Super Zoo

Mr. Song was earnestly trying to persuade Suming, after all, coming up with nine hundred thousand all of a sudden was too much. It was a lot of money not only for a young man who had just graduated and came from a not-so-well-off family background, but even for a middle-class family, nine hundred thousand was not a small sum.

When Mr. Song heard Suming agree without hesitation, he was taken aback and stared at Suming for a long time before asking uncertainly, "Do you have nine hundred thousand?"

"Look at what you're saying, if I didn't have the money, why would I even talk to you about this?" Suming said with a smile.

Mr. Song paced back and forth in his office twice before frowning and saying, "That's not right, your lake pavilion's boating business is doing well, but it's been less than a month, at most you would have made seventy or eighty thousand, where did you suddenly get so much money? Su, you didn't borrow it, did you? Borrowing money for business isn't wise!"

"Heh heh, Mr. Song, what if I told you I had some damn good luck and a big pile of money fell from the sky, would you believe me?"

"You're not going to say you won the lottery, are you?"

"It's similar to winning the lottery."

Suming chuckled and didn't try to hide anything, he straightforwardly told the story of auctioning the Monkey Wine.

Just like with Zhao Yun, Suming also omitted a detail at this time, not mentioning that the Monkey Wine was made by the Monkey King in the zoo. Instead, he said that he had gone hiking in the back mountains during his free time, stumbled into a small valley by chance, and discovered the Monkey Wine. Then with Zhao Yun's help, he auctioned it off at the Xiangjiang auction house to some capital-rich fool.

Although this explanation sounded a bit exaggerated, even legendary, upon scrutiny, there were no flaws.

Furthermore, with Zhao Yun's help, Mr. Song, who had been a leader for decades, was well aware of Zhao Yun's background. With a major player like Zhao Yun aiding him, making a few million was not difficult.

Even without the Monkey Wine incident, given Zhao Yun's background and connections, helping a young man up the ladder would be easy, especially since Suming was his daughter's lifesaver.

Suming never intended to hide the fact that he made money from the auction. With more than three million at his disposal, why would he still pretend to be poor and live a hard life? That's no different from being broke. At least when he was broke, living a hard life felt justified. But having money and not daring to spend it, constantly hiding it and being overly cautious, that would be utterly depressing.

So, he might as well admit it boldly, "I'm just lucky, what you gonna do about it?"

The 'honesty' of Suming actually dispelled any doubts Mr. Song had. There aren't many people who are lucky, but they do exist. Newspapers and TV reports every other day about someone who found a treasure and made a fortune overnight. Just a few days ago, there was a report about a farmer who found a meteorite Luminous Pearl worth over sixty million. Compared to that, Suming's three million seemed rather modest.

After listening to Suming's explanation, Mr. Song was stunned for a moment, and then marveled at how incredibly fortunate Suming's luck was, almost equivalent to winning the lottery.

"Heh heh, when people win the lottery, it's like five million or a few billion. I only made just over three million, still a long way to go," Suming laughed.

"Don't act like you're being coy after snagging a bargain, young man. Now that you have money, as a member of the zoo, it wouldn't be too much to ask for a donation to the zoo, would it?"

"Ah?" Suming's face turned dark all at once—it was instant karma!

Mr. Song was quite straightforward and said, "It's not easy being in charge here. We can't even afford to install cameras in the zoo, so don't make a face like it's hurting your wallet. I won't ask for much, just donate thirty to fifty thousand to beef up the security around the areas where we keep the top-tier protected animals. It can be counted as your contribution. That way, when I submit the contract to my superiors, it will go through the approval process much smoother."

"Sure thing, since you've asked, let's not do thirty or fifty thousand—just add thirty to fifty, making eighty thousand. Let's round it up, I'll throw in another twenty thousand, for a total donation of one hundred thousand!" Suming said with the air of a nouveau riche squandering his fortune.

The feeling of tossing money around was a mix of pain and pleasure—the poor resent the rich not because the rich spend foolishly, but because they envy them for being able to spend lavishly. Some say that spending money hand over fist, just like making large sums, is one of life's greatest pleasures.

The rest of the affair went smoothly. By noon that same day, Mr. Song had made contact with their overseeing agency and garnered their approval.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Song also secured an extra perk for Suming: since Shuijun Lake was sitting idle, and it wasn't being rented out to outsiders anyway, if Suming paid the lease in full for three years upfront, the first year would be at two hundred thousand, the second year at two hundred and fifty thousand, and only the third year would at three hundred thousand.

Suming hadn't planned on paying in installments anyway. With this calculation, minus the hundred thousand donated to the zoo, Suming saved an additional fifty thousand.

Everyone was pleased—the government reduced the financial burden on the zoo, the zoo got money to improve security and a one-time income of seven hundred and fifty thousand, and Suming acquired three years of ownership and management rights over a large lake.

Just the cost of renting excavators to dig a lake the size of a hundred acres would have taken a huge sum out of Suming's pocket, not to mention that Shuijun Lake had all kinds of facilities already in place. Taking it over as-is saved Suming a great deal of effort and money.

"You better do a good job. Once you've made some achievements, I'll find a way to get you nominated for Yangchuan City's Outstanding Entrepreneur," the zoo director said, patting Suming's shoulder heavily.

Suming grinned, "Please don't, you've already cost me seven to eighty thousand just for being an 'Outstanding Worker of the Zoo.' I don't dare to take on any city-level distinctions—that might cost me even more, and I certainly don't have enough money for that."

"By the time you're recognized as a city-level Outstanding Entrepreneur, you won't even blink at tens or hundreds of thousands," Mr. Song said.

He made sense—anyone qualifying for a city badge typically boasts assets worth hundreds of millions.

Suming didn't even have to wait to accumulate a fortune of a hundred million. After news spread through the zoo that he had become a millionaire of three million simply by stumbling upon 'Monkey Wine,' it caused quite a stir.

Upon hearing that Suming made a few million from finding something like 'Monkey Wine,' Mrs. Tong's eyes widened as if they were about to pop out. When she was overseeing Suming's contract signing, she kept asking if he had a girlfriend and what type of girls he liked, acting every bit the eager matchmaker, which actually made Suming quite embarrassed.

"Sister Tong, I'm still young. The state advocates for late marriage and late childbirth, so isn't it too soon to be thinking about getting married?" Suming scratched his head and laughed.

Mrs. Tong, however, was vehement, glaring at him and retorting, "Too soon? Haven't you seen that the state has even allowed for a second child now? It's all because you young folk keep wanting a few more years to yourselves, refusing to marry and have kids, and that's leaving the country short on human resources!"

Suming was left speechless. So it's my fault the economy's struggling? Is it because I'm not chasing girls that I'm dragging the country down?

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