Super Zoo

Kindness begets kindness. When Suming first kept Park Cheol-bin, he was moved by the thought of treating his illness, even willing to use "Tai Sui" meat. Aside from some promises made to Park Jeong-ui, it was mainly out of compassion. There are many pitiable people in the world; if you don't know them or haven't seen them, it's one thing, but when a young boy who's more optimistic and in need of sunlight than most, despite his muscular atrophy, appeared before Suming, he couldn't think of any reason to stop himself from helping him.

In short, it was purely out of goodwill, with no expectation of reward. Unexpectedly, kindness was rewarded. Park Cheol-bin turned out to be a living encyclopedia, especially in the field of economics, where he had dabbled extensively. According to him, natural sciences study nature; while economics and politics are the top constructs of humanity, studying the human heart. In modern society, politics is, in turn, an extension of economics.

Natural science requires accumulation, and at his age, coupled with the possibility of only having a few short years left to live, he might not achieve much in scientific research. That time wouldn't be sufficient to climb onto the shoulders of giants, so he devoted most of his energy to the study of economics, becoming a self-taught expert in the field without any formal qualifications or degrees.

Before leaving Yangchuan City, Suming made two arrangements. First, he had Su Meng accompany Park Cheol-bin to several companies for in-depth visits during his absence.

Normally, Suming wouldn't lack talent so much as to 'exploit' a disabled person, a child laborer at that, but Park Cheol-bin's situation was different.

Some people live just waiting for death, while others, who may face death at any moment, live their lives brilliantly.

Park Cheol-bin was clearly the latter; when he was at home in Korea, he didn't give up on himself because of illness. On the contrary, he spent all his time learning. For such a child, letting him rest peacefully without doing anything would be torture instead, dimming the flame and passion of his life. He needed to be excited.

Fortunately, he understood economics and was interested in it. Suming himself needed such talent, so he simply let him try out the role of an advisor for the entire Taoyuan Group. This way, he could delve deeper into his studies, combining book knowledge with practice, and potentially offer Suming valuable advice for future developments.

Suming even specifically asked the doctors if overworking might affect his condition. The same chief physician who had attended to Suming before squinted and chuckled, asking what ailments the child had left to worry about? He was just waiting to die. If he liked it, let him do it. Who knows, it might even help his recovery.

Of course, he added a line in the end, "Hope is slim, don't hold any hope."

Having received this answer, Suming completely let Park Cheol-bin loose to tinker. His last visits to a few companies were cursory, and the suggestions he made were broad-stroke. This time, taking advantage of Suming's trip to Xiangjiang, he could let him thoroughly understand the status of the various companies in the group.

Su Meng held no official position in the group, but everyone knew that this imposing man was the boss's cousin, as well as his bodyguard and part-time driver.

Such a person was no different from a deputy leader. With Su Meng accompanying Park Cheol-bin, his safety was assured, and it was convenient for visits and understanding the companies' situations.

Furthermore, Suming secretly cut off a piece of "Tai Sui" meat weighing half a jin and gave it to Hong Feifei to raise in the back kitchen of Hong's Restaurant. This substance could grow continuously as long as there was water.

He instructed Hong Feifei to add just a tiny bit of "Tai Sui" meat every time she prepared medicinal cuisine.

"Tai Sui" meat was rare indeed, but as a top chef, Hong Feifei was no stranger to it. Her signature dish "Immortal Meat" featured "Tai Sui" meat.

Hong Feifei thought it was just ordinary "Tai Sui", provided by Suming for Park Cheol-bin to nourish his body. Ordinary "Tai Sui", at half a jin, would at most cost tens of thousands of dollars. It was expensive, but not outrageously so.

After all the preparations, Suming then boarded the plane.

This time, he didn't bring any attendants, but there were two old acquaintances waiting for him in Xiangjiang.

Lin Mu and Hou Longtao.

Last time, on account of Suming, Wang Jin had hooked up Lin Mu with a supporting actor role in a local art film in Xiangjiang.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this kid seems a bit crazy—it's like he has a severe case of performative personality disorder and would die if he couldn't show off in front of women... Genius and madness are often two sides of the same coin, and Lin Mu is one of those people. A born actor, he is absolutely dedicated when it comes to filming. After wrapping up a movie—although it hasn't been released yet—he actually gained quite a good reputation in Xiangjiang's film circles.

There were two or three movies that proactively invited Lin Mu after that, and the one with the most significant role even offered him the male lead. And the biggest production was one that Tsui Hark was involved in.

Lin Mu's final choice surprised everyone—he picked a rather obscure and small-scale ghost movie.

Many people didn't understand; are ghost movies still in demand these days? It's just pure nostalgia. Not to mention that it definitely couldn't be released on the mainland, even the locals in Xiangjiang have long passed the era of watching ghost movies.

After "A Chinese Ghost Story" and Lam Ching-ying's vampire movies, countless imitators have emerged, and the endless stream of ghost movies that followed the same formula completely drained the genre.

Having gained a bit of fame, Lin Mu had resigned from his day job and approached Suming to sign with Taoyuan Film and Television as an actor, becoming the second artist after Nangong Huang with acting experience in the company. Therefore, he specifically explained his reasons to the company.

He had read the scripts for several movies, but it was this ghost movie called "The Robbery Ghost" that had the most sincerity and depth, and the storyline was also quite interesting.

"The Robbery Ghost?" Suming was taken aback when he heard it. In Cantonese, those two words mean robbery.

A ghost movie? Ghosts robbing people? People robbing ghosts?

He was confused. But since Lin Mu was interested, and the film company didn't want to interfere too much with the actors' career directions at this stage, they decided to let him do it.

Suming hadn't seen the specific content of the script, but he heard that Lin Mu would be playing a lascivious but cool gang leader in the movie.

Although technically a supporting role, he had a lot of screen time from start to finish and was considered one of the main ensemble of characters. So Lin Mu had stayed in Xiangjiang, and when he heard Suming was coming, he asked for the time to prepare to pick him up at the airport.

Another old acquaintance, also a roommate from their dorm, was Hou Longtao, the Monkey.

He happened to be traveling to Xiangjiang with his wife, Song Lulu. Since Lin Mu had arrived in Xiangjiang earlier, he was relatively more familiar with everything and had arranged their accommodations and travel.

With two old dorm mates in Xiangjiang, Suming's trip was bound to be less lonely.

Stepping out of the boarding gate, he could see Lin Mu from a distance, standing at the door with his arms crossed. Standing beside him was a man and a woman—the woman had a cold expression Suming recognized from a past class reunion, Hou Longtao's wife, Song Lulu, who came into possession of several houses after a demolition project.

The man was wearing large sunglasses that nearly covered half his face.

"I mean, Lin Mu, a star, doesn't wear glasses, and when there's no sun, what's the point of those sunglasses? Do you think I wouldn't recognise you just because you put on glasses?"

Suming walked over briskly, nodding and smiling at Song Lulu before addressing Hou Longtao, who was wearing the sunglasses, with a laugh.

Song Lulu's complexion seemed a bit awkward, and Hou Longtao chuckled dryly. Lin Mu, throwing an arm over Suming's shoulder, headed outside. "Whatever, let's go. I made reservations at 'Strength of Bone'. The four of us will have hotpot."