Chapter 691 - 573: What Is a Wife? Is It Edible?

Chapter 691: Chapter 573: What Is a Wife? Is It Edible?

Spring returned to the earth.

After the bustling Qingming Festival holiday ended, the Anjing Zoo’s visitor traffic remained as high as ever, making it one of the must-see attractions for tourists in Anjing.

Of course, all the tourists had the same goal: they were there for Meng Lan.

Wave after wave of visitors passed through the viewing area.

Although Meng Lan had already earned the privilege of roaming around after closing time, his outdoor enclosure still had to be reinforced. An inward-facing lid was added, eliminating any possibility of another escape.

Then again, Meng Lan himself no longer had any thoughts of escaping.

If he truly wanted to break out, he had plenty of opportunities when they opened the cage to arrange his bamboo.

"Why isn’t he moving? Aren’t they saying he can disco and do kung fu, that he’s a real-life Kung Fu Panda?" a tourist muttered.

A few new items had been placed in the outdoor enclosure.

For example, a custom-made, armchair-style sofa.

This had apparently become Meng Lan’s new favorite thing.

The thing he did most every day was lie on this single-seater sofa, staring blankly at the endless waves of tourists outside the glass.

And that’s what he was doing right now.

One leg was propped up on the armrest, his body slouched to the other side, a paw cupping his cheek. He was so still with his two black eye patches that anyone who didn’t know better would have thought he was asleep.

Next to the questioning tourist, another visitor holding a camera joked while focusing their lens, "That’s his special act. The Meng Lan of today is known as the Thinker of the West Gate. He’s contemplating the Dao at Longchang."

Another tourist said, "The key is that Prince Shen is gone. Grandmaster Xu and the others don’t dote on him enough, so Meng Lan won’t play with them."

The first tourist had a flash of understanding. "Oh, I know about that Prince Shen. He’s Meng Lan’s keeper, right? Why did he leave? Did he quit?"

The tourist who had answered glanced at him, thinking, ’Are you a real fan or just pretending?’ He said, "Prince Shen is a police officer. He has his own important business to attend to."

The first tourist was shocked; he really hadn’t known about that. Just as he was about to ask why a police officer would come work as a zookeeper, the panda inside started to move.

He squirmed a little, shifting from his right side to his left, and went back to playing dead.

He looked just like a weary office worker, forced to show up and completely devoid of any will to live.

The tourist’s brief excitement was for nothing. He couldn’t help but grumble that he’d waited in line for ages just to watch for five minutes, only to see nothing happen.

The tourist with the camera, who was clicking away, laughed. "This is pretty great, too. We watch him, he watches us, neither gets tired of the other. It’s so peaceful. Plus, he’s just so cute. Any picture you take is a masterpiece."

As he spoke, he fired off another ten-shot burst.

Just then, Meng Lan, who had been lazily watching the tourists, suddenly sat bolt upright and sniffed the air.

Then his little eyes went wide.

Yes, that was it. That familiar scent.

WHOOSH! He leaped off the sofa and ran straight for the glass, pawing at it and letting out a volley of calls.

His actions startled the tourists on the other side of the glass.

"He’s going to escape!"

A tourist in the crowd shouted, and suddenly everyone was even more excited than Meng Lan.

Inside the enclosure, Meng Lan jumped up and down excitedly, repeatedly slapping the glass in a specific direction.

The crowd of tourists turned to look and finally saw Shen Xin standing with Ma Tao a few meters away.

Seeing Meng Lan’s reaction, Ma Tao shook his head slightly and sighed with emotion. "Officer Shen, Meng Lan is still closest to you."

Shen Xin laughed heartily. ’Of course he is,’ he thought.

Seeing the tourists all looking their way, he pulled Ma Tao toward the keeper’s area.

The case wasn’t closed yet, and there were still many follow-up matters to attend to.

But as far as Shen Xin was concerned, it was over.

Shen Xin planned to take a vacation for himself.

Before his vacation, however, there was one more thing: Walnut.

The trip back to Motianling to find his roots had a significant aftereffect on Walnut.

Previously, while conducting the background investigation on Lu Weihong, Shen Xin had heard from Ma Tao that Walnut seemed to be depressed.

He had a poor appetite and was shockingly lazy.

His only hobby was to lie on top of the rockery after the zoo closed, letting the cold wind blow over him.

Once, Ma Tao couldn’t help but tell Shen Xin that he felt Walnut was searching for the scent of his home.

While investigating the case, Shen Xin had taken some time to think about this matter.

First, both Walnut and Meng Lan were influenced by his talent.

Especially Walnut, who was already at stage three.

Shen Xin wouldn’t go so far as to say they’d become spirits, but they were already very understanding of human nature.

It didn’t matter for Meng Lan. He was born in the human world and held no longing for the great outdoors.

He also enjoyed showing off for the tourists, basking in their cheers and attention.

But Walnut was different.

Deep in his memory, there would always be scenes of frolicking in the vast forest, trailing behind his mother.

The hundred-plus-square-meter outdoor area and the tens-of-square-meters cage were, to him, nothing but a prison.

The simplest solution was to release him back into the wild.

The last time he went to Motianling, Shen Xin had discussed this issue with Chen Jia Kang.

Chen Jia Kang’s attitude was, of course, supportive. This was his job; his professional dream was to send rescued and even captive-bred giant pandas back into the wild, returning them to nature.

However, because of the "household registration" issue, it would be very difficult for the Anjing Zoo to agree to this decision.

Shen Xin didn’t have that much pull.

However, operating on the principle of finding the root cause to solve a problem, Shen Xin thought of a way.

Shen Xin analyzed that there were two reasons why the Anjing Zoo wouldn’t agree.

First, he was, after all, a giant panda—and a rather famous one at that. He was a guarantee of the zoo’s revenue.

This point was easy to solve.

Because they had Meng Lan now. In other words, Shen Xin had helped the Anjing Zoo train a star panda. As long as Meng Lan remained healthy at the zoo, Zhu Fengmao would never have to worry about revenue.

Second, the Anjing Zoo was still focused on its breeding program and wanted Walnut and Meng Meng to reproduce.

They had always believed that with the excellent genes of these two, they could definitely produce the most attractive offspring.

So, Shen Xin felt that as long as he solved this problem, he could get the Anjing Zoo to agree to release Walnut.

Shen Xin had come to Anjing this time specifically for this matter.

Coincidentally, it was now April.

Spring had arrived, all life was reviving, and it was once again the mating season for animals...

With him there to give a little push, he wasn’t worried that Walnut wouldn’t be able to win over Meng Meng.

He arrived at the keeper’s area.

Over here, Meng Lan had already started pawing at the gate leading from the outdoor enclosure to the dens.

The moment it was opened, he bounded all the way over, trotting toward Shen Xin.

When he got close, he did a "butt-skid" stop, wrapping his arms around Shen Xin’s leg with just the right amount of force. He tilted his head up and let out a series of whines.

[Where did you go?]

[I missed you to death!]

He "spoke" while rubbing his head against Shen Xin’s body.

"I’m here now, aren’t I? Come on, let’s have a hug." Shen Xin squatted down, trying to pick Meng Lan up.

"Good grief, you need to go on a diet."

He could barely lift him.

[No diet!]

Meng Lan shook his head repeatedly, let go of Shen Xin, and stood up straight in the den. He bounced around, frolicking with excitement.

He was incredibly clingy. Wherever Shen Xin went, he insisted on following.

It was fine. Nowadays, Ma Tao and the others were extremely lenient with Meng Lan. They said he could understand anything, so sometimes they even let him wander freely in the back area.

Shen Xin let him trail behind him and turned to look for Walnut.

Walnut was doing much the same as Meng Lan had been, leaning against a wooden post in the outdoor enclosure and contemplating life.

Suddenly, he whipped his head around.

He had also caught Shen Xin’s scent.

A flash of excitement appeared in his eyes, but he suppressed it.

It wasn’t until Shen Xin came right up to him that he turned his head with a touch of aloofness to glance at him.

[You’re here.]

"What’s with the reserved act? Come on, give me a hug."

Shen Xin chuckled and rubbed his head.

’You weren’t like this back at Motianling,’ he thought. ’You needed me to hold you to sleep at night.’

Walnut huffed and finally came closer, hugging Shen Xin.

[Me too!]

Meng Lan squeezed in as well, hugging Shen Xin from behind.

Outside the glass, another wave of envious gasps arose from the crowd.

After they let go, Shen Xin rubbed Walnut’s ears and said, "Walnut, I came this time to find you a wife."

’Your freedom is something you have to work for yourself.’

Walnut looked up.

[What’s a wife? Can you eat it?]