HLM -Chapter 1322 A Major Bird-Protection Purge

When Wang Bo returned to work, Hani was sitting in front of his computer, scratching his head in frustration.

Seeing Wang Bo come in, Hani hurriedly straightened up, sat upright, and asked seriously, “Boss, what brings you here?”

Wang Bo sniffed and said, “I want to show you something. But before we start, let me ask you—can you work properly? You’ve just started your shift and you’re already waiting to get off work?”

Hani gave an awkward laugh. “What are you talking about? When have I been waiting to get off work?”

Wang Bo pointed at the clock. “You probably don’t know this, but Sweet Boy installed a camera above your watch face. So the fact that you looked at the clock sixty-five times in one hour has been recorded—right here.”

As he spoke, he tossed a USB flash drive onto the desk.

Hani was shocked. “Fuck! That bastard dares to do this? I swear I’ll never help him with tax avoidance again. Starting this month, I’ll make him pay taxes until he cries!”

“Just watch the video,” Wang Bo said, sitting on the edge of the desk.

Hani quickly pocketed the USB drive. “No need to watch. It’s obviously fake. Damn it—where’s the camera? Using it to monitor me! I’m going to deal with him—deal with him hard!”

Despite the fierce words, he dragged a chair over to the wall, stepped on it, and started searching for the camera.

Wang Bo plugged the USB drive into the computer, opened the file, and clicked play.

“Hi, ma’am…”

“Good morning, Mayor…”

Hearing the dialogue come from the speakers—and recognizing the second voice as Vanessa’s—Hani jumped down from the chair in one smooth motion.

Wang Bo jumped in surprise. “Aren’t you afraid of throwing out your back?”

Hani rushed over, trying to turn off the video, but when he saw the image on the screen, he froze.

The video continued. After the greetings, young Hani said those words. When he heard himself say, ‘If you’re willing, I’d be very happy to see you and him be together,’ Hani was utterly stunned.

He suddenly turned to look at Wang Bo. Wang Bo grabbed his head and turned it back toward the screen. “Keep watching.”

Then came the main part. Mrs. Vanessa more or less acknowledged her relationship with Hani, but said she wanted him to say those words himself.

In New Zealand, marriage, divorce, and remarriage are very common. Many people don’t even get married and simply live together, and they still have children normally. Among the Māori, there is even the custom of trial marriage.

In short, both Vanessa and Hani knew perfectly well what their relationship was. Between them, there was only one thin layer of window paper left unbroken.

Wang Bo helped them tear through that layer—and conveniently dealt with the “window paper,” namely young Hani, as well.

After the video ended, Hani was dumbfounded. He gulped down air and stammered, “Th-this… what is going on?”

Wang Bo said, “Last night I went to see your son and had a good talk with him. He’s grown up—he’s an adult now—and he can understand you. So you and Vanessa can be together.”

Hearing this, Hani shouted, “Who told you to go talk to him about that? Who said I want to be with Vanessa?”

Now it was Wang Bo’s turn to be stunned. His heart sank. “No way… did we misunderstand this? Damn it. It’s fine—I’ll go tell Vanessa right now that you don’t have any feelings for her.”

He hurried toward the door, but Hani reacted quickly and grabbed him, smiling awkwardly. “No, no, boss. What I mean is—I want to know who told you all this. I want to go thank him.”

Wang Bo shoved him away. “Shit, don’t joke with me. I thought I’d messed things up.”

Hani hurriedly said, “No, boss, you helped me a lot.”

He rubbed his hands awkwardly and continued, “It’s just… I don’t really know how to say this. It’s a bit embarrassing. Just now I—damn it, I really don’t know what to say now. My God… I—Vanessa accepted my proposal, right?”

Just as Wang Bo was about to speak, Hani quickly added, “No, no, I mean—she’s clearly willing to accept my proposal, right? She’s waiting for me to propose to her, right?”

The subordinates watching the excitement from the side chimed in:

“Of course, boss. Mrs. Vanessa is waiting for you.”

“How are you planning to propose? Do you need our help brainstorming?”

“The mayor is amazing—he even settled Carlsen!”

Hani waved his hand irritably. “Enough, all of you! Get the hell back to work. What, you think your workload is too light?”

He pulled Wang Bo aside and asked, “Honestly, I’m also curious—how did you persuade that kid Carlsen? He was really against me being with Vanessa.”

Wang Bo squeezed his eyes mysteriously and said, “That’s a secret. When you have a secret I want someday, we can trade. For now, just focus on how you’re going to propose. I’m heading back.”

After dealing with Hani’s matter, Wang Bo had helped his subordinate resolve a major personal issue.

But as the weather warmed up, an even bigger issue appeared at the ranch—one that required his attention: dealing with the overpopulation of stoats.

Are there weasels in New Zealand? The answer is yes, though they’re generally called stoats.

New Zealand stoats are members of the mustelid family and are close relatives of the weasels from Wang Bo’s hometown. These creatures have long, slender bodies, short limbs, are extremely agile, and reproduce rapidly.

There weren’t many stoats within the boundaries of Sunset Town, but these animals absolutely could not be allowed to live in ranches, farms, or animal enclosures. Otherwise, they would threaten the survival of birds such as the blue duck, kererū (wood pigeon), kea, pūkeko, tūī, and banded rail.

The blue duck, kererū, and banded rail in particular were precious species—stars of Sunset Town. And unfortunately, stoats especially loved hunting them. As long as stoats existed, the survival of these precious birds could not be guaranteed.

In spring, the problem became especially severe. Spring is a crucial season for many birds to lay eggs, incubate them, and reproduce. Stoats are highly skilled at stealing and eating bird eggs.

Wang Bo hadn’t thought much about this at first. It was Professor Sandra who came to see him and said, “Mayor Wang, you need to find a way to control the stoat population in town.”

Wang Bo asked, “What’s wrong—are they stealing coral?”

The old professor rolled his eyes. “No animals eat coral. They steal and eat all kinds of bird eggs and chicks!”

As he spoke, he handed Wang Bo some materials to read.

The documents gave a detailed introduction to stoats. One line in particular stated that as long as a single stoat existed, within a radius of ten hectares, almost all bird eggs laid by local birds would fail to hatch and would eventually end up in its stomach.

While Wang Bo was reading, the professor continued, “In all protected areas for rare birds like banded rails and blue ducks in New Zealand, the presence of stoats is strictly controlled. The moment a stoat is discovered, a large-scale purge must be carried out immediately!”

Hearing this, Wang Bo slammed the table and said, “Excellent. Then we’ll start a major purge immediately as well!”