I have a wildlife zoo

The chef brushed on the chili oil while saying, "You can't roast the leeks for too long, or they'll lose their effectiveness."

The crowd knowingly snickered "hehehe."

Lan Li was a bit puzzled, and softly asked Fang Ye, "What effectiveness?'

Fang Ye replied seriously, "According to our traditional health culture, 'nourish the yang in spring and summer, and the yin in autumn and winter.' Now that it's almost spring, with the weather fluctuating between warm and cold, leeks, which are warm in nature, can disperse the cold, and their antibacterial properties help to nurture the body's yang energy.

Regular consumption can even help strengthen the spleen and stomach."

"Oh, I see."

Though Lan Li found it quite sensible, something still felt a bit odd.

She then quietly asked Lin Ying, who was nearby, "What's the effectiveness of leeks? Why were you all laughing just now?'

Lin Ying grinned mischievously, "Didn't you hear the head say? It's for virility."

A blush spread across Lan Li's face, and her ears started burning.

Dying of embarrassment now. Why didn't I just ask Lin Ying directly?

The chef served the leeks onto a plate, smiling, "Enjoy your meal."

Lin Ying picked up a skewer without rushing to eat it and instead lifted her beer, looking up at the moon and exclaimed, "Life is short, so let's drink and be merry."

Gulp, gulp, she drank down a cup in one go.

Lü Ye was jolted, "Harvesting leeks?"

He took a bite of the roasted leek, and his eyes lit up, "These leeks, they really taste great!"

Everyone was eating barbecue and drinking beer, and the atmosphere gradually warmed up.

Guan Shan raised her glass towards Lü Ye to toast, "Thank you."

Lü Ye clinked glasses with her, a bit puzzled, "Thank me for what?"

"I heard you say the fund was on the rise last time, and everything looked promising, so you suggested everyone buy some. That scared me enough to immediately sell off my funds."

He Yifei almost choked on his drink from laughing, coughing twice, "You've hogged all the bamboo shoots in the mountains!"

Lü Ye was depressed, "Damn it!"

After buying, the market plunged. Fortunately, he hadn't invested much, just half a month's salary, otherwise it would have been a huge loss.

Now curious, Guan Shan asked, "Have you got any investment plans recently?"

Lü Ye perked up at the topic, took a bite of leek, and said, "Oh, I heard Bitcoin is really hot right now, so I'm thinking about buying one to try out. This time it's definitely going to be steady! Even the rocket-making Musk has said he's bullish on Bitcoin."

After finishing one skewer and grabbing another, he took a big bite of leek with a look of sorrow on his face, "No, I can't keep being the leek all the time; I have to eat some to make up for my losses."

Lin Ying sipped her beer contentedly and teased, "You just want to eat more leeks, don't you? Let's save some for the head. He needs to replenish his energy for farming."

Fang Ye paused his eating of the leeks, slowed down, and a few question marks appeared over his head: ?????

Everyone struggled to hold back their laughter as He Yifei pretended to be serious, "Yeah, otherwise how could we enjoy such delicious potatoes and leeks."

By the way, why did you feel the need to explain that?

Lan Li's cheeks turned even redder; she bowed her head and kept quiet, finding the leeks slightly too spicy as she sipped on her beer in tiny gulps.

...

While Fang Ye was hosting the barbecue party, in a community park in Linhai.

The elderly were using the steering wheel-shaped exercise equipment, spinning around, children were running and playing, parents sat on benches sharing gossip and parenting advice.

Some walked their dogs, while delivery guys on electric scooters whizzed past.

A man was behaving strangely; he wasn't walking or sitting on a bench resting, and his eyes weren't even glancing at the activity area.

Yet he stood beside a tree, intently staring at a certain spot on the building.

The man was named Wang Yan, and he appeared quite young, only in his twenties or thirties, with well-defined muscles on his arms and bright, spirited eyes, resembling a young man who loves to play basketball.

In reality, he was almost 40, and was a researcher and PhD supervisor at the School of Life Sciences at Xinghe University.

Although the semester hadn't started yet, he had just completed a project before the New Year and recently didn't have much to do, so he arrived early in Linhai to move into his office and familiarize himself with the city's environment.

To familiarize himself with a city's environment didn't mean understanding where the commercial streets were busiest or where night markets offered barbecues; as an animal researcher, naturally, it meant checking which wild animals lived in the city.

In fact, the city was home to a rich diversity of wild animals.

Red-eared bulbul, light-vented bulbul, crows, sparrows, francolins, koels, butterflies, bees, slugs, snails, spiders, longhorn beetles, snakes, bats…

All these animals lived alongside humans.

Only without careful observation, it was easy to overlook their presence normally.

When Wang Yan wandered into this residential area, he spotted a small creature at the ventilation opening of the building foundation.

At first, he wasn't sure what it was.

But from observing it from 4 PM to 7 PM, he gradually figured it out, it was a common raccoon dog.

It was about the size of a small dog, resembled a raccoon slightly, with gray-black fur and a pale white forehead and nose. Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

Suddenly he developed an interest; he had never seen a wild common raccoon dog before.

The descriptions of raccoon dogs in books portrayed them as timid, cowardly, non-aggressive, and very skittish.

A very faint-hearted animal.@@novelbin@@

But the raccoon dog he was observing seemed nothing like that.

Raccoon dogs were nocturnal, but when he saw it at 4 o'clock, it poked its head out of the ventilation opening cautiously and peered outside.

It observed the passing pedestrians, the playing children, the people walking their dogs, and the delivery drivers with their electric bikes.

As the raccoon dog observed the people and events outside, Wang Yan also watched the raccoon dog with serious attention.

He thought, "The raccoon dog is learning about the city."

He had lived and studied in many countries and had observed many wild animals in cities.

Many animals were learning to adapt to the city, evolving quickly.

The raccoon was a typical example, after decades of city life, raccoons had made a leap in intelligence, being able to unlock complex mechanisms, incomparable to the intelligence of their countryside kin.

In their heads, they had formed a complex three-dimensional network, capable of risk assessment, and even knew which routes to take at what times; it was like they had installed a real-time navigation map.

As darkness began to fall around 7 o'clock, the raccoon dog finally showed signs of becoming active.

It slipped quietly out of the ventilation opening, its eyes shimmering in the night.

Wang Yan hurriedly followed behind the raccoon dog, wanting to continue observing its behavior.

As it was already dark, to avoid losing track, he used a small flashlight to illuminate the animal.

The raccoon dog glanced back at Wang Yan from time to time.

It looked around and was mainly out to find food in the evening.

It kept a cautious distance from Wang Yan, and if he got too close, it would stop its activity warily.

Wang Yan also observed the raccoon dog with great enthusiasm, slowly following it, walking along.

The raccoon dog gradually got used to his presence and was no longer as vigilant as at the beginning.

After about twenty minutes, the raccoon dog suddenly stopped, turned around, and ran swiftly to his feet.