Chapter 696: Chapter 559: Child, Fortune Follows Disaster

Falling asleep again in a daze, fortunately with two warm bodies beside me, otherwise I’d definitely catch a cold.

Chen Ying was dazzled by the sunlight, got up to look, and was almost frightened.

Bai Bingyang’s big face was right in front of him, looking aggrieved.

Pushing Bai Bingyang away, he extricated himself from the clutches of Leopard Sister and Jinya, his clothes covered in Jinya’s shed fur.

“Old Chen, not bad at all, left and right embrace, warm fragrance and soft jade in your arms, must be so comfortable,” Dr. Ou said while checking some rescued small animals on the second floor before releasing them, waving his phone in the process, “I’ve sent the photos to your wife, you’ll likely be kneeling on a keyboard tonight.”

Dr. Ou isn’t a local, he’s from Guangxi, where he accidentally killed four chickens. He studied college in Sichuan Province, and later went to graduate school, got married, and had children here, his accent automatically blending the broken Mandarin of Guangxi and West Sichuan.

These days, after the four chickens went viral online, the young girls at the station love to tease Dr. Ou using this joke.

“I don’t mind kneeling on a keyboard, but there have been too few requests for four chickens recently, I need to help drum up some business for you.”

After some banter, Chen Ying helped load the rescued animals into cages, then they separated and released them into the wild.

They were busy until after four in the afternoon, finally sending off all seven little ones, then started cleaning and disinfecting the animal cages, preparing for the next batch of rescued animals to move in.

During dinner, his brother-in-law made a video call.

In the video, two golden cats and clouded leopards bandaged like mummies lay pitifully in cages receiving an IV, with a veterinarian from the Grand Canyon hurriedly tending to them.

“They’re out of danger now. The golden cat was quite lucky. Although it was struck in the lumbar spine, it dodged in time, only causing a dislocation without fractures. The bone setting skill you taught came in handy. That young man’s technique was a bit clumsy, but he was careful not to cause any secondary damage to the golden cat’s injury. The x-ray results look okay, I’ve sent them to you, take a look when you have time.”

“No problem, brother, I’ll check it right away,” Chen Ying said while heading to the first-floor office, opening the computer to retrieve and view the file from the email.

“The recovery seems okay, but pay attention to any swelling afterward. You can use the prescription I left last time. Start with a small dosage for the first use, and increase gradually if there are no problems.”

He also prescribed a new internal medicine for his brother-in-law, suggesting it be made into pills mixed with food for the golden cat.

The injury to the clouded leopard was common, something the Dao family’s animal hospital could easily handle, so Chen Ying didn’t inquire further.

“That’s it. The matter you mentioned to Meihua last time is almost settled, you can leave anytime in July. Discuss with Meihua to set a time.”

They chatted casually about other things before Chen Ying hung up and returned to the table, discussing the golden cat’s injury with Dr. Ou and Dr. Chen.

“I’ve saved the X-ray on the desktop, archive it later to enrich our treatment database.”

Just as he was saying this, a tremor lasting over ten seconds suddenly shook them, changing the expressions of Chen Ying and the others.

“Why wasn’t there a warning?”

“Such strong shaking, it must be close to us.”

Luckily, when the emergency station was rebuilt, this was taken into consideration, and it had good seismic resistance. Apart from the animals making some panicked noises, nowhere was damaged.

“Brother Ying, look at the mountain over there, so many birds!”

In the sky over Upper Baisha Village, a black cloud rose, with thousands of birds swirling in the air.

Just after speaking, a call came from the Protection Station.

“An earthquake occurred twenty kilometers north of Upper Baisha Village, half of the mountain collapsed. The old houses in the village completely collapsed, and even a few new houses by the roadside had cracked walls. It’s heard that three or four elderly people living in old houses were buried. You should be cautious in the mountains, and if possible, it’s best to move out for now.”

Moving out wasn’t an option, but fortunately, the aftershocks weren’t strong, and the tremors were slight.

“The elders in Upper Village have been rescued, with a few injured but no casualties. However, the situation in Lower Village is much worse, with two-thirds of the houses collapsed and no water or electricity, so the focus of the rescue is over there.”

Earthquakes are quite common here; no year passes without three to five unsettling ones.

People always ask why not move if they know about the earthquakes. Is moving that easy? Moreover, this region is originally an earthquake zone, where to move? To Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen?

Since the devastating earthquake years ago, the locals have accumulated experience in responding to earthquakes. With technological advancement, the speed of rescue is much better than a decade ago.

Nevertheless, a day later, Chen Ying received a support notification.

“There was a landslide on that mountain, even blocking the river, forming a dammed lake upstream. Most importantly, forest patrols confirmed two giant pandas living in that area before. Village rescue is under way, but there’s no available manpower for animals, so the province arranged to dispatch personnel from other Protection Stations, forming four teams to enter the earthquake center and assess the situation.”

The station chief also explained further, “Delaying a day was also due to concerns over aftershocks, and post-quake landslides, rockfalls, and other disasters that may frequently occur for an extended period. So initially, drones and helicopters will conduct reconnaissance, and once the situation is stable, they will enter the quake center.”

Hearing that giant pandas might be trapped, Chen Ying was anxious, not wanting to wait for the team to assemble before venturing into the mountains to investigate.