A day had passed since Yang Lin returned from Diannan to Xihong Zoo.
During this time, he hadn't been idle, as he had brought back so many local specialties from Diannan.
Just the task of housing these new animals had taken him considerable effort.
As a last resort, he had to let the new animals share space with the existing ones.
However, this was clearly not a long-term solution.
Fortunately, good news arrived from the design institute: the construction of the new park area had officially commenced.
Various large construction machinery had been progressively moved into the adjacent wasteland.
Meanwhile, the original site of the city zoo had entered the renovation phase.
At this pace, the animals' living conditions would soon see initial improvement.
Just as Yang Lin was contemplating the zoo's future, another piece of good news arrived.
"Director, the construction of the aquarium is nearing completion. Would you like to take a look?"
Hearing the employee's voice, Yang Lin, who had been lost in thought, snapped back to attention.
"This fast?"
Less than half a month had passed since the aquarium construction began, and he hadn't expected it to be so close to completion.
If he remembered correctly, when he visited yesterday, many parts of the construction had only just started.
With a touch of curiosity, Yang Lin soon arrived at the aquarium construction site by the artificial lake.
As he beheld the structure, largely built of reinforced glass, his face showed a flicker of shock.
"Is this cheating? How could it be so fast?"
As he stared in astonishment at the aquarium, which was already taking shape, a middle-aged man in a hard hat approached him.
"Director Yang, I am Zhou Yu, the project manager."
"You must be surprised by our construction speed, but let me tell you, this isn't even our fastest."
"Our fastest record for an entire structure was building a 10-story building in 28 hours."
"And compared to normal building construction, your facility is easier. Most of the components can be prefabricated elsewhere and then transported and assembled here, much like building with blocks."
As Zhou Yu explained, Yang Lin finally understood why they could build so quickly.
He finally understood why China was known as the "infrastructure madman" on Earth.
Shock gave way to a deep sense of pride and anticipation.
At this rate, the aquarium might officially open next week.
Thinking of this, Yang Lin suddenly remembered the issue of tickets.
Previously, Xihong Zoo had a single entry ticket for all attractions. However, with the aquarium opening, if the old pricing strategy remained, costs might not be covered.
After all, the maintenance and operating costs of an aquarium were significantly higher than other facilities.
Yang Lin now faced two options: a general ticket price increase, or a separate fee for the aquarium.
He leaned towards the latter, as not everyone was interested in aquatic animals.
"It seems I need to add a few more highlights to the aquarium. Otherwise, relying solely on two finless porpoises, two Chinese sturgeons, and one sea lion will surely deter visitors."
"It would be great if we could get large marine creatures like sharks and whales."
If aquatic animals were the weak link in Xihong Zoo, then marine animals were a blank spot within that weakness.
Of course, Yang Lin knew that the current size of the Xihong Zoo aquarium couldn't house such large marine creatures.
For instance, China's well-known Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Hengqin, Zhuhai, spent 30 billion yuan to create a world-class marine theme park.
The total cost of Xihong Zoo's aquarium might not even reach 30 million yuan.
Just as Yang Lin sighed again about his lack of funds and fretted over how to acquire marine animals, a call suddenly came through.
As soon as the call was connected, Ma Chaoqun's voice came from the other end.
"Old Yang, have you heard? Hengtai, the company that was going to cooperate with us, is in trouble."
Yang Lin was somewhat surprised to hear this.
In his memory, Hengtai was a well-known enterprise in China. What trouble could it be in?
The profit from one of their property developments could sustain his entire zoo for many years.
"What happened?"
"I heard that several of their property developments nationwide have collapsed, and it seems one of them includes Hengtai Emerald Pearl, right next to our zoo."
"What?"
Upon hearing this, Yang Lin felt a chill of fear along with his shock.
Fortunately, they had only reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with this Hengtai Group and hadn't officially begun promoting them.
If they had actually shot promotional advertisements for them, they would have suffered together.
After the shiver of fear, before Yang Lin could even consider whether this event would affect him, the phone he had just hung up rang again.
Looking at the caller ID, Yang Lin, though puzzled, finally decided to answer.
"Director Nie, what a surprise to call me."
"What, the authorities want to meet with me?"
"I haven't evaded taxes, nor have I discharged pollutants illegally?"
"Not those? Could it be about me abducting wild animals? No."
"Okay, I'll be there immediately."
As the call ended, Yang Lin quickly drove his pickup truck to the municipal building.
He often saw news reports of business magnates being summoned by officials, never imagining he would experience it himself.
However, from his earlier conversation with Director Nie, he had a general sense that this meeting might not be a bad thing.
Perhaps something good awaited him.
What followed seemed to confirm his guess.
When he arrived at the meeting location, several influential figures from Ningnan City were already waiting for him.
Seeing these figures, whom he usually only saw on television, Yang Lin felt a little nervous.
But when these influential figures revealed their intentions, Yang Lin was completely dumbfounded.
"What, all that land in that area is mine?"
"Hengtai's unfinished project is also mine?"
"But I don't have money!"
"Borrow from the bank? The loan procedures are already handled for me?"
"This..."
Looking at the completed loan procedures and the long string of zeros on the document, Yang Lin felt his CPU was overheating.
The Ningnan City authorities were giving him land and money.
The only question was, what was their motive?
Yang Lin soon found the answer to that question.