Those Years I Opened a Zoo Chapter 36

Translator: Red

Editor: Rega

Chapter 36: Huang Qi’s Repayment

Duan Jiaze didn’t introduce Huang Qi to the rest during the first night. He first made a serious statement about this matter; there was an outsider that would be coming in to live with them.

Moreover, he also took into consideration the expansion of the zoo in the future, it was likely that these sort of cases would happen more frequently. There would be more and more ordinary people staying here at night.

In that case, before anything else, everyone must be careful. When it was time to knock off work, whoever that needed a body double in the exhibition areas must make sure they had put a body double in it.

“So, everyone must be serious about their discipline. We can’t be so negligent at night…” Duan Jiaze said optimistically. “That, Bai-jiě, please put away your tail.”

Bai Suzhen was lying on the sofa with a facial mask on her face. That facial mask was gifted by Xiao Su. Perhaps it was too comfortable for her, as the lower part of her body had turned into a tail with half of her body on the sofa while the other half was dangling toward the ground.

If he were to talk about it, among themselves, these two snakes were the most casual.

Duan Jiaze was almost scared senseless when he first saw Bai Suzhen’s half-human, half-snake form. Her tail was much bigger than when she was acting as a Blizzard1 Python in the zoo. Moreover, being half-human and half-snake just looked too odd.

—Bai-jiě almost had to steal the spiritual grass again. 2

Luya’s cultivation was the most profound so there’s no way he would reveal even the least bit of his true form. At this time, he spoke with disdain, “I’m not interested in exposing my third leg just whenever.”

Duan Jiaze muttered, “Bullshit, I ain’t too.”

As for You Su, although she was a little lazy and lax in restraining her demonic aura, she still tucked in her tails properly. Maybe she had suffered some losses when she was in the Shang Dynasty. 3

When Duan Jiaze saw that Bai Suzhen had tucked her tail, he then continued, “In order to prevent chaos in the world, I hope every one of you can endure a little and not scare those ordinary citizens.”

Seeing that everyone, including Luya, had nodded obediently, Duan Jiaze was relieved.

“And now, I want to put forward a principle,” Duan Jiaze held out a finger, “that is, whatever that can be solved with dogs, we should never use birds, foxes, or snakes.”

Everyone: “…”

What the hell did that mean? A bird, a fox, and two snakes felt black lines appearing on their faces because of this.

“Woof.” The four little mixed-breed puppies laid on the ground, munching on their food.

Hu Dawei had given them a portion of his meat and it was mixed with their food. As if they had heard themselves being mentioned, they raised their heads and looked up with their big and sparkling eyes.

Everyone stared at the four dogs in question. The biggest of them was only as big as two adult-sized palms.

Wasn’t this disparity too great? Sending these puppies out first… what could they deal with?

“…They will grow up.” Duan Jiaze blushed and explained, “That is to say, if there’s an attempt to harm Lingyou in the future, including thieves, we can release the dogs. We should not use any magic. This is also a rational use of resources.”

That’s right. Whatever that dogs could deal with, would there be a need to employ them to action?

After Luya thought for a while, he nodded in agreement. Who knew what he was thinking about.

This benevolent principle had saved many people afterward. It added a defense line before Luya, You Su, Bai Suzhen, Xiao Qing, and other super lethal weapons.

You would already be given another chance to live before you seek death at Lingyou.

It’s just that for those who kept looking for trouble would be more miserable, they would directly jump from mixed-breed dogs to a Three-legged Golden Crow.

……

Duan Jiaze looked through Huang Qi’s resume once and it really matched what he had said. Since there was nothing for him to hide, they immediately signed an employment contract.

“The most suitable position for your profession should be the tourism marketing administrator, who will be responsible for tourism management and event planning.” Duan Jiaze looked at his phone and told him.

Huang Qi glimpsed at Duan Jiaze’s phone and unexpectedly saw a recruiting website. He couldn’t help feeling suspicious, and with a sudden turn of his thoughts, he asked, “It can’t be that you don’t know the different job positions a zoo should have?”

Duan Jiaze: “…”

Duan Jiaze: “Of-of course not! “

…He really didn’t know previously. It was only when he dealt with other zoos that he gained some understanding, but back then he couldn’t write down the responsibilities and requirements of each job immediately, so he searched the Internet for the hiring requirements of other zoos.

Huang Qi looked at Duan Jiaze in doubt.

In fact, he got to know Lingyou Zoo through Duan Jiaze’s mouth and found that although the equipment here was advanced, it was just like a grass-roots team that was very disorganized. From top to bottom, there was no professionals in the team.

There was one who worked in the security industry, another who studied environmental engineering, the director who also studied environmental engineering, and even the financier was actually in the Chinese department.

As for the employee on the night shift, he didn’t go to school at all, and many positions were vacant.

That was to say, the head was willing to throw his money in. His connections were strong and this location was good, hence it was able to achieve its current state. There was even a decent amount of tourists.

When Huang Qi resigned from his original job, many people came to ask him to stay, and other companies came to inquire about it. When they heard that Huang Qi went to a zoo, they were doubting their ears.

The working ceiling of every industry was different. What can you achieve by working on top of a zoo?

…They still didn’t know that Huang Qi came in with money, otherwise, they might go crazy.

…

Duan Jiaze nonchalantly brought Huang Qi around so that he would get acquainted with the rest of the employees. It was obvious that Hu Dawei wasn’t present amongst the employees, but he still informed Huang Qi about Hu Dawei’s existence and that he was responsible for feeding the animals— which, of course, was a facade.

After washing up, changing his clothes and shaving his stubble, Huang Qi looked so invigorated that Xu Chenggong and Liu Bin could hardly recognize him.

They had been gossiping about Huang Qi with the rest just now, so now everyone was watching this legendary figure.

This was the elite who was willing to give up his million yearly salary to work in a zoo for the Arctic Fox?

Huang Qi was very modest in his speech. “It is also recently that I am getting started in this industry. Everyone is my senior and as the saying goes, the one who discovers the truth should be the teacher, I hope to receive an abundance of your teachings in the future.”

At present, he was the person with the highest education and achievements, so everyone couldn’t help feeling flattered.

You say, why did such an excellent person have such a pessmistic mindset? Or was it because once someone reached beyond that level, their pursuit would differ from others?

As Xiao Su was also responsible for publicity, Huang Qi’s work scope required him to have more interactions with her.

Huang Qi found out from Duan Jiaze and Xiao Su that the management here was not of an average messiness. Due to the small number of people, unclear responsibilities and unclear accounts, the fund would circulate in more than one place. However, this was a private zoo after all, if the boss wanted you to do so, you had to do so.

However, for Huang Qi, these weren’t important. Based on his social experience, although he might not have worked in the zoo industry before, coping with the current situation was still doable for him.

Then, Huang Qi learned from other employees about the origin of the zoo, and also learned that the director was ambitious. He contracted all the land beside the zoo to expand the scale of the business. Lingyou Zoo would surely grow bigger and bigger in the future.

Seeing how Duan Jiaze had upgraded the equipment so well, this point was certainly true.

Huang Qi thought that since he was already here, the director was also a young man with dreams, so if there were any opportunities, he wouldn’t mind using his previous connections to pull some cooperations for his new company. In any case, looking from the objectively, being the management here, the director had really saved his life.

…

At the time being, Huang Qi did not have any urgent job to complete. Besides, he was still trying to familiarise himself with the situation. On his first day, he was very relaxed. He helped his colleagues in every aspect to better understand the zoo.

When everyone looked at Huang Qi, it seemed like they were watching the sweeping monk in Shaolin Temple. 4

When it’s dinner time, Duan Jiaze introduced Huang Qi to Luya and the rest, who were Luya’s so-called friends and family.

Huang Qi had seen many good-looking people, but this family still gave him that sort of dazzling feeling.

At the dinner table, between Huang Qi’s conversations with them, he also secretly made some investigations. Similar to the conversation between his colleagues in daytime, apart from understanding work, he aimed to find out the key reason of why he was able to remain safe here.

Huang Qi knew plenty of atheists, just like himself before, he had been regarded as a madman, so he dared not publicize anything. He was afraid of being driven out before he could even find out the reason. So now that he could stay here, he was going to inquire about it.

But he didn’t find out anything. Huang Qi knew nothing about this aspect, but the more he looked at the animals here, the more intelligent he thought they were. At present, he guessed that there might be some geomantic treasure here, or perhaps some spiritual things might have been buried in the land.

Huang Qi had never once thought that humans might be the cause. After all, he had behaved so abnormally that he didn’t think there would be anything terrifying here, because, in his mind, the most terrifying thing was that ghost. Here, when compared with his situation, rationally speaking, of course this place would be on the righteous side.

He had completely neglected that what could cause fear in those evil entities might not just be righteousness, but something even more vicious…

After dinner, Luya immersed himself in playing games. Meanwhile Duan Jiaze, Bai Suzhen, and Xiao Qing played fighting the landlord together5.

You Su sat on a small bench to watch the sunset. Huang Qi squatted beside her and handed her a lollipop.

You Su took the lollipop and sweetly said, “Thank you, Gēgē.”

Huang Qi sat down on the ground and enjoyed the sunset. It was the most relaxing day for him in several months.

“Gēgē, did you really come to Lingyou because of the Arctic Fox?” You Su spoke unclearly as she sucked the lollipop in her mouth.

“Sweeping Monk” Huang Qi revealed the vicissitudes of life and looked at the child who didn’t understand anything. He smiled bitterly. “Of course not, I have my own difficulties, but if I say I won’t dream of nightmares here, how many people would believe me?”

You Su: 0.0

Huang Qi sighed. “I can only speak truthfully to children…”

You Su: =. =

The following day when Huang Qi was helping out in the zoo, he saw Shao Wuxing who had come here to deliver the account books and became startled. There’s actually a Taoist Priest?

Huang Qi immediately went to ask Xiao Su about why this person came here and she passed a coupon ticket for him to see. “Our cooperative partner, do you know about Linshui Temple? He’s the Chairman there. We sell combined tickets6 together.” Xiao Su softly said, “I heard it’s because Yuán Zhǎng have helped him before.”

At that time when Huang Qi had sought various kinds of methods to treat his illness, he had considered Linshui Temple before, however, as he had said before, in the viewpoint of an outsider, Linshui Temple was well-known for being a historical site and scenic spot. He also felt that they were merely playing a hoax, hence, even though Huang Qi knew about them, he had never considered them, yet at this time, he unexpectedly encountered them.

A thought flashed in Huang Qi’s mind, could this be the reason why Lingyou could ward off evil? The director had helped the Taoist Priest, so in order to pay the debt of gratitude, the Taoist Priest decided to sell combined tickets? Maybe he even placed some talismans, magic artifacts, and such in here, but everyone was without no one being the wiser? This added up!

Huang Qi immediately rushed forward and chased after Shao Wuxing. “Dào Zhǎng, Dào Zhǎng!”

Shao Wuxing just saw him and knew that he was a new employee, so with a good attitude, he halted. “What’s the matter? Are there any more problems?”

“No, Dào Zhǎng.” Huang Qi agitatedly told Shao Wuxing his situation. “Would you be able to help me? As long as I step out of here, I will be haunted.”

When Shao Wuxing heard that he gave the director twelve thousand yuan just so that he could stay here, he immediately sweat. With twelve thousand yuan, he could stay here and receive Lay Buddhist Lu’s protection, why are you still begging me?

Duan Jiaze had already took the money, and Huang Qi was Lingyou’s employee now, Shao Wuxing didn’t dare to take the liberty to intervene in this matter.

—Although this was considered snatching their business, Shao Wuxing also didn’t dare to have any objections!

Moreover, this person said something about a vengeful spirit waiting outside the zoo, but Shao Wuxing didn’t even sense the least bit of it, so either it had dispersed or it was far beyond the scope of his ability. After all, according to what Huang Qi had said, that spirit could make trouble even under the sun.

Shao Wuxing was also being well-intentioned, so he sincerely told him, “Sir, I think you should stay here. I might not necessarily be able to ensure your safety, but this place can!”

Huang Qi was stunned.

Shao Wuxing nodded and turned to leave. Halfway through, he turned his head back and hesitatingly said, “I didn’t say anything!”

This seemed to be warning him that the masters were in hiding and disinclined to reveal themselves.

Huang Qi faced his back as he pondered over his words in confusion and stupefaction. Combined with Xiao Su’s words, he came up with a very audacious conjecture— or in other words, intelligent people looked too much into stuff.

Huang Qi pondered, could it be that the true Master was the young Director Duan, so when Xiao Su said he had helped Shao Wuxing before, it wasn’t referring to the general affairs of the mundane world, but their professional special field of study, hence Shao Wuxing spoke such words?

So, it turned out that Director was the real sweeping monk!

……

“Huang Qi, what are you doing?” Duan Jiaze happened to pass by and saw Huang Qi’s dazed appearance, so he asked offhandedly.

Huang Qi quivered and came back to his senses. He looked at Duan Jiaze with some reverence and thought back to how he had refused him over and over again yesterday before reluctantly accepting his request in the end. This was too horrible to contemplate! There was a possibility that saving himself was not a small matter for Director!

At this moment, Huang Qi felt a deep sense of veneration, as if he had instantly gained an explicit goal. “Yuán Zhǎnɡ.”

Duan Jiaze looked at how Huang Qi called him in an extremely deferential way. His tone was similar to Hu Dawei’s and it was causing him to get goosebumps. He was younger than Huang Qi by quite a good deal, okay. “Are you alright?”

“I am fine,” Huang Qi seriously said, “as Lingyou’s tourism marketing administrator, as someone part of Lingyou (accented), I was just thinking whether I’ll be able to contribute to Lingyou’s development.”

Duan Jiaze was very interested in this because this was connected to his life, so he prodded, “How do you mean?”

Huang Qi said, “I think that in order to become bigger, stronger, and be a national level zoo, our popularity must be increased by a large margin. I have a good idea, and it is to invite people to film here. We would be able to increase our reputation by a larger scale, if not, we could still attract more locals to come and visit us…”

Duan Jiaze hesitatingly said, “In that case, could it be that you have connections?”

Huang Qi: “I am indeed acquainted with some friends from the drama and television, and commercial industry through my previous job.”

If he didn’t have any connections, would he have the nerve to tell Duan Jiaze?

This wasn’t a difficult idea to come up with. Everyone knew the benefits of appearing in movies, television, and advertisements, but not everyone had the social connections or the face, and only being rich wouldn’t be sufficient either.

Duan Jiaze was going mad from happiness.

Which living immortal sent Huang Qi over? Not talking about how he was giving him money, he was even finding connections for him! This was basically an add-on the system had gifted him.

Duan Jiaze patted Huang Qi. “Brother, I know you don’t lack money, but if this really happens, I don’t know how I should thank you?”

Huang Qi hurriedly said, “Yuán Zhǎnɡ, don’t say such words, I should be thanking you for your willingness to take me in!”

That Master from the Taoist Temple didn’t even have the confidence to save his life, but Director resolutely decided to take him in after some considerations. What kind of exemplary conduct and nobility of character was this?

“Don’t say such words.” Duan Jiaze waved his hand.

He was inwardly thinking, that’s right, now that Huang Qi had mentioned it, he had to thank You Su, because he was You Su’s fan ah.

For You Su, he begged to stay here and even helped out big time, now that he was finding connections for them, could it be because he wanted to make You Su famous… he had to tell You Su about it when he headed back.

Don’t talk about any other things, he had to reward the Arctic Fox fifty handshake coupons first. (There’s no such thing!)…

.

Duan Jiaze took a look at the accounts at Xiao Su’s side. Due to the task, he had to check the account almost every several days, and looking at it now, the distance to achieving the task of getting thirty thousand yuan was getting closer and closer.

Following this progression, when the time limit that was due a little more than one week later arrived, he should be able to complete the task in time.

Duan Jiaze was very pleased, he calculated that he would be able to build a big building after the reward had been granted. That white building was really too shabby, giving a strong sense of age, and even the walls were painted badly.

With his mood changing for the better, Duan Jiaze then ran to tell You Su,  “That little fan of yours is going to be helping us a great deal, interact with him more when you work. We don’t have anything much that we can thank him with.”

You Su was eating snacks at this moment, she chewed as she said, “…munch, munch… a fake fan. He came here because a vengeful spirit was haunting him… munch, munch.”

You Su was also originally confused by this development, but who asked the human to come running to her and complain?

Duan Jiaze was surprised to hear the truth and was frightened. “There’s a ghost? How come I didn’t know there’s a ghost? Did that ghost come in?”

“Yuán Zhǎng, with Dào Jūn around, how could it be possible that any ghost and demon would dare to come in? When you go back, you can also ask Dào Jūn to burn it directly,” You Su nonchalantly said, “he treats this place as a Taoist Temple, so just spend that twelve thousand as you want, it’s considered money spent to save his life.”

Duan Jiaze’s expression was a little complex when he heard this, and he suddenly thought that by receiving payment to handle their affairs, they were just the same as demons and Taoist Priest.

After all, Duan Jiaze had just entered society not long ago, even with the demons teaching him to be more black-hearted, he wouldn’t be able to change himself within such a short period, and he always felt a little shameful about doing this.

But now that You Su was aware, she would certainly be unwilling to suffer any losses, just like how she had blackmailed Linshui Temple last time.

So after pondering for excuses for a while, Duan Jiaze ran off to find Huang Qi, and acted like he was superstitious and implicitly mentioned that there was a very effective local Taoist Temple.

Furthermore, he had invited a Taoist Priest over, and the Taoist Priest felt that the zoo’s geomancy was pretty good. There’s nothing unclean and for whoever was interested, he could introduce a Taoist Priest to do a ritual.

The topic of discussion then changed, and he asked Huang Qi, would he really not regret coming here to work? Wouldn’t he want to go back? However, if he leaves, the twelve thousand yuan isn’t refundable oh.

In Huang Qi’s ears, the director was hinting to him that he could leave since that vengeful spirit had scattered away.

Huang Qi rejoiced at first, and he straightaway went to pack his luggage, however, as he was packing, the more he thought about it, and his brain was filled with thousands of thoughts. He calmed down afterward and went to look for Duan Jiaze.

“Yuán Zhǎng, since I’ve already signed the contract, at the very minimum, I will work for one full year.”

Duan Jiaze looked strangely at Huang Qi. “You really won’t regret? If you go back now, you can still go back to your original job.”

“It’s pretty good here.” Huang Qi smiled. “I should settle down too.”

This incident had given Huang Qi too much shock that his three views had been toppled. He had even walked around the edge of life and death.

After a thorough pondering, Huang Qi felt that living wasn’t easy, was there a need for him to immediately rush back and continue to work desperately? He was going bald from working overtime everyday, and it was time for him to take a break. Life was really too precious.

East Sea City had enchanting scenery, the air in Cape Mountain was also fresh and clean, there was nothing bad about staying here for a period of time with the animals as companions. These two days had been relaxing and carefree, and it gave him a sense of coziness which he hadn’t felt for a long time.

Previously, Huang Qi had put in all his effort to work and used his life in exchange for money, he had even watched an example of those of the same occupation as him dying suddenly but it couldn’t stop him from slowing down his pace. This experience had truly impacted Huang Qi.

Likewise, Huang Qi felt that if he wanted to repay a debt of gratitude, then he should do it properly. At least until he had settled the matters of getting the zoo filmed and obtained results before he would go.

Duan Jiaze was getting moody. The mindset of wealthy people were really different.

He was still feeling bad about it, but the person still wanted to stay behind and work for him. Was he staying behind because of the vengeful spirit or because he fell in love with the Arctic Fox?

How would Huang Qi know what Duan Jiaze was thinking about? After he made this decision by himself, his mentality had risen to a higher level, and felt sense of detachment.

After dinner, Huang Qi passed another lollipop to You Su and sat beside her. He treated the little girl like a tree hole and pleasantly said, “I have begged so many people before, but when I truly obtained extrication, I chose to stay. In the face of life and death, a person would really change…”

You Su: “0.0”

Huang Qi smiled and touched You Su’s head. “You will understand when you grow up.”

Spirit Sword Sovereign
Dragon Ball Multiverse
Player Reborn (2019)
Random Room (Espau00f1ol)

Chapter end

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