Chapter 250: Why Must Monkeys Trouble Monkeys
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Monkey Mountain was only separated from the large enclosure inhabited by the gibbons by a five or six-meter-wide circular path, making them genuine neighbors.
Monkey Mountain was recessed into the ground, so from within the gibbons' enclosure, one could easily take in the entire view of Monkey Mountain. Conversely, from Monkey Mountain, one could see into the gibbons' cage just as well. It could be said that every move of one party was under the watchful eye of the other.
Being primates themselves, the gibbons and the macaques of Monkey Mountain used to get along quite well and rarely fought. If the Monkey King was in a good mood, he would even throw some fruit towards the gibbons' enclosure from a distance. Their "languages" must have been mutually intelligible, as they sometimes chattered and hooted at each other across the circular path, holding conversations that no one else could understand.
At this moment, as the gibbons were going mad with their hooting and howling on this side, the monkeys of Monkey Mountain were exceptionally quiet, as if they were enjoying the spectacle. In groups of three or five, they sat in various places atop Monkey Mountain, looking over here with their faces upturned, with some of the monkeys even comically gesturing at the gibbons.
At the entrance to the Monkey King's cave at the highest point of Monkey Mountain, the old Monkey King, Qinling Golden Monkey, along with Xiao Kong and his thin 'girlfriend' that he had coaxed over, were sitting in a row looking over, occasionally turning their heads to squeak and chatter, seemingly exchanging thoughts with each other.
"Hoot hoot... hoot hoot... hoot hoot hoot..." Seeing the composed demeanor of the macaques, the gibbons grew even angrier. At the back of their cage, they swung their fists furiously at the Monkey King and his cohorts and desperately pounded the cage with both fists.
Suddenly, the old Monkey King turned around, presenting his red buttocks to the gibbons and waggling his tail, as if taunting, 'Come on, if you dare, hit me.'
"No wonder the macaques have offended the gibbons, making them so angry," Hou said, feeling quite frustrated.
"You go to the medical clinic first and get the vet to stop the bleeding for that gibbon that broke its tooth. I've got this under control," Suming said. The gibbon he was referring to had its mouth full of blood and was still headbutting the iron cage, looking as terrifying as a zombie monkey from Resident Evil.
He had long used his spiritual power to treat the injured gibbon; it wasn't going to die, but they still needed a professional vet for the broken tooth.
After sending Hou away, Suming slipped on a red armband onto his arm, picked up a loudspeaker, and started addressing the gathered onlookers: "Dear visitors, please go and enjoy other parts of the zoo for the time being, and don't startle the gibbons."
Many people in the crowd were filming with their phones, and someone asked in a loud voice, "Are you guys abusing the animals in your zoo?"
Sure enough, before the gibbons were even dead, suspicion had begun to arise, and this was not a good sign. Suming used to like using the power of the media, but the media, especially public media, wasn't 100% controlled by any one person or force.
At times, public media were like flies, swarming wherever there was excrement. With so many cell phones recording, if they didn't handle the gibbon situation well, it could easily attract public attention and dump the blame right on the zoo's doorstep.
Now was the time to hold the restructuring research conference, and Mr. Song was in the city, arguing over every penny with city leaders for the future of the zoo, and they could not afford to let out any comments that were detrimental to the zoo.
"Rest assured, everyone, Yangchuan City Zoo never abuses animals. On the contrary, every animal in the zoo receives the best of care. The gibbons are acting out because they are frightened, and that's because... "
Because of what? Suming didn't know, and even if he did, he couldn't just say it outright. Quick thinking, he turned the blame back, saying sternly, "It's because some visitors have behaved inappropriately..."
Upon hearing this, many visitors subconsciously stepped back from the gibbon enclosure, as most people preferred not to court trouble, fearing that any mishap with the gibbons might fall on their shoulders.
Suming quickly took the opportunity to release his spiritual power and made contact with all the gibbons.
They meant only one thing: calm down first, any demands could be discussed.
The gibbons, being primates, were naturally very smart, no less intelligent than the macaques, and having dealt with Suming more than once, they knew this young master wielded real power, unlike other zookeepers at Yangchuan City Zoo. After receiving Suming's assurance, they indeed quickly regained their composure, no longer seeking death or acting out. They hung from the tree branches, swinging back and forth, looking at Suming, waiting for the forthcoming 'negotiation'.
"See that!" Suming said, even more justified now, shouting to the visitors through the megaphone, "This time is forgiven, but if something similar happens again, the zoo will check the surveillance to assign responsibility. There will be fines or police reports, no clemency! Okay, everybody, disperse for now."
Action speaks louder than words; as soon as the visitors retreated, the gibbons stopped their outcry. The earlier commotion was undoubtedly related to the visitors. Thus, the crowd gradually dispersed.
"Alright, now tell me, what exactly happened? How did the macaques offend you?"
With his hands behind his back, Suming walked up to the gibbon enclosure and casually slipped a small piece of chocolate through the bars.
The gibbon closest to Suming swiftly reached out, snatched the chocolate, and stuffed it into its mouth with gusto. While eating, it hopped down from the tree and danced around, gesticulating: pointing towards Monkey Mountain at one moment and then in the direction of the mountains behind at another, followed by a few hopping gestures on the spot.
"Hmm?... Eh... Oh, I see."
After watching the gibbon's gestures for a while, Suming finally understood why they were rioting!
The blame still lay with Suming himself, in the end.
The Monkey King used to secretly escape the enclosure, climbing out of Monkey Mountain to go play and brew liquor. However, to avoid being detected by the keepers, the frequency of the escapes was low, and the duration of each was quite short.
In recent times, since Suming needed the Monkey King to prepare for brewing, the Monkey King had to visit the back mountains often to 'scout the area.' Therefore, Suming intentionally adjusted Hou's shifts, allowing Hou to spend most of his time away from Monkey Mountain. As a result, both the number of escapes and the time spent out by the Monkey King surged dramatically.
It wasn't just the Monkey King who left either; Suming had also instructed the Monkey King to train a group of underlings to assist with the brewing in the future.
Well now, starting from before the New Year's celebrations, the gibbons next door had to watch helplessly each day as the macaques opposite swaggered out of Monkey Mountain and headed to the mountains behind to frolic freely. Especially during the New Year holidays, when Suming arranged the duty roster, he specifically gave Hou a long break, coming to the zoo only once every three days, so the macaques often went out for one or two days at a time.
Originally, everyone was the same: the macaques were trapped on Monkey Mountain, and the gibbons were confined in cages, none having freedom. But now, their neighbors could leave and play openly, and of course, this caused imbalance in the gibbons' hearts!
Macaques are spirited and mischievous by nature, and they were quite naughty. The more discontent the gibbons became, the more the macaques provoked them: often jeering at the gibbons before they left; and upon return, they would flaunt fruits, small birds, and other goodies they found in the mountains, eating and drinking in front of the gibbons to show off.
The gibbons tended to be more temperamental than the macaques, a lot like gorillas; how could they stand such provocation?
If not dying in silence, then it was an outburst in silence; after putting up with it for half a month, the gibbons were practically going crazy with anger, finally choosing to erupt!
"Oh, you want an equal share of the fun; you want to go out too," Suming nodded in understanding.