Chapter 42.1

After calming Lightning and Tayun, Mu Ling rushed to the supermarket to help restock shelves. She had barely begun when Xiao Zhao, the ticket clerk, approached.

“Director, someone’s here to see you.”

Mu Ling glanced toward the zoo’s entrance, dusted her hands, and walked over. To her surprise, she found Director Wang waiting, accompanied by two unfamiliar faces.

Hurrying forward, Mu Ling shook Director Wang’s hand before turning to the strangers. With a broad smile, Director Wang introduced them: “Director Mu, meet Director Liu from the Land Planning Bureau and Director Fang from the Tourism Bureau. Knowing your morning would be busy, we arranged to come this afternoon to congratulate you on the opening.”

Flattered and surprised, Mu Ling quickly shook hands with both directors. “Thank you for taking the time to visit. Please, come in; don’t just stand at the door.”

As they walked, Director Liu spoke first. “Director Mu, I heard you’re only accepting 1,000 visitors on your opening day?”

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Mu Ling replied, “Yes, we’re not equipped to handle more yet. This is a wildlife zoo, unlike regular zoos with caged animals. We can’t let guests roam freely; we must guide them personally, ensuring their safety. Being short-staffed, we had to limit visitor numbers.”

Director Fang nodded. “Running a zoo and acting as tour guides? Sounds exhausting.”

Director Wang added, “And the animals here are not easy to spot, which is also a big problem.”

Mu Ling quickly reassured him, “Oh, that’s not an issue anymore. The animals are quite easy to see now.”

Surprised, Director Wang asked, “How did you manage that?”

It was well-known that the previous closure of Bi Ke Zoo was due in part to how difficult it was for visitors to see the animals.

Mu Ling did not hide anything and explained how she had been building relationships with the animals by going into the mountains every day. She concluded with, “In short, the herbivores in the mountains have gradually become accustomed to human presence. Some docile animals can even interact with visitors now. Of course, the carnivorous animals in the inner area remain quite wary. However, we will compensate for visitors’ inability to see them in other ways. For example, look over here.”

As Mu Ling led them further inside, they soon came across a large glass house mostly obscured by the supermarket

“This is our animal dormitory, open to visitors for a few hours daily. Those wanting to see carnivores or war beasts can view them here.”

The spacious, brightly lit capsule house was surrounded by at least 200 people.

Director Fang looked surprised. “The entrance seemed quiet earlier. I thought fewer people came in the afternoon, or most were still in the mountains. But everyone’s gathered here.”

Mu Ling smiled and said, “Indeed, some visitors haven’t come down from the mountain yet. However, those who have come down haven’t left either. In fact, our zoo has received a total of 1,032 visitors today so far, but not a single one has left early.”

“Not a single one?” Director Wang was incredulous. “How is that possible?”

Zoos typically don’t keep visitors for an entire day. Most people either come in the morning and leave by noon, or arrive in the afternoon and leave by evening. Even a half-day visit is quite long. But Director Mu was saying that of the thousand guests who arrived in the morning, not one had left yet?

This…

Even if Bi Ke Zoo was especially popular recently, surely out of over a thousand people, there would be one or two who came, looked around, and felt disappointed, right?

Seeing that the directors were skeptical, Mu Ling suggested, “Why don’t you both go over and see for yourselves? You can also interview our visitors and ask if they’re enjoying themselves today.”

Mu Ling led the two directors over.

As they approached, a sudden burst of exclamations erupted from the crowd, with people shouting things like “Ah! I’ll always love Qilin!”, “This zoo is nothing without Qilin!”, and “Our Qilin is really so warm-hearted!”

Curious about what the visitors were saying, Mu Ling stood on her tiptoes to look into the glass house. She only saw Qilin spitting out a small yellow rubber duck from its mouth, tossing it in front of the wolf cub, then haughtily returning to its soft cushion to sleep.

There didn’t seem to be anything substantial happening.

Director Wang asked a visitor in front, “Excuse me, what just happened?”

The visitor, without turning around, quickly explained, “Little Wolf was playing with a small yellow duck when it got distracted by a ball in the corner. While it went off to play with that ball, Tayun suddenly swooped down and grabbed Little Wolf’s yellow duck! Little Wolf panicked! After flying around for a while with it in its grasp, Tayun casually dropped it on top of a climbing frame where Little Wolf couldn’t reach it and fell several times trying! In the end, Qilin couldn’t bear it any longer; it jumped up two steps and brought Little Wolf’s yellow duck back down!”

The visitor became increasingly excited as they spoke, “Our Qilin is truly perfect! Qingjiao and Lightning were still playing in the water, only Qilin noticed the wolf cub had lost its duck and specially went to get it for him. Qilin is really so kind, attentive, and warm. As a loyal fan of the Crown Princess, I’ll always love Qilin the Crown Princess!”

Mu Ling was speechless..

How did this suddenly turn into chanting slogans?

As this visitor called out, others around who heard joined in, shouting, “I’m a fan of the Crown Princess, I’ll always love the Crown Princess!”

“I’m a fan of the Crown Princess, I’ll always…”

Stop, stop, please come to your senses!

Mu Ling was dumbfounded. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that usually, Qilin was the one who stole little wolf rubber duck the most. Qilin probably had a strange possessiveness, thinking only it could use the duck to tease the wolf cub, and others couldn’t. That’s why it helped little wolf retrieve the duck.

But surely this doesn’t deserve such praise?

As for Tayun…

Mu Ling looked at Tayun soaring in the air. After flying for a while, it suddenly swooped down, instantly grabbed a stuffed toy, and continued circling in the sky.

Was Tayun practicing hunting?

Mu Ling was deeply moved. As expected of the muscle-bound male who ate snake gall daily, always remembering to exercise and improve itself. What a disciplined eagle!

At that moment Director Wang seemed stunned as he frowned and asked Mu Ling: “Director Mu, is that eagle Tayun? How can it still fly?”

Mu Ling: “…”

She had almost forgotten that she had previously communicated with Director Wang about whether to give Tayun a wing-softening injection. Director Wang had insisted on it at the time, but Mu Ling hadn’t done it and hadn’t told Director Wang.

Mu Ling scratched her face, feeling a bit guilty, and said, “Sir, actually that’s not Tayun. It’s Tayun’s younger brother, Fengyun.”

Director Wang: “…”

Does he look like an idiot?

At this moment Director Fang chimed in: “That eagle seems like it’s entering its mating season.”

Mu Ling was startled and immediately looked at Director Fang.

Director Liu smiled and said, “Director Fang used to work in forestry before transferring over to tourism. He’s very knowledgeable about birds.”

Mu Ling hadn’t expected him to be an expert; she quickly asked: “Director! You just said Tayun is entering its mating season?”

Director Wang interjected: “Isn’t it Fengyun?”

Mu Ling: “…”

Director Fang laughed but didn’t pay attention to their banter; he continued: “It looks like it might have failed at courting someone and is now practicing hunting skills—strengthening itself, preparing to try again. Does your park have any other eagles? It might have its eye on another eagle.”

Mu Ling: “…”

Mu Ling gazed silently at the male eagle working out diligently in the glass house and suddenly felt like saying nothing at all.

Director Liu examined the animals inside again before asking: “These ones—except for that little wolf—are all S-class retired war beasts?”

Mu Ling nodded with a smile, “Yes, they are.”

Director Liu stared at Mu Ling for a while, then said, “Very impressive.”

It seemed Directors Liu and Fang were quite interested in Qilin as they stood nearby watching without leaving.

Meanwhile Director Wang pulled Mu Ling aside for a private conversation: “I initially planned on coming alone today but got stopped by these two right as I stepped out—they insisted on accompanying me. I suspect they might have other intentions.”

Confused by this remark, Mu Ling asked: “What intentions?”

Director Wang pondered briefly before responding seriously: “The Tourism Bureau’s goal is simple—they definitely want your Bi Ke Zoo’s reputation to grow as much as possible so that it can boost tourism across Shenwang Star. You wouldn’t believe how lively things were at Botanical Garden when we arrived—it was bustling! Your zoo only admitted one thousand visitors today while there were at least ten thousand tourists at Botanical Garden because of your opening.”

Mu Ling had heard from visitors earlier about how lively things were down at Botanical Garden this morning—it even caused temporary traffic jams—but she hadn’t expected there would be ten thousand tourists!

How enviable!

Director Wang continued: “I think Director Fang must’ve received news about this early this morning; hence why he sought me out this afternoon specifically. Don’t mind him too much—he just came here to assess the situation—It’s Director Liu I can’t quite figure out. The land of your Bi Ke Zoo is all your own property, what does it have to do with his Land Planning Bureau? Why is he joining in?”

Mu Ling blinked innocently: “Perhaps Director Liu is also a fan of Qilin but couldn’t get a ticket to come in?”

As she spoke she looked ahead and immediately saw Director Fang smiling while observing everything with his hands behind his back. Meanwhile Director Liu had already positioned his holographic camera atop his head while frantically snapping photos of everything inside the glass house.

His enthusiasm seemed so intense he blended right into those surrounding fervent fans!

Director Wang: “…”

He actually found Mu Ling’s reasoning somewhat plausible!

Could Old Liu really be trying to sneak in without paying?

After pondering for a moment, Director Wang still said, “I’ll try to sound him out later.”

Mu Ling smiled warmly at Director Wang and gratefully said: “Thank you for being so good towards our Bi Ke Zoo! Having such a dedicated forestry bureau chief like you truly is a blessing for all zoos across Shenwang Star!”

Director Wang shot her an exasperated glance: “Stop buttering me up; resolving issues for you is my job.”

As he spoke he surveyed around their entire park before sincerely stating: “But considering you’ve only been managing Bi Ke Zoo for half a month—you’ve managed things so well already! I must say Xiao Mu—you’re quite capable.”

Mu Ling felt embarrassed by Director Wang’s praise and blushed, saying, “Actually right now our zoo has just started out—we still lack many animals! Even when visitors enter the mountains and see animals, they often have to ride for ten or fifteen minutes after seeing one type of animal before they can see the next. The interval is really too long; the animals are just too spread out.”