Super Zoo

"What kind of immortal, can't you wish me some good luck?" Suming rolled his eyes, what kind of way to talk was that, I'm not about to die, so how could I become an immortal.

"I didn't mean it that way, I just mean living here, goodness, it's practically a heavenly abode! Living here is like being a hermit from a martial arts novel. I've got to see this place!"

Wang Hao, as if shot up with chicken blood, suddenly got excited; he picked up two large bags, one in each hand, and like a fat penguin, waddled quickly up the overwater corridor towards Fengshui Pavilion.

"Fatty, slow down, don't fall into the water!" Suming, carrying a bag, chased after him.

When he first arrived, he was just like Wang Hao, too excited to find his bearings, so he let Wang Hao run wild inside Fengshui Pavilion while he began to unpack and organize his luggage one by one.

"Holy smokes, two levels, this is practically a villa. Old Su, this place is so big, and it's out in the wild, aren't you scared to live alone? Want me to come and keep you company?" Wang Hao walked down the wooden staircase after touring the second floor, giving Suming a knowing look.

Suming moved the tower case of his desktop computer onto the table and glanced at Wang Hao: "What wild outskirts, there are quite a few people living in the zoo."

If it were someone else living in Whisperwind Pavilion, they might genuinely feel a bit scared at night, after all, there were no people within a few hundred meters, and beyond the zoo's back wall nearby were the mountains.

But Suming grew up in the mountains, so this wasn't a problem for him at all.

Every year during the holidays, especially the winter holiday and Chinese New Year, to prevent wild boars from ravaging the grain, the police station in Suming's hometown issued hunting rifles to the mountain people and allowed hunting. Suming had accompanied his family on hunts more than once, sometimes staying overnight in the mountains, so he was quite accustomed to it.

"No need to move in, I'm a straight male through and through. But you're welcome to visit when you're free; I won't charge you an entrance fee!" Suming said with a laugh.

Wang Hao, jumping up and down with his phone, took a look around and even took pictures to post in the university group chat.

Wang Hao and Suming were classmates and were in the same group chat. As soon as Wang Hao posted, Suming's phone also began to vibrate incessantly with a string of messages.

At the top of the group was Wang Hao's photo of Whisperwind Pavilion. Although it was nighttime, there were lights around the pavilion, and the winding overwater corridor and the two-story, retro-style Whisperwind Pavilion were clearly visible with a small lake around.

"Old Wang, where have you gone on vacation this time?" someone asked.

"Looks like a movie shooting location, Boss Wang, you didn't go break the unspoken rules with a female star, did you?" someone joked.

"Unspoken rules my ass, this is our talented Su's dormitory!" Wang Hao said.

That set off a barrage of comments below.

"Damn, it's a pure lakeside villa!"

"Which company, such good benefits to provide staff with a lakeside villa?"

"Old Su, come out, come out, man, you've struck it rich!"

Suming chuckled and typed a line: "Villa my foot, I'm watching over the zoo, living right inside it."

Immediately, a string of astonished emojis followed.

"Damn, does this mean I won't need to buy a ticket to the zoo in the future?"

"Nice place, beautiful mountains and rivers, very pleasant environment!"

"Old Su, you've got some wild connections, getting into the zoo like this! You weren't so honest before, were you?"

"No honesty my foot, temporary worker, get it? The kind that just fills a gap!" Suming typed with a smile.

"This is what you call a temporary position? All that's missing is the confirmation as the boss' son!"

"Envy, jealousy, hate, I also want to go to the zoo to feed the bears!"

"More like feed you to the bears, haha!"

"This makes those of us who went to big companies feel so inadequate!"

"No, no, no, we've got to take Su for a ride!"

Suming wrote, "It's just for show, less than three thousand a month, you guys try it."

"Such a nice place, living there could extend someone's life by years, I'd do it even if I had to pay three thousand!" said a rich kid in the class, whose family ran a listed company.

"Alright, enough from you guys, come and visit when you're free, I'll host you!"

After chatting for a bit in the group, Suming put away his phone and called Wang Hao up to the platform, sat by the water, and said, "I've got something serious to tell you."

"What's up?" Wang Hao took off his shoes, just like Suming had during the day, dipped his feet into the lake water, and asked Suming.

"See those boats over there?" Suming pointed to the pleasure boats not far from the shore.

"Are you asking me to find some girls and rock the boat? Man, I've never tried boat rocking before!" Wang Hao's eyes lit up.

Suming slapped his forehead, annoyed, "Rock what! I've got a small business opportunity. If you're willing to invest, we can take over those boats and start a boating business, how about that?"

During his cleaning stint that afternoon, Suming had encountered two groups of people asking if they could go boating, it seemed like there was business to be had. He was somewhat interested too.

But these boats were quite old. To kick start the pleasure boating business, they'd definitely need to spend money on boat inspections, fuel purchases, and such, with initial investments costing at least several thousand, and that's several big thousands.

Suming didn't have that much money, and even if he did, he wanted to pull Mr. Wang into the venture as well.

"Sure thing, this business is doable. Twenty per boat per hour, thirty for bumper boats like yours, figuring on eighty bucks a day, more on holidays. You've got one, two, three...seven, eight boats, could make seventeen or eighteen thousand a month, pleasure boating has high profits, you could clear about thirteen or fourteen thousand." Wang Hao's family managed landscaping, so he was clear on this kind of thing.

"Let's agree on that then, you invest, I manage, we split the profits."

Calculating it, aside from the half going to the zoo, he and Wang Hao could probably take home about three or four thousand each per month.

Three or four thousand isn't much, but it's what I get in hand from my salary. The key point is that this is almost a no-capital business, I'm required to be in the zoo 24/7 anyway, most of the time hanging around Fengshui Pavilion, so it's like making extra cash in my idle time.

Add that to my salary, and I could make close to seven thousand a month. In Yangchuan City's working class, that's definitely not low, even the technical staff at those big pharmaceutical companies I failed to land a job at originally don't make that much at the start.

Moreover, Suming had another cunning plan in mind.

In friendships, feelings are the foundation, but if those feelings can be augmented with mutual benefits, the relationship becomes even more stable.

Now that we've graduated, we don't live together like before, spending all day in the same dorm. If my relationship with Wang Hao consisted of nothing but eating, drinking, playing, and messing around, it's certain to fade with time and as we both mature.

Wang Hao's family ran the landscaping, so if I could foster a closer relationship with him through this little venture, it would be like creating a safety net for myself. If I ever ran into any trouble, I could ask Wang Hao's family for help.

For Wang Hao's family, a few thousand in extra income isn't significant, but it's like giving Wang Hao a proper job to do, preventing him from running after leggy girls all the time and loafing around, which would eventually create problems and be a headache for his dad.

Although the boating business isn't huge, it benefits both sides indeed.

Wang isn't usually reliable, but he's pretty serious when it comes to proper business. The two sat by the water and quickly hammered out the details of the boating business, with Wang even contacting a boat repair professional.

Just as they were discussing, Wang Hao suddenly changed color, shrieked, and leaped up as if shocked.

"What happened?" Su asked in surprise.

Wang Hao pointed at the water with a terrified expression, "Holy moly, there's something in the water!"

"What thing?" Suming looked at the water curiously, wondering if it could be a bighead catfish?

After interacting with animal buddies, animals seemed to become smarter. Perhaps the bighead catfish, seeing the light, knew he was back and came looking for food, bumping into Wang Hao's feet?