Chapter 77. Physical Examination

     The mother and daughter dugongs that were previously projected by “Haizi” returned to the seaweed-rich waters of Xingzhou Island with their herd, which indirectly confirmed that the reason for their departure was not affected by the water entertainment projects on Xingzhou Island. The real reason might even be that they “returned home to get people to come.”

     The staff of the reserve were afraid that if they approached the dugongs rashly by boat, they would scare them away, so Cen Yingda suggested that Li Yaolin come forward to appease them and lead them ashore, and then they would conduct a physical examination.

     The scene of Li Yaolin’s interaction with the dugongs left an indelible impression on everyone. It happened that she had a diving certificate, so no one objected.

     Cen Yingda found Li Yaolin on behalf of the reserve and made this request to her.

     Li Yaolin pondered for a while and said, “Of course there is no problem in assisting you in your investigation and research work, but what about after the physical examination?”

     Cen Yingda was stunned. After the physical examination of the dugongs, if there was any disease, they would treat it… Yes, if there was no problem with the dugongs’ bodies, how would they deal with these dugongs?

     The best way is to leave them here, but it is inevitable that there will be greedy fishermen or poachers who will hunt them. Before, there were only turtles in the sea area, and fishermen might not take risks for five turtles. But with so many dugongs, the reserve is like a cornucopia of silver and then more valuable gold. There will always be people who will take risks for money.

     The current patrol strength of the fishery department is not enough. If they want to invest more manpower and material resources, they will have to spend more money.

     The financial department will allocate funds, but not too much, and the protection work is long-term, so we still have to seek assistance from large enterprises.

     The reserve is tied to Xingzhou Island, and we still have to ask for support from Xingzhou Island.

     Li Yaolin took out the agreement and said, “This is the agreement when the Mermaid Square was built. We can prepare a supplementary agreement. The reserve shall not prevent tourists from watching dugongs in the Mermaid Square. Of course, we will also prohibit tourists from feeding dugongs or throwing things into the sea. Correspondingly, our Xingzhou Island will also bear the responsibility of protecting wild animals together with the reserve.”

     Cen Yingda thought that Li Yaolin did not need to discuss with them, because in the original agreement, when Xingzhou Island once again gave up 5% of the ticket revenue as the operating income of the reserve, it was no longer possible to decide what the positioning of the Mermaid Square was.

     Li Yaolin did this naturally to clarify certain rights in order to prevent the reserve management station from pulling with Xingzhou Island.

     He nodded: “Okay, no problem.”

     Detailed discussions will definitely be carried out later, but the physical examination of the dugong is urgent, so Li Yaolin changed into a diving suit and went into the sea.

     Perhaps because of the increased affinity, the seaweed and algae in the northern waters of Xingzhou Island grow more luxuriantly than elsewhere, and the places that were previously eaten by dugongs have been regrown with seaweed in less than two months. It can be seen that the environment here can promote the growth of seaweed and algae. Experts believe that this is the reason why protected animals are attracted here one after another.

     The point where Li Yaolin wants to dive is not deep, only about five meters, and everyone on the boat can see the actions of the dugongs clearly.

     As soon as she got into the water, the dugong closest to her, who was in a drowsy state, immediately woke up, scratched its flippers, and swam towards her with its tail fin.

     This dugong is nearly three meters long. When it approaches, it makes Li Yaolin, who is nearly 1.7 meters tall, look very petite and lovely.

     Although the dugong has a gentle temperament, the people around her still sweat for Li Yaolin. After all, if the dugong hits her lightly, Li Yaolin will probably break a bone.

     Fortunately, Li Yaolin’s friendly aura was not fake. The dugong was very happy to see her and touched her affectionately with its flippers.

     Li Yaolin could feel the other party’s closeness, but she could not play with the other party in public.

     Remembering that she still had a mission to accomplish, she led the dugong ashore.

     The dugong was also very well-behaved. After landing, it lay down obediently, waiting for the staff of the reserve to give it a full body check.

     As soon as it landed, the other dugongs also floated to the surface of the sea and lined up for humans to help them with their physical examinations.

     The marine biologists pointed to the largest dugong and said excitedly: “It should be the ‘parent’ of the herd. The emergence of this herd will be of great help to our study of the relationship between dugong herds!”

     Li Yaolin said: “You can do your research, but don’t hurt them.”

     She confirmed the trust and closeness of the dugongs to her, and everyone dared not ignore her role anymore, let alone sneer at her words.

     Cen Yingda said: “It’s lucky we were able to protect them so there’s no way we’ll hurt them!”

     Li Yaolin saw that there was nothing for her to do here, so she changed her clothes and went back.

     The Mermaid Square was full of tourists who were watching the fun. Some people saw this scene and were amazed: “Who is that girl? She’s quite young. Those dugongs seemed to follow her ashore?”

     “She should be a staff member of the reserve!”

     “I saw her yesterday. She greeted the dugongs and the dugongs responded to her, but she was wearing the work clothes of Xingzhou Island at that time. She should be a staff member of Xingzhou Island.”

     “Hey, do you think there will be performances like dolphins and killer whales here in the future?”

     “What are you thinking? This is not an oceanarium.”

     “But if the other party is willing, come here to be a trainer and train dugongs, won’t we have performances to watch? Even if they need tickets at that time, I am willing to give them!”

     “…”

     After he said this, the tourists couldn’t help but have a glimmer of hope.

     However, Li Yaolin was destined to disappoint them. Not to mention that she had no intention of making money from dugong performances, even if she did, she would not train dugongs to be pets that please the audience. She would only allow tourists to watch the daily activities of dugongs as it is now, but would never allow anyone to interfere with their lives.

     Tourists soon discovered the warning signs erected in the Mermaid Square, prohibiting tourists from littering and feeding dugongs.

     Xingzhou Island never used fines as a warning, but directly blacklisted them. So far, the number of people who have been blacklisted for various reasons has exceeded a thousand, and many people have regretted it.

     At first, they didn’t care, they would blacklist them, anyway, they would not come to a scenic spot for the second time, but they didn’t expect that Xingzhou Island would have new tricks every now and then to arouse their yearning. When they bought tickets again, the pop-up window ruthlessly reminded them of their past actions.

     Some people asked how long the blacklist would be enforced, and the customer service replied that it was permanent.

     Customer service kindly reminds: “Don’t be lucky and think that the blacklist information will be cancelled in two years! The blacklist information of Xingzhou Island is permanently preserved, so cherish the qualification to enter and leave the island and travel in a civilized manner.”

     With these negative teaching materials, other tourists will be more cautious even if they may not come to Xingzhou Island again in the future, because no one can predict what will happen in the future. What if they want to come again?

     So after Xingzhou Island posted a notice not to feed dugongs, many tourists who took out bread with great enthusiasm gave up and turned to feed seabirds that were not explicitly prohibited from feeding.

     In addition to attracting dugongs, the Mermaid Square has also become a back garden for seabirds. When there are few people, they walk in the square, and when there are many people, they fly to the reefs below to find food.

     The activeness of tourists has not compressed their living space. On the contrary, more and more rare birds have appeared, making some places on the island a restricted area where tourists are prohibited from entering.

     But for tourists and relevant institutions, this mode of getting along is the most natural and harmonious. Xingzhou Island has handled the situation very well, protecting the environment and resources while developing tourism.

     Xingzhou Island has received a lot of support for balancing the protection of dugongs with the development of water entertainment projects on Xingzhou Island.

     Most people believe that the current operation model of Xingzhou Island will not affect or threaten dugongs, because the staff of the reserve tracked the dugongs after the physical examination, and the observation showed that their activity areas are generally concentrated in the waters of the reserve and will not go around to other places.

     But even so, some scientists think that this is not very safe, and require the protection scope of the reserve to be expanded, or the dugongs to be transferred to the dugong reserve in the neighboring province.

     This proposal was rejected by the leaders of Youshi and Lingnan Province. Now the eyes of the whole country are on Youshi. This is a good time to improve the tourism image of Youshi and Lingnan Province. How can it be given to the neighboring province? !

     Finally, the government decided to expand the sea area of the reserve to a reef island of only 6 hectares two nautical miles north of Xingzhou Island. The reserve will set up an observation point here to prohibit fishing boats from passing through this area, and also reduce the scope of the aquaculture sea to prevent dugongs from mistakenly entering the aquaculture area and being caught by fishermen.

     After the addition of six dugongs to the reserve, it has attracted attention from all walks of life in the province.

     Some people think that the level of the reserve should be raised. This proposal has been unanimously recognized by relevant departments, and it has been decided to upgrade the reserve to a provincial marine ecological special protection area, and actively apply for a national reserve.

     Xingzhou Island is not completely unaffected. In order to shorten the voyage and save fuel, the route of the boat fishing project was originally bypassed from the north, but now it is no longer possible and can only bypass from the south. Of course, for the safety of dugongs, Li Yaolin is also willing to adjust the route.

……

     “Ah, the little dugong is so cute! Brother Xuan, please make a keychain model of the little dugong for me!” Lin Qitong and Zheng Xuan came back from watching the dugong, and their hearts were melted by the cuteness.

     Zheng Xuan said: “The model will definitely be released, but not so soon.”

     The cultural and creative team has a lot of tasks recently. In addition to continuing to design postcards, they also have to make the second batch of models. Fortunately, the previous batch of models have been put on the shelves one after another, and the supply and demand relationship has also tended to be balanced. There is no need to worry about shortages in the short term, otherwise there will be more things for her to worry about.

     “That’s right, you who are engaged in cultural and creative design are much busier than our department that does publicity work.”

     Li Yaolin passed by and happened to hear what the little sister said. She smiled and said: “Is the publicity department very idle? Then I will add some work for you?”

     Lin Qitong: “…”

     Goodbye, no matter how close the relationship is, it can’t withstand the burning of overtime, which is a 1600℃ fire!

     Don’t let the sisters become rapeseed flowers and be squeezed whenever you want.

     Li Yaolin laughed when she saw her bitter face and said, “Just kidding, but New Year’s Day is coming soon. Although Xingzhou Island does not hold large-scale New Year’s Eve activities, there are still many tourists who will come here to celebrate the New Year, so a lot of publicity work needs to be done well.”

     Lin Qitong nodded: “Don’t worry, I have experience and will arrange it properly.”

     Li Yaolin asked again: “I saw you on the duty list, you won’t go home on New Year’s Day?”

     Zheng Xuan shook her head: “I will go back during the Spring Festival.”

     Lin Qitong also said: “I only went back once in October, there is no need to go back so frequently. Besides, you all stay here, I have to stay to accompany you to celebrate the New Year!”

     Zheng Xuan smiled and asked: “Are you sure you are not working overtime with us?”

     Lin Qitong: “?!”

     Yes, these two people, one is the island owner who works all year round, and the other is an overtime maniac who develops her hobby into a career, so even the holidays are spent enjoying the fun of work. Could she and them spend New Year’s Eve in this office?

     “Just kidding, I’m going to go camping, experience the fun of camping, and observe the camping life of tourists. Maybe it can provide me with a lot of inspiration.” Zheng Xuan said, “Why don’t you two come to accompany me?”

     Lin Qitong had no objection. Li Yaolin thought that she had developed the camping area for so long and had never experienced it, so she readily agreed.

     At this time, Lin Qitong remembered something and asked Li Yaolin: “By the way, Sanniang, who designed the mermaid statue in the Mermaid Square?”

     Li Yaolin did not answer but asked: “What’s wrong?”

     Lin Qitong touched her chin: “I always feel that I have seen it somewhere. Could it be that a designer carved it according to myself?”

     Li Yaolin wondered how Lin Qitong recognized the little mermaid when she didn’t even see the face of the mermaid sculpture clearly?

     Suddenly, Lin Qitong gestured and said, “I remember, I saw her when I was dancing in a bar, but she was not tall… If you cut off the curly fishtail, it would be almost her height. Although she looks like a primary school student, her dance is very hot, and her ID card has to be checked every time she goes on stage.”

     Li Yaolin: “?”

     Zheng Xuan asked: “The face of the mermaid sculpture is almost covered, how did you recognize it? No, the key point should be when did you go to the bar to dance?”

     “I have only been there a few times. But I didn’t drink. I brought water with me.”

      Lin Qitong said, “I’m not the point. The point is the posture of this sculpture. I’ve seen it with that girl who was dancing, and it’s exactly the same! Because her contrast is too big, I’m impressed.” 

     Li Yaolin tapped the phone and asked the little mermaid in her heart: “So you get off work on time every day and refuse to work overtime, just to go to the bar to dance at night?”

     Little mermaid: “…”