I have a wildlife zoo

The sky grew darker and darker, the ink-like clouds so heavy they seemed ready to collapse.

"Crack!"

On the way back to the zoo by taxi, a bolt of lightning streaked across the pitch-black sky followed by a thunderous roar. Then, raindrops the size of soybeans started pelting down, forming a massive curtain of rain with a startling intensity.

Fang Ye felt relieved, thinking, what good fortune to have returned early with such heavy rainfall!

Otherwise, hailing a taxi would have been inconvenient if it had been any later.

He instructed the driver to take the car directly into the zoo and stop near the dormitory building. Then, he and Lan Li dashed back in a frenzy, getting soaked in just that short moment.

Back at the dormitory, Fang Ye breathed a sigh of relief, wiped off the rainwater, and cautioned Lan Li, "Hurry back, take a shower, and change clothes. Don't catch a cold."

"Okay!" Lan Li obediently agreed, her heart sweet and delighted.

A word of concern from the zoo director made a little extra time in the rain no big deal at all.

Seeing the weather conditions, Fang Ye sent out a notice to the animal keepers: the zoo would be closed for the next two days. The same closure announcement was made on Weibo.

But surely, no visitors would want to come in such heavy rain anyway.

...

The next day, the rain still fell.

Looking out the window at the rain, Fang Ye noticed it had weakened since it started yesterday, but it didn't look like it would stop anytime soon.

He called for a morning meeting, and today all the animal keepers arrived wearing raincoats.

They would still need to go out to feed the animals despite the rain.

Fang Ye addressed everyone, "Thank you for your hard work. It's raining today, so let's keep it short and to the point. Report any issues briefly, and if there are none, I'll give a quick talk, and then everyone can get on with their tasks."

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Lü Jiamu reported, "Director, White Brow's spirits aren't very good."

"Okay, noted. Anything else?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Fang Ye continued with a few more instructions, urging everyone to be extra careful over the next couple of days and to pay attention to the animals' moods.

The weather doesn't just affect human emotions; it does the same to animals. Warm and comfortable weather with bright sunshine usually puts everyone in a good mood.

Rainstorms combined with being confined in a small space and unable to go outside and play can make them cranky and potentially lead to fights with other animals.

After the meeting, Fang Ye first visited the red panda exhibit's back house to check on White Brow.

Indeed, White Brow was huddled in a corner, looking dispirited and listless.

Upon hearing someone approaching, he instinctively turned his head to glance, then continued to stare blankly at the wall, uninterested in his surroundings.

It was as if his forehead bore the words, "I'm in isolation."

Common Macaque: White Brow

Age: 18 years

Mood: Bad

Health Status: Poor (recovering)

It seemed that his health status had improved slightly after being medicated, but being separated from the other monkeys had worsened his mood, possibly exacerbated by the gloomy rainy weather.

"White Brow!"

Fang Ye called out in a friendly manner through the metal netting.

White Brow remained silent, not even wanting to acknowledge him.

Fang Ye coaxed persuasively, "You've got to perk up! How's it going to be okay if you're always like this? Be happy and optimistic, alright? Otherwise, how can your body recover quickly?"

White Brow still ignored him, giving a low-spirited glance.

You can spare me the talk, just let me out already.

"Hey."

Fang Ye sighed helplessly, took out some spiritual water, and poured a little into White Brow's basin. There really wasn't much else to do; he could only let White Brow adjust her mood on her own.

The other animals didn't have any problems. They stayed in the back shelter under the care of animal keepers, so he didn't need to visit.

Still, he missed them after not seeing them for a day, so he decided to take a stroll to the back shelter of the tiger exhibit.

In the back shelter, the tiger exhibit's animal keeper Bao was busy cleaning and checking the equipment. Upon seeing Fang Ye, he greeted, "Hello, Director!"

"Mhmm, carry on with your work, I am going to see how Jiaojiao and the others are doing!"

The floor of the tiger exhibit's back shelter was strewn with some dry straw, and right now Jiaojiao was lying on her side, with Ice Cake lying in her embrace.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, both tigers' ears perked up, and they opened their eyes to look warily at the area outside the enclosure.

The tigers' hearing was still very sharp; even with the continuous rain outside and Fang Ye's soft footsteps, even such slight noises were detected.

"Jiaojiao, Ice Cake~"

Fang Ye greeted them with a smile.

He knelt down on the ground, bringing his line of sight to the same level as the tigers.

Upon seeing Fang Ye, Ice Cake got excited, scrambled up, and with her nose "puffing" out air, she let out a loud "wah ahhh ahh! wah ahhh ahh!" in greeting.

"Daddy's here to see me!"

She moved to the bars, paws resting on them, and her little head bobbing up and down between the bars, as if she was trying to find a wide enough gap to squeeze through and pounce into his arms.

Fang Ye reached out his hand, and Ice Cake snuggled up to it, rubbing her nose on his palm and then carefully licked it with her red little tongue.

The roughness on Ice Cake's tongue was mild, so it was fine to be licked by it.

Upon recognizing the visitor, Jiaojiao relaxed, opened her mouth wide, and yawned.

She stood up and stretched languidly, her clear tiger eyes softly watching as Ice Cake licked Fang Ye's palm. She slowly ambled over, also leaning her head toward the bars, her forepaws bracing her upper body, while the rest of her lay down.

It seemed that the overcast weather hadn't affected her mood; on the contrary, she seemed very comfortable sleeping in the back shelter.

"Good girl, you were sleeping soundly," Fang Ye commented as he shifted his gaze and gently scratched Jiaojiao's big nose with his finger.

As Jiaojiao's head came closer, it looked cute and naive, making him unable to resist the urge to tease her. He "whooshed" a breath at Jiaojiao's eyes.

Jiaojiao clearly hadn't expected the sudden attack. Her eyes closed reflexively, her head jerked backward, and her ears pressed down from their relaxed state.

This was the tiger's self-protection mode; her ears tightened and adhered to her head so they wouldn't get injured in a fight.

Actually, not only tigers but many carnivores, including primates, have the same reaction when fighting.

Looking somewhat bewildered, she tilted her head and looked at Fang Ye, as if a few question marks were popping above her head.

What are you doing, Director?

Bao was quite curious about what Fang Ye was up to as well and took the opportunity to stealthily peek over while cleaning.

Seeing Fang Ye suddenly blowing at the tiger startled him too.

He took great care when handling tigers, always double-checking whether the cage locks were secure, and addressing them with utmost respect when calling their names.

If the cage were ever left unlocked, he hoped the tiger would spare his life out of appreciation for their usual relationship.

He would never dare to tease the tigers like that!

"Haha!"

Delighted by his successful prank, Fang Ye laughed heartily, and blew gently at Jiaojiao again, "whoosh, whoosh." This time, Jiaojiao was prepared and moved her head back a little, letting him continue to blow.

Then she also lay down with her front portion of the body, her posture relaxed, her gaze calmly fixed on him.

She probably thought that Fang Ye was performing some kind of show.