Super Zoo

When it comes to the speed of information dissemination, newspapers and television have actually become outdated; today's youth hardly pay attention to those media, with some even opting out of owning a television. As for Internet forums, their influence is waning, too. Just look at the once-popular Haijiao forum, which is now nearly overrun with advertisements.

Q is still in use, but mostly as a tool for casual chats among friends or for work purposes.

Today, the hottest platform is undoubtedly WeChat Moments. With just a smartphone and Internet access, you can use it anywhere you go, without being tied to a computer. Furthermore, Moments has an incredible ability to spread content—posts with even a smidgen of humor or novelty can spread like a contagious disease, jumping from one friend to many, from one circle to another...

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In short, it's a modern device that can spread information to thousands of people overnight. Even those of Zhou Jin's age know that to build momentum, you cannot do without this little thing!

In just two or three days, residents of Yangchuan City found that their Moments were completely swamped with an article titled "Your Silence Makes You An Accomplice: The Agony of Hormones."

"We live in this city, and like all humans around the world, we must eat and drink to survive. We go to the markets to buy vegetables, shop at supermarkets, and over time, we've grown accustomed to the food we purchase, instinctively believing that since we've paid for it, since it's sold in government-approved stores, it should be healthy...

At least, it should be safe...n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

However, how many people realize that with every bite of food, we are gambling with our own health and that of our families!"

...

"For our elderly parents, for our innocent children, starting with me, I refuse hormones! Report hormone-tainted food! Demand severe punishment for unscrupulous vendors who add hormones!"

"I don't need your 'likes,' please forward this message!"

"Every share you make could unknowingly save a family!"

"

The article was several thousand words long and appealed to emotions dramatically, ardently raising the issue of hormones in food.

The article didn't contain highly specialized scientific knowledge, nor did it pinpoint who was responsible for adding hormones. Instead, it used a fragmentary approach, collecting many tragic cases caused by the consumption of hormone-laden food, and paired them with heart-wrenching images to construct the article.

Intentionally or not, most of the cases featured in the article shared two commonalities.

Firstly, the victims in these cases were mostly children. In civilized societies, nothing tugs at the heartstrings like children's issues. Coupled with shocking photos of the afflicted children, these stories instantly stirred the emotions of every parent;

Secondly, whether by coincidence or not, most of the cases were linked to aquatic products, particularly the common "big four" family of fish found in markets. Plants, on the other hand, were not mentioned, as anyone with a bit of sense or who took the time to do a little research would know that using hormones to expedite the growth of plants is unreliable. This omission inadvertently lent the article credibility, and as freshwater fish, especially the "big four," are widely consumed, the story had the potential to influence the largest possible audience.

Nobody knew who first posted the article or where it originated. But within just two days, it had touched the nerves of everyone, and any person with an ounce of conscience felt compelled to share it. It was impossible to count how many times it had been forwarded or reached the number of Moments feed.

One thing was certain, as soon as you opened WeChat Moments, the article was there to be seen.

There's no denying that the article was well written—easy to understand, emotive, and persuasive.

Another day or two passed, and the impact of the article had spread beyond Yangchuan City to the whole province and even the entire country.

The most direct consequence was that the fisheries market in Yangchuan, the origin, took a significant hit! Fish in the markets simply wouldn't sell; fish that used to sell for over ten yuan, now couldn't even get buyers at half the price. People weren't just reluctant to buy—they were even afraid to accept fish as a gift.

As for seafood ordered in big restaurants, that number dwindled even more. When you buy fish to cook yourself, at least you can see the live fish and have control over the cooking process. But in restaurants, where fish is served already cooked, who knows what kind of fish it is, whether it contains hormones, or if anything unsanitary was added during cooking.

For Suming here, the fish market hadn't even opened, and his orders from several large restaurants had already dropped by more than half.

It wasn't just Suming's Shuijun Lake that was affected; sales for Huating Reservoir's fishery also plummeted. However, relative to Shuijun Lake, Huating Reservoir fared slightly better. Zhou Jin had been in the industry for many years, had extensive connections, and could sell to other regions if Yangchuan's market slumped, or even at low prices to neighboring countries if necessary.

Of course, the situation was only slightly less grim; the overall market downturn was devastating, and the reservoir's sales volume was still heavily impacted, not even reaching one-fifth of the usual figures at this time of year.

This was a classic lose-lose situation. If this continued, this winter would be an exceedingly harsh one for the fisheries market in Yangchuan City and possibly even the entire country.

Meanwhile, there was a strong public outcry, demanding a rigorous inspection of the food market, especially the aquatic products market, to provide an explanation to the residents.

"Explanation my ass!" Wang Jian She cursed in his office. How did such an inexplicable situation arise out of nowhere? Currently, there were no reports of anyone in Yangchuan suffering from hormone-related illnesses; in other words, there was no responsible party to be found, so what was there to explain?

Sometimes the government feels quite aggrieved too—no matter what happens, big or small, if the public is unhappy, they vent their frustration at the government. This issue had blown up a bit too much, almost becoming national news, and investigations traced the source back to Yangchuan. As Wang Jian She was in charge of Yangchuan City's agriculture, forestry, and fishery sectors, he was the one who ended up being blamed for this mess.

"Wang, complaining won't help us now," Mr. Sun, the almost-retired deputy mayor, waved his hand. "The urgent task is to solve the problem and ensure that the public has access to fish they can trust, to meat they can feel safe about!"

"I know, senior leader, I'm just venting a bit in front of you. Once I step out of this door, facing the media, facing the public, of course, I can't complain about anything," Wang Jian She sighed, smiling wryly and gesturing towards the office door.

"There's this deputy chairman of the Fisheries Association named Zhou Jin who has proposed a special measure in response to this incident and presented it to the city authorities. They think it's a good idea, and I wanted to get your thoughts on it," Mr. Sun explained.