With a splash, Mr. Wang's hefty body flipped head over heels from the hovercraft and tumbled into the lake, creating a large spray of water.
It was like watching a reality show, where, despite knowing that the zoo and film crew must have made arrangements to avoid any real accidents, the sight of the fat man falling into the water still made everyone instinctively nervous. The crowd surged to the shore, watching Mr. Wang floundering in the water.
In fact, the zoo had made no such arrangements and had no idea that Suming would pull such a stunt.
Mrs. Tong was so scared that she turned pale and squeezed through the crowd to Suming, tugging at his sleeve and asking in a low voice, "Su, nothing will go wrong, right? Don't mess around, I think this fatty is in big trouble!"
And Mrs. Tong was right. Mr. Wang flailed his arms around in the water for a few moments, then gurgled as he sank beneath the surface.
The people on the shore were shocked. This man really couldn't swim.
Indeed.
People who can't swim are usually quite afraid of water. Initially, Mr. Wang was adamantly against it, but Suming had rehearsed with him more than once to ensure nothing would go wrong, and after much cajoling and persuading 'in the name of greater good,' Mr. Wang begrudgingly agreed to make the sacrifice and play the plant.
Mrs. Tong's face turned deathly white in an instant, she grabbed Suming's hand tightly and screamed, "Save him, quick, save him!"
If someone drowned in the zoo and it made it on TV, it would be a huge liability—everyone, from the director to her as the office manager, would be in trouble.
Before her words had even faded, where Mr. Wang had fallen into the water, a burst of spray rose up, and Mr. Wang slowly resurfaced, lying flat on the water's surface like a gigantic frog.
"A turtle! Look at the size of that turtle!"
A child pointed at the lake and shouted loudly, and only then did everyone realize that Mr. Wang wasn't floating up by himself; he was lying on the back of a huge alligator snapping turtle.
The ferocious-looking turtle, however, was extremely tame at the moment, carrying Mr. Wang slowly towards the shore's shallow water and depositing him there.
Amidst a chorus of camera clicks and exclamations, the turtle stylishly flicked its tail and then, with a sense of camera presence, slowly crawled back into the lake, leaving behind a profound silhouette.
Having done the deed, it departed without fanfare, concealing its merit and fame!
"This...is this also a pet you've trained? How...how did you do it..." Nangong Yan's expression became very strange, and she even forgot she was in front of the camera, her mouth forming an 'O' shape, staring at Suming in disbelief.
"The secret is..." Suming, looking just as flamboyant as the turtle, drew out his voice and said seriously to the camera, "you have to have love!"
"Old Su, I'm thinking about quitting my job and coming to help you."
"No! Stop right there! I think we should contribute to the revolutionary cause at different positions. This way we can make more like-minded comrades, which would be beneficial to the development of our future revolutionary work. Don't you think?"
"I get it, it's about making more connections, right! Old Su, you're really sharp; no wonder you're able to make money!"
"Can't you have a bit of a second-generation official's sense of responsibility? Don't be so blunt," Suming said with disdain over the phone.
"That's just with you. I'm shrewd with others. Alright, let's drop it. You work hard, bro. Driving an Audi and picking up girls are all riding on you!"
Suming shook his head and laughed, he was speechless at how excessive his close friend could be.
After hanging up the phone, he went to the bank and wired ten thousand yuan home. A couple days later, he made another call to his mother.
"Ming'er, why did you send so much money!" On the other end of the phone, his mother was clearly nervous. She knew how much Suming's salary was; it was less than a month into his job, how could he possibly have ten thousand yuan.
Parents would rather their children earn less money and be safe than doing anything illegal for money.
"Mom, you know me, how honest I am. Relax; I took over the boating business at the zoo and made some money."
Suming simply explained the boating business to his mother and she finally felt relieved.
"Ming'er, you've grown up, and Mom feels assured now. There's still some money here with me, and we have enough for the household. You should save the money you earn for getting married in the future, buy yourself some food and clothes, and don't always wire it to us."
Every time they spoke on the phone, his mother couldn't help repeating the same words, but Suming never found it tedious.
"Ah, if we weren't family, we would not have entered the same door. Your dad spent his lifetime working in animal protection, and now you're following in this line of work," his mother said with some emotion.
"Mom, don't overthink it. I just work at the zoo, I don't go into the wild," Suming quickly reassured his mother, knowing what she was worried about.
His father had died at the hands of an international poaching group while protecting endangered animals, and that group still existed to this day. Knowing that his work also involved animals, his mother couldn't help but worry that he might repeat his father's tragic fate.
Suming verbally comforted his mother to put the old lady's mind at ease.
However, in his heart, he told himself clearly that the debt for his father's murder could not coexist under heaven, and no matter the consequences, he must see it settled!