Super Zoo

The wolf-dog brothers and Huiya were all damp, and when touched, there was still a bit of warmth—not from their own body heat, but the temperature of the water.

In the Qinling Mountains, the water system is abundant. Even in winter, there are many streams that do not freeze. Besides, after the New Year, temperatures gradually rise, with ice and snow melting in many places, so running water in the mountains is quite normal.

But 'warm water' was somewhat unusual!

Suming subconsciously looked up towards the sloping cliffs above, from where Huiya and the others had just descended. The rippling stream flowed from the high cliffs downwards, which indicated that the source of the water was on top of the cliff.

"Let's go, let's take a look up there!"

Without hesitation, Suming waved his hand and led Su Meng along the cliff, climbing upwards. Although there was water on the cliff, there were many footholds, and they reached the top without much effort.

In front of them, there were a dozen or so ponds of various sizes. The largest one was about ten square meters, and the smallest was only around two square meters, all irregular in shape, like many pits that had suddenly appeared on the ground. The ponds seemed to be connected to an underground water source, constantly overflowing and trickling down a yellow stone slope on one side.

Approaching, a mist hung over the ponds, and a waft of warmth hit their faces.

"Eh? Hot springs?" Suming bent over and tested the water with his hand—it felt about thirty-something degrees Celsius.

Was his luck really that good? Even Suming himself found it hard to believe that, by sheer chance, he had discovered a natural, wild hot spring. Could it be that the words 'main character' were engraved on his face, with the protagonist aura flashing and blinding everyone's dog eyes?

Before he could feel glad about his 'good fortune,' the macaques and gibbons who were originally at the bottom of the cliff also followed up. The gibbons, upon seeing the hot springs, stood cautiously at the edge, scooping water from the ponds with their long arms, looking very curious.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

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The macaques, led by the Monkey King, climbed a tree beside the biggest hot spring as if they knew the place well. They moved along a thick branch extending outwards to above the hot spring, and one by one, like divers, they plunged into the water with splashes.

Monkeys, like dogs, enjoy playing in the water. In Monkey Mountain, there is even a small man-made lake specially for the monkeys to play and cool off. After jumping into the hot spring, the macaques started chattering and swimming around, with the golden monkeys and Xiao Kong splashing each other and starting a water fight.

"Oh, I get it now, it's not about my luck at all!"

Seeing this, Suming suddenly realized that encountering the hot spring had nothing to do with his own luck. This hot spring was a feng shui treasure spot specially found by the Monkey King. He had asked it to find a suitable place to brew liquor, and although there were many secluded spots in the vast Qinling Mountains with countless ancient trees, the Monkey King had chosen this place because of the hot spring on the yellow stone cliff. In the cold winter, they could soak in the hot springs after brewing, satisfying their natural love for playing in water.

If he said he chanced upon a wild hot spring just by stepping out, that would have been too much of an exaggeration. But it made sense for the Monkey King to lead a group of monkeys to find this wonderful spot in the mountains over the course of a month or so.

"You really know how to mix business with pleasure."

The gibbons, encountering 'hot springs' for the first time, were initially afraid to enter the water. But after watching the macaques having fun, they hesitated, gathering around another pond and making loud noises as if discussing whether to join in or not.

If the relatively slimmer macaques dared to enter the water, the stronger-looking gibbons would seem too cowardly if they didn't, wouldn't they?

A few of the stronger macaques, seeing this, indeed bared their teeth at the gibbons and screeched, making all sorts of fearsome faces as if to mock their timidity.

Provoked by the macaques, the gibbons clenched their teeth and jumped into the hot spring. The water wasn't as frightening as they had imagined; in fact, it felt quite comfortable, and soon, the gibbons were also playing happily in the water.

Suming had wanted to soak as well, but after walking around the hot springs, he found no place to step in.

Wild hot springs differed from those in developed tourist areas; they were somewhat 'dirty'.

It wasn't that the water quality was poor, but around the ten or so hot springs of various sizes, there were muddy patches and jagged rocks everywhere. One would definitely step into mud before entering a hot spring, and there was a risk of slipping;

Many fallen leaves and dead branches floated in the spring, and one could not tell whether the bottom was mud or rock; in short, it wasn't quite suitable for people to soak in.

Perhaps, when the economy improves in the future, some money could be spent to develop this hot spring, create a holiday resort, and then come back for a soak.

Or maybe one day, ask Nangong if he wants to come for some field operation or something...

After playing in the water for a while, seeing that it was about time, Suming called everyone together, and the wet monkeys climbed out of the water to start their return journey. Without the burden of the small backpacks, they no longer needed to ride the big dogs and could jump and leap through the trees, returning much faster than the trip there.

By the time it was barely light, they finally returned to the zoo. Suming removed the small backpacks from them and then let them return to their cages. He then went back to the waterside pavilion with Su Meng.

As they entered, they almost tripped. The king python lay coiled like a doormat behind the door, forming a large hollow circle with its body, and inside it, a dozen cats of various sizes were sleeping, emitting soft snores.

"Oh..." Exhausted from a night of activity, Suming stretched lazily, then went to bed to sleep.

…

The next day after getting up, Suming made a special call to Zhao Yun to ask about the Chen Youliang Tomb Cluster.

Last time Mr. Song mentioned that the excavation work at the Chen Youliang Tomb Cluster was nearly finished, and Zhao Yun even came to the zoo to discuss the collaboration management details, but since Mr. Song was too busy and preparing to train Suming to take over, he handed this task to Suming.

"Hey, what I discussed with your director was just a casual comment; the reality is..."

Over the phone, Zhao Yun explained, and Suming found out that the excavation of the tomb cluster was essentially finished, but reinforcement and repair were required before it could be opened to the public for exhibition. Estimating the time, Zhao Yun guessed it would be at least until the second half of the year.

His trip to the zoo was actually to find Suming; under the circumstances, it wasn't appropriate to speak in front of Mr. Song.

Zhao Yun's real intention was to build a road!

The Chen Youliang Tomb Cluster was relatively remote, located deep in the back mountains, and the closest road outside the mountains, even in a straight line, was over five kilometers away with no existing path to access it. Obviously, a road would be necessary for the future opening of the tomb cluster.

However, road construction jointly with the zoo would mean that the zoo would own half of the road's rights; if the zoo underwent restructuring in the future, the division of property rights would be quite complicated and could lead to disputes.

Therefore, Zhao Yun hadn't delved into it with Mr. Song. If he spoke too soon and Mr. Song agreed without considering all aspects, it would become a joint road construction project between Yangchuan City Zoo and Zhao Yun. Although Zhao Yun's family had significant resources, he wasn't keen on later sharing or competing for profits with the government; frankly, that seemed too insecure.

He was ready to team up with Suming for the construction.

Building the road was a good thing. Without needing Zhao Yun to say it, Suming had already considered it too. Moreover, he planned not just to build a road but a network of mountain roads, as he intended to turn the back mountain into a wildlife zoo and possibly even a reserve area. Without roads, that would be impossible.

However, funding was a little tight at the moment.

Mountain road construction was much cheaper than building a highway, but still more expensive than the standard village-to-village roads.

Most of Suming's available liquid funds were currently invested in the reservoir. This year, the Shuijun Lake and the remaining fish from the reservoir indeed made a fair amount of money, but after taking over the Huating Reservoir, significant investment was necessary to assimilate it.

Manpower was one aspect. After the start of the spring, Liang Shi brought in a large batch of fingerlings and breeding fish and spent a lot on improving the culture and fishing facilities at the reservoir. The money made previously had been almost entirely reinvested there. Only after the next year's harvest would the reservoir potentially start generating substantial economic benefits to support Suming.

Of course, with great investment came great rewards. The future economic scale of the reservoir was in the tens of millions, vastly incomparable to the mere millions of Shuijun Lake.

"Mr. Zhao, have you heard of morels?" Suming asked.

Zhao Yun, caught off guard by how quickly Suming changed the subject, paused before replying over the phone, "I know a bit, they're top-grade edible mushrooms."

"Here's the thing, I have a morel that weighs about half a pound, and I'm thinking of auctioning it off in Xiangjiang. I'm not sure how much it could sell for," Suming said.

In the end, morels are just a delicacy; that particularly large one was essentially no different from the others apart from being larger and rarer. Eating it wouldn't grant ascendance to heaven or rejuvenation. As for its effect on vitality, Suming felt he was doing fine and wasn't in immediate need of a boost.

Suming was a bit wealthy, but not yet to the point where he could casually spend hundreds of thousands or millions without concern, especially since he was currently short on funds. It made more sense to sell it to some real wealthy suckers, convert it into money for investment, and let the money generate more money.

Zhao Yun only had a superficial knowledge of morels and couldn't quote a price off the top of his head. He asked Suming to wait, called an auction house in Xiangjiang to inquire, and soon called Suming back to report, "A half-pound morel is practically a Morel King. Its market price would be hundreds of thousands, and of course, it could fetch an even higher price at auction. However, there is currently no specialized food auction, so you'd have to wait for the right opportunity. When there's a suitable auction, Xiangjiang will contact me."

His words implied that an immediate sale wasn't possible, unless one was willing to sell at a low price.

Suming also discussed the liquor factory with Zhao Yun. After the discovery of the Chen Youliang Tomb Cluster, the city held a special meeting for it. Through connections between Zhao Yun and Suming, the piece of land Zhao Yun was interested in was finally re-designated as industrial land in the last meeting of the year. Zhao Yun didn't hesitate to secure it immediately.

Zhao Yun had found a construction team, and the foundation of the liquor factory had already been laid a few days ago; it was under construction and temporarily didn't require any attention.

What really needed their care was, after the completion of the liquor factory, how to carve out a niche for Da Sheng Liquor amidst the encirclement of numerous renowned distilleries and local old brands—a significant challenge.

Advertising and promotional expenses were certainly necessary, so Suming had to reserve the limited funds he had, not daring to use them for road construction. After all, compared to the roads, the liquor factory was the immediate priority.

The wealthier one became, the more they felt the scarcity of money. After bustling about for half a year and continuously increasing his assets, it seemed his available cash was dwindling.

He couldn't help but recall the Monopoly game he played as a child. He owned many properties, his assets surged, but his cash on hand plummeted, then he waited to collect tolls and get rich.

After hanging up the phone, he mused over his businesses. It seemed that the entertainment company was the only one with a surplus. Since spring, the boat tour business was picking up. In a month or two, fishing rides would resume, and they would bring in over a million in net income annually.

"Su, the entertainment company's business license is processed... Oh my God, what is that thing!"

The door to the pavilion burst open, and Wang Hao walked in greeting Suming. Following that, he caught sight of the large snake coiled on the ground. Hao's face instantly turned pale, and he fell to the floor with a thump.

.........

PS: Group number: 332352624, verification, Yangchuan City Zoo; today is a three-chapter release day.