Back to the Ranch as an Animal Caretaker
Chapter 397

Page 397

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It would be difficult for him to finish planting all the bamboo by himself, so he specially hired casual laborers to go up the mountain with him to plant bamboo.

Zhang Deyuan has been free lately, so he's been coming over to his house to work.

While chatting while working, Zhang Deyuan said, "Aren't giant pandas only kept at your place for a few days? Why did you even plant bamboo there?"

Shi Wen, "Planting bamboo isn't bad at all. It will make it much easier to cut timber later, and we can also eat some bamboo shoots."

Zhang Deyuan laughed, "You didn't even think about planting bamboo last year, you only thought of planting some for the giant pandas after you saw them, right?"

Shi Wen, "That's part of the reason. Its appetite isn't very good. If we could produce fresh bamboo shoots here, its appetite might improve."

Although bamboo and bamboo shoots are relatively durable, and the zoo always selects fresh bamboo and bamboo shoots to be airlifted over, the distance is still far, so they are not as fresh as the ingredients picked from the back mountain.

Shi Wen a sniff, and the quality of the bamboo and bamboo shoots transported from outside was rather average.

He was used to eating ingredients from the ranch, and this kind of bamboo and bamboo shoots were simply not to his liking.

He thought about planting some bamboo and using the fertilizer from the pasture to nourish it, hoping to grow some better-tasting bamboo and solve the pandas' food problem.

Shi Wen that, though he doesn't say it, he really dotes on the giant panda Zhengzheng.

Zhu Ji occasionally came to visit and said to Shi Wen, "You all keep saying that this giant panda has a poor appetite, but I see that it hasn't lost weight here. In fact, it's been well-cared for, and its skin is shiny and smooth, even its eyes are bright."

Shi Wen looked at the listless Zhengzheng and asked, "Haven't you lost weight?"

Zhu Ji: "Don't you have a scale here? Don't you usually weigh yourself?"

Shi Wen and said, "It does weigh itself. Perhaps because it's a male giant panda on the verge of adulthood and was previously raised as a female, its body is somewhat deficient. Since coming here and eating better, its weight has increased."

Zhu Ji: "Then it can't be considered a loss of appetite, right?"

Shi Wen, "It really isn't very enthusiastic about eating. We've been feeding it well here, and that's why its weight has only increased slightly. If we send it back to the zoo, its weight will probably keep decreasing."

Zhu Ji looked at Zhengzheng and still felt something was off. "You guys might have a bias towards it. I think it's just a chubby, ordinary giant panda; I can't see any psychological problems with it. Don't you have surveillance cameras? What's its usual behavior like?"

Although there are surveillance cameras in the livestock shed, Shi Wen usually doesn't check them much.

There are smart computers and smart robots at the entrance of the ranch. The animals' information is collected through computers, robots, ear tags or leg bands and then sent to an app.

Shi Wen doesn't need to go through the surveillance footage. If there are problems, he can just check the animal with the problem and get the results quickly without having to go through the trouble of reviewing the footage.

His home security cameras are just for emergencies.

Hearing Zhu Ji say this, Shi Wen looked closely at Zhengzheng.

Gradually, he realized that he might have been prejudiced and had a biased view of Zhengzheng, which was why he always felt that it was not in good condition.

Zhengzheng doesn't seem to be troubled by psychological problems in her current state.

Shi Wen, having nothing better to do in the evening, specifically looked for a security camera that could see Zhengzheng and watched the surveillance video it had recorded.

He was watching it on fast forward on his computer.

Zhengzheng was usually listless and lacked energy in his presence. When he brought food in, Zhengzheng was too lazy to move.

To ensure Zhengzheng's health, they bring it various kinds of food every day, from its favorite bamboo shoots and apples to ordinary bamboo.

Zhengzheng always leaves some food uneaten, including some of its favorite foods.

Shi Wen also sensed that its condition might not be very good based on this.

Surprisingly, when we reviewed the security footage, Zhengzheng showed little interest Shi Wen brought in the food.

No sooner had he left than Zhengzheng would scramble up, licking and sniffing the food, circling around it with very expressive facial expressions, showing that it was interested in every kind of food.

Its behavior was quite strange. The dogs not far away saw it like this, but after a few glances, they looked away as if it were nothing unusual.

It probably behaves like this every day, and the dogs have gotten used to it.

Shi Wen at Zhengzheng, Shi Wen inexplicably recalled his childhood, when his parents left home to go to work.

When his parents are home, he behaves well. But as soon as they leave and the door is locked, he can't even walk properly. He jumps and skips around the house, excitedly running around.

This giant panda looks just like it did when it was a cub.

Shi Wen felt that Zhu Ji was right.

Zhengzheng might not be in such a serious condition; he might be faking it.

I just don't know why it started pretending, or when it discovered that feigning despair could bring it greater benefits?

He kept his gaze on the screen.

Zhengzheng excitedly sniffed and licked for a while, then picked out its favorite food, held it with its two front paws, and carefully ate it in small bites.

It won't finish its favorite food in one go, but will eat it with other ordinary foods, taking a bite of one food and a bite of another.

After it has eaten most of its food, even though it still looks reluctant to leave, it will leave some of its favorite food and some of its less favorite food behind and stop eating.

It was this behavior of constantly leaving food uneaten that led Shi Wen to misjudge its condition, thinking it might be sick.

Shi Wen at Zhengzheng on the screen, Shiwen felt that all her previous ideas about giant pandas had been refreshed.

Good heavens, what is that?!

That's even smarter than a monkey!

Moreover, with that kind of willpower, why doesn't it do something better? Instead, it pretends to be sick to deceive people.

Shi Wen stared in disbelief. Yan Kexing over and watched for a while, then understood what was going on. "This guy is quite clever."

"It's much more than just clever; it's practically genius." Shi Wen, watching the video. "I'll send this video to Xi Long and the others later."

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