Zhang Beixing asked.
The other end of the phone fell silent. The operator seed dumbfounded by Zhang Beixing’s words.
It took her a while to recover. Then, in a sweet voice, she asked, "Mr. Zhang, perhaps you misspoke due to nervousness? Did you an to say you found traces of a tiger?"
"No. Why would I bother finding traces of that thing? I actually caught it. Aren’t you supposed to send soone to pick it up? When I fought it bare-handed, I might have hit it a bit too hard. It’s badly injured. If it doesn’t get treatnt soon, it’ll probably kick the bucket in a couple of days."
Zhang Beixing glanced at the miserably beaten tiger in the cage as he spoke.
The operator on the other end remained unfazed. "Heh heh, Mr. Zhang, you certainly have a sense of humor. Ordinary people can’t handle a regular tiger, not even a juvenile one, let alone bare-handed. You must be a big fan of Wu Song."
"What are you talking about? Why are you saying that when I’m telling you this? You don’t believe ? I really..."
Seeing Zhang Beixing grow increasingly irritated as he spoke with the operator, Zheng Jituo, who knew his temper well, quickly took the phone from Zhang Beixing.
He stepped aside, spoke to the operator in a conciliatory tone, and even added the Forestry Bureau operator, number 9527, on WeChat.
「anwhile, at the Yiling City Forestry Bureau.」
After hanging up, Xiao Chen was speechless.
She accepted Zheng Jituo’s friend request on her phone.
Annoyed, she complained to her colleague beside her, "You won’t believe the ridiculous call I just got. Soone claid they subdued a tiger bare-handed on West Yin Mountain, and get this, soone else was backing him up! I don’t know what they were thinking, making such tasteless jokes!"
Her colleague also smiled. "Who knows? Probably trying to put on a show for attention. Speaking of which, we’ve had quite a few calls like that this afternoon. Most claid to have seen a tiger on West Yin Mountain, but when questioned, they’d just stamr and couldn’t give a clear answer. It’s a good thing the Forestry Bureau isn’t the police departnt. Otherwise, we’d have to arrest all these people for making false reports."
"Yeah, it’s so annoying. Not a single piece of useful information all day. Oh, by the way, what are your plans after work tonight? I’m thinking of getting a manicure. You?" Xiao Chen asked. Suddenly, her phone chid with a notification. Looking down, she saw that Zheng Jituo, whom she had just added, had sent her a photo.
The image was blurry; she had to tap on it to see it clearly. As she was examining it, her colleague replied,
"? I’m planning to have hot pot with my boyfriend. Want to co? Since you’re getting a manicure, you could do it at Haidilao. Afterward, we can go shopping and make my boyfriend carry our bags. Then... Hey, hey, Xiao Chen, why are you staring at your phone and not talking?"
Noticing Xiao Chen hadn’t responded for a while, her colleague turned to look. She saw Xiao Chen clutching her phone, eyes wide, staring at the screen in utter disbelief.
Her colleague was baffled. Just as she was about to ask what was wrong, Xiao Chen shot up from her workstation and rushed towards the Director’s office without a backward glance.
BANG!
The door to the Director’s office was slamd open.
The Director, who was drinking tea, nearly choked. He coughed twice to clear his throat, glanced at the tea he’d spilled on himself, and wiped it with a tissue. Irritated, he said, "Xiao Chen, how many tis have I told you not to be so rash? What’s so urgent that you can’t take things slowly? Even if you don’t knock, you could at least push the door open gently!"
"Director, it’s urgent! Major news to report!" Xiao Chen exclaid, flustered.
Hearing this, the Director, accustod to her dramatics, waved his hand dismissively. "Alright, alright. Every ti you co in, you say it’s major news. Go on, what’s so important it made you burst in like that?"
Xiao Chen blurted out, "We have a lead on the West Yin Mountain tiger! No, wait, that’s not right. To be precise, soone has already caught the tiger from West Yin Mountain!"
"What?!" The Director was stunned. He looked up at Xiao Chen, his face a mask of astonishnt.
His brow furrowed in displeasure. "What are you saying? Soone caught the tiger from West Yin Mountain? Xiao Chen, I know you’re usually cheerful, but this is no laughing matter. The West Yin Mountain tiger is a serious issue!"
"Director, I’m not joking! Soone really caught a tiger! We don’t know if it’s the one we’ve been tracking yet, but he sent a photo. See for yourself if you don’t believe !"
Xiao Chen quickly moved to the Director’s side and handed him her phone.
Seeing her like this, the Director’s brow furrowed slightly. He was about to scold her, but noticing her earnest expression, he patiently took the phone, put on his glasses, and looked closely.
Then... he saw it. On the phone screen, a tiger was huddled in a cage, shivering and looking utterly wretched.
The Director was flabbergasted. Is my presbyopia acting up again? he thought.
He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, cleaned the lenses, and looked again. The image on the phone was even clearer this ti, but completely unchanged.
He glanced at the tistamp in the bottom right corner: Friday, July 14th, 6:45 PM. This photo was taken just now?
"This... Son of a...!" Realizing the implications, the Director, despite his extensive experience, couldn’t help but curse aloud.
He still found it hard to believe and his mind reeled. However, as a professional from the Forestry Bureau, he understood the imnse difficulty and potential impact of this!
He couldn’t be certain of its authenticity without seeing it with his own eyes. He quickly stood up and told Xiao Chen, "Get everyone from the Bureau here imdiately! We need an ergency eting to verify the truth of this matter..."
However, before he could finish speaking, the sound of hurried footsteps approached from outside, followed by an urgent shout, "Director, Director, bad news! A large group of reporters has gathered outside! They heard soone was seen parading a tiger through town and have co to interview them!"
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