Future Pet Shop

"A research institute?" Dong looked completely baffled. He thought Shen Yibin was just here to let Hah'Er see its relatives and check on the zoo's construction progress, but he hadn't expected him to drop such a bombshell. 'But this should be a good thing for the zoo, right?' So, Dong fired off a series of questions. "Mr. Shen, what kind of research institute are you thinking of? What will be its main area of study? How much do you plan to invest?"

"Mainly animal-related research, I guess. Studying animal genetics, habitats, medical treatment, and so on," Shen Yibin said uncertainly. He was a liberal arts major; how would he know how to run a research institute?

"Heh, Mr. Shen, your proposed scope of research is far too broad." Hearing such a layman's response, Dong couldn't help but laugh. "If we were to build an institute according to your requirements, I'm afraid even moving the entire Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Zoology to Yunzhong City wouldn't be enough. Forget the whole world, just think about our country… no, just Yunzhong City alone! How many animal species are there? There are 1,125 species of vertebrates alone. And if you add invertebrates like protozoa, coelenterates, flatworms, nematodes, annelids, mollusks, and arthropods, the number is even greater! If you want to study every single one of these species, just think about it. How many researchers would you need? How much research space? How much equipment? What a colossal research budget?"

"Well, that's why I came to discuss it with you—because I don't understand these things." Shen Yibin scratched his head, embarrassed. He hadn't expected to make such a fool of himself the moment he opened his mouth. "Why don't you give me some suggestions?" 'Sigh, I'd better listen to what the expert has to say. As the zoo director, Dong definitely knows more about this than I do.'

"That depends on your purpose for starting the institute," Dong asked seriously. "Are you looking to study commercial animals? For example, raising animals for food? Breeding them for fur? Cultivating them for medicinal purposes? Or maybe pet breeding and training?" Dong's mind immediately went to these possibilities. 'Surely Shen Yibin isn't doing this just for a hobby, right? He must have some financial goals.'

"Let's forget about animals for food, fur, or medicine. As for pets…" Shen Yibin was actually a little interested in that. If he had his own pet breeding center, the shop's income would definitely be higher, and he could even supply other pet shops. But when he remembered the real purpose of his visit, he decided to put that aside for now. "Let's talk about that later."

"I'll be honest with you," Shen Yibin began, revealing his objective. "As you know, Hah'Er is staying with me in Yunzhong City now. Besides him, I have some other pets in the shop that I'm very fond of, and I don't want anything to happen to them where I can't get them treated in time. Professor Wu Gui can help, but he's a bit far from Yunzhong City, so I thought of coming to you. With that in mind, what kind of research institute would I need?"

"Oh, I see." Dong nodded, finally understanding what Shen Yibin meant. "Your goal is health maintenance and medical treatment for a few specific animals. Besides Hah'Er, what other animals are there?"

"Right now at my shop, there's a panda, hamsters, an Emei Mountain monkey, an Arctic Fox, oh, and two Beavers. Uh, let's add woodpeckers to the list too." Shen Yibin counted them off. 'Egg is in Japan with Sakai Kaori, so I don't need to worry. Her family has been raising Raccoon Cats for generations, so they must have a lot of accumulated knowledge. Shi Gaofei is with Hong Mian, and the military has its own medical research units. Cheeky is with Sun Qian, and I bet those music companies are more nervous about Cheeky's health than I am. So I probably don't need to worry about them either.' That just left the ones still in Yunzhong City.

"Whoa, you've got quite a few rare animals there." Hearing those names, Dong's eyes lit up.

"I have all the legal permits for them," Shen Yibin quickly warned him. 'They're all mine, so don't even think about tricking me into giving them to the zoo.' "By the way, I also got my hands on two types of special medicines for treating animals. Do you think you could find some people to reverse-engineer them?" Shen Yibin quickly took out the medicine he had bought last time from the Future Pet Shop to distract Dong.

After Shen Yibin explained the medicines' effects, Dong sucked in a sharp breath. "They have such miraculous effects? We absolutely must study them! If we can successfully reverse-engineer them, the animals in the zoo will be in for a treat."

"So what you're saying is you need research experts for these specific animals, as well as experts in pharmaceutical development? Those will be the two main research focuses of this new institute?" Dong said after a moment of thought. "Even that will cost a lot of money. Mr. Shen, how much are you prepared to invest? There are ways to do things on a small budget, and ways to do them on a large one."

"For the initial funding, I plan to put up 200 million to see how it goes." 'Sigh, since it's money Hah'Er earned, it might as well be spent on him.'

"PFFT!" Dong spat out a mouthful of tea. "How much? 200 million?"

"Yeah, thanks to Hah'Er, I earned a bit of money. If it's not enough, I'll figure something out later." Dong's earlier warnings had intimidated Shen Yibin, making him think 200 million was too little. But his subsequent share of the profits hadn't arrived yet, so this was all he could offer for now.

"No, that's more than enough! The cost of animal research isn't as outrageous as pharmaceutical development, fundamental physics, or space exploration. It's debatable whether our provincial capital's zoological research institute even gets 200 million in research funding a year." Dong was so excited his eyes were practically bloodshot. 'This is 200 million! Think of all the results we could produce with that!'

"Let me see… For the land, the zoo has some. We'll just have to do some paperwork for that. Construction won't cost much, and 100 million will be more than enough for basic research equipment. The rest can cover personnel and consumable expenses… It's enough to support operations for a very long time. Our zoo already has a small research department. As long as the funding is sorted, I can ask my superiors for staffing positions…" Dong couldn't sit still anymore. He started pacing around his office, calculating. "All of these problems are easy to solve. The hard part is finding the right people!"

"I can ask Professor Wu Gui for help," Shen Yibin said. "He's an adjunct professor at a university, isn't he? He should be able to recommend plenty of people. But how should we interview them? I don't know anything about that."

"Don't worry, you can leave the interviews to me!" Dong immediately pounded his chest, guaranteeing it.

"You?" Shen Yibin looked at him uncertainly.

"What's wrong with me?" Dong said indignantly. "I have a Ph.D. in zoology, you know!"