Chapter 4: ◎Prairie Model Working Leopard (4)◎
Shi Qiao, who didn't master the leopard language, didn't know she had a new name.
At the last moment when she is about to be exiled, the boss shows his grace and allows her to eat so much. The little leopard was very grateful, so she lowered her head and kneeled on the branch of the tree.
There is nothing to repay, she can only kowtow to the other party.
They didn't rest long this time. As soon as it got dark, the male leopard looked in a certain direction. After getting up, the tight muscles in his legs also moved, as if he was planning to get down from the tree.
Different from the past, this time the other party did not come to pick her up first, but used his tail to lift her and place her on a higher branch.
Klein looked at the height of the tree branch from the ground and felt that the cub would not be able to get down to the ground by itself. The top was closer to the tree crown and other animals could not see the little leopard, so it was relatively safe.
He jumped down from the tree and saw that the other party was staggering and barely able to stand still. He shouted twice to ask the other party to stop moving and wait on the tree and then stepped into the night.
Shi Qiao, who was holding the tree branch, looked confused.
What does it mean?
She doesn't understand!
The little dumpling looked at the other person's retreating figure, feeling desperate.
This tree branch is at least three or four meters above the ground. If he throws her so high, she won't be able to get down.
It was over, she was really going to die this time, either from starvation or thirst or from falling to death. This warthog meal was about to be her last supper.
Caught off guard by being abandoned, the little leopard roared a few times in the direction where the other party disappeared. Before it could reach a distance, the sound was mercilessly swallowed by the wind.
Afraid that if she kept shouting like this, she would attract baboons or other dangerous animals that could climb the tree, Shi Qiao could only hold the branches and scratch her heart and liver.
She had to use both her front and back paws to get down from such a tall tree, and even one of them wouldn't work. If that hind leg is still intact, she might be able to try her best to slip out of the tree little by little. Now it's difficult to even walk on the ground, and it's difficult to land with all her tail on the ground.
When she was in a dilemma, Shi Qiao suddenly remembered the scene when she met the other party for the first time. At that time, the other party was also left alone and brought prey when he came back.
After carefully analyzing the two calls made by the other party, it seems that they are not "we will never meet again", nor are they "I'm leaving, you can do whatever you want".
Shi Qiao's hanging heart was half relieved.
Leaving the mother too early makes the cub very insecure.
After realizing that the other party wanted to abandon her, she became less at ease.
With no support around him, the little leopard did not dare to move rashly in the tall tree and waited silently with its paws on the branches of the tree.
In just a few days, she got used to living with the same kind of company, and she felt very insecure without another leopard around her.
The feeling of guarding the house was too painful. There were no clocks or mobile phones in the wild, so Shi Qiao silently counted seconds in his mind to kill time.
Fortunately, the leopard with outstanding abilities did not disappoint her. When the moon moved above the treetops, he came back with unknown prey with fried hair in his mouth.
It looked like a large bird with no name. It looked a bit like a vulture, but a part of its head was bright red.
The strange thing is that this bird is not only big but also has two heads.
When the other party returned to the tree, Shi Qiao saw clearly that the prey this time was not some outrageous two-headed bird, but one of the five ugly storks on the grassland. Two storks were caught by the neck at the same time. The other party probably raided the family's nest and ate up the stork and his wife as food.
Shi Qiao couldn't help but be astonished. He could even catch birds with wings and even catch two at once. The grassland hexagon warriors really lived up to their reputation.
Birds covered in feathers are much more unpalatable than animals with hooves. Not only do their feathers have to be plucked, but their bodies are also full of bones. Klein, who had not eaten enough, still tore off the chest and abdomen of a warthog and fed it to his cub.
This time she refused to eat anything.
The warthog made her so full that she couldn't eat anymore. Even if she was stuffed, the food should be used wisely, so that it would not be a waste of resources if it was eaten by the boss who worked hard to hunt.
Seeing that the little leopard refused to open her mouth, Klein gave up feeding and barely filled his stomach with birds.
Based on experience, he may not encounter prey in the next few days on the road. It is wiser to go on the road after he is full than to catch someone blind when he is half hungry.
After watching the other party finish a simple meal with no meat, Shi Qiao was dragged to his side. It is also suitable for animals to feel sleepy after eating. The other party yawned and unceremoniously used her as a doll and put her in his arms to sleep.
After eating and replenishing our energy, it was finally time to hit the road.
Before lowering his head to pick up the smaller leopard, a certain large leopard hesitated.
Going north to pursue prey is an arduous process. If there was no water source, it would be safer to stay here until the injury on the cub's hind legs heals.
They had to leave, and Klein finally picked up the leopard cub.
The brain circuits of the two leopards, one big and one small, were completely opposite. To Shi Qiao, the few seconds he hesitated meant that he was planning to throw her away.
The little dumpling was taken off the tree with complicated emotions, silently wondering where the other party would throw her.
She was carried danglingly out of this area of zelkova trees, passing by a huge weird succulent bush, and then walked through the rough path made by humans with a steamroller, until it was daylight.
Shi Qiao felt strange. In fact, it was enough to leave her under the tree. Did he have to find a pleasant place to throw her away?
She fluttered her paws, stopped the opponent, and took the initiative to remove herself as a little burden.
The cub, less than half the height of an adult leopard, sighed as its limbs touched the sand.
Thinking that her thigh was gone and that she would have to wander alone in this vast grassland in the future, Shi Qiao felt that she had returned to the unstable state of life and death before. A green baboon or cheetah could just come and get her a box lunch.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt dizzy, her eyes were blurry, and she couldn't walk properly.
Klein was forced to let go. When he saw that the other party was planning to walk away on her own, he stretched out his front paws to pull the little leopard back and signaled the other party not to cause trouble. Now was not the time to wait for her to limp and jump on one leg.
The road is marked by dung and easily disappearing footprints left by wildebeest, buffalo, and elephants, and they must reach their prey as quickly as possible before they cross the river.
After being involuntarily picked up by the other party and setting off again, Shi Qiao finally discovered that the leopard didn't seem to want to throw her anywhere, but wanted to move the position with the tow bottle.
Her eyes suddenly became enlightened.
Her legs no longer hurt, her eyesight is no longer blurry, and her body feels energetic!
At first, she thought about living one more day, but she didn't expect that she could continue to hold on to her stable thigh now. Being a helpless street child has no future. At least she doesn't have to crawl around by his side to stay with him, and she can still eat soft food.
The little leopard honestly offered the skin from the back of her neck. Her whole body was no longer sluggish and was in a rare state of high energy.
The migration journey is long and far away. She is an inexperienced cub who has no idea of the goal. At first, she wanted to cheer up the big boss who worked hard as a baby carriage. Later, she was rejected by the boss who didn't know what to say and kept making noises, so she shut up.
A certain male leopard walked very firmly and did not deviate much from its direction.
This route has been taken more than once, from south to north in the dry season and from north to south in the rainy season.
Shi Qiao has watched many videos of the Great Migration of grassland animals, and the most shocking one, the Crossing of Heaven, has been watched through the screen several times.
Millions of wildebeests cross the Mara River, and there are fierce predators such as lions, leopards, and crocodiles in the middle. Every time she looks at it, she will sweat the herbivores.
Once she was a God's perspective from the outside, now she is one of the predators.
Once the position changes, the most worrying thing is whether she and the boss can make a living.
They left relatively late, and their luck was not good. They didn't encounter any good prey along the way. Only the most common species on the grassland, that is, warthogs and meerkats, occasionally showed up.
These two small animals are not within the scope of the boss's consideration for the time being.
The closer they get to the Mara River, the more choices they have for prey and the easier it is to hunt. At this time, there is no need to waste time on small prey that cannot fill their stomach.
It was Shi Qiao's first experience of traveling in this way, without the help of any means of transportation, relying solely on her four legs to measure every inch of the grassland. Although she didn't have to walk on her own, her neck became stiff.
Later, she got used to it and even dozed off in the other person's mouth.
He was not very fast with the cub, so he could only walk slowly. Realizing that the little leopard had fallen asleep with her head drooped, Klein stopped and put her on the ground. Just as he was about to change her position, a certain cub immediately opened her eyes in a daze.
The little thing is very vigilant, fearing that she will be thrown away when she falls asleep.
Probably a sequelae of being abandoned by her mother.
Shi Qiao thought that the other party was tired from walking and wanted to rest, so she consciously moved to the side. Unexpectedly, she was rolled up by a strong tail and placed on his back.
The back of an adult male leopard is very broad, lying on it like a comfortable baby cradle.
Unable to resist such a warm way of coaxing her to sleep, the little Leopard mumbled a few thanks that the other party couldn't understand, and couldn't help but tilt her head and fall asleep.
When she woke up again, she was already in a tree. The male leopard next to her was sleeping deeply after walking for a day. Shi Qiao was afraid of waking up the big man and did not dare to move. She was bored and counted the spots on his body.
The cub is very adaptable. She was afraid of heights when sleeping in trees at first, but now she is completely accustomed to living in trees.
She must learn to climb trees when her legs heal. She also wants to be a strong man on the grassland who can come and go freely.
Shi Qiao subconsciously moved her hind legs, and the big guy next to her woke up after just a slight movement. The beast's senses were too sharp, and he couldn't sleep well if there was any disturbance.
Shi Qiao accidentally disturbed the other person again. She patted the male leopard with her paw in shame and let out a moan.
"It's okay, boss, just keep sleeping, I won't move."
The giant leopard swung its tail lazily, feeling too disturbed to feel sleepy. It kept listening to the cubs speaking incomprehensible leopard language. Cultural classes should also be put on the agenda.
Let's start with the name first.
Shi Qiao looked at the other person staring at her with golden eyes and shouted. His voice was low but very penetrating, with the overwhelming aura of a beast.
She heard the other party repeating the same tone several times and soon understood that he was teaching her to speak. The cub was weak, and its learning ability must be online.
Shi Qiao spoke confidently: "Áo, áo wū!"
The immature voice was completely different from the other person's, but fortunately, the imitation was fairly consistent. The big leopard nodded with satisfaction.
It's easy to imitate, but it's difficult to understand the meaning of the cry.
After spending an afternoon, Shi Qiao finally distinguished the two calls, one was her own name, and the other was the other person's name——Thea and Klein.
Thea is as its name suggests, and Klein's name is as domineering as his looks. The latter sounds with a downward sound, while the former sounds with a higher pitch.
Especially when the other party called her, his tone was lighter than other times, and it was as tickling as the tip of the tail that patted her head. Shi Qiao unconsciously raised her ears to catch the lingering sound.
She don't know if it was her misunderstanding. At this time, the other party lost his strong gangster spirit and became very patient. He was completely different from the robber who beat the cheetah.
Some leopards look fierce, but they are actually very easy to get along with.
To live up to the boss's teachings, Shi Qiao studied very seriously, did whatever he asked, and became a good student who actively cooperated.
Being able to respond automatically when called by name means that the little leopard has fully grasped the meaning and the teaching plan has made initial progress.
The learning progress is impressive, but a certain boss is already satisfied.
He originally thought he had picked up a cub with an intellectual disability, and it would take several days to teach her just the name, but she turned out to be quite clever.
Receiving the looks of approval, Shi Qiao became more confident in the cultural class. Soon she will become a pure leopard who can communicate with each other!
Like those children who have to repeat a word after learning it, Shi Qiao became interested in babbling and kept whining in the other person's ear. It sounded like a leopard-shaped repeater in an infinite loop.
"Klein, Klein, Klein"
In the end, the boss, who had exhausted his patience, stuffed a paw to block the noisy screams, and his eyes seemed to convey, "Okay, that's it. If she screams anymore, he'll get annoyed".
Shi Qiao: "..."
How can he find a student who works as hard as her if he still gets annoyed if she practices too much?
Shi Qiao spit out the opponent's paw and did the after-school exercises in her mind. She opened her mouth without making a sound, like a mute little leopard who desperately wanted to speak but was muted. It looked very funny.
The little leopard learned happily, and the "teacher" was in a good mood. Every time he saw the cub silently speaking, his tail would wag.
The leisurely rest time was fleeting, and they were about to set off again soon. To exercise her improving hind legs, Shi Qiao did not let Klein do the whole journey this time. Instead, she followed him for a walk in the open plains.
With a tow truck in need of rehabilitation, an urgent migratory hunting trip turned into an outing, spending more time on the road than usual.
Fortunately, they are about to see the light of day.
The further away from their original habitat, the more other animals they encounter, and the vegetation closer to water sources is richer and there are more trees.
They can take a short rest to quench their thirst by the lake they pass by. Many animals stop here, and the trees are more lively than in the previous place.
The most noisy among them is the green baboon who had an affair with Shi Qiao.
The green baboons have olive-colored fur. They squat on the trees and are hidden by the canopy. It is easy to ignore their presence when they are quiet.
They are also the sirens on the grassland. They will sound the alarm to herbivores once they find an exposed predator hunting nearby.
In the eyes of wildebeest, gazelle, and buffalo, baboons are warm-hearted and good brothers.
But for predators, this nosy animal is a stumbling block on the way to hunting, and they want to block the mouths of these baboons one by one.
Just like now, a small group of impalas was resting nearby. Before they could get closer, the baboons in the trees shouted, scaring away the prey that should have been obtained.
Shi Qiao got angry when she saw the baboon, but there were many baboon companions behind him. They were a big family on the grassland that was not easy to mess with. A weakling like her would never dare to mess with them.
In comparison, the big brother was much calmer. He remained unmoved in the face of the baboons' provocations and came forward to drink water with the little leopard in his mouth.
It was the first time they saw a single male leopard with cubs. Not only were the baboons extremely curious, but even the hippos in the lake raised their heads in response.
It is usually the female who brings up the children on the grassland. This combination is very new to the animals.
The bolder baboons hung on lower tree branches and whined at them. What's more, they even coveted the limping Shi Qiao and wanted to take advantage of the male leopard's cub while he drank water to steal her over and play.
The little leopard's tail was hanging straight on the ground. One of the baboons was encouraged by his companions to tiptoe closer.
Just as he was about to drag the little leopard cub up the tree, the male leopard on the side looked stern, immediately turned around, and pounced on the baboon, biting the baboon's stretched out neck.
Not only was the baboon on the tree but also Shi Qiao was startled.
In the blink of an eye, the arrogant green baboon let out a series of screams. His strong arms could not use any strength at this moment. The fatal part was tightly strangled, and soon there was no air in or out.
Klein threw the baboon, which could no longer be arrogant, into the lake and roared at the other dumbfounded baboons on the tree. The birds and animals scattered in all directions and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Seeing the baboons bubbling in the lake, Shi Qiao was amazed by this wonderful one-sided torture.
Green baboons and other evil forces have been weakened, and the person next to her is simply the devil of the grassland!