Chapter 25: Huanhuan
A truck drove to the entrance of Lingyou Zoo. When it stopped, two men came down from the truck and another two men also jumped out behind the truck. They shook hands with Duan Jiaze, who was waiting at the entrance and greeted him.
“You"ve worked hard. You"ve worked hard.” Duan Jiaze beamed fairly.
These were the employees of the city zoo. Through Sun Aiping"s connection, Duan Jiaze and the city zoo had contacted each other. They were more than willing to send their abandoned animals to this newly opened zoo.
The city zoo didn"t think there was any threat coming from this private zoo. Besides, even if there were, the transferred abandoned animals would help to lighten their burdens, whereas the other side who would be receiving them would not gain great benefits.
This time, the city zoo was transferring a lioness who was already reaching twenty years of age to Lingyou Zoo.
Lions in captivity usually lived up to between twenty and twenty-five years. Calculating the lioness"s age in human years, it was already considered to be elderly.
Duan Jiaze could see it lying in the big cage from the truck compartment. Its fur color was much darker and dimmer than that of the young male lion in Lingyou Zoo. It was sad and listless as it lay wearily in the cage.
Xiao Xu, its keeper, glanced at it reluctantly and said, “It"s called Huanhuan. It was introduced from a foreign zoo to the city zoo since it was two years old. It has been eighteen years since then. Before I even started working, I already have visited it in the zoo. It should be the childhood of many of our young people in East Sea City.”
“But now it"s old, its teeth are bad, it eats less, and it no longer has much energy.”
Xiao Xu choked as he spoke, “I hope you can take good care of it.”
It can be seen that Xiao Xu every much did not want to be separated from Huanhuan, but this was a decision made by the top management out of their business operations, and he had no choice.
As a matter of fact, the city zoo had long wanted to abandon Huanhuan because of its conditions that were deteriorating every day. Only the residents who were living next to the zoo were very emotional about Huanhuan. They have been reporting to the management, and for a while, they could not find a suitable zoo to receive Huanhuan. Until the qualified and close Lingyou Zoo jumped out and no one could say anything about it"s qualifications. The top made a prompt decision and sent Huanhuan away.
Duan Jiaze was very moved and said, “You can rest a.s.sured that we will take good care of her. You are welcome to come and see her anytime!”
Xiao Xu reluctantly laughed. “Where would Huanhuan be living in?”
“We have a male lion here. She will live next to it first, and then we will make consideration to see if it is suitable to merge the cage houses.” Duan Jiaze called his employees to take the cage down together and put it on a special big cart for moving.
The layman watched the occasion, the expert watched the method. Generally, visitors would only feel that the design and facilities here were good, but the staff of the zoos in the city could see at one glance that they were all very advance equiped.
Another male lion in the exhibition hall was very well cared for. It was full of energy with shiny fur and had an extraordinary bearing.
Xiao Xu was more a.s.sured. This private zoo did have the qualifications, and they also took well care of the animals. The location was adjacent to Cape Mountain, with fresh air and a quiet environment. This was a good place for Huanhuan to live its aged life and gets a good closure.
Huanhuan was put into the cage house beside the original lion. After entering, Huanhuan lay down quietly. The male lion next door sniffed at the door and growled from time to time. It had realized it had a new companion, but it just couldn"t see it for the time being.
However, the new companion seemed to have no intention to care about it.
For Huanhuan who had lived for twenty years, and even learned about some human rules, the little hairy boy jumping around next door was too young. And it knew very well that no matter how the male lion roared, it could not get through.
…
Duan Jiaze took the staff of the city zoo to the office building for tea; let them have a rest before sending them off.
It"s noon, and there weren"t any tourists in the zoo. Duan Jiaze went to see Huanhuan again. He took a bucket of foods to feed in his hand.
As soon as the male lion saw Duan Jiaze, it stood up, and his furry face showed a very human and pleasant expression. However, as it saw Duan Jiaze carrying the barrel to the next door, it was very disappointed, “Roar -“
Aunt Huanhuan next door was closing its eyes and resting its mind. She noticed the stranger approaching and stood up slowly.
A piece of meat was placed in the trough and Huanhuan sniffed. Its slightly dry nose twitched, and then it followed the food without hesitation.
If Xiao Xu was here, he would be very surprised.
When Huanhuan was young, she could eat up to twenty or thirty kilograms of meat, but the zoo usually only fed a dozen kilograms. In recent years, her appet.i.te had worsen, and she could not even finish a dozen kilograms. Every time she ate something, she would dawdle over and over again.
Although she had just entered the old age, the condition of the zoo in its early years was not as good as it was now, so feeding was not very scientific. As a result, its present physical condition was not very good, and its teeth and appet.i.te were also not as good as they were before.
Huanhuan went to the trough, bowed her head and took a bite of the meat. Although her teeth were not as sharp as before, this bite was firm.
Although her five senses had begun to decline, it was just like the male lion in the beginning and was able to sense that there was something good in the meat. Physical decline and spirit depression were not its original intention, in fact, it still longed for an exuberant life, just like every living thing in nature.
The male lion next door seemed to have heard Aunt Huanhuan"s eating sound and it made a grieving hum while digging the soil as he stared at Duan Jiaze.
Duan Jiaze looked at his grieving eyes and touched his chin, thinking: The only animal with a name in the zoo (excluding the two dispatched here) was Huanhuan from the city zoo. It made Lingyou seemed very lacking!
Those larger zoos collected names for their celebrity animals and the newborn animals, but Lingyou didn"t have a large fanbase as for now. Besides, he didn"t dare to collect names for You Su and Luya.
Duan Jiaze thought about it for a while and decided to customize a number of signboards to give the animals a name. It would not be too late to collect names for them when the zoo became bigger and stronger. Now it was really time for him to name them so as to cultivate repeating visitors.
Duan Jiaze pointed to the male lion, “You are called Lele!”
After that, he turned away holding onto the feed bucket under the male lion"s wronged and blank eyes. A Huanhuan next to a Lele, wasn"t that more than normal?
…
Duan Jiaze talked to his employees about the naming, so that everyone could brainstorm and gave a name to the animals.
Only You Su and Luya were an exception, Duan Jiaze chiseled: “The bird was saved by me and it is equivalent to my personal pet. It is just kept here for raising. The Arctic Fox is going to be a celebrity animal. You all saw its high popularity. Its name will be chosen by the tourists in the future."
No one doubted that saying, after all, the fact that Duan Jiaze was telling the truth. Especially the Arctic Fox, which was really magical to have a group of tourist turning into fans. Not only would they say they were coming by next week, but they also made all sort of suggestions wanting to make the Arctic Fox" cage house more luxurious.
While Duan Jiaze was talking over here, a phone call from the ticket office came. The new employed, Xu Wen told Duan Jiaze that three-person dressed up as Taoist Priest was at the door and they want to look for him.
Duan Jiaze instantly 囧 and hurriedly said, “Just say I"m not here!”
Goodness, he didn"t contact them, and the Taoists Priests came to his door again. Nevertheless, he was determined to ignore them.
Duan Jiaze told Xu Wen to lie about his absence. After about half an hour later, he received a call from the Street Officer when he was about to take a lunch break. As he usually received help from them, Duan Jiaze was very polite. When he heard there they were at the door looking for him for something, he immediately went out.
As soon as he went out, he saw that the Street Officer at the door, but there was also three Taoists Priests, all of whom he had seen before. One was fat, the other was thin, and the other was small.
This was awkward…
Duan Jiaze laughed and said, “Aiya, what a coincidence. Haha= =”.
Footnotes:
Huanhuan means happy
Lele also means happy
and huanle means happy