Super Zoo

Chapter 200 Appraisal (Third Update)

After arriving at Zhao Yun's home, Zhao Yun was sitting in the living room reading the newspaper. Suming changed his shoes and entered the house, but he didn't bring up "antique appraisal" first; instead, he discussed the distillery with Zhao Yun. At the moment, this was the priority.

Zhao Yun had already found professional engineers and budget personnel, drafted a plan for establishing the distillery, and taken care of the related approval processes. Suming had also already transferred four million from the Taoyuan Fisheries Company's accounts through Zhang Siming's law firm, plus the two million he dug into his own pockets for, making a total of six million.

Once that money was spent, Suming became utterly penniless. If not for the small salary he still received monthly from the zoo and the continuing boat tour business, he wouldn't even be able to afford gas for the Wrangler. The fisheries company's accounts were completely drained; they could only wait to slowly recoup the money from selling fish.

He had originally planned to tour several inland lakes in the Yangtze River Basin before the Chinese New Year, looking for freshwater fish with higher economic value to breed. Now, due to financial constraints, the plan had been temporarily shelved.

Zhao Yun had invested five million himself. With both of their contributions, the total investment was eleven million, which was actually a very, very small scale for a distillery.

The funds were in place, but there were two problems, neither too big nor too small.

"The first is the formula. You need to hurry up with the training of the monkeys you mentioned last time," Zhao Yun said.

Suming nodded, "I've already begun handling it." He had ordered several tons of various fruits from the zoo's warehouse last week, not knowing exactly which fruits the Monkey King would use for brewing; it was better to have a surplus just in case.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The formula was key to the distillery, directly affecting whether it would be profitable. Suming was confident that the Monkey King would provide the formula, but to create a buzz, he was also considering getting a few more monkeys involved, using the excuse of "releasing them into the wild" to have them learn the craft of making Monkey Wine from the Monkey King in the hills behind the zoo. In the future, these wine-making monkeys could "work" at the distillery.

As long as these gimmicks were established, he dared not claim that the distillery could grow large enough to go public, but making money was absolutely assured. Plus, it seemed the monkeys actually enjoyed brewing, probably because it meant they got to eat lots of fruit.

"Then there's the issue of land for the factory," Zhao Yun continued, his expression showing a hint of difficulty.

Zhao Yun probably knew this as well and ultimately just shook his head, laughing, "If it really doesn't work out, we can buy a plot somewhere else. There's plenty of construction land in the nearby counties and towns. As long as you have the money, buying land won't be a problem. It just means the transportation of raw materials will be a bit more troublesome."

"After I go back, I'll also think of some ways. If possible, it would be best to stay near the reservoir or the back mountain," Suming still hoped to have the distillery close by for convenient management. Besides, if he could build the distillery in either of those two places, he could even cultivate various fruits on a large scale in the back mountains to directly supply the distillery, making the process more convenient and making good use of the mountains—a win-win situation.

The two chatted for a while longer. As parents, their conversations would inevitably turn to their children, and Zhao Yun was no different. Before long, he was talking about Chengcheng.

Suming was taken aback by the conversation; kids these days matured so early. There was a little boy in Chengcheng's class who had written her a love letter!

Zhao Yun didn't seem to care much. It was natural for children to have those misty feelings for each other. It wasn't just the kids nowadays; even when Suming and his peers were in elementary school, it was common to hear about who had a crush on whom. Zhaoqian, on the other hand, was incredibly worried, nagging Zhao Yun every day about how puppy love could distract from studies and affect one's outlook on life, and so on.

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhao, leave it to me! Beating up and intimidating the little kids, helping with homework, pretending to be a parent at parent-teacher conferences, that's my expertise, only fifty bucks a pop!" Suming pat his chest with a resounding thump.

"Forget about it, Chengcheng isn't interested in those kids anyway. She says they're too immature, always playing League of Legends or something, not mature at all," Zhao Yun said casually.

Suming was at a loss for words, thinking to himself that he played too, not only League, but sometimes even CrossFire...

After some idle chit-chat, and seeing that Zhao Yun had no other business to discuss, Suming took out some pieces of broken porcelain and chunks of copper from his bag, piled them on the table, and said, "Mr. Zhao, can you take a look and tell me what these are?"

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PS: Another chapter coming in fifteen minutes!