Super Zoo

The Tyrant Python lived on the first floor of Whisperwind Pavilion. This guy was pretty lazy; it had delegated the task of guarding the morel mushrooms to the alligator snapping turtle and would spend all day coiled on the ground motionless. Occasionally it would swim in the lake outside, and sometimes Suming worried he would step on it when coming and going at night.

You couldn't really blame it, since it was supposed to be hibernating. The other snakes Suming brought back were still asleep in the big cages in the warehouse.

As soon as Wang Hao walked in, he was nearly scared to death at the sight of the huge snake. The Tyrant Python's head was positioned right between Wang Hao's legs, looking up and bringing its head close to Wang Hao's face, they locked eyes.

Wang Hao's face turned deathly pale, he was so frightened he couldn't speak, and just sat on the ground, making "uh-uh" sounds in his throat.

Suming slapped the Tyrant Python on the head and glared, saying, "Don't scare him. You're not Mrs. Bai, and he's not Xu Xian. If you scare him to death, it's me who'll have to treat his fright."

After being slapped on the head by Suming, the Tyrant Python behaved itself and lay down, moving its body to go sleep inside the room.

Wang Hao was quite shaken, and it took him a while to recover. He tugged at the corner of his mouth and quipped, "So, this is really your pet? You could reach the heavens with this one!"

"This is nothing. Snakes like these are quite docile. Over in India, people even keep pythons to look after children."

Suming took the business license from him and checked it out. The legal person was himself, and the general manager was written as Wang Hao.

The entertainment company currently had two major business areas, which were boat tours and fish riding. The total number of boats had increased to thirty, which was pretty much the limit for Shuijun Lake while it was stocked with fish, including one extra big fish discovered in the reservoir. Other than the shares Wang Hao originally held in the boat tour business, Suming took out another 10% of the total revenue as Wang Hao's share as the general manager. Conservatively estimated, Wang Hao's income could reach five to six hundred thousand a year. He was in charge of the specific operations, relieving Suming of any concerns.

Wang Hao was well-versed in these two business operations. He had, after all, established the boat tour business with Suming from scratch, so there was no need for Suming to offer any extra guidance. Hence, he introduced him to the zoo employees currently managing these business areas, greeting each of them in turn.

Peng Xue, Mr. Peng's 'heavenly beauty' daughter, hadn't returned to school after the New Year. With no classes during her last semester at university, she stayed at Taoyuan Fisheries Company as an accountant, while also handling the accounts for the entertainment company part-time.

Suming had often heard Mr. Peng singing his daughter's praises to the skies. After meeting her in person, Suming thought she deserved a score of seventy to eighty, pretty quiet and demure.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While Suming was not impressed, Wang Hao took one look and was smitten. He pulled Suming aside and sheepishly asked, "I... if I ask her out, it wouldn't violate any company management rules, right?"

"Of course not," Suming advised, "but her dad is my master, and she's a decent girl. You'd better take it slow and not scare her off." He knew everyone involved; if Wang Hao were just playing around, there were plenty of women in the world for that, easily accessible for a price. There was no need to take advantage of Mr. Peng's daughter.

But Wang Hao's flushed face seemed pretty serious. Even as the chairman, Suming couldn't possibly object, and he even hoped Wang Hao would settle down and start a family.

So, instead of taking Wang Hao to get familiar with the business, it turned out to be Wang Hao taking Ms. Peng to get acquainted with the operations.

Not wanting to be a third wheel, Suming discretely left, first checking on the Monkey Wine brewing, where some Hundred-Fruit Brew was already dripping. He sniffed it; it was still far from the actual Monkey Wine, at least another ten days to half a month to go.

On his way back, he took a detour to the dog kennels on the hillside.

Just as he reached the hillside, he saw Mr. Lin and Lin, squatted in front of a doghouse-like kennel, hands together as if praying, mumbling to themselves.

Experience tales at empire

Suming approached quietly, then heard Mr. Lin saying, "Fox Immortal, Fox Immortal, please heal my lumbar muscle strain soon, and help my wife's hypoglycemia improve this year..."

Meanwhile, Lin mumbled, "Bless me with a lottery win, no foul-outs in mahjong..."

In front of them on the ground lay a whole cooked chicken.

Inside the kennel before them, a Broad-eared Fox was seated, its tall ears perked up, eyeing the plump cooked chicken, its whiskers quivering and saliva nearly dripping as it occasionally licked its lips.

"What are you guys doing!" Suming suddenly shouted from behind Mr. Lin and Lin.

"Ah!" The uncle and nephew pair jumped in fright, turning to see Suming, Mr. Lin quickly stood up, "Oh, boss, it's you. You should have called out; the path isn't easy to walk, I would have sent Lin to fetch you."

Lin quickly offered a small stool, wiping it with his sleeve and placing it at Suming's feet, "Boss, please, have a seat."

"What's all this about?" Suming pointed at the cooked chicken on the ground.

Mr. Lin and Little Lin were also quite the characters. It would have been one thing if they'd actually fed the foxes with the poached chicken, but they had covered the chicken with a large plastic dome, like a disposable takeaway bowl, with the dome secured onto the bowl underneath. The fox could see the poached chicken through the clear dome, drooling with desire, but it just couldn't open the clear cover to get to the chicken, so it could only look on with longing.

"Heh heh heh, a chicken costs over twenty bucks, we wouldn't really feed it to them. We were planning to keep it to accompany our drinks," Mr. Lin chuckled, "Just leaving it here for the sake of appearance."

"You two really aren't sincere at all, are you? You can't even give offerings and yet you expect the fox spirit to bless you with safety and wealth? Aren't you just treating the fox spirit like a fool?" Suming laughed heartily. This uncle and nephew duo were treasures in their own right; it was his first time seeing anyone make a wish in such a manner. Luckily, the Broad-eared Fox didn't have any 'magical powers', or else their behavior would have surely brought them misfortune.

But why on earth had they decided to worship the Broad-eared Fox?

"Boss, you have no idea, these fox spirits really are sentient." Little Lin interjected from the side.

"Tell me about it, what happened?" Suming grew curious.

Up on the hillside, the dozens of kennels that were originally for the rescued dogs to live in were now mostly empty as the dogs' wildness grew day by day and they usually spent their nights in the woods, rarely returning to the kennels. After the group of Broad-eared Foxes arrived, however, they 'took over' the dog kennels, forming small groups of two or three and living inside.

Unlike the dogs, the Broad-eared Foxes were particularly attached to their 'dens'. Before they left Chen Youliang's tomb, they even deliberately went back home to move their belongings. Once settled in the kennels, they would spend half the day in their respective homes and even if they went out to play, they would come back on time to sleep.

So when it wasn't early evening or dawn, the kennels were full of Broad-eared Foxes, often emitting howls as if communicating with each other.

Already somewhat superstitious about the legends of the fox spirits, Mr. Lin and Little Lin, who had been caring for the foxes in this desolate wilderness, felt a little uneasy. They couldn't say from where, but somehow, they'd ended up acquiring a small wooden Buddha statue about half a meter tall and placed it next to the kennels, hoping to repel anything unclean that might be around.

"Oh, and then? Weren't you supposed to be worshipping the Buddha? How did it turn into worshipping the fox? "

Only then did Suming notice that next to the kennels there really was a small Buddhist shrine. At first, he hadn't paid it any attention, thinking it was just another kennel, but after Mr. Lin mentioned it, Suming realized that inside the shrine, there indeed was a statue of a bodhisattva with hands together in prayer and a compassionate appearance, sitting on a lotus throne.

"Look, boss," said Mr. Lin, as he put his hands together and bowed towards the Broad-eared Fox in front of him.

The Broad-eared Fox, a second ago yearning for the poached chicken, sat down on the ground with its short hind legs crossed after being bowed to by Mr. Lin, and it pressed its front paws together, adopting a more serious expression.

At first glance, it looked quite similar to the nearby bodhisattva statue, seven or eight points alike.

Not only that, but Mr. Lin recited "Amitābha," and the fox followed with a high-pitched voice.

If one listened carefully, one could discern that the Broad-eared Fox was actually imitating Mr. Lin's speech!Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Look, boss, isn't that something? That's why I'm saying, the fox spirits are indeed sentient. We give our respects from time to time; even if they don't bless us, at least they wouldn't harm us!" Mr. Lin said.

Suming watched the Broad-eared Fox and the statue for a while and began to guess what was happening.

It had nothing to do with sentience; this behavior was related to the foxes' natural instincts.

Most foxes have the ability to imitate others. As mentioned before, wild foxes and weasels around the small temples, upon seeing the clay bodhisattvas, often imitated the bodhisattvas' poses. The bolder ones even dared to climb onto the offering tables, brazenly accepting the incense and enjoying the offerings, which is how the tales of fox spirits like the Great Fox Spirit and Yellow Spirit originated.

If he had to guess, Mr. Lin and Little Lin must have first worshipped the clay bodhisattva, and the Broad-eared Fox, seeing them do it, imitated the pose of the bodhisattva.

As for the sounds similar to Mr. Lin's speech, that had to do with the foxes' method of hunting. The foxes' talent for imitation wasn't limited to movements—they could also mimic sounds. Imitating human voices wasn't really their strongest suit; foxes were best at imitating the calls of birds. They could mimic the mating calls of female birds to attract nearby males.

Moreover, these Broad-eared Foxes had already dealt with Suming's spiritual power and were far smarter than ordinary foxes, so it was no surprise that they played the part of deities rather convincingly.

What should have been a mere chuckle for Suming suddenly became serious when he thought about the offering of poached chicken, prompting him to ask Mr. Lin, "Now, how many of the Broad-eared Foxes can imitate humans?"

"What? Imitate humans?" Mr. Lin was startled, unsure of Suming's meaning.

Suming then explained to Mr. Lin that the behavior of the Broad-eared Fox was simply an animal's imitation of humans, not any sort of sentience.