Super Zoo

Wu gave a slight smile, knowing that Mr. Hong was about to talk terms. He nodded, "Mr. Hong, we will definitely do our utmost to support whatever we can from the government's side!"

As the head of Sun Town, Wu naturally had his experience and astuteness, especially since the county had been duped more than once by so-called "investment attraction" schemes; everyone up and down had become vigilant. So before attracting investment, Wu had deliberately investigated this young Mr. Hong.

In the provincial capital, Mr. Hong owned a catering company, with two sizable restaurants under his name, as well as some other industries, quite well-known in the sector.

Having a solid industrial foundation was the main reason Wu was willing to cooperate with Mr. Hong.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Especially the two restaurants, Wu had personally inspected them, and although they were somewhat old, they were still doing well. The location and the interior decoration were first-rate. Even if Mr. Hong had some trickery up his sleeve and decided to run, those restaurants under his name couldn't possibly run away.

Businessmen definitely aim to make a profit; if Sun Town couldn't offer Mr. Hong particularly favorable policy treatment, why would he invest here? So, hearing Mr. Hong start to talk terms, Mr. Wu wasn't in a hurry at all, just listened with a chuckle as Mr. Hong prepared to make his demands.

"Mr. Wu, I'm going to cut the pleasantries. It's impossible for me to invest a large amount without seeing the profit first," Mr. Hong said plainly.

Listening to Mr. Hong speak, he seemed like a straightforward man. Mr. Wu nodded and gestured for him to continue. Mr. Hong went straight to the point, "I only have three requirements..."

Mr. Wu listened quietly, beginning to hesitate.

The three requirements Mr. Hong proposed were as follows: the first seemed reasonable—leasing the land for the breeding farm for twenty years, with the first two years being free of charge. Those were just the nearby forest lands, which originally weren't costly to lease and key was that no one would come here to lease them anyway.

The second condition was a bit much. The workers at the breeding farm, although all from Sun Town, would have their wages deferred for half a year, to be paid in full after six months. Supposedly, this was because Mr. Hong needed a large stock of goods for his restaurant after the New Year's celebration, causing a shortage in his working capital.

That was still bearable, but the third condition made Mr. Wu vigilant. Mr. Hong hoped the town government would co-sign for a bank loan using the breeding farm as security, with the loan being used to build the breeding farm.

Land approval, loans, and utilizing loans for operations before repaying them, this was indeed a common business practice. Using borrowed chickens to lay eggs didn't necessarily mean Mr. Hong was a swindler. Some bosses have indeed started from nothing and made it big this way, while others collapsed completely because one link in the chain broke.

Because the county had encountered several such scams before, Wu couldn't help but be extra cautious.

"Mr. Hong, let's be clear before we become friends. Your requirements are not impossible, but I have a condition too. You must mortgage one of your restaurants to us. Otherwise, if you ran away in the end, where would Sun Town find the money to repay the bank?" Mr. Wu said with a chuckle.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Hong didn't object at all, agreeing directly, "That's only fair! We can go to the county notary office today and do the mortgage notarization! Mr. Wu, you're being too cautious, my family's business is large, and so are the financial turnovers. It's just after the New Year, the best time for my restaurant business when I need to spend a lot of money on stock. Give it half a year, and once my liquid funds are free, everything will be fine."

Seeing Mr. Hong agree so readily, Mr. Wu finally felt at ease.

"Mr. Wu, why don't we sign the contract today and then go do the mortgage notarization together?" Mr. Hong tentatively asked.

Mr. Wu was about to agree, but then thought that such a major decision should not be made so hastily. So, with a smile, he said, "Mr. Hong, how about this, you go stay at the county guesthouse for a couple of days first. We'll have a small meeting here in the town to prepare some preliminary work. In three days, we'll sign the contract. How does that sound?"

Mr. Hong sighed slightly in disappointment, "Ah, I'll do whatever you leaders say. But Mr. Wu, please hurry it up. I have too much to handle at my restaurant and can't spare much time."

"Rest assured, rest assured..."

After seeing off Mr. Hong, Mr. Wu picked up the office phone and called each of the town's 'cadres' one by one, summoning them to discuss the breeding farm matters.

With the scale of Sun Town, it should have been downgraded to a village by now, but it had been dragging on without resolution. The so-called 'town cadres' were just a handful, comically so, like Uncle Li the head of the civil defense, Auntie Wang in charge of the office and virtually an organizational committee member, even Suming's mother held a token title of women's committee member...

...

Suming said goodbye to his mom and then, together with Su Meng, followed the trail the wild boar had taken into the mountains yesterday. This 'trail' was actually a small mountain stream that had dried up in the winter. After following the riverbed lined with pebbles for about four or five miles, they were completely out of path.

Haidong Qing circled in the sky for a while, indicating that the wild boar was still far away.

The mountains around Sun Town were not like those behind a zoo; these were real towering ranges. Many areas were sheer cliffs or cliffs tens of meters high, or they were steep slopes with gradients over sixty or seventy degrees– impossible for people to climb.

Suming's soul attached to Haidong Qing and took to the skies to survey the area before finally choosing a relatively easy route. By relatively easy, it meant that it was just barely passable for a person. They were lucky to have Haidong Qing and the soul attachment ability, otherwise, there's no telling how much more they would have had to detour.

Even with an observation of the surroundings in advance, the journey was tough, as they had to push through bushes and wade through waters. As the sky darkened, they were finally approaching the last known location of the wild boars.

Suming hadn't expected the path to be so treacherous. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he thought to himself that his mom must be worried sick by now, probably not expecting them back until the next morning.

"Slow down, stop here," Suming gestured, signaling to Su Meng not to go any further.

The two found a place to hide downwind. Su Meng, agile as a monkey, quickly scrambled up a tree.

Suming, helpless below, slapped his forehead and whispered, "Big bro, get me up there first..."

Su Meng grinned and slid back down the tree. Then, like carrying a koala on his back, he quickly hoisted Suming up into a tree several meters off the ground.

From Haidong Qing's perspective, they could clearly see a large mud pit covered with dry leaves about a hundred meters ahead, the leaves concealing filthy water underneath.

The few large wild boars they had seen the day before were frolicking in the mud pit, looking utterly carefree and showing no signs of grief over losing their offspring.

In the forest nearby, seven or eight piglets were grunting as they rooted around in the dirt with their noses, likely searching for something to eat.

The largest boar, Second Brother, leaned against a tree wide enough to require two people to wrap their arms around it. It acted as if it had epilepsy, grunting while rubbing its back against the old tree, scraping off a large patch of bark.

Not far away, there was a pile of pig dung nearly a meter high! It was baffling why they piled their dung so high; were they trying to prove they had a talent for architecture?

With such a large group of wild boars gathered together, it wasn't easy to make a move. However, Suming had come prepared this time and had a well-thought-out attack plan.

He took out a small whistle-like object from his chest; it was something old hunters used when hunting wild boar. He put it in his mouth and blew hard.

"Eey... eey eey..." The whistle made a strange noise, resembling the cry of a female wild boar in heat.

Upon hearing the 'female wild boar's' calls, several boars on the other side indeed stopped all activity, their small ears twitching as they looked over curiously in this direction.

Hearing the call of a female wild boar but not smelling her scent, the boars seemed puzzled.

But, this wasn't a problem. They would find out if they went over to investigate. For a male wild boar, eating was the top priority, mating came second. As long as their life was filled with food and sex, a pig's life was blissful; they had not lived in vain!