Chapter 19
Xiang Bie didn't return until 7:30 in the evening. After hearing Wei Li's story about the wolves coming down the mountain, he frowned and asked, "Is anyone injured?"
Wei Li shook his head. "No, but the wolf pack issue should be resolved. Will the masters be able to go back into the mountains and work normally tomorrow?"
Xiang Bie thought for a moment and said, "Just in case, let's inspect another area first."
Then he asked, "Do you want to do a trial operation?"
Wei Li nodded, pointed to a dormitory window upstairs, and whispered, "The director has been in the room all afternoon, saying she's planning a brand new, customized tour. I'd say we don't have anything here, so how can we hold a trial run? If you want to hold a trial run, you have to fill up the supermarket first, right? I told the director, but she said there's no rush. I think she just doesn't want to stock up, but how can we hold a trial run without stocking up?"
Xiang Bie didn't say it out loud, but he was thinking, I guess it's not that they don't want to buy goods, but that they can't afford it...
Glancing upstairs, Xiang Bie said, "Let's talk about it after the meeting."
-
In the evening, after dinner, the protective net workers went upstairs to rest.
Mu Ling, Xiang Bie, and Wei Li didn't leave. After Mu Ling put down her chopsticks, she stood up and walked directly to the dining table. She began to talk to her only two employees: "First, the issue of reception!"
Mu Ling said seriously, "We have a tour group of 100 people. We need to make them feel at home. We can't let them get off the starship and take a taxi. That would seem insincere. So, we have to prepare a car to pick them up. I calculated that we need at least four buses to seat 100 people. As for car rental, I've already contacted Sister Zhou from the Forestry Bureau. She knows people and can give us a discount. A bus costs 800 interstellar coins a day, and 1,000 with a driver. I want one with a driver..."
Wei Li chewed the rice.
Xiang Bie took a sip of his drink.
The two of them just looked at Mu Ling, waiting for her to continue.
Mu Ling calculated for them: "The cost of the bus is 4,000 Interstellar Coins, but don't worry, we won't lose money. Director Wang said that during the trial operation, we can have no discount on tickets. The original price of the ticket is 299, and the discounted price is 239. Without discounts, each ticket can make an extra 60 Interstellar Coins in profit. For 100 people, that's 6,000 Interstellar Coins. So even after deducting the 4,000 Interstellar Coins for the bus rental, we can still make an extra 2,000 Interstellar Coins..."
Mu Ling smiled softly, then suddenly, like a magic trick, pulled out a stack of PPTs from behind her back and spread them out on the dining table. "But I don't plan to keep these 2,000 interstellar coins. They're just extra anyway. I'm going to use them as the cost of preparing exquisite small gifts for tourists and give them away. I've already drawn the designs for the small gifts, take a look."
Mu Ling handed out the drawings. "It's a custom-made small box with our zoo logo. Inside the box is a scented postcard. The front of the postcard is a photo of the animals at our Beek Zoo. I'll be taking these photos in the mountains in the next couple of days. On the back is some greetings. And then there's a small brooch with a simple cartoon animal pattern. I also drew this. We don't have to buy copyrights for any of the designs, which saves a lot of money!"
Brother Wei looked at the designs, which were truly beautiful. He gave them a thumbs-up and said, "The director is so talented, so amazing!"
Mu Ling chuckled and continued, "I also asked Brother Chen from the Forestry Bureau this afternoon. Brother Chen said he knows someone at the gift processing factory. The gift boxes for the Botanical Garden at the foot of the mountain are made by that factory, so the quality is definitely top-notch. He said if we don't ask for too much, he could even let us jump the queue. We can get one hundred small gifts in half a day, and he'll even give us a discount for acquaintances!"
Wei Li continued to flatter him: "It has to be the director! Our zoo will definitely fall apart without the director! The director is our guiding light!"
Mu Ling felt that Wei Li's praise was a bit too much, and she felt a little embarrassed... Then she pointed the finger at Xiang Bie and Wei Li: "I've solved the problem of the reception and gifts, but what about the lunch issue? The tickets include lunch, Brother Wei? Brother Xiang?"
Wei Li immediately raised his hands in surrender: "Director, with my cooking skills, I can only cook the vegetables."
Mu Ling nodded: "I've tasted the food you cooked, Brother Wei, and it's indeed... not suitable for entertaining guests..."
Wei Li: “…”
Mu Ling looked at Xiang Bie.
Wei Li also looked at Xiang Bie.
Category: "..."
Xiang Bie put down the design in his hand and nodded gently: "I'll do it."
"Yes!" Mu Ling cheered, then stretched out her hand to Wei Li. Wei Li high-fived Mu Ling with a "pa". The two of them looked like they were of the same mind. It was obvious that this had been planned long ago, and they were deliberately luring Xiang Ling into the trap!
Category: "..."
After settling the three issues of reception, gifts and lunch, the only thing left was to arrange the subsequent visit.
Mu Ling continued to talk for the next few hours. The three-person meeting lasted until 10:30 pm. When the basic procedures were finalized and the meeting was about to end, Wei Li asked again, "Then, Director, we should hire temporary workers. Otherwise, how can we accommodate a hundred people with only three of us? And our supermarket is too empty. We should stock up a little, otherwise when tourists come, they will have to go down the mountain to buy a bottle of water..."
Mu Ling waved her hand, not caring at all: "I already have a plan for this. Don't worry, everything will be ready when the time comes!"
And she won't spend a penny!
-
Thursday, 11 a.m.
Inside the T99s starship.
As the starship broadcast announcing the landing sounded, Yan Wen was also woken up by his colleagues: "Teacher Yan, we're here."
Yan Wen opened his eyes drowsily and saw that his colleagues in the seats in front and behind him were preparing to leave the cabin.
Arrived at the God King Planet?
He packed up his things and followed the others out.
After getting off the ship, the team of 100 people stretched out for a long distance because they were walking in a scattered manner.
The person in front was leading the way, and the person behind was following the person in front. As they were walking, the person in front suddenly stopped.
"Hey, what's wrong? Why don't you go into the passage?" Another male colleague who was walking with Yan Wen asked in confusion.
After exiting the passage, the starship hall is outside. Professor Zhou, the person in charge of their team building, had already made a plan in advance. They exited the passage, went out from the north gate of the starship hall, and then walked three hundred meters to see the bus stop. They first took the No. 87 land bus to Gujiang Road Station, and then transferred to the No. 11 hover bus to the Beak Avenue Botanical Garden. After arriving at the botanical garden, walk for another twenty minutes to reach the Beak Zoo.
As for their luggage, they chose to pay extra when checking in and have the Starfleet Center deliver it directly to their hotel.
"It seems like he was stopped?" A female colleague in front of the male colleague said while standing on tiptoe and looking around.
After a while, someone came up to tell us, "Teachers, the ground staff asked us to go through another passage. They said it's closer."
"Oh, then change it."
It’s just changing the channel, what’s the big deal?
As a result, after a hundred people walked out of another passage, they found that this was not the starship hall at all, but a parking lot.
"What's going on? How is this even close? We're not locals, and we're not familiar with the parking lot here. Why are you asking us to go through the parking lot exit? We don't even know the way here!"
Professor Zhou, who was in charge of the team building, was also a bit confused. He held up his laptop, about to open the map navigation to check the distribution of the exits, but at that moment, a middle-aged man in a driver's uniform walked over, holding a sign and asking, "Excuse me, are you from the Capital Star's 'Logistics and Technology Department' 100-person tour group?"
Professor Zhou looked at the sign the man was holding. Surprisingly, it had his name on it. He asked suspiciously, "We are, who are you?"
The middle-aged driver smiled and said, "We're here to pick you up. The car is over here. We've prepared four buses. Should be enough space, right?"
Professor Zhou looked ahead in surprise, and saw that there were indeed four buses parked not far ahead. In front of the glass windows of those buses, there was a sign that read "Bic Zoo Tour Group Reception Bus".
A technician was extremely surprised: "Are you the drivers from Beek Zoo? Are you here to pick us up?"
The middle-aged driver said, "It was Director Mu who asked us to pick you up. Didn't she communicate with you?"
Everyone immediately looked at Professor Zhou.
Professor Zhou: “…”
Professor Zhou was a little confused: "She, she said she would send someone to pick us up. I thought she was just sending someone to show us the way..."
How could he have known that the Beek Zoo would actually send four buses to pick them up, and that wasn't even included in their ticket price!
Professor Zhou said hurriedly, "I, I'll give her a call."
…
The team of one hundred people was indeed quite large. Several colleagues around Yan Wen were still complaining about the mess in the parking lot, saying it was really dizzying. At this moment, a professor's assistant came over and said to them, "Teachers, teachers, the four buses in front are ours. Everyone, please feel free to take a seat. Come on board."
"Wow, we don't have to take the bus, we have a special car?"
"Professor Zhou rented a car for us. Hahaha, long live Professor Zhou!"
The professor's assistant had just listened to Professor Zhou's conversation with Director Mu. He said somewhat sheepishly, "Actually, it wasn't Professor Zhou who rented the car. It was arranged by the Beek Zoo. They said they took into consideration the mobility difficulties of a hundred of us and were worried about what would happen if one or two of us got lost, so they sent us four free cars."
"Oh my god, it's free!"
"Ahhh my wife loves me so much!"
Professor's assistant: "..."
Others: “…”
Everyone's eyes suddenly turned to a female researcher in the crowd.
After blurting out this sentence, the female researcher realized that something was wrong. She quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late. She was already socially dead!
Female researcher: “…”
The female researcher blushed with shame, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into immediately. She quickly said, "I, I was just kidding..."
Everyone: “…”
Otherwise, I'm not kidding, you're the scary one!
In short, no matter what, the hundred people got on the bus quickly.
The special car is fast, and the bus is amphibious. It can enter the land lane and drive on flat ground, and it can also enter the hover car lane and fly. In less than half an hour, they arrived at the botanical garden at the foot of Bic Avenue.
After driving up the mountain for about another fifteen minutes, they saw the gate of Beak Zoo!
The zoo's gate was quite spacious. The ticket checking area in the middle and the ticket sales area on the right were not open, but the lane on the left was open. People in the car looked inside from a distance and could see many employees in zoo uniforms busy in front of the open space at the park entrance.
Wow, the zoo hasn't even officially opened yet, and they already have so many employees? Counting them, there are over a dozen.
The bus drove into the parking garage in the zoo. When tourists got off the bus one after another, they saw a young, energetic and beautiful girl walking towards them with a smile.
"Welcome, welcome everyone to our Beak Zoo. You must have had a hard time coming all the way here. We have some snacks and drinks ready. Come and take a rest."
This voice! It's Principal Mu!
All the tourists who recognized Mu Ling's voice couldn't help but look at her in surprise. Mu Ling's face was never shown in the video. Although everyone knew that she was young, they thought she was at least thirty years old. However, they didn't expect that she looked to be in her early twenties at most. Not only was she young, she was also really beautiful!
Someone looked towards the rest area that Mu Ling mentioned. After seeing this, they immediately felt that Director Mu was really thoughtful. She actually arranged so many outdoor tables and chairs, as well as parasols, in the open space of the service area. There were also many snacks on the tables, and the staff were enthusiastically serving them drinks.
Professor Zhou, the person in charge, was deeply moved when he saw this scene. He hurried forward to shake hands with Mu Ling and said, "Is this Director Mu? I'm Old Zhou, the one you're in contact with."
Mu Ling hurriedly said, "Hello, Teacher Zhou. Hello, Teacher Zhou."
After some greetings, some people went to the outdoor tables and chairs to get drinks, while others turned on their cameras and started filming everywhere.
Once the hundred people dispersed, they soon filled the service area, which had always been deserted, and it was extremely lively.
Professor Zhou was still thanking Mu Ling for sending a special car to pick them up. Mu Ling smiled and said it was all due, and then told her about the schedule of today's tour:
"We're going into the mountains in the afternoon. It's already twelve o'clock. Let's have lunch in the park first. Then there's a small event around one o'clock in the afternoon. Our staff will drive the shuttle bus to take everyone up the mountain at half past one. However, we can only visit the area around the stream on the periphery. This was mentioned in advance. However, there are many animals to see on the periphery, such as Bactrian deer, golden rabbits, long-tailed raccoons, startled monkeys, and red-black foxes. In the bird forest area on the other side, there are also colorful peacocks, firebirds, red-bellied pheasants, thousand-autumn cranes, and so on..."
Mu Ling was still discussing the process with Professor Zhou, while on the other side, the tourists had already pulled over a dozen staff members and were chattering non-stop.
"Is that the hillside over there where Gus was standing? Can I go over there and take a picture?"
Staff: “Of course.”
"Qingjiao was hiding here, then suddenly rushed out to ambush the director. Did Qingjiao come down the mountain afterwards?"
Staff: “We’re not sure about that…”
Some people also walked to the map board at the entrance of the zoo to look at the distribution map of the entire park.
"Wow, this zoo is really big, and there are so many animals."
"The mountain road looks very steep. I wonder how many animals we can see today."
"Young man, that young man, come here for a moment."
A staff member was stopped by a tourist. He walked over and said politely, "Hello."
The tourist asked, "Is this entire area the home of the Wind Chasing Wolves? Will we pass by here on our way up the mountain?"
The staff member glanced at the map and smiled, "Yes, you will. Look at the main mountain road in this color. That's the shuttle bus's route. We will get there."
Another tourist next to that tourist became happy: "Maybe we can see Gus! I really want to know Gus's specific genetic data!"
Staff: “?”
"Wow, look here! There's an S-rank Fire Leopard in this zoo. Can we see one too?"
"Silver Snow Bear! There's actually an S-rank Silver Snow Bear. Is it also a retired war beast? Is that 'Sniper'? Or 'Moonlight'?"
As more and more tourists gathered in front of the map column and their questions became more and more tricky, the young staff member was a little overwhelmed to answer them, so he quickly pulled another staff member over to help!
The staff member had a good memory and said, "The S-rank Silver Snow Bear in our park is Moonlight, a retired war beast."
The tourist hurriedly asked, "Does Yue Guang still weigh 300 kilograms now?"
The staff member: “?”
"Can you tell me the size of your Fire Leopard's front paws?"
"Is the molting cycle of your Guixin Python thirty-five days or forty-five days?"
"How many meters long are the Flower Cloud Crocodiles here? And how many eggs does a female Flower Cloud Crocodile lay in one litter?"
Two staff members: “…………”
The two staff members were suddenly surrounded by the academic masters. They were terrified and could only call for more external help, but they couldn't handle it. They couldn't handle it at all. They had only been trained for two days, how could they know so much? Besides, they were not real employees of the zoo, they were just volunteers, volunteers!
Yes, volunteers.
They are all volunteers!
How could Mu Ling, a poor zoo owner, possibly hire more than a dozen employees to accommodate a temporary tour group? Where would she get so much money?
So these employees were all hired by her for free!
Didn’t Mu Ling say before that she would solve both the personnel and commodity problems but would not spend a penny?
This is her plan - to make money!
So the question is, where does the wool come from? Isn’t there ready-made wool at the botanical garden down the mountain?
Mu Ling asked Director Wang to act as a middleman, and she was able to contact the person in charge of the botanical garden directly.
Mu Ling's supermarket was out of goods, so she set her sights on the three official stores under the botanical garden. Because the botanical garden's business was dismal, these three stores had actually been losing money. One of them was a supermarket, one sold tea, and one sold potted plants. Due to insufficient customer base, these three stores could only open once or twice a week.
Among these three stores, two are souvenir shops and one is a merchandise store. Mu Ling actually only wanted the supermarket, but the botanical garden probably wouldn't be happy if she didn't take the two souvenir shops with her, so Mu Ling took the two souvenir shops with her.
She probably meant something like this - leaders of the botanical garden, let's have a joint cooperation. Our zoo is about to have a tour group of 100 people, and your store in the botanical garden has no business anyway. Why don't you bring your goods and your people to the supermarket in my park to sell things.
We don't charge you any rent, and we lend you our supermarket shelves for free. Our tourists are your tourists. If your goods are sold, we won't take a penny of kickbacks from you. Our zoo and your botanical garden are a loving family, with no distinction between us!
The person in charge of the botanical garden knew that the Beak Zoo had been very popular on StarNet recently. When he heard Mu Ling say that, he thought that Mu Ling was going to make them rich, and he almost called Mu Ling the Bodhisattva.
Mu Ling changed the subject and said, "But we're short on staff here. Since your staff are here, why don't you help us entertain the tourists?"
The person in charge of the botanical garden: “…”
So that's how it was. The fifteen employees of the botanical garden became Mu Ling's fifteen volunteers. Hundreds of goods from the three stores in the botanical garden helped Mu Ling fill her empty shelves, making her place finally seem less desolate.
Mu Ling actually thinks it doesn't matter who takes advantage of whom. This is a win-win situation for all three parties. The botanical garden has a new source of customers, Mu Ling has manpower, and the tourists have gained convenience. Isn't this killing three birds with one stone?
Professor Zhou certainly didn't know about Mu Ling's little tips for saving money. The old professor was only concerned about one thing right now.
"Director Mu, I think your tour plan is great. Everything is perfect, except that it doesn't seem to mention Qilin. Um, can we also visit Qilin today?"
The Qilin is the signature of the Beak Zoo. Mu Ling knew that these tourists must be craving the Qilin's body, so she asked Director Wang to intercede for them to come to their zoo for team building. Mu Ling smiled brightly and said, "Of course you can visit the Qilin. Didn't I tell you that after dinner, at one o'clock, we will have a special little event, and you can see the Qilin then."
Professor Zhou was instantly excited: "Really!"
When the other professors and teachers heard this, they quickly gathered around and asked excitedly, "What event? What event? Can we really visit Qilin?"
"The Qilin won't bite us, right? Director Mu, what activity are you talking about?"
Mu Ling waved her hand: "Hahaha, everyone will know after dinner. When the time comes, I promise to let everyone see the most mysterious and unknown side of Qilin. If you are willing, you can even participate in it yourself. This is a special benefit for the first batch of tourists~"
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