Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

The two didn't walk too far, just to where the small path turns. Chen Ying led Dao Meihua up the dirt slope by the roadside, hiding behind the arrow bamboo grove to observe the mother and child.

The Monkey Mother kept looking in the direction Chen Ying and Dao Meihua left, and after a while, let go of her hand, allowing the little monkey to eat the fruits.

The commotion didn't attract the attention of the monkey group on the opposite side of the small waterfall, but when the little monkey was eating its third fruit, three little monkeys practicing climbing spotted it and rushed over, wanting to grab the food in its hand.

The mother monkey didn't stop the three from acting, but was also cautiously watching her child.

It's normal for the monkey group to compete for food; every monkey has gone through this stage.

The little monkey is at an age where it can frolic and play with monkeys its own age. Eventually, it needs to leave its mother's care and learn to find food with its peers.

The little monkey grasped the fruit in its hand, with one still stuffed in its mouth, and upon seeing the three Brother Monkeys running towards it, quickly returned to its mother's side.

In the leaf plate, there were still two fruits and a few pistachios left.

The largest monkey took the two fruits in its hand, and after thinking for a moment, handed one to the smallest.

The monkey that didn't get a fruit called out in displeasure and attempted to tear up the leaf plate out of frustration.

The big monkey bared its teeth and yelled loudly at it, after which the monkey stepped back a pace and obediently squatted down.

Brother Monkey picked up the plate, and the fallen pistachio rolled to the frustrated monkey's front. Instinctively, it reached out, grabbed it, and stuffed it into its mouth, instinctively learning the technique to shell it.

The processed pistachio tasted great, its eyes suddenly brightened, and it ran to the ground to pick up the dropped pistachios.

Brother Monkey was very clever, spotting a clue from its behavior, quickly snatched two and stuffed them into its mouth, instantly excited, wanting to trade the bitten fruit for the pistachios.

But the little monkey wasn't interested. You can usually pick fruit, but it's never eaten this thing before—only a fool would trade!

The two slightly bigger monkeys playfully ran off, leaving the smallest of the group completely bewildered.

It glanced at the monkey brother nestled in its mother's embrace and ran over to pull at its arm, wanting to groom it.

Little monkey wanted to refuse, but Monkey Mother stuffed it to the young monkey, then shifted to a higher position to sit.

The bewildered little monkey looked with big eyes at its mother's indifferent back, finally having to settle into the young monkey's embrace for grooming.

It seemed accepting wasn't bad; it felt quite comfortable!

While being groomed and nibbling on fruit, basking in the early summer sunset, the young monkey squinted its eyes in happiness.

Chen Ying and Dao Meihua waited for a while, indeed not seeing the appearance of the white Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey. As it was already late, they decided to return first and try their luck again tomorrow.

After walking for over half an hour back to the inn, the owner had already prepared dinner.

Dinner was served on the first-floor terrace, eating while enjoying the forest in the glow of the sunset.

This time of year, there weren't many tourists, and the scenic area here was quite expansive. Many opted for the Tiansheng Bridge Scenic Area, which mainly featured leisure, adventure, and sightseeing with its strange caves, strange bridges, strange waterfalls, and strange ponds—newly built and perfect for average tourists.

Golden Monkey Ridge is favored more by adventurers and research bloggers.

In the range of Golden Monkey Ridge, there's the Big Dragon Pond, including a Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey observation point, which was one of their destinations this time.

Near Big Dragon Pond lies the Luquan Grand Canyon, which to date remains elusive with no one daring to traverse it. It's said that unknown creatures from the outside world might exist in the canyon.

Whether it's true or not, Chen Ying didn't know, but he heard his teacher say that when younger, he went there once, walking along the outskirts for a day and almost couldn't return, after which no one dared venture deeply into the area.

It's not like Ailao Mountain, where miasmas and magnetic fields influence the area; the canyon's very treacherous.

There, ancient trees tower and cliffs stand jagged, with blade-shaped cliffs forming loop after loop, hence the name Luquan.

The canyon's unfathomable depths, coupled with an underground river flowing through it, have long dubbed it a place of mystery, ranking alongside Lobu Lake and Bermuda.

It's precisely because the environment and ecosystem around here differ from the outside world, producing baihua animals, making this site a holy land in the eyes of zoologists.

The mainstream belief is that the dense forest obstructs sunlight, inhibiting melanin synthesis, resulting in the emergence of many baihua animals.

But what's actually happening, no one dares to conclude. It's up to generations of tireless research hoping for an early unraveling of the mystery.

Falling asleep to the rustling of leaves in the night, pure white noise granted them a high-quality sleep.

The next morning, after watching the sunrise, they casually took some food, prepared to stake out at the small waterfall again.

Upon leaving the inn, they encountered seven young people entering one after another.

From their conversation, it seemed they were college students, arranged online to visit together.

Chen Ying glanced at them but said nothing, instead helping Dao Meihua carry heavy photography equipment to the viewing platform.

In the morning, there were more monkeys here, divided into two groups to engage.

Chen Ying could immediately recognize the three Brother Monkey brothers from yesterday.

These three little monkeys just stayed around the viewing platform, eagerly watching the empty surroundings.

The Mother Monkey with young didn't come today, possibly taking her child elsewhere to look for food.

Yesterday, Chen Ying saw the three Brother Monkeys fighting over pistachios, so today he brought more with him. Pistachios, hazelnuts, and dried figs brought by Dao Meihua.

He prepared the leaf plate in advance, put the dried fruit inside, and cautiously approached the three Brother Monkeys, placing the leaf plate on the ground in front of them.

Though the three Brother Monkeys were greedy, they were still very cautious. When Chen Ying got close, they ran to higher branches until he disappeared around the corner before they approached tentatively.

The second brother was the boldest, grabbing a hazelnut, cracking it open easily, took a couple of bites, spat it out with a "pfft," then started eating the pistachios.

The smallest one curiously eyed the shriveled dried fig, tentatively put it in its mouth, and found it delicious, so it started squealing excitedly.

Not only did this attract the two brothers, but also other monkeys in the vicinity who had been watching for a while.

A young male monkey came charging over, trying to take the plate away.

The three brothers weren't happy about it and let out cries for help, which quickly drew a crowd of monkeys.

The greedy male monkey had no choice but to give up on the ground fruit, snatching just two pieces before fleeing.

In the end, the three brothers didn't get to eat much more.

Chen Ying and Dao Meihua were watching from behind the arrow bamboo grove, laughing so hard their stomachs hurt, but they dared not make too much noise.

Just as they were about to leave, the seven people from before showed up.

They hadn't noticed the two hidden among the bamboo, and continued chatting and laughing as they headed toward the viewing platform.

The monkeys, previously scrambling for food, scattered instantly upon hearing the commotion.

"Wow, so many monkeys, and someone's feeding them. Shall we feed them too?"

This group seemed prepared but most of the food they brought was human snacks, like bread, cake, biscuits, and even Wahaha.

One young man was particularly odd, even tearing open a bag of spicy sticks and placing them on a disposable paper plate.

Should we praise them for being considerate, or for not thinking this through?

Seeing this, Chen Ying couldn't help but step out to stop them from feeding randomly.

Bread, cakes, and biscuits were okay, milk drinks were still barely acceptable, but spicy sticks seriously?

As he got closer, he saw that besides spicy sticks, there were also opened jelly cups and small packets of dried fish.

Those who understand would know they're clueless, others might think they plan to have a picnic here.

"Monkeys can't eat these things. Please take the spicy sticks and such with you. Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys have never eaten them before; if something goes wrong, where would you find a doctor for them?"

Hearing Chen Ying's question, the student with the spicy sticks wanted to retort, but the other two male students stopped him and promptly picked up what Chen Ying said wasn't suitable for feeding.

They were actually quite well-mannered, carrying garbage bags with them for the opened packages and retrieved food, tying it to their backpacks.

For these young students, Chen Ying didn't pursue their wrong-doings further. Seeing their genuine interest in the Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys, he decided to stay and educate them about the monkeys' habits and other knowledge.

After all, he was reputed to be a man of great virtue. While he was explaining to the students, a young female monkey quietly approached him, crouching on the nearest railing, looking at him with longing eyes.

Chen Ying paused for a moment, helplessly gesturing to Dao Meihua.

"Dao Bo, bring a bag of dried figs."

He didn't give the whole bag; Chen Ying only gave two small ones.

Dried figs are about the size of hazelnuts; the two given to the young female monkey were roughly the size of a thumbnail.

After all, it's human food, okay as an occasional treat, but too much can upset the stomach.

Seeing the young female monkey getting a tasty treat, the younger monkeys gathered around but didn't dare to get too close, keeping a distance of about two meters, ready to scatter if anyone moved.

Whether it's a regular habit or not, before long, those young monkeys actually lined up, obediently approaching Chen Ying for treats one by one.

The problem is, there were about twenty or thirty young monkeys in the two groups, and there weren't enough dried figs to go around. With the bag almost empty and seven or eight well-behaved monkeys remaining, Chen Ying didn't know what to do.

Maybe those monkeys realized the bag was empty. The young monkey whose turn it was, reached out to touch the bag, and lowered its head dejectedly, looking pitiful with teary eyes.

Just then, the college students nearby rummaged through their bags and pulled out a pack of vacuum-dried sweet potato strips.

This was their snack for themselves.

This snack is high in sugar, not suitable for feeding monkeys. But it's only an issue if the monkeys consume it in large amounts regularly.

One or two sweet potato strips might not have more sugar than the occasional fruit they find in the wild.

So, after a moment of hesitation, Chen Ying tentatively handed over a sweet potato strip.

The monkey had never eaten it before, holding it and examining it for a while, then, following Chen Ying's lead, took a bite.

It seemed, it looked like, it tasted pretty good!