HLM – Chapter 791 Remodeling the River Channel

Although Wang Bo’s classmates loved to make jokes, they were all rather down-to-earth.

Cao Bo said, “Forget it, let’s not think about New Zealand for now. The cost is too high.”

Zhao Xiaohui chimed in, “Yeah, let’s save up for a few years and then go to New Zealand. We can’t even afford the airfare right now. 😭”

Hearing this, Wang Bo felt a little embarrassed. He was the kind of person who could be persuaded by kindness but not by pressure. Seeing how thoughtful his classmates were being, he felt that if he didn’t say something, it would make him seem ungrateful.

After thinking for a bit, he asked, “Alright, quiet down for a moment. How much is everyone budgeting for a National Day trip?”

Hou Haibo: “I’m broke. 👃 One thousand.”

Wang Bo: “Your imagination goes as far as your wallet…”

Fan Dong: “I’m at five to eight thousand.”

Zhou Haojie: “Wow, our League secretary is rich—send us some red envelopes! 😬”

Fan Dong: “Zhou Boss, are you serious right now? Don’t you get what Old Wang means?”

Wang Bo did a quick calculation. For a National Day trip, the budget had to be at least five thousand yuan. With current domestic prices, going anywhere decent for less than that would be difficult.

So he said, “How about this—you guys form a group and pay for your own airfare. Come visit me, and I’ll take care of everything else. I’ll arrange a tour for you. I estimate the total round-trip cost won’t exceed four thousand per person.”

Chen Luoxian’s family ran a travel agency and had business connections with several airlines. Wang Bo remembered from their past conversations that Chen Luoxian once mentioned domestic travelers could fly to New Zealand for just about one thousand yuan through their agency.

The WeChat group instantly exploded:

“Four thousand? Are you serious?”

“Old Wang, you’re such a big spender—are you joking?”

“Forget it, if we actually go, just our lodging alone would bleed you dry.”

“Yeah, true. If we’re going, we’d better book tickets early for next year. It’s almost National Day now, and airfares are sky-high.”

Wang Bo became even more embarrassed. He had always been low-key among his classmates and rarely talked about his personal situation. If anyone asked, he would just vaguely say he worked as a civil servant in New Zealand.

Then Qingyang jumped in the chat:

“You guys should go! Once you’re here, you’ll see how rich Old Wang really is. I’m working under him now. Since he’s being modest, I’ll spill a bit—he owns a gold mine in New Zealand.”

Seeing that, Wang Bo rushed out and yelled, “Brother A! Get back to work! No phones during work hours!”

Downstairs, Atulu hurriedly put away his phone, startled. “Boss, did you install surveillance cameras or something? How did he know we were on our phones?”

And so, the decision was made. Wang Bo told Qingyang to record the names of the classmates who wanted to come, and instructed everyone to gather at the capital airport—he would handle the rest.

He called Chen Luoxian, asking if he could help buy a batch of plane tickets to New Zealand and explained his classmates’ situation.

Chen Luoxian responded readily, “No problem. We’ve organized a large tour group to your area anyway. They can buy their tickets under the group’s name.”

After hanging up, Wang Bo called Qingyang over. “Coordinate with Fan’s tour group. Don’t let my classmates actually travel with the group. Once they arrive in Auckland, just hire a tour bus to bring them over.”

Qingyang nodded. “Got it. What about accommodation and meals?”

“All in the castle.”

The castle was spacious enough, and since air conditioning was being installed, Wang Bo had taken the opportunity to clean and refurbish all the rooms, even giving them a light renovation.

That afternoon, the blue duck protection project was nearly complete.

Wang Bo followed Elizabeth to inspect the custom-made blue duck nesting area. Atulu had found a large, old wooden boat from a Māori village—one of those common flat-bottomed skiffs from his hometown.

The boat was about seven to eight meters long and more than two meters wide. It had no cabin or engine, basically like an enlarged canoe.

There was soil on the deck, where small shrubs and green grass had been planted. Water plants grew around it, and a ring of dry grass was woven into decorative duck nests.

Some of the nests were as large as rice cookers; others were about the size of helmets. Wang Bo counted—forty nests in total, enough for the entire flock.

They pushed the boat into the water, and Malop came with a yacht to tow it to the point where the spiritual spring flowed into Lake Hawea.

Wang Bo placed some small fish and shrimp inside the nests, then brought over four or five shrimp traps filled with the same. Those were blue ducks’ favorite foods.

Once the boat was set, the yacht left. The blue ducks, still wary, didn’t approach the boat. They stayed in the spring, observing carefully.

Wang Bo had driven out all the fish and shrimp from the spring, so now there was no food downstream. The blue ducks were big eaters—they burned a lot of energy.

After swimming around the spring for a while and finding no food, some ducks ventured into the lake to hunt fish. There, they soon noticed the boat teeming with fresh little fish and shrimp.

Nearly two hours later, one brave blue duck cautiously approached the boat and plunged into a trap, coming out with a small fish in its beak.

Blue ducks were social birds—once one led, the rest followed. Soon, the whole flock gathered around the boat, foraging for food.

Seeing this, Wang Bo nodded to Portar. The excavator and dump trucks that had been on standby immediately moved in.

The excavator started downstream, scooping out mud from the riverbed. The dump trucks carefully poured prepared gravel and sand along the banks.

Gradually, layers formed in the riverbed, creating miniature waterfalls. The flowing water gained a terraced effect, speeding up as it moved downstream.

The spiritual spring river was long—two kilometers in total—and Wang Bo was remodeling an eight-hundred-meter stretch.

After more than two years of natural erosion, the river had widened to six to eight meters. With the dump trucks’ refilling, its width narrowed to about three to five meters.

Portar had called in a small construction crew to minimize disturbance to the ducks, since Wang Bo feared that prolonged noise might scare them away.

While the ducks were busy catching shrimp around the boat, they suddenly turned around to find their home transformed—giant metal monsters were roaring across their territory!

Wang Bo had worried they’d fly off in fright, but it turned out they were so timid that instead of running, they dove headfirst into the new nests on the boat, peeking out nervously.

Though eight hundred meters sounded long, with over ten construction vehicles at work, the river was nearly rebuilt by evening.

Now, the spring water gushed from its source, flowing quietly at first, then speeding up dramatically as it reached the narrower midsection.

The uneven riverbed created small drops, turning parts of the current into foaming rapids. White waves splashed along the flow, giving the spiritual spring a brand-new charm.

Wang Bo couldn’t help but smile at the sight—an unexpected delight. He hadn’t imagined that remodeling the river would make it so much more beautiful.

However, the sand and gravel muddied the water, and the blue ducks, clearly disgusted, stayed put on the boat, refusing to go back into the river.