Super Zoo

Feeding fish certainly required manpower; with over a hundred acres of lake surface, and fish fry worth hundreds of thousands, they needed to eat every day. Even with automatic fish feeders, someone needed to regularly add feed and operate the machines.

But Suming was unwilling to hire additional staff just for the sake of feeding fish.

After all, contracting Shuijun Lake was about doing business to make money, not charity. In a mutually beneficial situation, he was willing to contribute to the zoo, and didn't mind sacrificing a little profit.

However, Mixed Sea Fish was not cheap, and in order to raise healthy fish, it was necessary to purchase them, which in itself was a considerable investment. With the lake's fish yet to yield profits, hiring several people specifically to feed the fish would simply be too costly.

Suming had been pondering this issue for a while. Various fish could grow by eating Hei's feces; Hei ate Mixed Sea Fish, saving the cost of other feeds. But Hei itself was quite a big eater—a big Hei weighing several pounds needed nearly a pound of food a day.

With this calculation, the cost of buying Mixed Sea Fish for one fishing season seemed rather frightening.

Mixed culture methods weren't exclusive to Suming's practice; most fish farmers used them, each with their own techniques. If not for learning the trick of using Hei feces from Zhu Chenggui, Suming wouldn't have had much technical advantage in simply culturing the four major fish families.

So, Mixed Sea Fish was a necessity to purchase and feed.

Generally speaking, fish farming wasn't an excessively profitable industry; just the input of fry and feed alone took up a large portion of costs. Not to mention the factors of natural disasters, human misfortunes, and market fluctuations. With bad luck, a fish farmer could work hard all year only to not make a profit, but actually lose money.

Companies like Huating Fisheries Company were, after all, the minority, occupying reservoirs with excellent water quality, essentially free from natural disasters, with powerful backing, and unfazed by human misfortunes and market fluctuations—essentially making a sure profit.

Hearing Lin mention this issue, and recalling the previous trash incident in Shuijun Lake, Suming suddenly thought of a possible solution, though he wasn't sure whether it would work.

He bought several pounds of lychees and, carrying them, proceeded to Mrs. Tong's office.

Mrs. Tong was playing online "Landlord" when she heard the knock. Without looking up, she called out "Come in."

"Ah, it's Su…"

Upon seeing Suming enter, Mrs. Tong quickly played out her four twos, successfully finished her game, then clicked the 'exit game' button, stood up, and welcomed Suming in. Seeing the lychees he was carrying, Mrs. Tong laughed and said, "You didn't have to be so polite, just coming in was enough."

"Heh, it's nothing special," Suming chuckled, placing the lychees on the table and sitting down. He asked, "Mrs. Tong, you mentioned your niece last time, Nurse Hu from our Zoo Health Clinic, how busy is she lately?"

Mrs. Tong was noticeably startled: "Ah? Hu... Hu... You, want to find her?"

The zoo had a small health clinic with one doctor and three nurses, mainly serving various animals—in other words, a veterinary clinic.

However, it also served 'humans'. Medicine for regular illnesses was not available, but for the occasional cold or fever, getting medicine from the clinic was much cheaper than at a regular hospital, which was a minor perk the zoo offered to its internal staff.

The zoo had its fair share of job placements through connections, and Nurse Hu was from Mrs. Tong's hometown, making her technically a distant relative who should call Mrs. Tong "Auntie" by the complex familial terms.

Mrs. Tong was a warm-hearted person. When Suming first contracted the lake pavilion's boating business and Mrs. Tong found out Suming was single, she tried to set him up with Nurse Hu. However, Suming had no such intentions, and every time Mrs. Tong brought it up, he would casually dismiss it.

Later, within a single month, Suming made over three million from an auction and significantly expanded his business. Mrs. Tong stopped bringing up the match-making.

The reason was simple: before, Suming, who came from the mountains and was relatively poor and a temporary worker, was at most a match for Hu, perhaps even reaching too high. But now, things were completely reversed. Suming had transformed into a young and wealthy boss, quite handsome too, and there seemed to be something going on between him and a beautiful TV reporter. He obviously wouldn't give a second look to her niece.

So, hearing Suming bring up Nurse Hu himself, Mrs. Tong was exceedingly surprised, wondering if Su actually preferred the kind of robust, capable girl who could manage a household and raise children well?

"My elder sister, that's not what I meant!" Suming hastily explained to Mrs. Tong, and only then did she understand.

She made a phone call to the health clinic, and before long, Nurse Hu arrived.

Nurse Hu had a tall figure, standing close to 1.7 meters, which definitely made her stand out among other girls. However, proportionate to her height was her waist, which was as thick as a bucket. Her loose nurse uniform on her looked like a tight outfit, hugging her tightly and highlighting the rolls of fat on her stomach that resembled Michelin tires. She also sported a healthy, rosy complexion on her face.

Anyone who saw Nurse Hu for the first time would agree with Mrs. Tong's opinion: she was a rugged and hearty girl, one who could manage a household and bear children well.

"Yo, Mr. Su is here too!" As soon as Nurse Hu entered, she called out loudly and greeted Suming, even looking like she wanted to clap him on the shoulder.

"Hey hey hello, have a seat..." Suming quickly shuffled backward. His frail body certainly couldn't handle her slap; if she actually slapped him, he would collapse on the spot, and that would be a huge loss of face.

Mrs. Tong shot Nurse Hu a stern look: "Don't be so informal, sit down. Su has something good to ask you about!"

"Ah? What good thing? Tell me, Mr. Su, I'm all ears!" Nurse Hu plopped down on the chair carelessly, grabbed a lychee, peeled it, and tossed it into her mouth.

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"It's like this, your health clinic doesn't have much going on usually, right? I happen to have a little business on my side but short on manpower..."

...

That very afternoon, Nurse Hu, along with two other nurses, walked toward Shuijun Lake, each carrying several large buckets.

The other two nurses, slender and frail, each carried a small bucket and seemed to struggle, holding them with both hands as they slowly made their way to the lake. Nurse Hu, on the other hand, was decisive. She found a carrying pole, hooked a large bucket on each end, and set off with the vigor of a fierce wind!

"Here they come!" Mr. Peng had already been notified by Suming and greeted Nurse Hu and her colleagues with a beaming smile as they arrived.

"We're here! Don't mind us, carry on with your work!"

Nurse Hu called back with her loud voice. Then leading the other two nurses, they carried the buckets to the lakeshore near the boat dock, picked up a large wooden sign that was covering the buckets, and shoved it fiercely into the ground. Then, casually picking up half a brick from the ground, she banged the top of the sign several times with it, driving the sign deep into the soil.

The sign had two lines of big characters.

The first line read: Fish feed for sale, 5 yuan per bag!

The second line read: Bottle feeding fish, 10 yuan per bottle!

After setting up the sign, she untied three small folding stools from the carrying pole, sat on one herself, and said to the other two nurses, "Sit down."

"Sister Hu, do you think anyone will buy it?" One of the nurses asked timidly while looking around, a bit embarrassed.

"You are acting like thieves, no wonder no one is buying! When selling things, how can you not shout about it? Watch me!"

Nurse Hu rolled up her sleeves and, like a magician, pulled out a megaphone. She then started to shout into it:

"Selling fish feed here, fragrant and sweet fish feed! Buy a bag of fish feed, feed the fish while rowing the boat. It's an exercise and allows you to watch the fish, killing two birds with one stone, folks!"