Chapter 205 (continued)

"He's here. "Shi Wen raised an eyebrow. "He's very willing to contribute to society."

Zhou Hongzhong immediately understood that this meant it was possible, and said, "Then please put in a good word for me. It's easier to talk to your family."

Shi Wen, "Normally, I would have just casually mentioned it, but this time you should formally invite them."

Zhou Hongzhong was a little surprised, but he still agreed, "Then I'll take the initiative to ask."

Shi Wen, "Hurry up and ask, stop dawdling."

Shi Wen personally watched Zhou Hongzhong send a message to Yan Kexing.

Yan Kexing has not yet returned.

No sooner had Zhou Hongzhong sent the message than Shi Wen followed up with another: [How was it? I guessed right, didn't I? I told you they would invite you, you should have accepted.]

Yan Kexing: [Impressive.]

Shi Wen: [That's right, someone as useful as you is here. They've already invited me, so they'll most likely invite you too. I won my bet.]

Yan Kexing: [What do you want?]

Shi Wen: [I haven't thought of anything yet. I'll contact you when I do.]

Yan Kexing: [Okay, just let me know when you want to claim your spoils.]

Shi Wen sent a few simple messages and returned with a smile on his face. When he saw Yan Kexing, his face showed an even more smug expression.

Seeing his expression, Yan Kexing, "I've never refused anything you say before."

Shi Wen shook his finger. "That's different; the fruits of victory are the sweetest."

The date and personnel for this investigation were quickly finalized, and Zhou Hongzhong even invited them to a meeting.

Shi Wen was somewhat surprised that they took it so seriously.

Zhou Hongzhong privately told Shi Wen, "It's not that our department is paying special attention; it's other departments in the city."

Shi Wen gestured to him with her eyes, signaling him to speak quickly.

Zhou Hongzhong said in a low voice, "Our city has been carrying out poverty alleviation work recently, right? We've launched several poverty alleviation projects, but the results haven't been very obvious. This year, the higher-ups wanted to launch new projects, but they haven't found any good ones yet. The appearance of the musk deer has given them an idea."

Shi Wen curiously, "What's the inspiration? Are you planning to get into tourism?"

Zhou Hongzhong: "Our tourism industry is underdeveloped, and besides, how much money can such a small tourist spot make? The higher-ups want to see if we can start a musk deer farm."

Shi Wen: "Aquaculture?"

"Yes," Zhou Hongzhong said, "Haven't we always been a major livestock breeding city? Since we can raise cattle, horses, sheep, and camels, raising musk deer shouldn't be difficult."

Zhou Hongzhong added, "We even consulted experts. They said the spice market is growing rapidly both domestically and internationally. As long as we can successfully cultivate it, we won't have to worry about finding a market. Many pharmaceutical factories are waiting for natural musk to be used in their medicines."

That's true. Now that people's living standards have improved, the demand for spices, perfumes, and the like has also increased.

Furthermore, using synthetic musk in medicines is not a long-term solution; we must return to using genuine natural musk.

Shi Wen said, "So that's why you were so enthusiastic this time."

"That definitely concerns the livelihoods of many people." After saying that, Zhou Hongzhong asked Shi Wen, "What do you think of this path? Do you think musk deer farming is a good prospect?"

Shi Wen and said, "It's alright. We have mountains here, and I see that musk deer mainly eat tree bark and leaves. If we were to raise them, we would have the conditions. Just like you said, our animal husbandry industry is so developed here, and we have many veterinarians, so raising them shouldn't be too difficult."

Zhou Hongzhong clapped his hands. "If you think it's feasible, I'll talk to my family and see if they want to raise these musk deer."

Shi Wen, "Does your family raise livestock?"

Zhou Hongzhong: "It's mainly my younger brother. Last year, seeing the sheep and pig craze, he even considered raising them. However, his breeding skills were only average, and the market was showing signs of overheating, so I wasn't too comfortable with it and persuaded him to give up. This year, he still wants to raise something new, so I thought I'd ask if the musk deer is a viable option."

Hearing that it was an acquaintance who wanted to raise them, Shi Wen's attitude became even more conservative. "We don't have any breeding stock here. If you want to raise them, you'll have to import them from elsewhere. The first person to try something new always faces greater risks. His farming techniques are average, so we need to think about it carefully."

Zhou Hongzhong understood. "I'll tell him the news first, and then we'll see what he thinks."

Shi Wen smiled and said, "That's fine. If you encounter any problems, you can come and ask me."

He had a good impression of Zhou Hongzhong and was willing to help Zhou Hongzhong with some extra tasks.

Zhou Hongzhong patted him on the shoulder, touched. "Thank you."

On the day of the actual operation, the team members went up the mountain together and started their search from the footprints that Shi Wen had seen the other day.

It hasn't rained for a while, so the footprints have been preserved for a long time.

With Shi Wen leading the way, they quickly found the musk deer's trail by following the footprints.

Finding wild animals by following their trails was incredibly easy for him. Shi Wen felt he hadn't exerted much effort; with just a little observation, he quickly found new traces of the musk deer's activity.

Seeing that the marks were getting fresher, Shi Wen reached out and stopped the people around him, telling them not to go any further.

He whispered, "The musk deer is a very timid animal; it will run away at the slightest sound. Let's stop here and use our binoculars to look ahead and see if we can find any trace of it. If we can't find it, we'll continue forward."

Everyone agreed.

Yan Kexing stood beside Shi Wen and said after a moment, "I see it. It's under the tree ahead, about 230 meters away at the 11 o'clock position."

No one knew how he figured it out, and they looked ahead with skepticism.

After watching for a while, they indeed found traces of the musk deer.

Another expert in the group remarked, "The brown markings don't look like the musk deer, which is unique to our area; it seems to have come from the neighboring G Province."

Yan Kexing: "It's very possible that this area wasn't originally a traditional habitat for musk deer."