Ansheng looked curious.
For Ansheng, the existence of pandas only appeared, and could only appear, in short videos.
When studying, he didn't have the money to travel; once working, he didn't have the time to travel; during holidays, he didn't want to be packed in with the crowds.
This was Ansheng's first time seeing a panda.
"Woof—"
The giant panda, as if sensing Ansheng's presence, lifted its paw and tugged at the big tail of the fox.
"Eh! Considering you are of national importance, you can tug a bit, but if you dare bite An's tail, I'll send you to Shanxi tonight to cosplay a zebra crossing..."
Although the panda was clumsy and adorable, Ansheng still made it clear where his boundaries were.
"What did Master Fox say?"
Wang Qiqi saw Master Fox and the giant panda, one making random yelps producing a mixture of panda barks, seemingly chatting happily. Wang Qiqi turned to Lin Ying, asking what Master Fox and the panda were chatting so joyfully about.
"You don't understand?" Lin Ying looked at Wang Qiqi with slight surprise.
Wang Qiqi scanned He Ying, who was hiding at the end of the group, as if worried the panda might eat her, and said to Lin Ying in a low voice:
"You might have a bit of a misunderstanding about us woodcutters. We can indeed communicate with animals, but this ability is limited by species. I can only communicate with leopards and some cat-type animals."
"Listening to cat-type animals feels like they're speaking Russian in my ear, let alone canine and bear species."
If the Golden Leopard was by her side, Wang Qiqi could have had it translate, but the Golden Leopard wasn't here now.
"I don't understand either," Lin Ying looked at Wang Qiqi and explained matter-of-factly.
If even she didn't understand, how could she possibly understand Master Fox's "fox language"?