Chapter 142: Fierce in a Cute Way

In my impression, besides stealing chickens, the main diet of weasels should be rats, right?

That was Zhong Di's thought, though he wasn't sure if he could successfully negotiate with one.

"Hey... wait a second." Just as the weasel was about to leave, Zhong Di called out to it.

He had expected the weasel to ignore him, but it actually stopped, turned around, stood on its hind legs to look at him, and scratched its head with one paw.

The gesture seemed to say: "Hmm... what do you want? Make it quick."

Seeing that the weasel had stopped, Zhong Di felt there was a real chance, so he hurriedly said, "Shao Hong, bring the rats over."

The rats he referred to were the ones in the bucket from earlier that day. He had intended to euthanize them, but hadn't gotten around to it, thinking he might keep them to tease a cat and help it practice catching prey.

Shao Hong was bewildered—why would they need rats now? But he quickly grasped the implication and went to fetch them.

"If you can help me catch the rats in the fields, I'll give you eggs or chicken."

To ensure the weasel understood, Zhong Di acted it out with vivid gestures.

Woof!

Yusheng suddenly barked twice and dashed off. A moment later, he returned with a large dead rat in his mouth, dropped it on the ground, trotted over to the eggs, ate one, and then looked at the weasel, barking twice more.

"What the..." Zhong Di was stunned. Yusheng really had become a genius; not only did he understand perfectly, but he was also... wait, he was demonstrating for the weasel.

That wasn't even the point. If he were a cat, I could understand it, but he's a dog! Isn't that the classic case of "a dog doing a cat's job"?

With a *whoosh*, the weasel vanished in a blur.

It didn't head in the direction it had come from, but toward the farm.

It must have gone to hunt rats. Zhong Di waited patiently, and while waiting, he lectured Yusheng repeatedly, telling him he was a dog, not a cat, and that he shouldn't be catching rats.

If you do the cat's job, what are the cats supposed to do?

Soon, the weasel returned, dropped a rat on the ground, and looked at him.

Sure enough, it was working. Zhong Di tossed it an egg and whispered, "I don't need the rats; you can just take them and eat them."

He realized this after seeing the weasel leave the rat on the ground; otherwise, the creature might have thought it was a barter system.

He could easily imagine waking up one morning to find a pile of rats at his doorstep—that would be too much to handle. It was better to clarify the rules.

Suddenly, the weasel let out a few chirps. Just as Zhong Di was wondering what was going on, several more weasels appeared before him.

Good grief, it had companions.

Some carried rats, some rolled eggs, others dragged chicken intestines. In no time, the small pile of offerings was cleared away.

So that was it. Zhong Di had always wondered how they managed to carry away two or three eggs at once.

Once the weasels had left, the two men finally rested.

The rat problem would take a few days to evaluate. If it worked well, then all would be well; if not, they would have to think of something else. But given the number of weasels he saw today, if each one caught a few rats a day, the impact would be significant.

*Knock, knock, knock, knock!*

Just as Zhong Di was about to fall asleep, he heard a knocking at the door—slow and rhythmic.

"Shao Hong, are you asleep?" Zhong Di asked, feeling a bit uneasy. In the middle of the night, that rhythmic knocking was truly unsettling.

"Not yet. Is that the weasels coming back for more eggs?"

"That shouldn't be. We just gave them some."

After a brief discussion, they decided to open the door together. The knocking continued, punctuated by that strange, rhythmic pattern.

The moment they opened the door, they were stunned. A Pallas's cat?

It really was a Pallas's cat. Seeing it, Zhong Di felt a surge of joy; he hadn't seen one in a long time and had missed them dearly.

*Hiss, hiss, woooo!*

The Pallas's cat made a sound in Zhong Di's ears, then bit his shoe and started running outward.

Something must have happened. Zhong Di noticed some wounds on its legs; it seemed to be the same one he had rescued before.

They all looked so similar that it was hard to tell which one was which unless you saw them every day.

Zhong Di grabbed his medical kit and followed. Weren't the poachers caught already? Could there be new ones?

It was just a guess, but he couldn't be certain.

Shao Hong followed behind, clutching a stick. Based on their previous experience, he assumed it might be another poaching incident.

Those poachers were truly detestable.

After walking only a few steps, the Pallas's cat stopped and let out a few cries. Several other Pallas's cats appeared in Zhong Di's sight, and in their mouths, they were carrying several kittens.

The kittens were placed in front of Zhong Di, looking "fiercely cute," letting out little whimpers.

Among felines, the Pallas's cat is naturally one of the most difficult to tame. Their calls are strange—resembling a domestic cat's, but not as pleasant; it sounds almost like... they are scolding you?

Yes, that was exactly the feeling.

"You mean, you want me to take care of them?" Zhong Di asked, gesturing toward the three kittens.

Calling him out and bringing the kittens to him—he couldn't think of any other explanation.

The kittens didn't look large, but they were likely at the age where they could eat on their own and no longer needed milk.

The adult Pallas's cat gave an oddly human-like nod and vanished into the woods.

This scene caught Zhong Di off guard. He had never encountered such a thing; Pallas's cats were not like dogs, who were naturally close to humans.

Even in the hands of professional breeders, they were hard to keep alive, and even if they survived, they rarely bred in captivity.

Yet, here they were, leaving them for him to raise. Zhong Di felt there was something unusual about this.

Perhaps the Pallas's cat had finally let its guard down.

He had had enough contact with this population to know they had never shown any hostility toward him, and perhaps saving some of them from poachers had built this trust.

But he didn't know why it had happened, or how he would explain the existence of these Pallas's cats.

Should he report it? Yes, that was certain. He had to keep Director Xing in the loop. As for the future of the kittens, it would depend on the higher authorities' arrangements.

After pondering for a while, Zhong Di took the kittens inside and made a makeshift nest for them. He would handle the specifics tomorrow.

Perhaps because they were brought by the adult, the kittens weren't too resistant toward Zhong Di. When he fed them chicken, they ate, though they still looked fiercely cute while doing so.