Chapter 477: Chapter 434: Can Red Cotton Pass the Establishment Exam?

Three people got out of the car, surprising both Chen Ying and Yin Li a bit.

“Mom, Sister, how did you end up here?”

It was actually Yin Li’s mom and sister, along with sister’s husband, who arrived. The driver was unfamiliar but didn’t look like an ordinary person.

“A girl from your old emergency station brought us here. We were picked up when the plane landed here.”

Yin Li’s mom and sister were constantly crying, holding onto him tightly, while his brother-in-law choked back tears and briefly explained what had happened.

Chen Ying invited the driver to get off and eat with them, but he politely declined, saying his family lived nearby in the Sanjiang Reserve, and since it was rare to come home for New Year, he also wanted to reunite with his family.

Since the driver said so, they couldn’t insist on making him stay. Chen Ying hurriedly packed some jerky and cheese for him to take back.

The driver accepted without hesitation and said they could call him anytime if they needed the car, and he’d definitely arrive within an hour.

After seeing off the driver, everyone added chairs and tableware, letting Yin Li’s mom and sister’s family sit down to eat.

In the kitchen, Chen Ying asked Sun Qihai if he could help inquire about borrowing vacant rooms at the animal husbandry station for a few days.

They could also stay at the protection station, but the rooms there weren’t as warm as here.

The person in charge of the animal husbandry station readily agreed to lend them the rooms upon hearing that Yin Li’s family had traveled a long distance to visit him.

Two rooms were borrowed: one for Yin Li and his brother-in-law and one for his mom and sister.

“Sister, you’ve come with your husband, what about the child?”

“We have Granny, and your husband’s brother and sister-in-law are willing to help.”

In the past, when the family was not well-off, relatives weren’t so accommodating. Now that Yin Li’s situation improved, he often assisted his sister’s family and even helped find jobs for his brother-in-law’s two nephews, raising his sister’s status in her husband’s family.

One spicy pot, one non-spicy.

Yin Li’s sister noticed their meat and vegetables were cut too arbitrarily, thick and thin, and couldn’t stand it. She rolled up her sleeves, took over, and went to the kitchen to cut them properly.

They brought New Year’s goods and some vegetables and fruits the driver had prepared in advance.

After washing and cutting, they prepared a big table full of food.

After eating, they didn’t let any students help wash dishes. Yin Li’s sister and mom jointly cleaned up the hotpot and set up a kettle and small pot to stew beef for noodles and dumplings.

Previously, chefs were arranged from the animal husbandry station. After the holidays, the chefs left, and Chen Ying and the others’ cooking skills were barely passable, nothing compared to Sister and Mom’s decades-old craftsmanship, even a dog would disdain it.

Although most of this group didn’t particularly like dumplings, they still needed to match the occasion.

Originally, they had bought frozen dumplings and tangyuan, but Sister, upon arrival, disdainfully returned them and opted to knead dough, roll out noodles, chop filling and season, unlike them who were clumsy and disorganized.

“I’m not from the north, so my dumpling-making skills aren’t great. I learned hastily before coming, don’t mind me.”

“Who dares mind? Immortal Sister, from today, you are my Sister. Whatever you need, just direct me. If I utter a disagreeing word, let Jinya give me two cat punches.”

Jinya was gnawing on a meat bone. Hearing its name, it looked up, bared its teeth, meaning not to disturb its meal.

A few Snow Leopard cubs collaboratively gnawed on rabbits, three rabbits were messily torn apart by them.

Chen Ying, while chatting with Yin Li and his brother-in-law, inadvertently noticed the desert cat, unseen for days, appeared again and was stealing scraps torn by the Snow Leopard cubs.

The two desert cats stealing were not greedy, and after eating a bit, they leapt behind the animal husbandry station.

Only two stray dogs with cubs were left temporarily, and a few students were responsible for feeding.

Tonight, they didn’t come over for the feast, but New Year’s Eve dinner was prepared for them in advance, with ample meat and bones, and meat broth soaked rice, as well as canned dog food city dogs loved.

The two stray dog mothers on maternity stayed in two animal cages, with the middle door open, allowing them to visit each other.

There were seven small dog cubs in total, a mix of breeds, without genetic testing it was hard to tell which breeds exactly were mixed.

So Yin Li directly named them the “Highland Seven Fools”, arranged by size.

The two female interns even ordered dog tags online, planning to hang them on later when the dogs grew bigger. Otherwise, they couldn’t distinguish later who was more foolish.

As midnight approached, getting ready to set off fireworks, the dogs were frightened and dashed indoors.

Er Niu led her cubs to hide on Chen Ying’s bed.

Instead, Jinya and Little Jin, who were bolder, squeezed together, squatting on the mezzanine of the warehouse roof to watch the fireworks.

The fireworks bloomed in the night sky, also blooming in Jinya and Little Jin’s eyes.

Chen Ying silently took out her phone and snapped ten photos of the two cats.

They had bought a lot of fireworks and firecrackers, and after setting them off, they ate some steaming dumplings and beef noodle soup.

The group split into two after the fun: those who wanted to play games and those who wanted to rest, each returning to their own rooms.

The next morning, Chen Ying didn’t wake up until ten, while Sister Yin Li had already prepared breakfast. A group of “kids” who had stayed up all night wolfed down the food before running off to pay New Year’s greetings to Yin Li’s mother, then headed back, shoulder to shoulder, to catch up on sleep.

Once they fell asleep, the whole world seemed quiet.

Chen Ying lit a fire in the yard by the door. Before long, several cats and dogs were asleep nearby.

A few adult and young male beasts went off in search of food.

Er Niu, Jinya, the Little Snow Leopard, and Lady Lynx lay on the cotton mats at the warehouse door, sunbathing and chatting.

At the rescue station, there was no need to worry about safety. The hard-working dog wet nurse had already started her shift, and several little puppies had started their daily patrols as well.

Red Cotton successfully joined the Wangwang Team, walking at the back of the group with Black Gold.

Compared to Black Gold’s occasional laziness, Red Cotton was more vigilant and dedicated.

Her sense of smell was incredibly sharp, even outdoing Black Gold. Moreover, Red Cotton seemed to understand human expressions and cues. Sometimes, when Sun Qihai wanted something, before he even reached out, Red Cotton would bring it to him.

Of course, it only worked if Red Cotton could reach the item.

Nevertheless, Sun Qihai had told Chen Ying more than once that Red Cotton wasn’t lacking in intelligence, and he was considering sending her to the police academy to see if she could become a police dog.

The police academy has certain breed requirements for police dogs, but it’s not absolute. If Red Cotton could manage, it would be great, though the concern remained whether the stray dog would handle the rigorous training.

On the second day, some young people from the nearby pastoral village, who were usually on good terms, came over to pay New Year’s greetings, bringing some supplies with them. Among them was a young woman whose husband worked in the police K9 unit’s logistics team.

After hearing Sun Qihai’s praises about Red Cotton, she curiously instructed Red Cotton to perform a few actions, which she could generally understand, though not as quickly as trained dogs.

“Coincidentally, two police dogs in our unit are about to retire, and not many of the new puppies have successfully completed training. I’ll ask the captain if he’s interested in Red Cotton.”

As for the two mastiffs, the police would definitely not want them, mainly because mastiffs are too disobedient, making them impossible to train.

The young woman recorded a few videos of Red Cotton and sent a written account of her everyday behavior, as told by Sun Qihai.

“Our captain is quite busy, so he might not reply right away. I’ll notify you as soon as he gets back to us.”

On the second day, many people came over, even Uncle Tashi drove by to take a look, bringing lots of his own New Year goods, along with two dairy goats.

The dairy goats were for feeding the puppies because the mother dog was too weak due to her long time as a stray, and her milk was insufficient, so they needed to supplement with a mix of dog milk and goat milk.

Raising them on formula was too costly. It just so happened that Uncle Tashi’s dairy goats had five milkers this year, so he generously gave them two, planning to take them back once the puppies were weaned.

By the third day, the rescue center had sent over quite a few things. Duanmu and Xiao Song were the ones delivering them, and they also brought along souvenirs from their seaside vacation.

“I heard you guys started a big project here, doing neutering for stray dogs?”

While they sat down to chat, Duanmu suddenly brought it up, “My uncle asked me to tell you that you should go ahead with whatever you plan, and just ignore anything unpleasant you might hear. The center supports your involvement with the stray dog charity project, but your actions might threaten certain people’s interests. Just be cautious yourself; there’s no need to worry about other issues.”

Actually, Chen Ying had never heard any gossip, not knowing whether people didn’t dare say anything in front of him or if it was all blocked from reaching him.

But since Duanmu said so, someone surely had bad intentions.

“What benefit could stray dogs bring?” Yin Li asked curiously. “Stray dogs have become a nuisance, and many places have dog-catching teams dealing specifically with dangerous strays. Does that mean someone solved this issue, causing them to lose their jobs?”

“Who knows, maybe there are other vested interests. We’re not in that line of work, so we wouldn’t know what dirty secrets there might be.”

Chen Ying was most annoyed by these things and didn’t feel like talking.

Yin Li patted him on the back, telling him not to overthink it. Just do what needs to be done; those people will at most be sour, but likely wouldn’t dare take any drastic action.

“By the way, a boss reached out to the center and wanted Jinya and Little Jin to help shoot an ad, but my uncle turned him down. He likely won’t give up, though, and might come looking for you in a couple of days. Be careful and try to keep Jinya and Little Jin from getting too close to people; those guys have quite the nerve.”

This was easy to handle—just let Er Niu and the others take the cubs back to the mountain.

If worse comes to worst, let Jinya and Little Jin stay for a few days at the animal shed at the Protection Station.

The station is a formal institution with strict access control, so it’s unlikely anyone could wander around inside.

Before the night was over after Duanmu’s reminder, the boss from the pet food company showed up.

From a distance, seeing a few big cats sunning in the yard, the boss hurriedly opened the car door, eager to rush over to pet the cats.