Those Years I Opened a Zoo

我开动物园那些年

those-years-i-opened-a-zoo

New Species, New Employee

The next day, Duan Jiaze's app pushed another notification. The second mission had been issued.


 Mission Description: To ensure a smooth opening, please make the basic preparations! Add thirty species of animals and recruit at least three employees within one month. Otherwise, how can you meet the demands of the visitors?


 Mission Reward: Upon completion of the mission, you will receive: a 30-day supply of high-grade feed for all animals in the zoo, and a free cage upgrade and renovation.


 As for the Ling Xiao Support Group section below, there was no new progress. It seemed that no new dispatched animals had arrived for the time being, which made Duan Jiaze breathe a sigh of relief. One Luya was already more than enough for him to handle.


 However, this mission put Duan Jiaze in a difficult position. Not to mention recruiting employees, which he was already working on. But the zoo wasn't big to begin with, and he had no money. He had to introduce thirty more species of animals? Why did it feel like the difficulty of the second mission had suddenly skyrocketed?


 Duan Jiaze even ran over to count the empty cages. There weren't many left. Just as he was struggling with this, a flash of inspiration struck him. He pulled up the previously issued feed distribution table and took a look. Sure enough!


 The current method for calculating animal species was very lenient. Although they were both birds, peacocks and parrots were counted as separate species. The numbering system was peacock #1, peacock #2, parrot #1, parrot #2, and so on.


 It was difficult to introduce other animals, but when it came to birds, Duan Jiaze could just go to the Flower and Bird Market to buy them. He could buy one of each species, and buying thirty of them would be enough to complete the mission. Besides, birds didn't take up much space and had much smaller spatial requirements.


 No wonder the mission's difficulty had suddenly increased so much. Looking at it now, it was actually quite easy to complete.


 No sooner said than done. Duan Jiaze cheerfully took the public funds and went to the city's Flower and Bird Market.


 Donghai City's Flower and Bird Market was quite large. After Duan Jiaze entered, he felt that getting thirty species would be a piece of cake.


 Chinese Hwamei, Goldfinch, Silver-eared Mesia, Canary, Lark, Warbler, Zebra Finch...


 Duan Jiaze had no requirements for appearance or quality. He just picked the cheap, healthy-looking ones ('even if they're not in good health, a few days of feeding them the special feed back home will fix them'), and his speed was incredible. Later, he simply rented a cart from a shop and had seven or eight cages on it in no time, making him look very much like a wholesaler.


 Although there were many types of birds, the zoo already had some, and there weren't that many cheap ones. After buying nearly twenty, he had an epiphany... because he saw someone selling fish.


 Actually, buying fish is even more convenient than buying birds!


 Duan Jiaze happily found a shop, picked out about ten types of ornamental fish at very reasonable prices, and that just about made up the number. At this point, including the containers, fish, and birds, he had spent a few thousand yuan in total to get everything done.


 The original Cape Zoo did have fish, but the pond had long since dried up, and the fish were nowhere to be found. Besides, they were all just ordinary little goldfish, which were previously used for visitors to rent nets and catch.


 Duan Jiaze thought the empty pond was quite an eyesore, so he bought another thirty goldfish.


 This way, he had thirty fish. Duan Jiaze bought a single tank, planning to put the ornamental fish in it later and the goldfish in the pond. For now, they were all packed into that one tank, looking a bit crowded.


 Duan Jiaze patted the side of the tank and muttered to himself, "You all behave now. We'll separate you when we get back."


 The shop owner helped Duan Jiaze move the tank onto the cart. Duan Jiaze was a layman, and the owner was a businessman; why would he remind Duan Jiaze that keeping the fish like this was a bad idea? He was hoping a few fish would die so Duan Jiaze would come back to buy more.


 However, as Duan Jiaze was pushing the cart out, he was stopped by an uncle.


 "Young man, how could you put all the fish in one tank!" The uncle was holding a filter, probably an enthusiast himself, and couldn't bear to look at Duan Jiaze's hodgepodge of a tank.


 Duan Jiaze asked blankly, "What's wrong?"


 The uncle said, "You've got big fish and small fish in there, and also bettas and oscars... Aiya, don't you want these fish anymore? They're going to fight! You'll be lucky if half of them are left."


 "No way, fish fight too?" Duan Jiaze carefully observed the fish in his tank. "Uncle, I think they seem to be getting along just fine."


 "How is that fine?" The uncle bent down, intending to point out the disharmony within. But after a closer look, he couldn't help but curse, "...Holy crap, they're actually fine?"


 Inside, there were dozens of fish of more than ten different species, big and small, aggressive and docile, and they really weren't fighting. In fact... they were even exceptionally orderly. Fish of the same species were lined up together, while the others were separated by size, each keeping to their own territory, as if someone had arranged them in lines.


 The uncle had been raising fish for many years and had never seen such a situation. He was stunned for a long moment before saying drily, "Young man, you've really got some skills. How did you do it?"


 Duan Jiaze was a bit embarrassed. "I don't know either. I've always had good luck raising fish since I was a kid."


 When he was a child, he also raised little goldfish and turtles. Unlike his classmates' pets, which would go belly-up within a week, his little goldfish could live for several years before dying. He never felt that raising fish was a difficult task.


 Sometimes when he bought live grass carp, and there wasn't a basin available, putting them temporarily in the goldfish tank never caused any problems.


 The uncle got excited. "There's such a talent? Have you ever raised guppies? I have one at home that, for some reason, has been listless and antisocial lately. I've asked many people, but no one has been able to solve it."


 How would Duan Jiaze know anything about that? He himself raised them in a muddle-headed way, so he quickly said he didn't know. The uncle was very disappointed, watched the "miracle" in his fish tank for a while longer, and then said a friendly goodbye.


 ...


 When Duan Jiaze got back, he hung all the birdcages in the aviary. Taking advantage of the villagers coming over to feed the animals, he asked for their help to clean the pond, refilled it with water, and put all the goldfish in.


 The ornamental fish, however, remained in the glass tank. Duan Jiaze placed it in the first-floor corridor of the small building, setting it on a table he moved there, making it look like a decoration.


 Luya knew it was feeding time. He came out and saw Duan Jiaze arranging the fish tank and asked him, "What's this?"


 Duan Jiaze: "An Aquarium...?"


 Luya: "..."


 Luya shot him a look that said, 'Are you insane?'


 But since it had nothing to do with him, he quickly changed the subject. "What meat is being served today?"


 The meaning behind these words was that the Daoist Lord wanted to eat.


 Currently, among all the animals in the zoo, Director Duan was the feeding supervisor for all of them, and the sole keeper of the Three-legged Golden Crow. Resigned to his fate, he carried a bucket of freshly spawned lamb chops into the kitchen and decided to pan-fry them today.


 The gamey-smell-free lamb chops sizzled in the hot oil, their color gradually turning a golden, slightly charred brown, emitting a tempting aroma. He flipped them over to fry the tender, fatty parts, and the color deepened.


 Luya stood to the side like a lord, supervising the zookeeper's work at all times.


 Halfway through frying, Duan Jiaze's phone rang. Seeing it was an unknown number, he answered, "Hello, who is this?"


 "Hello, is this Mr. Duan? I saw your job posting on the Donghai recruitment website..."


 "Ah, hello, yes, this is he!" Duan Jiaze was delighted. Someone was applying for the job?


 He put down the spatula and started to run out.


 Luya immediately blocked Duan Jiaze. If he left, what would happen to the lamb chops?


 "..." Duan Jiaze bumped into Luya and couldn't move forward. He had no choice but to turn back and chat with the applicant while flipping the lamb chops.


 The other person was applying for the finance position. Of course, calling it finance wasn't entirely accurate, because the job also included selling and checking tickets after the opening...


 From her voice, it was a young girl. Duan Jiaze first confirmed that she understood the job description.


 Just then, the lamb chops were cooked, and Luya was watching eagerly from the side. Duan Jiaze used one hand to scoop the lamb chops onto a plate, which was immediately whisked away by Luya.


 Duan Jiaze had a brief chat with the girl and scheduled an interview for the next day.


 If nothing unexpected happened, Duan Jiaze, who was desperate for staff and needed to complete the mission, would hire her as long as she had no major flaws—the only question was whether she would be willing to stay.


 ...


 The next morning, Duan Jiaze got up early to welcome the first interviewee.


 The girl being interviewed looked as young as she sounded. She handed a paper resume to Duan Jiaze and said very shyly, "I'm Su Shu. You can just call me Xiao Su."


 Duan Jiaze glanced at her age on the resume; she was only a year younger than him and had also graduated this year. "Huh, you're a Chinese major?"


 Xiao Su said with some embarrassment, "Yes, but I have an accounting certificate." And only an accounting certificate.


 There were many graduates in both Chinese and finance. Her university wasn't particularly prestigious, so the job market was tough. Like Duan Jiaze just over half a month ago, she had been looking for a job for a long time.


 Duan Jiaze nodded with great understanding and said sincerely, "Actually, I think your qualifications are quite good, but I have to be upfront with you. Right now, I'm the only person in charge here. We haven't even hired any zookeepers yet; we're temporarily using nearby villagers. Your work will be quite varied. Besides accounting and ticket checking, there might be other miscellaneous tasks. Of course, the visitor traffic here probably won't be very high, and we'll definitely hire more staff once we've developed..."


 As for the salary, it's four thousand a month, with one meal included. Given that Luya and the other dispatched animals to come are not human, he can't provide accommodation, as it would be easy to expose them, but there is a housing allowance.


 Duan Jiaze explained the actual situation to Xiao Su and also gave her a tour of the zoo.


 Although it was still quite simple and crude, after a few days of being fed the high-grade feed, all the animals had sleek fur and were full of spirit. Their calls were robust, which saved a little face for the place.


 Just then, Luya swaggered past with his hands in his pockets and entered the small building. His highlighted... no, his naturally-occurring streaks of golden-red hair were particularly striking in the sunlight. Of course, the most striking thing was his face. The man himself seemed excessively ostentatious.


 Luya's presence was a stark contrast to the shabby environment. Xiao Su almost couldn't believe her eyes. "Is he also an employee at the zoo?" She remembered Duan Jiaze saying he was the only person in charge and asked blankly, "...A zookeeper from the village?"


 Duan Jiaze broke out in a sweat. "No, no, he's just someone who wanders in."


 They hadn't opened yet, so Luya could still wander around freely. After the opening, he would have to be an animal during work hours, so he'd probably only see Xiao Su briefly each day at most. Duan Jiaze explained again, "He's not an employee. After we open, he'll only be staying here at night."


 Xiao Su was filled with a sense of awe. "Oh, I see. He only comes at night."


 Duan Jiaze: "..."


 ...He felt that Xiao Su's tone was strange, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

Those Years I Opened a Zoo

Those Years I Opened a Zoo

Chapter 5 - New Species, New Employee

Night