Chapter 57: Hu Shan Self-harm
Jiang Yuan picked up the phone and said lightly, “Hello.”
On the other end of the phone, Gu Yiwei, with an anxious but polite tone, said, “Miss Jiang, hello, I am Gu Yiwei, the person in charge of the Tiger Garden at Yun Jing Zoo.”
“Is there something you need, Mr. Gu?” Jiang Yuan asked.
Hearing her ask, Gu Yiwei got straight to the point and said, “Miss Jiang, I apologize for the abrupt call, but there is indeed an urgent matter I need your help with. I wonder if you are available now?”
Jiang Yuan asked doubtfully, “Is the situation serious?”
Gu Yiwei said solemnly, “Hu Shan has suddenly exhibited self-harming behavior. The zoo’s animal psychologists have tried to communicate with it, but it seems to have no effect…”
When everything seemed to be in a hopeless predicament, a figure suddenly flashed through his mind.
The girl who was surrounded by nine fierce tigers but remained unharmed.
Gu Yiwei felt a strong intuition that perhaps she would have a way!
He told the zoo director about this idea, and the director immediately nodded in agreement, telling him to contact Jiang Yuan right away.
He was now calling Jiang Yuan from the director’s office.
“I understand,” Jiang Yuan’s voice became a bit solemn, “I’ll head over now.”
After hanging up the phone, she crouched in front of Xixi and the kitten and said gently, “I’m sorry, Xixi Candy, I have an urgent matter to attend to. Can I accompany you for dinner next time?”
The little dumpling noticed that Jiang Yuan’s brows were tightly furrowed, as if she had encountered something bad. Every time Father went out to work, Mother looked like this.
Xixi asked worriedly, “Sister, did something bad happen?”
Jiang Yuan touched her little head and said softly, “A big tiger at the zoo is harming itself. I’m going to see if I can help.”
When Xixi heard this, she quickly said, “Then Sister, you should go quickly!”
After saying that, the little dumpling realized it was a big tiger, not a big cat. She exclaimed in a little milky voice, “Tiger! Tigers are so scary, aren’t you afraid, Sister?”
“I’m not afraid anymore,” Jiang Yuan stood up, her tone softening slightly, “because the tigers and I are friends.”
She turned to look at Rong Yue, “Sister Yueyue, I have to go due to an urgent matter. I’ll treat you to a meal another time.”
“It’s okay, Yuan Yuan, saving the tiger is more important,” Rong Yue saw her off at the elevator, her face full of smiles, “Come by often when you have time.”
Watching the elevator doors close, Rong Yue thought about how the zoo had called to ask Jiang Yuan to help with the tiger problem, and felt it was a bit of an overkill to ask her to look after the kitten her daughter raised.
Yun Jing Zoo.
Jiang Yuan parked her car and headed towards the staff passage, following the signs.
She had received a call from Gu Yiwei on her way, saying that someone had been arranged to wait for her at the entrance of the staff passage.
“Miss Jiang!” a voice called from not far away.
Jiang Yuan looked up and saw Gu Yiwei, wearing a black and white spliced windbreaker, waving at her by the elevator.
On the way to the Tiger Garden, Gu Yiwei explained Hu Shan’s situation in detail.
“The zookeepers noticed that Hu Shan’s condition hadn’t been good since the day before yesterday, and he ate less dinner than usual.”
“We were worried it was sick, so we quickly arranged for a veterinarian to examine it. We didn’t expect Hu Shan to be uncooperative at all, and the veterinarian’s snacks couldn’t attract it.”
“We had no choice but to give it anesthesia to draw blood and perform a series of examinations. After the report came out, the veterinarian said that Hu Shan’s body had no problems.”
“Yesterday, an animal psychologist was invited, but they couldn’t find the cause either.”
“This morning, Hu Shan didn’t even eat breakfast and has been roaring in the Tiger Garden.”
“As soon as the tourists entered the Tiger Garden this morning, Hu Shan leaped towards the guardrail to attack them. An elderly gentleman was so frightened that he had a heart attack.”
Gu Yiwei sighed deeply, “When Hu Shan realized it couldn’t reach the tourists through the guardrail, it started to self-harm, continuously hitting its head against the stones…”
As they spoke, the two had already arrived at the entrance of the Tiger Garden.
Gu Yiwei led Jiang Yuan into the tiger’s enclosure through the staff passage, explaining as they walked, “Fearing it might disturb the tourists and injure itself, we injected it with anesthetic and cleaned and bandaged its wounds.”
Jiang Yuan nodded gently, her gaze falling on Hu Shan. The tiger, which should have been majestic, was lying quietly with its eyes closed within the iron guardrail due to the anesthetic.
“How much longer will the anesthetic take effect?” she asked.
Gu Yiwei replied, “Another hour.”
Hearing this, Jiang Yuan, after a moment of thought, suggested, “Hu Shan hasn’t woken up yet. Why don’t I talk to the other tigers first? Perhaps they know about Hu Shan’s situation.”
Hearing this, Gu Yiwei’s pupils contracted, then widened slightly. Looking at the girl’s fair and beautiful face, he moved his lips, hesitating several times.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuan proactively asked, “Mr. Gu, do you have something you want to tell me?”
“Miss Jiang…” Gu Yiwei lowered his voice, his tone serious, “Can you understand what the tigers are saying?”
He remembered that on the day the tigers were angry, Jiang Yuan had been talking to them.
Jiang Yuan slowly frowned. After a few seconds of thought, she calmly and indifferently said, “You guessed right, I can understand them, but I don’t want too many people to know.”
“I understand,” Gu Yiwei’s face showed a solemn expression, and his tone was solemn and serious, “Miss Jiang, please rest assured, I will keep it a secret for you. However, I may need to report truthfully to the director.”
“That’s fine,” Jiang Yuan had a vague premonition that she might have frequent interactions with the zoo in the future.
Ten minutes later.
Jiang Yuan and Gu Yiwei entered the Tiger Garden in a staff-only vehicle.
Several large tigers were lying lazily on the rocks, occasionally lifting their eyelids to look at the foolish and bored humans outside the guardrail.
With the appearance of the special vehicle, the nose of the tiger lying at the highest point suddenly twitched, as if it smelled a familiar scent.
It suddenly straightened up, its gaze fixed on the special vehicle.
The distance was a bit far, and Jiang Yuan couldn’t tell who the tiger was, so she shouted through the car, “Hi, are you the most handsome tiger in the Tiger Garden?”
As soon as she said this, Hu Rui’s eyes lit up with excitement, and he leaped up, “That’s right, this handsome tiger is the most handsome tiger here!”
He landed steadily on the ground, and with a few agile leaps, he pounced in front of the special vehicle, his tone full of undisguised excitement, “Yuan Yuan, you finally came to see the tigers! This handsome tiger has been waiting for you for a long time!”
He waited every day for his human friend to visit him.
Unfortunately, every time it was not his good friend he waited for, but boring humans.
Hu Rui lifted his paw and placed it on the car’s guardrail, his tone becoming a bit more resentful, “You haven’t been here for so long, did you forget about the tiger?”
“No,” Jiang Yuan quickly comforted the wronged big cat, “I didn’t forget you, it’s just that there have been too many things lately, and I’ve been too busy.”
As she said this, she actually felt a pang of guilt. Looking at Hu Rui’s eyes, they became even softer. She hadn’t expected this big guy to have been waiting for her.
“I was afraid you had forgotten me,” Jiang Yuan sighed softly.
Hu Rui declared with conviction, “You are a tiger’s good friend, how could a tiger forget you?”
