Chapter 34: Shocking! Mysterious Ascension Ceremony!
The arrival of the four puppies had attracted the warm attention of the female staff in the zoo.
As these puppies was nominally owned by Xu Chenggong, Xu Chenggong also made time to mix the feed for them to eat.
The four puppies were tied with a string of different colors around their necks to distinguish their ident.i.ties.
As soon as Xu Wen and Xiao Su had time, they would go over and request to help feed the puppies. They also like to put the food in the palm of their hands when feeding them, just in case they bowed their heads, they would be able to pat them. This made Xu Chenggong almost complained; This kind of behavior would spoil the puppies.
Xiao Su asked, “By the way, Xu Gē, have you named the puppies?”
Xu Chenggong scratched his head. How could he ever think about giving them a name? He was entrusted by Duan Jiaze and the reason why Duan Jiaze would entrust the puppies to them was because he used to keep dogs before. but anyhow, he called them “Hei Zi1
” and “Da Huang2“.
If he were really asked to name the four puppies, he would call them Dabai, Erbai, Sanbai, and Sibai3
.
Xu Chenggong shook his head. “No, I wonder if Yuán Zhǎng has any good names.”
Xiao Su was concerned about the naming rights of the puppies until she saw Duan Jiaze pa.s.sing by. One of the puppies with a red rope tied around its neck staggered towards Duan Jiaze and clung onto his feet.
The puppy looked up at Duan Jiaze. Its eyes were watery. Duan Jiaze smiled, squatted down and scratched the puppy"s chin. The puppy closed its eyes and whined twice.
“Xiao Hong, come on, go back by yourself.”
When Duan Jiaze saw how the puppy was sitting on his feet with no intention of getting up, he pushed the puppy.
When Xiao Su heard it, her expression cracked. “Yuán Zhǎng, so you just named it Xiao Hong4
?”
Duan Jiaze looked at her blankly and said, “Consider it yes.”
Xiao Su: "What about the other three?"
Duan Jiaze: “Xiao Qing, Xiao Hai, and Xiao Shou…”
Xiao Su: "There"s even Xiao Shou5
?"
Duan Jiaze: “??”
Xiao Su: “You"re not too particular about naming, aren"t you? Xiao Hong? But I think it looks like a male dog."
Duan Jiaze picked up “Xiao Hong” and put it back into its nest. “What ah, they"re all petnames. Their full names are Mo Lihong, Mo Liqing, Mo Lihai, and Mo Lishou. And it wasn"t me who named them. Your Lu Gē stubbornly wanted these names."
He paused for a while and complained, “Do you think I am willing to shout these kind of names in public?”
Xiao Su: “…”
Xiao Su sweated too. “Aren"t these the Four Great Heavenly Kings, Lu Gē is still quite… strange in his thinking.”
“Right, I have something to do and we"ll be going out.” Duan Jiaze and Xiao Su exchanged greetings, took their belongings and went out.
Xiao Su looked at Duan Jiaze"s back and sighed. The director was a really mysterious man. She was a financier, and she knew about these things best.
The head of the zoo was so rich, he always spent money from his private account to buy equipment and build buildings in the zoo, but he was reluctant to improve his accommodations and buy some better mode of transportation, he just continued to take the public bus to the city.
—One of their colleagues, w.a.n.g Yibai, even had a battery-powered vehicle as his means of transportation!
…
Their workplace was rather remote. Look, if the director did not go to the city but to the village nearby, he would be able to take the bus, and had to take a tricycle from the villagers that delivered the vegetables.
Recently, Duan Jiaze had been studying about the matters of leasing. Sun Aiping had already found someone at his side. He was also almost done studying the procedures and he also went to the nearby Tongxin Village Committee to find out about the contract. Today would be the day he was going to sign the contract.
Now that land transfering was being encouraged, Duan Jiaze was interested in the piece of barren land next to the zoo. There weren"t any difficulties in this aspect, everyone mainly disputed over the price, contract years, and so on.
Finally, they decided to sign a 10-year contract, the settlement would be once a year for 450 acres of land, and the price would be adjusted every three years.
At first, the other party wanted a three-year settlement plan. Duan Jiaze was unwilling, he didn"t know if he could live for three more years…
At the present price, the contracting cost more than 100,000 yuan per year. This would be a little painful a few months ago, as there were less than 200,000 yuan on the account book.
These days, the zoo"s pa.s.senger flow was good, it had also gotten popular because of the influence of other units, such as Linshui Temple, and obtained a little bit more money in hand.
After getting the land, he could go to the housing and construction department and go through the formalities, and then he would be able to build his own building on the ground.
The construction of the building was a matter of the Hope Project, but on how to fill these houses, the system could do little to help. Fortunately, Duan Jiaze had gradually entered the zoo industry, and step by step came to the fore. He could also use the channels of the Forestry Bureau.
With the help of the Forestry Bureau and the City Zoo, the number of animals would increase. Everything looked bright.
Duan Jiaze left the zoo and went to Cape Park, where he waited for his uncle who had been providing food and vegetables. He served food in Cape Park now. The security uncle of Cape Park also greeted Duan Jiaze. Everyone was a neighbor and a nodding acquaintance.
In fact, people in Cape Park still had a good att.i.tude towards them. Although Lingyou was originally intended as the bloodsucker of Cape Park, they became very successful and was even able to give “feedback”, so the mentality of Cape Park was balanced.
When Uncle came out, Duan Jiaze went up to his tricycle. The vegetables had been delivered, so the basket was empty and there was even a small stool inside, just for Duan Jiaze to sit.
The three-wheeled bicycle rushed through the country roads, but the two places were not far apart in a straight line, but it went across various fields and ponds, so they had to make detours.
As he pa.s.sed through the fields, the uncle began to shout, “Rascal Sun!”
A man crouching on the ridge looked up, and just as Duan Jiaze looked over, the man immediately fell backward in horror. He fell into the field, getting covered by mud.
Duan Jiaze glanced at the man"s face, but when he got up again, Duan Jiaze looked back on the tricycle and only saw a muddy man.
Uncle was still laughing. “Why, don"t you know him anymore? Rascal Sun, Sun Qinglong, have worked in your zoo before.”
Duan Jiaze remembered that he was a villager he hired at the beginning. “It"s him…”
The uncle said, “We all know that he went to the zoo to make trouble together with the several hooligans in the village. You have no idea but he was frightened at the sight of you! For a period of time, they were going mad in the village, saying they had made trouble in your zoo and then you let the lion bite them."
Duan Jiaze: “…”
Uncle: “This is a guilty conscience ah! This is why people shouldn"t do bad things!”
Duan Jiaze smiled and replied, “Right, right, look at them halluncinating.”
Uncle took Duan Jiaze to the village committee and said to him, “I"ll go home first and have a drink of water. Call me when you"re leaving.”
“Thank you, uncle.” Duan Jiaze waved and entered the village committee. It was a shared land, so the representative of the village committee came to sign the contract with him.
Outside, some villagers came to watch, discussing Duan Jiaze"s ident.i.ty.
Duan Jiaze signed the contract and paid the first year"s money on the spot. After that, he exchanged greetings with the village director and went out.
He had more than one business to attend to otherthan signing a contract today. Yesterday, he found that the branch task on his mobile phone had been completed. He looked at it and contacted the city zoo to pick up the Cuicui the peac.o.c.k. He wanted to go back early and catch up with the reception and talk about Cuicui. He really wanted to see how the peac.o.c.k had evolved into the king of hundreds of birds.
As soon as Duan Jiaze went out, he was stopped by an auntie. “Young man, are you the Yuán Zhǎng of the zoo?”
Duan Jiaze: “…Yeah, what"s wrong, Auntie?"
The auntie pulled his sleeve. “Can you help me? Took a look at the cow in our family. It"s sick. You know how to do it right? Otherwise, you can take your zoo"s people along?”
Duan Jiaze: “…”
Duan Jiaze said, “Auntie, we are a zoo, not a veterinary station. You should go to a professional for this.”
Why was this auntie the same as Sun Aiping"s lover? Was there any misunderstanding about zoos, no matter the people in the city or the village?
The aunt said with some confusion, “Isn"t it all the same? You also keep animals. What if your animals fall sick? Then you should have a veterinarian, too.”
How to explain this to the Aunt?
Moreover, there was no veterinarian in Lingyou at the moment. The former Cape Zoo cooperated with the veterinary station and invited them over when the animals were sick. Right now, they had greatly improved the physical quality of the animals and fed them according to the plan given by the system. There was no need for a doctor for the time being.
The animals with health changes were Jinmao and Cuicui, the two peac.o.c.ks, which were also sent to the city zoo to solve their problem. Both of which have completed their rotating shifts.
Duan Jiaze had to say, “We don"t have a veterinarian. The keepers take care of the animals they manage, but we don"t raise cows, so there"s no one who can treat them.”
The auntie let it go regretfully, “Okay, forget it then.”
.
Duan Jiaze returned to the zoo. It happened that the people in the city zoo had already left and Liu Bin was just at the door saying farewells.
“Cuicui is back? How was it?” Duan Jiaze asked.
Liu Bin said, “Don"t mention it, Yuán Zhǎng. People told me that Cuicui and Jinmao had the same personality. When it got there, it bullied other peac.o.c.ks, fortunately, it didn"t kill any birds. It was simply being an overlord and also a picky eater. Just after it was put back in the exhibition area, it plunged its head into the trough immediately."
Having been accustomed to spiritual food, they had to be picky eaters when they got to the city zoo.
Duan Jiaze went to the Bird Exhibition Zone to see Cuicui. This guy was really energetic. There were several tourists in the hall who were taking pictures. But to say if there were any changes, Duan Jiaze really couldn"t see them, he even felt that Cuicui seemed to be hungry and thin.
The child next to him shouted, “Mom, why don"t the peac.o.c.k open its tails?”
The female visitor said, “Oh dear, they will open it in a minute. We will see it after this.” She also held up her mobile phone and was ready to film the peac.o.c.ks opening of their tails. She had heard that peac.o.c.ks open their tails frequently here.
Just like that, Duan Jiaze, and four or five tourists present, saw an amazing scene.
The two peac.o.c.ks flapped their wings and took flight, dragging their long tails around the central pillar of the exhibition area, circling upward. They went up the column one after another as their bodies and tails made amazing arcs.
They flew a dozen meters up and landed on the tallest pole. Usually, only other birds would stay on top of a metal pole. The sunshine leaked through from the ceiling, reflecting fascinating radiance of their feathers.
They looked left and right and sang loudly.
The birds below raised their heads and sang in the direction of the peac.o.c.ks. For a while, the whole exhibition area was full of bird talk, it was sweet-sounding and organized, just like a rehea.r.s.ed concerto.
The visitors were all stunned and amazed. The female tourist was quick-handed and pressed the camera to record the scene. She was recording this scene while covering her mouth, “This is amazing!”
Although the peac.o.c.k did not open their tail, her son was even more excited, “Mom, Mom, listen!”
Duan Jiaze thought that this scene really resembled the initial internal test, when Luya led the birds to fly together in front of the students of Tongxin Primary School.
It seemed that through this mission, Jiamao and Cuicui had also achieved a certain level of bird leadership, of course, it was impossible to compare it with Luya Dào Jūn who was now in the next room to rolling his eyes. He was completely unaffected.
Moreover, in terms of visual effects alone, the two peac.o.c.ks had huge bodies and gorgeous feathers, which made this scene even more amazing.
Two peac.o.c.ks sang loudly for several minutes before they flew down the branches. The other birds were courteous enough and made way for the two peac.o.c.ks to pa.s.s through. The peac.o.c.ks looked up proudly and walked through.
The few tourists who had the privilege to witness the scene were very lucky, but only the female tourist recorded the video of the peac.o.c.ks flying up, so they asked the female tourist to send the video to them.
Duan Jiaze also went to invite the female tourist to send a copy for himself and sent it to Xiao Su for online publicity.
He was also researching publicity methods in his spare time. There were many clickbaits in Wechat. Recently, this kind of “Shocking!” t.i.tle was popular on the Internet. Their post should also have a “Shocking! The Humans Recorded a Mysterious Ascension Ceremony in the Jungle"… such kind of t.i.tle.
…
Not mentioning how fast tourists could spread the videos, they also had to think about how to describe it. Here, Duan Jiaze sent the video to Xiao Su, and told her to write the content according to the t.i.tle.
Xiao Su: “…Yuan Zhang, do we have to be so immoral?"
Duan Jiaze: “What"s the use of having integrity?”
Compared to life, intergity was nothing. With the help of You Su and Luya, Duan Jiaze couldn"t think of anything better.
Xiao Su could only follow what he said. She drew up a ma.n.u.script, fabricate the legend that the peac.o.c.k was called the king of birds, made some far-fetched comparision, arranged the layout and sent it out.
Needless to say, the clickbait was attractive. When Xiao Su got up the next day, the click had already broken through 10,000, and this “Mysterious Natural Phenomenon” was hot in friends" circle.
Readers were all attracted by the t.i.tle, but the motion pictures from the video were so convincing, whether the peac.o.c.k were hovering up abnormally, the birds singing together, or later when the birds made way for the peac.o.c.ks, it all seemed so ceremonial.
Many people were overwhelmed by the magic of nature, leaving messages, saying that they would go to the zoo to worship the King of Birds, as well as those majoring in related disciplines. Such behavior could not be explained by a simple animal domestication. There were so many amazing acts in nature and they just needed to admire them.
When Duan Jiaze looked at this hot scene, he was just happy. This branch task was good and the effects were immediate. It would be good if more of this task could be issued.
Duan Jiaze was pondering on this when he saw Luya pa.s.sing by, he could not help looking at him strangely.
Luya was getting peeved because of the glance. “…What are you doing."
Duan Jiaze suddenly thought that Luya was also an animal in the park. Logically speaking, he could also trigger a branch task. What would that be like? So he leaned over and said with a shy face, “Dào Jūn, recently… do you have any worries?"
“Nothing that can cause trouble to Běn Zūn,” Luya said.
Duan Jiaze: “…Why didn"t Houyi6kill you."
Duan Jiaze rolled his eyes at him. Was it okay to erect such a flag? Generally speaking, such words would eventually beat you in the face ah, Dào Jūn!
.
Because of that piece of article, the number of visitors to the Bird Exhibition Zone had increased again, and the netizens who requested for more peac.o.c.k gif on the internet had also increased. Although most of these people could not be personally show up to show their support, it was very meaningful for their long-term development.
At the weekend, parents took their children, cla.s.smates, and friends together to visit Lingyou Zoo. A bird was flying up and down at the gate pushing the tourists inside.
Duan Jiaze now sent a single bird to be a living signboard every weekend, because the birds pulling in tourists was well received in the first week, many people had been asking about it since then.
A public bus stopped in front of Cape Park and tourists came out in a stream.
The person walking at the end was a man in suit and leather. He looked to be in his thirties. There were beard stubble all over his face, and he was in a trance. He was clearly in his prime of his years, but there seemed to be a mountain pressing down on him, causing him to stagger as he walked.
Huang Qi glanced at the Cape Mountain in front of him and rubbed his face.
Looking for his phone and the news on his mobile phone seemed not to be cut off for a moment, but Huang Qi ignored it, and there seemed to be a voice in his mind, urging him to hurry up to Cape Mountain, and then he could be… freed.
In between his trance, his back was pecked and he quivered, only to realise that it was a yellow sparrow. It was driving himself into a certain direction.
There were even girls waving leaflets, greeting Huang Qi warmly, “Sir, come and visit our Lingyou Zoo!”
Ordinarily, Huang Qi undoubtedly had no slightest amount of feelings for animals, but then, the voice in his head was impatiently urging him to go forward, and a seam of clarity suddenly came out, "…Okay!"