Chapter 123 - 117: Truly an Expert

"What... What is all this nonsense?" The Director of Logistics listened with a furrowed brow, a look of disdain on his face.

The Director of Public Relations, however, had his eyes light up. He couldn’t help but burst out laughing. "HAHAHA! Excellent! Her downfall is excellent! It’s perfectly timed, Director!"

He turned to Guo Xiaoyun, saying excitedly, "Director, Lin Qingyu’s fall from grace—especially a multi-faceted scandal like this, involving moral and legal issues—is guaranteed to be the biggest story online for the next few days, or even longer!"

"The public’s attention and all the heated discussion will be drawn to that. In comparison, the attention on our Zoo will drop immediately."

"This is a golden opportunity to divert public opinion and reduce the pressure on us!"

The Director of Public Relations gesticulated excitedly with both hands.

"Oh, right! That’s exactly it!"

"That’s right. A huge scandal from the entertainment industry is way more attention-grabbing than our Zoo’s incident."

"Haha, Lin Qingyu’s downfall couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s practically a godsend!"

The others quickly caught on, their faces showing looks of excited relief.

Guo Xiaoyun was also beaming with joy, the gloom from moments ago completely swept away.

He made a decision on the spot and gave the order, "Quick! Public Relations, Marketing—everyone, get moving now!"

"Ride the wave of this huge Lin Qingyu story. Quickly and quietly guide the narrative on our end. Emphasize that the crisis has been properly resolved, there were no casualties, we are seriously dealing with the responsible parties, and we’re strengthening safety inspections..."

"Do everything you can to steer public attention toward the positive aspects, while cleverly shifting the heat of the discussion toward the entertainment world! Move fast!"

"Understood!"

"You got it! We’re on it!"

The Directors of Public Relations and Marketing accepted their orders and hurried out of the conference room.

...

In his hotel room, Yang Qi also saw the explosive news about "Lin Qingyu’s downfall" from a group chat with his classmates that was being spammed with messages.

Watching the screenshots of irrefutable evidence—each more shocking than the last—and the endless discussions pop up in various group chats, he then glanced at the trending topic about him "calming the brown bear." Its climb up the ranks and the buzz around it had clearly started to slow, the curve even beginning to dip. The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curve upward.

"I never would’ve thought... Lin Qingyu is such a ’good person’."

Yang Qi couldn’t help but remark with a sigh.

This popular young actress, who was known for her bad temper and diva behavior after becoming famous, was now truly blowing up.

This "explosion" of news swept across the entire internet, perfectly taking the "hot-topic baton" from the Red Star Zoo incident.

Although the video of Yang Qi "calming the brown bear" was still on the trending list, it was foreseeable that the vast majority of public attention and online discussion would now be captured by the messy private scandals hidden beneath the glamorous facade of the young actress, Lin Qingyu.

The storm surrounding the Red Star Zoo would soon slip from the center of attention, becoming just another ordinary piece of social news about an incident that was "handled properly" and "all’s well that ends well."

...

The online uproar continued throughout the night.

As the "Lin Qingyu’s downfall" incident continued to develop and more shocking details were leaked, the attention of the public and the media was completely diverted, just as predicted.

「By the next morning.」

The hype surrounding the Red Star Zoo’s escaped brown bear incident had receded like the tide, dropping rapidly to a corner of the social media trending lists. Only some local forums and industry insiders were still discussing it.

Seeing the changes in the public opinion data report with their own eyes, all the high-level staff at the Zoo involved in handling the matter breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Shortly after, Red Star Zoo and its superior administrative unit sent a formal letter of gratitude to Donghua Wildlife Park.

In the letter, they gave Yang Qi extremely high praise and expressed their sincere thanks.

「A little after two in the afternoon.」

A rather high-profile internal commendation ceremony was held in the multipurpose conference hall of Red Star Zoo.

The lineup of attendees was quite impressive.

All the leaders of the Red Star Zoo were present, including Director Guo Xiaoyun and Vice Director Tong Xiaoyue.

The hall was filled with department heads, key technical staff, and outstanding employee representatives from the Zoo.

The superior administrative unit had sent two supervising leaders and an office director.

Even the district government where Red Star Zoo was located had sent a deputy district chief in charge of culture and tourism to attend.

The commendation ceremony was concise and efficient.

First, Guo Xiaoyun gave a speech.

Next, a leader from the superior department came on stage to speak.

Then, under the watchful eyes and applause of everyone present, Yang Qi was invited onto the stage.

The deputy district chief personally handed Yang Qi a beautifully printed "Certificate of Commendation for Heroic Actions," stamped with a red official seal, along with an envelope containing a symbolic prize of 10,000 yuan.

Immediately after, Guo Xiaoyun took the stage again to announce another important reward from the Red Star Zoo for Yang Qi.

"To thank Comrade Yang Qi for his tremendous help with our Zoo’s work, and to support his continued exploration in the field of animal behavior research, the Red Star Zoo has decided to formally grant Comrade Yang Qi access to our Zoo’s internally accumulated, non-confidential technical materials. This includes behavioral observation records, husbandry management notes, and health file summaries for various rare animals, for Comrade Yang Qi’s study and reference..."

This decision made many of the key technical staff in the audience look on with envy.

This internal data, the culmination of generations of zookeepers’ and researchers’ hard work, was a priceless treasure that money couldn’t buy.

Yang Qi was also very interested.

’The system is bound to "the Zoo," so it’s absolutely necessary to forge a wider and longer path within the world of animal conservation.’

Just after the announcement was finished, Guo Xiaoyun produced another formally bound document and handed it to Yang Qi with both hands.

"After a joint review and discussion by the core expert team of our Zoo’s Veterinary Station, as well as several senior animal behavior research specialists from the province who were invited to participate in the evaluation, we have unanimously concluded that Comrade Yang Qi has demonstrated extremely rare and highly effective abilities in the field of emergency behavioral intervention, emotional soothing, and communication with large, dangerous animals. His practical results have reached a leading level in this field within the province."

"Therefore, we are specially issuing this ’Certificate of Technical Competence,’ jointly signed by the relevant experts, as proof!"

Yang Qi took the document and opened it. Inside, not only was there a technically rigorous evaluation, but at the end, there were indeed seven or eight signatures and seals from experts, some of whom he had heard of and some he hadn’t.

’This is great stuff!’

Although this certificate wouldn’t be publicly promoted, it was a weighty piece of "confidence" and a "Body Protection Talisman" for Yang Qi to establish himself in the industry and face future skepticism.

The acknowledgments continued.

Under the watchful eyes of the higher-ups and everyone in attendance, Yang Qi and Guo Xiaoyun jointly signed a "Special Technical Consultant Cooperation Agreement."

The agreement clearly stipulated that Red Star Zoo would hire Yang Qi as a "Special Technical Consultant" for a five-year term on a non-residential basis.

Red Star Zoo would pay a considerable expert consultation fee annually.

In return, as per the agreement, Yang Qi would need to provide remote technical consultation for Red Star Zoo or, upon request, provide on-site technical support if the Zoo encountered an emergency similar to this one.

The terms were in black and white, the official seals a vibrant red.

When Yang Qi put down the pen, exchanged the agreement documents with Guo Xiaoyun, and shook his hand, thunderous applause erupted from below the stage.

The signing of this agreement meant that from this moment on, Yang Qi’s "expert" title—which had previously been in mental quotation marks—was now a "genuine Animal Expert" recognized by the industry!

...

The commendation ceremony ended.

Yang Qi immediately went to the research building to browse through Red Star Zoo’s internal materials.

He didn’t come out until it was dark.

After having dinner with Tong Xiaoyue and Zhou Jing, Yang Qi said his goodbyes. Zhou Jing then drove him to the high-speed rail station.

He took the bullet train back to Donghua.

He found his SUV in the parking lot and drove back to the Zoo.

By the time he arrived at his small villa by the mountain, it was already eleven at night.

"Meow?"

A meow sounded at just the right moment.

Xiaojiu leaped down from the balcony and perched on the wall, looking toward the gate.

Yang Qi smiled and waved at it.

"I’m back..."

Xiaojiu suddenly turned and ran back, meowing as it went.

’Oh no, the master is back!’

???